My new pouchee button is out!! You can pick either hot pink or the lime green. It will link you directly to my pouchee page. You can pick up the link off my review site.

Doesn't Lindsey Joy do a great job? Thanks Lindsey Joy!! (Go to the bottom of my page and click on her link if you want to jazz up your own blog!

New Review Site

My Review site will be up and running soon. Its there..but you won't find much information on it yet!! Hee hee
I am still adding things to it and moving them around. (Kind of like moving into a new house and you have to decide where to put the furniture)

I am looking for products to review to launch my new site. If any of you are interested in having me review your organizing product, just let me know via a comment on here or by e-mailing me directly at organizewithsandy@yahoo.com
I will be reviewing my own pouchee (yes pros and cons!) and having a give away with that.
Beverly Coggins of 1-2-3-getorganized.blogspot.com/ is sending one (or more) of her books to review.
If you are interested in trying for another pouchee give away....go to http://orgjunkie.com/
and you can enter her contest for one of my free pouchees.

Thanksgiving supplies

Thanksgiving is over and we need to think about getting out the Christmas decorations, but what is the best way to store your Thanksgiving supplies? To make it easiest for next year I suggest a clear container, preferably a fall colored one. Label what is in the container.
One thing I did last year that my husband was thrilled with was I kept the shopping list he made up last year on the computer. We got all the recipes together we were going to make (he makes the turkey, duck and a few side dishes)and he made up a shopping list. I had taken and made copies of all the recipes we had last year. I made notes on the recipes if the kids liked them or if there were any little tweaks we made to them and if they worked or not. I took those copies and the shopping list and clipped them altogether and put in the Thanksgiving bin. It made it very easy this year!

Christmas Cards

The Family Christmas cards - Do you send them anymore?
This is the picture I am putting on our card this year. I just ordered my cards online last night. I used Snapfish this year. I have used them for several projects and have been pleased with everything they have done for me so far. The pictures will be in next week.
I need to get my Christmas card list and update any addresses of people who have moved in the last year. Then I will write my Christmas letter. Yes, I do send one. I love getting them from other people and I have been writing one for many years. Personally, I get a little upset when I get a Christmas card from an old friend and its signed with no note, picture or letter. I send the family picture with the letter and a small personal note at the end of that. Just to let them know I am thinking of them when I am sending their card.
I will get my cards out the 2nd week of December.
This is the age of internet but lets not forget some of the old traditions of Christmas! I say..."Get those cards out this year!"

Black Friday Shopping ...Organized

Are you a Black Friday shopper? Do you set your alarm for 3am and have the drive in the dark and sometimes snow. Standing out in the line that you can't believe is already THAT long? If you have never experienced the craziness...you are actually missing some fun. I don't shop every year on Black Friday am, only if there are things that it will benefit me and I am in the right frame of reference to do so.
But I love to do it and usually make it about 75% of the time.
But I think once you get yourself on the road (the getting up is no fun), then you feel like you are off to tackle a battle and its really fun.
I usually go to Walmart because I would rather wait inside..thank you very much. They just have all the "door busters" covered up and you are guessing at which big covered thing in the middle of the aisles is what you want. Then at the given time of the sale there is supposed to be an employee by each one...they tear them off and everyone starts diving for them. I have never been in a situation where people are literally fighting or pushing or calling names. I know it happens, but usually everyone is friendly and tend to help each other out. You are there on the same mission.
But it is easy to get caught up in the frenzy and buy too much. You may go with one thing in mind, but if you don't have your shopping trip planned you may walk away with oodles of things you really didn't budget for or you may walk away without any of the deals you went for.

1) Make your list on Thanksgiving day with the sales ads in hand. If you know the
layout of the store, mark down a map of where you plan to go.
2) Plan which stores you are going to go to and at what time (plan early for
your first store). Some stores match prices so you can take your K-mart ad into
Walmart with the exact same item and if there is a given price (you can't use a
percentage off, they won't honor that)during the hours of the sales, they will
match that. (Check to make sure your store matches prices)
3) Get to your store early (everyone else will too) Make sure you have your list
with you AND the store ads. (keep them in a folder)
4) Go for your most important item first. Then try your best to stick to your plan.
5) Try to resist grabbing the last ticket for that 52" big screen that you don't
need or want just because you are in the right place at the right time.
6) Go light hearted and plan to have fun. Having a positive attitude can make
your experience an adventure instead of a disaster!

