Recently, some friends stayed in our home while we were away for a short holiday.  When we returned, they had left a pan of baked oatmeal in our refrigerator as a thank you gift.  It was one of the best things they could have given us!

Not only was the baked oatmeal YUMMY, but it provided both my husband and me a work week’s worth of warm breakfast.  Each morning, we’d spoon some into a bowl, pop it in the microwave for one minute, pour a little milk on top, and devour it.  Warm, comforting, yummy, filling, and quick and easy on a busy morning.

Make Your Breakfast Once a Week

Baked oatmeal is just one idea for a pre-made home cooked breakfast.  Other ideas are breakfast casseroles, quiche, and hearty muffins.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and preparing a hearty breakfast ahead of time so you can be sure to squeeze it in before you dash out the door is a simple way to get your day off to a good start.

Amanda Darlack is a Professional Organizer with Living Peace LLC of Salem, MA and Winchester, MA.  Check us out at www.living-peace.com.  Or call (617) 519-5693.

We brought with us to the hospital waiting room magazines, glue, scissors and a large frame to mount our findings.  With five people participating in the cutting, it did not take long to produce a fun collection of words and images that represented this family member to us.

As opposed to showering my sister-in-law with flowers, cards and stuffed animals, we were able to give her one gift that was meaningful and entertaining!  To this day my sister-in-law keeps the collage in her bathroom where she can be reminded every day of the love that surrounded her that day, and continues to surround her today.

Hillary Adams Case is a Professional Organizer with Living Peace LLC of Salem, MA and Winchester, MA.  Check us out at www.living-peace.com.  Or call (617) 519-5693.

Many teacher gifts that I’ve received during past holidays have gone straight into my clutter-busting “To Donate” box.  My kitchen cabinet only has enough room for so many mugs.  I’ve got more scarves than any one person needs.  And my husband doesn’t like the smell of most candles.  So I pass them all along to someone else who I’m sure will use them and enjoy them.

I appreciate the thoughts and feelings behind the gifts.  I really do.  But I feel sad that people have spent money on something that I won’t be using.

So, in that spirit, I’d like to give you some other ideas, in case you want them.  Here are some gifts that I, as a teacher, have used and enjoyed over the years:

New supplies for the classroom.  One year, a mom gave our classroom a much-needed white board.  Doesn’t sound very festive, I know, but that white board helped me so much to teach lessons for the rest of the year.  It helped me do my job better and I loved using it.  Many classes have wish lists created by the teachers.  Anything on there would be well-received, I’m sure.  You may think, “But I want to give something to the teacher, not to the classroom.”  Fair enough.

Gift cards.  Even a $5 gift card to a coffee shop will bring warmth to a teacher’s heart, especially on the way to work on a cold, dreary morning after the holdidays.  Other gift card ideas: book stores, day spas, restaurants, and movie theaters.

Handmade cards from the kids.  Sometimes the best gifts are handwritten, or at least hand-drawn.  I cherish the children’s drawings and their dictated messages inside.  I’ve kept every single one of those.  Likewise, a sincere and encouraging note from a parent is a huge gift in and of itself (and fits in any budget).  Your support as a parent is truly priceless.

Amanda Darlack is a Professional Organizer with Living Peace LLC of Salem, MA and Winchester, MA.  Check us out at www.living-peace.com.  Or call (617) 519-5693.

Our tolerance levels for clutter and expectations for when to do general household tasks varies greatly from person to person.  Rather than setting yourself up for disappointment when you arrive home to find what seem to be obvious tasks have not been completed, communicate those expectations.  For some people, leaving a “honey do” list is appropriate.  I know I am more likely to remember to accomplish a task if it is written down.  My husband, on the other hand, feels ambushed if he stumbles onto a task list left by me.  Verbal communication works best for him.  He may follow up our conversation by requesting that I email him a reminder.  In that case, writing the task down is ok for him.  Again, everyone is different and determining what communication style works best for each member of your family is essential to accomplish tasks.

For children, a chore list of tasks that need to be accomplished daily or weekly will help them create a routine around what is expected of them in maintaining the home.  Furthermore, having concequences for not completing chores (ie. not collecting allowance money or eliminating television time) will help incentivise the work.

Don’t set yourself up for disappointment.  Communicate your expectations.

Hillary Adams Case is a Professional Organizer with Living Peace LLC of Salem, MA and Winchester, MA.  Check us out at www.living-peace.com.  Or call (617) 519-5693.

Children are just as overwhelmed by clutter as adults, and the problem is multiplied when there is not a home for anything.  They are told to clean up yet they do not know where to start and they don’t know where anything should go.  Before a routine is set up the room should be (ideally) purged of unnecessary toys and a system of storage put in place.  Make sure to label all containers!  You have now set your child up for success by assigning everything a home.

Second, create a checklist for them to follow.  When you say, “Go clean your room”, there should be a process they can follow and replicate easily without your presence.  You may need to be there the first few times to keep them on track, but eventually your child should be able to execute the plan without you.

