DrDeClutterBlog.com

Whoa! It’s Halloween time again! When did that happen!!

If you have kids that want Halloween to be fun, it’s time to plan ahead.

1. What will your kids be wearing? What do they want to dress up as?

2. Can you create it out of what you already have or will you be purchasing, renting or barrowing a costume and accessories?

3.  Where are they going?

4 . Who are they going with?

5. What’s happening in your neighborhood or area for trick-or-treating?

6. Safety is a must of course. Safety in regards to their costume for walking, skipping and running (because they will!) and safety if they are out and about on their own or with other little ones.

Help your kids have memorable fun this year!

7. Take lots of pictures.

8. Scrapbook those photos immediately!

DONE! Have a great Halloween!

It’s said that we don’t plan to fail, we fail to plan. Plan your fun, make it functional (not over-the-top and easily costly or disappointing) and see how much more you’ll enjoy it as something wonderful to share and remember when it’s over.

It’s not something normal to think that fun should be functional, or planned and thought through.

Fun should just happen, right? If you’re 2, maybe!

But as adults, it doesn’t matter what you do for the Labor Day Weekend, or any other holiday or “day off,” just make sure you’re taking the time to really “be here now” in it!

Why? Because it’s too easy to let holidays and time away from brain-crunching or back-breaking work go by and wish you’d had it to do over again, that somehow you missed it.

To “be here now” and have fun need some conscious planning and functional decision making to be what we truly want it to be.

Get out the calendar, and everyone involved in your upcoming weekend, and pre-plan everything with enough free time and fudge-room to change your mind too.

Need more help for the holidays? If you’ve had chaotic, unhappy, disappointing and frustrating holidays, big or small, I’d highly recommend my ebook Simplify Your Holidays: Your Guide to Coping with Holiday (and everyday) Stress ~ or ~ The Complete Self-Help Guide for Those with Less than Perfect Holiday Experiences. You’ll get ten times the help for the easy cost of this jam-packed full book of check lists, questions, creative options, thought inspiring stories and more.

Is it too early to talk about Christmas and holiday shopping? Evidently not! I saw my first Christmas gift offer last week in the Sunday paper ads pull out section. I won’t tell you what it was (a sports themed Christmas ornament) as it was not cute or necessary! Okay, clearly I’m not a raving football fan!

Do yourself, your family, the landfill and your wallet a favor, shake yourself conscious now as holiday shopping ads are going to start earlier this year due to the financial debockle of last year and stores needing money to stay in the black.

“Shake yourself conscious” means to pre-plan now for what you really want to do and to create for your holidays in months from now so that it doesn’t a) sneak up on you, and b) get out of hand.

By the way, if you don’t do these things, no complaining in January about your credit card bills!

1) Put together your gift and other money-spending list now and stick to it.

If this is hard for you to do you will have to really look at your need to spend and give in ways that don’t make sense and are unnecessary. Is it to get attention? To be loved? To be appreciated? Or, out of guilt or other not so pretty reasons?

2) Ask yourself why you’re buying things and/or stockpiling them.

Like unconscious eating, we don’t always like facing why we shop and spend money, even if it seems like such wonderful, loving and giving reasons.

3) Don’t go unconscious over fads.

Don’t get sucked into whatever new “gotta-have-it” rage is for the year, whether it be a toy, bling, electronic gadget or anything else. Can you say Tickle Me Elmo?

4) Ask others for a limited amount gift list.

Ask what others really want this year, give them a ceiling amount to choose within ($20, $40, etc.) and buy accordingly — according to what you can truly afford.

5) Don’t promise what you can’t afford.

There is no shame in not being able to buy stuff you can’t afford - there are a lot of regrets however.

6) Plan one bigger gift if others can pitch in.

If there are others who can pitch in to buy a higher ticket item from “all of us”, plan it out early enough to work out. But . . . make sure you have all the “pitched-in” promised money from others before you buy it too or you could be stuck paying more than your share and set up a long-time resentment.

7) Get creative when money won’t get the items on the list.

Can’t afford much? No problem! There are lots of other things you can do that are not about spending money. There is spending time and investing in your relationships. Get creative about how to spend quality time with your family and friends doing something that may cost nothing financially, but creates memories that last, not stuff that could end up in the trash!

MORE HELP HERE - EBOOK: There are many more ways to simplify the holidays starting now, not December 24!,  in my ebook, Simply Your Holidays - and it won’t break the bank - only $10 for over 40 pages of lists, stories, ideas and proven solutions to your holiday sanity! Click here to find out more and order.  A great gift too - to use over and over again for family and all holiday decisions.

Happy Pre-Holiday Planning!

HAPPY SUMMER! 

The tune goes… “Those lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer….” It’s all about Dog Days, and heat!

We’ve just stepped into summer by the moon’s calendar . . . no matter what the weather is really doing out there, and where you are.

