7 Simple Tips To Help You Declutter

Sometimes we sit down in our homes and think "How did I end up with all of this stuff!?" Whether its a lack of organization, or just a lot of trinkets here and there, clutter can build up over time. If you've decided that you've had enough, check out "7 Simple Tips To Help You Declutter" below!

1. Set the mood. 

If you have a diffuser, fill it with uplifting essential oils such as grapefruit, lemon, or Elevation blend. These pleasant aromas will help you tackle the emotions that would otherwise distract you and keep you from accomplishing your goals. Our sense of smell is the only sense directly related to our brain, and aromatherapy can really change your mood!

2. Get the tunes going. 

What kind of music will get you revved up or in great spirits?

3. Set a goal. 

Begin small. One room, one closet or even one pile at a time. If you think about the entire picture, you may get overwhelmed. At least I do.

4. Take inventory. 

Get a piece of paper and take note of what you have and what you can get rid of. My rule of thumb: if I haven't worn it, or used it in at least a year, it's time to say bye-bye.

5. Think about the most efficient way to organize. 

How would you like things to be displayed? Do you need hangers or organization mechanisms such as dividers, shelving, boxes or crates? Get those before you start so that you have somewhere to put your items. (It's imperative that you plan ahead and get what you need before you tackle that clutter).

6. Complete one project at a time. 

Stay put and complete one project at a time. Don’t move into a second area before you finish the first. If you're reorganizing a pantry, stay there. If you're reorganizing the folders in your mail program, don’t go into the pantry. Starting in smaller piles will again, keep you from getting overwhelmed.

7. Don’t get distracted. 

Leave your phone out of the room. Leave all media out, with the exception of music. Keep the tunes flowing. Only leave for bathroom breaks and do it until it is done.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Original Article Here: http://bit.ly/19VysOu

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5 Make and Freeze Dinners

Sometimes there's just no extra time to cook up a complicated meal, so having ones already prepared to eat can be incredibly convenient in a pinch. Check out "​5 Great Meals to Make Ahead and Freeze" to make sure that you'll always have something to chow down on even if you're short on time.

Soups

While I grew up eating canned soup, that’s not been the case for my kids. The canned variety is generally oversalted, oversweetened, and overpriced. Since it’s so easy to make my own, there’s really no reason not to.

I regularly prepare our favorite soups, sometimes two or three varieties at a time, and freeze them in family- and individually-sized portions. It’s super easy to grab a few different pints of soup from the freezer for a quick lunch or supper. They pack well to work as well to reheat in the microwave.

Soups are great to pack on vacation, send to college with your child, or fill the freezer of a new mom or aging parent. Soup is good food. Particularly if you make it ahead of time and stash it in the freezer.

Favorite recipes:

• Cheddar Cheese Soup with Zucchini, Broccoli, and Carrots
• Jalapeño Chili
• Roasted Vegetable Soup with Fresh Oregano

Casseroles

Casseroles are an ultimate comfort food. It speaks my husband’s love language to pull a pan of enchiladas out of the oven. For my kids, it’s my famous Chicken Pot Pie or Lawnmower Taco. It’s even easier to treat their tastebuds when I’ve made a bulk batch of these and stashed them in the deep freeze.

Consider your favorite lasagna, enchilada, quiche, egg bake, or other casserole. Next time you prep it, make two (or more) and freeze the extras. It really doesn't take that much more time, but you'll reap the rewards later.

Favorite recipes:

• Chicken Pot Pie
• Cheese Enchiladas
• Lawnmower Taco

Marinated or Cooked Chicken

Boneless, skinless chicken breast is one of the most economical proteins here on the West Coast where it’s regularly less than $2/pound. I snatch up big flats of chicken and do one of two things: I package trimmed breast fillets with marinade in a ziptop freezer bag, or I cook it up by poaching or grilling and then I freeze the cooked results.

