A Passion for Scrapbooking, Decorating and Shopping

Colonnade by Moen...

UPDATE:  Faucet is sold.  :)

Today we are pretending as if company is coming this week and we have to get our house in order.  It's a great motivator but we know the truth.  Company is not coming and we are taking our sweet time with our chores. 

Every time I head upstairs my guy seems to think I'm headed toward my craft room to spend time with ol' Mac.  I claimed to be handling the laundry, so in between loads I am jumping on here to share the latest purge from the basement.

I almost forgot about this Moen faucet.  We purchased it for our wet bar sink but I was not careful about my selection in comparison to the sink which is much smaller than the ordinary kitchen sink. 

See, it was not a wise choice on my part.  There's more about it here.

It is now seeking a home who will appreciate it for what it's intended for.  A kitchen sink.

Laundry is beckoning.  And I've got more purging to do.  :)

Hodge Podge Thursday night...

When I mentioned Ziploc bags for packing outfits for travel, I inadvertently referred to the wrong size.  It's the large big bag I used vs. extra large.  These bags do come in handy for all sorts of things.  I've begun storing holiday decorations in them vs. boxes.  At least ones that are not fragile.

I'm also continuing my effort to purge and discovered classy stencils and accessories I purchased several years ago from Jan Dressler yet never opened the package.  So I've added them to the Virtual Garage Sale hoping someone can make good use of them. 

And yesterday I added a copper mail organizer from Southern Living at Home.  I am sorry to potentially see it go as I really do like it.  I actually need something a bit smaller. 

Lastly, I visited our local fabric store recently only to find they are out of black gimp.  I need black gimp to re-do my bulletin board where the ribbon is falling off because I did not hot-glue it down to the board.  Gimp works much better.

It then dawned on me to look on eBay.  What do you know, I got a fabulous deal on 10 yards of black gimp.  It's a happy day in the world of bulletin boards and crafting as this board is going to receive some TLC soon.

May your Friday be a delightful one.

Time Savers: Travel Gear...

Just before a trip, my mind is scattered between preparing for the trip while dealing with the ongoing daily life of work and home.  If I could afford the time, ideally having one day before & after a trip would make traveling more manageable in the organizational sense.

One day before the trip, I could spend packing and getting our house in order (who likes to come home from a trip with a dirty home).

And the day after the trip could be spent unwinding, unpacking and tending to laundry. 

Ah, the luxury of time.  In most instances, I do not have that luxury.  Instead, I make a list of what to pack.  Sometimes it involves running all over the house seeking items to pack in our suitcase. 

To help offset some of the chaos, I keep a hanging organizer / toiletry bag packed at all times.  Between Target & Drugstore.com, I manage to keep that bag filled with Q-tips, cotton balls, shampoo & conditioner, face cloths, eye make-up remover, hair brush, pony tails, deodorant (Ban roll-on is my absolute favorite), dental floss picks and all the necessities for everyday hygiene.  And let me add that Drugstore.com is a huge time saver.  I've ordered Viva paper towels from them too.

Cosmetics are essential to my travel gear.  After returning from a trip, it can take me days to unpack.  And it's frustrating when I go to apply make-up in the morning only to find a good portion of it is still packed.  It's a distraction because I have to go get the suitcase, pull out my cosmetics bag  and make my way back to the vanity to continue applying my make-up.  And what I mean by distraction is that I would stop along the way and do 5 other things en route to the suitcase before returning to the vanity.  I am infamous for this....dawdling and losing focus of the task at hand.

Just recently, I decided that an expandable hanging travel bag dedicated to cosmetics for travel-only is a must.  It too will remain packed at all times.  I already have small containers of make-up from the Bare Esscentuals kits I've purchased in the past as well as extra mascara on-hand.  I had to purchase an additional blush make-up brush and Prime Time bases.  To me, it's well worth the extra expense just to save a little time and frustration.