Thanksgiving meal Organizing

Chances are you have already completed your Thanksgiving meal shopping and have your turkey thawing in the refrigerator and some of your other side dishes completed. But planning a large meal or gathering can be very difficult if you have a hard time organizing things. Organizing can and usually does cross boarders into other areas of your life, not just your home and where things are, but time management which plans into the event planning.
But there are some essential factors if you want your meal to come off without forgetting the butter at the store or the turkey pan.
*Make a list of who is coming to your meal.
*Plan the menu. Make note of what days you are going to prepare each item.
*Make a grocery list from the menu.
*Check what you have to see what you need to buy.
*Plan your grocery shopping day, making sure you have time for thawing of your turkey or premaking dishes. (Good idea to make room in your refrigerator by cleaning out the old left overs, so you have room for all the food).
*Do your shopping.
*Try to clean your house in preparation the day before you have to do your cooking so you don't over load yourself. Have your kids and husband help if possible.
*Start your cooking, making sure you have storage space for the food.
*Plan your Thanksgiving day cooking so that everything finishes about the same time.

This a little late to help you for tomorrow (unless you are a real procrastinator!) but it may help you for your next big meal!


Eat lots of turkey, take that walk after the meal and enjoy family!

Organized A to Z

My pouchees are up on the Organized A to Z site. She did a great job.
My review site is almost complete. It may be up before I can get in and get it all fixed up...so if you happen to see the nav. bar for that site or my Organizing Online with Sandy site too soon, they will not be completed. By this weekend my review site should be up and running. If anyone has a product they would like reviewed..please let me know!

Pouchees

My pouchees (well I mean Anita Crooks pouchees...she is the one who invented them!) are going to be on Organized A to Z online store soon. I already have them on Online Organizing, along with my own web site. I also have them at a local Hallmark store here in Johnstown.
I just hope I don't keep having back orders. They are becoming so popular. I have another shipment coming in hopefully today! Yeah!!

Organizing Online with Sandy

I am going to be starting the Organizing Review site, but I am also going to add a page to my web site that you will be able to access from my blogs called, "Organizing On line with Sandy." What the heck does that mean? It means that for someone who does not have either access to a Professional Organizer or the funds for a Professional Organizer to work with them step by step helping them sort through their things (which is the BEST way to do it by the way), I am going to offer on line help. There will be a fee (darn it right?) for my time involved, but it will be won't be bad. You will have to do the work on your own though. I will have you take pictures and measurements of the space you need help with and send them to me. I can then work up a plan and suggest what I think would work for you and what steps you need to take to do it.
I think it can be the answer that many people need. You will have to be motivated and ready to go!
Watch for it on my site soon. If you are ready to go now, just leave me a comment and I will get back in touch with you sooner.

Technorati

I just joined several networking sites. One of them being Technorati. I am not a very techie person, so everything I do on here seems to take a little more time than it might for a computer pro! I wish I was and hopefully I will become much more so. I can organize, but I can't seem to add Feedburner! So whats up with that?

Calendars

Do you use calendars as much as I do? We have calendars in our purses, on our computers, on our walls for decorations. I have clients who have calendars that were never opened that they bought because they liked the pictures. But wait...they never opened them to even enjoy the pictures. (OK..another story).
I put a calendar on my blog because I like the looks of them. I think they show a picture of order and organization. Maybe not a fair thought...but its mine. I went to my blog just a couple of minutes ago and clicked on todays date (on the calendar that is no longer there - but was there under calendar) thinking it would enlarge the date. But I found it went to a gaming site. It was something that said, "Kill or be killed". YUK!!! I didn't realize that when I added that widget. So I immediately removed it. I decided I would try to just make my own daily note in that spot. I will have to see if I am able to get to it first thing every morning to update it. If that doesn't happen, I won't leave it up. Oh yeah...the organizer lady has the date wrong today!! Hee hee
So we will see how it goes. Plus I would like to have a pleasant thought for the day on there too.

