Learn to Stamp and Scrap with Lynn Larson

Weekly Organization Tip - Sunday, February 14, 2009

Today I thought I would share with you an article that I found on the Woman's Day website on reducing stress in your life by creating an organized home environment.  There is enough stress in the outside world so why don't we take the time to create a stress free environment for the ones we love in our own homes?  This article talks about Family Fun, Office Organization, Soothing Sleep, A Cook's Haven and an Organized Bedroom.  You can read the full article on your own HERE.

I would love to hear what each of you do to reduce stress in your lives.  I know that for me rubber stamping and paper crafting are my savior.  I love to get creative and really need to stamp when I am stressed.  For me, creating a scrapbook page layout, a handmade greeting card or a fabulous handcrafted gift is very soothing and takes your mind off the outside world.

So leave a comment and let me know what you do to reduce your stress!

Lynn Larson

Weekly Organization Tip - Sunday, February 8, 2009

Man how time flies!  It is time for another weekly organization tip.  I just love these tips because they help me to focus on keeping my life sane and organized.  From what I have been hearing, a lot of you really like these tips as well.  So, back to getting organized.  Today's "sanity" tip is for meal planning.  I like to make large batches of homemade meals and freeze portions of them for use later on.   

Here is what I do:

• Pick a day that works best for you to prepare your meals.  I usually like cooking on Sundays.  I usually run errands and spend time with the hubby on Saturday so Sunday is set aside for homemade meals, family day and spending more time at home entertaining.
• I like to plan my meals around the sales ads from my local grocery stores.  I start off looking at the meats and planning my menu ideas from there.
• Whatever you are making for dinner that night just double or triple the recipe so that you have leftover portions to freeze.
• Some things that I like to make in large batches and freeze are:  All types of soups (vegetable, asparagus, split pea, 15 bean, etc.), spaghetti sauce, chili,  stews (like beef or pork), lasagna or stuffed shells and even loaves of bread and batches of muffins.
• Purchase some freezer containers and fill leaving enough room for your items to freeze and expand a little in the containers.
• I wrap my breads and muffins in plastic wrap and them pop them into a freezer bag.
• Put a piece of masking tape or some other type of label on the container and mark the contents and the date that you make the item. 
• Let them cool completely, pop the lids on the containers and put them in the freezer.
• When you have a night of sporting events, dance recitals or just a plain busy day you have a quick, delicious, healthy meal all set to pull out of the freezer and heat up for convenience. 
• For an added bonus, take out a loaf of homemade bread to go along with your soup, stew or chili and have a complete homemade meal ready to go!
• No fast food restaurants needed when you plan ahead!  This will save you time, money, sanity and your health by planning meals like this ahead of time. 

I hope that you enjoyed this week's tip.  I am off to make a bunch of freezable meals today that include:  Harvest Pork Stew, Beef Stew, Spaghetti Sauce and Stuffed Shells.  I am also going to make at least one loaf of homemade bread to go with the Harvest Pork Stew I am making tonight for our Sunday dinner.  I may make another loaf to freeze as well.  We shall see...

I have also been having an urge to make some chocolate chip cookies.  I may make a double batch and freeze some of those to keep for another day as well.  I will wrap up some in plastic wrap and then put them in ziploc freezer bags so I can pull out batches as I need them.  We are having company for dinner on Tuesday and it would be great to have the cookies all made and ready for dessert that night!

I would love to hear what types of meals you prepare for freezing or other tips on how to have healthy, quick meals on busy nights when you don't have much time to cook in the kitchen.  Please leave a comment and tell me what YOU do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lynn Larson

Weekly Organization Tip (PLUS Bonus Links) - Sunday, January 11, 2009

Thank you all so much for your comments on the addition of "Organization Sunday" to my blog.  It seems to be a popular topic for a lot of us!  I know that posting here each week is keeping me more focused on my goal of being more organized and that is a good thing:))

So, how did you all make out with your inboxes?  Did you get them cleaned out?  Are you staying on top of them?  If you didn't finish that task, keep working on it until you get it done.  I know mine is a long process with all the groups that I belong to. 

ORGANIZATION TIP - Did you know that you could "filter" email to be received in folders instead of directly into your inbox?  I have some of the emai that I receive from groups on a regular basis set up to be filtered directly into a folder that is named for that group.  The email that I filter are not urgent ones that I need to respond to so I can go back and read them at my leisure when I get a free moment.  This keeps my inbox free of less important messages and allows me to respond to more urgent email in a timely manner.  

