Simple Organizing Challenge ~ Join Me!

March 5, 2018 By Deanna Piercy 8 Comments

As the days get warmer and I see those first long-awaited signs of spring, I begin to feel the urge to do some decluttering, spring cleaning and sprucing up of my home. What felt warm and cozy (and “hyggelig“) during the cold, dark days of winter begins to feel a bit cluttered. That’s when I know it’s time to start making lists, checking my stock of cleaning supplies, and making time in my schedule for cleaning, organizing and freshening up my home.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Read more here.

I don’t know about you but I love a good organizing challenge. It just seems more fun. That’s why I am delighted to be part of The Inspired Room‘s launch team for Melissa Michaels’ new book, Simple Organizing: 50 Ways to Clear the Clutter and her “Get Organized” challenge for the month of March.

The best part of this particular challenge is that it isn’t overwhelming. While I love “A Bowl Full of Lemons” 14 week Home Organization Challenge and do intend to work through it over the course of this year, I quickly discovered I simply do not have enough wiggle room in my schedule to finish the tasks in 14 weeks.

The Inspired Room challenge for March is much more in line with what I can actually accomplish right now. Here is how it works:

Each Monday we are given a challenge to work on during the week and then on Friday, a bigger project for the weekend. Simple.

Would you like to join me? Sign up for the challenge here.

For a taste of what the challenge is all about, here is Week One…

Week One Challenge:

Realize that the impression you make in the entryway sets the impression for the rest of your house. What does your entry say about your home?

🌸 Focus on function. We live in the country and lead a fairly casual lifestyle. I want our entryway to be attractive but it also needs to function for our family. That means we need places for coats, umbrellas, boots, Shiloh’s leash and a flashlight for late night dog walks. Organize your entryway to reflect your family, activities, and interests.

🌸 Simplify your stuff. Take five or ten minutes to note what doesn’t belong. You can even grab a box or basket and start the decluttering process right then and there. Don’t toss the box in the spare bedroom. Give unnecessary things away or recycle. We have a Re-Use Center in our community which takes any useable item and then gives it away for free. Ask around to find out if your community has something similar.

🌸 Think simple, attractive, and organized. A place for everything. What are your needs? Stylish baskets and aesthetically pleasing storage containers can transform a formerly disorderly space. Use what you have or shop in your own home for furniture and organizers to solve storage dilemmas. If you need something for your entryway, put it on a master list for home items. I encourage you to wait until you find just the right item rather than settling for something that won’t truly meet your needs or is of poor quality. I made the mistake of buying a cheap coat rack. Within a year the top portion broke under the weight of our winter coats. I learned my lesson. I took the time to find just what I wanted (while our coats remained piled on a chair!) and now we have a beautiful, sturdy coat rack that should last many, many years.

🌸 Embrace the space you have. Even if you don’t have a separate entryway, you can add hooks, a mirror, a rug, or a small bookcase near the door to create a feeling of a designated area. Shuffle things around until it seems just right. Use what you have and make the most of your space. That’s the best way to create a warm welcome. We have a small, round antique oak table in our entryway which had belonged to my great grandmother. I like to decorate it with seasonal displays. This is the first thing you see when entering our home (unless Shiloh is there to greet you!) so I make an effort to make it pretty and don’t allow it to collect clutter.

Simple Organizing is available for pre-order and will be released April 3rd.

If you decide to participate in this challenge I’d love to see pictures. I will be posting mine on Instagram with these two hashtags:

#simpleorganizing (the official hashtag for The Inspired Room)

#LWDsimpleorganizing

If you post on Instagram I’d love for you to use both hashtags so I can be sure to see yours.

Getting My Life Together – Want to Join Me?

January 3, 2018 By Deanna Piercy 8 Comments

A new year always feels like a good time to get things in order, doesn’t it? As part of my focus on simplicity this year, I want to get rid of the excess in my home and organize the rest. I also want to simplify my daily and weekly schedules, so I can be productive without being stressed out all the time. Do either of these goals resonate with you? If so, you might want to join me over the next several weeks as I “get my life together”.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Read more here.