The fruit of my labor is an easy, ready-to go protein. I can thaw the marinated chicken in the fridge overnight and have it ready to throw on the grill at dinnertime. I can thaw the cooked chicken and toss it into salads, stir it into soups, or tuck it into sandwiches.

Favorite recipes:

• Salsa Verde Chicken
• Dijon Chicken
• Pulled Chicken

Taco and Burrito Fillings

We’ve always been big taco and burrito fans, so it makes sense to keep the fillings on hand for quick and easy suppers. By cooking up bulk batches of seasoned taco meat, pinto beans, or carnitas, I’ve got the makings of many a great dinner. Since these items are already cooked, I can quickly thaw and reheat, lay out tortillas, taco shells, chips, rice or even fried potatoes, and an array of toppings, and dinner is served before I can make a run for the border.

Favorite recipes:

• Salsa Verde Beef
• Seasoned Taco Meat
• Slowcooker Carnitas

Apple Pie

Apple pie is a meal, right? Well, at our house it is, at least on the first day of school when I serve apple pie for breakfast. While it may not be your typical "meal," it sure is nice to have a stash of pies in the freezer.

Every fall, I prep as many pies as I can and store them in our big freezer. This allows me to surprise my family with a fresh-baked pie on cold fall evenings. It takes the load off my Thanksgiving Day prep work since I only need to slide them into the oven on Wednesday night. And it brings a comfort and a touch of sweetness to savor the flavors of fall throughout the cold winter months.

Favorite recipes:

• Slab Apple Pie
• Nanna’s Apple Pie

When I’ve got my freezer stocked with these five of my favorite things, all’s right with the world. I can surprise my family with their favorite foods. I can pull a quick dinner off in less time than it would take me to find my car keys and latch some car seats. I can rest a little easier, knowing that if other plans don’t go my way, at least dinner will.

Check out Jessica's book on freezer meals

→ Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook

Visit Jessica's family cooking blog:

→ Good Cheap Eats

(Images: Jessica Fisher)

Original Article Here: http://www.thekitchn.com/5-great-meals-to-make-ahead-and-freeze-193994

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Grocery Shopping 101: How To Shop Effectively

Image courtesy of commons.wikipedia.org

Let's be real: we can't survive on take-out and fast food forever. Eventually, we all have to buy groceries and stock up our fridges, even if it's one of the least fun chores on our list.

Yes, there's a reason some people hate going to the store: grocery shopping isn't as easy as walking in and picking up what you like! Without a plan, it's easy to buy far more than you need or can even eat, resulting in potentially wasted food, otherwise known as wasted money.



Don't worry, though: following these tips from renters.apartments.com will make sure you budget properly, buy the right amount of food, and are well-stocked to get through the next week until your next grocery shopping trip.
 
Make a list: If you want to come home with food you’ll actually eat, it is essential to make a list. Plan out how many meals you’ll need for the week, taking into account any plans you already have to go out to lunch or have a family dinner. Making your list based on meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks – rather than food groups – meat, vegetables, grains – will mean less food going to waste at the end of the week.

Choose wisely: When planning out your meals, think about ingredients that can be used in more than one way. For example, if you want burgers one night and brats the next night, that means buying two kinds of buns. Instead, do burgers and chicken patties or sloppy joes, which can all use the same buns. Other ingredients that won’t be used up in one meal can also be used for multiple purposes – for example, use a dozen eggs to makepasta carbonara for dinner, omelets for breakfast, and brownies for dessert.

Avoid the crowds: Sunday afternoon is probably the worst time to shop; the store is crowded and the merchandise is picked over. Try shopping on a weeknight after work, or before noon on a weekend. You’ll be less stressed, have more selection, and have to spend less time in the store.

Seek out savings: Grocery bills can add up, especially if you don’t pay attention to sales and specials. Sign up for your store’s rewards program to get discounts as well as coupons for future trips. Many stores and food brands also have smartphone apps and online coupons that you can load straight onto your phone or loyalty card. And don’t overlook the store brand – you may be surprised how much they taste like your favorite brand, but for half the price.