So, as Independence Day is just around the corner… get ready for sun and fun and safe travel and activities, great food and friends and joy all ’round. Take some precautions and save on electric bills too!

A little history: “Dog Days” is the name for the sultriest period of summer, from about July 3rd to August 11th. Named in early times by observers in countries bordering the Mediterranean, the period was reckoned as extending from 20 days before to 20 days after the conjunction of Sirius (the dog start) and the sun.

SAVE ON ELECTRIC BILLS THIS SUMMER

- Reduce heat gain up to 80% by closing curtains and blinds until the day cools off.

- Turn off lights, TVs and appliances not needed (which give off more heat and use more electricity than you might think) and close any rooms and A/C vents in rooms not being used.

- Do heat-producing chores in the morning or evening when temperatures are cooler. These include baking, drying clothes, running the dishwasher, etc.

- Exercise in the morning or evening when temperatures are cooler.

- Rather than turning your A/C on and off, maintain a constant temperature to reduce stress on the unit and conserve energy. The suggested standard temperature for summer is 78 degrees, but each degree above that you can stand may reduce energy costs by as much as five percent.

- In climates where it’s cooler at night, open the windows to let in the beauty of nature and the cool breeze instead of the A/C all night long.

- Use a few fans instead of A/C when you just need to the air to move to cool it off.

Mostly, enjoy these wonderful crazy days of summer!

It’s not summer yet, but mosquitoes are already out . . .  to get you! 

So, it’s maybe not the method of all cats use to not get mosquito bites, but something to know about that is a healthy way to keep them off you this year.

Catnip! Yes, catnip — which mysteriously creates euphoria in cats, is an effective insect repellent, according to Iowa State University scientists.

In experiments at their Ames, Iowa, laboratory, the scientists found that nepetalactone, which gives catnip its odor, was found to be 10 times more effective than the popular insect repellent diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET). Also, DEET is a harsh chemical found in many repellents that some users find causes rashes, swelling and eye irritation.

So, use the herb as a safe bug-fighter.

Buy a spray whose label lists catnip oil or nepetalactone.

Or, make your own by shaking 6 drops of catnip oil in 3 ounces of water.

Happy mosquito season!

PS BONUS! It’s also found to repel cockroaches.

PPS SIDEAFFECTS may include wanting to roll around on it on the floor in great euphoric glee saying “scratch my tummy!”

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
~ Lee Greenwood

Click here and see Greenwood’s music video.

Remember our soldiers — men and women –

fighting for peace throughout the world.

So, how did Thanksgiving turn out, family, planning and decision making wise?

If you need some tips and tools before you step fully into the next round in the next few weeks, my ebook SIMPLIFY THE HOLIDAYS is a great help. 44 pages of non-stop ideas, tips, guidance and examples of how to plan ahead for less stress and more fun; consciousness-building to spend less and give more; and lighten-up reminders to enjoy the moment and release the baggage.

“Thank you Kim for your guide. Man, you have so much in those 44 pages I couldn’t believe it! I’m using as many ideas and tips as I can this year. I can certainly see how they are ideas that can easily help me in my everyday life as well. I told all of the women in my club to order it too! Thank you!”
~ Jen, working mother of three, Dallas, TX

Okay, it’s just past half-way through January. Are you still lighting your Christmas lights? Still have wrapping paper on the table, floor — ribbons and bows in the corners — presents that didn’t get sent?

No problem. It’s okay. Here are keys to get back your floor, walls and yard in a jif’ and on with your New Year.

1) Gift wrapping, cards and decorations still out.

SOLUTION: If it’s making you crazy, use my CHIP-N-CHUNK METHOD to sanity! Decide on one pile, one “CHUNK” of holiday cards, decorations, wrapping items, at a time. Schedule just 1/2 hour to 1 hour at a time and start “CHIPPING” away at it. Clean up and put away. They’ll get done.

TIP: Stop the neurosis and stress causing ridicule over this right now! Don’t criticize yourself before or during this process. Your home is your home. It’s your space. No judgment. No big deal!

“But what will people think?” WHO CARES!!!! STOP IT!!!!

Don’t despise now what you were so in love with and excited about just a month ago!

2) Gifts not given, sent, mailed, delivered. Might include thank you’s from gifts received. Sometimes there are things we want to put into those gifts boxes for which we’re still waiting.

SOLUTION: Don’t wait to get the “just right” last things into the box. Box and tape it up. Mail it this week. Move it out. You can always send the rest soon after you compile it.

TIP: No apologies for belated anything. Very few people do it all “perfectly”. Again, who cares?! I still have two get-togethers for post-Christmas with friends. We actually like it. It’s after the compression of the holidays and we can sit and share holiday stories and enjoy our gifts and time together.

3) Lights still blinking? Decorations still up?
I put my 10-inch Christmas tree in its box (its “home”) for the year today. Okay, the box that it’s in is still out on my office table “waiting” for a few more things to get put on the top shelf in the closet, but it’s closer!