Home Organization

The blog, A Bowl Full of Lemons, is doing a 14 week home organization challenge. Here is what it’s all about:

The 7th annual 2018 Home Organization Challenge begins on Saturday, January 6th. This gives you a few more days to enjoy family and your kids, before they go back to school (or work). It also gives you time to pack away your holiday decorations and prepare yourself mentally for the challenge. Get ready for a labor of love. Over the next 14 weeks, we are going to turn our homes upside down and give them the attention they so desperately need. We will work our way through each room, purging and donating the things we no longer love or need. We will simplify each space and set up our homes for a successful New Year!

See that word I have highlighted? Simplify. That is exactly what I’m aiming for. Not minimalism, just simplicity. If you’d like to join me (and probably thousands of others), you can download the FREE printables here:

A Bowl Full of Lemons 2018 Home Organization Challenge

You can follow along and participate via the associated Facebook group, sign up for challenge emails (click link above for this), and watch the challenge YouTube videos. There is also an accompanying book:

The 2016 print version ships from Amazon in 1-2 months but there is a new version coming out in June. I think I’ll buy the Kindle version for now and wait until June for the new print version. You can still do the challenge without purchasing the book, however.

If you sign up for this challenge leave me a comment. If there are enough of my readers doing it I might come up with some way for us to encourage one another and be accountable for our progress.

Productivity

If you have followed me any length of time you likely know what a huge fan I am of Crystal Paine’s courses. I’ve purchased all of them and can personally vouch for their quality. I was SO excited when I heard she has a new one:

4 Weeks to a More Productive Life by Crystal Paine

When you sign up, you’ll get:

-Access to an Accountability/Mastermind Facebook Group with Crystal during the month of January
-4 one-hour LIVE coaching sessions with Crystal on Monday evenings at 8 p.m. CT (January 8, 15, 22, 29, 2018)
-A weekly followup email from Crystal with additional resources and encouragement to go along with that week’s coaching lesson
-Lifetime access to the recordings of the videos of the coaching sessions to re-watch or review
-Hands-on projects to complete each week to practically apply what you are learning

I’m going to be working through this one in my Facebook group, Make Over Your Life With Dee. Registration is only open through January 6th and if you purchase by January 4th it’s only $17.

So that’s what I’ll be up to in the next several weeks. In a few months I fully expect to have my house whipped into shape and be so productive I’ll be dangerous. Hey, a girl can hope, right? If either or both of these sound good to you, I’d love to have you join me. It’s always more fun to do these sort of things with friends!

Tying Up Loose Ends and Preparing For The New Year

December 28, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 7 Comments

A brand new year will soon be here, unblemished and full of promise. I always find that rather exciting. But before I turn that calendar page, I like to take a look back, reflect a bit and tie up some loose ends. I can then move forward with a clean slate, ready to fully embrace the new year.

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

Anne of Green Gables

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Read more here.

Here is a list of things I like to do before the start of a new year:

1. Inbox Zero

Even though I know it won’t last, I love to begin the year with an empty inbox. I’ve been working on this and plan to finish up on Sunday afternoon. If necessary, I’ll move what’s left to a file and put a reminder in my phone to deal with it in a few days. Yeah, I know. But even if it’s largely symbolic, I want to see that empty inbox.

One thing I’m doing as I sort through emails is to unsubscribe from anything I don’t need. It’s too easy to simply keep deleting those newsletters I don’t have time to read but now is the time to be honest with myself and let them go.

If email threatens to overwhelm you, I highly recommend SaneBox. I signed up for the free 14-day trial and at the end of those two weeks I was hooked. SaneBox sorts your incoming emails into two categories, placing only the really important emails into your regular inbox. Everything else goes into a file called, SaneLater. You then receive a digest post which allows you to quickly deal with those less important emails. It’s truly brilliant and saves me hours every week. If you’d like to check it out, click here.

2. Clear Out My Feedly Account

I like the idea of starting the new year with no unread posts in Feedly (this is where I subscribe to and read blogs). I’m unfollowing those I don’t read regularly and yesterday I unfollowed over 50 blogs which haven’t posted in more than 6 months. I also have a Bloglovin’ account which I don’t really use. That’s something I may revisit at some point this coming year. When Google Reader was discontinued (let’s all pause for a moment of silence) I looked at several options for feed aggregators and at the time, I felt Feedly was the best option. In part, because their mobile app was much better than Bloglovin’s. That may no longer be the case. I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you read blogs via an aggregator, which do you use?

