Organization

Creating A Simple Home Command Center

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desk

What is a Command Center? Organization doesn’t come natural to me. I tend to let things pile up. This is why I need an organization system in my home. Creating a central place in my home to organize all the papers and schedules has been a freeing project. I can now easily organize each day and all the papers in my new Command Center. If we look on Pinterest, we’ll find a beautifully designed Command Centers. Many of them have color-coordinated accessories. Some have artistically arranged wall displays. I’ve seen chalkboard, white board, and fabric board displays that look amazing! My Command Center is very minimal and simple. This is the style that I prefer with my modern decor. In my small dining area, there is plenty of room to locate my simple Command Center. My children are grown, so I don’t need to keep up with tons of children’s activities and school assignments. When I was younger there would have been a different design to my Command Center. The beauty of designing your own Command Center is that you can create one that fits your season of life as well as your personal style. Styles can be rustic, farmhouse style, modern, country, or just about any combination. The key to a practical and helpful Command Center is for your individual needs to be met. Some of the most often needed resources for a Command Center: Calendar: Journal-style, wall calendar, or computer Paper Filing System: Baskets, File Box, or Drawer Paper accessories: Paper clips, pins, highlighters, colorful pens, etc Chore Organization: Chore Charts, (chore chart downloads in sidebar) lists, or Cleaning Planner Menu Planning: Menu Planner, Chalkboard Management System: Management binder, files, or baskets Bill Paying System: Baskets, Notebook with envelopes, online folders Children’s Papers: Files or Baskets for assignment sheets, activity paperwork, permission slips Where to Locate your Command Center Command Centers can be located in any location in your home. It is best if it is located in a location that you’ll walk through quite often. But, sometimes we might need to locate it wherever there is a space. In a tiny apartment, this might have to be on the refrigerator. Using a lot of magnetic calendars and boards, you could organize your life in a small space. A mud room could be a nice place to locate the Command Center because there are going to be places for hanging up jackets, backpacks, and keys already. Adding baskets, calendars, and chalkboards can create a space that organizes everyone. Any nook or cranny can be used to help make your life easier. @2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman

How To Keep Clutter Away

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Keep Clutter Away

How many times have you tried to de-clutter your home? I’ve worked hard to de-clutter and organize my home many times. Unfortunately, I usually have waited until things have gotten out of control before I did anything. Cleaning and organizing is one thing, but keeping it that way is not always easy. Clutter Is A Problem Clearing out the clutter and chaos is the first step to a simple home. If you don’t have a plan to keep things organized, the clutter will come back and drive you crazy! Some people are naturally organized and faithfully work to keep their homes neat and tidy. Then, there are the rest of us. I’ve always admitted to being a messy. While I’m definitely not a hoarder, I let things pile up and procrastinate the duties of organizing. When things get so messy that I can’t stand it, then I’ll actually do something about it. This is a problem. Can you relate? Obviously, waiting until things are terribly messy to de-clutter is not the best plan. As much as we love the feeling of lightness and freedom that comes after a cleaning spree, it could be felt all the time. The way to have this happen is to have a maintenance plan and follow it. This is much easier to do if you have a Cleaning Planner. Using my Cleaning Planner has made it possible for me to see the actual plan so that I don’t forget it. And, because it can be changed, I can make tweaks to the cleaning schedule. If something doesn’t work on the plan, it really should be changed. Schedules should work for me, I don’t work for the schedule. Get My FREE Cleaning Planner here Tips Have a filing system – File important papers in your selected system: filing boxes, desk drawers, baskets, crates, or anything that works for you. Instead of filing some papers – Scan them and save them in a digital folder. On a regular basis, you should go through drawers, closets, shelves, and your desk to see if anything needs to be removed. Deal with mail and emails immediately. Unsubscribe from emails that you don’t need to read anymore. Keep closets in order. Have containers ready to place donations. Keep containers ready for recycling. These are just a few ways to get and keep your home and life organized. Don’t let your stuff ruin your day. What is your favorite way to keep things tidy? Do you have any super tips to share? @2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman

How To Reset Your Budget

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No Spend Month

How to Use A No-Spend Month To Reset Your Budget Disclosure: Affiliate link included. How many times do I remember realizing that our budget had gotten out of control? I hate to admit it at all, but it was quite a few times. When this happens, one way to reset your budget is to have a No-Spend Month. After setting up a budget, we all feel very determined to stick with it and reach all of the financial goals that we’ve set. Unfortunately, life happens. Whether a car or appliance needs replacing or medical bills come suddenly, money must be spent. Sometimes the budget gets busted by lots of small things that can pile up without our notice. Maybe we just haven’t been paying attention, and things can get bad. There are many ways to address the budget problems. But, one way that can work is to have a no-spend month. What is a no-spend month? It just means we don’t spend any money. Now, I know you’re thinking that this is impossible. Don’t worry. I don’t mean you can’t pay those regular bills. You have to pay the mortgage, utilities and such. But, many things aren’t necessary. You can make your own list that works for you. Here are some ideas that we’ve used and learned over the years: Can you actually do this? Of course you can! You don’t need to feel deprived during your No-Spend Month. This can be an adventure or a challenge. You can (and should) get the entire family involved. When one of your children says “I want…”, make it a family challenge to come up with a free alternative. There are always many things to do in every town that are totally free. Search them out, ask your friends for ideas, and try something that is new. You can use some of your time to work on the budget and see what ways you might be able to tweak it. There are usually adjustments that can be made to save more money. You can think about whether or not you need every single thing on your spending list. Another helpful idea is to use this month to sell things that you no longer need. Using Craiglist or a yardsale, cash can come in handy to pay down the extra bills. Using a meal planner and changing some unhealthy spending habits should improve your ability to keep the budget tight. Try to learn some new frugal-living methods to use from now on. A No-Spending Month is a great way to learn about yourself. Look at it as positive time and not a punishment. As you learn new things, decide which of these things can be carried over into your every-month budget. Then, it will be totally worth it to have a month of no-spending. @2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman

