I’m an Organizing Junkie » Teaching the world how to enjoy life one pile of clutter at a time.

This month’s organizing challenge and my hairspray friend

July 2, 2009 – 11:24 pm

Put your hand up if you have drawers full of makeup and cupboards full of hair supplies. Oh my word, you are so not alone my friend. I’m a hair product junkie. I don’t even want to begin to tally the money I’ve wasted spent on “miracle” hair products over the years and while some of them worked, most of them did not. This isn’t the first time I’ve blogged about this obsession of mine either. Take a look at this post and this post and then please tell me you can relate. Don’t leave me hanging here, I can’t be the only one.

I was doing so well too until the world decided to conspire against me and make my favorite hairspray impossible to find anywhere. Then, because I felt so abandoned and alone, I was forced to look for a new hairspray best friend. Problem is they all want to be my friend and oh the promises they make. I take them home only to find out after a week or so that everything they told me is a lie. A flat out lie. They told me they would be by my side to uplift me and hold me, everyday if need be. I so wanted to believe them, but apparently I’m not the only one they make these promises to. Can you believe that! I’m still struggling but if you happen to have a “friend” that has been faithful to you that you could recommend I’d be forever grateful and up-rooted.

So where was I? Oh yes this month’s challenge! We are on a quest to organize our makeup and hair supplies. I’ll be right there with you that is for sure.

The prize for this month is a fantastic book by Jennifer Ford Berry called Organize Now!: A Week By Week Guide To Simplify Your Space And Your Life

Clutter has a cost. It steals your storage space, robs your time and energy, and takes away the peace and beauty of your home. Why pay for it another minute when you can get organized now?

This book offers practical, action-oriented advice that teaches you how to organize any part of your life in less than one week. Long-term goals help keep the clutter away for the months and years to follow so you can maintain the order you create. You’ll find help with everything from time management and mental clutter to paperwork, pets, purses, toys, rooms and life events such as moving, pregnancy and celebrating the holidays.

Quick, easy-to-follow checklists let you spend more time organizing and less time reading-a perfect fit for your busy lifestyle! Countless tips help make organizing faster, easier and more effective. Special “Live Green” tips show you how to help the environment, and in many cases your wallet, by rethinking, recycling, reducing, and reusing as you organize.

Don’t let piles of paperwork, overflowing closets and overbooked schedules drain your resources and energy anymore when you can learn how to enjoy a richer, clutter-free life!

All you have to do to participate in Org Junkie’s Monthly Organizing Round-Up this month is organize your makeup and/or hair supplies. I’ll be providing relevant posts throughout the month that will help you through it as well as providing some handy tips from Jennifer’s book.

So go take your BEFORE pictures and then let’s get to work!

By Laura | Posted in Monthly Round-up | Comments (9)

What do SuperWoman and Green Smoothies have in common?

July 2, 2009 – 12:38 am

They are both posts I’ve written over at The Juice this week. Earlier in the week I discussed the superwoman myth that so many of us fall for and listed some steps that can be taken to avoid falling for this crazy trap in the future.

On a lighter note, I also got to share another passion of mine…green smoothies! Yum, I’m absolutely crazy for them.

Won’t you please come on over and say hello. It’s a little quiet right now as we get going and I’m feeling lonely :(

Oh and by the way, your chances of winning a 4Gb iPod Shuffle are really good right now as only about 30 people have entered so far. All you have to do to be included in the giveaway is leave a comment with a work/life balance tip. Easy, peasy. Go check it out.

By Laura | Posted in The Juice | Comments (2)

Are you the Franklin Covey Tote Bag Winner?

July 1, 2009 – 10:17 am

A couple of weeks ago I hosted a Franklin Covey giveaway. The winner was LuAnn from Back Porchervations. Unfortunately, I’ve been having trouble contacting her. So LuAnn if you are reading this please email me by July 4th at 12:00 pm to claim your prize. If I have not heard from LuAnn by the deadline I will select a new winner at that time. Thanks!

By Laura | Posted in Giveaways, Product Reviews | Comments (2)

Organizing School Papers and Kid’s Artwork

June 30, 2009 – 9:14 pm

School just ended for us last week so yesterday and today we have been going through the piles of paper that came home with the kids on the last day. I’ve written about my process before and that system is pretty much the same one we used again this year. If you are also inundated with school paper piles, here are some of my previous links that might help you:

Organizing all that school clutter

Organizing keepsakes with memory binders and totes

Taming the school clutter….again

image courtesy of Zen

Looks like some of my organizing buddies are doing the same thing. Check out these great ideas:

School Time Papers @Complete Organizing Solutions

School Papers - Simple Steps to Decrease the Clutter @Organize with Sandy

Budding Artists - Taming Your Children’s Art Clutter @A Fresh Start

I also came across some unique ideas for showcasing your child’s artwork. These would make such great grandparent gifts.

Children’s Artwork Necklace ~ I just absolutely love this idea and only $9.00!

Tikatok ~ where kids write, illustrate and publish their own books. What a great keepsake!

For even more ideas here is a short video from Monkey See. I love this site and got totally sucked in the other day watching a whole series on how to work with curly hair, it was very cool :)

Video ~ Organize Artwork

Have you tackled the school paper pile yet?

***

Rounding up our vehicles

June 29, 2009 – 10:17 pm

Updated to add: The winner is Brenda at Savin’ It Up!

Whew this month fly by, didn’t it?! I do hope that some of you were able to tackle your vehicles this month and hopefully the changes you’ve made will take some stress out of traveling for you.

To participate in this month’s organizing round-up all you have to do is link up below to a post on your site telling us about how you organized your vehicle. Don’t forget to include your before and after pictures. Remember to use the direct link to your round-up post and not to your homepage. That’s helpful for those of us who might not get a chance to take a peek at your post until later. Also, as a courtesy, if you are going to participate please be kind and link back to this post within your post.

