Cynthia Ewer's Blog, page 41

Back-to-School Countdown Day 3: Organize Information and Contacts

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on August 3, 2016

The start of school brings a brisk new tempo to the household, sweeping away the sweet leisure of summer--and the first day of school can bring an unwelcome splash of busy reality.

Will you be ready? Get organized now to sail into school with ease!

On Day 3 of the Back-to-School Countdown, we focus on information, contacts and appointments. It's time to gather paperwork, start a school-year contacts list, and schedule any needed appointments in good t...

Back-to-School Countdown Day 2: Build a Budget for Back-to-School

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on August 2, 2016

Getting ready for back-to-school with the Organized Home Back-to-School Countdown? It's Day 2 ... and time to hang on to your wallet!

No doubt about it, outfitting the family for a new school year can be a pricey enterprise. Shoes, clothes and school supplies are only the beginning of the financial outlay. Today's parents must add fees imposed by cash-strapped school districts, shared hygiene supplies and deposits for band instruments. Sports and extra...

Back-to-School Countdown Day 1: Print the Ultimate Back-to-School Checklist

Posted by Cynthia Ewer on August 1, 2016

Welcome to Day 1 of the Organized Home Back-to-School Countdown!

In spite of August's long and lazy summer days, a new school year is on the horizon. To be ready for the first day of school, there are lists to make and appointments to keep, paperwork to be processed and shopping to be done.

Track them all with this ultimate back-to-school checklist! Free for the printing, it'll help you tick off back-to-school tasks and get organized for a new school y...

New Year Cleaning Challenge: Get Frugal, Get Organized

Here's a little challenge, now that it's yard sale season: try to find a yard sale without a stock of organizing products for sale.

Too often, we start a get-organized effort where we should finish it: at the store. Buying organizing products before we've done the heavy lifting of setting up activity centers, sorting and purging our stuff, and deciding where to pare down leads to that paradoxical result: organizer clutter.

New Year Cleaning Challenge: Keep Clutter From Coming Back

Getting a grip on clutter is only the first step. How do you keep it from coming back?

This week in the Cleaning Challenge, we've considered cleaning routines that work to keep dirt at bay. Clutter, too, needs to be addressed with habits and routines designed to prevent it from gaining a foothold in an organized home.

Today in the Cleaning Challenge, try these ideas to stop clutter at the door, and keep it from coming back:

Declutter 101: Staying Clutter-Free

New Year Cleaning Challenge: Minimum Maintenance

In yesterday's Cleaning Challenge, we took a look at household routines: those things we do daily, weekly, monthly and seasonally to keep the household clean and organized.

As with so many things in life, your mileage may vary! Household needs and composition mean that every home has a different set of routines. A two-career couple with an empty nest will have far different routines than, say, a family with pre-school children.

But there's one routine every household needs, no matter how casu...

New Year Cleaning Challenge: Clean House Routines

Over the last weeks, the Cleaning Challenge we've moved from room to room through the house, cutting clutter, organizing and deep-cleaning. Now, how will we keep it that way?

Professional cleaners know that regular cleaning routines are the secret to an always-clean home. What's the state of your cleaning routines?

Today in the Cleaning Challenge, give some thought to how and when you tackle cleaning chores, and reach for solutions to cut the work, keep the clean.

New Year Cleaning Challenge: Spruce Up Household Routines

Reaching the end of the Cleaning Challenge, it's natural to want to keep all the cleanliness and order ... all the time.

How to achieve this goal? In a word: routines.

Routines for morning, evening and weekly cleaning keep up with the mess so that it doesn't slide backward into chaos. What's the state of your household routines?

Printables:  calendar_to_do_weekly.pdf calendar_to_do_daily.pdf calendar_checklist_spring_summer.pdf calendar_checklist_fall_winter.pdf

New Year Cleaning Challenge: Celebrate Your Success

Get-organized plans, like the Cleaning Challenge, can be great motivators, but for many folks, they create a problem: the idea of being "behind".

It's common to jump into the Challenge with red-hot energies, only to find yourself flagging when "real life" intervenes. Yet the plan rolls on without you, leaving you deflated. That feeling of being "behind" can sap your enthusiasm and blind you to the very real progress you've made.

New Year Cleaning Challenge: Finish-Up Week

You've made your lists, and checked them twice ... but life still got in the way?

Welcome to Finish-Up Week at the New Year Cleaning Challenge! This final week is designed to meet the needs of reality: a scheduled chance to follow up on the good intentions that motivated you to get with the Challenge.

Not that this is a do-it-all kind of week. Instead, it's designed to let you tackle the most important, most necessary items that got short shrift during the last 13 weeks.