DrDeClutterBlog.com

National Tie One On Day™ celebrates the humble apron and the spirit of women of earlier generations who donned the universal symbol of home, family and mothering as the uniform of their daily wardrobe and helped make America the great country it is today.

National TIE ONE ON DAY™ is the opportunity to put the “give” in Thanksgiving by sharing our good fortune with someone in need of a thoughtful gesture. Annually recognized by Chase’s Calendar of Events and celebrated the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Nov 21st this year.

On the day before Thanksgiving, EllynAnne encourages us to pause in the preparation of our own meal, wrap a loaf of bread in an apron, tuck a prayer or note of encouragement in the pocket, and tie one on…an apron, of course!, and deliver the wrapped bundle to someone in need of spiritual or physical sustenance.

According to EllynAnne, no matter which way you turn out of your own front door, someone who is deserving of a hug is very close by.

“Women clad in aprons have traditionally prepared the Thanksgiving meal,” says EllynAnne, “and it is within our historical linkage to share our bounty.”

Find out more here and get involved!

There are plenty of “good deals” (maybe) this time of year with Black Friday, the Day After Black Friday, then Cyber Monday and DOOR BUSTER SALES for weeks to come, but, you don’t have to buy so much or anything at all and still have a great holiday!

Before you go shopping:

1. Take a deep breathe.
2. Check your list of to-buys.
3. Then check with the reality of your checking account! (not your credit card)
4. You may want to choose again in order not to set yourself up for another January of regrets and credit card statements glaring at you.
5. Remind yourself of the deeper reasons for the holidays – which has nothing to do with spending yourself into debt.

MY GIFT TO YOU – “MY MONEY POCKET”

I’m giving My Money Pocket again this year as I know it helped plenty of people last year and I want you to enjoy it too.

If you sometimes overspend on credit cards, My Money Pocket will help you to ask yourself a list of questions to wake you up and re-decide before falling into old patterns, guilt and money problems.

I want to help you take care of your financial wealth and health.

I’ve created a FREE TOOL to help you stop the stress and insanity of it all.

It’s called “MY MONEY POCKET.”

That’s the best place for you money… in your pocket!

CLICK here and download the pdf with instructions on how to assemble (yes, a little assembly required!) and then use it for your greatest good!

Happy Holidays and Wise Shopping!

Sunny, one of my clients, has a lot of great hats that she loves wearing in the summer, but, they are easily forgotten as they are in a bin that gets stacked on top of.

So, we had a cool idea while organizing her garage. She had one hat up on the wall already, so we added more nails and vwalla! How fun! She can see and reach them and remember to use them more often, plus, they are also decorative and lovely to look at every day!

What can you take out of closed storage and bring out into open storage and enjoy several ways?

Does the clutter in your house interfere with or limit your activities, your life and your joy?

I have had more than one client who is

• frustrated with unfinished projects sitting around because parts and pieces to finish the project are “somewhere”
• unable to redecorate their home due to the fact that clutter is in the way and overwhelming them, they can’t focus on and stick to their projects
• closets are spilling over into other areas of the house
• doors to bedrooms can’t even be opened due to piles and heaps of indecision

If you have so much clutter in your home that it has taken control of your time, thoughts, energy and discussions about your life… it’s past time to change!

THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

Make your project go much faster and have much more fun by inviting your friends, your pals, over to help out! Guarantee them that you’ll feed them, laugh a lot and help them when they’re ready for help! You can give them a Confidentiality Contract of Silence if it helps you feel better!

PREP & MAKE A PLAN

1) Plan a half or full day.

2) Schedule it with a pal or two, or ten to come help you.

3) Choose one project or area of a room, or more depending on the time and helping hands.

4) Get your sorting containers ready for: keep, toss, mend/repair or clean, projects in process and to donate.

5) Get good eats ready.

6) Jump in!

7) Plan how the donation boxes will get to the thrift or charity stores and get them moving out. Out. OUT!