The checklist can have pictures if your child is not of reading age and the list should be short.  The most effective ones I have seen direct children to groups of toys and go something like this:

1. Put away all your books
2. Put away GI Joes
3. Put legos in bins
4. Spend 5 minutes putting clothes in drawers
5. etc

Remember to keep it simple and make the number of steps appropriate to the age of the child.  The younger the child the simpler the list and steps should be.  Make the checklist fun and decorate it.  You can laminate it and hang it on the door knob or just put it on the wall.  The bottom line is to give your child a structure so cleaning a bedroom won’t be as daunting anymore!

Rebecca Burley
A Spacious Place
www.TheSpaciousPlace.com
Rebecca@TheSpaciousPlace.com
978-895-6362

1. Keep a stash of thank you notes or blank cards on hand at all times.  Before the holidays, make sure you get a couple of packs while you’re out shopping for gifts.
2. Keep a list of the gifts you receive.  As you receive gifts, immediately write down who gave you what.  When you receive several gifts at one time, keep the gift card and the gift together so you can write them all down later.
3. Keep the note short and sweet, something to the effect of “Thank you for the _____ you gave me.  I love [the color, the way it looks in our living room, how yummy it is, etc.].  Thank you for thinking of me.”

Of course, to actually send the notes, you need to know people’s addresses and to use postage stamps.  If you don’t know some addresses, try looking them up on WhitePages.com.  If they are listed in their local phone book, they will appear in your search.

And if you don’t have enough stamps on hand or enough time to run to the post office, you can order stamps online from the United States Post Office.  I recommend buying any of the “Forever” stamps because they will still work even after the cost of stamps increase.

Amanda Darlack is a Professional Organizer with Living Peace LLC of Salem, MA and Winchester, MA.  Check us out at www.living-peace.com.  Or call (617) 519-5693.

Don’t we all have a box of unused cords stored somewhere in our homes? And wouldn’t this be a much nicer way to find what you need easily?

If you’ve got a ton of cords (as I do), then you could even have different boxes for caetgories of cords: Computer, A/V, Peripherals, etc.

Erin Elizabeth Wells is a Founder and CEO of Living Peace LLC of Salem, MA and Winchester, MA and is a NAPO-NE member.  Check us out at www.living-peace.com.  Or call (617) 519-5693.

Think of an Inventory of a blueprint for an organized space. Tanking inventory with photos, video, and written descriptions of the items within each room is an extremely powerful tool for staying organized.  A Home or Business Inventory is a binder that is laid out room by room documenting photos and written descriptions of where each items should be in a room.  The addition of video to the inventory caps off the process, allowing for easy reference of what should and shouldn’t be in each room.

A Home or Business Inventory is also helpful when one is downsizing, moving, planning an estate, getting divorced etc.

Patrick Martin of Steadfast Disaster Planning a NAPO New England Associate Member

For more information on how a Home or Business Inventory can aid you in your organizing, as well as the myriad of other uses for an inventory, please visit us at www.SteadfastDisasterPlanning.com. We work with Professional Organizers as well as people who are in need of organizing. We offer professionally documented third-party inventory services, but equally important, we can show you how to conduct your own Inventory.

-Whether you use a hanging file with interior folders, a divided tote or a binder with pockets, you should have one place where all your tax related paperwork goes throughout the year.  Keep the paperwork somewhat accessible so you can add documents as they arrive.  Leaving tax-related paper out to be filed at a later time can result in the documents never making it to the storage area.

-While this list is not exhaustive, here are some sub-categories you could have and the documents within them.  If you run across another sub-category make a folder for it: “Charity” for any non profit donations you make, “Medical Expenses” for any health expenses you can claim, “Tax Documents”  for all end of the year statements (financial statements, 1099-HCs, 1099s, W2s, etc), “Income” for paystubs, rental income, prizes etc.

-If you do not have Quicken or Quickbooks it can be helpful to maintain a spreadsheet throughout the year.  As you incur an expense it can go on the spreadsheet in a specific category.  At the end of the year you will have the total number for each area and not wasted time reconciling receipts.  Examples of good expenses to track would be medical, education, mileage and travel etc.

Of course all of the above are just guidelines and a basic structure.  Take some time to properly set up for 2012 and make it your own!

Rebecca Burley
A Spacious Place
www.TheSpaciousPlace.com
Rebecca@TheSpaciousPlace.com
978-895-6362

As part of the selected chapters I read was one regarding the brain chemistry and chemicals necessary to make executive decisions (ie prioritizing, attention and problem solving).  While this chapter was quite “meaty” and less interesting to me, the clear images in addition to text helped the reader understand what sets the ADD mind apart from others.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who works with people with ADD or has a family member with ADD.  The reading opened my mind to the challenges those with ADD face.  The book also enabled me as an organizer to be aware of the ways ADD can present itself in my clients.  With this, my client and I can work together to create systems that will work best with their particular challenges.

Hillary Adams Case is a Professional Organizer with Living Peace LLC of Salem, MA and Winchester, MA.  Check us out at www.living-peace.com.  Or call (617) 519-5693.