Organizing

Clear Out The Clutter On Snowy Days

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The news today said that at least one third of the nation (USA) will experience some of this huge winter storm. I know here in St. Louis we are under a Blizzard warning. I don’t ever remember being under that kind of warning before.

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Because of this storm many people will find themselves stuck in their homes for at least a couple of days, maybe even longer. If you have children that means they are out of school and will either be glued to the TV watching movies, reruns, or cartoons, on the computer playing games, or be bored out of their minds and driving you crazy.

So take advantage of this time stuck in the house to do so decluttering and organizing with your children. Of course, if you don’t have children at home you can still do some of the projects listed below. A lot of these ideas are from Chapter 4 (Paper Memories) in the eBook “Cut Out The Paper Clutter”.

  1. Go through your boxes of photos and throw away the bad shots. These may include ones with the heads cut off, blurred shots that are unidentifiable, too dark or too light, or duplicates.
  2. While going through the photos be sure to write any information about them on the back. It’s best to use a photo safe pen if you have one. If you’re doing this with your children then take the time to talk about the photos. They probably will find it a lot more interesting than reruns on the TV.
  3. Pull out those boxes of your children’s saved papers from past school years (or your own). Go down memory lane with them and then get rid of as many as possible. Usually when you do this you’ll be asking yourself, “Why did I keep this?”. When time loosens the hold these items have on you or your children, take advantage of it and let them go.
  4. Snowy days are also a good time to go through the overstuffed bookshelves and all those DVD’s or even VHS tapes if you have them. Pull out any you know you’ll never read or watch again. Put them in a box or bag to take to your local charity next time you run errands. You’ll be giving other children or adults a chance to read those books or watch the DVD’s.
  5. This is also a good time to pull out some of those craft supplies and get creative. When supplies sit there unused for long periods of time they can become clutter. But if they are used in the process of a creative project, they are not clutter!

If you are one of those stuck at home due to the weather don’t sit around and waste the time. Have fun going through things and clear out some of the clutter at the same time. You won’t regret it!

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/99D10k

If you have piles of paper clutter then you need to get my eBook, “Cut Out The Paper Clutter”. It can help you clear out those piles and organize the important papers.

3Debook_Clutter8

http://organizebythemonth.com/CutOutThePaperClutter.html

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Mailing Those Cards and Packages

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If you haven’t already bought and shipped those Christmas gifts then you better get moving. Time is running out. Here is a timeline for sending cards and packages through the United States Postal Service.

Dec. 4 Military mail destined for Iraq or Afghanistan (First-Class & Priority Mail)

Dec. 15 Parcel Post

Dec. 20 First-Class Mail

Dec. 21 Priority Mail, the best bargain in shipping

Dec. 22 Express Mail

Mailbox_Filled_with_Toys

Here are tips on addressing those cards and packages. If you follow the USPS guidelines you’ll have a better chance they will be delivered on time.

http://www.usps.com/send/preparemailandpackages/labelsandaddressing/usingthecorrectaddress.htm

Since my handwriting won’t win any awards I try to print out my addresses for most of my mail, especially any packages I send. Avery labels have many different kinds to fit most situations. They have free templates you can download to make holiday labels for both return addresses and mailing addresses. Here is a list of some mailing tips from their website.

http://bit.ly/fKpaRA

I’ve been old fashion and have been hand addressing my holiday cards, a few each evening. After reviewing the tips at the sites above I think it’s time to print out the address labels. I had the Avery Wizard for Microsoft Office (free download) on my old computer. Time to download it on the this new computer and create those holiday labels. It will save a lot of time so I can get my cards mailed out. Now if I can only learn how to set up an address file and use the mail merge on Word then I’ll really be able to save time.

Instead of spending time writing out addresses, make those labels and spend time writing inside the cards. People throw away the envelopes immediately but cherish and remember the handwritten messages.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/99D10k

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

If you have piles of paper clutter then you need to get my eBook, “Cut Out The Paper Clutter”. It can help you clear out the piles and organize the important papers.

3Debook_Clutter8

http://organizebythemonth.com/CutOutThePaperClutter.html

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Stressed Out About the Holidays?

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Our expectation for the holidays is to always make this year the best year ever! But as it gets closer and closer the stress builds when we realize there is still so much to do and very little time left to do it.

If you find yourself getting stressed out each year then you may have what I call Pre-Holiday Syndrome. The media, movies, and even your own memories (often distorted) promote expectations of a wonderful Christmas that we should all aspire to having. For most people it’s unrealistic and we set ourselves up for unnecessary stress. Don’t buy into it!

