I’ve just launched something to help ANYBODY get their home organised and keep it that way LOL Read about the Organise your Home course here and if you blog about it, you can win a $25 gift card to Stacks and Stacks!

My business and personal goals are all set too – I don’t mind telling you that while I have BIG goals, I’m going to be working less. I absolutely believe in working smarter and not harder

So how are all of you doing? Are you set for 2008? What are some of your goals?

By the way, have you downloaded your Organise your Life e-book yet? It’s free!

This is a static post – please scroll down for new posts! Thank you

I’ve just launched my new Organise your Home e-course – 12 weeks to an organised home – and I’m holding a contest to promote it.

If you want to win a $25 gift certificate to the Stacks and Stacks store, all you have to do is blog about the e-course and link to this page to enter. Then come back here and enter your name and blog in the Mr Linky!

This competition is open for 2 weeks and closes on Friday 11 January.

Happy blogging!

You can teach your children to be organised. The earlier you start, the earlier you can delegate

While they’re organising, they’re learning valuable life skills. They can learn to sort, to return toys to their homes, to make decisions while decluttering.

What to use
ice-cream tubs
clear shoe bags
wastepaper baskets – for tall, thin items like swords, cricket and baseball bats, etc.
ziploc bags -for puzzle pieces, legos, etc

How
Make things easy. If you use a basket without a lid, it is easier to put things away.
Label clearly with pictures.
For smaller children, use the bottom bookshelves and free-standing storage bins on the floor.

Declutter regularly. Now is the perfect time right after Christmas to go through those rooms and get rid of the old stuff

How do you stay organised with your children’s toys?

Winner
Remember the organising your craft contest I announced last Friday?

Well, the winner is Laura from Laura Williams’ Musings for her excellent post on using plastic sleeves to organise your scrapping.

I have already emailed Laura her gift code to spend R100 in my store so she can get something to help organise or improve her life!

Well done, Laura

Lovely surprises
I finished writing and putting together a new e-course to help you organise your home, step-by-step, for 12 weeks.

I haven’t launched it yet because I’m waiting for January so imagine what a lovely surprise I got when someone already bought it from the store.

That’s when you know something is needed, isn’t it?

Menu Plan Monday
Well, we are still on holiday in Port Elizabeth.

The weather messed us around yesterday because there is a thing here called Art-in-the-Park. It’s in St. Georges Park next to the cricket grounds where our boys will play the West Indies today. It is lovely and crafty because everything has to be handmade. We love going because we shop and eat lots!

Anyway, we’d planned to go after church but when we exited the church, it was raining buckets and continued in that vein the whole day. Of course, AITP is automatically cancelled and we’re not here next Sunday to go! Grrr – on the bright side, I’ve saved money, right?!

Monday
Roti & curry (my sister made some for us)

Tuesday
Out to eat at Narai Siam – Thai place we went to on Saturday. We loved it so much

Wednesday
Wholewheat pitas with beef & stir-fried veggies

Thursday
Angelo’s – Italian place with the most DIVINE pasta ever!

Friday
Plane food – we’ll be flying back to Jhb around supper time

Prayer request
Please pray for my friend, Elizabeth Hagen‘s daughter, Abby. She is ill in Houston! I told Elizabeth that I’d be praying; will you join me?

Have a great week everybody. Next week is Christmas!!!

Don’t forget the organising crafts contest otherwise Laura is going to be one really happy crafter!

It is a normal wastepaper basket which uses the vertical space beautifully under my bookshelf (in fact, all that space was unused when we moved in here and we got those bookshelves built in)

I store the bows and ribbons in ziploc bags. Each bag has a separate type of gift-wrapping accessory

From top to bottom…

1. Fancy clothes pegs (for holding gift bags closed and attaching a gift tag)
2. Closed ribbons (thin)
3. Open ribbons (thin)
4. Ribbon (medium)
5. Gift tags
6. Material ribbon
7. Bows

I’m very curious. How do you store your gift-wrap and accessories?

I’ve told you before about my to-do lists and since I’ve been doing really well, getting through my frogs easily every day, I have quite a lot of time on my hands.

So I made a list of things I don’t really need to do but would like to and that’s what I tackled today.

1. I decluttered about 20 of the web links in my favourites and organised those that were left into 3 categories – time management (that’s the main subject I coach on), blogging and other business resources.

2. I went through my 34 sub-folders in my inbox and decluttered those down to 15. Sometimes we get stuck into one way of doing things. When things change, we need to change our way of doing things.

For instance, when they first contacted me about writing for Clutter Control Freak —->> I kept all those emails agreeing to this and that, the how-tos and so on. Now that I know what I’m doing, I don’t need that folder. See?

here is my after

What do you need to get rid of that you’re holding onto?

3. I went through 234 emails in my Sent Items and decluttered those right down to……. not 150……. not 50….. but 13!

If you’re wondering, I have 3 emails in my inbox (it is usually empty-ish like that so I don’t have to declutter that very often)

I’d love to know how many emails, favourites and subfolders you have. Go on – share in the comments.

CONTEST time
1. Did you see the contest on my blog?
I’m calling anyone who crafts to come help me with solutions.

2. Suzanne is also holding an Organizational Brilliance contest on her blog and ONE commenter will win a bag of organising goodies from your three favourite organisers – Suzanne (the computer & email whiz), Ariane (the ADD and ADHD specialist) and me (office and paper queen)!

I can’t believe it – another week gone! But the good news is this week I go on holiday so we’re only cooking for 2 days

This is going to look very boring…in fact, I totally forgive you if you think you have deja vu…but I have to empty the fridge and freezer. I hate wasting money and I don’t want the food to go off…

Monday
Stir-fried chicken, veggies and rice

Tuesday
Baked potatoes with lentil sauce (we didn’t have it last week – decided to have takeaways)

Wed
Flying to Port Elizabeth. Still have to pack (and it’s 9 days) but at least everything is planned and you all know that saves you time, right?!

BTW, I now coach on how to become a professional organiser. We can work virtually or in-person – whatever floats your boat Contact me if you’re keen.

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Do you know Elizabeth Hagen?

Elizabeth is also a professional organiser but she’s based in South Dakota!

She also does a lot of public speaking so I joined her VIP circle earlier this year to learn more from her and I’m loving it!!!

Now, what are you doing on Jan 18th?

Read more about Elizabeth’s virtual organising day and sign up especially if one of your goals is to get organised next year You get bonuses if you sign up on or before 10 Dec!

If you have old business cards lying around your home or office and they’re blank at the back, use them to jot down your tasks.

This works very well if you’re a visual person like me (you’ll learn about your organising personality in 7 easy steps) and if you like to recycle stuff.

Here are some pictures that I took from **Angela’s post on all the planners she’s ever used (by the way, Angela, I loved this post).