Organizing Review Site

I am going to be adding a review site soon!! I want this one to specialize in organizing products either for the home, business, mom, teen or mom. I have seen several things in the past and wondered how they worked. I have purchased a few and thought they were going to be great...and came to find out they had their issues and ended up being more clutter instead of cleaning up the clutter.
I plan on being honest with my opinions. I have read a few review sites that everything is always positive, positive, positive....how can that be? There has to be a few things that aren't the greatest or has some problems. I am going to have the pros and the cons on the products I pick. Of course I want to find the good in it, not the bad, so that will be the view point I will be taking. But if a negative pops up, then I am going to let you know about it.
If anyone has a product they want to me to look at, let me know! You can be one of the first on my site.

Organizing internet sites and passwords

Working on my blog and learning all the new network social media "stuff" that I have been learning about (I am trying to learn all the terms too..hee hee!) I have had to add many new sites that all have usernames and passwords with them. Trying to keep track of them can be crazy in itself!
I had a list that I kept on my computer and somehow it got lost (thats scary!) I had a handwritten list that I built my computer page out of, so I don't know that I lost too many, but its not as easy as my one on my desktop was. I am a little scared to put it back on because I have no idea what happened to it and why it was suddenly not able to be retrieved.
I am going to try this new little directory I bought at The Container Store. I am hoping it will be convenient and easy to flip through.
I am planning on starting a review site for organizing products and this may be one of the first things I do a review on.
How do you keep track of your sites?
I would love to hear your ideas.

Organizing and Control

I was just talking to a friend and we were talking about many things, but the topic of control and woman came up. We both agreed that we liked feeling in control. I think most people do..as opposed to being out of control right? But control can go too far, be over the top and also cause trouble as I think we all know.
I thought it was interesting that she brought up someone she knew saying that this other woman...we will call her Sue has a completely controlled life. Sue has 2 children ages 11 and 13 who are not involved in any sports or activities. They do not attend church. They go to school and come home. Sue goes to work and comes home. Her husband arrives home from work at 3:30 everyday and Sue has dinner promptly on the table at 4:30 everyday. Dinner dishes are washed at 5:15 everyday. Her entire life is about routine and order. That isn't all bad, but there needs to be some flexibility in there to be healthy. Every minute is planned out perfectly. The family works well with the schedule. Ok...good. If life were always perfect there would never be a problem.
But life isn't always perfect and things don't always go the way we want them to. So you throw a curve ball into that situation and it ends up breaking a window!!! Sue can't handle anything that doesn't fit into her neatly packaged home. Sue had a situation that came up that was very upsetting to her and one of her children. Yes and we are all going to go through those! But because Sue's world is so regimented she couldn't handle it, doesn't know how to handle it and is striking out at all the wrong people! Her perfectly controlled world is now out of her control and she is now out of control mentally because of it.
I have to say that I like order and control myself. It makes me feel safe if things are going the way I am used to and have planned out. But I am realistic to know that things do come up and they have (divorce was kind of a biggie that I never expected or wanted for that matter. But I'm so thankful now that he did leave me...but that is a whole different story! Hee hee!!), but although there can be tears and concern and worries - it shouldn't send us into crazy zone either.

Organizing can be a control thing. It puts everything in its place and into its box. When things don't have a box (place) to go into...then the anxiety comes into play. Order = Peacefulness for some people. (including myself).
But we have to also be flexible if we are to cope with what life throws at us. So if the holiday decorations sit on the basement floor for a few days after Christmas because you don't have the time to get them all put away, or there is some extra stuff in the garage from the craft show you did 3 weeks ago that you need to find a new spot for.... then we just need to learn to chill. It doesn't mean we are slobs...it doesn't mean we don't have control of our lives...it doesn't mean we are a failure at organizing...it just means we are human and things come into our lives that we aren't expecting.

