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Greetings!
This past month I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary with my high school sweetheart. While my husband was on a business trip on our special day, I received 25 white roses at my front door and my heart just bubbled with excitement.
My anniversary reminded me how blessed I am in my marriage. My husband will do just about anything, try anything, and go almost anywhere with me. I know his adventurous spirit has helped to keep our marriage fresh and loving.
There are two times each year my husband and I evaluate our family and our marriage. The first is at the beginning of each calendar year and the second in the fall when school starts and our calendar fills with activities.
This school year, make a conscious decision to not overschedule your family. Instead, make time to build a healthier atmosphere at home and a better marriage example for your children. In observing couples that I know going through rough patches in their marriages, the first thing they do is cut out all the extra stuff to focus on their families. Why wait until there are problems to create a healthy balance?
To do this you must organize a complete plan of attack that includes goal setting and implementation. Get Organized! often helps clients use better time management skills to bring control to their home life and their schedule, and establish regular date nights.
I encourage each of you to look at what changes you can make this upcoming fall that will improve your marriage or dating relationships. Look at your family as a whole, evaluating quality family time, volunteer hours, and children's activities, and see what is important to continue and what you can give back to your marriage.
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Scheduling for Family
It may take creating new habits in order to keep your family from feeling frenzied this fall. Typically this is the time of year to take a closer look and plan carefully for the upcoming year. It is easier to say a realistic no, versus trying to back out of a commitment. Although it can be tempting to be involved in many things, this can be the main cause for anxiety in everyday living. Limiting each family member's activities is a must in order to bring calm to the chaos.
School: Keep homework under control
Set a regular time that works for the whole family.
Create a quiet work environment.
Provide a healthy snack, giving necessary energy for the task.
Be accessible during homework time for questions.
Make sure kids have been active prior to this time of sitting still to help them stay focused.
Look over school papers during this time, attending to any details, signing papers, filing, putting necessary dates on the calendar, and finishing tasks before the next school day.
Make sure bath and bedtime are scheduled. Not enough sleep can make for poor grades and a bad attitude.
Activities: Limit one to two for each child
Be attentive to the bent of each child. Knowing your child can help you in deciding whether each activity is really necessary.
Pick outside activities carefully. Remember, this involves the whole family, not just the one member of the family.
Look at the time each activity will take, and consider the number of activities involving each family member.
Don't forget to count the cost of each activity. Financial pressure is just as stressful as the lack of time.
Plan some nights where you stay at home and do some things together: movies, games, puzzles, read a book together, make popcorn and take turns chatting about your day. Have fun with each other. The time goes by fast!
Social Events: Plan things that build stronger relationships
Church, date nights with mom and dad, homework at the coffee shop for a change of pace.
Laugh together, cry together, be quiet together, make it memorable.
Since family members are either at work or school the majority of the day, spending time as a family can help work out difficulties. If we are not putting our focus on each other, we can fall apart as a unit. Relationships are never standing still, they are either growing closer or further apart.
Work: Set priorities that put family first
Our kids need to know that they are a priority. This gives them the love and care they need and deserve. 
The teenage years are just around the
corner, so healthy bonding from the beginning is a must if you want to be more successful during that season of their lives. It is important to know that we will always reap later what we sow now. Parenting never stops; our roles just change as our kids get older.
Life can be challenging for all of us, so make the best of your family by giving them the gift of time. Creating a realistic schedule and keeping activities that support the family will allow for each member to be successful.
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Organize Your Child's
School Papers 
Temporary Holding Spot
This is a letter tray, basket, or box that resides near the child's backpacks or where they do their homework. This is for old tests, artwork, report cards, or items that require parental action. Parents will either take action on the paper (by returning it to school, putting it in their Tickler file, etc.) or place the paper in the Year Long Spot. If children are old enough, they can sort these papers themselves and determine what goes in which area.
Year Long Spot
This is a large box or tub (1 per child) that holds all completed school papers requiring no further action. These papers are not sorted, but simply placed here for 9 months until the summer, when time for further organizing can occur. At the end of the school year, these items will be looked at as a whole, purged, and sorted into 3 categories:
1. Artwork - Store in a large portfolio (many smaller pieces can fit on one page) or an accordion portfolio divided by age/grade level. You could take pictures of the artwork, discard the originals, and make a photo album. Some artwork can be laminated and used as placemats for special family meals, or photos can be taken of each piece of artwork and uploaded for permanent online storage and/or made into scrapbooks.
