Productive & Organized Home

I started getting myself organized, now what do I do with the items I want to let go of? - Part 1

I recently received several questions from people about what to do with the items they want to let go of. To answer these questions, I wanted to devote time to provide you with information to help you get rid of the thing you are ready to let go of.

First, congratulations on deciding to let go of some of your processions, great job! Here are your main choices:

1. Sell them
2. Give away / Donate them
3. Trash them

I will go through each one of these and give you some great information on what you can do.

Home Filing So You (and Others) Can Find it Again

Yesterday I received a reader question in reference to my action fling Video: 

 "This is the first of SEVERAL videos, books, articles and blogs I have read that actually addressed how to house the ACTIVE files, and not just a storage/filing system. Thanks so much. I do however, have a question that arose after seeing the action You Tube video: I understand that your major client is usually a business; but I have four kids and I have never been able to effectively file their papers, incoming or outgoing, active versus archived in a way that is functional for anyone except myself. The main thrust of my system is a file system PER KID, and then to break that into their sport, school, extracurricular stuff. It works but as I said, its workings are known only to me - which as I recently discovered through a 2 week bout of mono, is very INefficient. Can you tell me if this PER KID approach is the best or should I do it per activity, per grade....I know you understand my dilemma. Thanks in advance. --Lori"  (Florida USA)

Could You Be Ready to Evacuate Your Home at a Moments Notice?

Tips to Prepare an Emergency Grab-and-Go File

As we have witnessed the devastation Katrina, recent storms in Haiti and other locations across the glob has caused, many of us have wondered what we would do if we were faced with the same situation.  What would we take with us if our Mayor ordered a full community evacuation?  Would you be able to make decisions as quickly as necessary?  Would you know where important papers or documents were located in your home?  Residents of these horrible storms were faced with these questions and many more.

Families should prepare for the worst and pray for the best.  Creating an "Emergency Grab and Go File” is one of the most important things you can do to ensure that in times of stress, emergency or grief, you are not compounding the situation by not knowing where important documents and contact information are. 

Why I am in LOVE with my label maker!

I can’t believe that this little cute machine produces perfectly typed labels every time I hit print.  I love the buzzing sound it makes while it is printing the tape!  I am in LOVE….

 

AboutOne Wants to Hear from YOU - Chance to Win an iPod Touch!

I am quite honored to share that the founders of AboutOne contacted me earlier this year and asked me to sit on their advisory board.  After hearing Joanne Lang's extremely professional presentation and vision for an on-line tool that would help busy moms get and stay organized, I was hooked.  Of course I was honored to be on their board!

Up until this point, the AboutOne team has been diligently in the background planning and programming the awesome new tool.  They are now needing your input to ensure that they are spending their development dollars in the right place.  (One of the things I like about this company is that they really care about what YOU think!)

If you have a few minutes, I'd love it if you would go to www.AboutOne.com and take their market survey.  It won't take long and it will help the team tremendously. 

A little about AboutOne:

Coming early in 2010, AboutOne is designed to help busy moms get organized, ->> it is a highly secure, on-line service that helps you quickly enter, track and organize your information and your household information, share pieces with family members and give you the ability from any location, 24/7 to find what you need in seconds.  

 

In addition to helping moms (and yes, dads you will love it too!) the AboutOne team is all about "giving back" too.  Here are three ways that they contribute on a bigger scale:

• free access for our Heroes (army, navy, fire etc) program
• sponsoring children in need
• giving time at events to raise money for cancer.  

Please help the team ensure that the product meets YOUR needs by taking the survey at www.AboutOne.com- it takes less than 10 minutes and you can win an iPod Touch every month too.

Oh!  They will be participating in the Great Organizing Giveaway too!

To your success!

Seven steps to conquer clutter in your garage

Have you seen that garage?  You know, the one down the street that functions as good as it looks? 

The garage that is organied and so advanced that the owners have no clutter concerns.

It is the one that holds cars in the winter to keep them snow and ice free.

Now... imagine that garage is yours.  It can be!  Read on to learn 7 tips to get you there.  You CAN take back your garage!

Medication Mania! How to manage multiple medications/supplements a day.

Being accountable for your own health is the first step in being healthy!  However, when you have slews of pills to take at different times of the day, it can be hard to do it right.  Do you have a lot of pills to take or know someone who does?  Maybe it is medication for a medical condition, or nutritional supplements . . .  It can be confusing to track different pills.  I'll show you step by step how we organized one woman's 20+ pills a day.

Taking care of your plants

I was out on the web today at Gardener's Supply Company and I found some pretty cool products.  I thought I would share a few with you.  Now, I'm not an avid gardener.  I will puts around my flower beds, but that is about it.  However, I love looking at this site to see different tools that inventive people come up with.