All we can do is try are best. We are not always going to be perfect at anything (only Jesus can claim that one!). If we have a bad day and do not get to all the things we planned for that day, then relax and put it on the list for tomorrow. Don't beat yourself up. We have enough stress in our lives. Organizing should be something that is helpful and makes us feel good. Not something that stresses us because we can't do it perfectly.

Be thankful for the good things. Be thankful for your family and your home. Look for the positives when your life seems out of control. Be thankful if your family has their health.

After talking to my friend today, it made me realize how thankful I am for my grown children. They put me though some hard times, but not like some people go through everyday. I realized how proud I am of each of them, and I called them to tell them. I am not good enough at praising my boys for all they have accomplished or their character. I am a very blessed mother and wife.

Storing Holiday Decorations

What do you do with all those Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations, Halloween ghost and goblins, Easter baskets, New Years Eve and 4th of July decorations? They can take up a lot of storage space (especially Christmas if you are anything like me). But stores are gearing up and selling a lot more decorations for all holidays and it is easy to jump into the decorating phase. I saw a house this Halloween that had more decorations and blow up characters and lights than you usually see at Christmas.
You need to make sure you have the room to store them if you buy them.
I suggest that you look for the clear colored containers they have out for that holiday. I think these are great!! I can go down and immediately find my Halloween decorations because they are the ones in the orange and black (clear orange) containers. Of course they are still labeled..but it makes it so easy. My Easter containers are pink and Christmas is red and green. Again I still go for the clear over solid non-see through bins. So if you can't find the colored clear ones, then just get clear. Being able to see what is in the at a glance is time saving!
So before you buy anymore decoration, make sure you have the room to store them, then find clear colored bins to store each separate holiday in. Still label it and getting out decorations will become a very simple thing!

New Look!!!

Here is my new blog!! What do you think?
I am still working on it. Lindsey did all the work on designing it and setting it up, but now I have to go in and add the widgets. I am not good at that part...so I am experimenting. You may see several changes to the sides in the next few days while I get it to where I like it the best.
What fun!

Social Media - Networking..There is so much!!

I really need to go to bed, but I am pumped up!! I have been using all evening to explore all these different options of Social media (as I have learned it is called).
I joined Stumble Upon, Twitter, Add This, Bloglines.com all tonight. I have had one person who I did not add myself onto my Twitter list that is now following me and that's really exciting!! There is someone out there looking at what I am posting.
I know there is soooo much to learn and even more that I know just the tip of the iceberg...so here is to some more "numb butt" time. (I just read someone else's comment about needing to get off her computer because her butt was going numb - that just cracked me up...hee hee...get it a pun - anyway it made me laugh because my butt is also like soooo numb!)
This Organizer is learning how to organize her new social networking sites!

Twitter

I just signed up for Twitter. There are so many neat networking sites out there. I am still learning about it. You feel like when you go onto these places that everyone else knows exactly what they are doing and you don't have a clue!! That's how I feel right now. But I also know the more I use it and play with it and look at other peoples....the quicker I will learn!
So follow me on Twitter!!

Decorating for Christmas - Is it a happy or stressful time?