If you don't filter your email and would like to, why not research how you can do that through your email program and set that up?  I would like to hear how many of you added filters to your email.

This week I have a couple of links for you to check out.  I am sure some of you may have heard of places to go for organizational tips and ideas.  I thought that I would highlight some of my favorites here:

1. I have been utilizing a site called Fly Lady for many years now.  This is a great site to learn more about keeping on top of your home, your kids and your meals.  There are lots of tips on decluttering and organizing.  This site is all about creating routines and doing them continually.  No matter where you are with your organizational needs, be sure to start in the Getting Started Section.  There is a LOT of information on this site and it can be quite overwhelming when you first start out. 

2. Another helpful site is called Mommysavers.com.  There are a lot of topics listed here - one of which being Organization.  Some articles from this website are highlighted below.

3. Another great link is to an article on Mommysavers called 10 Easy Ways to Get Organized written by Jill Cooper.

4. Another article on Mommysavers that is quick and easy to do is Ten Minute Tricks by Maria Gracia.

That is all that I will leave you with today.  If you check out these links, you will have more than enough to keep you busy this week. 

Please be sure to leave a comment at the end of this post to update what you have been doing, what you accomplished and what you are working on.  It would be great to support each other by knowing what you are doing and what you might need help with.

Happy organizing and I will see you back here next Sunday for another Weekly Organization Tip!

Lynn

VIDEO - PVC Bin Storage System for Tutorial Tuesday

Since we have been talking about organization the last two weeks, I thought that this video would be perfect to share. 

If you are you looking to simplify your storage needs and make it easier to get more organized, you should check out this video on building your own PVC Bin Storage System.  Someone on one of the groups I belong to shared this link.  I unfortunately saved only the link she shared and not her information in order to give her credit.  It is a great video that is worth checking out.  It is an easy, cost-effective solution to create for your storage needs that makes storing totes or storage bins very accessible and organized. 

Check out the VIDEO HERE.

Enjoy and happy organizing!

Lynn

Weekly Organization Tip - Sunday, January 4, 2009

Here we are in the beginning of a brand new year.  One of my resolutions this year is to be more organized.  To help ME to do that, I am posting a weekly Organization Tip or Organization Challenge on my blog every Sunday. 

ORGANIZATION TIP #2 - Clean out your email inbox.  Take a few moments today to weed through your email inbox.  Delete everything that you don't need - jokes, forwarded emails and anything else in there that you will not need to reference.  Once you do that, there shouldn't be much left.  Go through the remaining email in your inbox and either answer any necessary email or file them in folders for future reference.  If you can't go through your whole inbox today, that is okay.  Break this task down into 15 minute increments each day this week until you accomplish your goal of cleaning out your inbox.

Another helpful hint would be to put your email in order of who sent it so you can look at blocks of email all at one time and can either move the group to a file for reference later or delete them.

Make sure to leave me a comment and let me know when you accomplish this organizational challenge. 

Be sure to stop by again next Sunday, January 11th for another Organization Tip!

Happy organizing!

Lynn

New Year / New Resolutions - NEW "Organization Tip" Sunday

     

With the New Year fast approaching have you decided on your New Year's Resolutions for 2009?  If you are like me, you might be vowing to be more organized in some way this year.  Some people want to organize their photos to scrapbook.  Others need to organize their finances.  Some might even need to organize their time or their office space.    

I thought it might be fun to share our New Year's resolutions with each other and share some tips on accomplishing those goals.  If you would like to be more organized in any way then you will want to be sure to check my blog every Sunday for a weekly organization tip. 

Since today is Sunday, I will start my organizing tips today (yes, before the New Year officially starts).  There is no better time to start than now!

ORGANIZATION TIP #1 - Start gathering all of your tax information for tax time or for your accountant.  This is the perfect week to do that since most people are still in holiday mode and not looking to steal your time.  Before you know it, April 15th will be here.  Get a jump start on your tax paperwork today!

If you haven't already done so, you might also want to get a 2009 calendar and have it ready to list deadlines, appointments and organization challenges. 

Take it one step further by being ahead of the game this time next year by setting up your household and/or business income and expense spreadsheets for 2009!  Entering the money you receive in as income or pay out as expenses on the day it occurs only takes a few seconds each day.  (Catching up for the entire year takes many, many hours!)

Be sure to check back with me next Sunday, January 4th for Organization Tip #2.  If you have accomplished Organization Tip #1, please leave me a comment and let me know.

Now go and get that tax paperwork organized!  Don't forget to leave me a comment when you are done.

Lynn