Wednesday, December 22, 2010

What to do with Holiday Cards (after the holiday)

Contact www.thecustomcloset.net for your organizing needs
(201) 666-1717 or 800-304-4848

My family loves getting all those wonderful, festive, colorful and thoughtful holiday greeting cards this time of year. My daughters especially love looking through them. But, what can you do with them all after the holiday time is over? Here are a few suggestions:

Make a Flip-Book: Keep your favorites, punch a hole in the top corner of each, and, using a simple loose-leaf ring, attach them all together as a 'flip-book' to display each year.
Make Gift Tags: Cut the pictures out into a tag shape, punch a hole, and use them the following year as tags on Holiday gifts.
Donate to a worth cause: St. Jude's Ranch takes old greeting cards (any occasion), replaces the backs and then sells them on their website. The proceeds benefit St. Jude's Ranch, which houses neglected and abused children. For details on how to donate, go to this link: http://www.stjudesranch.org/help_card.php
Save as memorabilia: Put your favorite keepsake cards in a ziploc bag, write the year, and store in a memorabilia box (this approach, however, has potential to create huge volumes of cards over time, so use cautiously!)
Scan them: If you hate to toss used greeting cards because of their sentimental value, scan them into a computer. Then put on a flash-drive to display on a digital picture frame at holiday time.
Discard (recycle): This is,of course an option, and it's completely OK to do so. If you have a problem with guilt over doing this, remember that the sender sent you the card to bring you joy and a smile. If the cards become a burden to you, then the sender's intent is no longer there, so it's ok to discard them.

Linda English - Owner/Professional Organizer
Organizing With EASE, LLC
201-638-9593 www.orgwithease.com orgwithease@aol.com

Thursday, December 16, 2010

To Do or Not to Do, Ask Yourself that Question!

Contact: www.thecustomcloset.net to help you with your closet and home office "to do list!" 800-304-4848

Ahhhh To Do's. I love that I have a great way to keep track of them in my Planner, and in my Action-Files, however, I've begun to notice that quite a few To-Do's aren't ever making the transition from 'To-Do' to 'DONE'. Sound familiar? Now, I'm not talking about the ones that I HAVE TO DO, or REALLY REALLY WANT TO DO. Those are getting done.

I'm talking about other valid To-Do's : some are great ideas for my business; some are fun family projects; some are clippings from magazines or printed emails that I think I could possibly benefit somehow if I took some action on them; some are things that I thought at one point would be really important to do, but after a while, not so important anymore. You know what I mean? Can you relate to this at all?

When something's been on your to-do list for quite some time, it begs the question: "To Do or NOT To Do?" In other words.... it's decision time. Either commit to doing it, or get it off your list. And when I say commit to doing it, I'm not talking about just moving the paper higher up in your pile of to-do's (because we all know how easy it is to just stick that piece of paper back on the bottom of the pile again), I'm actually talking about scheduling WHEN you will commit to do it, and then on that day (or days) - DO IT. If you can't bring yourself to commit to doing it, then perhaps it's not that necessary or meaningful to get done.

So now, it's decision time for you: To Do or NOT To Do? Take a look at your TO DO lists, piles, and files, and really think about which ones are truly worthy of getting done. If they've been lingering around for a long time, perhaps they don't have much true value in your life, and you can declutter your To-Do's by getting rid of them.
Linda English - Owner/Professional Organizer
Organizing With EASE, LLC
201-638-9593 www.orgwithease.com orgwithease@aol.com