“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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Have a Fourth of July Parade

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A great way for kids and parents to celebrate the holiday is by having a Fourth of July Parade. Let the children decorate their bikes, wagons, big wheels, and themselves to march down the street or sidewalk. Make sure there is plenty of adult supervision especially if they parade down the side of a street. When my children were young we lived on a cul-de-sac. Most of the families on that street had young children so it worked out great for everyone.

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Below are several sites with ideas on decorating bikes and/or the children. It doesn’t have to cost much. Use items you already have around the house, a few store bought craft supplies, and a whole lot of imagination and fun!

image http://crafts.kaboose.com/bike-decorations.html

image http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/a-star-spangled-ride-674243/

image http://www.familycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/patriotic-flip-flops.shtml

image http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Crafts/Stars-and-Stripes-Cap.html

Don’t forget the red, white, and blue balloons. They always make a parade fun!

If you have ideas for a parade please let me know. I’ll share them with all my readers.

Thanks,

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Fun Things to Do For Fourth Of July

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In every store you go to there is red, white, and blue displays enticing you to buy all kinds of things to get in the spirit of the holiday. You could spend a fortune on these things. Or you could spend quality time with your children or the creative child in yourself and have fun making your own decorations.

Here are several websites with ideas and instructions to help you get started.

Kaboose.com has a bunch of crafts and other activities.

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http://crafts.kaboose.com/holidays/july-4/

Disney Family Fun site has plenty of ideas.

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http://familyfun.go.com/4th-of-july/4th-of-july-crafts/

HP Creative Studio has projects you can print on your printer.

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http://www.hp.com/hho/hp_create/themes_holidays_4th_of_july.html

I will check out more sites and ideas and post them here in the next few days. If you have any fun, inexpensive, and easy projects please let me know so I can share them with all my readers. Thanks.

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Selling Your Family on Decluttering

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Benefits of Decluttering

(Post Updated February 2020)

Last night I was reading the book “The One Minute Sales Person” by Spencer Johnson. It says the best way to sell anything is to help the person get what they want from the product, idea, or service.

So what does this have to do with decluttering and organizing? Actually plenty!  When it comes to decluttering, we not only have to “sell” ourselves on the idea, we also have to “sell” our family members on it.

We can work on keeping our own things cleaned up. However, if our spouses and/or children leave things laying around we’ll become frustrated and discouraged.  Begging them to help usually doesn’t work in the long run.

 

Selling the Benefits

We have to figure out how to convince them that decluttering and organizing helps everyone in the household. That is where the “selling” comes in. They need to know how they will benefit from getting rid of the old things and organizing what is left.

The specific benefits may different for each person but here are some basic benefits of decluttering and organizing that applies to all of us.

  1. Fewer things laying around (toys, electronics, etc.) makes it easier to find and put away the ones we really use and enjoy.
  2. Putting dirty clothes in the proper designated place makes it easier to keep the laundry up. That means they will have clean clothes when they need them.
  3. Putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher or washing them by hand instead of leaving them all around will allow you to use clean dishes instead of paper ones. That’s better for the environment and today’s children are learning to take pride in protecting the environment for their own future.
  4. Keeping track of how much money is spent on “things” and if they are “wants” or “needs” will help save money and keep the clutter from building up around the house. I call this conscious buying and it benefits everyone.

More Ideas to Help

I looked through some old blog posts and found ones that may help inspire you to find the benefits for you and your family.

Wants vs Needs
Mindfulness in the Home 
Things Can Be Freeloaders
Time To Get Off Autopilot
Mistakes As Clutter 

 

How do you “sell” yourself and/or your family members on the benefits of decluttering and organizing? Please let me know by leaving a comment so I can share these ideas with all my readers. Thanks.

 

To a lighter load along the way.
Janice Scissors

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