$45.00
Archive for Helping WAHMs Get Organized! by Megan Spears
Thanksgiving Day = 3 weeks and counting!
Posted by: | CommentsSo, the big day is officially three weeks away. I have just cracked my cookbooks and started preparing for the big day. We usually celebrate Thanksgiving at our house because Christmas is reserved for my mother in law. I am really wanting some good yummy food to last us all weekend so I really want to start planning today.
Planning for a big event such as Thanksgiving can be really helpful in allowing you to ensure everything is done and you can enjoy your day of gratitude!
Read More→
The seasons are changing, time to re-organize your closet!
Posted by: | CommentsCreating an efficient closet space is a challenge, even for me. It seems like closet spaces come in all shapes and sizes anymore, so it can be difficult to decide what really belongs inside.
About a week ago, we had our first freeze. It got down to 28 degrees and I just wanted a nice warm sweater to wear. As I searched through my closet to find something warm, I realized that my closet was a mess. It’s a pretty big space and I was starting to just toss things that clearly didn’t belong inside. NOTE TO SELF: having more space in your closet doesn’t mean you need to fill it with stuff.
I was quickly reminded of that it’s time to switch out the summer and winter cloths in my closet. Here is what I did….
The first thing I did was take out all the “unrelated items.” Things like seasonal coats, and miscellaneous bags, hidden gifts were removed and put in a storage closet elsewhere. They just didn’t belong in that closet space with my everyday cloths. Read More→
Three Steps to Organize Your Electronic Files
Posted by: | Commentsby Megan Spears
Organizing your electronic files is sometimes harder to do than paper files. We don’t see the actual document so we often forget what’s there. The nice thing is that when your electronic files are organized you can find what you are looking for it will ultimately save you time and money! Creating an organized system for your electronic files can be an easy as 1-2-3.
1. Start with your Folders.
When you are creating your “folders” in your My Documents (for example), you a similar system to how you would organize your paper files. Think of each folder as a file drawer or maybe a drop file. When you have a similar folder system to your paper system, you will simplify the process and decrease the amount of time spent searching for files or documents on your computer.
2. Naming your Documents.
Creating a system (or as my husband likes to say a “method to my madness”) that will help you efficiently track your documents, it becomes a lot easier to see what documents you have and where they belong. If it’s by TYPE, DATE or CLIENT/VENDOR, find a system that will help you better code your documents. Read More→
Giving the junk drawer a new name!
Posted by: | Commentsby Megan Spears
We need to come up with a new name for what most people call a junk drawer. Maybe something like “the nitty-gritty drawer” or “the drawer that holds things without a true home drawer”… something a little more meaningful than a junk drawer.
If you ask anyone if they have a junk drawer, almost immediately they will say… “yes of course, doesn’t everyone?” A place to be the catch all of everything small and important. Essential items that we can’t live without, but that don’t really have a specific home.
My junk drawer sits at my desk, top drawer and it holds my cell phone charger, miscellaneous business cards that need to be filed, chapstick, sunglasses, glasses screwdriver, and a few random broken items that need to be replaced, repaired or tossed.
Early on in my relationship with my husband he would behave unusually strange when I would tell him to clean out his junk drawer because it wouldn’t shut. He thought that no matter what, it should never be purged, cleaned or cleared. His drawer sat in the bathroom next to the sink so that as he changed from his work cloths, he could empty out his pockets into… the junk drawer. Read More→
September is Emergency Preparedness Month. Are you prepared?
Posted by: | Commentsby Megan Spears
Did you know that the month of September is Emergency Preparedness Month?
Just a few weeks ago, just three short miles away a forest fire started. It was heading in the opposite direction as our house (thank God!), but it raised many questions from my kids…. “what do we do mom if the fire comes to our house?”
Thankfully, to the help of hundreds of fire fighters, the fire was contained in about a week and there was only a few homes affected. If you have watched the news or picked up a paper within the last few weeks you know that over 250 square miles are burning in the Los Angles area. Sadly, this fire has devastated the people of the LA area. The fire has killed two firefighters, injured 11 others and destroyed 78 homes, two commercial buildings and dozens of outbuildings(*). Did I mention that we are on the cusp of hurricane season. Disaster happens. That’s real!
After September 11th, the US Department of Homeland Security sponsored National Emergency Preparedness Month. Being prepared for an emergency doesn’t have to be a big investment or involve tons of planning. It might just mean having things organized at home so that you can grab and go within a short window of time, or just creating a plan of action.
The key is to just stop and think about being prepared and what you would need. Here are some great resources to start getting things in order for you and your family!
Ready America. This is by far the most informative website on being prepared for a any type of disaster! If you need to prepare your home, kids or business… Prepare. Plan. Be informed! Read More→
Family Schedules – Picking Your Planner
Posted by: | CommentsBy Megan Spears
Here we are again back to school. In past weeks, I have read tons of articles and blog posts on how to get organized and prepared for back to school. In my opinion, the key to being organized for back to school is getting a handle on the family schedule.
