Organize your Refrigerator

I have these turn tables in my refrigerator. It allows me to move the shelf way up and put more things on that shelf.

Neighbor Gifts-Christmas Tip #3

In my area we exchange gifts with other families. Some are my husbands friends, my friends, neighbors, people at church, piano teachers etc. These gifts are usually either homemade plates of goodies or a gift for $5.00 or less. This year I really hit the jackpot! My daughter was in Chicago shopping at a Bath and Body Outlet Store. She called me and told me about these ceramic gingerbread houses that have 2 different oils to make your house smell good. They were regularly $24.50 and were selling them for $3.99. I called the store and asked if they could mail them to me and so they did. They sent me 24 of them. Here are the boxes. I can't show you what they look like because my friends read my blog and I want them to be a surprise.

How easy was that?? No thinking, no driving, no cooking. They are super cute, nice and with shipping comes to $5.00 each. One huge headache off my shoulders.
Today's tip is to decide on the "neighbor" gifts. Buy them, wrap them and put them away. If you make goodies for neighbors, you can buy the plates, ribbon and even write the cards.

100 days Till Christmas-Tip #1

We have 100 days left until Christmas. This may sound like a lot, but not for me,
I celebrate 2 daughters, a son in law, a husband and a son's birthday within 2 weeks of Christmas. I can get stressed out if a don't do a lot of pre-planning. This means doing everything I can before December. If I am worrying about Christmas duties, I can't celebrate birthdays and the true meaning of Christmas.
One year I got my Christmas shopping done in August and I didn't step foot in the malls all of December. It was too weird. It didn't even feel like it was Christmas. So in my opinion, that early is a little extreme.
I do think it is nice to get as much done before Thanksgiving as possible. So I have between now and Nov. 27 to get everything done. I like to mail my Christmas packages out the day before Thanksgiving when there is no line. I also like shopping in the stores with few people and easy parking.

For the next 6 blog posts I am going to give you tips to prepare early so you can enjoy time with your family.

Organizing Papers

My husband is not one of those naturally organized people. I have helped him organize things and helped him create systems for his papers. We start businesses and sell them. That means we are buying properties, fixing them up, hiring, and running one business while we are, selling and finishing up another business. Long story short HE had piles and piles of papers. I say he because a few years ago I started working on my own career instead of being a partner with him. His papers had become soo overwhelming he wasn’t able to touch them. I offered for months to do them together but he wouldn’t do it. Finally because we needed to get things to the accountant, I began.
As I was putting like items together, and labeling file folders, I started handing him little stacks of papers that only he knew about. I worked on the rest for 12 hours straight. The problem was he had active papers and inactive papers together. This actually made him think all the stacks were things he needed to do, when in reality some of the items were old and just needed to be stored away. I put all the items that he rarely needs in a filing cabinet, (travel, keepsakes, cycling, laptop phone, properties, church, titles). And boxed all the items dated before 2006 and put them in the basement. We whittled the stacks down to one plastic container with files in it. I cannot tell you the difference in his demeanor from morning till the evening. The quantity of papers he was shuffling through was really weighing him down. I feel guilty that I didn’t help him sooner. I felt like if he wanted to do it with me I would, BUT if he wanted me to sit there and do 12 hours of paperwork while he went on a bike ride NO way! Looking back I can see it was just too big of a job for a person that hates paperwork and organization. What a difference in his stress level!!!!
What is great about men and women is that they compliment each other. What I am good at he isn't and what I'm not good at he is.
He did leave me a little note this morning it said, “Thanks for all the paperwork you did today! You did great! LOVE YOU!”