I love labels!  The simple act of putting a label on a file folder, cuboard door or kitchen drawer makes me feel more organized!  Over the years I have used everything from hand written labels to hand held electronic label machines.  One thing I have discovered is that some labels stick better than others and my loyalty now sits with the Brother line of label machines.  I can depend on them to stick and the hand-held machines mean the kids can help me get organized. The replacement tapes are easy to find at our local office supply store.

My most recent addition to our label obsession, and my new favourite labeller is the P-touch: P-1230-PC.  This little machine plugs into your PC USB port and uses a built-in simple word processor, no downloading required.  You type in your label, hit print and the label comes out - simply hit the cutter button and your label is ready to go.

Why use the PC instead of the hand-held?  Well, I still love my hand-held for simple projects but the PC version allows me to change the font, add images and borders, making the labels more user-friendly and creative.  The machine fits in your hand so it is very portable and easy enough for the kids to use too!

Before Christmas we did a countdown that was really just a creative to-do list. I put all of the things we always want to do into a countdown activity and it helped us to focus each day on something we could do together to celebrate the holidays. I kind of think having a bit of a set schedule can do the same thing for us busy moms - in a way it is a creative to-do list!

Recently, I sat down and made a list of all of the things that need to be done each week and added in some time for ME and my favourite pastime, scrapbooking. I don’t’ always get to go out to scrapbook with friends so I have decided to make Tuesdays my scrapbooking day. I love to take photos and I love to scrapbook but I just don’t take the time. By making today my scrapbooking day - my ME day, it means that I don’t schedule other things on this day (other than the must dos with the kids). My weekly creative to-do list allows me to take that time on Tuesdays and not worry about it on other days - kind of like my laundry day!

I recently moved my office to a new room in the house. We haven’t painted yet but I have reorganized things a little. Tonight my scrapbook plans are more related to finishing my organizing as stuff everywhere tends to get in the way or me being creative! Besides wanting to get this done, I need to get it done!  In just about a month I will begin an Alumni class at Big Picture Scrapbooking (if you can get in to take this class - do it! It is the most amazing class you will ever take. ) The Library of Memories class is part scrapbooking, part organizing and part celebrating life and the reason behind my love for this favourite pasttime.

So as I say goodbye and get on with my day I leave you with a few photos of my partially organized scrapbooking stuff - I will add the finished photos when the day is through.

This is part of my problem - stuff piled into the closet where I keep my supplies.  The bottom is just a filing cabinet but the 4 drawers are part of my Library of Memories way of scrapbooking.  On top of that is more photo organizing and all of my tools which as you can see, I can’t even move for fear of it all falling down!

We love to make cards but often don’t because the stuff is not easy to get to.  The baskets and piles are going and hopefully being transformed in a way that makes it easier to grab, create and send!

If you read my wish list before Christmas you will know that I was wishing for some Ikea wooden boxes.  The group of 8 were a gift from my Mom a few years ago and I have been using them to sort my scrapbooking supplies by color.  The only problem is I didn’t have enough drawers.  So, I was lucky enough to get two more sets, the 4 you see below.  My job now is to separate the mixed colours and get them in order.  Right now it is a big mess behind the ‘closed’ drawers!  By the way - if you haven’t organized by colour you should try it.  It makes finding things so much easier.  Oh and the binders beside the boxes - another tool I have created from the Library of Memories class.  You know all the memorabilia you save for pages - these pages in progress books make it easy for me to tuck things away in a more organized fashion so coming back and scrapbooking about an event is so easy (of course, you have to take the time - my problem!)

Here is another LOM concept  - these boxes hold the supplies I use in the albums I update annually.  I have a Christmas album, school of life albums, disney album etc… and I can easily grab the box and sit down and get the page completed in a short amount of time.  The boxes contain paper, embellishments, and stickers too.

This is the only part of my office where you can actually see scrapbook supplies.  I like a clean space to keep my head clear but I didn’t have anywhere to put this stuff so it is ontop of my desk.  The black boxes are my alphabet boxes - I keep my letters stored together (another idea from Stacy Julian!) and the clear boxes are for stamps and other supplies.  They are not very organized and don’t look great so my goal here is to make them organized and pretty!

