Living Well – Establishing a Routine & Intro to Small Savings

If you have kept up with my blog so far, you have accomplished ALOT! So far, I introduced you to computer housekeeping-I hope to revisit this subject and educate you on some additional computer topics. We have also organized our bedroom and kitchen. Not too shabby for one month!

In order for your house to get and stay in order, you have to establish a routine that will work for you.

Here are some tips that might help you out:

FILING TIPS
– Make sure you open your mail in the area you pay, file, shred, recycle. Toss recyclable junk mail, shred identifable mail/files at least once a week.

– Make sure you shred old bills, once you receive the new one and it has properly credited your last payment.

COMPUTER TIPS
– Make sure you schedule a virus scan at least once a week.

– Make sure you organize your Favorite links as you are saving them. Go thru your Favorites once a month to ensure that your links are current.

– Defrag your computer at least once a week. Schedule this if you tend to forget.

BEDROOM TIPS
– Make sure you put your clothes away after you are done laundry.

– If you add something to your dresser or closet, make sure you get rid of 1 or 2 older items.

KITCHEN TIPS
– Wipe your fridge, microwave, and toaster daily-if you do this when you are doing dishes, its easy to get this to be a habit.

– Vacuum the coils and under the fridge to help with the “maintenance” of this appliance.

– Circle expiration dates to ensure freshness.

I hope you stay tuned for February’s topic: Small Savings.
I will be suggesting some ideas that will help you save money. Some of these ideas do not require much in order to save alot over the course of a month-or even a year!

 

Living Well – Kitchen (small things)

Today we will be tidying up a couple of the small things some people tend to overlook when cleaning their kitchens. Namely-the microwave and toaster.

I have a few tips to help these smaller jobs go just a little quicker.

MICROWAVE
Before you start jumping in and cleaning your microwave, place a microwave-safe cup or dish full of water inside and heat up 1 or 2 minutes. This will loosen some of the stuff that dirties up the nuker. You should be able to use a damp rag or sponge to wipe the inside of the microwave.

TOASTER
Make sure that you unplug the toaster before you clean it! I like to shake my toaster into the trash can. If its been awhile since youve cleaned your toaster, you may want to do this outside to eliminate another mess.

If you have pull out “drawers” on the bottom that catches crumbs, make sure to do this after you use the toaster EVERY time. Make sure you wipe up under your toaster after use as well. Eliminating the crumbs will assist in the prevention of ants and other “bugs” that are attracted to the food left around.

 

Living Well – Kitchen drawers

Today, we will be concentrating on our kitchen drawers. This project tends to be time consuming because many of us stick things that do not belong in our kitchen drawers. It is my hope that you will change those habits, making this “chore” quicker and easier.

GET TO IT!
As is always the case, we start by emptying out the kitchen drawers. Once we have emptied them, we can clean them out. I like to vacuum the drawers before I start wiping things down. This way, I dont have to keep rinsing off the sponge or rag because crumbs are on it.

Once you have emptied and cleaned out the drawers, we can begin to go thru the items that were in the cabinets. The first thing we ALWAYS need to do is to throw away anything that has expired.

FIGURING OUT THE LAYOUT
I find that the easiest way to plan how you will layout your kitchen – whether its the cabinets, drawers, fridge is to see how much room you have, AND then see what you have and how you work in that area….

I find that most kitchens use their drawers for: silverware, saran wrap/aluminum foil etc, assorted loose utensils…and then most people have a “junk” drawer.

Once you have sorted thru everything you took out of your drawers, you will see where your needs truly are.

GETTING RID OF THE “JUNK” DRAWER
Since I did mention that almost everyone I know has a “junk” drawer…I want to propose that you do not include this space in your kitchen. You should find places for these items-and if there has been something lingering in your junk drawer, and you havent used it within the past year-GET RID OF IT!!!

 

Living Well – Kitchen cabinets (Finishing the job)

I just noticed that I hadnt posted this blog yesterday. My apologies…I hope you are enjoying the snow day if you live in the Baltimore area.

This is Day 2 of our kitchen cabinet project, so-if you have been keeping up, your cabinets should be empty and cleaned.

The first thing we need to do, is go thru all the “stuff” that was in your cabinets. This means to throw away anything that has expired and sort the types of things that go together.

In a nutshell: spices tend to stay together-cereals- etc.
Once you have sorted what you have, group things together according to where the cabinets are. To make things easier, place the items close to the area you use them.

An example of this would be to group all your spices, cooking oils/sprays etc in a cabinet nearer to the stove.

