Domestic Diva Tuesday

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Stick to Your Resolution to Get Organized

Thinking something has got to change and making it change are often two different things. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can indeed resolve to get more organized and make it happen.

One of the top New Year’s Resolutions is to get organized. This year, you can make that happen by thinking like a professional organizer. So often people move through disorganization like a ball propelled by flippers in a pinball machine. You pick it up, put it down, enter a room then leave the room and pick something else up. This year, follow the logical steps that a professional organizer uses on projects.


Move from Getting Organized to Getting Real
While resolving to get organized is great, it doesn’t get you far. Get real about what that means. Turn that resolution into a more exact list, such as, “I resolve to organize my garage.” Or, “I resolve to clear and organize my closet so I can get dressed on time and out the door in the mornings.”

Almost everyone has more than one room, space or project in their life that needs organizing. As much as we want to change everything at once, it isn’t possible. Make a list of your areas that need organizing. Choose one to focus on. When that one is finished, choose another.


Move from Getting Real to Getting Specific
Now that you’ve chosen one space or one project, get specific. Grab a pad of paper and head to that spot. Make a list of everything that needs to happen in that space. Your list might contain things like: sort out old magazines and catalogs, purge books until they all fit on the shelves, gather everything that doesn’t belong in this room, empty file cabinet of old papers so the stacks can be filed, and so forth.


Value Your Time
You manage to make time for other things on your calendar from work appointments to doctor visits, ballgames and social events. Now make and keep appointments with yourself. Organizing doesn’t just happen. It happens when you make time for it. Take your to-do list from above and write those tasks into free spots on your calendar.


Get Reminders
Will you simply forget? There are tons of free online reminder services that will email you, such as www.free-minder.com or www.memotome.com.


Build a Habit
You really can get organized in this step-by-step manner. Completing each task on your calendar leads to that first space or room being organized. Now, repeat the process for your next space but remember to keep the first one tidy. As you do so, you are building an organizing habit. If you find your resolution falling by the wayside, don’t give up. Just grab your calendar and make plans to be organized.

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Domestic Diva Tuesday

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How to Be a Domestic Diva

We weren't all born to be like Martha Stewart, who has worn for some time the unofficial title of "America's Domestic Diva." But we can learn to clean, cook, sew, garden, decorate, design, dress, craft, entertain and socialize perfectly and with panache.

Step 1
Choose a motto for your domestic diva style. Something like, "I will reinvent the ordinary and make it extraordinary" or "I want my world to be simple, sweet and sensuous." This will become the theme of your life and most of your effort, time and money should be devoted to its creation.


Step 2
Assess if perhaps you aren't already a domestic diva and have just been too busy with the domestic part to enjoy the diva part. For example, if you've ever taught a complete stranger in a department store how to make a bow out of little pieces of ribbon or sent out invitations to a party you've penned in calligraphy yourself, you're probably already seasoned in the arts of, well, most everything domestic.

Step 3
Get organized. You're "nodiva" 'til everybody knows there's a place for everything and everything's in its place--at your place. Expert domestic divas such as Flylady.net will get you there fast.

Step 4
Learn to do it yourself. If your mother wasn't a domestic diva in her own right, you'd better take a generous portion of time to learn how to do everything you want to do, one thing at a time. For example, instead of just declaring your intent to become a domestic diva and trying to learn everything at once, take three months to learn to become a very good cook, three months to become an expert housekeeper, thee months to learn arts and crafts, and so on. By the end of year one, you'll be far ahead of most people and you'll start showing shades of a domestic diva.

Step 5
Stay flexible. If after a year you find yourself frustrated, start over.

Domestic Diva Tuesday

Laines Letters

Dear Sisters,
I love an easier way of doing something, don't you? Here are 25 more easier ways that I have learned over the years.

1. Tie up your scissors. Don't laugh! This one really works. I have mine tied near my desk and can always find my scissors now. Smile.

2 Tie up your scotch tape. Ditto!

3. Have a bill and letter slot. I have an old red one on the side of my desk and put my bills and letters received in it right away. The top slot holds important papers for the year.

4. Have a letter writing box. I keep mine near my desk. Inside is my stationary, address book, pen, and any letters I need to respond to.

5. Set up your coffee or tea the night before. I found this to be really helpful as my eyes aren't working too good right off in the morning. So I only need one half slit eye to locate the stove and turn it on.

6. Set up your lunches the night before. I sure make a better lunch the night before than I do in the early morning.

7. In a hurry to go somewhere? Just wash the bangs and sides of your hair, then quickly blow dry. This is the part of your head that gets dirty first. My friend dabs baby powder in her hair if it is slightly oily, then brushes through as well.

