Organize More

Clean,

Clutter,

Organizing,

Stress,

Time Management |

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Friday

05Feb2010

Take Care of Your Water

Think of all the ways you enjoy your water, from taking a nice, hot shower, to walking around a lake, sipping fresh water with a meal, swimming at the beach, eating water ice on a hot day, or event the fun you have when washing the dog.

Water is a precious resource and it is important for us to find ways to conserve water.

Do you have any leaky faucets that need new washers?
How about participating in an organized beach clean-up?
You wouldn't, of course, be pouring any toxic poison into your street gutters, now would you?

And there are certainly plenty of ways to reduce your water use at home, like:

fillling watering cans while you're waiting for the water to heat up for the shower or dishes,
watering plants at the end of the day,
not running loads of laundry that are only half full,
not leaving the shower water running while you talk on the phone,
running a full dishwasher a few times per week, instead of a not full every day,
turning the water off while you brush your teeth, and back on to rinse,
getting a rain barrel to water outside gardens with rainwater.

If you have some water saving tips, we'd love to hear about them. Please leave comments, and remember... every drop counts.

Friday, February 5, 2010 at 9:53AM |

Clean,

Green |

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Tuesday

02Feb2010

January Give-a-way Winner

Congratulations to Lindsay from shrimp salad circus.

Lindsay won the Black+Blum Porcelain Desk Organizer to help her celebrate "Get Organized Month".

Thanks to everyone who entered. Keep checking back as there is always something going on at Organize More.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 4:37PM |

Organizing |

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Saturday

30Jan2010

Wondering about Free Time

So what is this thing called "free time"? What are are we supposed to do with it? If we do do something with it, is it no longer free?

I have a great deal of difficulty with free time. To me, free time is idle and idle is not something I do well. Take right now, for example (at the time of this writing). I've been in back-to-back meetings, including a lunch meeting, since 9:00 a.m. Its now after 3:00 p.m. I'm in Starbucks with a Chai Latte, my Blackberry and the local paper. This is "free time" until my next scheduled appointment at 4:00. But what, exactly, is free about it?

I paid for my Chai Latte.
I checked my Blackberry and answered all of my email and text messages for the day.
I read the paper (the parts worth reading).
And now I'm writing this piece questioning the "free" in "free time".

Admittedly, I have no answer here. Some people have told me that having free time helps to quiet their minds so that they can think. For me, quite the opposite happens. Free time tends to allow my mind to shift into overtime because its not focused on any particular task or activity.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be one of the lucky people who can take mini power naps and meditate their minds into blank pages. There are many days when I would welcome that ability... I just don't have it.

Let us focus for a moment on language. The word "free" as related to "time" is an oxymoron of sorts. Maybe I should refer to it as unscheduled time or time not yet dedicated to a particular purpose. Also, when we have un-dedicated time, but have a list of tasks to be completed... shouldn't some of that time be allocated to the tasks at hand?

Hmmmm... as an organizer and self-proclaimed time-management expert, I would immeidately respond "yes", you should cross something off of your to-do list.
The somewhat creative person in me says "do something crafty like knit or paint or redecorate your living room."
The tired writer, currently sitting in Starbucks finishing the last drop of a now room temperature Chai Latte says "screw it... just sit, listen to the music, look at the people, and continue to scribble on this piece of looseleaf paper (yes, long-hand)".

Note to self: only cats have free time. This is a picture of Malachy enjoying his.

Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 11:14PM |

Personal Development,

Time Management |

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Tuesday

26Jan2010

Clean-up Your Make-up

Does putting your make-up on in the morning take forever?

Do you find yourself sifting through a big box of stuff, most of which you never use?

Is it covered with powder and eyeliner shavings?

Is your mascara expired (yes, cosmetics do expire)?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need a cosmetics intervention.

First things first: dump all of the make-up out of whatever basket, box or drawer you keep it in onto a table. Go ahead, dump it all out. If you have make-up in other places, add that to the pile on the table. Include anything in your purse, too.

Next, sort through it. Toss anything old or anything that you don't use. Smell your mascara... if its funky, it goes. Make separate piles by cosmetic: eye shadows, lip liners, blush, etc. Wipe off everything you've kept so the cases are clean and you can see the contents.

Now you need to really really look at the colors. What works for you?

If you know you are never going to wear the lime green shadow that was an impulse buy in line at Sephora three months ago, ditch it. If you have brown blush and you never wear brown blush, ditch it. If you have matte lipstick that you keep because "its a nice shade of red" but you hate the texture, ditch it.

Know your colors... they are the ones you reach for without thinking. They are your favorites... the ones you always look good in. Stick with them.

Now do the same with all of the blush brushes, eyebrow brushes, old broken tweezers and other "tools of the trade". If they are ragged and nasty, ditch them. Good brushes can and should be cleaned in warm water and a little dish detergent every few months. Cheap brushes should be replaced. You need one good tweezer... not four old bent ones. you need one good nail trimmer. You need a small stash of good emery boards. You may want a few shadow brushes and sponges for foundation. Other than that, it goes in the trash.

Keep what you use and wear. Keep a few sparkly things for special occasions. Put them back neatly into a pretty container.

Dispose of the rest. Yes, I said dispose of it... trash it... no one wants it... don't even think about making it a donation. Some things just have to get trashed!

There now, don't you feel pretty.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 9:21PM |

Clean,

Clutter |

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