One more helpful tip is to place older items in the front of the cabinet, and place newer items in the back. Circling the expiration dates on items will also help keep things up to date.

Once everything is put away (nicely) you are now done with the cabinets! Congrats!

 

Living Well – Kitchen cabinets

If you have been following along at home, you should have finished cleaning out your fridge….So now that you are up to speed, we are going to tackle the kitchen cabinets. Some of you may be groaning, but I can tell you that having things organized makes your life easier.

I like to break this project down into 2 days. This way, I can be assured that I am not rushing things. Day One will consist of emptying and cleaning and Day Two will consist of organizing and putting things away.

I have a system that makes things easy. I will take it step by step-and hopefully you will be able to encorporate them into a routine that works for you.

First, as always, you need to have an area to place the contents of your cabinets.
Next, empty those cabinets.

I will not suggest a cleaning agent, as this will vary due to the differences in kitchen cabinets. Make sure that the cleaning agent you use will not damage the cabinet. Make sure that you use a dampened rag, ensuring that you do not leave residue behind. If you need to, you could have a fresh rag to wipe the area dry.

Thats it for tonight. Tomorrow, we will complete this project.

 

Living Well – Whats in your fridge?

This last week of January – we will be concentrating on our kitchen. I will be concentrating on the fridge today…

Every refrigerator needs a good cleaning out a few times a year. This ensures that food that has expired is tossed out and the shelves and doors get wiped. This will also cut down on weird odors that can emit from the fridge.

LETS GET STARTED
As with every project, we will need to empty the fridge. As you are emptying things, make sure to look at the expiration dates and toss anything that has expired.

Do not forget to go thru your freezer as well. Your freezer doesnt see the amount of action that your fridge does, but it is good to go thru it and give it a wiping down every few months.

Once you have emptied the fridge, its time to wipe things down. If your fridge has removable shelves, remove them and wash them in your sink. If not, mix a small amount of water and detergent in a bucket.

Make sure you take out the vegi and lunchmeat drawers. Things can spill in the area underneath and cause stains and odors. Make sure you wash these drawers as well.

It is also necessary to wipe the door shelving off as well. You would be surprised at how much “gunk” can collect in those shelves!

Once you have wiped the entire inside of the fridge, its time to put everything back.
It is your perogative if you choose to place a box of baking soda in your fridge-but I do suggest placing one in your freezer to keep ice cubes from absorbing tastes/smells.

YOURE NOT DONE YET
You really should wipe the outside of the fridge, as well as the handles. I suggest wiping the handles every evening after you wash the dishes.

A vacuum hose with a narrow attachment works the best for under the fridge and the back of the fridge. Not only will this make your job complete, but it will help in the routine care and maintenance of your refrigerator.

 

Living Well – Keeping your closet organized

So you have spent a couple of days going thru your closet…getting rid of things you dont like, things that dont fit, or things that are damaged. If you go and take another look in your closet, you should smile and be proud of the accomplishment.

So now that you have done this awesome thing…how can we keep from allowing our closets get back into that state?

ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
As with everything else, you have to change the way you deal with your clothes.

Are you a compulsive shopper? If so, ask yourself- Why do you purchase things that you do not have a place for in your home?

Do you hate putting away your clothes? In order to keep your closet organized, you must put things away, like it or not.

CHANGE YOUR HABITS
If you can, do laundry twice a week. Doing your laundry twice a week ensures that each load placed in the washer is a full load. This not only saves on your overall load amount, but time and money.

If you have a larger family, you may not be able to cut your loads in this way. Alternates could include sharing this responsibility.

COMPLETING THE TASK
After your done washing and drying your clothes, you must fold or hang them. You are not done yet. You must complete the task and put these clothes away.

The easiest system is to fold and organize into piles by person.

If your children are old enough, they should learn how to put their own clothes away. And Im not talking about shoving them into a drawer. There are videos online that you can show to your children, instructing them on how to fold their clothes to fit them into their dresser drawers.

BRAND NEW DAY
You may find that doing laundry and putting away your clothes is a much more enjoyable chore now that things have their own place.

Once the task is truly done, and all the laundry has been cleaned and put away…give yourself a hand. Look around and enjoy.

 

Living Well – Lingering Paperwork Project (Organizing & Setting up a routine)

In todays blog, I will be teaching you a few ways to handle all that paperwork that seems to pile up. I purposely stretched this project out so that you could prepare for what lies ahead.

