Every single day we're given opportunities to grow and enjoy life more! (Even in a pandemic.)

Years ago, a woman wrote that she'd been married for 25 years. Her husband had cheated on her more than once and she'd “lost” herself and hardly recognized her home or her person. (Could be the way some of us feel because of COVID.)

But it's never too late to change your life! This woman had successfully raised two happy sons and worrying about what her husband did and not focusing on the important job she was doing, could very well have given him (in his dishonest mind) a good excuse for the affairs. Focusing on getting her act together and not worrying about him, could have erased that excuse he probably used; "My wife's fat and the house is a pigsty." 

When someone is unfaithful it's his/her problem. It’s only OUR problem if we make it ours.

A BO (Born Organized) could never do what's in this video. It would drive her crazy.

But we lucky SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) have no problem doing this.  

Women are notorious for neglecting self-care in lieu of caring for others and when asked if they are selfish about taking care of themselves, most cringe and say, “no.” The cringe comes from guilt knowing they should have free time for themselves. There are two parts to this: one is you need to know what you’re going to do when you take time out (I'll go into that another day) and two you need to make time for the time outs. Here's just one way to make time. Watch the video and then give it a try. It's actually fun!! And it'll save time you could use to play.

It's so much fun getting to know some of you on a personal basis through the consultations I do. I’ve learned so much about how alike we all are in our SHEness (Sidetracked Home Executive-ness). To learn more about talking with me, please go to www.cluborganized.com  then to the Get Organized tab.

I recently talked to a very fun-loving and brilliant SHE named Pat, who emailed an update after our talk. She has been gracious to let me share her thoughts. 

She said, “I enjoy creating a mess. That's part of the trouble I had a long time ago; I couldn't understand why I should clean up such tiny messes, when it felt so fun to clean up a big mess. Unfortunately, after a while I just kept putting off the cleaning up until it was too big a mess to clean up!”

When I read that comment, it made me think about the Ta Da affect we SHEs love. I thought about what Pat said about liking to make a mess because it’s fun to clean up! I liked it too. I remember when Mr. Cranky (my first husband) would go on the road (he was a traveling salesman) I’d let the house unravel. It was soothing and relaxing to have him gone. He’d be gone four days at a time and that’s enough time to create some very big messes that verged on scary!

Give it up

When my sister and I got organized, we both discovered we had to let go of the need for a Ta Da moment. There’s no Ta Da in a little clean-up, so we have to get used to mini Ta Da moments.

5 Decluttering Questions!

Imagine this: You fill a big suitcase (the one that always weighs more like 55 pounds when you check it at the airport) and, while it's still summer, you cram it with all the fall and winter clothes you didn't wear last year. Probably many of the garments haven’t been worn in several years. If you haven’t worn a garment in the last year, what makes you think a year from now you will?  

If you did this, you'd lose 55 pounds of clothing that was otherwise clogging your closet and if the suitcase is an old one that's probably seen its last flight, you could drop the whole, thing off at Goodwill, You'll feel 55 pounds lighter spiritually! Clutter is the biggest destroyer of peace and decluttering closets, cupboards and drawers brings a peace that money can’t buy!

Going through my archives, I found a whole bunch of blogs I recorded for those who like to listen while they work. (While listening to this one, you could be productive with your hands, like clean out a drawer, fold a load of laundry or clean out your purse.) I called these blogs "Young at Heart." This one's about my disorganization when it comes to taking care of maintenance on my car. I hope you enjoy it! I have more if you enjoy listening, so let me know. 

Every single day we're given opportunities to grow and enjoy life more!

A woman wrote that she'd been married for 25 years. Her husband had cheated on her more than once and she'd “lost” herself and hardly recognized her home or her person.

It's never too late to change your life! This woman had successfully raised two happy sons and worrying about what her husband did and not focusing on the important job she was doing, could very well have given him (in his dishonest mind) a good excuse for the affairs. Focusing on getting her act together and not worrying about him, could have erased that excuse he probably used; "My wife's fat and the house is a pigsty." 

When someone is unfaithful it's his/her problem. It’s only OUR problem if we make it ours.