How To Update Your Spring Cleaning Plan

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Spring is right around the corner and the internet is abuzz with tips and hacks to follow for Spring Cleaning. You’ll find help all around to see how much deep cleaning you can get done in a week, or even a day. When I read many of the ideas it is exhausting to even think about. I prefer to update my Spring Cleaning plan. The first thing I will tell you about Spring Cleaning is: I hate it! I know it’s a great tradition and we should follow our great-grandmothers in cleaning every square inch of our homes, but I think it’s an antiquated process. Most women and families aren’t able to devote the time needed to clean the house from top-to-bottom in a short stretch of time. With working schedules and outside activities keeping us busy and tired, Spring Cleaning just isn’t practical. I prefer a more simple approach: A Yearly Cleaning Plan. With a Yearly Cleaning Plan, every chore in my home can be planned out over the year’s time. Nothing will be left un-done, but I won’t feel the pressure to accomplish a ton of work in the Spring. I know that some people prefer to get it over within a week or so, and that’s fine. But for me, I could never make that work. I learned about planning my cleaning chores over the year’s time by reading books from Emilie Barnes. Her books described a more simple way of cleaning my home. Cleaning isn’t fun for anyone, but why would we want to add more stress to our lives. Simply Organized was the first book by Emilie Barnes that I read. I read more of her books through the years, and they were all excellent. This book can be found for sale on used book stores, such as Thriftbooks and Alibris. The book is small and very easy to understand. Of course, the book describes a simple way to live an organized and beautiful life. Cleaning tasks are organized by how often they should be repeated. Tasks are broken down by category and placed on a master plan. I love a master plan, because then I can see the big picture as well as the details. I’m so excited to let you know that I’ve created a free Cleaning Planner to help you plan your cleaning. You’ll be able to download and print out all the pages that help you to get on top of your cleaning tasks. I hope that you’ll consider a different way to approach cleaning and avoid the guilt of Spring Cleaning. If you enjoy the tradition, the free planner can still help you to organize your tasks. What are your thoughts and plans? @2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman

3 Alternatives To Dining Out

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3 Alternatives

One of the first things we did when we began our frugal lifestyle was to severely limit our time dining out. We love dining out for many reasons: don’t have to cook or clean up, we’re tired, or we want to celebrate. But, to save money, we looked for alternatives to dining out. After a hard day of work, my husband was the one who always wanted to eat out. He enjoyed the specialness of going out and having a good time of conversation and a great meal. When we started adding up this huge budget-buster we found how large the bill was. We knew it was a definite problem and was destroying out budget. To find alternatives to dining out, I read many articles that gave great advice. It wasn’t always easy, but the tips were all based on planning. The little bit of time spent planning meals and emergency meals was well worth it and our budget showed the proof. Meal Planning Meal planning sounds so tedious, but it works. Working through your freezer and pantry, plan meals around what you have. Then keep a running list of what you need to complete the meals. Make sure to include breakfast, lunches, and snacks. When you have plenty of available food, there won’t be as much temptation to go through the drive-through. Pick up snacks that will keep well for a while. When our children were home, I liked to keep the small packs of peanut-butter crackers in our car. We were always running around to sports practice, games, and ballet. Having snacks and bottles of water stored in the car was a real budget hack! Many times, eating out happens because it’s a special occasion. I feel like that is sometimes unavoidable. Nevertheless, when I planned ahead and prepared a special meal at home, we were all happy and satisfied. Cooking the favorite meal of the birthday-child was just as much fun as going out and spending too much money. Replicate your favorite dishes If you’re serious about having a particular dish from your favorite restaurant you should check out recipes that are copies of famous restaurant fare. CopyKat is a fun website that has lots of recipes that are good copies of some of the most delicious dishes out there. Tablespoon has some delicious copy-cat recipes, as well as tons of quick and easy recipes. One of my favorite things to utilize is the crock pot or instant pot. I’ve always used crock pots to create hearty meals with almost no work. The Instant Pot is a new kitchen tool for me and it’s super to help you create good, hearty meals very fast! Emergency Meals The most important alternative for my family is having emergency meals. These are the regular options that I keep on hand for those nights…..you know what I mean. Whether there has been a late practice or you have a headache, emergency meals are needed. It really helps to keep 2 or 3 meal options handy. Pick things that you know your family likes and that are fast. We like to keep a frozen pizza in the freezer. Another easy option for us is to keep plenty of spaghetti and jars of pasta sauce. Many times when my children were younger we had this and I made some quick drop cheese biscuits to make the meal special. Emergency meals don’t have to be as balanced or healthy as your regular planned meals. Pizza at home is still not as bad as getting bags of cheeseburgers and fries. Plus, you’ll save lots of money by eating at home. When you plan your meals, it’s a great idea to plan one fun meal every week. This will help you to not feel deprived because you’re not dining out. Grab a few carnations for the dining-room table or light some candles and eat by candlelight. Have a themed night: Italian, Mexican, or French cuisine might be a wonderful way to try a new recipe. Think about the things that make you enjoy a meal out and try to replicate that at home…..just do it cheaper. Use what you have and make mealtimes special for you and your family. @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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