ENJOY YOUR PALS AND THEIR GOOD HEARTED HELP

We all need a little, or a lot, of help now and then. Dump the “inner clutter” about all this – the embarrassment, fear, guilt and shame – out the window! Our friends love us “no matter what!”

This is also a great exercise in growing and deepening your relationships. It’s good for your heart, mind and health.

Plus, a pair of fresh eyes and energy may help you to see where you might use better containers, systems or furniture placement to make your home more functional and streamlined. Hey, give ‘em a paintbrush while they’re there and really refresh your space!

Have fun!

Did you know that your iPhone is a perfect organizing tool?

The iPhone can be used for everything from listening music to recommending a nearby restaurant. With the addition of thousands of downloadable apps, there’s little the phone can’t do. This makes the device the perfect organizing tool for the busy student or worker on the go.

THERE ARE 8 APPS FOR THAT!

Whether users need help remembering a date or sharing files, the follow eight apps are sure to help users organize their lives.

1. Due – to Remember Important Dates

2. Mint – for Personal Finances

3. eWallet – for Account Management

4. Dragon Dictation – for Texting And Typing

5. Air Sharing – for Wireless Transferring

6. Dropbox – for Automatic Sharing

7. Quickoffice – for Typing Notes.  Quickoffice is ideal for the iPhone user who is still in love with Microsoft Office.

8. Scanner Pro – for Scanning

Find out more specifics and the links for each here. 

– Guest post: Eric Thompson www.officespaceforrent.org 

These folks are amazing! A pirate ship sunk into their front lawn with skeletons and such all over. A lot of work went into this one. They rock!

Yikes! The cracken monster!

No shortage of detail went into this.

.

Thanks folks for a great Halloween treat! Daughter “Wednesday” was there too! How fun! What great Halloween memories.

Also, strangers came to them and gave the all kinds of stuff to make it even better! How fun! They gained new friends by having fun. That’s the way to live.

Is this too fun or what?

Get creative for your child this Halloween!

What a blast for them and everyone who gets to join in the fun of seeing them have so much fun in their very cool costume, enjoying Halloween with the rest of the kids. Boy, talk about making memories to last a lifetime!

Here’s another one.

Have fun kids!

Okay, and here’s one for a dog. Ohhhhhh!

I got these off of Facebook… but I just Googled and found many more! Have fun creating yours.

Want to learn how to redecorate your home like a pro from the pro?

Register today for The School of Speed Decorating – a 4 week course for the Impatient Decorator who just wants easy-peasy solutions for every room in their home.

Next course begins today,  September 17, 2012 — http://www.speeddecorate.com/

Jill is the best seller of 

Speed Decorating: A Pro Stagers Tips and Trade Secrets for a Fabulous Home in a Week or Less.

I believe in using things as long as I can before recycling or trashing (my mom’s most used sentence is, “Don’t waste anything!”). And, I also love to repurpose items and use them even longer before they head out the door.

I’m a very visual person so I like displaying things. Sometimes I find cool things like this retro one to repurpose and display to enjoy on an ongoing basis.

This piece of jewelry is clear acrylic with a flower inside. It’s a little scratched and I don’t wear brooches, but I really love it and figured it would make a great refrigerator magnet.

First, I flipped it over and took needle nose plyers and pulled out the pin.

 I then adhered a round magnet to the back. 

You can get magnets of all sizes at craft supply stores very inexpensively. Here’s a great buy on lots of them for fun projects with your kids or group too.

All done! Vwalla!

How lovely to see this retro piece of “art” on my wall (frig!) every day! It makes me very happy.  

Carving a watermelon into a fruitbasket was always fun for me to do. I always got compliments on my creative job, but wow, these are all sooo awesome!

Gather up yummy fresh summer fruit, carve up a watermelon and have some fun! YUM!

Or, carve an animal!

Or, just use the outside for a canvas! AWESOME, eh?

Go ahead, play with your food!