Tricks for Treats

For school today, my daughter, Amanda, needed cookies for her all-school bake sale to benefit a local charity AND a treat for her Kindergarten Halloween Party. I decided to buy the cookies for the bake sale and make homemade pumpkin muffins for the class party. Just making one treat, instead of two, cost me a few extra bucks but saved me an hour last night--an hour that I used enjoying family time and watching old episodes of Flipper with my husband and Amanda.

Instead of bringing in these treats with serving platters or Tupperware containers from home--which 1) tend to get lost in the shuffle or 2) have to be picked up and cleaned-- I instead found some old cardboard. I cut the cardboard down to size, covered it with aluminum foil and then bent the sides up. I now had a nice looking 'tray' that didn't need to be returned home or cleaned afterwards. After the bake sale, the school can just remove the foil and recycle the cardboard.

These are just two little tricks to make life a bit easier when it comes to treats.

Give Yourself a Daily Pep Talk

Need a little encouragement to get and stay organized? Giving yourself a daily pep talk is an excellent way to self-energize.

Find some joy in the things you do each day. Listen to your favorite music while cleaning, say a little prayer or think a happy thought for each cleaning task you do, play 'beat the clock' while you're working on your projects--keeping yourself happy and motivated will help you do the job better, with less stress. Keep telling yourself that it's up to you whether today is going to be a bad day or a great day.

Be confident and positive. Rather than getting overwhelmed at the things that need to be done, work in small chunks and keep saying, 'I can do it!' Jot down your successes at the end of the day, and celebrate.

Get a book of motivational quotes, or sign up for a motivational newsletter. Every morning when you wake up, read one of these quotes out loud, and reflect on it. You'll feel refreshed and ready to go each day!

Tackling Your To Do's

Trying to get things done, but feel overwhelmed by your never-ending list of things-to-do?

Make a Master List of everything you have, or want, to do. It doesn't have to be in any particular order. This is basically just a laundry list of tasks.

Beside each, assign a priority letter:

A=Important and Urgent

B=Important, but Not Urgent

C=Would be nice to do

Each day, transfer no more than 4 of those items to your To Do List (two A Priorities, one B Priority, and one A,B or C Priority), and work on those items only. If you don't finish the items on your To Do list on any particular day, complete them on the next day.

When everything is done, feel free to transfer 4 more items from your Master List to your To Do List. By using this system every day, you'll be amazed at all you can accomplish, including high priority tasks, without stress.

So and So is Dropping By...

The phone rings. Someone plans to stop by in the next few minutes. Before freaking out that everything is a mess, here are a few things you can do...

1. Absolute Basics - You have 5 minutes to straighten up!

A. Keep a large, empty Rubbermaid box on hand for moments like these. You can quickly toss all toys and stuffed animals into it, and then put the lid on--instantly clutter free, and all together when you need to put everything back in its proper place later.

B. Get some glass cleaner and wipe down the faucets in the kitchen and guest bathroom, to give them the illusion of clean. Your guests will wonder how you ever have the time to keep these two rooms this sparkly!

C. Close bedroom doors, bathroom doors, etc., blocking off the view of these rooms. Your guests won't have a chance to see you haven't even had time to make the bed today!

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2. Slightly More Ambitious - Your guest will arrive in an hour!

A. Give your kitchen a quick once over. Wipe down the table and counter, removing all food stains--so your guest can actually sit down and have a cup of coffee.

B. Focus only on those areas your guest will be in-- likely the living room, kitchen and guest bathroom. Wipe down the counters, run a Swiffer mop across the floors to pick up stray hair and dirt and clean the mirrors.

C. Do a quick dusting. Then, using Murphy's Oil Soap, clean the woodwork. Everything will smell fresh.

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3. Catalog Worthy (These tasks don't take much time, but will impress the heck out of your guest.)

A. Dim the lights. The dimmer it is, the less the dust will be seen. Light a scented candle for ambiance.

B. Roll the baby swing, snack table and anything else on wheels to another room where your guest won't be, and close the door. The emptier space will help your guest feel more at ease.

C. Tidy open bookcases and CD/DVD/VHS cabinets. Align the books in a straight line towards the front of each of the shelves.