With the necessary electrical chargers needed for our equipment permanently tucked into a ziploc bag and ready to travel at a moment's notice, packing our clothing is the only task to deal with prior to a trip. 

Also, I learned from Jessica some time ago where pre-planning outfits and tucking them into plastic bags is an efficient way of packing for a trip.  I tried it using extra large size Ziploc bags and had a wonderful trip without the time-consuming task of selecting what to wear.

Now we're on our way to being a well-traveled traveler.

Time Savers: Email...

For me, email outranks voicemail messages in our household.  In fact, checking for voicemail messages at home is no longer a daily routine for us.  Not often do we receive a message at home.  Only on our respective cell phones and email. 

My father lives nearby yet we communicate via instant message or by email.  And the same goes for many of our family members.  Please don't get the impression that we never connect voices by phone.  We do.  It just seems like email has become a part of our everyday life.

Notifications about prescription refills, bills, reminders to have your car serviced, etc. can be a nuisance yet they are helpful to me to keep the flow of everyday life progressing. 

The first thing I do when I check email is delete the unwanted notes aka junk email.  I take action on remaining notes such as responding, filing and deleting.

With filing of email notes, I created a number of folders:

Action items as in I need to respond to this email note but don't have time right now.  Or I need to go online and pay this bill.  All go into the Action folder.

Bills folder contains any notes with pertinent information concerning the account.

Coupons folder is where I file those notes where they advertise 20% with this code, etc.  I only save ones that I believe I may use in the near-term.  This folder is utilized mostly during the holiday season.

Crops folder contains schedules and dates regarding future crop dates with the girls.  It also includes scrapbooking events I plan to attend.

Home Decor is a collection of tips from various retailers that have been sent via email as well as ones from blog readers. 

Home Improvement came in handy when we were going through our basement remodel.  All the email conversations between ourselves and the builder went here.  Something I should begin to do is save any email confirmations from orders I've placed that have to do with the improvement of our home, like a new appliance or a new fixture.  That information is handy when it comes to sale of your home and filing taxes & capital gains.

Mac pertains to anything Mac-related.  Tidbits, AppleCare info, etc. 

Magazines where confirmations from subscription renewals that have been handled online.  It's a back-up to the log I keep in our Bills binder.

Mail accounts containing account info from sites such as Stamps.com & USPS are filed here. 

Online orders is an active folder.  Confirmations from orders I've placed online go here.  When the order arrives and there are no issues, I delete the confirmation. 

Photos that friends and family send me electronically go here until I get a chance to download them and/or upload them to Snapfish, Shutterfly and/or Flickr.  The email is then deleted. 

Rebates is a file that I do not use often.  On occasion, I file a rebate on a piece of equipment I've purchased and file the email confirmation I typically receive weeks after.  I delete the email once I've received the rebate check.

Recipes from Yahoo Groups I belong to as well as ones from friends are filed into this folder.  I only save ones that appeal to me and typically print a copy for our kitchen file.  I do not delete them from this folder because I like the convenience of their availability when I'm working on our Peapod shopping list and/or want to share the recipe with a friend.

Software holds info from purchased software I've registered and/or purchased online and includes pertinent info in the event I need to download it again.  I do enjoy purchasing software online with instant downloading, like Adobe.  It saves having to store CDs at home.

Taxes is a folder that I also attach a year to.  For example, Taxes '08.  Confirmations from charitable contributions made online as well as payment of tax bills are collected into this folder.  When we file taxes for that particular year, I print a hard copy of the confirmations as back-up documentation with a copy of our tax return.  I then delete the folder and most likely already have a new folder already started for the next tax year.

Travel contains flight and/or hotel confirmations for upcoming trips for ourselves as well as family members and friends who plan to pay us a visit.  I delete the confirmations once the trips are complete.

I create and delete folders as necessary and try very hard to keep my INBOX clean.  And on occasion, I unsubscribe from notes/newsletters I no longer read.