Those that link up before Thursday, July 2nd at 6:00 pm PST will be eligible to win a copy of Julie Morgenstern’s book, When Organizing Isn’t Enough. A winner will be chosen at random from the Mr. Linky list below.

If you missed this month’s round-up, here is a summary of the applicable posts I did that may be of help to you:

Organize Your Vehicle

Vehicle Supplies ~ Be Prepared

Auto Organizers

Link-Tastic ~ The Organize Your Vehicle Edition

Next up: Hair/Makeup Supplies!

By Laura | Posted in Monthly Round-up, Travel/Auto Organization | Comments (11)

Menu Plan Monday ~ June 29th

June 28, 2009 – 8:00 pm

Welcome! Thank you all for the birthday wishes last week, I really appreciated it! Please forgive me if I didn’t get a chance to personally thank you.

The winner of last week’s Heavenly Homemaker’s Guide to Gardening and Preserving ebook was Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker. Kristen’s Menu Plan Monday post last week included instructions on how to make homemade bagels. That’s something else on my list of things to try one of these days, they looked delicious!

So how’s everyone doing today? I just got home from a bit of a mini road trip with my girlfriend and we had such a glorious time. Well except for the part where she made me stand on a bridge far far above the land for a photo opp. I so wasn’t impressed with that. Have I told you I’m afraid of heights?

Aside for that small moment where I feared for my life, the rest of the trip was great! :) It’s always nice to get away if only for a little while. I mean I love my kids but boy is it nice to carry on a conversation without being interrupted. We went to an amazing Mexican restaurant. I had a yummy tostada with yam fries and for dessert some coconut lime meringue pie. Yep, I had to be rolled out of there.

Now I’m sitting here trying to come up with a menu for this week. Nothing is jumping out at me. Strange how some weeks it’s so easy to select recipes for the week and other times it can be so difficult. Maybe the trick is to do up my menu when I’m really really hungry because that way everything will be sure to appeal to me :) Right now though I’m still full from the weekend!

MPM Tip: I know many of you already do this but if you are featuring a recipe or recipe links in your MPM post be sure to include that in your Mr. Linky info to encourage people to visit your site.

So here’s what we’ll be eating this week:

Monday: Fajitas

Tuesday: Pasta and Zucchini

Wednesday: Wienie and Smore Roast as part of our July 1st celebrations!

Thursday: Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken (I’ll be using a whole chicken) served with perogies and salad

Friday: Leftover buffet

Saturday: Grilled Honey Garlic Pork Tenderloin served with baked potatoes and veggies

Simple Supper Sunday

WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?

Menu Plan Monday guidelines and banner selections are here.

By Laura | Posted in Menu Plan Monday | Comments (34)

Want to be featured in a national magazine?

June 26, 2009 – 7:17 pm

Leslie Pepper, a freelance writer and editor, contacted me recently about an article she is writing for a national women’s magazine. Her article will feature easy and original ways to get and keep your home organized and she is looking for contributions. She asked if any of my readers might have some unique tips to share for keeping their homes organized for possible inclusion in the magazine. She is looking for ideas from real women (between the ages of 30 and 55) from around the country. The most important thing about your tip is that it should be fresh and new and something that makes readers say “Ooh, I want to try that!”.

If you think you’d like to contribute something, please send your submission to LeslieLido@gmail.com by Friday, July 3rd. If she is interested in using your tip, she will contact you and give you all the information you need including the magazine name, issue, etc. Professional Organizers are welcome to submit their ideas as well but keep in mind that only your name, city, and state will be included in the article, not your business name or website.

Thanks!

image courtesy of audreyjm529

By Laura | Posted in Misc | Comments (0)

Mini-Mom Timeouts

June 25, 2009 – 9:57 pm

The other day I caught myself saying to my youngest, “honey please be quiet, I told you not to talk while I’m thinking”. Huh? If that’s not a signal I need a mini-mom timeout I don’t know what is. {read more at The Juice}

By Laura | Posted in The Juice | Comments (5)

Company Girl Photo Contest

June 25, 2009 – 1:25 pm

I adore the blog, Home Sanctuary and so of course when Rachel Anne announced she would be putting together a Company Girl gift book featuring a selection of photos about girlfriends, I immediately knew I wanted to be part of it. Rachel Anne made a call out for photo submissions and I knew just the photo I wanted to submit.

I have been best friends with a very special person for over 27 years. She is an amazing friend and I am so grateful to have her in my life. The picture I entered was taken by her son as we celebrated New Year’s Eve just this past year. I love how it captures not only the silliness of the moment but also the love and comfort that comes from knowing each other as we do. (I’m the one on the left and yes that is my big mouth)

There were over 300 photos submitted for this contest and now the voting has begun. The winner’s picture will earn a guaranteed spot in the Company Girl gift book. This is the point that I ask if you would please please take a moment to go over and vote for our picture. It would mean the world to me to be able to present this book to my girlfriend with our picture included as a token of our friendship and how much she means to me.

All you have to do is click on the blue button below and it will take you to our submission page. Simply clicking on the tiny yellow star below our picture is all it takes to cast your vote. Voting ends this Sunday, June 28th (midnight, CST). THANK YOU SO MUCH!

By Laura | Posted in My Life | Comments (12)

Link-Tastic ~ The Organize Your Vehicle Edition

June 23, 2009 – 9:37 pm

As we near the end of the month I thought I’d give you a little extra push motivation to get those vehicles organized. I’ve got some great links for you today. Enjoy and then have at it with your own vehicle. Just think how great you’ll feel when you are driving around town all organized and sassy. Oh ya baby!