DEVELOPING A PLAN
Hopefully, after reading- you will adopt some of these strategies. Once you change your habits, these strategies will become routine for you and your way of dealing with file management will be different.

Since we have already purged most of our files and have them organized by person, it will be easier to set up your system. You will see that organizing by person makes all steps involved simpler and not as time consuming.

TIME TO GET STARTED
Grab the first persons pile.
Divide this pile into like-type piles. If you did some of the primary categories when we purged, these categories should be easy to identify. We will also be identifying our sub-categories as well.

Here are examples of files you would find in each category
* IMPORTANT: birth certificate, Social Security Card, Immunization Record
* SCHOOL: HIGH SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOL, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
* COLLEGE: INFORMATION, SCHOLARSHIPS, LOANS, MISC FINANCE/ACCOUNTING, HOUSING, SCHEDULES
** INFORMATION: letters from the college
** SCHOLARSHIPS: files pertaining to scholarships
** LOANS: files pertaining to loans
** MISC FINANCE/ACCOUNTING: Financial papers pertaining to items not related to schol/loans
** HOUSING: room assignments
** SCHEDULES: semester schedules
* MEDICAL: Current medical bills
* PAID IN FULL: Any bill that is Paid in Full
* RECEIPTS: Misc Receipts

Once you have identified your categories and sub-categories, you can start printing out your labels. If you do not use a label-maker or a template (i.e. Avery software) please make sure to PRINT CLEARLY WITH A FINE TIP SHARPIE.

Never use a pencil to print labels. Even fading occurs with pen, so I recommend using a fine tip Sharpie to print labels.

Once you have everything in order and sorted-its now time to start labeling and placing in folders. Be sure to use a pocket folder if you have alot of like-type papers.

We are going to be doing some minor tuning to what we have and to make sure that something did not get mis-categorized. This also means that we should be double-checking to see if someone elses stuff is mixed in.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG
Once you have completed filing and labeling for that person, its time to move on to the next person.

Please be aware that I have assumed that the first pile you would grab would be a childs and not your own. For an adult, the categories can be similar-only adding an EMPLOYMENT category.

In this category, you would find: W-2s, employment contracts and the like. I also include tax information under my employment category.

Once all the members of your household have their files organized and filed, its time to move onto the HOUSEHOLD category.

Household sub-categories will include: Utilities, Vehicles, Home, Insurance, Warranties, Instruction Manuals

Again, double check what you have in your piles to make sure you are starting off right.

Once you have all your paperwork labeled and filed, take a break and reward yourself. This process does take time and deserves a reward.

BREAKS OVER
Now that you did all that hard work, you need to develop a routine to keep your file management system straight.

In a previous blog, I suggested that you open your mail near the area you keep your files. You should also keep a recycle bin and a shredder nearby. This will alleviate having your papers scattered throughout your house.

I also suggest filing your papers as soon as your fingers touch them. There is no logic in placing a paper somewhere and then picking it up later to file it away. There is no excuse for not filing now that you have spent this time setting up an easy to use system.

I also shred old utility bills once I receive the current one- as long as I have received the proper crediting for the previous billing cycle. This also helps keeping your files from becoming stagnant.

Choosing one day a week to pay your bills makes filing go a little quicker. If you plan which bills to pay each week, you can also save some time.

MAINTENANCE
I like to go thru my filing cabinet twice a year. If nothing else, it allows me to make sure that there are no unneccesary papers still lingering. This is most helpful when going thru your Household files.

SOME HELPFUL HINTS
* If you no longer own an item, you do not need to keep the Instruction Manual or warranty information.
* If you change insurance carriers or your policy has been renewed, you can shred the previous policy.
* Once you receive your W2 and the amounts match your last paystub of the year, you can shred the paystubs for that year.

 

Living Well – Shoes, Why do we love them so?

Yesterday, we emptied our closet and went thru our clothes. We will be handling the organization of our shoe collection in a similar manner.

First, we need our work area. Second, we need to gather our shoes in one area.

As with our clothes, there are some guidelines about how to decide whether or not to keep various pairs of shoes. Believe it or not, we are just as attached to our shoes!

This process again involves going thru each item and making one of 3 choices. (keep, donate/sell, trash)

Some general guidelines for purging shoes:
* If you cannot locate one it can be tossed
* If the shoes are damaged/broken heel they can be tossed
* If the shoes do not fit (try them on to be sure) donate them
* If you have not worn the shoes within at least the last year, donate them
* If you do not like the way the shoes feel on you, donate them

Make sure that you absolutely love each pair you keep. There is no sense in being uncomfortable or having shoes you cant wear taking up your space.

