Clutter Hacks
It's That Time
Product of the Week: Picnic Basket
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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!
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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!
Stock Your Disaster Supply Kit
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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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Organizing Tips to Beat the Blah’s and Get ready for Spring
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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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Welcome Stephanie Calahan!
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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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Create a Goal to Improve Your Lifestyle
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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
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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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Spring Cleaning, Organizing and Maintenance
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It's still a bit wintery where I live in North Dakota. We just had snow a few days ago, and although the temperatures are now above zero, it's still a little cold to seem like spring to me! Chilly weather or not, spring is here. And with not quite a week of spring behind us, it's time to think about starting up our annual spring cleaning overhaul. Here are a few ideas to jump-start your efforts:
(1) Update your files.
We all have the looming April 15 tax deadline ahead of us. This is a great time to sort through not only your financial paperwork but also other documents in your files.
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Get Motivated!
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I live in Minnesota, where we nest inside our homes all winter long…often eating comfort food. As a result it’s easy to pick up a little winter weight. I knew that it was time to start thinking about getting back into shape, but I was having a hard time getting motivated. I started thinking about how I’m always telling my clients to declutter one step at a time. “Just start with a few minutes a day,” I tell them. “Once you start to see results, it will be much easier to stay motivated.”
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Recession Proof Your Budget
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The headlines are alarming. February job losses are up, the dollar is weak, and oil prices are above $100 a barrel. Many economists are warning that the U.S. is headed for a recession – or may already be in one. So what should the average American do? The Debt Diva, Clarky Davis of CareOne Credit Counseling, says you can’t control the economy, but there are steps you can take to recession-proof your life.
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Do You Have DLS: Disorganized Life Syndrome?
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Symptoms: messy tendencies, packrat feelings, mental confusion, lack of order, constantly losing things, loss of control, depression, high anxiety, feelings of hopelessness and a massive feeling of the world closing in on you.
Sound like you? Almost all of us go through this several times a year - especially around spring and fall cleaning times.
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An Empty Inbox is Like an Uncluttered Home
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This is a picture of what my inbox usually looks like.
Because I'm being completely open and honest with you, right at the moment, I have 6 in my inbox.
It makes me smile 
to see that lovely uncluttered space.
There are probably about 5 - 7 email habits I have that help to keep my inbox empty.
I'll share just one of the ways with you: Every day I play a game with myself to see how many emails I can delete.
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Organized Medication Disposal
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Where or how do you dispose of expired or unneeded OTC (over-the-counter) or prescription drugs?
For awhile we were hearing to flush them or put them down the drain, and while this prevents any mis-use of the drugs, it also has adverse effects on water and the wildlife in it. Sometimes it can even cause unintentional ingestion if the water is re-used. (Check the drug information sheet that came with the prescription to see if it is safe to put down the drain.)
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The De-Cluttering Transformation
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Our recently befriended neighbor across the street is 70 years old and without any family to speak of. For years, she cleaned her own house and did her own shopping without help. It was wearing on her, though. Her age and her weight made it difficult to do things the way she wanted them done. The clutter slowly took over her home, which led to depression. When we first met her a few months ago, she was mired in clutter, sleeping all the time, and barely leaving her house.
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Sad Day for Stacks and Stacks
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Today is the last day that our Santa Rosa Stacks and Stacks store (which has been here for 20+ years) will be open to the public.
To all of you who have been my friends through thick and thin, I will dearly miss seeing your smiling faces every day. I wish all of you peace, health and prosperity in all you do in life!
Keep in touch!
Hugs – Eva
Happy Valentine's Day
ByHere's a great big "I love you" to all our readers! Absolutely nothing to do with organization, or anything for that matter, but highly cute!
We Want You - To Give Us Your Opinion!
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Stacks and Stacks and Clutter Control Freak Blog are starting off the New Year with you, our readers, in mind. You are truly a great bunch of die-hard organizers and we value your opinions.
We would like to ask YOU what you think we should carry on our Stacks site. Is there a product you’ve seen that you think every organization website should carry? Is there something you need for organizing that you just can’t find? Click here to submit your product and a short review. We’ll see if we can hunt it down for you and add it to our site. We would love for Stacks and Stacks to be your one-stop organization shop!
Earth Friendly Cleaning
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We all want to do our part in keeping the Earth free of bacteria and still have it smell fresh, and there are ways we can do just that without the dangerous fumes! Just think of all of the unnatural odors that we already contend with on a daily basis; gas fumes, cigarette smoke, pet odors, smells from outdoor wood furnaces, odors from factories.
Cleaning supplies on the market are too numerous to mention and all claim to be 'bacteria cleaning agents'. I wonder how great, great grandma lived to be so old without having some of these in her cabinet. However, she must have used something to keep the houseclean and smelling fresh; I wonder what it could have been. Let’s see, there wasn't any Lysol, any 409 or Mr. Clean, and Clorox with bleach wasn't in existence. How did that woman do it?
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Why New Year's Resolutions Don't Work
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I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions but I absolutely DO believe in goal-setting. So what's the difference, and why is one better than the other?
