Paper Clutter

Miracle Friday

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I hope everyone had a good Passover or Easter holiday this past week. Last weekend was a wild one here in the mid-west with all the tornadoes and thunderstorms. Now we are looking at potential flooding.

Many people in the St. Louis area are labeling last Friday as “Miracle Friday” because despite a tornado that took a 25 mile path of destruction through the northern part of the area there weren’t any fatalities or even serious injuries.

People heeded the warning sirens and sought out proper shelter.

I can’t even image coming out of my basement to find my home completely destroyed like the one below.

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You can view a lot more pictures of the damage on the KSDK news site.

When looking at these pictures I get a renewed sense of what is important in life. Sometimes we put an unrealistic importance on our material possessions. Most can be replaced, the lives of our loved ones can’t.

It’s something to think about when the clutter builds up in our homes and we continue to come up with excuses to keep it.

Of course if a disaster should occur to your home it would help to be prepared to handle the aftermath. That means having the important papers you need to expedite the insurance coverage and replacement of any other important things you may need.

I think it’s time for me to re-evaluate the precautions I have or have not taken regarding my household inventory (needs updating) and other important papers. I need to go over the chapters in my eBook again and make sure everything is ready in case of a disaster.

I have decide to make this a challenge for me during the month of May.  I will work my way through my papers and household inventory and post about it on this blog. Why don’t you join me in this challenge?

Ways you can join me:

Follow this blog and post comments. You can receive updates through email here.

Follow the blog through my Facebook Page along with getting other tips there. http://www.facebook.com/CutClutterWithScissors

Take the free e-course on paper clutter:  http://cutoutthepaperclutter.com/ecourse/

Purchase the eBook: http://cutoutthepaperclutter.com/

Together we can clean up our paper clutter and have peace of mind should a disaster ever happen. Of course we pray it never does, but just in case.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://www.facebook.com/CutClutterWithScissors

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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You Can Make Every Day Earth Day

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Earth Day rolls around once a year to remind us to practice the three R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle.  Many of us take advantage of the convenient and local events to recycle those old electronics, athletic shoes, worn out books, burnt out light bulbs, and stacks of papers that need to be shredded.

You may have been collecting and storing these items since last Earth Day. After all, you don’t want to contribute any of them to the landfills.

It is a great and noble thing to take care of our earth. But if you are using your home as a temporary trash storage area while waiting for the once a year Earth Day events then that could be a big problem.

You don’t deserve to live in a trash dump!

Take advantage of this Earth Day to gather the information about places you can take items to be recycled year round. Newspapers (online and printed) are writing articles and listing websites and local addresses at this time. Create a folder, either on the computer or paper, to keep this information.

In August, when you take advantage of the back to school sales on computers you can look up where to recycle the old one. The same with all those outgrown rubber athletic shoes. Or those burnt out CFL light bulbs.

Many stores such as Best Buy now have bins to recycle small electronics year round. I know my local city has curbside recycling plus lots of schools now have the big metal bins for recycling. I’ve even noticed ones that are for recycling old clothes.

So there are lots of places to recycle your stuff everyday and feel good about taking care of the Earth. Just make sure you take as good as care of your own home. You deserve it!

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

Join my Facebook page to get more tips on cutting out the clutter and organizing.

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New E-Course on Paper Clutter

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I now have my new e-course on paper clutter up and running. If you’re stuck inside because of bad weather then take advantage of this time to get control of your junk mail.

In the first lesson I give you some websites that will help reduce all those ads, credit card applications, and unwanted catalogs that come in your home mailbox. It does take a few months to get your name off the lists so if you start today you’ll begin to see a big difference by this summer.

The e-course is free so go sign up now!

http://cutoutthepaperclutter.com/e-course/

Other lessons in the course deal with magazine clutter, phone messages, photos and other paper memories, plus plenty more. All the lessons come for the eBook; “Cut Out The Paper Clutter”.

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So go sign up now for this free e-course. You’ve got nothing to lose but some of your paper clutter!

http://cutoutthepaperclutter.com/e-course/

Janice

P.S. Be sure to share this blog post with the link for the e-course with all your friends and family so they too can learn how to get rid of their paper clutter. Thanks.

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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

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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.

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http://organizebythemonth.com/CutOutThePaperClutter.html

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Important Dates in September

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When I started this blog a few years ago I had a separate newsletter that listed all the special dates for the current month. I discontinued that newsletter and added the information to my Tip newsletter. Then I got away from putting that information there also. So now I’ve decided to put it on the blog.

I know a lot of readers liked getting these dates and links so they could plan ahead to celebrate the holiday or event. Getting organized by planning ahead for things is the key to enjoying them with a lot less stress.

If you have any links or know of special dates of interest for the current or upcoming months, please let me know in the comment section. To avoid spam I have to approve the comments before they are posted but I check often for new comments and post them as soon as possible. Thank you.

September 11, (Saturday)

http://www.butlerwebs.com/tragedy/default.htm

http://voicesofseptember11.org/dev/index.php

September 12, (Sunday) National Grandparents Day

http://www.grandparents-day.com/

http://holidays.kaboose.com/grandparents-day.html

September 21, (Tuesday) International Day Of Peace

http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/

http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/2010/

September is National Apple Month.

Although this is an event that the apple industry takes part in to promote the sale of apples they also want to educate the consumer on the benefits of apples. As the weather gets cooler and the days shorter the taste for crisp, cold apples or the smell of apple pie baking comes to mind. Here are some links that give you information on the benefits of eating apples plus loads of recipes. Enjoy and get healthy!

http://www.usapple.org/index-c.cfm

http://www.applerecipes.us/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/apple/index.html

If you have a problem controlling the paper piles in your home or office be sure to check out what tips and ideas are offered in my new eBook,

3Debook_Clutter8 “Cut Out The Paper Clutter”.

Janice Scissors

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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