Now, I like to group like-type pairs together….all my dressy shoes, casual type shoes…that is up to you. I find it makes what I want to find easier.

Now put your shoes away!

Dont forget to bag up or box the shoes you will be donating. Like yesterday-make plans to get this clutter out of your house THIS week!

The shoes you have to toss, make sure you toss them.
Finally, take a look in your newly organized closet. Take a deep breath! You are almost done!

Tomorrow we will wrap up closet organizing as well as finalizing our paperwork project. Be sure to check back for tips on how to keep your closet maintained.

 

Living Well – Cleaning out the closet

Today, I have provided a link to a pretty sad story. A woman died after her clutter fell on her – burying her alive.

To be honest, this story does not surprise me. On cable networks like HGTV and The Style Channel, you see shows where they swoop in and “rescue” families from their hoarding ways.

In viewing these shows, I notice that many of these families start out saying “There was no room in my closet, so I put it……” So, today- and for the next 2 days (Wed, Thur, Fri) we will be doing the closet thing.

What is important to remember, is that in breaking down these projects into simpler and smaller tasks, and over the course of many days- makes the PROCESS theraputic in a sense.

Having an Objective
There is nothing like being able to go in your closet and find whatever it is you are looking for. There is also something to be said concerning having EVERY item that is in your closet loved!

Have one of these mornings?
I find that several of my friends spend a good deal of time in the morning just staring into their closets….or madly looking for some piece. This is because many of us have closets that overflow. This causes our clothes to be “smooshed” and hard to locate.

The time to start is NOW!
By spending some time organizing your closet and learning techniques to keep it that way, you will find that you have a closetful of clothes that you love and clothes that FIT!

As is true with most of my projects, I like to empty the area out completely. So first, you need to pick the area where you will be working. Make sure you have enough room to sort.

Once you have that taken care of, its time to empty your closet. EVERYTHING.
If you have items of clothing in other parts of your house, I would go get them and bring them in also.

Depending on your lifestyle, various categories of clothing will be obvious. Here is a start: dressy shirts, dressy pants, dresses, casual shirts, jeans , tshirts

We will be doing other various items found in closets tomorrow, so those items can be placed somewhere out of the way for now.

The first step is to sort everything into their categories.
Once you have your clothes sorted, its time to evaluate what you have.

This part of the process is usually the hardest for people. This involves going thru each item and making one of 3 choices. (keep, donate/sell, trash)

Some general guidelines for purging:
* If the item is damaged/ripped/stained it can be tossed
* If the item does not fit (try it on to be sure) donate it
* If you have not worn the item in at least the last year, donate it
* If you once liked the item, and no longer do – donate it

Make sure that you absolutely love each article you keep. If something fits but you dont like how you look in it, donate it. There is no sense in keeping it if you are not going to wear it!

I like to also gather “like” items of clothing together while purging. All my white dressy shirts, my black dressy shirts….then all my brown casual shirts, all my black casual shirts…

You may notice that you have 5 or 6 of the same type shirt/pants. Why dont you donate 3? Unless you wear that type of shirt/pant almost exclusively, there is no need for this many.

If you truly have a closet that is overflowing, make sure you donate or toss HALF.
I know this might sound extreme, but your life will be filled with calm without unneccesary items.

Once you have that narrowed down-take a good look at your closet.
Ask yourself if your clothing would fit back in there comfortably, or do you need to resort thru again?

If you honestly need to resort, ask yourself why you are holding onto that item?
Sometimes we hold onto these things as a “just in case” and it ends up just something taking up more space.

Now, go back and look at your closet. Decide how you are going to put things in there. I like to keep all my clothes categorized on the rod–so I have a “section” where all my work clothes are. I also like to keep all the like colors together as well within that category. It may seem a little ocd, but it makes for less stressful mornings.

Whatever system works for you, go ahead and hang up those clothes. Congratulations! You are 1/3 of the way done!

Not QUITE Done Yet
Dont forget to bag/box the items you will be donating. Who and where you donate is up to you, but I like to give to the local programs that GIVE my donations to those in need, rather than sell them.

Make sure that you arrange to have your donation picked up (if they wont give you a date within a week, take your donation to your chosen program.) OR take your donation to your chosen program.

Items that you have designated as trash should be gathered and taken out as well.

It is important that these steps be done as soon as possible. Your objective is to be rid of the clutter, not store it somewhere else.

Tomorrow: Shoes-Why do we love them so?