Happy New Year!!!

Welcome 2010! Contemplate these Words of Wisdom as you look forward to the New Year and any resolutions you may make. 

Motivation is what gets you started.
Habit is what keeps you going. 
~ Jim Rohn

Technorati Tags: Words of Wisdom Wednesday,Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom,Happy New Year,Resolutions

Simplify the Season – Ho Ho Ho! Put away, here we go!

Just when you thought our series had ended, you find out there’s still more to this Simplifying the Season Adventure!  We have reached Dec 26, my friends. Or what I like to call… dun dun dun… The Aftermath.

Whew! Christmas is OVER!

Why do we so often feel like this on Dec 26? We’ve just had a joyous celebration. Everything we planned and worked for is complete. Hopefully there were no major incidents/catastrophes and everyone even got what they wanted!

But then… We look around…

Wrapping. Boxes. Tissue Paper.

New STUFF that needs to find a spot SOMEWHERE in your home.

SO MANY New Year’s resolutions are made to De-clutter! It’s no wonder that January is National GET ORGANIZED MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sit back. Relax. Enjoy the twinkle lights a few more days. Breathe deeply and remember the real reason we just celebrated has nothing to do with the clutter at your feet. Let’s just think up a plan:

Step 1 – Make sure there are no gift cards/checks/cash/etc in the gift wrap. You don’t want to lose anything of value.

Step 2 – Discard/Recycle all old gift wrap and packing materials. If you are a re-user, fine – put it ALL away NOW. If you don’t have room with your gift wrap to put it all away, choose the nicest and give the rest to your distant relative to re-use. (I’m just teasing!) What I’m saying is, if your gift wrap stash is already full, you don’t NEED to keep EVERYTHING from this Christmas too. Remember, this is about Simplifying! You can even shred the wrap into strips to use as packing material.

Step 3 – Separate gifts into “whose” piles or “room” piles. (This is a good time to use your empty laundry baskets for sorting.)  If you have children you will want to do the piles for each person, most likely. Otherwise you will have piles for rooms of the house where the new gifts will go to live… kitchen, family room, play room, bed room, bathroom, garage…. Donate… return….

Step 4 – When you move these gifts from their piles to their more permanent homes, keep in mind the “one in one out” rule! For every new item that is coming in an old item has to go.  Look at existing space. Decide what things you were just gifted that may replace an older item. Decide what things are in the playroom that need to go to make room for newer gifts. Decide what books you can pass on to make more room on your bookshelf. Are you getting the picture?

Step 5 – Donate the old. Cherish the new. Return the unwanted. Remember that many returns expire quickly. If someone was an early shopper and gifted you with an unwanted item, you will need to act fast! I say this with love and sincerity in my heart. Certain people will buy me clothing as gifts… and ALWAYS in the wrong size. While I am flattered that someone thinks I may wear a size Small… ha ha ha… Let’s just say that isn’t going to happen! Act quickly on returns.

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, and would like the assistance of a professional organizer, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or searching for Organize With Julie.  Want to follow me on twitter? Find me @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: simplify the season,the aftermath of Christmas,holiday,organize,one in one out rule

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

(Honestly had no idea this was Longfellow!)

Technorati Tags: Christmas,Quote,Longfellow

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, and would like the assistance of a professional organizer, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or searching for Organize With Julie.  Want to follow me on twitter? Find me @juliebavi.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and that you have been able to use some things to practically Simplify your Season.  This is the last weekend before Christmas, so if you still have things to do, get to it!

I have one more thing to share with you before Christmas.  This is the absolute, Number One, MOST important thing I could share with you about Christmas.  This THE true meaning of Christmas - celebrating Christ’s birth, so I would like to share Scripture from Luke 2:8-20.

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ^[a] the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest,
      and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

¹⁶So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Thank you for joining me this Christmas Season on your journey to Simplify the Season. I look forward to hearing from you about what worked and what didn’t on your Christmas trek to a less complicated/less demanding holiday. May you find time to ponder things in your heart this season as Mary did on that very first Christmas.

Simplify the Season is not quite over yet.  Stay tuned and you’ll see what I mean.

 

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, and would like the assistance of a professional organizer, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or searching for Organize With Julie.  Want to follow me on twitter? Find me @juliebavi.

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.
~Author Unknown

 

Technorati Tags: Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom,Christmas. Peace,Hope,Love,Quote

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, and would like the assistance of a professional organizer, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or searching for Organize With Julie.  Want to follow me on twitter? Find me @juliebavi.

The BEST part of Simplify the Season is HERE!!!

This is quite possibly my favorite part of Simplifying the Season! It’s even better than shopping!!! I promise!  Before we go any further I want to remind all of us that it is important to take time for ourselves… especially in this busy season.

