'Tis the season to shop for useless gifts that the recipients will pretend to like and hide in a high closet shelf once the holidays are over.
That about sums up America's holiday gift-giving frenzy, which officially kicks off in six days.
But it doesn't have to be that way this year...or ever again, as far are you are concerned. It's time to declutter your gift-giving, starting this season. Here are some great ideas for giving smashing gifts the recipients will adore:
1. Ask them what they want! This is by far the easiest way to ensure that the recipient loves the gift you give her. After all, she picked it out.
2. Look at their hobbies and interests for clues. If your best friend loves the cinema, give her a gift card to her favorite cinema and one for a coffee shop afterward. If your mother collects bells, pick one up to add to her collection. Basic idea, but it's amazing how few people actually follow this anymore because it seems so boring or predictable: The old "give dad a tie" kind of gift. Hey, if your dad wears ties, what's wrong with giving him another one?
3. Give gifts to honor their values. Make a donation in her name to her favorite charitable cause. No clutter, much love, and the world becomes a better place instead of a more cluttered one.
4. Give the gift of time spent together. Take a child to go ice skating or to the zoo. Bring a friend to see The Nutcracker. Take an angst-y teen to a movie and buy him the huge bucket of popcorn and an extra-large soda. Take an elderly person to see the ice sculpture contest or garden Christmas light display. Drive the carpool for a bunch of friends to attend a craft show and bring along a few mugs of hot cocoa and iced sugar cookies.
5. Give a disposable or consumable gift. Things such as cut flowers, a plate of gingerbread cookies, a tin of fudge you made yourself, a poinsettia, a jar of exotic preserves or jelly, or a fresh evergreen door wreath will still honor the recipient and leave no trace of clutter after the holidays.
6. Make something. We have become a nation of consumers instead of producers. This year, try making just one of the gifts you give. There are so many ideas out there, and more inside that creative brain of yours. Here are just a few ideas to get your creative gears in motion: a set of six handmade greeting cards, a small scrapbook, pumpkin bread, fresh salsa, a quilted wall hanging, a wreath from trimmings in your yard, a plant you started from a cutting, a beaded necklace, a silk screened scarf, a photo you took and framed yourself, a hand-bound journal, pressed and framed botanicals, felt beret, knitted or crocheted scarf, hand-poured candles, a CD of photos, a wind chime, a 12-month calendar you designed on your computer, and a bird house you hammered together yourself.
7. Subscribe. Purchase a year's subscription to a periodical based on the recipient's interests (bass fishing, gardening, simplicity). There are thousands of periodicals in this country covering almost every conceivable topic. Or purchase a subscription to a magazine you BOTH enjoy, and that will give you more to talk about each time you see eachother.
8. Give a service. Pay to have your brother's house cleaned since the arrival of his first child this year. Arrange a massage, pedicure, or hair cut and style for your best friend. Repot all your mother's scraggly plants. Take your husband's car to get the oil changed (not very romantic, but most busy men will secretly love the fact that they don't have to crawl under their car and do it themselves for a change).
9. Give a party. Truly, the easiest way to celebrate your friends' presence in your lives is to give them a holiday party. Make it an open house on a Saturday like I do, and people can drop by when it's convenient for them. Serve hot cider and cocoa, gingerbread cookies, crudites, and some savory little treats, and bless all your friends in one delightful afternoon.
This holiday season, give gifts of blessings, not clutter! Merry Christmas!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
WHAT ORGANIZATION CAN DO FOR YOUR KIDS
Maintaining an organized home has many benefits for you and your children: less stress over misplaced items, less rushing in the mornings to locate clean socks and math notebooks, and family dinners around a cleared-off dining table.
But there are even more benefits to living in an orderly home environment: a strong correlation exists between household cleanliness and organization AND early reading ability.
Did you get that?! The way you maintain your home affects your school-aged child's reading ability. In a study by the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College in New York City, household order proved to be MORE IMPORTANT to fostering a child's reading ability than how frequently a child was read to.*
Surprise! Taking out the trash, keeping your kitchen counters clean, organizing the pantry, folding bath towels, and hanging up clothing are more important to your child's literacy than sitting down and reading to them. That's not to say you should stop reading aloud to your children--sharing stories and time together is very important--but isn't it amazing that the way you keep your home affects their reading skills more than books do?
Why not include your children in organizing and cleaning your home, and read a book together afterward? You'll get the best of both worlds.