3. Finish a Couple of Books

I usually have a few books going at the same time. I only read one novel at a time but I often have one or more non-fiction books on hand to read when I have a few minutes here and there. It’s these non-fiction books I want to finish up before the end of the year. Here are the links in case you’re interested:

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

4. Send Thank You Notes

I like to get my Christmas thank you notes mailed before the end of the year. Here’s a little tip: Use the fronts of Christmas cards you received as thank you notes. Very carefully cut off the fronts and then use them as postcards. You’ll even save a bit on postage!

5. Return Or Exchange Gifts

Two of the items I ordered as gifts this year arrived damaged. One was from Amazon and I’ve already reported it and received a return label. David printed it at work today so I’ll be able to send it tomorrow. I still need to contact the other company which I’ll do first thing tomorrow. It’s good to get these things taken care of right away.

6. Catch Up On Bullet Journal

I got way behind on this in recent weeks. I have all my daily to-do sheets so I have the information needed to fill out my journal. I just need to set aside an hour or two to do it. I’m using a bullet journal in part so I’ll have a diary of sorts to look back on so that is why I want to catch up rather than simply starting again where I am.

7. Set Up My New Planner

In addition to my bullet journal, I also use a Happy Planner. I like having a month-at-a-glance section as well as weekly planning pages. When I’m on top of things, I sit down at the beginning of the month and write appointments, birthdays and other events on the monthly portion. Then on Sunday evenings or Monday mornings I plan my week.

I received the 2018 Happy Planner for Christmas and now I just need to get it all set up and ready to go!

8. Create a Gratitude List For the Past Year

I haven’t ever done this before but I plan to make a list of things that happened in the past year for which I’m grateful. I must admit that I haven’t been at all consistent about keeping a gratitude journal (although I hope to do better in the coming year!) so I think this will be good alternative.

9. Create a “Let Go Of” List

While I have much to be grateful for, there are a few things that are best left in the past. Regrets, broken relationships, disappointments. If there is honestly nothing I can do to “fix” the situation then it’s time to let it go. I’m going to write my list on a piece of paper and then toss it ceremoniously in the fireplace. Poof! Moving on…

10. Current Me vs. Future Me

I recently watched this video and love the idea.

11. Purchase New Calendars

Perhaps this sounds rather antiquated in this age of smart phones and Google calendars. However, I still buy a couple of wall calendars each year. I have one above my desk and another in the kitchen. I do put events and appointments on my Google calendar in my phone. But I still like to have a wall calendar handy so I can see the month at a glance without always having to pull out my phone.

I usually buy something Paris-related for my office and something retro for the kitchen. Here are the ones I chose this year:

Office (It was several dollars cheaper when I ordered mine.)

Kitchen (Unfortunately, this is no longer available so I’m glad I ordered early!)

12. Evaluate and Tweak My Morning and Evening Routines

I’ve posted about morning and evening routines. These are ever-evolving. A new season or a new year are good times to take a look at your routines and determine if they are still working for you. I’m thinking about adding a bubble bath to my evening routine.

If you need some help creating routines, I can’t say enough about how good Crystal Paine’s courses are:

Make Over Your Mornings

Make Over Your Evenings

13. Create a List of Goals for the New Year

I’ll talk more about this in another post but setting goals and intentions is an important part of my preparation for a new year. I like to set goals for each area of my life and then break them down into small steps.

14. Select My “Word” for the Coming Year

I love this idea of choosing a word to focus on for the year. Last year my word was “release” which you can read about here. I’ve chosen my word for 2018 and will write a post about it soon. If you do this, I’d love to hear what your word is for 2018.