There you go - I will share some photos of what I accomplish.  I am sure I won’t get it all done but I am going to put on a movie and get to work.

Whether you have been getting ready for the holiday season for several weeks or you are just joining us today  - you will be happy you are on board the get ready early train!  My overall plan was to be ready by now but I have learned that it is just not possible - focusing on the end of November is more realistic and I have modified my plans to correspond with my old goal date.   Of course my week is the same, I just have a few more to get what I need to do done so why not join me….

Mondays - this is my wrapping day and I hope it will be your wrapping day too.  Most of us have time on the weekend to shop so Monday is a good day to regroup and get what you have purchased - wrapped and put away.  If you are just getting going you should check to see what you have in the way of wrapping supplies.  If you need anything and can afford the purchase and the time - go out and pick up what you need so you can steal away a little time tonight after the kids are in bed.  If you have been saving gifts for awhile and have a stack - pick a really great movie and spend the evening wrapping. Wrapping in November is so much nicer than wrapping on Christmas eve!   Get it done - if you have a gift in your house WRAP IT!!!!

One thing I would like to say for anyone who has missed it or is just joining us - track your gifts.  DO NOT sign a gift with a special name if you think there is a chance that someone might see it - I remember finding a gift and I was heart broken!  Instead, leave those gifts and you can quickly go through them on Christmas eve when you pull out your bags of gifts.  When you track the gifts you should have a master list of who you are buying for, what you have bought or will buy and something that tells you if the purchase has been made and if the gift is wrapped.  I like to use stickers to identify specific gifts - sometimes I want the kids to open something first or last and the sticker helps me when I get to the putting the gifts under the tree stage.  Just make a note of what the sticker looks like and make sure you don’t double the sticker!  Do not use stickie notes - they can fall off and leave you wondering what is what.

One other thing to note - keep an envelope for all gift receipts and make a note on the actual receipt so you can easily find it if you need to return or exchange after Christmas.  Keep the envelope somewhere safe - I like to keep mine in a pocket of my gift wrapping centre.  For those of you who missed it, this is a photo of what I use.  It is just a garmet bag (thanks to flylady for her advice several years ago) and the pockets help me to organize the things I use: tape, scissors, tags, bows and ribbons and the tall rolls or paper, tissue and bags.

Good luck with your wrapping - you will be really glad you got it done - so do it tonight and post your success to inspire others!

It’s Project Day!  Each week I have a day set aside to do the things I either don’t have time to do, or avoid because I don’t want to do them.  During my countdown to Christmas I use this day to do things that will help make the holiday season easier for all of us.  I had planned to work on a closet that needs shelves but a more important task is getting my office moved.  We still have to paint and it is a complicated move - daughter to our room, our room to lower level, office to upper level…. so that is NOT getting done today but I am going to switch and setup the desk so the move will at least be easier.  My husband is taking over the old office along with the treadmill and hockey table (the one noone plays with!) and I am using his old desk when I eventually move my office upstairs.  So, today the goal is to get the other desk setup so I can work there, get my current office cleared out so he can move his stuff in and finish getting my scrapbook stuff out of the way.  Once this is done, I will have gotten rid of a lot of junk and feel a lot more organized!  Wish me luck!

If you don’t have a plan for today look around and pick something that will make you feel more organized and move you one step closer to being ready for the holiday season!

Helen

For those of you who are following along, I hope you got some wrapping done yesterday.  I know SarahN prefers to wrap all at one time, and I think if you have found something that works well for you, like it does for Sarah then you should stick with it.  For me, wrapping all at once, especially on Christmas Eve was just not working.  So if you find another way works better, share like Sarah did so we can all learn from one another!

OK - now on to today.  Tuesdays is my scrapbooking day but I have decided to work on organizing my scrapbook stuff instead of actually scrapbook photos.  I am moving my office so the scrapbook portion of my room is a little crazy right now.  So, tonight I am going to prep the scrapbook portion of my office so I can easily move it later this month when the painting is finished.

What are you doing?  Remember, if you are making gifts they will get done if you carve out a little time for the creation of each item.  So, if you don’t have plans today or tonight, consider tackling one of the projects so you can get another task crossed off your list!

Enjoy your day.