Pretend to be a guest at your own home

Usually when we think of spring cleaning we think of getting out the buckets, brushes, rags and cleaners and cleaning the inside of the house. If you want to learn more about that, Google it. My blog this week is about sprucing up the place just before you go inside your home. You’ll have to go outside for this spring cleaning.

Your entryway is the gateway to your domestic life. It gives guests their first impression of your home life and quite frankly a little peek into who you are. After your guest rings the doorbell there’s “wait time,” and it’s a rather private period of scrutiny and judging for him or her. Here are my 8 tips for spring cleaning your entryway. 

Enlightened Selfishness Means Taking Time for You

For starters, take time to read this blog, unless your house is on fire or your dog has a death grip on one of your children.

Most women are notorious for neglecting themselves in lieu of caring for others and you’re probably one of them. If you’re not, CONGRATULATIONS! When asked, “Are you selfish about taking care of yourself, most women cringe and say, “no.” The cringe comes from guilt knowing they should have free time for themselves but don't. There are two parts to this “enlightened selfishness: first you need to know what you’re going to do when you take time out and second, you need to make time for the time outs and get them to become a habit. There are two ways to do that. One is to cut corners wherever you can, and two is to delegate some of your work to the members of your family so you can take time for you. I'll give you some tips on delegating, but first here's a video that demonstrates how to drastically save time folding sheets.

Ahh, the lazy days of summer are upon us. Summer breezes calm us, the lake beckons us to lap in its luxurious warm water, the aroma of barbeque teases our noses and makes our mouths water. No cares, just relaxation.

How in the world can we think about Christmas now? And why would we want to? Well, Leroy Anderson wrote “Sleigh Ride” in July, 1946 in the middle of a heat wave in New England, so if you had a good enough reason to think about Christmas now, you could put your mind to it. We all know that the holidays require extra time, energy and money, so why not take advantage of summer leisure and get a jump on the holidays?

Here are my six best ideas to save you time, money and energy during the holiday season.

1. Stocking Stuffers 

Stuff as you go. Hide a small container, like a shoe box or Zip Lock Gallon bag, for each child. When
you’re out and about and find items that would be good for stocking stuffers, like movie tickets, gift cards, little toys and books, purchase and put in the hidden containers.

Come midnight on Christmas Eve, you’ll thank yourself when you think, ‘EEgad, we gotta do stockings,’ and you’ll have most of the contents ready to stuff.

2. Re-Gift

Have you ever noticed how excited your children are when they find toys they haven’t seen in several months? That usually happens when you start cleaning out their closets.

When my kids were little, I'd box up some of their toys, books and games when they weren’t around. and put them up to the attic. When I’d get one of those stored boxes out, no matter what time of year it was, it felt just like Christmas. That's when I got the idea to wrap them in Christmas wrap and store them away until Christmas morning.

Kids love lots of presents under the tree and they'll love to unwrap stuff you've let hide for a few months of rest. (When items first go missing, they’ll wonder where they went for a little while, but they probably spend a lot of time looking for stuff anyway, if your family tends to be disorganized and eventually they'll get distracted and forget.) 

3. “Do” your Christmas cards in July 

Why not take care of Christmas cards this summer? If you’re like me, you’ve probably got a stash of Christmas cards plugging up one of your drawers. Get them out, pretend it’s Christmas, write a tender note, address, seal, stamp and hold until December 1. Think how easy it’ll be plopping them into the mail that early!

Remember Christmas is about love, joy and goodwill. Make your note to each person about them, not about you. Thank them for being in your life. Comment on how much you love them, how much they make your life better. Wish them goodness in all their days.

Note: I’ve always said, “Unless a person is a really good writer, he or she shouldn’t write a Christmas letter which usually ends up being all about the person writing it.” That's not what Christmas is all about.

A BO (Born Organized) could never do what's in this video. It would drive her crazy.

But we lucky SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) have no problem doing this.  

Women are notorious for neglecting self-care in lieu of caring for others and when asked if they are selfish about taking care of themselves, most cringe and say, “no.” The cringe comes from guilt knowing they should have free time for themselves. There are two parts to this: one is you need to know what you’re going to do when you take time out (I'll go into that another day) and two you need to make time for the time outs. Here's just one way to make time. Watch the video and then give it a try. It's actually fun!! And it'll save time you could use to play.