New Year. New Goals.

Welcome Friends to 2011.  This is the year where it all comes together.  This is the time when resolutions are made, priorities are set, goals are established.  Eleven.  An odd year.  A year that deserves attention.  So what goals are you setting?  Less coffee? De-clutter? Stop smoking? Stop yelling? Weight loss? Downsize to a smaller home?  Upsize from your condo to your first home with your first real lawn?  Be kinder to yourself?

There has been a ton of research on goal setting.  Writing goals down can help you stay focused on your goal.  People who write their goals are more likely to attain the goals they set out to achieve.  More recently, I have learned a little about goal mapping.  It goes a little something like this -

FIRST: Start with your goal in mind.  Make it something measureable.  If weight loss is your goal, select a number of healthy pounds to lose.  If de-cluttering is your goal, decide by how much and stick to it.  Make it something attainable. Losing 10 pounds? 20? Great go for it!  Losing 300 pounds may be a stretch for just one year.  De-cluttering the whole house in a year? Yes, that’s attainable.  Doing it all in one weekend?  May be attainable for some, but not for most.  It probably took more than one weekend to accumulate the clutter, so it will most likely take more than one weekend to sort, purge, and organize your home. 

SECOND:  This goes back to the aforementioned research that writing goals helps us stick to them and achieve them.  Jot it down. (I personally prefer middle of the page.)

THIRD: Think about what you need to do to get you from where you are now (Point A) to your Goal (Point B). For example, “1.Menu plan to 2.eat healthy foods and 3.make time to work out 4.twice a week doing 5.yoga and 6.weights.” After you’ve written all of the steps you need to take along the way…

FOURTH: Number them.  “1.Stop shopping in order to 2.free myself from un-needed items that end up as clutter and 3.save some money to 4.plan a nice family outing/do home repairs/hire a professional/have a cushion in savings/pay off debt/etc.”

FIFTH:  Use this activity to create your personalized step by step list that will help you reach your goal. 

CAVEAT:  Set some small deadlines along the way and include those dates in your list. 

SIXTH:  Find someone to keep you accountable.  Post it on a social networking site, tell your best-friend, post a comment here.  Tell someone, somewhere what your goal is. 

Happy New Year!

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like help achieving your goal of getting organized in ELEVEN, e-mail juliebavi@gmail.com  You can also find me on Facebook by clicking HERE or by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: New Year's Resolutions,NYR,Organizing,Goals,Priorities,Fun,Why is ELEVEN so exciting?

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

If the ladder is not leaning
against the right wall,
every step we take
just gets us to the wrong place faster.

~Stephen Covey

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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: What wall are you heading towards?,goals,priorities

Ho Ho Ho – Put Away Here We Go! Simplify the Season 2010

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. Gift Bags. 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. PUT THOSE GIFT CARDS AND CHECKS IN A SPECIAL PLACE. 

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

Simplify the Season: Merry Christmas!

Ok, so it isn’t the shopping or the family traditions, or the baking, or even the special moments stolen with myself or a loved one during this season that are my absolute favorites.  My A#1, favorite thing about Christmas is the REASON we celebrate.  Most importantly that I can share it with you.  The true meaning of Christmas is celebrating Christ’s birth, so I would like to wish you a Blessedly Simplified Season for Christmas by reading 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 today 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.  I’ll see you next week and we’ll clear up the aftermath of Christmas.  See my friend, the Simplifying isn’t quite over yet. 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, or would like to know how to personally SIMPLIFY your Seasonal demands, 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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: Simplify the Season 2010,Christ is the Reason for the Season,Merry Christmas

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

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

~Charles Dickens

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, or would like to know how to personally SIMPLIFY your Seasonal demands, 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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: Simplify the Season 2010,Quote,Inspiration

Time for who? Simplify the Season 2010

This is quite possibly my favorite part of Simplifying the Season! This time of year we are often doing so much for others, that it is important to take time for ourselves. It is not selfish to take a little extra time to do something for yourself.  I am a fairly low maintenance gal. The extra few moments in the shower, taking the time to do my own nails, or the 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. 

As we draw towards the end of our Simplify the Season time together, Don't forget about you this Christmas Season.  Make a plan. Put it on your calendar. Don’t neglect time for you.  I can’t wait to share one more week of pre-Christmas Simplifying with you!  Stay tuned; We’re not done yet.

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, or would like to know how to personally SIMPLIFY your Seasonal demands, 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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

 

Technorati Tags: Simplify the Season 2010,"me time",relax,fun

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

The only real blind person at Christmas-time
is he who has not Christmas in his heart.
~Helen Keller

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, or would like to know how to personally SIMPLIFY your Seasonal demands, 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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: Simplify the Season 2010,Quote,Inspiration

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

It is Christmas in the heart
that puts Christmas in the air.
~ W.T. Ellis

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, or would like to know how to personally SIMPLIFY your Seasonal demands, 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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: Simplify the Season 2010,Quote,Inspiration

Simplify the Portraits 2010

Would you like to be able to Simplify the Seasonal Portraits? Schedule the Christmas portraits and Address the Christmas card envelopes early. Early, as in, the first week of December. It is ok if you “cheat” and have photo cards made which come with envelopes so that you don’t have to buy actual Christmas cards -- in that case, just make a list of card recipients.  You can go one step further and make labels if you're super savvy.  (Note:  If you are planning to write a Christmas Letter, or using specialty photo cards, keep that in mind for addressing envelopes.  You will not need card shaped envelopes.  You will need letter sized envelopes.  Wallet-sized photos will still fit nicely into letter sized envelopes.) And write that Christmas letter now!

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, or would like to know how to personally SIMPLIFY your Seasonal demands, 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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

 

Technorati Tags: Simplify the Season 2010,Pictures,Portraits,Christmas,Holiday,Organizing,Fun,Family,Say Cheese

Simplify the Wrapping 2010

Veni. Vidi. Visa.

We came.
We saw.
We did a little shopping.

How do you get all the gifts wrapped and keep it simple? Set up a gift wrap central if you have the space(and for some of these ideas, they will work in just about any space). Whether it is your dining table, spare bedroom, rolling cart, closet, under bed box, 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? 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.

What’s a good way to keep nosy present peekers from spying on their gifts?  Don’t tag them. 

#1 Choose one wrap for each person.  For example, all of Little Tommy’s gifts are in Silver themed paper and all of Little Sara’s gifts are in Red themed paper.  I use this method for separating “gifts to go” and “gifts that stay” also.  No gift left behind!!!
#2 Choose one tag type or each person and leave the tag blank.  For example, all of little Tommy’s gift tags are Snowmen and all of Little Sara’s gift tags are Santa.
Make a note of what wrap or tag theme you are using for each person in a special private spot (like your planner) if you have a tendency to have memory lapses (like I do!).  It’s not as much fun to peek at someone else’s gifts as it is to spy your own.

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, or would like to know how to personally SIMPLIFY your Seasonal demands, 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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: Holidays,Christmas,Simplify the Season 2010,Wrapping,Organizing,Family

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.

~Oren Arnold

 

If you are in the Jacksonville/St. Johns area and would like your home better organized, or would like to know how to personally SIMPLIFY your Seasonal demands, 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 by searching for Organize With Julie.  Stalk me on twitter @juliebavi.

Technorati Tags: Simplify the Season 2010,Quote,Inspiration