8. Heat 1 cup of water to boiling in the microwave before cleaning the inside. It gets it nice and moist for wiping down.

9. For an easy care and pretty arrangement, pair purple and pink geraniums with trailing ivy in a clay flower pot. I love these in my "garden room."

10. Easy buttermilk: 2 T. buttermilk in a 1 qt. mason jar and fill with milk to the top. Put in a warm spot for 24 hours shaking every now and then. Just remember to save 2 T. of buttermilk for the next batch.

11. To save money on milk, use reconstituted dry milk in your baking.

12. Geraniums are the easiest plant to propagate. Just snip a soft section and plant your snip in the spring. I have so many plants from this method growing up fences, in an old wheelbarrow, and in flower pots.

13. Open both ends of a tomato paste can and push the paste through. You get it all that way much easier.

14. Tie up your eyebrow tweezers and toe nail clippers. You'll always be able to find them just like your scissors and scotch tape.

15. Write how many library books you checked out and when they are due (one day ahead of time) on your calendar.

16. Take butter out when you get up to soften it for your morning baking.

17. Call your grandmother, mother-in-law, or a favorite aunt every time your phone bill comes in. I do this method with my grandmother who lives on the other side of the country. So I always know when it is time to give her a call and have a nice chat.

18. Have an hour of quiet time for your kids. It teaches them to be quiet and helps you as well in the afternoon when you might be dragging a bit.

19. Take a 20-40 minute nap while the kids are having their quiet time. Another pick-me-up if you are dragging a bit.

20. Put on a pot of tea during the kids' quiet time and see how much you can get done before the water boils. Then sit down and relax for an afternoon tea break.

21. Keep your yeast in the freezer to keep it fresher longer.

22. Keep fresh ginger in the freezer ready to be grated any time for that Chinese dish.

23. Clean the smallest room first in the house, then keep going back to it for inspiration to clean the next room! And so on, and so on...

24. Try to cook as much as you can in the oven at the same time to save money on electricity . For example: a baked chicken, baked potatoes, and baked carrots with a small cake. Look for recipes that are temperature compatible.

25. Wherever you sit the most tape Scriptures that you want to memorize near there.

Love,
Laine

"I love you, LORD, my strength." Psalms 18:1

http://www.lainesletters.com/

Domestic Diva Tuesday

Laine's Letters

Dear Sisters,
As I work around my house I think of you often and things that I would like to share with you. Things that I have learned to make my homemaking a bit more simpler. So while I am working today, I am finally going to write some of those things down. Here are 25 of them:

1) When you are putting away your dishes, open every drawer and cupboard until the job is done. So much easier than opening and shutting and opening and shutting a drawer or a cupboard.

2) Tape your favorite recipes to the inside of your cupboards. I have my favorite baking recipes inside the cupboard next to where I bake and my favorite stovetop recipes inside that cupboard for easy access.

3) If you need cake flour for a recipe, take out two tablespoons of flour per cup and replace it with two tablespoons of corn starch.

3) Set your table early in the day, if possible. It will just motivate you to cook! And it looks so welcoming to your husband when he comes home. Your children will look on in anticipation as well.

4) Plant lavender by your clothes line. The smell is heavenly as you brush against it hanging out your clothes.

5) Buy some cinnamon carpet powder. I have some sprinkled all over my bedroom carpet awaiting my vacuuming. I don't even mind vacuuming knowing that I can smell that wonderful scent in my bedroom all day. A small pleasure for 99 cents at my local five and dime store.

6) Think hospitality. The LORD might bring someone to your home today. Have one room clean and ready. (Sort of the "parlor idea" so popular way back.) Also the bathroom clean. Those are the two rooms you would probably have to use if you should have a surprise guest. This happened to me recently. The rest of my house was not ready, but I had my living room ready which I led them to and served them in. I was able to focus on my guests and enjoy their company, rather than worrying about my home. Even an outside spot can be ready! Remember Abraham serving the LORD and the angels under a great tree when they unexpectedly arrived one afternoon.

7) Think Christmas all year. My mom just brought over some items she was getting rid of. I didn't need them, but they were perfect for Christmas presents. My budget is very tight, so I shop a little here and there. I put them with the many gifts I have already acquired. It is always my goal to be done Christmas shopping by December and to just enjoy being with my family.

8) Set up a baking center. It is so nice when all your baking items are gathered together in one spot for easy baking. I like to put my ingredients in old fashioned jars which makes cooking even that more delightful. My flour is in old candy jars, the baking powder and baking soda are in old blue mason jars, and my brown sugar is in an apothecary jar with a heavy glass lid. I pick them up here and there at thrift shops or garage sales. I can leave everything out and they go with my decor!