Christmas lights and trees, candles, Santa mugs, stockings, garland, ornaments....ahhh the Christmas decorations! The time is almost here! Usually this is a time that is really exciting and fun. The expectations of getting out the Christmas decorations and decorating the house is something that children and adults look forward to - right?
But what if you aren't sure where all the decorations are? Are they together? I seem to remember seeing a box of ornaments under Jimmy's bed sometime this year...I think. Katies stocking may still be in her room from last Christmas, I don't think she ever put it away. Does that sound familiar?
How about this - How in the world am I even going to put a Christmas tree up? There is literally NO room for it. If I move the pile that is in the corner where the tree used to go, I don't know what to do with it. I can't move it to the basement - that is full. The garage is over flowing, we can't even get the car in there. You can't walk into the spare bedroom!! Does that sound more like you?
Either of these situations (and there are many more) are VERY stressful. There are expectations for Christmas. Having family over, sitting by a fire and enjoying family time. But if you have too much of a mess to decorate or have people over - then you are going to feel even more stress than most people do at the holidays.
So what do you do?
Depending on how much "stuff" you have and need to move you need to find some help! If its family or friends or hiring a professional organizer - you probably can't do it yourself. Don't plan on being able to tackle all of your house before the holidays, that is probably an unrealistic goal. But sit down and think about how much you NEED to do so that you can have family over or if nothing else, get some decorations out for your kids.
You just have to start out bit by bit. Pick one little corner, or chair or table top and start there. You need to be tough with yourself at this point. Do you REALLY need it? Especially at the holidays there are a lot of people who could use your things. They would actually get used and be appreciated. They wouldn't be stuck in the back of a room unused for years collecting dust.
Many people feel like as Professional Organizers we will come in and throw everything out. We won't do that - but if you have 3 times the amount of stuff in your house than can fit - then you have to be realistic and do the math....something has to go to be able to change your home.
Get out your bags for donate and trash. You can feel like Santa and fill up lots of bags to give to other families to help them. That may make it easier to part with things that you feel an attachment to.
It can be a win win situation. By decreasing your "stuff" and making room for the holidays to come into your house and make your family and yourself happy - you are increasing the little bit that many families have. This year is worse than any other since the depression for families. Many, many people have just been laid off and need your help.

Blog Make Over Coming!!

I am having my blog made over! I am so excited. It should be up hopefully this week, but if not for sure by the beginning of next weekend. The blogger who introduced me into this new world of network blogging Lacie who has Peanut Butter and Pickles review blog redid her blog and I thought it looked great. I have been wanting to learn how to do it myself, but realized that will be a process that may take a little while. Lindsey Joy who is doing my blog is a missionary in Panama and is doing this to make some extra money for her family. I am thrilled. So things will look different soon. Yeah!!

Snow in Ohio! Think Positive

No this is not from today!! This snow was from last year when we had a blizzard in Ohio. The triplets made this huge snow fort (with the help of their brothers). They were actually laying all the way down in the fort! But today it did snow here. Not a lot, but it was still snow..and it was cold. I don't think I am ready for winter yet. Not that I have any choice in the matter, but I think it would be fine to just continue to have autumn. Its cool enough for sweaters and sweatshirts, and the colors are beautiful. The air is crisp, but not too cold. OK, I also love spring! Actually I probably like spring better than fall. Its getting warm, everything is growing and blooming, not dying and its a really exciting time for me.
But the reality is that winter is coming. So I need to look at the positives. I like Thanksgiving and love Christmas. The cold will help with allergies! The kids love to make snowmen. Hot Chocolate and chicken noodles! Yummy!
Thinking of positives and not the negatives is something that most everyone needs to do more of. I know that I am good at it for helping other people. I tend to be a bit of a realist in my own life, which can sometimes come off as negative. But being positive feels much better.
So bring on the snow! (Just not too much of it please!! :)

