Master your money. Get organized. Take back your time.
It’s easy for your Internet browser to be a clutter magnet that slows you down. Your browser is a mess of favorite sites and dozens of open tabs — videos to watch, articles to read, messages to which you need to respond, and more.
But, if you’re a Google Chrome user, you can transform your browser into a tool that supercharges your productivity and keeps you on task and organized. Check out these 7 incredible (and free!) Chrome extensions that are more than worth the download:
[Read more…]
This week, we’re wrapping up our series on improving your everyday life with Parkinson’s Law!
So far, we’ve looked at this important idea in its original format: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
And we’ve looked at a twist in relation to your money: “Your lifestyle expenses increase so as to use up the income available.”
Today, we’ll tackle one more twist on Parkinson’s Law as it relates to getting organized: “Your stuff expands so as to use up the space available.”
Yeah, this one is so true!
When I moved out of my tiny graduate school apartment, I loaded up all of my belongings into my little sedan. Seven years later, it was a whole different story! When my husband and I moved from our townhouse rental into our current home, it took a medium-sized U-Haul and a truck with movers to wrangle the big stuff.
Our stuff had expanded.
So how can you keep your belongings from multiplying like Tribbles? Growing into piles, seeping into tidy areas, and taking over your home? [Read more…]
If you haven’t already read it, check out Part 1 of this series!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
Two weeks ago I shared three of my favorite kitchen tools for eating fresh, healthy foods without the hassle.
If you’ve got the right gear in your kitchen, it’s so easy to eat high-quality fruits, veggies, meats, cheeses, and more without paying the huge markup that comes with the pre-prepped, bagged and boxed stuff.
So let’s dive in to three more of the best kitchen gear you can get for enjoying good-for-you foods on a budget: [Read more…]
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
We all want to eat fresh and healthy foods. And we want to serve them to our spouses and kids too.
But eating junk is just so much easier! There’s none of the washing, prepping, slicing, cooking, and storing that you have to tackle with fresh produce, meats, cheeses, etc. Instead, you just grab and go.
And you pay a pretty penny for that convenience — not to mention the toll it takes on your health.
But what if you could enjoy fresh, healthy foods easily, conveniently, and at a great price?
Here are six of my all-time favorite kitchen tools for enjoying good-for-you foods on a budget: [Read more…]
Ahh, the laundry. That never-ending chore that no one loves to do. It feels as though you need to do it . . . all . . . the . . . time.
And that can add up to a lot of money.
You don’t always see the cost of doing laundry, since it’s hidden in your budget:
If you’re looking for an easy way to save every single week, take a look at your laundry habits. Let’s see how we can spend less money getting your clothes clean and smelling great! [Read more…]
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
Are you buried under a mountain of recipes? Piles of cookbooks, boxes of gravy-stained recipe cards, printouts of recipes you want to try – where does it end? All you really want is a system for honoring your family’s special recipes and organizing new favorites. Try these four methods to bring order to your recipe chaos.
Piles of cookbooks, boxes of gravy-stained recipe cards, printouts of recipes you want to try – where does it end?
All you really want is a system for honoring your family’s special recipes and organizing new favorites. If you’re ready to create a simple, effective, and foolproof system for keeping on top of your recipes, try these four methods to bring order to the chaos: [Read more…]
In the last 5 months, have you been mastering these 9 essential skills for busy people? If so, you’re now able to . . .
If you still feel too busy, focus on these five additional skills for seizing control of your time:
[Read more…]
What’s one of the best ways to waste your time?
Handling things repeatedly.
Here’s an example:
You grab the mail from your mailbox as you’re arriving home from work, and you dump it on your coffee table. Later, you open up the mail, scan it, and drop it back in the pile. Another time, you realize it’s time to pay some bills, so you sift through your pile to pull out the bills you need.
You return to the pile the next day to dig out your friend’s wedding invitation so that you can R.S.V.P. Finally, company is on its way over, so you grab everything off the table to tidy up and dust. Maybe you recycle the junk mail . . . or maybe you hide the papers under your bed until your guests leave.
(You might forget about them at that point.)
With this method of handling your family’s paperwork, here are just some of the problems you’ve inadvertently created for yourself:
So what’s the solution? [Read more…]
It’s been a few weeks since Christmas has passed.
One by one, your neighbors have taken down their lights and chucked their trees to their curb. Inside your home, the shiny glow of the holiday season has worn off, and you’re looking at your pile of presents with sober eyes.
You’ve tried on new clothes, flipped through new books, tinkered with new gadgets, and played with new toys. And — in the midst of enjoying your Christmas haul — you’ve found a few duds. Gifts that just aren’t you or don’t fit in with your life.
It’s not that you don’t love the people who gave you those gifts or the thought they’ve put into them. Maybe your friends missed the mark with your tastes, or the gifts would have been perfect for you at a different time in your life.
It’s hard to think about getting rid of any gift. Besides, isn’t that horribly rude?
No.
You’re not throwing the gift back at the giftee or telling her that it’s not what you want. You’ve offered that person a heartfelt “Thank you!” for generously giving you something that she thought you’d love. Now that gift is 100% yours, and you’ve got the freedom to manage your worldly goods how you see fit.
Need more convincing? [Read more…]
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Read my policy here.
It’s that time of year again . . .
Once you’ve accomplished your mountain of holiday shopping, you steel yourself, open your wrapping paper closet, . . . and face the avalanche of wrapping paper tubes.
Your bows are squished and scattered. Your tissue paper is crumbled. Your gift bags and gift tags are . . . somewhere. And you realize as soon as you sit down to wrap that your tape and scissors are stashed in your junk drawer at the other end of your house.
Getting organized for gift-wrapping shouldn’t take more time than the actual gift-wrapping.
Before you settle in with your mug of cocoa for this year’s wrapping marathon, get the storage tools you need to go from wrapping supplies mayhem to bliss.
Here are a few ways to bring order to your wrapping chaos: [Read more…]