One Word 365

And that is how I am wrapping up the old year and moving into the new. Do you do any of these things? Or do you have additional ideas for saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new? I’d love to hear your thoughts so leave me a comment or send me an email if you prefer. I’m really excited about the coming year and look forward to providing more helpful content here on Life With Dee.

~~~~~

How To Create Your Own Homemaking Binder

April 26, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 6 Comments

Taking care of a home and family is a surprisingly complex job. Managing schedules, planning meals, organizing daily/weekly/seasonal tasks, keeping track of home-related information and so much more. Creating a homemaking binder can be a huge help in getting it together and staying on top of all that it takes to manage a home and family.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

How To Create a Homemaking Binder

I first heard of the concept of a homemaking binder many years ago when I began following The FlyLady. She calls her version a “Control Journal”. She now offers a number of free journal downloads including versions for holidays, packing, office, student, home maintenance and others. You can see all of them here:

FlyLady Control Journals

Initially, however, it was a simpler concept including a list of cleaning zones, daily cleaning, weekly checklist, detailed cleaning lists, daily spiritual focus, and a weekly schedule. It also included an address book and I think a menu planning sheet. One thing she recommended which I think is a good idea is to put your daily and weekly checklists in clear plastic sheet protectors. You can then use a dry erase marker to check things off and then erase and use again.

The next major source of information regarding homemaking binders that I ran across was on Organized Home. They refer to it as a Household Notebook and offer a large number of free printable pages. It is more detailed and wider in scope that The FlyLady Control Journal, although perhaps a little less personal.

Here is the link to the list of printable pages they offer:

Organized Home Household Notebook Printables

When I put together my homemaking binder I used resources from both The FlyLady and Organized Home. I bought a white, 3 inch, three-ring binder and printed a cover sheet with “Deanna’s Household Notebook” on it which I slipped inside the front cover.

Over time I added sections for birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions, menus and grocery lists, emergency information, health and medical, holidays and personal. I also printed helpful or inspirational articles about homemaking and tucked those inside.

And then I didn’t use it. Oh, I’d occasionally drag it out and read through parts of it. But honestly? It became a symbol of good intentions and lack of follow-through. Otherwise known as “the story of my life”.

And yet I’m convinced that there is great merit in creating some form of a homemaking binder. The key is in determining how you plan to use it and what it should contain in order to make it genuinely useful for YOU.

You see, just because something works for someone else and sounds really cool doesn’t necessarily mean it will fit your lifestyle and your way of doing things.

Here are some questions to ask yourself before creating a homemaking binder/household notebook/control journal or whatever you prefer to call it:

Do you prefer paper or digital? This is a big one and deserves some serious consideration. If you love using the latest technology and like to be able to access everything from all your devices, then perhaps a physical binder is not for you. You can definitely create a digital “binder” instead and that might work much better for you.
Where do you spend most of your time? If you are at home full-time with few outside activities then a large, single binder containing everything you need to run your home and schedule could work well for you. However, if you work outside the home or are involved in many volunteer activities you are not likely to drag around a big binder all the time. You may need to consider a digital version or keeping some information and lists in a binder at home and others in your phone or a small notebook which fits in your purse.
What is YOUR purpose for a homemaking binder and what will make it useful for YOU and your family? When The FlyLady first created her Control Journal I recall that she considered it not only something the homemaker would use but that it could be helpful if someone else needed to step in and help manage your household in case of illness or for some other reason.

After you have considered these questions here are the steps I recommend for creating your very own homemaking binder.

1. Make a list of what you want in your binder.

Some possible ideas include:

Daily cleaning tasks
Weekly cleaning
Monthly or seasonal tasks
Morning and evening routines
Menu planning sheets
List of favorite recipes, perhaps including the cookbook and page number where it’s found
Emergency information
Family medical information (blood type, surgeries, medications, doctors, pharmacy, etc.)
Addresses and phone numbers (this may sound old fashioned and unnecessary – until your phone dies and wasn’t backed up recently)
Household information such as heat and air filter size/type, refrigerator water filter number, list of special types of light bulbs, paint colors, various measurements, etc.
Household project list (maybe include a pocket folder to hold paint and fabric samples, magazine pages for inspiration, receipts, etc.)
Household budget
List of birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions
Vacation packing lists
Freezer inventory list
Pantry inventory list
Passwords

And on, and on…

Carefully consider which of these will be useful to you. There’s no point in a packing list if you rarely go on vacation. And some of these things I listed might well be kept in some other place besides your homemaking binder. Just because someone made a free printable for it doesn’t mean it needs to be in your binder.

2. Purchase a binder.

Once you know what you want to include, then you can shop for the perfect binder. You might be tempted to reverse this order but you need to know how much it will contain so you can decide what size to purchase. As I mentioned above, I have a 3-inch binder. And it’s quite full. If you plan to create a very comprehensive binder and especially if you think you might want to include pocket folders and/or an address section, then I recommend a 3-inch version.

On the other hand, if you are more interested in a streamlined version with just your cleaning lists and a few other things, then choose a slimmer size. This may be especially important if you plan to leave it out somewhere during the day to check things off. If it’s too big and bulky it might just end up staying on a shelf somewhere.

Mine is just a plain white binder that I’ve had for over 15 years but I’m ready for a change. I think I “need” something prettier. I’m going to be doing a major overhaul of my homemaking binder this summer and am now in the process of finding just the right notebook/binder. I’ll be sure to share a photo!

3. Print the necessary sheets.

There are countless sources of free printables. You can certainly create your own and one of these days I’d like to do just that. However, chances are you can easily find any type of page you desire.

Here are a few sources:

Organized Home

Scattered Squirrel

Fab N’ Free

4. Use it!

This is where some of us lose the plot. Like any new habit, it takes time to implement. Once you’ve determined your purpose for a homemaking binder you can then decide how it will best serve you. Is it something you will leave out and utilize every day, checking off daily tasks and referring to often?

Or is it more of a resource for occasional use? If that’s the case, it’s way too easy to forget about it. I recommend setting up some type of reminder to pull it out and look through it on a scheduled basis. Even if you are just using it as a household information resource, it will soon become out of date without regular updates.

5. Schedule an annual review and update.

As soon as you get your binder up and running, get out your calendar. Schedule time one year from now to do a thorough review of your binder. Remove sections you aren’t using. If you have sections for addresses, passwords or other information that has changed, update those. Perhaps you’ve thought of something else that would be helpful to have in your binder. The key to a useful binder is to keep it up to date and relevant to your life. Things change…so should your binder.

Do you have a homemaking binder? If so, is it working well for you? I’d love to hear about it.

