18 Amazing Uses For Baking Soda

We all know that Baking soda is safe for the environment. But did you know it is also the basis for some of our top leading cleaners? So what makes us spend money on new items that are on the market today? Is it the advertising gimmicks, the idea that something might prove to be better? It is still known and proved that baking soda does everything that needs to be done as far as cleaning, freeing our clothes from odors and keeping our homes smelling fresh and clean.

Try some of these tips and see how great baking soda does the job:

AROUND THE HOUSE:
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10-Minute Clutter Hacks - KITCHEN

Here are some more quick and easy tasks that we can do when we have a spare 10-15 minutes. Or even just during the commercial breaks while watching TV.

Remember you're not going to find big blocks of time to organise a room.

Start using the little bits of time that you DO have.

These are some tasks you can do in the kitchen:
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12 Tips for an Organized Desk

Are you the disorganized type with piles of paper on your desk? Or are you the type who goes for fashion over function?

Well, Smart Computer Softwares Blog has a great post called 12 Tips for an Organized Desk to help you get a handle on your office space.

I especially like this point:
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Are You Smarter Than Sophie?

Attention all Post-it Note junkies –

3M is sponsoring a contest called Sophie Smarts, which tests your Post-it IQ for a chance to win one of the prizes pictured here: Pop-up Notes in a Desk Grip Dispenser, Flag Highlighter, or a Note Holder Book.

Here's the scoop, according to Sophie: "Sophie Smarts is a great way to test your knowledge about Post-it® brand products. There are 7 questions to answer before you can claim that you are as smart as Sophie…you need to answer ALL 7 questions correctly. If you get even one question wrong, you will have to start over. Answer the questions then spin for a chance to win…"
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Favourite Organising Tools #5 - Timers

I have a special something to help me stay focussed.

This is it - a timer.

It is one of my favourite organising tools for these three reasons:

1. it keeps me focussed and on task
2. it helps me to work quickly
3. it helps me to plan for project work

Did you know that work expands to find the time available for it?
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Stay Connected

One of the biggest frustrations many people had in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was the loss of communications. In many instances, victims were scattered among several states and it took weeks to reunite families.

Now the American Red Cross has teamed up with several other agencies to create the Safe and Well website, providing a central database for disaster victims to register and their loved ones to search. However, not every disaster rises to that level, and there are steps you can take in advance to organize your communication.
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Finding Hidden Storage Areas in Your Home

It doesn't make any difference if you have a small efficiency apartment or a large 2500 square foot home, we all run out of storage areas in our home. Do you know that you have a lot more room than you thought to store things and still stay organized?

The first thing that you should consider is your lifestyle. In what rooms do you use specific items, and where can you increase the storage in that area. Like in the living room - you may want a comforter handy for cold winter nights or overnight guests, tuck away magazines out of sight, or have a hidden area for toys. But unfortunately, you have no room to add a storage shelf or cabinet. These ideas may benefit you;
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Product of the Week: Picnic Basket

Alright Fellas, if you want to impress your sweetie this Mother’s day, here’s what you do:

Pick up the Insulated Two Person Wine and Cheese Basket from Stacks and Stacks, fill it with goodies:

   • some gourmet cheeses
   • fresh cut deli meats
   • a good loaf of bakery bread
   • some fresh fruit
   • a bottle of wine or sparkling cider
   • something chocolate for dessert
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Mother's Day Sale!

Stacks and Stacks is running a Mother's Day sale now through May 7th, where you can get $10 off any purchase of $60 or more.

They also offer a handy Gift Guide to give you some nice gift ideas for mom!

Check it out!

10-Minute Clutter Hacks - BEDROOM

We all need some quick and easy tasks that we can do when we have a spare 10-15 minutes.

One of the main problems many people make is they wait for a huge time block of 2 - 3 hours to organise a room. The truth is that we'll have to wait a really long time to find such a big block of time.

So use the little bits of time that you DO have.

Let's start in the bedroom.
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Stock Your Disaster Supply Kit

Being prepared for a disaster is just as much mental work as it is physical. A mindset of preparedness is one that is less likely to panic, because obstacles have already been anticipated. However, it’s not enough to “think” your way to being Red Cross Ready – there are some significant actions you can take right now to “organize your disaster” and have that peace of mind.

