Now What? Another NAPO 2015 update

Last week I told you about HomeZada – a wonderful computer program to help you with everything to do with your house and home. This week I’m reviewing the Purse Perfector. This is not a new invention but the company has been tweaking their design and this year I decided to really investigate it. This is the perfect tool to help organize your bottomless tote bag. You know the one you carry to the beach. The tote bag holds everything: your book, hat, sunscreen, water bottle and all the other various and sundry items we women carry in our bags. I don’t know about you but I always end up holding things in my bag for other members of my family too! Usually I am asked to please hang onto hats, sunglasses, other family member’s books or magazines so my tote bag is necessarily very big.

How do I find MY things amidst all these other belongings? Well, that’s where the Purse Perfector comes in very handy. It has pockets, sections, and slots to hold all my necessary items. It comes in two sizes: medium and large. It’s on sale right now in honor of Mother’s Day. Here is a picture from the website:

I put my driver’s license, health insurance card and a credit card in the slots in the very front. My lip gloss goes in the little holder and right next to that I put gum or breath mints. I have room for a kindle or e-reader or small notebook in the center section. Behind that I put my reading glasses and sunglasses. Then I stash my keys in the section next to my glasses. This is how I keep my things all together and organized – even when they are at the bottom of a large tote bag!

The Purse Perfector comes in a variety of colors and you can use it in all sorts of different ways. It even zips apart if you want to use it in a small handbag. Check out their website for more information! http://www.purseperfector.com

Summertime Scheduling

Summer ….don’t you just love summer? It’s a great time to relax, kick back and enjoy all the fun things we can do outside with friends and family; walks in the park, going canoeing, tubing sailing, swimming, attending parades and more.

How do you schedule those fun activities and take care of your household chores and garden?

Make your calendar your best friend. Schedule your daily tasks and make a weekly or bi-weekly household chores list so that you regularly hit all the chores you need to do to keep your home organized. Have the chores be a family affair so that you are not the only one taking care of everything. Share the wealth! Rotate the chores so that each person living in the home has a chance to tackle almost every chore. Having said that, if you have small children you will want to make the chores you assign to them age appropriate. The sooner your children learn to help out around the house the better it will be for you and for them. You are teaching them skills they will have for the rest of their lives!

Scheduling and prioritizing your chores will allow you to have some flex time for all the fun summer time activities in which we all like to participate! One of my favorite summer activities is gardening!

I love to be out in my garden. I have a large flower garden and really enjoy the weeding, clipping, and other chores that go hand in hand with having a lovely garden. I schedule a little gardening time into my day everyday that it’s not pouring rain. I do that so that I continue to enjoy the process and so that I don’t become overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.

If I did not work in my garden consistently I would have more weeds than flowers. The result would be a garden that is not particularly lovely and it would be a monumental chore to get the garden back in shape. Doing a little bit everyday allows me to keep the weeds to a bare minimum, even if I miss a day here or there it’s O.K.

For more information on scheduling household chores you can download The Sample Weekly Cleaning Routine for a small fee from my website.

Summer Fun

Someone asked me today if I had started to slow down for the summer. Her question took me by surprise. I realized that I don’t slow down at all during the summer any more. I planned my time differently when my children were in school. Then I did slow down during the summer. We planned lazy days by the beach. Some days we played tennis and others we dedicated to water sports. We spent as much time as we could outside engaged in sports, relaxing in the shade, or playing board games. In other words we had lots of fun and our days were much less structured.

Of course, the organizer in me made sure we still followed a modified daily routine. There are always chores to do but you can make them into games so they become a little less onerous. Here are a few ideas for you.

1. Put on some fun music and ask your children to pick up (put away) their toys while the music is playing. When the music stops the person with the most things picked up or put away gets a reward – something like an extra few minutes riding a bike or an extra story read to them at night.

2. Have your children help you with the laundry. They can pair socks and fold some things like towels. Let them start with the easy items and work up to folding t-shirts.

3. Emptying the dishwasher is another task children can help with – particularly sorting the cutlery.

4. An extra pair of hands or two can be a big help preparing dinner.  Children can measure ingredients and stir them together.

Chores are much more fun and they are done faster when everyone pitches in to help. This also teaches the little ones responsibilty. The faster the chores are completed the sooner everyone can get outside to play – whatever the activity of the day may be.

Organizing Outside

One of the things I love most about summer and the warm temperatures is being outside as much as possible. I spend my time in the garden and in the pool. If being outside and poolside are things you enjoy also here are a few organizing tips for you while you are outside.

1. Remember to stay hydrated – if you are really thirsty; you are already showing signs of dehydration. Bring water with you and make a point of drinking it before you have that really thirsty feeling!

2. Never, ever swim alone. Just as children can have accidents near a pool so can adults. Just because you know how to swim does not mean you should swim alone. There is safety in numbers, so bring a friend with you to the pool. If you are poolside with children please keep your eyes on them. It is lots of fun to sit by the pool with a friend and chat. Try not to become so distracted that you lose track of where the children are in the water. Even better, be in the water with your children.

3. Remind children to only dive in the deep end of the pool.

4. Have an organized for the outside tote bag to grab as you head out the door. I keep bug spray, sunblock, pool towels, bandaides, wet wipes in mine. Think about what you want to keep in your bag, what would be helpful to have at the ready so that you can make the most of these beautiful summer days.