~~~~~

This is one of the binders I am considering when I update mine. Isn’t it pretty?

If digital is your preference, here is a resource that you might find helpful:

This post is linked up at Linda’s Lunacy Homemaking Linky:

LWD Giant Household Organization Roundup

January 25, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 8 Comments

I’m sure I’m not the only one who dreams of a perfectly organized home. Beautifully designed storage areas, everything in its place, “nothing that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

While I’m not a minimalist, I DO want my belongings to be purposefully chosen and well-organized. A brand new year is a good time to give some thought to household organization and if necessary, make plans to address the problem areas.

I’m forever reading about this topic and have oodles of resources saved or pinned. And now I’m going to share some of the best with you.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

Giant Household Organization Roundup

Pretty and Budget Friendly Ways to Organize Your Home

18+ Home Organizing Hacks

Organizing Ideas: Bathroom Cabinet Makeover

10 Ways to Organize Your House With Bins

How to Organize Paper Clutter in 30 Minutes or Less

16 Hacks to Organize Your Kid’s Room on a Budget

Organize Your House (A 12-Month Plan)

16 Clever Ways to Organize Cleaning Supplies

12 Hacks For Organizing Family Photos

The Ultimate Home Organization Tips

53 Ways to Eliminate Clutter and Chaos

How to Declutter Your Entire Home in One Weekend (Or Less)!

3 Simple Questions To Help You Declutter and Organize Your Home

A Ten Week Organizing Challenge For Your Entire House

11 Dollar Store Organizing Hacks to Organize Everything

20 Clever Kitchen Organization Ideas

Organize your kitchen with these 10 simple principles

Home Organization Tour

25 Organization Hacks

Tips to Make Decluttering Easier

The 50 Best Tips to Get Your Home Super Organized

The Simple Way to Organizing

4 Simple Steps to a Closet You Love

How I Broke Up with My Stuff

How to be a Productive Homemaker

17 Clever Ways to Organize Your Fridge

16 Tips on How to Organize Your Freezer (the Right Way)

How To Organize a Pantry

52 Week To An Organized Home

Tips For Organizing Paperwork

My Organization Posts:

Organization Videos: A Few of My Favorites

Organizing With Bankers Boxes

A Clean(-ish) House in 30 Minutes a Day

Company Ready in 5 Easy Steps

Pre-order

Home Management Binder

A Weekly Planning Session

January 10, 2017 By Deanna Piercy 9 Comments

I promised you a month of posts about organization and time management and then sort of dropped off the map. Sorry about that! I’ve been battling a stubborn asthma attack since the end of December and just haven’t had the mental band width to write coherently. I finally gave in and started steroids last night and I’m better today.

So, let’s get started on all the organization stuff I promised! I’ve implemented a new routine here at Chez Piercy that I’m really excited about – a weekly planning session with David. It takes so little to make me happy – ha!