The first big piece of “preparedness” is “Make a Kit.” Every family has its own unique needs in a time of crisis, but there are some constants that are recommended for every household. Your Kit should be stored someplace secure and accessible, and should provide for your household for a minimum of three days. You can buy a kit to get started, or just use this as a shopping list, adding any additional items that might pertain to you:
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You Can Get Organized!

I first talked to "Clara" 3 years ago on the phone.  She had heard me on the radio doing an interview on a talk show.  She was excited with what she learned on the air and called me almost instantly after the show was over.  We talked for 20 minutes and she decided that she could not afford our services.

Never one to give a hard sell, you either are ready to get help or you are not, I told her that we would be around if she decided she needed the help.  Three years later she called, "My friend told me that if I had let you come over when we first talked I would not be so frustrated now."
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Reader Hack - Junk mail

Reduce the amount of mail that comes into your home.

You can opt out of catalogs at this site:
Catalogchoice

You can opt out of credit card offers at this site:
Optoutprescreen

To read more visit: Minimalist Finances

Submitted by: The Minimalist

Favourite Organising Tools #4 - Masking Tape

I saw this excellent tip from Deniece Schofield’s book, Confessions of an Organized Homemaker, when I read it 5 years ago. And I have used it since – in fact, I’m still using the same roll of masking tape!

If you haven’t read this book yet, do yourself a favour and read it.

Masking tape makes the easiest labelling tool ever. Why?
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Reader Hack - Recycle!

Buy yourself a good set of stainless steel pots and pans and never have to buy them again! You can do it one at a time too. Remember to recycle the old cruddy ones for their metal.

Submitted by: The Minimalist

What's Under Your desk?

Here's a contest for anyone with major cord clutter under their desks. Looks like fun AND a good cause!

For those dedicated to wiping out clutter, GREEN PLUG’S Photo Sweepstakes offers a chance to be green - and get green:

WHAT: Spring cleaning comes just in time for Green Plug’s “What’s Under Your Desk?” sweepstakes, where you can post photos of power cord chaos for fun, a little profit and a cleaner, greener planet.
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Do My Stuff

Outsourcing your work isn't just for busy professionals anymore! Websites like DoMyStuff.com allow 1000s of people to have somebody else do their errands, chores, projects, and other tasks that sometimes clutter up life. Doesn't that sound nice?! Think of the time and energy you could save…

A quick check of DoMyStuff.com shows that there are many different types of requests - anything from building a website to moving a couch to gardening. So if you find that you are too busy to enjoy life, it may be worth hiring some much-needed relief.
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Some Stuff I like…

In my web cruising this week, I've found some pretty nifty stuff (products and sites) - check these out:

G-bags - Very cool product - I've got one on my dash and it's perfect for my iPod and the car adapter!
Hassleme.co.uk - A handy reminder site - Just type in your email adress, what you want to be "hassled" about and how often.
Completerecipes.com - Recipes for everything - even diabetics!

and just for fun
Mike's Amazing Cakes

Organizing Tips to Beat the Blah’s and Get ready for Spring

Do you have the winter blah’s? Have cabin fever? Don’t know what to do?

HOW ABOUT GETTING READY FOR SPRING?

• Paint the lawn furniture and fix the broken parts
• Paint the wheelbarrow, lawnmower and handles on the garden tools
• Give the garden tools a good coating of WD-40, this cleans them up and makes them easy to clean later
• Paint all of the lawn ornaments, flower urns etc.
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Getting the Kid's Stuff off of the Floor

I don't normally write a lot on my son, but this week I'm inspired, so what the heck! I bet that I am like a lot of moms at the end of the day. So, when school began this past fall, David would come home and his book bag, coat and shoes hit the floor by the front door and he goes running. I was a bit more understanding when he was in kindergarten, but now that he is a "big" first grader, this is just unacceptable.

