Your Life. Organized.

All We Can Do Is Remember

Quote: Remembering the Fallen

In honor of our fallen veterans this Memorial Day, and in memory of our inspiring 35th President of the United States, I offer you this week's quote.

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

John F. Kennedy
35th President of the United States

 

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.

 

Why Mike Brady Was Smarter Than You Think

“If Mike Brady was such a great architect, why did he design a house with only one bathroom for six kids?”  

We’ve all heard that joke before. It’s funny at first, but have you ever considered that Mike Brady might have been a lot smarter than you’ve given him credit for?

If you’ve been my reader for any length of time, you know how passionate I am about children having chores and managing household responsibilities because it teaches them so much more than just the task at hand. They also learn larger concepts and crucial life skills they’ll use long after they leave home.

For example, when kids learn to clean house, they don’t just learn to clean, they also learn the importance of attention to detail. When kids unload the dishwasher, they also learn the concept of grouping like items together. When they’re required to care for an animal, they learn to be dependable and accountable to something besides themselves.

Another sneaky way kids learn life skills is by having to share living space. When kids have to share space, specifically a bathroom, they learn important people skills which they’ll use later in life.  Here are six lessons kids can learn from sharing a bathroom:

• No matter how much you want to, it’s tough to stand in a screaming hot shower for an hour when your little brother is pounding on the bathroom door. Bathroom Lesson One: Respect For Others’ Time

• When you know your sister is going to be in the bathroom getting ready for a date for two hours on Friday night, you learn to plan ahead. Bathroom Lesson Two: Time Management

• Hair accessories, deodorant, contact lens solution, toothpaste, makeup, jewelry, razors, shaving cream, and toothbrushes. These items in the bathroom may not belong to you but you can’t just throw ‘em out. Bummer. Bathroom Lessons Three and Four: Compromise and Respect For Others’ Property

• It’s inevitable. At some point, siblings will need the bathroom at the same time. Why not dry your hair while your brother brushes his teeth? You just created a win-win! Bathroom Lesson Number Five: Negotiation

• Saturday mornings sister cleans the toilet, brother does the tub, they wipe down the vanity together and the bathroom sparkles fast, leaving more time for weekend fun. Bathroom Lesson Six: Teamwork

As a girl who, for several years, lived in a house with six people and one bathroom, I can attest that these are real life examples and life lessons that have served me well. So if your home is small or you’re downsizing and you feel guilty that your kids have to share a bathroom or a bedroom, don’t worry. It won’t hurt them, and it might even help give them an advantage in the future.

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.

Quote of The Week: What Is Work?

"The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work."

Richard Bach, author

 

 

 

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.

 

How To Save Money & Declutter By Repurposing

Having the right tool is half the job. That’s something we’ve all heard and maybe said before and it’s pretty much true. It’s tough to cut a piece of wood without a saw and I don’t want to assemble furniture without a screwdriver. But sometimes, the tool’s function is more important than the tool itself.

In many cases, as long as you can achieve the functional result you want, any tool that does the job will work just fine. We call this repurposing. It saves you from having to purchase a new item and keeps an old item that you might have thrown away, out of the landfill. Here are some simple ways to repurpose items you might already have around the house:

• Baby food or small condiment jars will easily hold nails, screws, nuts and bolts in the garage or basement.

• Small jelly jars can be used as votive holders for outdoor entertaining. Also, use them (with lids!) for shaking sauces and dressings to create emulsions.

• Pasta sauce jars are great for keeping paint brushes, markers and colored pencils organized in a craft area.

• Wide-mouth mayonnaise jars can be used to store wooden spoons next to your stovetop.

• A metal pie pan easily becomes a bird feeder. Just punch drainage holes in the bottom with a nail and set it out filled with seed.    

• An old crockpot, countertop canister, or serving bowl can be repurposed as a planter.

• Almost any bottle can be repurposed as a bud vase for flowers.

• The rectangle boxes your checks are mailed in make good drawer dividers for your desk and kitchen utility drawer.