We started this Sunday afternoon and I was very pleased with how it went. Here’s how it works:

We each get a beverage of our choice. David opted for coffee with Coole Swan (like Bailey’s Irish Cream but better). I, of course, had my usual Earl Grey tea with milk and sugar.
We sat down at the kitchen table with our phones, my clipboard, and the week’s mail.
We went over our schedules for the coming week. He had two meetings and a business trip. I’ve got three meetings, choir rehearsal and a doctor appointment. We are trying a phone app called Cozi. We can each enter our meetings and appointments, color code them and then have access to each other’s schedules. I’ll let you know in a few weeks if we like this app.
We discussed our nonprofit foundation, HMA Foundation, and I made a list of tasks I need to do for it. We have an event coming up soon so there are several things I need to work on.
We decided on a date night. It would be nice if it could be the same night each week but our crazy schedules just don’t allow that. This week Thursday works best. I have a meeting that night which should be over by 7 p.m. He’ll meet me in town afterwards.
I decided on a menu for the week, taking into account our meetings, his travel schedule and our chosen date night.
Finally, we sorted the week’s mail. I recently bought the lidded container you see in the photo below. Whenever either of us picks up the mail we take a quick look for anything urgent (we pay bills online, most with auto-draft, so we rarely have bills in the mail), then toss the rest in this box. We sorted through it all together, making a pile for him to take to work to shred (we need a new one at home), filing and otherwise dealing with it all. I know that many organizers recommend immediately handling mail each day when you bring it inside but that just never has seemed to work for us. I’m hopeful that by setting aside time to deal with it together we can stay on top of it. I’ll keep you posted!

And that’s it. We both agreed that it felt good to have a handle on the upcoming week. We each have irons in a lot of fires so it’s important to make sure we keep one another up-to-date on what’s going on. The only thing I think I’d like to add to this planning session is music. Maybe I need to create a special playlist just for this.

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Life With Dee!

What do you think? Do you do something like this? Or do you have another way you keep up with your family’s schedule? How do you handle the daily mail? Leave me a comment. I’m always looking for ways to fine-tune things.

And if you’re feeling rather overwhelmed, I highly recommend this course by Crystal Paine:

Note: I bought the box shown at Aldi for about $5. I tried to find something similar online for you but so far haven’t had any luck. Obviously you can use any container you like but this one is just the perfect size for us. Big enough to hold a week’s mail but not so big that we might be tempted to let things pile up longer. I’ll keep looking and if I find something similar I’ll add the link.

Clipboards (set of three)

Taming the Paper Tiger at Home

Home Organization Tear Outs

Getting a Head Start on Christmas

September 21, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 6 Comments

The world seems to be divided into two groups – those who don’t want to think about Christmas until after Thanksgiving and those who start humming Christmas carols in July. I lean toward the first group. I like my holidays one at a time. However, the reality is that if I wait until after Thanksgiving to start getting ready for Christmas there’s a good chance I may end up *directing traffic in my nightgown somewhere around December 20th. I’d rather not add that to the collection of stories people tell about me so this year I am focusing on getting a head start on Christmas NOW.

Let’s take a look at some resources which can help us make a plan for the holidays.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Getting a Head Start on Christmas

1. The FlyLady

Many years ago, back in the days before social media, Yahoo Groups were a big source of information and social interaction online. I won’t admit how many groups I was in but one of them was The FlyLady’s mentor group. That was back in 2000 and well before she started her website. It was also the year she created a plan to help people prepare for the holidays. She refers to her regular household notebook/planner as a “control journal” so her Christmas planner is called the Holiday Control Journal:

FlyLady Holiday Control Journal

It’s a free 25 page download which includes pages for gift lists, grocery lists, recipes, family traditions, decorating checklists and more. The FlyLady starts this journal by encouraging the reader to play a little game in which you pretend that you are leaving December 1st for a three-week cruise. In order to enjoy your vacation you’ll need to have all your holiday prep done before that date.

I can’t say I’ve ever followed this plan 100% but perhaps this will be the year!

2. Holiday Grand Plan

You may have heard of The Cleaning Grand Plan. It’s been around since the early 90s and is a week-by-week detailed cleaning plan. The Holiday Grand Plan is a companion program which:

“combines holiday prep, home organizing and cleaning components. Each week, the Plan focuses on one room or area. Beginning just as the summer ends, you’ll work week-by-week to declutter, clean and organize each room in your home.