For the longest time I thought I didn't have the time to do things just for me. I thought that it was selfish to make time just for me.  I am a fairly low maintenance gal.  The extra few minutes daily in the shower, wandering through my favorite antique store, or a monthly massage appointment… taking a few evening minutes to read a book or watch (even part) of a movie - all make me better.  I'm a better servant, a better spouse, a better mom, a better friend, a whole better me when I do these things. 

I’ve even heard from one mom of 4 who locks herself in the bathroom for 10 min with a magazine for a little peace and quiet.  Another friend gets super crafty and spends time out with girlfriends scrapping or painting pottery.  What is it that you can do that is special for you?

Don't forget about you this Christmas Season.  Make a plan. Put it on your calendar. Don’t neglect time for you.

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, and would like the assistance of a professional organizer, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or searching for Organize With Julie.  Want to follow me on twitter? Find me @juliebavi.

 

Technorati Tags: Simplify the Season,Christmas,Calm

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

Christmas waves a magic wand
over this world,
and behold,
everything is softer
and more beautiful. 

~Norman Vincent Peale

 

Technorati Tags: Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom,Christmas,Quote,Beauty

 

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, and would like the assistance of a professional organizer, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or searching for Organize With Julie.  Want to follow me on twitter? Find me @juliebavi.

Simplify the Season – Wrapping

Thanks for joining us on the journey to Simplify the Season.  We're on week 7 of our journey.  Can you believe it?  It’s DECEMBER! We’re less than 3 weeks away from Christmas.  We’ve planned for making family memories with traditions, planned what to bake and when, planned for Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas Dinner, and even NEW YEAR’s!  We’ve gone shopping, simplified taking portraits and sending cards.  Whew!  We’ve been busy!  Thankfully we’ve been able to do all of this at our own weekly pace.  We are ahead of the crowds. This WILL be a Simplified Season.  You can do this!

You’ve already shopped.  You have all the gifts.  How do you get the gifts wrapped and keep it simple? Set up a gift wrap central if you have the space.  Many of these ideas will work in just about any space!  Whether it is your dining table, spare bedroom, rolling cart, closet, under bed box, (Elli’s annual) folding camp table, Big Orange 5 Gal bucket- get all of your wrap, bags, tissue, ribbons and bows into one space. This will make it easier to wrap gifts quickly, say --- during nap time or Sesame Street?  Or maybe, for you, it is the sacred quiet between the time you get home and the time you need to start dinner? My personal choice is thick under the bed type bins that house my gift wrap and ribbons. I am able to balance them across adjacent dining chairs as I carefully wrap all the gifts upon my dining table.  I keep extra supplies (like scissors and scotch tape) in the gift wrap bin year round.

 

After gifts are wrapped you will need a place to stash them. Those needing hand delivery (like teacher gifts) can go into a box/bin in the car – if you have chocolates in there and it is going to be some time before they are delivered, you may need to find a cool dry storage place out of the way in the air conditioning – linen closet or laundry room… or maybe just in the corner BEHIND the tree. Just keep those “gifts on the go” separate from all of the other under the tree gifts… just don’t forget where you have hidden them. If you are likely to forget where you stashed them, make a note in your agenda/planner/PDA.

A note on keeping gifts separate….

· Wrap each person’s gift with a different wrap.

Snowmen for Sarah and Santa for Alex.  This is especially useful if you have more than one child and do not want them peeking at their gifts. They will not know which ones to open!

· Wrap to go gifts in a different wrap than gifts that are to be opened at home.

If “home” gifts are in red wrap, then “to go” gifts are in green… it is easy to spot what needs to be packed up from under the tree.

What are my other handy gift-wrapping ideas for you?

• Some people need portability like bins that can be stashed away between wrapping sessions. 
• Others need a permanent set up (like in the corner of the laundry room). 
• Many moms need secrecy, like under-bed-storage-boxes that can be used on the bedroom floor and then stashed away quickly. 
• Wrap while they nap, if you can. 
• Sesame Street is a good hour of uninterrupted fun in our house!  (Just make sure you start finishing up when you hear the Elmo’s World Theme!)  Find your source of uninterrupted fun time and go!

What other ideas do you have for Gift Wrap Central, my friends?

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, and would like the assistance of a professional organizer, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or searching for Organize With Julie.  Want to follow me on twitter? Find me @juliebavi.

 

Technorati Tags: simplify the season,Christmas,Wrapping,Gift Wrap Central

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

I will honor Christmas in my heart,
and try to keep it all the year. 
~Charles Dickens

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, and would like the assistance of a professional organizer, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or searching for Organize With Julie.  Want to follow me on twitter? Find me @juliebavi.