Time to Refocus!

by admin | Dec 21, 2024 | Get it done, Habits

Good grief, it’s been nearly a year since I’ve sent a newsletter or even written a blog post. Sometimes life gets so busy, we have to figure out how to get ourselves back on track. Covid has certainly had an impact on all our lives, and adapting to the “new normal” as it exists for us is imperative.

When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I take a moment to ask myself these questions:

What must I do right now, or by the end of today?
What must I create time for in my daily/weekly schedule?
What can I realistically put on hold temporarily?
How can I schedule some “me” time into my day?

The “must do” items are things that cannot be ignored without consequences; things like paying bills, tending to pressing medical issues, dealing with the “check engine” light on the dashboard, returning phone calls and important emails, eating, staying hydrated…

Figuring out what we actually have time to do on a day-to-day basis is critical. I think that’s why so many of us look to the New Year to get back into a routine. We make annual resolutions with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, they often fall by the wayside before February arrives because we make them too vague or too unrealistic. Here’s a link to a blog post I wrote about setting goals that are obtainable.

Creating space in the schedule for some “self care” is also important – what sort of things do you like to do? I enjoy reading and doing jigsaw puzzles. Even during this global pandemic, my husband and I make time to walk together, either outdoors or at our local mall. Whatever it might be, it’s important to schedule “me” time to balance out the “must do” items.

Sometimes, figuring out what you can put on hold means learning to say, “No” to outside pulls for your time and attention. Or it might mean limiting the time we waste spend online. Put a reminder on the calendar a month from now so you won’t forget about a non-urgent thing you need to do, trusting you’ll get to it when you’re not quite so busy.

When there’s something that we really need to do but can’t seem to get started, it’s easy to find a kazillion things we convince ourselves MUST BE DONE NOW! Yeah, you know what I’m talkin’ about. Put blinders on in order to stay committed to the task at hand. Not actual blinders but virtual ones to help block out distractions. Set a timer ‒ 15 minutes or an hour, whatever you can reasonably handle ‒ and when it beeps, go do something else.

Wash, rinse, repeat until that project is done. The satisfaction you’ll feel by tackling what you’ve been avoiding will be gratifying, trust me.

I hope this helps you get a handle on how you’re currently spending your time, deciding what you need to focus on, and how to get started.

If you’d like to get the Home Solutions monthly newsletter delivered straight to your inbox, click here to sign up!

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

Holiday Meal Planning Tips 2022

by admin | Nov 1, 2022 | Uncategorized

I share this time-saving tip annually, so here it is, just as the calendar flips to November.

I don’t know how holiday meals work at your house, but around here we do NOT mess with tradition!

This makes things easier for me because I know exactly what we’ll be eating – no new recipes to learn, no new ingredients to buy – so I computerize my shopping list for each holiday meal.

I make a simple Word document for each holiday, nothing fancy. I keep notes about what size turkey I need depending on the number of guests, and what time to put the pies in the oven.

My Thanksgiving list, in part, looks something like this:

Bread Stuffing:

___ 1 bag seasoned croutons
___ 1 carton chicken stock
___ Celery
___ Onion
___ Butter
___ Salt
___ Pepper
___ Sage

Squash:

___ 2 medium-sized butternut squash
___ Butter
___ Brown sugar
___ Nutmeg, cinnamon

Whipped Cream:

___ 2 cups heaving whipping cream
___ Sugar
___ Vanilla

You get the picture, right? Before shopping, I check the pantry and refrigerator, putting an X next to items I already have. Then I mark things off as I shop, since I usually buy things over the course of a few trips.

It might seem silly, but it saves me time AND money. How?

I don’t forget anything, so there are no frantic, last minute trips to the store.
I don’t buy items I already have. Spices are expensive, and who needs multiple jars of sage?

Speaking of spices, here’s a helpful article regarding their shelf life. I review my spices when the weather turns chilly and before the holidays are fully upon us, so now is a great time to do the sniff test on the spice jars in your cupboard. I replaced four jars today.

I’m in favor of anything that makes life easier as we head into the hectic holiday season. Are there any time-saving tips you’d like to share?

If you’d like to get future blog posts delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter titled, “Organized Thoughts.“

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

Waste Not, Want Not

by admin | Apr 30, 2020 | Habits, Money-Saving Tip

“Waste Not, Want Not” is a saying that dates back to the 1700s, but is especially relevant to the times we’re living in now.

I’ll tell you what: I never realized I had some wasteful habits until, well, until going to the grocery store became an event that had the potential to literally make a person ill.