Along the way, the HGP tackles holiday preparations, too. Whether it’s gifts, decor or holiday meals, you’ll be organized and ready for the holidays before they arrive.”

There is a downloadable calendar and oodles of holiday planning pages which you can download for free. There is also a mailing list as well as a Facebook page:

Grand Plan Calendar

Holiday Planner Notebook

Grand Plan mailing list

Facebook

3. Brocante Home Christmas Planner

This final resource isn’t free but at only $5 it’s a charming choice for Christmas planning. Not only does it include the usual lists for gifts, cards, groceries, etc., in true Brocante Home fashion there are also several delightful additions to encourage you to make your home and the holiday season warm and cosy.

My Plan:

Many years ago I designated a 3 inch binder as my Christmas planner. It is still full of pages I printed years ago, including all three of the resources I have mentioned above. Some are filled out and some are blank.

My goal this coming week is to update my planner. I’ll print new copies of the pages which I’ve filled out in the past. And because pretty is better, I’m going to insert Christmas scrapbooking paper in the front cover of the binder and put some Christmas stickers in the inside pocket so I can use them to decorate some of the pages.

One thing I’ve already done is purchase my Christmas cards and matching address labels. I always do a 4-page newsletter which I include with the cards and I’ve even started making notes for that. I’m going to do some type of Life With Dee Christmas card exchange this year so keep an eye out for more information about that in the near future.

I’m also going to decide on one or two homemade gift ideas for the holidays and start picking up supplies soon. Here’s a great list of ideas:

25+ Homemade Christmas Gifts

Finally, in order to make all of this planning a reality a good daily routine is vital. I’m currently working through Crystal Paine’s course, Make Over Your Mornings. Again. In order to add some accountability and make it more fun I’ve started a Facebook group:

Make Over Your Life With Dee

If you’d like to join you are most welcome. We’ve already started but you can join in at any time. Later on we’ll be doing other courses in the group, all with a focus on time management, productivity and personal development. I’ll be sharing articles, books, blog posts and other resources which I think the group will find helpful and I encourage group members to do likewise. I hope you’ll check it out!

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you try to get an early start preparing for the holidays? And while my personal focus is on Christmas I know there are other winter holidays. If you celebrate something other than Christmas I’d love to hear about your traditions. Leave me a comment.

*I have borrowed that delightful description from Crazy Aunt Purl. She no longer blogs which is a damn shame because she is hilarious.

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Create a Beautiful Life With a Morning Ritual

August 8, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 2 Comments

A beautiful day starts with an intentional morning ritual. This is something I’ve been working on for quite awhile. My morning ritual isn’t perfect yet but I’m making progress.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Dee’s Morning Ritual

This is what my morning looks like when all goes well…which is about once a week. But hey, you’ve got to start somewhere.

Set daily intention before getting out of bed

I take a few minutes while still lying in bed to think about my day. I consider the specific challenges ahead and then decide on my focus for the day. For instance, today’s focus phrase was “steady and productive”. I had a lengthy to-do list which I really wanted to power through because I’m planning to take Friday off. That’s right. I’m going to cross something off my Summer Fun list and spend the entire day just reading!

Turn back the bed covers

I make the bed every day but I let it air first. I turn the covers back, move the pillows and lightly spray the sheets with my homemade lavender linen spray.

Go downstairs, weigh myself and drink a glass of water

I haven’t been drinking enough water lately so I’m making an effort to include more in my daily routine. I know some recommend only weighing once a week but I feel like I get a better sense of what affects my weight if I monitor it daily. FYI: eating a banana split as a late-night dinner isn’t a good idea if you’re watching your weight.

Take my hot tea to the library

My sweet husband makes my tea for me every morning and puts it in an insulated Klean Kanteen so it stays hot. I take it and one of my china cups and saucers to the library, get comfy in my chair and finish the rest of my morning ritual.

Meditate

I’ve been rather hit-or-miss with this but I find when I meditate consistently, my days go better. I may do a group challenge soon so stay tuned.

Read

I’m trying not to get sucked into Facebook during my morning routine but to spend that time reading something more worthwhile. As I shared in my post about My Morning Basket, one of my morning reads is Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book, Something More: Excavating Your Authentic Self. It’s written in short sections which lend themselves perfectly to daily reading. I also read a bit from the Harvard Classics and from my grandmother’s Bible.

