I can't take credit for this one - it belongs to my mother in law "Ninny" Ginny Payne but I'm going to pass it along becuase it's so darn good! Got small area rugs or chair pads on your kitchen chairs that are sliding around and won't stay in place? Our kitchen chair pads (even with the ties for the chair backs kept sliding around making us all nuts. Ninny hit the dollar store and bought some of the rubber shelf liner (the non-adhesive kind with the nubs on it) as an alternative to that expensive rug liner material you'd buy at a home improvement store. Worked like a charm!
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Can you imagine being a kid in foster care and along with all the heartache that comes with that, not having the luggage or totes needed to be able to pack your belongings to move from one location to the next? Well, neither can I. If you know you have items that could help, please consider grabbing them and donating to WSB's Totes2Tots drive. There is a link below to their event and a link to Georgia Cancer centers website that shows all their locations where they are collecting. There are MANY locations all around ATL including Alpharetta, Cumming and Johns Creek. Please share this post with friends as it's a super way to clean out your closet to help a child in need. http://www.wsbtv.com/news/events/neighborhood-community/totes-2-tots-january-13/nF3nD/ http://www.gacancer.com/offices At some point whether you use a pretty jar on the counter for utensils or store in a drawer, there are some gadgets/items that simply don't fit! The drawers become overwhelmed and stuffed. An easy trick is to grab two dollar store containers as seen here and take all the bulkier and less used items and store via cabinet/pantry space. If you have enough of certain items, then group them in your container i.e. baking items (chocolate curler, pastry cutter for butter cut-in, lemon zest grater, funnels for jam making, etc.) cooking items (cheese graters, garlic press, corn cob butter gadget, meat tenderizer). Leaves your drawers or jar open for the spoons/spatulas you use most! OK so many of you know about my cash budget system for 2013 which I expect will be real challenge at times given raising two growing boys...so for obvious reasons I'm looking for all kinds of way to save at the store. I tend to shop at Kroger for a variety of reasons but I love the card program since they MAIL the coupons to me and ONLY for the things I already buy as using the card helps track those things. I've always been a coupon user but who has time to clip the coupons and unless you are disciplined and have a system, many people don't have the coupons on them when needed or they expire before being used up. WELL NO LONGER! In my research on ways to save money and stay organized/on track in 2013, I have stumbled upon the DIGITAL COUPON program that Kroger runs. Many of us HAVE a Kroger Card BUT have you gone onto www.kroger.com and REGISTERED the card/set up and account? Well I did it last night in about 2 minutes AND then I was off and running. You can download to your card up to a maximum of 150 eCoupons from various manufactures for ALL types of things. An easy search feature helps you navigate the items you are looking to find a coupon for and download. Once downloaded, as soon as you are at store/buy it/scan your card it will automatically be used at checkout!! There are a couple of restrictions such as you can't stack an eCoupon with another printed coupon and many can not be doubled BUT STILL they are there waiting on you!! The Kroger Compnay has several stores in this program such as King Soopers and Fry'sso no matter where you live you should be able to find a store if this sounds like a good program for you. Happy savings with less paper clutter = WIN. Clearing up after Christmas and wondering what to do with the cards? Re-sharing my Facebook post from 10/1/12 about recycling your cards! Been doing this for year since my cousin Karen Walsh Buschini of In Its Place Organizing turned me on to this...I also keep some paper ones if the motifs are small and I can cut and use for toppers to my mason jars for gifts in a jar (i.e. 11/30 post Jen's Devilish Delish Seasoning Mix) For the picture cards...I keep those in a photo box and last year when the box was full I sorted them all out and sent several family and friends a package with 10+ Years worth of their cards - fun to see their kids grow up in a matter of moments :) See link for recycling info in post below. From 10/1/12 Facebook: Today’s tip…do you have last year’s Christmas and other cards stacked up? You can’t keep them all…Sure pull out the ones from Grandparents, etc. BUT don’t toss the rest…DONATE them! See link below. St. Jude Ranch will use them happily and you’ll feel great about moving a stack of clutter out of the house…That counter spot is now ready for a decorative pumpkin! http://www.stjudesranch.org/shop/recycled-card-program/ Is getting organized part of your New Years Resolutions? Seems a bit overwhelming doesn't it? Where to start? How about a small project with big results? The dreaded junk drawer!!! First, empty it ALL out and toss the obvious trash. Clean out the drawer and containers if being used and then only put back the most grabbed/used items. All other items that you are undecided on/use less often either 1) find its regular home/put away where it should once have been put back to OR 2) collect all the random items that are left and put into a large ziplock bag or dollar store container and store elsewhere for a few weeks. You know where things are if you need them but they are not cluttering the once packed drawer. After a few weeks, grab the bag/container and re-evaluate. Maybe you'll be ready to toss more items then, with the goal to eventually clean out the