Helen

Before we dive back into more Christmas/Holiday season planning I want to share a couple of photos from my project day accomplishments!  Yesterday, my plan was to pull the wedding keepsakes from a blue rubbermaid tote and transfer them into an old hard sided suitcase that I picked up on the weekend.  I love love love keepsakes but don’t want them to be stored where we can’t get to them or in a way that it is hard to get to them.  By dividing them up into people or in this case our marriage we can pull them out on birthdays or anniversaries and look at everything.  For our kids, this means that the boxes of keepsakes will be part of their memories as much as they are mine.  If you have ever opened a box from 20 years ago and wondered what everything is - you will appreciate that you can create a memory in itself by opening the box annually.  This also helps you to keep the collection to only the favourites.

This picture shows you that our new suitcase sits ontop of my son Cale’s trunk in our family room.  Just seeing it there makes me remember so many great times.  Right now,  I only have our wedding bits and pieces but I am sure as I go through the piles of junk that are cluttering our storage area - I am sure to find some other special items from our marriage.   My other accomplishment was my order to Sears for two more trunks like the blue one (that was mine when I was a kid!) for my other two children.

OK - now on to Christmas planning.  Last week I shared that I use Thursdays as my planning day.  I look over my gift list and modify and check off things I have purchased.  I also plan the meals and baking.  I am a creature of habit so my meal plan and baking plan have not changed in 20 years so with the exception of maybe adding a new dish here and there I am set so this part is really done.  The other area I focus on today is making sure my three shopping lists are up-dated.  The gift list which is a master list of all things gifts needs to be updated and kept in my purse (that spreadsheet gift list I keep in my daytimer out of site!)  The other two lists are food and stuff - one list I chip away at a little at a time from mid October until Christmas and the other is the list I use a few days before Christmas, on the last shopping outing before the big guy arrives!  Because my lists are pretty set I am also using Thursday (and an hour each week at the pool) to do Christmas cards.  Last week I checked my stock of cards and this week I am going to go through my list of friends and family and make sure I have addresses.  Canada411 is a great site for address lookups. One thing I wanted to do last year and didn’t is to create a photo montage instead of a family letter.  For the people who we see often they know what we are up to - it is the people we don’t see we want to update.  The photo montage would certainly give them an inside look at our life and be fun for me to make!

So if you are looking for a task - pick one of these.  Plan the meal and add the ingredients (even what you have) to your master list.  If you have ingredients pick a spot to store them so they are there when you need them.  Cross these items off the list.  Remember to put the perishable items on the last minute list and the rest of the items on the main shopping list.

For cards - if you do send cards check to see if you have cards, if you don’t put that on the list.  Then check your addresses and spend an hour online getting the addresses together.

Have fun!

Helen

Now that it is getting a bit cooler outside I am feeling a little less crazy knowing I am getting ready for Christmas!  Actually, have you noticed that the Christmas stuff is already in the stores?  It use to be that this wouldn’t happen until after Halloween but things are changing.  While the commercial side of the season bugs me a bit - I do like that I can get some of the supplies I need!  I actually bought a few things on Sunday from my Holiday Shopping List and some wrapping supplies too.

OK - so if you are just joining us welcome.  Starting today you are going to scale back a little so you can have what you NEED to do done - leaving you lots of time to enjoy your kids and family this holiday season!

Today is project day for me - and one area of my house that drives me nuts (other than the huge pile of laundry that is always calling my name!) is the storage area.  I have worked on this a little at a time for the past several years but I realize that I love to keep things.  I have a bin for each of us for keepsakes but I have found this has not worked - the bins are not large enough for my needs and I have decided to get the kids each a trunk which we can use as tables in our family room (this fits our look and feel).  We like to look at these items on their birthdays but the bins have made it hard as things are really tight and I don’t like to get them down for fear of not getting everything back in.  For my keepsakes and my husbands, well we don’t have a lot and most of what I have can easily be put into scrapbook, so I am not going to get a trunk for us.  I did however, pick up a cute old hard sided suitcase for our wedding keepsakes.  So my goal for today is to order the two trunks (Sears has them on sale until November!) and to go through the bin with our wedding keepsakes and transfer the stuff I really want to keep into this cute trunk.  I will share a picture tomorrow.  I won’t worry about the kids stuff until the trunks come in so I can pick and choose what will fit and then get rid of the rest.  I find photos can capture a memory as much as keeping the actual item.