*"Order Helps Readers," WORKING MOTHER Magazine, November 2009: Pg. 68
But there are even more benefits to living in an orderly home environment: a strong correlation exists between household cleanliness and organization AND early reading ability.
Did you get that?! The way you maintain your home affects your school-aged child's reading ability. In a study by the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College in New York City, household order proved to be MORE IMPORTANT to fostering a child's reading ability than how frequently a child was read to.*
Surprise! Taking out the trash, keeping your kitchen counters clean, organizing the pantry, folding bath towels, and hanging up clothing are more important to your child's literacy than sitting down and reading to them. That's not to say you should stop reading aloud to your children--sharing stories and time together is very important--but isn't it amazing that the way you keep your home affects their reading skills more than books do?
Why not include your children in organizing and cleaning your home, and read a book together afterward? You'll get the best of both worlds.
*"Order Helps Readers," WORKING MOTHER Magazine, November 2009: Pg. 68
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
FREE PROFESSIONAL HOME ORGANIZATION
Professional home organization and decluttering services can be free for many unique and amazing reasons. Most of these examples below can also MAKE you money, in fact, so much money that you could pay for my services for yourself AND for twelve of your friends too!
1. A professional organizer helps you declutter and donate the things you no longer want or use. If you itemize on your federal income taxes, you can deduct all your charitable donations up to a certain GENEROUS limit. See your tax advisor for the most recent updates on this limit.
2. On Idaho state taxes, you can deduct half of the cost of your donations to specific charities, up to $400 (thus a $200 state income tax deduction).
3. Decluttering can make your need for off-site storage obsolete, saving you the monthly rental fee, every month, for as long as you live. That’s no small change!
4. You may never need to buy a bigger home due to running out of space.
5. I can help you arrange to sell many of your discards, and you could earn back in sales every penny of fees you pay me. Oftentimes, even more!
6. If you own a business (home-business too), my services are tax-deductible as a business expense. Plus, any charitable donations made by your business are also tax deductible! Ask your business tax advisor for details.
7. During decluttering sessions, I often find gift cards, gift certificates, receipts for items to be returned to a store, and cold hard CASH for my clients in their homes and cars.
8. I can help you set up a bill payment system so that you will never pay a late fee for an overdue bill again.
9. An organized pantry reduces loss of money due to boxes and cans of food being buried and forgotten before their expiration dates. Pantry organization saves you money every week.
10. Housekeeping will take less time: if you pay to have your house cleaned professionally, an organized home saves money every visit: it’s cheaper to pay for one hour of housekeeping services rather than three hours. You may also be able to reduce the frequency of housekeeping services, to once every two or three weeks instead of every week.
11. Lost medical records can be expensive. If you owe a medical office or a hospital a large sum due to a procedure that your insurance refused to cover, you may be able to challenge the charge. But you need PROOF. I can help you find it!
12. Cleaning up the clutter uncovers potential home maintenance issues that could be extremely costly if not addressed: vermin infestation, mold, dry rot, pipe leaks. These issues are low-cost to fix at the outset, and extremely expensive to address when they have been allowed to continue growing for months or years.
13. Decluttering can reveal potential health hazards. Unsafe electrical appliances, broken windows, boxes stacked too high, piles of flammable papers, expired medications, and hazardous waste are all potential dangers. An emergency room visit can run into the thousands of dollars; a home fire can kill.
14. A work-related move can cost many thousands of dollars. Most if not all of your moving expenses can be tax deductible, including the services of a professional home organizer to coordinate the move. See your tax advisor for details.
15. A professional home organizer can help your move cost less, too! Most commercial moving companies charge by the distance between your old and new homes, plus the total weight of your household goods. A pro organizer can help you declutter so that you have less weight to move, saving you big money. For cross-town moves, professional organizers charge less per hour to box up your possessions than professional movers charge.
16. Duplicates! Oftentimes my clients purchase an item over and over because they can’t find it in the mess. Getting rid of the junk and organizing what is left will allow you to KNOW what you have, and WHERE to find it when you need it. This will eliminate needless spending on duplicates.
17. Elder moves and clearing out the family home are not only heart-rending experiences, but often require the oversight and coordination of a family member who lives across the country. Many times, valuable possessions are tossed into rented Dumpsters by overwhelmed family members working on a tight schedule as they frantically prepare the family home for sale. A professional organizer can coordinate all aspects of estate liquidation to prepare the home for a quick and profitable sale, saving not only time, but money lost in the form of Dumpster rental fees and useable goods thrown out rather than donated or sold. Plus, a professional organizer can arrange for yard clean up, household repairs, interior or exterior painting, move-out cleaning, and home staging to optimize and increase the home’s resale value.