New Year's Resolutions are usually broken within the first two weeks of January and at the very latest by the end of January in 90% of cases. Why do you think all the gyms are chock-a-block at the moment? Everybody's said they want to lose weight and get in shape this year. Check out all the cars at the gym this week and then do it again in a month's time, and see the difference.
People decide on spur-of-the-moment New Year's Resolutions and expect to be able to make major life and behavioural changes for the entire year. It's just not logical. Enthusiasm will keep you keen for a couple of weeks but then what?!
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Resolution Success!
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The biggest New Year’s resolution I have is to get healthy. Well, let me get specific (thanks Jan!). I have three daily goals:
1. Eat 35 grams of fiber every day
2. Drink 2 liters of water every day
3. Go for a walk every day
I have a basic knowledge of what foods are high in fiber and I plan my shopping for my breakfasts and lunches around that. I keep a fiber chart handy at work (which is where I wind up doing most of my eating). When I get to work, I write all the foods I brought down on a sticky note with the grams of fiber listed next to each. I make sure it adds up to at least 30 grams (I figure I’ll get the last 5 grams with dinner). If it doesn’t, I write down how many fiber capsules I need to take by the end of the day to reach 30 grams. As I eat each thing on my list, I cross it off.
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8 Signs Your Home is Out of Control — and What to Do About It
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It happens without warning. One day you notice your home has turned into a collage of papers, junk, and stuff – everywhere. You’re not alone. Today more than ever it seems that the flotsam and jetsam of living, like the waves of an ocean, continually beat at our doors, flooding our houses with all manner of stuff until our homes are bulging at the seams. A typical home is now cluttered and dirty to the point of exhaustion. All this accumulation also makes going home or being at home, a cause for dread because we’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things surrounding us. Can you relate?
Kathryn Weber has written an incredibly helpful article on Bellaonline.com called 8 Signs Your Home is Out of Control — and What to Do About It.
The eight signs are:
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Three De-cluttering Tricks.
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1) Shift your thinking. Think of your home as a haven. I think of our home as an oasis from the madness of the world. It’s where I feel safe and secure and let my hair down. In order to feel perfectly comfortable, I know I can‘t have piles of stuff that act as a constant reminder of all the work I have left to do. Since I view my home in this way, I’m less likely to let it get too cluttered.
2) Stay motivated. While working on a decluttering project, I frequently return to the areas that I have already cleaned or organized. That little backward glance makes me feel good about what I’ve accomplished and makes me want to accomplish more.
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Organise Your To-Do List
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A to-do list can get overwhelming very quickly if you don't organise it. Today I’ll show you how I organise my daily to-do list in my diary/ planner.
Every Sunday I have planning time for the week ahead. I write subheadings – Phone, Email and Computer – in red pen on every diary page from Monday to Friday. I like weekends free so I only write down appointments and then I glance at my Control Journal for the routine tasks.
Then I add my tasks under each heading. I separate Email from Computer because when I say Computer, it’s stuff like blogging, updating spreadsheets, printing shopping lists, etc, etc.
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How's Your Holiday Storage?
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About this time, most of us are thinking about taking down the Christmas trees and holiday decorations. Have you taken a good look at your holiday storage boxes lately? Are your containers in good shape? Will they keep those beloved keepsakes protected for another year?
When I took my Christmas stuff out of storage this year, I discovered our shed had a leak. I’m so glad I updated all my holiday storage boxes last year! The boxes were wet, but the contents were dry and rust-free. You take the time to make sure your day-to-day storage is up to par. Don’t neglect things in long term storage - you never know what may happen!
What to Do With All the Junk
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Now that the holidays are over, we find ourselves buried up to our necks in wrapping paper, cards, packing materials, disposable plates and utensils, and old dry trees. I found some great tips on recycling all the mounds of holiday waste by Sarah Linn at sanluisobispo.com.
• Bags and boxes
Paper gift, grocery and shopping bags go in the blue recycling container supplied by local trash companies.
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A New Year's Resolution List That Sticks!
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Do you ever wonder why you don't follow through on your New Year’s resolutions? Do you ever wonder what happened to all of that determination that you had when you made your list?
If you’re like me, you tend to make a dozen New Years Resolutions and don't really follow through on any of them. Why I can follow through on so many things in my life, make lists and get them finished, but I mess up on this, year after year. Actually, it’s very simple! None of the things on my list were really what I considered a priority in my life. Sure they all were things that I had thought about, or rather 'wished' about, from time to time, but none were going to make or break my life style.
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Planning For Next Year's Food Clutter
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It's official. I stepped on the scale 2 days ago. Not only do my legs barely squeeze into my jeans and my butt look a mile wide - I have the proof in the pounds, too!
I hate the holiday season in the food aspect. OK, no, I lied. I LOVE the holiday season in the food aspect, I hate the holiday season in the weight aspect! When it comes to sweets, I have no self-control. I spend November and December completely enjoying myself, eating whatever I want, whenever I want, and then January through October getting my weight back down.
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Merry Christmas!
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