DrDeClutterBlog.com

Losses throughout the year of any kind, human, animal, health, wealth or of spirit can take an extra toll during the holiday weeks. Here are a few steps to take care of yourself during this time.

1. Make time to grieve.

Set aside time to really feel your feelings, cry your tears and let it all go where it needs to. Your body needs to mourn your loss or change all the way through.

2. Get support from others.

It’s not always easy to ask for help. Being “strong” isn’t smart. Being “human” is. Whether you talk to family or friends or see a counselor or minister, you will find layers of grief just waiting to spring forth when you talk to someone else and tell your story once more.

3. Develop skills that help you remember you are a worthwhile person.

You can let grief control you and fall into a deep depression or illness, chipping away at your self worth; you can ignore and deny it and stay busy, keeping your “mind off of it”; or, you can gain knowledge of how to embrace your pain and grow positively from it.

4. Create a physical environment that supports rather than stresses you.

During the mourning process stress levels increase. You need to create a space where you feel safe, comfortable, quiet when you need it and nurtured, even if only by yourself.

5. Take care of yourself.

There are physical as well as emotional aspects of grief. Exercise increases your strength and stamina and reduces your stress. Healthy eating gives your body the good nourishment it needs. Find quiet time. Schedule a massage to stay connected with your body.

Bottom line, grief is hard. Make sure to take the time to face it and deal with it, otherwise it will affect you for years to come.

Don’t let your newspapers pile up outside your front door when you’re gone. Make sure to set up a VACATION HOLD asap.

And, save time! Instead of making a phone call, or forgetting to make it and put your newspaper deliver on VACATION HOLD or other request, go online and do it quickly. It also lets you check if you want them when you return, or you can donate them to local schools, etc.  

Our local Longmont Times-Call can be accessed at https://www.timescallcustomercare.com/

Check you paper and see if they offer this quick click system too!

Happy vacation/holidays!

• Is holiday shopping just too much for you?
• Is overconsumption and consumerism just too much?
• Do you feel overwhelmed and wonder how to stop it all?

America is the mecca for “Retail Therapy” and Christmas brings out the big guns!

Listen into my interview on ”It’s the Economy” Talk Show

from Thursday night, December 15th on

KGNU Radio, Boulder, CO.  

Mp3 –  http://www.kgnu.org/economy/12/15/2011

“And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more!”

- Dr. Suess

Tired of holiday hype?

No matter what event or holiday you are celebrating that includes gift giving, you might just want to sit quietly and pick out something from a shopping trip in the “department stores of your mind!”

Even if it’s a week before Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, a birthday, wedding or anniversary, think about making your gift instead of buying it at a store, keeping it simple and personal.

Consider the following:
- Bake muffins, a pie, a cake or cookies
- Cook a special meal
- Put together a picnic basket and invite others out for a hike in nature
- Create a scrapbook page of photos from something you did with them, or of their childhood or a special event.
- Put together a music CD or digital recording – download or sing songs that you know they like
- Make an ornament significant to them
- Write a song, poem or story for them

There a lots of small and fun ways to give from the heart this year and always.

TIP: Ask the what they really want and like that you could make for them, and do it!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Kim

Being organized doesn’t mean you have to be perfect all the time,
but that you can find what you need when you need it!

The kitchen can be especially messy and never feel like it’s decluttered and clean, or for very long, whether you live alone or with others.  

If your sink and counter look like this once in a while, it might be that you’re just busy. Or, that you don’t have time. Or, _____ (fill in the blank!)

Don’t beat yourself up. Take one day a week and really clean it all up and feel “in control” again.

“Do you know what you call those who use towels
and never wash them, eat meals and never do the dishes,
sit in rooms they never clean, and are entertained till they drop?
If you have just answered, “A house guest,” you’re wrong
because I have just described my kids.”
~ Erma Bombeck

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold,
it would be a merrier world.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy  

It’s too easy to go through a rushed holiday season and forget to keep track of what was really good, awesomely yummy and something you want to bake, cook, or create again next year.

RECIPE AND MEMORY KEEPER

Create a simple Holiday Recipes notebook, scrapbook or index card holder where you can keep all of your recipes in one place, share with others and hand down to your children in the future.

Be sure to add your personal handwritten notes to them too! Those are  great to read by the generations to come.

SCRAPBOOK THEM!

Embellish with photos  of your family and friends enjoying them too! Make it really fun to look at and use every year. Keep them clean buy using clear plastic sheets or laminate them.

