Archive | September, 2010

Move Back In!

Posted on September 15, 2010 by in Getting Started, Home Organizing

Do you still boxes left unopened from a recent move?  Maybe boxes that have been put in the garage or some other storage area, because you just didn’t want to deal with them.  Maybe your move wasn’t so recent and several years later the boxes are still in the garage?

Sound familiar?

Recently my husband and I have been tackling a project… Organizing our Garage! We had decided to clear the space we were organizing and take everything out away from the wall and place it in the center of the garage.

Here we were staring at this large blank wall, and my husband mad the comment, “It feels like we are just moving in”.

I thought to myself, what a great way to look at organizing a space…

Look at your space like you are just moving in for the first time!

When we move into our homes for the first time, we are excited about all of the possibilities. Sometimes we loose sight of those possibilities because of our clutter.  We either don’t have the time or it just becomes the elephant in the room, where you are just so used to looking at the clutter, you forget it’s even there!

Make a change! Take the space you want to organize and take everything out, and look at it like you are looking at it for the first time!

Make the time to get it right, I can tell you from my own experience, it is worth it!

Happy Organizing!

Ep 19: Taking Control of Small Time!

Posted on September 13, 2010 by in Taking Control: The Organizing Podcast

We all have them: when we don’t know how to fill the smallest blocks of our day we default to our comfortable time wasters. From Facebook to TV, getting control of your stuff starts with taking control of your time. This week on the show, Nikki Kinzer and Pete Wright talk about how you can take control of your time and feel better and more productive in the process!

Audio MP3

iTunes Audio RSS Audio

TCO Menu Planning Checklists!

Posted on September 3, 2010 by in Home Organizing, Productivity, Staying Organized, Time Management

NEW FREE CHECKLISTS FOR MEAL PLANNING!

We have said it in the Meal Planning Podcast and we’ll say it again.. One of the best ways to eliminate the “What’s for Dinner?” stress during the 4 o’clock hour is to plan!  It takes a little time at the beginning, but once it’s done, it saves you time, stress, and money!

That’s right, even money!  If you plan your meals, you will only buy what you need to make the meal… No more food going to waste in the refrigerator!

TCO is very excited to bring you Three New Forms you can get for Free from our Resources page!

Master List of Meals – What I love most about this checklist, is it does the thinking for you!  You add your favorite family main dishes, side dishes, fruits & vegetables, and desserts.  When you start to plan for your week, you can reference back to this sheet and decide what to make.  It listed in a way where you can mix and match.  It’s a great reminder without having to think about what your family likes.

Weekly Menu Planner- This is the checklist that will be hanging on our bulletin board every week!  It will have what we are having for dinner for each day with what sides, etc.  Remember when planning your menu to take into account your schedule.  Who has practice or meetings and when?  How much time do you have to cook that day etc….

Grocery Checklist- This will also be a staple in the house!  The grocery list!  When you find you are out of something, quickly grab your sheet and write it down in the category it belongs!  Make sure to not leave any ingredients out from the menu’s you just planned!

These are all great forms and can be used together as a package or used separately!  Print off several Weekly Menu Planners at one time, and you can plan for more than just one week at a time, or maybe you prefer to go week by week… Just having a plan in writing will eliminate the stress and time you may be wasting!

We always want feedback.. tell us if you love the forms or let us know if they need improvement!  We want to know!

To print out these forms and others like our Daily Checklist or Vacation Checklist, please visit the Resource Page on the Website.

Happy Organizing!

Meal Planning Checklists

Posted on September 3, 2010 by in Downloads

The Meal Planning Checklist is actually a set of three forms designed to help you and your family come together both at the table, and before you ever sit down. Learn how each form works together in the set to help you with your family meal planning on the blog.

Meal Planning 01: The Master List of Meals
Meal Planning 02: The Weekly Meal Planner
Meal Planning 03: The Weekly Grocery List

Packing School Lunches!

Posted on September 1, 2010 by in Back to School, Home Organizing

To continue the theme of Meal Planning from our podcast on Monday, I wanted to share with you some tips and ideas in preparing and planning school lunches.  I have come across some great products and websites I wanted to share!

Tip#1 – Have a bin ready to go for all your lunch ingredients! I have one bin that includes; bread, peanut butter, and snacks just designated for the school lunch. This bin is so handy, instead of grabbing all the ingredients and wasting time, you just have to grab the bin with everything in it, make the lunch and place back into the pantry until next time!

Tip#2 - Go green with your lunch box! There are wonderful products out there to use in the lunch box, get rid of the plastic sandwich bags and go green… Have a few containers on hand, so you are not having to do the dishes everyday.   Pete Wright from Taking Control, The Home Organizing Podcast highly suggests Goodbyn.com.  This product looks great!  Instead of having a lot of different pieces, you have one box, one lid!  Check it out!

Tip#3 - Have a drop off for the lunch box! Just like the backpack, make sure your kids know where to drop off the lunch box!  It saves time in the morning looking for it and then finding old food! Yuck!  It’s happened to us and it’s not fun!  Make sure they drop off the box after school, so you have plenty of time to clean it and get it ready for the next morning!

Tip#4 - Explore different recipes and get out of the rut of PB & J! I have found some great websites with different recipe ideas and tips for healthy lunches.  It breaks the monotony of the same old, same old stuff!  Here are my favorites!

If you have any additional tips that makes your life easier, please share!  The more the better!

Happy Organizing!