Tiny Tasks, Big Results - Organize your Purse, Organize your Receipts.

  YIKES - how do you take control of all of the receipts that end up in your purse, wallet, pockets, etc.   It's simple to keep your receipts organized if you just do a little planning in advance.  Your Tiny Task for today is to find a tray, box, or some type of container that you can literally DUMP your handbag into at the end of each day - if you don't carry a handbag, it's a place to empty your pockets.
  Why dump you ask? Because we collect things in our handbags that don't actually belong there. Yet once they make it in, it could take weeks or even months to get them out.  By dumping your handbag each night you're forced to "re-load" each morning. 

  This "re-load" will lighten your load and help you stay organized.
  What does all of this have to do with receipts?  I use the dump tray all year round, but during the holiday season, I leave an envelope in the tray, along with a pen and some sticky notes.  Each night I dump my bag, sort the recipts by store and put them into the envelope.  I use the sticky notes to indicate the stores, and occassionally to tag a receipt that is unclear.
  This is a simple task, an EASY task, But it will go a long way toward keeping your handbag and your holiday receipts manageable.  There's a little added bonus here too ladies, if you're like me, and you love buying handbags, but you get in a rut carrying that same black bag all winter, this simple little task will make it easy to use a different bag each day.

Budgeting Tip - If you're trying to stay on a budget this year, buy yourself a Visa Type Gift Card for the amount of your budget.  Only use it for Christmas Expenses.  You'll be able to check you spending online, and stay within your budget. 

  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I'd love to hear how you're managing your holiday receipts and maybe your handbag too!
  Tiffany

Applying the Principles

Hi Ladies -
 I know many of you were participants in our recent Get Organized Challenge.  Based on the emails and Facebook responses I've been getting/reading, I would have to say the Challenge was very successful.  I have also heard from several participants about how the principles of the webinar have flowed over into other parts of their lives.
 If you're feeling overwhelmed by some other organization task, be it a drawer, a closet, or an entire room, try applying the principles we learned in the Challenge to the task at hand.  Here's a great email from one of the Challenge participants:

Tiffany,
  I just applied the principle of small areas at a time--sometimes just one drawer or shelf. Finish that one and move on to the next. I had a box handy for items that were misplaced and needed to go elsewhere, another for box for charity, and of course, the garbage can. Liberal use of the latter I might add. It is quite amazing how "stuff" builds up and accumulates when you're not looking.
One of the major things I did, and am so glad I finally did it, was to rearrange the upstairs laundry area. There are two shelves, one up high and one lower (note: I am only 5' 1"). I had always had the cleaning supplies on the high shelf and extra toiletries down low. Duh! I need to clean more often than I need a new bottle of baby powder. Got out the stepstool, took everything off both shelves, and moved the cleaning supplies down and the toiletries up. So much handier.
Of course, my cats have been very useful in the cleaning process, checking out every open drawer and cupboard. They "snoopervise" well, though don't help in the cleaning.
My husband is dutifully going through his To-Do list for today and hopefully will attack his closet soon. Not holding my breath though, as he's more likely to decide a nap is more necessary.
Take care,  Jeanne

  If you've used the information from the webinar series to help you with organization in other parts of your home/life.  Please share them with me so I can forward them on to others.
  Our next Craft Organization Challenge starts on Tuesday, April 12th.  Here's a link to the details about the series. - Get Organized Challenge.
  Happy (and well organized) Crafting,
   Tiffany