2. Everyday Papers - Important essays, tests, stories, and handwriting samples can be stored in a 10 x 13 manila envelope (1 per child per year). Using this one envelope gives you a threshold of what you can keep from the school year. Label each envelope with the child's name, year, and age/grade level. For long-term storage, purchase a plastic container and keep all the envelopes in this container from pre-school to graduation.
3. Portfolio - Awards, end of year report cards (print out a copy of online report cards), letters of recommendation, state tests, log/track volunteer hours, can be placed in a 3-ring binder with sheet protectors (1 binder per child for pre-K - 12th grade). Utilize the binder materials as your child gets older for creating a resume, applying for scholarships or college, etc.
Permanent Storage Spot
The Artwork portfolio and Everyday papers container can be stored in the attic or garage and added to each year. The Portfolio binder can be kept in the parent's office or somewhere else accessible where it can updated often.
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Huggable Hangars
 | | Kid's Size |
Do you struggle with these annoying situations in your closets?
- Clothes that slide off onto the floor
- Wanting to hang outfits together, but not having the right tool for the task
- Battling with kid's clothing that does not fit on larger, adult hangars
Watch this video to see the multiple uses for this tool.
This could be the answer to your closet dilemmas!
 | | Adult Size |
This product is currently on sale until September 2, 2013 at
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Tax Free Weekend
Here is a little organizing tip about shopping on tax free weekend, August 9-11, 2013, in the state of Texas.
Visit the stores you will be buying from the week before Tax Free Weekend and try on sizes for both clothing and shoes. Write down the sizes and brands you plan to purchase.
Look for coupons for the store(s) you will be shopping at for Tax Free Weekend in the mail, Sunday paper, and the Internet.
Create an account on Ebates.com to get additional rebates at many of the stores you shop. These sites often allow you to stack your coupons and include free shipping. This may be more cost effective then shopping in the stores.
If you won't miss the crowded stores and long lines, on August 9th, with coupon codes in hand and your list of items to purchase, order online. By doing this you will avoid the long lines, lack of selection in sizes, and save time and money not having to grab a bite to eat while going from store to store. Make Tax Free Weekend nice and easy for you and your family.
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Become a Professional Organizer through our
Affiliate Program
Get Organized! is interested in connecting with individuals throughout Texas who are naturally organized, creative with space planning and organizational systems, have business smarts, self-motivation, and an understanding of the importance of excellent time management. Organizing skills are often learned or enhanced through tasks and hobbies you have done both in the corporate world and in your own home. These skills, in addition to the branding advantage and professional training from a successful organizing company, can launch you into a profitable organizing business.
Our Affiliate Program allows you to focus on working as a professional organizer while you save both time and money utilizing the experience, brand recognition, and proven processes from one of DFW's finest organizing companies - Get Organized!. The initial investment includes: your time, travel expenses (for training in the Dallas area), general liability bonding insurance, and insurance for business use of your vehicle. There are no other startup costs.
We look forward to hearing from you about starting your own organizing business anywhere in the great state of Texas.
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Savvy Ways
to Save
Here is a great way to spend less by buying
All auctions start at $1.00. Items are in their original packaging and can be returned within 30 days.
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Packing and Unpacking
Services
Our team of professional organizers can de-clutter
before you pack and move
and/or pack, unpack, and organize your entire home once your move-in is complete.
We can also work with your movers for placement of furniture when the truck
arrives at your new home.
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Winner of our Customer Feedback Contest
I am a very organized person by nature, but my "weak point" is
paperwork. Get Organized! came in and helped me organize all my paperwork into a filing system where anyone can now find all our important papers.
Completely professional about all my paperwork, even my business
paperwork. Very prompt! Super fast! And will use them again the next time my paperwork piles up to high! Highly recommend!
Dody B. - Frisco, Tx
Dody will win two tickets, a DVD and a signed autographed lanyard from comedian
Tim Hawkins.
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