bag/container either by assigning a proper permanent home for the item or pitch the junk :) It's not officially 2013 yet but today begins the first of my resolutions...This next year will bring many changes for our family - the main one being the fact I'll be "retiring" from my job at the CPA firm I've been with for 9 years to fully concentrate on building my professional organizing business. It's exciting and challenging all at the same time. It will and has forced us to really look at hard at the House of Payne's budget for cashflows. As we all know, if there is less money coming in then less needs to be going out. So with that being said, I've decided as part of my organizing business and blog posting I'd challenge myself to the Great Envelope Budgeting System Project of 2013! As of this morning I've updated all our accounts in Quicken, balanced the checkbook for my "household" account and basically will pull out the majority of the small balance now that bills have been paid and prepare my envelopes to use for groceries, gas and small incidentals over the next few weeks. I've always been a coupon shopper and look for deals but I'll be going into overdrive while also figuring our where we'll be cutting back. I'll be updating you all on my progress via the blog and passing on hopefully lots of ideas to help you all in your household budgeting. I've been helping companies do budgeting and related cost efficiency consulting for years - NOW it's time to bring it home and to my organizing clients for their homes! I'd love to hear any ideas or suggestions you all use for your own homes!! Please email, leave comments to blog posts or get in touch on facebook. Wish me luck :) Getting ready for a New Years Party or having friends over to watch the bowl games? Even with as much as I love organization - when I see new organizing goodies I always ask myself how can I find more than one use for ANYTHING I buy. These Martha Stewart lables are a great example of that...I thought the label was a great idea since they are waterproof and can be used indoor and out - already a good start. The packaging shows them being used to label plant pots...OK one idea but that's when the item needs to be put to the test and see what else can be done with it...The red pull portion is slighly elastic which allows it to be pulled onto the pots or anything else really up to a couple of inches...lots of possibilities which I decided included using them as drink tags...I love these since they can be used on more than just wine glasses...fit onto cans, water bottles, beer bottles, etc. You get the idea AND since they are waterproof it doesn't matter if the can/bottle sweats - tag is good to go. Tag is big enough to decorate with sharpie pens to suit. Kids can do their own :) I like these tags too as a gift tag - especially if giving homemade james/jellies, "gifts in a jar" since the wrap around the glass so easily. Obviously uses around the house, attic, garage and OUTSIDE TOO are endless. Challenge yourself to think about how to find more than one use for things! I am hoping you all had a great Christmas filled with goodies from Santa and great food just as the House of Payne did (thanks to my Mom!!!) One of our family traditions involves giving and getting ornaments for special occasions or while traveling to commemorate our trip. Some ornaments were given to the kids when little for different things by grandparents, etc. I may remember what each one represents but at some point my memory may not be great so just in case - I always keep a sharpie on the mantle so I can label each new ornament. I like noting who its from and the year. Some are marked with the trip location, some marked with which person it was given too, etc. But no matter what they are all labeled so as the kids grow up and inevitably some of these get passed down thru the generations maybe others will know why they are special. This Christmas House ornament was given to Shannon & I by his mom and dad, when we moved into our "new" house in 1996 after we married. It's still the house we are in today and I am blessed to take it out each year and hang it on the tree and look back on some many wonderful years here. I bet many of you just like me will be wrapping lots of presents for loved ones this weekend. Make it easy on yourself by setting up a wrapping station. If you can, find a closet or other area to designate as your wrapping storage area and sort through your items. If a closet area isn't in the cards for you - consider using the bottom draw of a dresser in your guest room. Its a perfect size to house rolls of gift wrap and flattened gift bags etc. Use a dollar store container to house your ribbons as show in the picture or get an inexpensive small tension rod to slide rolls of ribbon onto and can be stored anywhere the tension rod can be wedged into. There are numerous fancy containers and shelving systems for the items but they can be pricey so how about getting creative with cheap bungee cords from dollar store? They can be used on the side of a closet wall or back of door and the rolls of paper and gift bags could be held back with a couple of well placed cords. I even saw on Pinterest how your could use rolls of wrapping paper as holiday decor. Longest rolls on bottom graduating up to smaller rolls and bows made a Christmas tree mounted to wall to serve as decor and easy access to wrap during the season. Pretty cool! Gift bags hung from bottom of "tree" storing ribbons, bows and tissue paper. Once you find a way that works for you and you make sure you have all the supplies you need your wrapping should go quickly and happily! |
AuthorJen Payne, CPA, Professional Organizer and mom to two boys: Brendan (17) and Ryan (15). Archives
April 2015
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