Happy Holiday Cooking!

Medications that are expired or that you’re not going to use again should not be  dumped in the toilet, down the sink or in the trash/landfill for two very important reasons. One is environmental, the other is our health. Medications of all kinds are in our drinking water now because people flush and dump them.

WHERE TO DISPOSE

1) Create a box or tub to store old medications away from children and pets.

2) Leave the medications in their original containers.

3) Contact your local hospitals and pharmacies and ask if they take them or have a ”Medicine Dump Day” where you take in what you have and they will incinerate it. 

IN LONGMONT, CO (Where I live)

Longmont United Hospital has  a ”Medicine Dump Day” twice a year. Watch the paper or contact their pharmacy. It’s usually around April and October on a Saturday.

You can also take medications to Good Day Pharmacy anytime. (They are across the street from LUH).

Here is a longer article about why not to dispose of medications at home.

IF YOU MUST DISPOSE AT HOME

And, if you must dispose of your unused medications in the trash, which is still better and safer than the sewer, you may want to place a little water into solid medications or solidify liquid medicines with a little kitty litter, sawdust or flour. This may help keep your medications from being taken accidentally by a child or pet. But, they will still end up in the environment.

Okay, here it is!! Holiday shopping madness season!

If you didn’t do it all on Black Friday, you have weeks to go yet, right?

I want to offer you a very cool tip on finding stuff for free!! Yes FREE!! Whether you’re shopping for the holidays or any event… save money, time and nerves the next time you need to shop for clothing, especially when you have children.

How?

1.  Declutter.
Yes, you heard me! When you declutter piles and heaps and boxes of stuff and things in closets, garage floors and attics you’ll be amazed at what you’ll find that you forgot to give in the past or bought two of along the way, someone gave you and you’ll never use, or… whatever!

2.  Plan on REGIFTING!
Create a “Gift Box” and put these items in it for “regifting”. Yes, REGIFTING! Why spend more money and mental anquish over things you already have!

3.  Box and Label for Future FREE Stuff!
When you get and stay organized by boxing and labeling you seasonal clothing – and children’s clothing that can be worn the next year by the same or another younger child– you will save yourself plenty of time, energy and money by going into your storage boxes and bins and finding most of what you may need “before” you go store shopping.

Yes, we already own most of what we need; we just don’t remember where we put it! So, the more organized you are and the better categorizing and labeling you do when organizing, you will find much of what you need right in your own square-foot-heaven.

This includes all kinds of items, like tape, pens, batteries, flashlights, supplies of all kinds, gloves, etc. When you keep items in “categories” and “contained” in boxes, tubs, bins and baskets, and “label” them so that everyone in the house can find them and put them back when done using the items (teach everyone!) you’ll waste less money, time and mental energy trying to locate and use what you already own.

Happy (in-home) Shopping!

The City of Longmont, CO fire stations are accepting used bicycles for donation to Bicycle Longmont’s Christmas Bike Program. Drop off unwanted, used bikes at the nearest fire station. Santa’s elves will repair the donated bikes! Go Santa!!

Kids receive repaired and happy bikes through charity organizations: The Safe Shelter of St. Vrain Valley, the OUR Center, the Inn Between and the school district’s Safe Routes to School Program.

Check this article for deadlines, drop off points, contact information and more.

For over two decades the Christmas Bike Program has been helping local children get a “pre-owned” bike to change their lives in an important way. A bike might enable a child to earn money with a paper route, see relatives who live far enough away that walking would take too long, get groceries and . . . just have some fun with friends or alone!

Scooters and tricycles are also welcome.

Make a difference this year. Declutter and old bike for a new life for a child.

Start a Christmas Bicycle Program in your community this year!

Decorating... for the holidays or any day.

Sometimes a big makeover or the big holiday decorations isn't the answer, but a quick and easy small one might be to freshen up your room and make it holiday fresh too! 

In "Speed Decorating", the new book by Jill Vegas the author gives some quick and easy ways to liven up your kitchen:

• Remove the clutter. Put away items that don’t belong on the countertop.
• Do a quick food inventory. Use up quickly and/or throw out anything that’s starting to spoil or is open and you’re never going to eat.
• Hang fresh dish towels.
• Put a fresh bowl of fruit on the countertop (make sure to eat it while it’s fresh!)
• Add some fragrance. Simmer mulling spices or pop some cookies in the oven just before guests arrive.