SOLUTION: Again, use my CHIP-N-CHUNK METHOD. Some people need to do it all in one day and get it done. Great! Others do CHUNK’S at time. Whatever works for you. It’s in the “just do it” category. Plan out the time and start!

Option 2: Or… leave them up! This year I put up a string of chili pepper lights on my 2nd floor balcony. I light them every night, and, when it’s been so terribly cold, I just leave them on 24/7 so I don’t have to open the patio door and pull the plug! And since we have the weekly snow fall this year to cover them and make them picture perfect, they’re so pretty. I love them. Of course they’re not just Christmas lights, they can be used for lots of occasions (I like functional things like this that are middle-of-the-road-all-around-useable) . . . so I’ve decided I’ll leave them up all winter. Hey, they’re fun! I’m thinking, I may even leave them up into the “hot pepper” summer and… sure, why not, “chili pepper harvest” fall!! Have fun with your lights!

Bottom line, have fun with your holiday decorations and gift wrapping and all. Don’t let yourself be frustrated with it after the fact. Make the whole process one. One of fun and joy.

4) Having to dismantle everything all alone gets you stuck and a little overwhelmed and depressed.

SOLUTION: Have an Undecorating Party! Yup! Invite friends and family over. Have a pot-luck, or make some cookies and put on your favorite holiday music and take it all down. Have fun. Tell more stories, take more photos and add one more photo page to your scrapbook for the year.

Happy Undecorating 2009!

©2009 Kim Wolinski, MSW “Dr. DeClutter” Stress, Change and Organizational Skills Expert

Editors and publishers are free to reprint blog articles as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and the signature line remains intact.

I’m not a big gift card giver, especially to kids, as they hoard them, lose them and forget them.

In the past few years of gift card giving/use
over 5 BILLION (yes with a “B”)
gift cards go unused every year.
HELLLOOOOO!

I find them on most organizing jobs, sometimes stacks of them – purchased for holidays gifts — and never sent. That includes gift certificates as well. PEOOOPPPLLLLE! :-/ 

So, here’s the latest.

STORE CLOSINGS and DOWNSIZING
Last month I posted a very long list of name brand stores  said to be going out of business, a list that was going around on email. I’m reposting here upon receiving several emails from employees of some of the stores telling me the list was “partially” a hoax – I have taken the list off.  

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don’t buy gift cards unless you buy them at the very last minute and you know they’ll be used within days! (Even that is no guarantee) And, if giving “cash”, give cash, a check or the debit/credit card type plastic that you’ve pre-loaded for your recipient. 

If you read the newspaper, watch the news or read online, you’ll hear updates of the stores closing.

MORAL OF THE STORY (again): Don’t buy gift cards unless you buy them at the very last minute and you know they’ll be used within days! (Even that is no guarantee) And, if giving “cash”, give cash, a check or the debit/credit card type plastic that you’ve pre-loaded for your recipient. 

ADDENDUM: My neice was given a debit/credit card type gift last fall. She used about half of it. When she went to use the rest of it, the cashier said that they couldn’t retrieve it off the card.

So, cash please! 

©2009 Kim Wolinski, MSW “Dr. DeClutter” Stress, Change and Organizational Skills Expert  www.drdeclutter.com

Editors and publishers are free to reprint blog articles as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and the signature line remains intact.

If your holidays weren’t as perfect, joyfilled, relaxed or as gentle as you had planned or would have wanted, use the following list to think about and take charge of your thoughts, feelings and holiday-stress from 2008 and for all future holidays to come.

1. What were my expectations about the holidays? Were they met?

2. How to I feel about my expectations being or not being met?

3. If my expectations weren’t met, why not? and, what could I have done about it?

4. If I’m unhappy about what happened around the holidays and celebrations, how am I dealing with my frustrations, anger, resentment, disappointments, etc.? Am I talking about others, gossiping, degrading them? Am I complaining, nagging, blaming?

5. What would I have liked to have happened instead of what I experienced with family, relationships, friends, children, gift giving, spending money, gift receiving, charity, religious rituals, use of time, use of energy, work, play, fun, food, alcohol, decorations, parties, meal preparation, travel, etc.?

6. What would I like to have happen next year?

7. Who do I have to discuss changes with in order to get some of my needs met?

8. If I don’t communicate my needs and negotiate my desires, what will be the outcome?

9. Am I willing to go through this experience again?

10. If I don’t decide and speak up, am I willing to let go of anything and everything that isn’t perfect or the way I’d like? (E.g., no griping!) 

We are either part of problem or part of the solution. Being part of the solution means making decisions, communication them and being active, not passive for your joy.

You have 10 months to plan for next holiday season! Be the solution!

Happy Post-Holidays, and NEW YEAR!

©2009 Kim Wolinski – Dr. DeClutter 303-485-5280  www.drdeclutter.com

Editors and publishers are free to reprint blog articles as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and the signature line remains intact.