Make it fun: If you really hate grocery shopping, try to find a way to make it fun for yourself. Some people get excited about savings, and others shop when they know there will be free samples throughout the store. Find a new recipe to try, buy yourself some flowers for the kitchen table, or reward yourself with a tub of ice cream or cookies from the bakery.

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Organize Your Life

Feel like your life needs some more organization? Check out these tips to help get things back in line and boost the productivity of your common tasks! Learn more over at ZenBlog.

1. 3 Most Important Tasks. Writing down and making mental note of my top 3 tasks to get done for the day. Everything else seems to fall into place if I do that.
2. An easy and workable task list, or to do list. While I love all of these handy web 2.0 apps, computer software, very neat gadgets like palms and really cool cell phones, they just don’t work for me. I’m a lazy woman, with an even lazier attitude. I might put a task in Remember the Milk, another task in my palm, one in my Gcal and send another text to my phone. With all of these different ways of doing things, I end up spending much more time trying to organize my to do list, or consolidate it, that I don’t get much actually done.
3. Keep ubiquitous capture device. It might not be the same device for every location (I have a moleskine for work, but use my mobile for inspiration on the fly) but just being able to write stuff down when you think about it is key for me.
4. Choose one tool and stick with it.
5. Do one thing at a time.
6. Do it now.
7. Make use of the word no.
8. Use the recycling bin/trash basket. Organizing unnecessary items is wasted energy. It is amazing how much more in control I feel just by ridding myself of now outdated articles I’d like to read “someday,” or countless meeting notes from which relevant action items have already been extracted.
9. A (good) place for everything, and everything in its place. By finding places that are easy to get to for all the things I use most often, and places that are pretty easy to get to for the things I use less often, I spend less time dreading doing things and more time actually doing things. And the place for things you never use is elsewhere (trash can, place that accepts donations, etc.).
10. Simplify, simplify, simplify!
11. Put it away now. The single, simplest thing I do to stay personally organized is to put whatever tool, item, clothing, bag, hairbrush etc., away immediately after using it. I always know where everything and anything is so I never waste time looking for something. Very efficient. I could tell a stranger where to find anything in my home.
12. Keep a to-do list that syncs with your mobile phone (so you can add stuff as and when you remember it). And make sure every item has a due date.
13. Change. It obsoletes unimportant things. It brings down any method or idea that isn’t timeless. It brings up newer and more important things that you and others can’t resist anymore. Best of all: it’s an organizing tool that operates itself. You simply have to embrace it.
14. Divide material into red, yellow, blue and green plastic file folders. For example, anything that has to be done today (paperwork to be given to a client, bills to be mailed) go in the red folder. Contact material or anything related to customer field support goes in the yellow folder. Your mileage may vary as to how you organize your briefcase, and like me you may also have project-specific manilla file folders as well, but dividing stuff up into just four color coded folders is a huge help.
15. Flylady.net. She helped me realize that I needed to apply GTD principles to my home life and not just work. I had work under control using checklists, projects and next actions. I tried the same system at home and failed. Then about a month ago I discovered flylady.net courtesy I believe one of your blog posts. Wow, what a difference. My house is clean and so is my desk at work. Many if not most of her basic ideas are just like GTD in a slightly different perspective (control journal, baby steps) and also concrete methods for accomplishing next actions (2 minute hot spots, 15 minute timers). Her most useful tip was to put my daily/weekly lists into shiny page protectors in my control journal. I use a dry erase marker and voila no more killing trees or not doing my list because I can’t print it (or want to avoid the hassle). The best thing about this, I am more relaxed, my blood pressure is finally dropping and I feel less stressed.
16. Unapologetically take control of your time and priorities.