9) Break up the cleaning of your refrigerator by assigning each child a shelf or a section of the door. I get my refrigerator clean pretty fast this way and keep up on it as well.

10) Have beautiful praise music going while you work. Oh, how that helps you to keep your mind on the LORD even while others around you are quite grumpy. Can you tell what I am dealing with right now? Smile.

11) Have a little blackboard put up near your sink. Every time you run out of something, put it on this blackboard. With only a glance I can see what I need when I make out my shopping list.

12) Keep a small notebook near your computer to write down pertinent information. I have a small one that is just for herbal information which I learn as I go. Another is for a prayer list.

13) Keep verses you'd like to memorize on or near your computer. I have in front of me right now: "Always give yourselves fully to the work of the LORD. You know that your work in the LORD is never wasted." 1 Corinthians 15:58b

14) Never leave a room empty handed. Carry something out that shouldn't be there while you are passing through. I get a lot of stretching in this way as I bend down quite a bit. Smile.

15) Keep a little notebook in your kitchen to record those things that you need to do but keep forgetting. This helps my mind be at peace so much. I glance at this notebook several times a day to remind me what needs to be done. I feel peace the moment I write something down knowing now that I will not forget it.

16) Keep a bottle of windex and some paper towels under the sink in your bathroom. Takes only a moment to spray everything down quickly and then wipe it all up. While I have the bottle in my hand I go around spraying every mirror or glass item in the house that needs it.

17) Keep a bottle of windex, some paper towels, a small bag for trash, and a wisk broom in your vehicle. When you are waiting somewhere you can clean your vehicle out in no time. I've done this while waiting at piano lessons.

18) Keep two sponges by your kitchen sink. It is much faster to use both hands while wiping and cleaning than just one hand and one sponge.

19) Wash your cake pans as soon as you remove the cake. So much easier to clean than when dry and crusty.

20) Try a few new recipes every week. This keeps your cooking interesting and gives you something to look forward to try. This week I tried making english muffins, soft pretzels, and an orange bread for the first time. Not all turned out like I had hoped, but the ones that did gave me anticipation and enjoyment.

21) Keep a couple of cookbooks, finance books, and anything else you might want to learn from in your bathroom in a pretty basket. Snatch read when you have the chance. You know you'll be in that room for sure in a day!

22) Cut your coupons and put them right away in your purse. Put the food items together in one bunch and the non-food items together in another bunch for easy access once you are in the market.

23) When you get your tithe ready, put it right away in your Bible. That way you won't forget it and will have it ready when you leave for church.

24) Put all your cleaning supplies in a pretty basket to carry around with you from room to room as you work. Mine are in a pretty rose basket. Even my husband loved this idea. It was my seven year old daughter who thought of it and put it together for me!

25) Invest in some burner covers. My old stove looks clean and bright with these in place.

Have a wonderful day now!

Love,
Laine
www.lainesletters.com/

Domestic Diva Tuesday

Homemaking takes up a good portion of our duties as help meets to our husbands. Creating a haven that he can come home to and relax in takes time and effort. Many times we feel ourselves going around in circles trying to keep the house in decent order.

Take a minute and look at your home with another person's eyes. Is the table top full of papers that need to be moved aside for you to eat or write? Do you have plastic bowls in your cupboard that are discolored, broken or unusable? Are you collecting plastic bags for you to reuse but have too much of them? Look in your closet - clothes that don't fit anymore or are outdated and you know you will never wear them again? What about your children's toys - quite a few broken ones that they don't play with anymore? I could go on and on but you get the picture. Your home has clutter. Maybe that's the reason why you feel like you're going in circles and can't seem to keep the house in decent order.

Well, we are here to help you. We've mentioned the FlyLady before and for the month of February she is going to help us with our clutter. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to start. Take babysteps. Our homes did not get cluttered in a day and we can't expect to declutter it in a day with our lives already as busy as they are.

For those of you following the FlyLady system and are receiving her emails, you know that this month's habit is decluttering. FlyLady recommends that we declutter everyday. She suggests 15 minutes daily which can be done all at once or broken down in 5 min increments. Fly through the clutter this month and do it. You can do it! Even though you only end up decluttering every other day it still puts you way ahead of where you were. Just do something.

Here is a link to a little encouragement in your decluttering from the Fly Lady: DECLUTTER Listen and then click on the links below the audio to read some more. Let us bless our husbands by giving him a less cluttered home. It will free up much mental and physical energy for both you and him.

HAPPY DECLUTTERING! You're well on your way to being the help meet that God wants you to be. For more decluttering help CLICK HERE