So, I sat him down and had a heart to heart. Yes, he knew where his things belonged. Yes, he understands that his stuff on the floor looks bad and more importantly, it is dangerous where it ends up. Yes, he knows where his stool is to reach the bar… that is when he admitted the problem.
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Understand Before Your Reprimand

About a month ago, I asked my son (who is 7) to pick up his room and organize his desk. When I went into his room, his toys were all over his desk. I was frustrated. He had been instructed to put his toys away and instead I saw them all over his desk so random.

A long time ago, I promised myself that I would understand first. So, I held my irritation and asked him, "David, we talked about organizing your desk. Can you please explain to me what organizing you have done?"
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Do You Have an Evening Routine?

One of the best ways to ensure you get a good start in the mornings is to have a good evening routine.

It's even more important if you're not a morning person like I am.

My evening routine includes:

1. packing my work bag
2. packing my lunch
3. setting out my clothes
4. getting the video ready to record Dr Phil and Oprah


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Posted April 10 2008, filed under How I de-cluttered, Clutter Control Products | 8 Comments | Permalink

Welcome Stephanie Calahan!

Please give a warm welcome to our newest Clutter Control Freak Blog contributor, Stephanie Calahan!

Stephanie L.H. Calahan is a nationally known speaker, author, productivity/organization consultant, & business start-up coach.
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YOU Can Contribute Tips & Photos to Clutter Control Freak

We want you to contribute tips, before & after photos, videos, stories, and advice to Stacks and Stacks' Clutter Control Freak Blog. Other readers will get to vote on which contributions are the most useful. Here are some of the ways you can participate:

   • Freak of the Week
Send us your nomination for the Clutter Control Freak of the Week with photos or videos and readers will pick the winner, who will get a cool prize.

The Freak of the Week can be a person, a process, a before & after, or a how-to.

   • Clutter Hacks
Send us ideas, products, and tips on clearing clutter from your life. We especially love to hear about clutter hacks that take less than 10 minutes to do.
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Download Clutter Control Freak Blog's Clutter Hack Widget or Our Custom Toolbar So You Never Miss a Clutter Hack

Now there are three great ways to be sure you never miss a clutter hack from Clutter Control Freak Blog:
   • The Clutter Hack of the Day Widget for your Google Desktop. (Download Google Desktop here first. Then, download the widget here.)

   • The Clutter Hack of the Day Widget for your blog. (Download it here.)

   • The new Clutter Control Freak Toolbar that lets you access our latest posts and all our features, instantly, from your browser. It's easily customizable, has Google-powered search, and is compatible with Internet Explorer and/or Firefox on Mac and PC. (Download it here.)
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Create a Goal to Improve Your Lifestyle

We all have goals in life, it may be to purchase a car, finish school, own a home or countless other things that we want to achieve. Why is it that we don't use that same drive and determination to accomplish our smaller goals in life? You know the things that really are frustrating, creating stress, crunching our time so that we cannot enjoy life anymore.

Somehow, we lose track of what is important because we are trying so hard just to keep up.
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Stop the Junk Mail

Spring cleaning this year can go beyond just the closets, cupboards and garages and also include our mailboxes. Who knew that Americans receive nearly four tons of junk mail each year and the average consumer can be on thousands of marketing mailing lists at any time? We are flooded with unwanted advertisements, credit card offers and political propaganda, which can bury the mail we are looking for…not to mention create a drain on the environment.
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Contain It!

Our family saves labels, can tops and box tops to raise money for our school, church and community. But all of these scraps and bits were making quite a mess until I contained them. The photo shows how. We keep the labels and box tops in envelopes on the side. The can tops and milk caps have their own containers. We also toss in the pizza cutter and lighter. This basket slides into a small space under the microwave, so no one sees the clutter.

My Big Work Planner

All this talk about notebooks ("My Favourite Organising Tools #1 - Notebooks" and "The Evil and Catch-All Notebooks") got me thinking…I have my planner for my personal stuff and my bils and appointments - but what about work?
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Favourite Organising Tools #3 - Post-it Notes

I love using post-it notes to help me get organised.

And if you get the proper ones, they stick on everything and last forever. Don't waste your time with the cheap stuff. I even use them in the fridge and they just don't lose their stickiness - ever!
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