Get Yourself Organized for Christmas Project 11: Get Your Recipes Together

Get Yourself Organized for Christmas Project 11: Get Your Recipes Together

Christmas Project 11

That favorite fudge recipe you always make, that delicious marinated carrot recipe your mom used to make, and Aunt Edna’s pumpkin pie recipe are yearly Christmas treats. The problem is every year you have to search to find them. Wouldn’t it be great to have them all together in one place.

Assignment: Gather your holiday recipes and organize them.

Now is the time to gather all of your favorite holiday recipes in one place! Print, copy, scan (whatever is easiest for you), all of the recipes you use and love each year. Get them into page protectors in your binder. You will be blown away by how helpful this will be to you!

This is also the time to discard any recipes you never use.

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If you have a few free minutes, you can go through your recipes and jot down ingredients you will need when you go to the store.

Another great way to save time this holiday season is by making a couple extra copies of each recipe. Keep the extra copies in the same page protector as the original. This way, any time someone asks you for your recipe, you will have an extra copy ready to pull out and give them on the spot.

For More Details: Get Yourself Organized For Christmas – Page 72

Excellent instructions for how to organize your recipes in the binder are located in the book.

Supplies: 1) Page Protectors 2) Your favorite recipes

Share Your Thoughts:

How many recipes did you include? Any tips on organizing your recipes? How does it feel to have them all your recipes in one place before you need them? Did you throw any recipes away and how did that make you feel?

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FROM OUR PARTNER EVITE:

Evite helps you plan, enjoy and re-live events this holiday season – from everyday to extraordinary, small groups or large.

Exclusive Offer: Stay clutter-free with digital holiday invitations from Evite. Send a premium invitation to up to 15 guests for FREE!

 Use promo code CLUTTERFREE15 at check out. www.evite.com Expires12/6/15

Get Yourself Organized for Christmas Project 10: Gather Your Elf Supplies

Get Yourself Organized for Christmas Project 10: Gather Your Elf Supplies

Christmas Project 10

Originally this project was going to be “Buy your stuff”, but I know that all of us probably have enough gift wrap, tags and ribbon to supply Santa’s workshop. Problem is, most of us find it December 26th.

So dig through your basement, garage, spare closet or under the bed and gather together:

  • wrapping paper
  • ribbon
  • tissue paper
  • tags, etc.
  • Scotch tape
  • scissors

Assignment: Elf Supplies

Once everything is rounded up in one place, put it into a container to keep it together. If you can keep it out for a week or two do so, this will allow you to wrap a few gifts at a time. If this is not possible, wrap them up as soon as possible and get them under the tree. This will keep the clutter at bay. This would be the time to also purchase anything that you are short on (I end up buying tape every single year.) Organize your supplies with these fun labels.

Another fun idea is to have a wrapping party with your friends so you can wrap, chat and me merry (see what I did there).

The idea is to think outside of the box and give something new a try. You never know if something else works better if you don’t ever try something different!

For more details: Get Your Christmas Organized – Page 69

Share Your Thoughts:

What is the most stressful part for you about wrapping gifts? Do you feel stressed for time? Is it the space it takes up? How about the idea of wrapping with friends or family? Could you host a wrapping party and make it more enjoyable?

Host a wrapping party with Kathi’s special Evite designs created with you and your friends in mind. Happy wrapping!

Throw Some Light on Black Friday

Throw Some Light on Black Friday

Throw-some-light

For most of America, the day after Thanksgiving will be spent trying to get the most for the least amount of money. The winner will be the person who can grab the most toys, clothes, gadgets and doo-dads for the people on their list. Whether they need them or not.

Now, hear me well: there is nothing wrong with being a wise shopper and looking for the best deal on something that you know you want or something that someone you love wants, and you want to give it to them.

But what if you want to start building different values into your family taking back Black Friday is a great way – and day – to start.

As someone who has been in the position of being an unemployed single mom, I remember all too well having to rely on other people to make the holidays happen for my kids. I remember desperately wanting to get my kids certain toys, or a shirt that I knew my daughter would love, and not being able to because of my lack of funds.

WhatIfGiveFBThe highlight of my Christmas that year (besides seeing how other people stepped in to love on my kids, and myself) was the absolute thrill of finding some gently used items for my kiddos at Goodwill. I was able to get a little creative with a couple of finds at the local thrift store; there was the like-new art kit for my daughter, and an un-opened pack of Yu-gi-oh cards for my son (at the time, that was the score of all scores.) I found a couple of books from the series they were reading, and even a really cute top that I was able to wear to some Christmas parties.

As much as I want to make Jesus the center of everything I do during the holidays, I long in my mommy heart to bless my kids in a way that will demonstrate that I care about the unique, wonderful people they are. And sometimes, that means Legos or a tube of lip gloss.

Sadly, a lot of the time, donation centers are used instead of a recycling can – they receive so much unusable clothing (which, I do understand, that some centers can sell by the pound to recover some of the money for processing those items. Check with your donation center to see if they welcome this type of donation before making it.) Some of us wait until an item is unusable, undesirable, unfashionable and just plain unworthy until we are willing to get rid of it.

