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The onset of fall brings beautiful weather and a chance to get outside and explore the remote areas of Texas. My family loves to go camping and many times we travel with our extended family as well.
In October we headed down to Glen Rose to see The Promise play and camped at Cleburne State Park. This was not our first trip to these camping grounds, but it had been a long time. Once we arrived my sister-in-law and I headed into town to buy food for the entire weekend. We purchased $150 in groceries including sausage, eggs, ribs, bacon, hamburgers, lunch meats, chips, bread, and Batter Blasters.
That evening we attended the play and decided to eat in town. Our group arrived back at our campsite at midnight and spotted a very large raccoon climbing a tree at our site. We also noticed he had attacked the chips and bread laying on our camping table. On a positive note, the raccoon had not found the meats we had purchased.
At 6 a.m. I woke to hear the rustling of animals outside our tent and discovered that our raccoon friend had returned with his friends to check out the coolers filled with the rest of our food. Confident that the critter proof latches on the coolers would keep out the pests, we did not rush out of bed. To our shock, when we finally got up, all of the food was gone! The only things left were our Batter Blasters, probably because the raccoons could not get into the metal cans.
So my organizing tip for inexperienced campers: buy Batter Blasters. Not only are they raccoon-proof but there is no mess or mixing. Just shake the can and spray on your grill for some great pancakes.
So whether you are camping, packing, running a business out of your home, or just need ideas for organizing your life... read our "GO" Newsletter each month for tips and much more.
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Do you want more stress, less joy, and no time? If this is not your vision of the holiday season, it's time to start getting prepared and organized for Christmas. It may seem early, but don't let Christmas surprise you. Make it a goal to have things planned, prepared and organized so that when others are going at warp speed, you are sipping on hot cocoa watching The Christmas Carol with your family.
In order to make this happen, you must start now! Get Organized! found a great site that can help you have everything done in 5 weeks or less. The plan started in October but you can catch up fast. Each week focuses on one area and if you follow the plan you will have it all done way before Christmas. Follow the link below to Get Organized Week #1. Print out the .pdf and use this as your starting point followed by the forms for materials to create your Christmas Binder, Gift Idea Planner and a Home Spruce Up check off list. If you use this plan to get organized for the holidays, you won't miss a thing...including scheduling those family photos for your Christmas cards.
Getting things done ahead of time will make this a stress free time and one that will allow YOU to enjoy every moment. For the entire plan and all the forms go to www.OrganizedChristmas.com. |
Thanksgiving is the perfect season to stock up on everyday foods at very low cost. All your baking goods, cake mixes, stuffing, turkeys, hams and more are on sale. If you are not usually a huge sale ad person, you will want to be at least for the week of Thanksgiving. Plan your Christmas baking and cooking menu now so you can take advantage of the bargains.
If you decide to do some advanced holiday shopping, your traditional cabinet space may become cluttered and disorganized. To prevent the overflow from becoming a problem, create a temporary holding spot in a garage or closet. The weather here in Texas is cool enough now to allow canned goods to be stored outside in a garage space.
Organize your temporary storage place with a free standing shelf from Lowe's, Home Depot or Target to hold the overflow from the kitchen. It is best to place the shelf to the right or left of the doorway when you enter the garage from inside your home. In fact, you can keep this shelf in use even after your holiday cooking is done. Use it for extra paper towels, toilet paper, tea bags, and other non-perishable items that can handle the temperature in the garage and do not need to take up your precious inside storage spaces.
Schedule a time next week to clean out and organize your spices too. You probably have some that are expired and have lost their flavor and much of their aroma. If you have spices you don't use very often, put them in plastic bags in the freezer to keep them fresh much longer than their expiration date.
As you are cleaning out and organizing your spices, be sure to make a list of those that have to be replaced, and pick them up while holiday grocery shopping. |
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Each month Lorraine Brock offers a FREE workshop on organizing some area of your life at the non-profit This Side Up! Family Fun Center. See what is coming up next.
Thursday, February 9, 2011 from 11:30-1:00 p.m.