Listen to a podcast

Right now I’m taking an intensive personal development course which includes a short audio lesson each morning. Otherwise I enjoy watching Crystal Paine’s morning Periscope sessions or listening to one of my favorite podcasts.

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And that’s my ideal morning ritual. Well, for now. There are other things I’d like to include:

Yoga – sun salutations in particular
Morning Pages – I’ve done these off and on.
Piano

For now, though, my current ritual is enough. Once I’m doing it consistently I’ll add something else.

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If you’re interested in creating a morning routine which works for you and sets you up for having a beautiful and productive day, I can’t say enough about Crystal Paine’s Make Over Your Mornings course. I’ve gone through it twice already and am going to do it again soon. If this sounds like something you might be interested in click below for more information or to purchase.

I also recommend the Make Over Your Evenings course. I don’t promote anything here on Life With Dee unless I stand behind it 100%. I’ve purchased both of these courses myself and highly recommend them.

Organization Videos – A Few of My Favorites

July 28, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 5 Comments

I LOVE to watch cleaning, decluttering and organizing videos. I also enjoy the occasional episode of Hoarders or Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners. Okay, maybe more than “occasional”. 😉

I find these interesting and often inspiring. And I’ve learned some good tips from watching them.

I’m about to embark on a decluttering and organizing challenge of my own so I have been watching videos on these topics the past few days. I thought I’d share a few that I’ve found helpful and inspiring.

Organization Videos

This first one is the start of a 31 day decluttering program. It’s a good place to begin.

2. This next one left me in awe. I can’t imagine finding the time to organize my entire house to this level but it would be awesome!

3. A fairly short overview of 5 easy ways to declutter:

4. Once your house is clean and organized, you’ll want to keep it that way:

5. How about a 12 day clutter-busting plan? Here is Day One:

There are multiplied thousands of similar videos on YouTube. Enough to keep me watching rather than doing for ages!

I’ve found that the best way to make myself stick with something is to get others on board with me and hold myself accountable to them. I’m sadly lax about letting myself down but quite good at keeping my commitments to others.

So here’s the deal. I’m going to be starting a decluttering/organization challenge soon. I’m still working out the details but as soon as I have it all fleshed out I’ll let you know. I hope a number of you will decide to do this with me.

In the meantime, if you have any favorite decluttering and/or organizing videos or other online resources to recommend, please leave me a link in the comments.

The Conquer Your Clutter bundle before it expires on Monday, January 30th at 11:59 PM EST!

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Mid-Year Review

July 15, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 4 Comments

Here we are…half way through the year. How did that happen? I have decided to do a mid-year review of my goals and an evaluation of my productivity methods. I have added a few things to my life which make it essential that I make productivity a priority.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

I’ve mentioned before that The Productive Woman is one of my favorite podcasts. She recently did a podcast on this topic:

Doing a Mid-Year Review

I highly recommend listening to this podcast if you are interested in doing your own review. She also includes a link to her Step-by-Step Guide to Doing a Mid-Year Review.

I’ve printed out my copy and will be going through it this weekend.

One thing I know for sure, the planner I bought for this year isn’t working for me. There isn’t anything wrong with the planner itself. Somehow, though, I find myself having not even looked at it for several weeks. I’m not ready to say it’s a failure just yet. Perhaps I just need a different way of using it. That’s something I’m going to be looking at this weekend.

I’m also going to be looking at a couple of digital task managers. Sometime last year I read (or rather, listened to the audio version of) Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen.

I think I may be ready to seriously consider the GTD (Getting Things Done) method. At first it sounded a little more complicated than I need but since I now have a more complicated life, it’s worth trying. A friend of mine who is a GTD aficionado, wants to form a local GTD user group. Now we just need to find a few others to join us. I’m also trying to talk him into writing a guest post on the topic for Life With Dee.

So, if I determine that GTD is something I want to try I will need to decide how to implement it. Paper? OmniFocus? Nozbe?

I’m also rather intrigued by Bullet journals.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you use a task manager? If so, which one. Are you a paper or digital type? Let’s talk about this in the comments. I’m open to all suggestions.

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Recommended Online Courses (I’ve purchased all three of these personally.)

Morning and evening routines are essential for high productivity. Here are two online courses I highly recommend to help in developing these routines:

If you need help setting goals, I recommend this course:

Make Over Your Year