Decide what is realistic and important for you and your family. Here is an article I wrote with lots of tips to help you have a realistic, happy, and less stressful holiday.

Pre-Holiday Syndrome

To find more time to get things done be sure to check out the 10 Time Wasters at the end of the article.

Janice

P.S. Be sure to check out my new Facebook Page. Become a fan and keep updated with lots of tips on decluttering and organizing.

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Computer Crash–Safety Back-ups

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I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I enjoyed having my sons and daughter-in-law visiting during the week. I didn’t have much time to write any blog posts nor did my newsletter make it out last week. It really wasn’t because of visitors as much as it was because my computer crashed.

If you’ve ever had a computer crash then you know how frustrating it can be. I was having withdrawal symptoms all week. I was able to check emails on an old slow laptop but even that got frustrating. Fortunately my younger son is an IT guy and was able to save my computer. I have an external hard drive for back-ups so that helped.

Which brings me to the point of this post – do you have a back-up system in place? Whether you save important information on paper or electronically or both you should have some sort of back-up system. There are lots of ways to do this but it will take a little work on your part. Here are a few suggestions.

Important papers:

1. Keep the originals in a safe-deposit box and copies at home.

2. If you don’t have a safe-deposit box then keep the originals at home and copies with a trusted family member.

3. Make electronic copies and keep in the safe-deposit box or with family member.

Electronic (computer) information:

1. Make sure you back up information on an external hard drive, flash drive, or CD on at least a weekly basis.

2. Taxes, financial, photos, and any other vital information should be backed up on two separate back-up devices. Each time I back up my Quicken I alternate two CD’s plus it’s automatically backed up on the external hard drive each week.

3. A second copy of the information should be stored in a safe-deposit box or with a trusted family member. In case of a fire, storm damage, etc. you want to be able to reconstruct the lost information without a huge nightmare.

I still haven’t loaded all my programs back on the computer but each day I’ll take care of a few more. My son was able to restore all of my stored info on the new hard drive. I think I’ll take some of my own advice and buy some flash drives to keep an extra copy in the safe-deposit box.

We’re so dependent on these computers now. You just don’t know when they may crash! Good back-up systems can keep the panic level down to a manageable point.

Janice

P.S. I now have a Facebook page. Please become a fan to get more tips on decluttering and organizing. http://bit.ly/99D10k

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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The Holiday Rush Has Started!

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The holiday rush has already started! There’s Thanksgiving to prepare for. Holiday cards need to be bought along with presents for Hanukkah and Christmas.

As Willy Wonka said:

“So much time, and so little to do! Strike that, reverse it.”

The cooking shows and magazines are giving ideas about how to make a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner along with having the best Christmas or Hanukkah ever. In theory, it looks and sounds great. In reality, it’s a whole other story.

Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas can be simple and great at the same time. All three holidays are celebrating: being grateful, hard work, miracles, and compassion and understanding for our fellow man/woman. If we think about these basic reasons for celebrating it will be easier to keep from being caught up in the commercialism of fancy cooking, elaborate decorations, and over the top and expensive gifts.

To help counteract the media pushing us into believing these high expectations we need to have a written plan for the holiday season. The best way to do this is to create a notebook and write out your plans for each holiday you will celebrate. These plans should include what you want to accomplish and by what date.

Here are some links to help with the planning of Thanksgiving:

http://www.oceanspray.com/planit/essentials/planning_book.aspx

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/thanksgiving/planning/

If you don’t know where to get started with Christmas then Flylady.net has some great information.

http://www.flylady.net/pages/HolidayCruising1.asp

I have written an article on how to set up a holiday card system that I’ve used for years. It may take a little time to set up at first if you have a lot of people on your list, but in future years it will save you tons of time. You can check it out here:

http://bit.ly/aXvbwE

If you are mailing gifts this holiday season then check out the USPS site for dates. Write in your notebook who you want to mail gifts to and when you need to buy them and mail them. You may want to mark your main calendar with the “mail by” dates to make sure you aren’t late.

http://www.usps.com/holiday/shippingcalendar.htm?from=home_ftpromo&page=holidaymaildates

Below are links a few more links to help with Thanksgiving planning. I’ll be adding links for Hanukkah and Christmas on the next blog post. Be sure to check back soon.

turkey

*Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, November 25

http://www.butlerwebs.com/holidays/thanksgiving.htm

http://www.history.com/content/thanksgiving

http://holidays.kaboose.com/thanksgiving/

http://www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

If you have piles of paper clutter then you need to get my eBook, “Cut Out The Paper Clutter”. It can help you clear out the piles and organize the important papers.

3Debook_Clutter8 http://organizebythemonth.com/CutOutThePaperClutter.html

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