I love to cook. We have the best Wegmans less than a mile from our front door. Weekly meal planning was never my thing. I would simply decide what I felt like cooking based on any number of factors: my work schedule, my mood, the weather, perhaps a late-in-the-day meeting or evening plans. I would typically buy fresh produce, dairy or meat as needed during any one of my 4-5 weekly trips to the store. Throw in a once-a-month trip to Trader Joes and Aldi, and you can easily see that I spent (wasted?) a fair amount of time shopping for food and sundries. Add in wear and tear on the car and the cost of gas every trip, and it doesn’t paint a very “green” picture, does it?

I readily admit that, due to the frequency of my shopping trips, I didn’t think twice about throwing away wilting salad greens, wrinkly tomatoes or bell peppers, mushrooms past their prime or any other spoilable items that were less than perfect. Even dairy products that had reached their, “best by” dates were tossed without a second thought. “No biggie diggie, I’ll just get more,” was my cavalier attitude.

Thanks to COVID-19, those bad habits have been kicked to the curb. I’ve learned to create my shopping list in two-week increments. I use a shopper via dumpling – check it out if you’re weary of waiting for instacart sessions to open up at your local grocer. I place an order and Emily (that’s my gal) shops and delivers it the next day. She texts me with any replacement questions. I wave at her through the window when she leaves the order on our porch. She gets a nice tip, and it’s all paid for via the dumpling app.

Lo and behold, I’ve also discovered the practically magical ease of freezing fresh veggies! For example, I now get the biggest container of sliced mushrooms. I put some in the refrigerator for daily use. Then I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, fill it with a single layer of mushrooms, and freeze them for a few hours. Then I simply divvy them up into freezer bags or containers to store in the freezer until needed. I do the same with the pack of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, cutting a chunk of each to keep in the fridge, slicing the rest and following the same drill: cookie sheet, parchment paper, yada yada yada. Same with baby spinach and kale. Easy breezy and ZERO waste! WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THIS BEFORE?!

Salad greens no longer get tossed just because the date says they’re done. I take the time to pick out the slimy bits and continue to use the still good pieces.

I used to dump out half the carton of milk every few weeks. I could’ve bought a quart instead of a half gallon, but the quart cost more! What the… Now we’ve switched to almond milk. Oh, I hear you, I was skeptical, too, but it’s delicious! And it has at least triple the refrigerator lifespan of cow’s milk. I’ll tell you what else: when I add it to eggs for scrambling, it makes them really fluffy. Who doesn’t love fluffy scrambled eggs?!

Here’s one of my best meal extender tips: I add at least a cup or two of fresh or frozen chopped veggies to all kinds of stuff. This increases the volume AND the nutritional value. Plus, if you chop them fine enough (I use my 3-cup mini food chopper) picky eaters can’t pick out the veggies. I put them in tuna, scrambled eggs, sauces, etc. Typically, it’s a combination of bell peppers, celery, scallions, mushrooms, greens, and sometimes carrots.

Oh, and I’ve started a mini garden from kitchen scraps and seeds! I planted the end of a sweet onion and some scallions, the base of celery hearts, and seeds from red, orange, and yellow bell peppers. It sits under a kitchen window and gets early day sun. So far, so good!

I hope you’re all staying safe and feeling healthy, wearing masks and looking out for the most vulnerable among us. If you’d like to get future blog posts delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my monthly newsletter titled, “Organized Thoughts.“

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

Uncharted Territory

by admin | Mar 27, 2020 | Get it done, Home Solutions Stuff

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m wandering aimlessly through a fog some days. There’s volleying between too many news updates and the worry that I’ll miss the latest news, along with the restlessness that accompanies fear and uncertainty.

I’m staying home trying to flatten the curve with social distancing for the foreseeable future, so I need to add structure to my days, stat. How often have we all longed for free time to get caught up on “all the things…?”

Before I go any further, let me take a moment to thank, with all my heart, the first responders, the health care providers, teachers, grocery store employees, mail carriers, and all the people who are out there doing what needs doing while the rest of us hunker down. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all of you. On a personal note, as much as I miss not visiting my mom daily, I am so appreciative of the care she is receiving in the dementia wing at Elderwood Skilled Nursing in Williamsville.

Many of us are experiencing forced time off in an effort to keep ourselves, our loved ones, and our fellow community residents safe and healthy. How do we make the best of a very bad situation?