It truly is amazing how much information we moms and dads have to keep track of each day. It can be overwhelming and almost enough to make you question your sanity. When you have multiple schedules and various activities, the days of using a cute puppy wall calendar are long gone. Start today… toss out that cute puppy dog wall calendar, it’s just not helping your situation. You need to have a planner that will include multiple people and multiple events and enough room to track it all.
STEP ONE: determine if you like paper versus electronic. There are so many options these days that you need to really determine how best your family will be able to process the information. If you have teenagers with mobile technology, maybe an electronic planner (with alarm reminders) will work best. Services like COZI or Google have electronic calendars that will allow you to track multiple people and multiple events. Did I mention that both of these services are FREE? Products like Outlook that integrate with your computer can be helpful also and easy to manage from your desktop but can be costly.
If you are a paper gal maybe a refrigerator wall planner or a purse size planner would be best. I love paper, so this is where I thrive! Planners like MomsAgenda, BusyBodyBooks or Franklin Covey all provide detailed planners for either the refrigerator or your purse. Each planner has space for every member of the family with space to document multiple tasks for that person. In addition to tracking activities each week, there is space to track to-do lists and project notes.
The key is to determine what will work best for your family!
STEP TWO: implementation! You can purchase a planner and hang it on the wall, but if you don’t take the time to implement it, it just won’t work. Often, the breakdown in family schedules happen because we haven’t taken the time to manage it. Spend just a few minutes at the beginning and end of each day to get a handle on your schedule.
I’m organized but my spouse isn’t… how do I organize my spouse?
Posted by: | Commentsby Megan Spears, CWAHM Columnist
My husband and I are getting ready to celebrate our eight year anniversary this month. I can’t imagine my life without him in it. He truly brings out the best in me and we each bring a certian balance to our relationship.
When we started dating the one thing that I had to come to terms with was that my dear husband really lacked in his organizational skills, especially in the garage. He is what some might call a “gear head”. A man with many tools. All his life he has had a passion for cars and fixing things that are broken. I realized early on in our relationship that that the garage space was just always going to be a mess and disorganized.
Over the years, he would (for me) go through and clean out his garage space, but in the end things were really still just a mess. Drawers were full of random tools in no specific order and frequently the shelves were littered with trash, boxes, and a few random supplies in between. When friends would come over I was embarrassed to let them see the space and mortified at how sloppy it looked. Read More→
I need your help… organizing bible verses
Posted by: | CommentsI always tell my clients that when we face a challenge it’s important to stop struggling and ask for help.
So here I am, I need your help.
About three or four years ago, I started writing down various bible verses into a notebook. Mostly they were verses I cam across during bible study that would strike a cord or somehow remind me of how God works in my life each day.
The notebook I used was part of my planner that goes with me everywhere. It was so nice having my quick dose of the Word of God when I need it (or when I don’t have my bible on hand). For months, I would document each verse into a list in hopes to improve my memorization and get to know the bible better.
Now, many years later I am overwhelmed with pages and pages of verses… I enjoy going back and reading them when I am stuck in traffic or have a few minutes before an appointment. Read More→
Do you have too many magazines?
Posted by: | Commentsby Megan Spears
I was looking back at some of my older blog posts I had to got a good laugh at one that talked about my addiction to magazines. There is just something about them that appeals to me, the smell of the pages and all those pretty pictures just excites me.
A few years back I could say without hesitation that I personally was subscribing to over 20 magazines each month… Crazy, I know! It didn’t help that my mom and mother-in-law contributed to my passion for colorful pages. When I am reading a freshly cracked magazine I can get lost in the pages for hours. It’s my time, do you know what I mean?
When I tell people that I have this “relationship” with glossy pages, they always ask… “How do you read them all?” Read More→
7 tips for less clutter!
Posted by: | CommentsDepending on your personal style clutter comes in many forms. I have never been much of a collector and I am ruthless when it comes to paper coming into the house. It has taken me many years to perfect the art of clearing the clutter. Don’t be discouraged keeping the clutter to a minimum takes work but it totally possible. For some, clutter can come in many forms and can (really) take over your space in your home or office. Here are my top 7 tips for getting rid of the clutter.
1. Discard immediately. Don’t let the “rubbish” stay too long. Check your mail, paperwork, or schoolwork right away and discard the rubbish, don’t let it pile up. Discard what you can immediately and make the shredding or recycling process easy with accessible receptacles.
2. It’s OK to let go. Accept that we can’t keep everything, especially those things that we JUST DON’T LIKE. If you get some lotion that doesn’t suit you, it’s okay to let it go. Re-gifting isn’t a bad thing!
3. Break it down. Big tasks can be overwhelming for anyone. Break it down into small more manageable tasks. Before you know the big tasks don’t seem so big anymore. Read More→