17. Sort at the source. My favorite organizational tool is my post office box. I visit it once a week (usually Saturday), stand at the counter in the lobby and sort my mail. I use the P.O.’s trash bin. What comes into my house is only what I need to have. Bills and letters and checks go into my inbox (which by the way is a box with a lid that is wrapped in lovely fabric and has a yellow bow on it so it looks like a present sitting on my desk). Reading material goes on the table by my chaise lounge which is where I do all my reading.
18. A sheet of paper, a calendar and a white board. I’ve found that the easiest way to organize myself, my days and so forth is a good paper calendar, a sheet of paper that I divide into four sections and a medium sized white board. For my paper the top left section is my actual running to do list for today. The top right section is my running grocery list, or list of things I must purchase. The bottom left is for notes such as calls I made, who I spoke to, appointment dates. The bottom right is whatever I need to move to another day. If I’m told to call back on Monday, then I note that on the calendar. As for the white board, the kids can make notes (Can I spend the night at Brian’s on Friday? Grandma called), and I can jot down things as I think of them to be added to tomorrow’s to do list. My calendar, and the white board are in the same location, so I can transfer short notes if need be. I carry my paper task list with me everywhere, so I can make notes at any given moment.
19. Color coding. I’m a visual person, and I find that color-coding my various lists and calendars minimizes the time I have to spend looking at them. This worked especially well when I was in school: I dumped every class syllabus into Outlook, and then color-coded every class period (blue for paper due, yellow for quiz, red for test, etc). It took awhile to set up, sure, but then for the rest of the semester I only had to glance at Outlook to get a very clear idea of what kind of week I was going to have.
20. One binder. I use a binder cleverly labeled “@ 2007″ with the following divisions:
    • @ Today – With my Emergent Task Planner from davidseah.com;
    • @ Week – The remaining days of the week ETP’s as a skeleton;
    • @ Year – All my historical sheets;
    • @ Diet – Which tracks what I have eaten for the day;
    • @ Fitness – Which tracks my workout routine for the day. My binder is with me all the time and it has helped me become a better employee, family member and relationship guy.
21. Write down, execute and tidy up on the way. These are is my organization bible. I’ve been living that way since more than two years and I can say that I’m an organized person.
22. A little whiteboard on my bedroom wall. I have it separated into two sections, a “todo” and a “today”. “Todo” is a list of general things I have to do, like get my car inspected, buy someone a present, etc. Then “today” is what I need to do, obviously, today! Things can be moved back and forth as appropriate. I find having a specific list for today helps push me to get the important things done in a timely manner. I also keep two things permanently on the “today” part, which are meditation and exercise. This seems to help.
23. Note cards. One can write tasks on them — one per card, or in a list (depending on the type of task in question; I do both). When doing one per card, the stack serves as an easy prioritization scheme. But wait, there’s more: They can be arranged on cork boards, shared, annotated, torn up and rearranged. They can be used as placeholders, as mini-white boards and as tokens to model ideas. They are easy to carry around, and to attach to other documents. Further, different colors allow for a visual representation of different kinds of todo’s (as can different annotations). Finally, they are cheap and most importantly of all: easy (much easier than software) to reconfigure as needs and projects change.
24. Never rely on a single point of failure. I’ve seen people pay $1,000 to hear speakers at a conference and only have one pen to take notes. It’s a great feeling when one thing breaks, gets lost, or runs out of power, and you have another one in reserve!
25. Have.. less.. stuff.
26. Delegate. Learn to trust people with critical tasks in all areas of your life. When you learn to effectively delegate tasks you actually find that it is easier to keep the stuff you cannot delegate better organized.
27. You control your life. Whatever electronics or paper you use, make them work for YOU not the other way around. Does Outlook really have to stay checking your email every 5 minutes? Maybe, but I bet you’ll get a whole lot more done if you check it a few times per day. That goes for the Blackberry too! After all, there are so many tools, and one to fit everyone – so use what works, but make it work for you!

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