As an organizer, there are projects I see in many households (as well as some in our own house!) that could be tackled, providing focus and a sense of accomplishment. Here are a few ideas:

Laundry – what a great time to get caught up! That means wash it, dry it, fold it, AND put it away. Maybe you’re only two or three loads behind, so it’s no biggie diggie. But if you’ve got piles upon piles, set a goal of two or three loads a day, seeing each load through to completion.
Socks – I can’t tell you how many clients have baskets full of mismatched socks. How about a friendly family game of “Pairs,” offering a prize to the member who matches up the most socks?
Junk Drawers – Use my mantra of, “A place for everything, and everything in its place…” and turn those junk drawers into organized go-to homes for office supplies, batteries, tools, pet supplies, gift wrap, etc.
Closets, Cupboard and Drawers – extend your organizing beyond junk drawers and tackle the bathroom drawers, linen closets, dressers, clothes closets, etc.
Decluttering – pick a category, any category, and decide if you’ve got just enough, or perhaps too much. Candles, coffee mugs, tablecloths… the list is endless.
Cleaning – There are lots of ideas in this category, but a few that I’ve put on my list to accomplish during my at-home time are:
- Windows – wash windows and sills to clear away winter grime and let in even more sunshine.
- Spring Cleaning – wipe down baseboards and walls, clear clutter, and vacuum the furniture; we’ll focus on our family room first, but what a great time to “git’er done.”
Photos – Whether it’s downloading them from your phone to your online albums, or getting them printed and put into actual photo albums, this is a great project to tackle with this forced found time.
Files/Paperwork – File stuff, clean out files. Shred stuff. I know, I know, but if not now, when?

Instead of mindlessly watching TV, get productive while watching! Check out some of my ideas in this “Couch Potato Productivity” post.

Then of course there’s the all important “self care” category that many of us often say we’re too busy to tend to. Here are some ideas I plan to incorporate into my daily routine:

Mindfulness – From my thoughts (keeping them positive) to what I put in my mouth (no more eating outta the bag!) to taking deep cleansing breaths regularly.
Reading – no, not on facebook. I will read pages in a real book for pleasure every day.
Walks – one or two walks outside a day. Fresh air and exercise, a win-win walk, if you will. Of course, ANY exercise is good. Move, people!
Phone a Friend – not text, not facebook message, but call and talk to people I care about.
Gardening/Lawn work – For me, gardening has always been a great stress reliever. It’s early, but there are a number of little projects I could tackle to get a jump on garden cleanup. We went out the other day and picked up all the wind-deposited winter trash in the four corners of the yard and between the houses. Hubby raked the front lawn. It felt good to be out there.
Hobbies – Got one? Do it. Got none? Learn something new to keep your brain from atrophying.

Make lists. Set goals. Here’s a link to my recent, “Procrastination Diet” post with a good list-making idea. I’ve updated mine and hope to tackle many of them during this period of social distancing.

How about you? How are you doing? What’s helping? Share your sanity-saving tips with us. We’re all in this together.

If you’d like to get future blog posts delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my monthly newsletter titled, “Organized Thoughts.“

Please Visit Our New Owners

https://eldertransitionconsulting.com

A Clean Slate

by admin | Feb 27, 2020 | Project Management, Sorting

Two years ago, my husband and I decided it was time for a master bedroom makeover. We searched high and low, near and far for bedding we both loved, and found some. It sat in its protective zippered plastic container for, well, nearly two years.

Last October we shopped for bedroom furniture. Ours was nearly 43 years old, well loved, but also well worn. Oh, and what better time to replace our 20-year-old mattress.

The process of readying the room for the new furniture was a multi-phased one:

Empty all the dresser and nightstand drawers, jewelry boxes, and under-the-bed storage; review contents, sort into “keep” and “let go” piles. This was fairly eye opening, even for two organized people.
Find a new home for the old furniture. Discount Diva helped us locate an appreciative recipient and we hired movers to get it there.
Clear out any remaining items that would eventually return to the new room.
Choose a paint color. Hooboy, not as easy as you’d think! After bringing home 743 paint chip samples and finding NOTHING that worked, we took a pillow sham to Home Depot and they matched the blue. Victory! Oh, except we had them make it 30% lighter. Then 50% lighter. Then 70% lighter. NOW it was perfect.
Have Old Fashioned House Painting repair and prepare the walls and paint everything in the master bedroom and bathroom. What a great job they did!
Hire ChemDry to clean the carpet, which turned out super.
Schedule Raymour and Flanigan to deliver and set up the furniture. Those fellows worked hard; our bedroom is upstairs and around a corner, and our pieces were heavy!

What’s my point in sharing this story?

Having a logical, logistical plan in place helped ensure this would be a fairly smooth-flowing event with a successful outcome. Oh, there were some bumps along the way, but I share more about those in this personal blog post.

Completely clearing the room and then being mindful and purposeful about what we brought back in helped us create a space we truly love, and will love for many, many years to come.

If you’d like to get future blog posts delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter titled, “Organized Thoughts.“