Stacy at Errands Etcetera specializes in things like home organization, meal planning & preparation, waiting for the repairman, taking the car to get it inspected… you name it. Essentially, she is every busy woman’s dream!
Errands Etcetera is a full service errand and event planning service company focusing on their clients. Imagine never having to stand in line, sit in traffic, worry about parking or feel rushed again. Errands Etcetera is working to get done all the things in your life that you don’t have time or energy to get to! They offer services for all the things busy parents don’t have time (or energy) to do, [read more…]
It may be the middle of January right now, but April 15th will be here before you know it. Getting all of your tax related paperwork in order can sometimes be a daunting task. Today Shannon Tracy of Love Your Space shares some helpful tips on getting and staying organized for the tax season:
Some pitfalls of being disorganized at tax time
- You run the risk of misplacing important receipts/documents
- You feel stressed from the mad dash to the tax preparer/post office on April 14th
- Your tax preparer may charge you more money if they have to spend time wading through your piles of loose receipts.
Set up an all-year round file system
Designate a box, accordion file, or a file cabinet for year-round paper storage and retrieval. Create folders for receipts, credit card and bank statements, [read more…]
So Christmas was great, the kids were more than happy with their toys from Santa and have been kept very busy all week assembling LEGOS, driving remote control cars and enacting battle scenes with their action figures.
Problem: What the heck am I supposed to do with all this stuff?! The toys we already owned barely fit into the small sunroom we refer to as the ‘toy’ room. Time to sort, organize, and (discretely) toss out some old toys!
In a perfect world my kids’ toy room would look something like this:
or (sigh) this:
Due to limited funds and space, this just isn’t going to happen, so here’s what I came up with…
First I purchased a bunch of clear Sterilite containers from Target t
o store some of my boys small play sets like Playmobil, LEGOS and some tiny figurines we’d like to keep out of their 18-month-old sister’s hands. I cut out the logos from the toy packaging and taped them to the inside of the boxes so at cleanup time they’ll be able to quickly find the right box for their things. (This of course assumes they’ll cooperate and clean up their own messes, which is less than likely, so maybe the labels are more for me then, so what). 
Now the top shelf of our bookshelf is neatly lined with these containers, so easy to pick out what to play with!
I also picked up some bigger baskets from the Land of Nod to hold items like talking dinosaurs, medium/large 
action figures and trucks. They’re nice and sturdy and not so big that the kids have to dump the whole thing out to find what they’re looking for.
The room is still not perfect, but it’s on the way to working for us. I’m up for some more suggestions. So how are you all dealing with the influx of new toys? Any genius ideas or cool storage containers? Comment and share!!
In general I’m a list maker. It helps me keep on top of my never ending to-do list. In fact, there are usually three or four lists floating around here at any given moment… 1) A list of groceries we need the next time someone runs to the store, 2) People I have to call or email back, 3) Gifts I need to pick up for upcoming birthdays/holidays, and 4) My cleaning list, (an essential list, lest I forget to dust, mop, scrub the toilets or get that laundry out of the dryer).
Usually these lists are scrawled on random pieces of paper or notebooks (I have been known to swipe a Spiderman or Transformers notebook from my sons’ art stash), but lately I’ve felt the urge to get a little more formal, and hopefully a little more effective! I googled for a bit on the subject, and found a couple of candidates for my new and improved to-do list, so I thought I’d share…
The 
How Do I Do It Pad from whoMi ( $12) lets you break down your daily tasks into three categories: Things you have to SHOP for, people you have to CALL, and things you have to DO. You can then prioritize these to-do’s by days of the week. I’ve owned their Shop Call Do Pad (a smaller version, minus the days of the week), and loved it. This sounds like a pretty good upgrade!
The Busy Body Book Organizer from BusyBodyBook ($17.95) is no ordinary organizer, this book is a busy Mom’s dream! Each week has a grid where you can track scheduled activities for up to five family members (or 
substitute a column for meal planning, errands, school work, etc.) I HEART this organizer! I was practically salivating reading the list of features. (I especially love the weekly ‘to doodles’ list, how cute!) The folks at Busy Body Book also make undated, magnetic Weekly Grid Pads to post on the fridge for easy tracking of your family activities, and Wall Calendars in the same format. These people are good.
This is great. I’m excited to get organized! Now I just need to decide which one to order. I could always get both, right? One can never be too organized!
I have all intentions of being an organized person, I really do, but somehow clutter and disarray find their way into my house again and again. I save magazines with organizing tips and fold over the edges of pages with ideas that I like. These magazines now have their own pile on my dining room table. I watch shows on decluttering and get seriously motivated for a day or so, then life takes back over again and I find myself shoving that big pile of stuff that lives on my counter into the china buffet when company drops by. I’m hoping that I’m not alone here. If you are battling an organization issue and would like some outside help, I just might have the answer!
Love Your Space is a professional organizing company that can help. Love Your Space was founded in 2006 by Shannon, a local mom and mother to three young boys. Shannon has a passion for organizing not only her own home, but yours as well! I’ve seen her house, and can personally attest to the fact that she has serious talent in this area. Love Your Space offers a free in-home consultation to discuss your needs and goals, then Shannon will work with you and your space until it is functional and neat again! A follow up visit is included 6-8 weeks after the project is completed to make sure your new system fits well with your day to day life.
No project is too small, so whether you’re unhappy with an overflowing kids play room, a kitchen full of cluttered cabinets, or a disorganized walk-in closet, Love Your Space can help.
Visit the Love your Space website today or call (508) 648-6981 to speak to Shannon about your space!
My 5 year old son loves art projects, and is especially into crayons. Pretty much every afternoon you can find him parked at the kitchen table with a pile of white paper and his box of 96 Crayola crayons. He can go through a 100-sheet pad of drawing paper in two weeks. All of his pictures are important to him, so of course I try to display as many as possible… we’ve got them on the fridge, the basement door, sometimes even on the kitchen cabinets. In order to try and keep the house a little less cluttered looking, I went searching for some ideas to better display his ‘pieces’. I found a great solution online in these Work of Art Clips ($12.95 each from the Land of Nod). They come in four different styles (I went for the Stars, very cute!), and each strand includes 7 clips to hold up your child’s artwork. My son loves seeing his pictures displayed on the walls of our playroom, and will show them off to any visitor he can drag in there!