M.O.M. Talk: Savvy Ways to Save
1100 Capital Avenue, Plano, TX 75074
www.thissideupfamily.org
$5/person recommended donation. FREE childcare available. Bring your own dinner or purchase snacks/drinks from the $1 café.
Check the This Side Up! monthly event calendar for future dates and topics.
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Christmas Organizing Tips
Tip #1: Instead of buying bags of ice for all your entertaining and guests, consider bagging ice from your ice maker days before the event and storing it in your freezer until party time.
Tip #2: Traveling for Christmas? Pack gifts in XL Ziplock Big Bags. It protects them from the weather and it keeps the giftwrap from tearing while traveling.
Tip #3: Set up a wrapping area in your home where you can keep out your paper, bags, nametags, tape, scissors, and ribbon. Use a spare bedroom if you have one and make it Santa's Wrapping Room, using the bed as your wrapping station or set up a folding table. Use a wrapping standup station to hold paper, tape, tags and more all within easy reach.
Tip #4: Start doubling recipes when you make dinner casseroles. Eat one for dinner and freeze the other for days in December when you are too busy to cook.
Tip #5: If your family draws names for Christmas presents, it might be too complicated to figure out who is buying for whom. Let NameDrawing.com do the work for you. Just type in each person's name, set some rules, and Voilà!
Tip #6: Would you like an easy way to send Christmas cards? Try SendOutCards.com. You can create postcards, traditional cards or a trifold card. It lets you add photos too. When your design is complete, the company will print the card, stuff, stamp and mail it for you and you can do it all while in your PJs. As our gift to you, visit www.SendOutCards.com/SavvySavers and send a card on us.
Tip #7: Before you go out shopping, check the internet for coupons. Two great sites for coupons are RetailMeNot.com and DealCatcher.com.
Tip #8: Think about buying Groupon and Living Social deals as gifts for your holiday list. Many of the deals allow for multiple purchases. |
For many of you, the holidays bring family and friends who often stay the night, and with that comes a need for extra sleeping space in your home. Even if you don't have guests a lot, but still need a piece of furniture to help with sleeping arrangements and extra seating, we have just the thing. In fact we have a two-in-one thing.
Beddinge (IKEA) - Beddinge sofa bed is practical and comfortable. A sofa by day and a bed by night. It's easy on the wallet and will maximize space in your home. There are different mattress types to choose from along with a variety of slipcovers to match any decor. |
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Savvy Ways
to Save
Black Friday
Many stores have already released their Black Friday ads. This can help you plan, budget, and organize your shopping
online or in the store.
Don't forget to use Ebates when ordering ANYTHING online to save even more money. Just click through to your favorites stores from Ebates and you can earn additional discounts. Once you have accumulated $25.00 they send you a check. It's that easy... plus you can stack coupons. |
Wishing for Clean Carpets Before Christmas?
Get Organized!only recommends Cornerstone Chem-Dry. Chem-Dry is our exclusive partner
for the services listed below,
and we proudly recommend them to our clients.
Carpets, oriental and area rugs, tile and grout cleaning and sealing, carpet repairs, stretching, leather cleaning and repairs, upholstery cleaning, 24 hour water damage restoration, and pet urine removal and treatment.
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Selling your Home?
4 Free Organizing Hours or 2 Free Hours of Staging with Service
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Barbara Gilbert Interiors, transforming ordinary spaces into must-see places!
For people who are do-it-yourselfers, we have an online interior design service. You do the measuring, we do the design work and specify everything you need for your project, and you do the shopping from a list of online and local retailers. We save time so you save money!
If you mention "Get Organized!" you will receive 20% off a one hour design consultation.
214-641-7897
www.BarbaraGilbertInteriors.com
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Need a small storage unit to hide all your Christmas gifts for the kids this year? Assured Self Storage offers small storage units to rent on a month to month basis for about $35 a month.
We recommend
Assured Self Storage
21 locations in the DFW area
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Do you want to learn how to use ebay? Are you ready to make some money by selling items you no longer want?
Pricing
Navigation
Paypal
Uploading
Ratings
and more
If you have items in your home you want to sell on ebay for some quick cash, but are not sure how, contact Lori Dwight today and let her know Get Organized! sent you.
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