Kids artwork

If you have a hard time throwing away their artwork, then one solution is to take pictures of it. You can have it on your computer or in a scrapbook and remember it for years to come. You can now do all kinds of neat things with them.
1)I just had mugs made for my Dad and sister for their birthdays with special pictures on them.
2)You can give one or two a year to a Grandparent or Aunt and Uncle if you can't stand to throw it away, but you have your paper for the month. (My rule of saving only one paper for the month...but with most of these ideas, you can actually get rid of all the actual artwork but still see it for years to come!)
3) Frame some of their artwork and hang it. I was just getting a picture framed for a client and there was a woman there with her grandchild's art work that she was having framed to hang up. She was going to have it hanging in the guest room where her granddaughter stayed when she came to visit. She was using an expensive frame and mat, but the frames above in the picture are only $1.99 at Ikea. There are all kinds of cute colors and they would work great, so you don't have to spend a lot of money.
4) I remember growing up that our upstairs hallway was the art gallery. Both my brother and sister are artist and did wonderful work even in grade and high school. My mother had their pieces displayed in the upstairs hallway. They were her favorite pieces. Then if something new came in she would take one down and put the new one up. We all thought that was great and anytime guests came to our house, mom proudly took them upstairs to show them the "art gallery".
5) I heard a great idea from watching Peter Walsh on Oprah the other day. He suggested taking pictures of your child's artwork with your digital camera and then putting them in a digital scrapbook. You can use snapfish.com or shutterbug.com, and I also know that Creative Memories(their package for a 20 page book is about $99)does the same thing too. Actually Oprah offered a deal for 48 hours after her show aired for snapfish....you could go and purchase a 20 page hard covered book (normal price is $29.99) and get it for free. (I did have to pay S&H about about $7.50). I did not have pictures of the kids artwork to upload at that point, but I did make a book of our summer vacation this year though. I haven't received it in the mail yet.
But I do think his idea was great. You could make one of these each year with their artwork and it would be great fun for them to look at through the years and easy to pass on to them when they are grown.
6) Another thing they had on his segment of the Oprah show was to take carpet squares and use double sided tape and tape them to the wall to make a bulletin board. What they showed was using two different colors with two across and 3 down. Then they used that for a bulletin board and hung one piece of the kids artwork in each square to showcase it. This is one way you can change them often.

Let me know if you have any other ideas of what to do with your child's artwork!

Great products for kids Playroom

Would this be cute in a kids playroom or what? It would be great for keeping all those toys with all the little parts separated into their own bins.
Although there may be bins and baskets and toy boxes in most playrooms, what usually happens is that you get too many different toys together and everything gets mixed up. When you have one container with 5 different toys with little pieces in it....it takes too much time and is not fun to dig out all the pieces necessary to play with the one toy that the child may want to play with. Its much easier to pick up the toy beside it that is altogether. So many times there are toys that aren't played with anymore, just because its more of a pain than its worth to get the toy out.
A toy unit like this would help in that there are several smaller drawers that you could separate toys into. Its at a good level for most children. It is bright and colorful, so that they may remember that their legos are all in the big red bin and their race cars are in the smaller blue bin.
It would make clean up very easy also.
This is something that I found at the Ikea store that really stood out to me and looking fun and cute and the cost was not that bad.

Ikea cubbie bookshelf

I love this piece! It is so functional. The cubbies can keep your books neater than a regular bookshelf. You either need bookends or you have all your books fall over when you take out several on a regular bookshelf. You have spaces to display things and the size of the cubbies are big, so that taller books and albums will fit.
I would love to see this in a playroom. It does come in white so that it may go better in a playroom with that.
You can add either doors (like on the bottom ones) in different colors, or you can get the little bins to go in to hold little things. It would work especially well if you have several ages of kids. The younger ones can use the toys at the bottom but would be unable to access the upper levels (where games that had small pieces and books could be kept).
If and when I get a different office, this piece is going to be in there! (At least I hope so).

anniversary trip

We were walking around the small town of Vevay, IN on our trip. The leaves were really pretty still by this one tree. I like this picture of Dave. (Such a good looking man isn't he?!)
We had a wonderful weekend together without any children. Sometimes thats a good thing for a couple.

Trip to Ikea

Yes...this was my first trip to an Ikea store. They just built one in the Cincinnati area. I live in Columbus and we don't have one here. What a riot it was! I was like a kid in a candy store.
My husband and I stopped there on our way out of town for our 2nd anniversary.
There was so much there that I would love to have!! We are in a bit of limo ourselves with our home. We would like to and need to sell this home, but with the housing market being in such a slump, we would have to take a loss. We don't have to sell this, we would just like to in order to have more space for 7 people. But we can make due just fine. But it does limit what I can get for spaces. I saw many things that if we do move to another home I would like to buy...but they are on my wish list.
But there were several things that I did see for some of my clients!!

Going on a trip

Dave and I are going on a weekend getaway tomorrow for our 2 year anniversary. Yeah!! This picture was taken in Gatlinburg this summer.
It has been a long time since we have been anywhere without children, so we are ready to just have a nice relaxing weekend.
No organizing for me this weekend....oh except getting ready to go with my list of things to take care of before we leave!! Hee hee

School Papers!