What is your project for today?  Remember - this project should in some way help you on your journey to Christmas.  For me, it clears the path to the decorations.

Have fun!

Helen

It’s week two already! If you are just joining us don’t worry - the point to my countdown is to get things done early - not to be perfect or put pressure on yourself!

Today is Wrapping Day. If you have purchased any gifts today is the day to wrap things up so you are not left with a pile of gifts to wrap on Christmas eve! I know - we have all been there and wish we had planned ahead - now is the time! If you do not have a gift to wrap you might want to use the time to work on your gift list if you didn’t get to it last Thursday (my planning day). Think about your budget, who you have to buy for and make a note of each person. If you are a computer savvy person you might want to make a small spreadsheet so you can check off or cross of items as you purchase them.

Another task worth jumping into today is making sure you have wrapping supplies ( we did this last week but you might have got busy and put it on the list…. tackle it today!) Think about what you need and add these items to your shopping list. Cloth bags are becoming more popular as are paper gift bags. Both items can be reused so they are good choices. I also like the big gift bags that can wrap a BIG gift for a child. The bags can be put away each year. Don’t forget tape, gift tags, bows and ribbons if you use them, and tissue if you like to put it into gift bags.

Have fun!

Helen

The weekends are usually pretty busy as I am sure they are for all of you - so I keep weekend pretty simple during my Christmas prep time.  Saturdays is dedicated to baking because it is the day where I have the potential to be at home for longer than an hour.  Each year we bake cookies and jarred cake for gifts and I like to have them all done early - leaving me time to enjoy baking new recipes with the kids.  This year I will be visiting my Mom and Dad mid November so I am going to do all of my shortbread that weekend so I can do my moms at the same time (she is busy taking care of my father and it will be a huge help to her - and when you are making dozens of cookies what is another 10 dozen!)  My recipe freezes well so they can all go into the freezer!    So…. if you have baking to do and your recipe can freeze then I encourage you to carve out a day when you can jump in and get it done - the mess will be put away and you can try one of those recipes you have been wanting to try!

Sundays - well I usually do my grocery shopping between hockey games so I am adding a few things to my list from my master list and will do a little gift shopping on this day as well. I know people who do their shopping in one day each year, go away for a weekend or do like I do - whatever works for you is what you should do.  Just try to do as much as you can early so you are not running through stores and standing in lines at the last minute.

TIP: I keep an envelope for all of my Christmas receipts so returns and exchanges are really easy.  Be sure to write what the item is, at the top of the receipt, so you can find it easily when/if  you need to.

Have fun!

Read Day 1 and 2 if you are just joining us in your quest to get ready for Christmas early enough to still have some holiday fun

Day 3…. Wednesdays is my project day. I like to use this day to get things done that I have either been avoiding or really want to get into. I stay up late once a week and this is the day! So, if you have any projects you want to get done before Christmas, consider making today your project day. If you are wondering what a project is - well anything that you need to get done (maybe a craft or homemade gift) or some extra cleaning. Having a late day each week means you have enough time to get into something and make progress. For me it is a big mess in the storage area of my basement and some of the cleaning I leave till later. I don’t do major cleaning at this time of year because I find when I put the holiday decorations away I like to do it then - I have more time (still busy with back to school settling in) and the new year is a great time to renew the house! So with the exception of the windows don’t feel you have to scrub everything down like your mom did - unless of course you enjoy that and January is not a good time for you!

Now - if you are like me you may have a list that is too long to accomplish overnight. So make the list and decide what you NEED and want to have done by the time the holiday season rolls around. Then break the tasks up into chunks that you can work with and starting tonight and until the end of November - make Wednesday night your project night!

For me…. tonight I will be pulling out a bunch of junk that we do not need in preparation for a yard sale we are having on Saturday. I am also working on my spice drawer and cutlery drawers - right now they are upside down and it is driving me crazy!

One final note - if your project lis is too long you might want to consider joining the CPO Clutter Control Club. The club gives you a step by step approach to getting your clutter under control. Click here to find out more….