18. If you itemize, you need to keep receipts for every deductible expense. I can help you set up a system to organize all your receipts so that you may claim every legitimate tax deduction you are entitled to take. Since the average worker’s greatest annual expense is taxes, this one move could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars over your working career.
What are you waiting for?! Contact me today and stimulate your own personal economy now and for years to come!
1. A professional organizer helps you declutter and donate the things you no longer want or use. If you itemize on your federal income taxes, you can deduct all your charitable donations up to a certain GENEROUS limit. See your tax advisor for the most recent updates on this limit.
2. On Idaho state taxes, you can deduct half of the cost of your donations to specific charities, up to $400 (thus a $200 state income tax deduction).
3. Decluttering can make your need for off-site storage obsolete, saving you the monthly rental fee, every month, for as long as you live. That’s no small change!
4. You may never need to buy a bigger home due to running out of space.
5. I can help you arrange to sell many of your discards, and you could earn back in sales every penny of fees you pay me. Oftentimes, even more!
6. If you own a business (home-business too), my services are tax-deductible as a business expense. Plus, any charitable donations made by your business are also tax deductible! Ask your business tax advisor for details.
7. During decluttering sessions, I often find gift cards, gift certificates, receipts for items to be returned to a store, and cold hard CASH for my clients in their homes and cars.
8. I can help you set up a bill payment system so that you will never pay a late fee for an overdue bill again.
9. An organized pantry reduces loss of money due to boxes and cans of food being buried and forgotten before their expiration dates. Pantry organization saves you money every week.
10. Housekeeping will take less time: if you pay to have your house cleaned professionally, an organized home saves money every visit: it’s cheaper to pay for one hour of housekeeping services rather than three hours. You may also be able to reduce the frequency of housekeeping services, to once every two or three weeks instead of every week.
11. Lost medical records can be expensive. If you owe a medical office or a hospital a large sum due to a procedure that your insurance refused to cover, you may be able to challenge the charge. But you need PROOF. I can help you find it!
12. Cleaning up the clutter uncovers potential home maintenance issues that could be extremely costly if not addressed: vermin infestation, mold, dry rot, pipe leaks. These issues are low-cost to fix at the outset, and extremely expensive to address when they have been allowed to continue growing for months or years.
13. Decluttering can reveal potential health hazards. Unsafe electrical appliances, broken windows, boxes stacked too high, piles of flammable papers, expired medications, and hazardous waste are all potential dangers. An emergency room visit can run into the thousands of dollars; a home fire can kill.
14. A work-related move can cost many thousands of dollars. Most if not all of your moving expenses can be tax deductible, including the services of a professional home organizer to coordinate the move. See your tax advisor for details.
15. A professional home organizer can help your move cost less, too! Most commercial moving companies charge by the distance between your old and new homes, plus the total weight of your household goods. A pro organizer can help you declutter so that you have less weight to move, saving you big money. For cross-town moves, professional organizers charge less per hour to box up your possessions than professional movers charge.
16. Duplicates! Oftentimes my clients purchase an item over and over because they can’t find it in the mess. Getting rid of the junk and organizing what is left will allow you to KNOW what you have, and WHERE to find it when you need it. This will eliminate needless spending on duplicates.
17. Elder moves and clearing out the family home are not only heart-rending experiences, but often require the oversight and coordination of a family member who lives across the country. Many times, valuable possessions are tossed into rented Dumpsters by overwhelmed family members working on a tight schedule as they frantically prepare the family home for sale. A professional organizer can coordinate all aspects of estate liquidation to prepare the home for a quick and profitable sale, saving not only time, but money lost in the form of Dumpster rental fees and useable goods thrown out rather than donated or sold. Plus, a professional organizer can arrange for yard clean up, household repairs, interior or exterior painting, move-out cleaning, and home staging to optimize and increase the home’s resale value.
18. If you itemize, you need to keep receipts for every deductible expense. I can help you set up a system to organize all your receipts so that you may claim every legitimate tax deduction you are entitled to take. Since the average worker’s greatest annual expense is taxes, this one move could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars over your working career.
What are you waiting for?! Contact me today and stimulate your own personal economy now and for years to come!
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