• Empty shoe boxes work well for dividing deep kitchen drawers where you keep snacks. You can also use them in a dresser drawer for separating and organizing socks and underwear.

I’d love to know how you save money by repurposing throw-away items around your house.

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.

Quote of the Week: Repayment

 

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

 

John Wooden
1910 - 2010

 

 

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.

Roots and Wings

Spring is here! As much as I love the welcome warmth of the season change, it also brings more work disguised as weeds. Yuck. Gardens, planting beds and walkways quickly become fertile ground for the little nuisances. Left unchecked, they continue to thrive, overtaking everything in their path.

Sometimes I think most of my summer is spent pulling the little buggers. The foliage above the ground are the visible extension of the root below. Young weeds with shallow roots are easy to pull. Larger plants with larger roots are even harder. Baby trees are even more difficult. The deeper and stronger the root, the harder the plant is to pull out of the ground.

In many ways, clutter and disorganization are like the visible, leafy part of a weed and emotional issues and attachments are like the roots. Some emotional roots are small, so the clutter and disorganization is easy to clear. Other roots are larger, stronger and have been hanging around longer, which makes it difficult to clear the weed of clutter and disorganization they're attached to.

Perhaps in the past you've done a great job clearing the clutter and chaos, but it keeps coming back over and over year after year. My guess is that you successfully cut the weed at the surface, but left the emotional root behind. If you find clearing clutter and disorganization difficult or impossible, or your issues continue to come back, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. It just means you haven't pulled the root yet. The root has you stuck.

What do you do when your car gets stuck in mud or snow? You find help. You call a tow truck to help you get back on the road. When clutter and chaos are keeping you stuck, do the same thing. Ask for help. You wouldn't try to pull your own vehicle out of a muddy ditch with your hands, so why struggle along trying to fix something yourself that you clearly can't do alone?

When you ask for help in the areas of your life where you're stuck, you begin to uproot those weeds that hold you down. You open up time, space and energy and give yourself wings to soar!

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.

Quote of the Week: Mothers

On this Mother's Day, I am grateful to have had a loving, responsible, quality mother. Miss you Mom.

"The mother loves her child most divinely, not when she surrounds him with comfort and anticipates his wants, but when she resolutely holds him to the highest standards and is content with nothing less than his best."

Hamilton Wright Mabie

 

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.

10 Ways To Stay Productive On A Plane (Part Deux)

Last week I teased you by sharing five (of ten) ways to stay productive during business travel. Here are my other five suggestions, starting with number six...

6. Download, sort and edit photos. Unless you’re using an exclusively online photo or video program, plane trips are a great time to download all the photos from your digital camera you never take time to do at home. While you’re at it, crop, tag, and color-correct the good ones and delete the bad ones.

7. Add and organize recipes. If you like to cook and you keep a recipe folder on your hard drive, airport and plane time is a great opportunity to transfer recipes from your head, magazine pages or index cards into Word documents and file them in your laptop’s recipe folder.

8. Network. Nine times out of ten you’ll have a seatmate when you fly. Why not get to know that person a bit if they seem interesting? Talk about your life, your family, your business. By the time you land, you may have a new BFF or even a new client. I’ve done both!

9. Delete contacts. Sky time is a great opportunity to scroll through your phone address book or your PDA contact list and delete any unwanted contacts. We all accumulate unnecessary contact records over time, so why not edit your list and free up a chunk of device memory at the same time?

10. Write. If you’re one to jot or journal your personal thoughts, have at it. If you need to write some blog posts, a proposal, or create invoices, knock it out. Heck, work on a few chapters of that book you’ve been dreaming about authoring. The solitude that earbuds offer on a plane creates a haven of mental quiet space to write your little fingers off.

If you typically dread traveling, I hope instead you’ll look forward to your next trip, armed with your new top ten list. I also hope I sparked some additional ideas -- what are some of your best ways to transform your boring airport and air time into time well-spent?

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.

Quote of the Week: Seriously

"The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous."

Margot Fonteyn
1919-1991, Classical Ballet Dancer

 

 

 

PS: Follow me on Twitter and if you like this information, share it by clicking the social bookmarking links below.