Clean House

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Most of the time I don’t turn on the TV during the day while I’m working. It is too distracting. But today while taking a lunch break I turned on Style TV and started watching the show “Clean House”. They were showing the messiest homes in America.

When I watch these kinds of shows I become motivated to tackle some of the cluttered area’s I have been putting off. Although the show has a whole team of workers to tackle the clutter in a short period of time (unrealistic for the rest of us) it is helpful to see the before and after pictures.

You can do the same by taking pictures of your cluttered area. Print it out and put in a place you will see it each day to motivate you to take action. Even 15 minutes per day of decluttering will eventually clean it up. Take a picture after the area is cleaned up and put it next to the before picture.

You could even create a scrapbook of before and after pictures. Sort of a brag book of how far you have come!

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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Organizing Children’s School Papers

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My decluttering tip week in my newsletter is about organizing and controlling children’s school papers. I have listed several links with more information for you. Check it out at: http://www.aweber.com/b/1emGI

In my research for the links I have found a website that is very helpful with many areas of decluttering and organization. It is written by Marilyn Bohn, a professional organizer. Check it out at: http://www.marilynbohn.com/

If you have a good way to control and organize the huge load of school papers that come into our homes each year, I would love to hear about it. Please leave a comment.

Janice

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How to Declutter the Junk Mail

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When I opened my mail box today there was one lonely envelope in there. A sad feeling came over me for a second. Then I remembered this is a good thing! In the past I use to get all kinds of junk mail, catalogs, bills, and lots of magazines. Now it is reduced down to a few pieces of junk mail occasionally, a few bills, and a couple of magazines that actually get read.

I use to love getting a full mailbox because it made me feel like I was important enough for people to send me mail. But most of the mail was just trying to get me to buy their product or service. They weren’t giving me anything, they wanted something from me. Then there was the fact that it took so much time to go through that pile of mail to find the few pieces that really were important.

If you feel this way then it’s time to take the steps necessary to reduce most of the unimportant mail. The sites below will help get your name off the lists that fills your mailbox with mail you don’t want. It can take several months before you see a big difference so now is a good time to start.

To reduce general junk mail:   DMAchoice.org

To reduce unsolicited catalogs:   Catalogchoice.org

To reduce the credit card and insurance offers: Optoutprescreen.com

 

To a lighter load along the way

Janice

P.S. For more support on getting control of your paper clutter, please join the free Facebook group “Controlling Your Paper Clutter Support Group”.

http://facebook.com/CutClutterWithScissors

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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School Clothes Shopping

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Back to school sales are in full force now. With such great prices it’s tempting to buy enough clothes for your child to last most of the school year. But beware, if your child is still growing this could be a big problem.

There’s nothing more frustrating for a parent to invest in plenty of clothes for their child only to have that child outgrow the clothes before they even have a chance to wear them. This can happen if you buy too many clothes ahead of time. It’s still warm out but the fall and winter clothes are filling the racks in the stores. Even buying too many warm weather clothes now to get school started could mean completely outgrown clothes by next Spring.

Children’s growth spurts are unpredictable. So even if your child has always been fairly regular with their growth in the past doesn’t mean this year will be the same. I remember one year my son (5th or 6th grade) went through 3 sizes of blue jeans during one school year. Since money was tight back then I was glad I only bought him a few pairs to start the school year off. By Thanksgiving they were looking like high water jeans. He wasn’t growing out as much as he was growing up. By March he needed the the next size and longer length. It wasn’t quite warm enough for shorts yet so we had to buy more jeans.

So if your child is still growing just buy enough clothes for the next few months. Sales are always going on so you will be able to take advantage of them later. It’s better to have to do more laundry now then to have to give away unworn clothes that became too small too soon.

The added benefit to having fewer clothes in the closets is being able to keep it more organized and less cluttered.

Janice

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School Sales Tax Holiday 2009

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Many states are having their school sales tax holiday this coming weekend. This can save you a lot of money if you live in or near one of these states especially when buying computers. Each state has different requirements. Check out these two sites to find out more info. You can always Google your state tax department (usually the Dept of Revenue) to find out if your state participates.

http://www.mytwodollars.com/2009/07/01/find-the-2009-sales-tax-holiday-for-your-state/

http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/sales-tax-holiday-schedule.html

Before you go shopping make sure to go through what you already have in school supplies and clothing. There is no reason to buy more than you need even if you are saving a few dollars on taxes.

Here are several blog post from the past that deal with back to school. Check them out for more information.

http://organizebythemonth.com/?p=242

http://organizebythemonth.com/?p=100

http://organizebythemonth.com/?p=101

Janice

https://cutclutterwithscissors.com

http://twitter.com/jlscissors

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