Now we have a sorting system for mail and other papers coming into the house. But what about all those school papers that come in everyday?
You also need to work out a similar system to sort those papers.
I have the triplets come in each day (they are in 2nd grade) and take out their folders and put on the couch where I sit so I can go through them. They get their snack and then do any homework they have for the day. While they are getting their snack I am going through their folders.
I first of all see if there is any weekly papers to update us for the week from the teacher. They usually send something like that on Monday and Friday. Then I see if there are any homework papers for the kids to do. Once I have pulled those out to read in a few minutes...I go through the rest of the papers. Most of them are worksheets with a few pictures thrown in. If there is anything really special, like a story they made up with pictures then you can set it aside to keep it. I recommend only keeping at the most one paper per month. Yes...per month!! Think about it. That is still 12 papers per child per year. Multiply that times 12 years in school and that is still a lot of papers to store! It is enough to remember what level they were on and to see how they drew.
Our situation may and hopefully is different from yours in that since this is my 2nd marriage and these are my step kids. So I have to save all the papers so that their mom can see them when they go to her house at the end of the week. I have a folder that I keep all the papers in for the week from the kids. At the end of the week on Friday when they are going to go home with their mom I put all their papers in one of the kids book bags so that their mom gets to see everything. We let their mom keep those special papers for them. If there is something that we really like, we make a copy of it and give the original to their mom.

Then when they come back to our house again in a week, they will have a boat load of papers that their mom kept for us to see. We go through those to see what happened that week and read everything. After we have seen everything and have gone through it with the children (if necessary), then I throw them away. (recycle)

You don't have to feel guilty about throwing these away!! These are worksheets for the most part. If you keep everything....then nothing will seem special.
I have heard some mothers say that they want to keep everything to give their child when they grow up. Is this really a favor you are doing for them? You hand them over boxes and boxes of papers. Now they have to go through them and either throw them away or store them (more clutter)themselves. They may enjoy looking at a few of them, and if there was just a few from each year it would be fun. But if its all their stuff then it is cruel to do to them. You are basically giving them boxes of guilt so they can decide what to do with it and its off your chest now. I think that you would find that most kids wouldn't want you to keep everything they did.
You can have a bulletin board that you keep a special paper of the day or of the week on to showcase it if its a little special and they worked hard on it that week. This will make them feel proud. Then when you take it down, if its not that most special paper of the month...throw it away. The kids don't have to know you are throwing it away, chances are they will never miss them. I have done this for years with my kids and my step kids and I can not think of a single time that the kids have been upset or realized that their papers were gone.

Remember, it is not like you are saying your child isn't special or you don't like the work they do by throwing it away. But keeping everything is not feasible if you want to have a home that is comfortable and not cluttered.

New pouchee colors

Tan



Red


Not to leave the last two pouchees out......(I just couldn't upload all of the pictures to one entry), here are the other two colors to round out all the new colors of pouchees.
Then tan is not real far off from the Aussie Red. (Just so you realize).

Pouchees new leatherette colors!!

Brown pouchee



Black




Navy Blue




Moss Green




Aussie Red



Here are the new leatherette colors!! Aren't they great!
We are still keeping the pink leatherette too. Yeah!! I love that one.
The cotton pouchees are not changing, but the old colors (except the pink) will no longer be available after I have sold out of them. I can't order any more.
Transitioning at Christmas time may tough with this, although I hope not.
I think everyone will be really pleased with the new ones.
If you haven't already seen the pouchees...they are a wonderful invention! I love mine to keep my purse organized. I have a place for everything. I am not a routine purse changer...usually just twice a year...winter and spring. I really need to change to my winter purse soon, I just love my new spring purse.
Organization is about keeping everything in your life organized. From your purse to your car to your home to you work. It can be work to keep things from over flowing.
Since I have been so busy in the last few weeks sprinkled with not feeling well...there are a couple of areas of my home that need attention too. So you aren't alone.