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Time Management and Organization for Mom’s (and Dad’s) at Home
Some of the latest articles…
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
by Jill Cooper
Whenever my daughter Tawra talks about how to live frugally, she can always count on one type of feedback — from people who say, “You don’t understand what it’s like. You have young children and not teenagers. Teenagers cost more!” Most of the advice and tips that Tawra shares come from me. I have raised two teenagers on a very minimal income. My main goal in raising my children was to teach them to become responsible and productive adults. By the time they hit their teen years, they were contributing to the household income, not depleting it.
I have never understood why people always say “wait until you have teenagers”. I waited and the huge cost that I had heard about never materialized.
My house payment was the same when I had babies as it was when I had teenagers. If the house payment changes, it’s not because of the age of the children but because we want a house that we think is better than the one we already have.
Friday, March 7, 2008
by Maria Gracia Along with Spring comes thoughts of crisp, fresh air, newly budding flowers, singing birds and a sense of renewal. Getting organized and doing a bit of spring cleaning, helps to bring that wonderful fresh feeling into your home and office.Here are 10 tips to help you start the season off right.
- ASSIGN YOURSELF A DIFFERENT TASK FOR EACH DAY.
Make yourself a schedule that is comprised of one hour and one task each day. Your schedule may look something like this:Monday: Decluttering
Tuesday: Dusting
Wednesday: Vacuuming
Thursday: Scrubbing
Friday: Organizing and Rearranging
Saturday: Laundering
Sunday: Decorating
Friday, February 29, 2008
by Maria GraciaIn the words of Henry David Thoreau, Simplify, Simplify. Here are the Get Organized Now!â„¢ Top 10 ways to organize and simplify your life.
- LESS IS MORE. It’s more important to have a few nice things that you truly enjoy, than to just have lots of stuff. Say goodbye to things that don’t fit, are out of style or are unflattering. This goes for clothing, furniture, knick knacks, and other possessions you’re not happy with.
- CONSOLIDATE CREDIT CARDS. Most stores take Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Pay off your other credit cards, and in the future use only one or two of these major credit cards. Or, if possible, use cash or your ATM card for purchases.
- COOK MORE. Don’t spend more time cooking. Just make more when you cook. Rather than cooking enough for one dinner, make enough for at least two dinners. Refrigerate and freeze the extra portion and you’ll have another meal another night, with no extra work.
- SCREEN YOUR CALLS. Let your answering machine take all your phone calls, and return calls on your time.
- DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF. Don’t allow trivial matters to aggravate you. If the milk spills, wipe it up and move on to more important things.
- GET HELP. Don’t try to do everything yourself. Split up household responsibilities among family members. Delegate to your staff. Outsource projects, repairs and so on.
- DON’T TRY TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING. There’s no need to store it in your memory. Write it down, and write it in one place so that you can find it easily.
- WATCH TV ON YOUR TERMS. If your favorite program isn’t on at a convenient time, use your VCR and record it. Then, watch it when you want to–without all the commercials!
- DON’T OVER-SCHEDULE YOUR CHILDREN. Too many activities can cause a strain on your children, and you!
- PLAN EACH DAY. Spend 10 minutes each night, planning for tomorrow. You’ll be focused and ready to take on the world each morning!
by Maria Gracia - Get Organized Now!â„¢
Want to get organized? Get your FREE Get Organized Now!â„¢ Idea-Pak, filled with tips and ideas to help you organize your home, your office and your life, at the Get Organized Now!â„¢ Web site
http://www.getorganizednow.com
Friday, February 29, 2008
In all my years living frugally, I have found that some things are worth buying new. Even though I often recommend shopping at garage sales and thrift stores, there are times when you don’t really save anything buying an item used or cutting back on something. I have tried to figure out how to save money using cloth napkins instead of paper ones, but I just haven’t been able to justify the effort when paper napkins are so inexpensive.
If the effort to make a less expensive item useful exceeds the value of the savings, it is not worth buying something used. I have put together a list of some of the things that I buy new and some of the things I try not to buy new.
Things I will buy brand new or name brand (I usually try to make sure it’s on sale):
Friday, February 22, 2008
by Maria GraciaHave you ever heard the old saying ‘time is money’?To be perfectly honest with you, that saying is incredibly misleading.
Time is not money. In fact, time is really more valuable than money could ever be. We can always acquire more money, but we can never acquire more time. All of us get the same amount of time in a day, 24 hours, that’s all.
While we can never have more than 24 hours in a day, we can certainly choose how we spend the time we do have.
An hour or more per day can easily be saved by eliminating the tasks and activities that are eating away at precious time.
Friday, February 22, 2008
by Jill Cooper
We live in a society of extremes. People seem to be extremely in debt, extremely overweight and extremely disorganized. people everywhere are trying to come up with new and better solutions to solve these problems but not many of their ideas are working.
It’s because they are focusing on the wrong problem. For example, if your child comes to you and says “I have a drug problem.” You don’t sit them down and say, “Well let’s work on a way to get your grades up and then we’ll work on your drug problem.” How foolish that would be. The real problem is not the grades but the drugs. You take care of the drugs and the chances are pretty good that the grades will come up.
For some of us, instead of focusing on getting out of debt or losing weight, we need to first give more serious thought to becoming organized. Does that sound crazy, almost laughable? Before you start laughing too hard, look at these examples and see if you can relate.
Friday, February 15, 2008
It’s that time of year when all that “free” money starts rolling in. I’m talking about the bonus money, you know — the fun money (otherwise known as our tax refund)! That is the way so many of us think of a tax refund and five minutes after we spend this year’s refund we are already thinking about what we are going to do with next years money.
Many of us look at it almost as if we have won the lottery. We are going to do so much with it and it seems to have such amazing powers. I mean a $1000 tax return can buy a car, furniture, big screen TV, or a family vacation all in one fell swoop. There is almost nothing it can’t do; no problem it can’t solve. It’s our mad money, our fun money.
Not!!!!!!!!!
Friday, February 15, 2008
by Maria GraciaAlmost every kitchen has appliances, oversized servers and pots that are seldom used.Obviously, items that are never used should be donated, sold or tossed.
However, some of these items may be important to you at certain times of the year, so getting rid of them may not be your best option.
In fact, you may really want to keep these items, but they’re taking up valuable space on the kitchen counter or in your kitchen cabinets.
Maybe you have several large cookie sheets, but you only use them during the holiday season. Or you only use the bread machine when Aunt Sally visits once or twice a year.
Friday, February 8, 2008
by Maria GraciaThe wonderful, sentimental Pack Rat. So nice. So loveable. So out of space!Pack Rats desperately need more room, but can’t bear to part with their stuff.
There are boxes of old records, books since grade school, reams of old, outdated paperwork, various decades of clothing, piles of magazines, calendars and planners more than 10 years old, old board games gathering dust, toys from children that have moved out on their own years ago, plus that horrible artwork from dear Aunt Martha, taking up every last nook and cranny of space. I’ve known Pack Rats that are literally possessed by their possessions!
The Pack Rat keeps everything–and won’t get rid of anything. There’s an inconceivable abundance of opportunities to acquire things in our lives.
Here are 10 ideas to help Pack Rats free themselves from clutter and stress:
the reward.
