Organizing

Only 18 Days Till Thanksgiving

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It’s hard to believe there are only 18 days until Thanksgiving. For the last 10 plus years we have gone over to my sister-in-laws so I haven’t had too much work to do. I would make homemade rolls and pumpkin pie. Other than that I just had to show up.

This year is different. My mother has been ill so we will be having it at her house but I’m the one who will be doing most of the work. My sister and her family are coming in town but not until Weds afternoon. She will be able to help me with all the last minute preparations but I will have to plan, organize, and shop ahead of time. On top of that both of my sons and daughter-in-law will be visiting this year.

Now that I have a confirmed head count I will go to the grocery and order a fresh turkey to be picked up on Weds November 24. Because it’s been a long time since I have had to do so much for Thanksgiving I’m going to create a planner to help me keep on track.

I found a great website where you can print a customized planner and calendar that will help you keep track of what you need to do when and where. http://www.oceanspray.com/planit/essentials/planning_book.aspx

I just found this site today and ironically it has “order fresh turkey” for the task listed for today, Nov 8. I won’t be getting to the store today but I’m sure tomorrow will still be soon enough.

Here is another website where you can print out a Thanksgiving Countdown and get lots of other help with planning and organizing. http://www.bhg.com/holidays/thanksgiving/planning/

I’ve printed out some of the information from the above sites and put them in a 3-ring binder. This will be my Thanksgiving planner. As I gather my recipes, shopping lists, etc. I’ll put them in the planner. By reviewing it everyday it will help me stay organized so I can avoid any last minute chaos.

Below are some other links for Thanksgiving and for Veterans Day which is this coming Thursday.

*Veterans Day – Thursday, November 11

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/veterans/

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/veterans-day/teacher-resources/6674.html

*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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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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Lighten Up Your Perfectionism

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We all want to be perfect. We are told from a young age that “practice makes perfect”. So we grow up believing that if we try hard enough and practice enough times we should be successful in what we set out to do.

Well, reality sets in that we are not perfect. No matter how hard we try the results are not always “perfect”. So then we start doubting ourselves. We feel like failures. After all, there are winners or there are losers. How you play the game doesn’t seem to matter much anymore.

In this strive for perfectionism it’s hard to laugh at ourselves for being human. We’ve become obsessed about:

  • always wanting our homes to be “magazine perfect”
  • always sending the “perfect” thank-you note and sending it on time
  • always cooking the gourmet meal even when our family prefers the boxed mac & cheese
  • always responding to that email, twitter or facebook post right away even when there are more important things to do

These are just some of the things our perfectionism causes us to think “failure” instead of laughing at our human imperfections.

Perfectionism is the striving to reach a destination that doesn’t exist. So why even try to go there. Lighten up on yourself and start enjoying the journey. The journey should consist of:

  • Sending the thank-you note on a plain piece of paper if necessary.
  • Setting a timer and work a little each day at decluttering. Enjoy the process.
  • Reply to that email 2 weeks, even 2 months later. Apologize and move on.
  • If it’s something that needs a timely response (email, phone call, etc.) just respond the best you can. Don’t worry about what the person on the other end might think, that’s their problem.

We worry too much about making ourselves look “perfect” in other people’s eyes. If they expect us to be perfect then they have a BIG problem. If we didn’t worry so much about what others think then we just might enjoy life more. We could learn to laugh at our faults. Once we learn to laugh at ourselves we can come up with clever ways to compensate for those “imperfections”. Compensating doesn’t mean we are working to eliminate our faults. It means accepting our imperfections and working around them to achieve our goals. We will work at being the best we can be and that will be good enough.

Janice

 

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“Cut Out The Paper Clutter” eBook

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It’s finally arrived! The eBook “Cut Out The Paper Clutter” and it’s companion workbook are now available. You will be able to learn how to finally get control over those piles and piles of papers, magazines, junk mail, and lots more.3Debook_Clutter8 3dWorkbook_fixed5

You can read more of what’s in the books here.

Over the years I learned many ways to reduce the incoming papers. I have also learned how to keep the important papers organized. It’s taken a lot of hard work but is well worth it.

The past few months have been a real challenge for me. Due to my mother having a stoke this past May I have had to manage not only my own papers but also my mother’s papers and finances. Although she has a computer she had not set up any of her bills to be on auto-pay. Nor had she done any online banking. These are two ways to simplify bill paying plus cut down on some of the paper clutter.

I’ve slowly been setting up auto-pay on many of the monthly bills plus paying online. That reduces the checks (paper) I have to write, reduces the envelopes (paper) I have to address, plus saves money on stamps. All these steps helps me spend less time on bill paying and more time on other things.

So check out what’s in the eBook “Cut Out The Paper Clutter“. I’ve listed the table of contents so you can see the different chapters that will have solutions for your problem areas.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Starting Over & Over & Over

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Have you ever cleaned up your home for company and then promised yourself you will keep it that way…always? Then daily life gets in the way and before you know it the house is a mess with clutter again.

You beat yourself up for not keeping your promise. You tell yourself you are a failure. You feel you can never get the house under control and keep it that way.

Then you get angry and decide you’re going to clean up the house once and for all and keep it that way. So you start over again with hopes, dreams, and determination to get it right this time.

Here’s a a quote to think about when you find yourself in the above situation.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.”

When you start over to clean up the clutter in your home for yet another time, stop and think of “why” it got this way again, not the “how”. We all the “how” – we simply did not put things away. It’s when you figure out the “why” then you can start doing something different and guess what – you’ll get different results.

  1. Why didn’t things get put away?
  2. Why do you keep purchasing more items? (Do you really need them? Do you buy without planning first?)
  3. Why don’t you have a place or “home” for each item in your home? (Too many items? Not enough or the right kind of storage?)
  4. Why don’t you have a routine to follow to keep the house cleaned up? (Never wrote out a plan? The old routine never works? )

We all have weaknesses and it’s easy to come up with excuses. We all have strengths too. Maybe you keep you desk at work clean and organized. Or your craft project is organized and ready to work on. Or maybe you’re great at organizing your childrens school parties, etc. Take a look at what you do well no matter how large or small it may be and try to apply some of those techniques to what you are not good at.

“Have confidence that if you have done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing well too.” ~ Storey

“It’s not how many times you fall that matters; it’s how many times you get up.” ~ Anon

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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