But what about donating those new red kitten heels that you wore once and never wore again because they pinched your feet. Instead of holding onto them for years, (because they cost so much money!) how about donating them and letting a mom with a limited budget feel pretty in those shoes.

Or how about the Barbie that your daughter had-to-have, but then lost interest in about twelve days after her birthday. If she no longer loves it, ask her to donate it so that some other little girl will have the chance to love it.

Or that second (or third) garlic press? Give another woman the chance to create Christmas dinner she wants by making her mom’s homemade marinara sauce (complete with freshly crushed garlic.)

What if we spent the day clearing out our homes in preparation of the abundance that’s about to hit in the next month instead of fighting crowds to get the best barging to fill up our home.

What if we taught our kids that there is even more joy in passing on things that others will love than owning everything and enjoying nothing?

What if winning was giving everything away until everything in your home was something you use, love, or would buy again.

What if the highlight of your Black Friday was donating clothes, tools, toys and books that others could love (and even wrap up for their own kids and families to put under the tree?)

What if Black Friday was marked, not by how much we buy, but how much we give?

Black Friday is November 27th this year. Would you consider joining me in figuring out how you can bless other families that will struggle to get something under the tree this year?

I can’t tell you how much this idea excites me: the thought of some of you, leading your families in the charge not only to declutter, but to give instead of focusing on all you can get? It just gives me shivers.WhatIfWinningFB

Here’s what you can do:

  1. Grab some extra boxes (or for clothes and toys, garbage bags). If you don’t have extra boxes piled up, just waiting for disposal, find a friend who shops with Amazon Pantry. I promise, they will have all the boxes you need.
  2. With the others you live with, come up with a goal. Let me be so bold as to challenge you: could you come up with 100 items to donate? 100 is doable, but will still challenge you and your loved ones to stretch. Set your goal and then work towards it together.
  3. Come up with a plan of action. When decluttering, it’s always great to pair a kid with an adult. When the adult is decluttering their area, the child can be the runner – putting things away, putting items into the donation box, etc. When decluttering the child’s area, the parent can be there to encourage the child to get rid of things they no longer love and use, but also can help with some wise decisions when a child is becoming a little too good at decluttering (like wanting to give away Aunt Edna’s antique quilt…)

Some things to consider giving away. No longer loved:

  • Bikes
  • Camping equipment
  • Books
  • Toys
  • Jackets
  • Purses
  • Backpacks
  • Jewelry
  • Clothes
  • Games
  • Puzzles
  • Ornaments
  • Christmas decorations

So, are you in? Tell me what you think about the challenge and invite others to join in. Remember to let let me know what you did and how it blessed you and your family at info@kathilipp.com or at my Facebook page.

Get Yourself Organized for Christmas Project 9: Gifts for Out-of-Town Friends and Family

Get Yourself Organized for Christmas Project 9: Gifts for Out-of-Town Friends and Family

Christmas Project 9

Refer back to your gift giving list to identify anyone who will require their gift to be shipped. Now think of the least stressful ways to make this happen. A gift card to their favorite store or restaurant is a great gift and extremely easy to ship. You can also ship gifts directly to people from whichever website you are ordering from. You know I am a fan of Amazon and if you aren’t a prime member, order all of your gifts at one time so you have an order of $35 for free shipping.

Assignment: Plan Your Out–of-Town Friends and Family Gifts.

Think about what you are going to get for whom and by what day you need to have it in the mail. Put the dates on your calendar and plan purchases accordingly.

Consider e-gifts or something that is easy to mail.

Be sure to check out the mailable gift ideas in the book and over on Evite.

For More Details: Get Yourself Organized For Christmas – Page 65

Supplies: 1) Your gift list 2) Calendar and 3) ideas.

Share Your Thoughts:

Share ideas for gifts for out of town family and friends? Any tips on mailing gifts? How many gifts do you usually mail?

Get Yourself Organized for Christmas Project 8: Catch-Up Day (and a Bonus Project for Extra Credit)

Get Yourself Organized for Christmas Project 8: Catch-Up Day (and a Bonus Project for Extra Credit)

Christmas Project 8

Time to catch up on anything you haven’t been able to finish thus far. Check your binder. Take a breath. You’ve got this!

If you are not sure of the last time you took a breath it has been too long! Your next step is to slow down and breathe deeply. Did you know that you think much more clearly when you get a good amount of oxygen to your brain? Did you know that by filling your brain with more oxygen you are opening receptors to help you react faster, think more clearly and get more done? This is scientific fact, so if you are feeling busy or stressed it’s time for a nice walk. 20 minutes at a good pace should do all of us some good.

For extra credit, do something to bless your spouse and get him in the holiday spirit. This can be another form of getting oxygen to the brain! Go ahead – have fun with this.

Share your thoughts:

Chat with us and tell us what YOU did on your Catch up Day.

Kathi-Lipp-Evite-email-Inclusion

FROM OUR PARTNER EVITE:

Evite helps you plan, enjoy and re-live events this holiday season – from everyday to extraordinary, small groups or large.

Exclusive Offer: Stay clutter-free with digital holiday invitations from Evite. Send a premium invitation to up to 15 guests for FREE!

 Use promo code CLUTTERFREE15 at check out. www.evite.com Expires12/6/15