With .mac currently undergoing an upgrade to mobile me will help to make it convenient to manage email, schedules, photos, etc. from wherever you are.   Efficiency at it's best. 

If you have any organizational suggestions and/or tips, please feel free to share them. Consider this an information-sharing journey for all of us. 

Time Savers: Reading...

It is mind-blowing how technology has changed, even in the last 5 years.  With the internet, there are many opportunities that await us.

I believe even with modern technology, books will always be there for us though.  I am not much of a novel reader but I do enjoy "chick" books and coffee table books, particularly on home decor and fashion.  And I do enjoy browsing cookbooks.  With Amazon available at the click of a mouse, I am constantly perusing the latest & greatest and sometimes filling up my cart.

Good Reads is handy reference for feedback on books.  And that is how I discover books I've never heard of.  And I like to see what my friends are reading too.

And Amazon's Kindle is all the rage right now.  It gives you the ability to download books onto the Kindle machine and read from the screen.  A friend of mine received one as a Christmas gift and enjoys reading her favorite novels on the Kindle.

I have enjoyed Audio Books/Books on Tape on occasion.  That is how we read The DaVinci Code.  Talk about riveting.  I would sit in my car when I arrived home just so I can finish the chapter or the end of the CD (there were numerous volumes).  My hubby and I shared the CDs (he'd go first) and I was always after him to hurry and finish the volume/CD as the previous volume left me begging for more.  I had to know what was going to happen next.  (By the way, did you hear Angels & Demons is currently in production?)

Now, let's talk magazines.  It's a big-time obsession of mine.  It's what draws me into the bookstores and the newsstand at various stores.  And I do subscribe to many that I keep a log of titles & expiration dates as well as when I paid the subscription (it's in our Bills binder).

With the numerous magazines that accumulate in our household each month, I typically pass some onto friends and I carry them with me when I go to a salon and doctors offices.  And very conveniently, I leave those magazines behind for others to enjoy. 

For blog-reading, I manage my favorite sites via Bloglines.  You can easily manage and stay abreast of updates to the blogs I subscribe to.  There are so many new blogs popping up every day and it certainly has made the world much smaller as a result.

I love to entertain my mind with information and trying to keep it organized is an ongoing endeavor. 

Sunday's miscellany...

Tonight, I'm filing handouts from previous Big Picture Scrapbooking classes into pretty binders I purchased recently.  To be honest, I cannot recall whether I purchased them at Target or KMart.  Regardless, they are quite chic and darn cute.

And speaking of BPS, I understand Tena Sprenger's 52 card pick-up class has begun.  I took it last year where she introduces you to a variety of techniques.  She has expanded my horizons when it comes to techniques.  Also, Stacy's Have Fun class is open for enrollment.  And I do like to have fun.

This weekend also involved use of the slow cooker and a fabulous recipe for chili dogs (we used Hormel Chili with no beans and Nathan's Hot Dogs).  We've been eating them all weekend.  That's how good they are.

I'm also working on more blog entries regarding Time Savers.  As I try to work on organizing myself I thought I'd share my processes with you.

Have a great week!

Lovely albums...

It has been over a year and half since I began Library of Memories (aka Photo Freedom) and a goal of filing our photos into Pioneer albums.  I'm happy to share that just about every photo we own has been filed.

And I've begun the triage method using Memory Dock hinged photo boxes.  (I'm a big fan of hinges.)

I dedicated one box to People, Places & Things and the other box is for childhood photos.

We still have a few photos straggling but all-in-all I have begun to see the light.  I look forward to future crops with great anticipation.  This system truly builds the confidence I need toward scrapbooking. 

I'm sure there will be some fine-tuning along the way.  I'd like to say that I'm off to a great start.

Time Savers: Food shopping...

Update:  In reference to the last paragraph of this post, let me clarify by saying my guy does most of the housework.  What I meant to say was I wish he'd agree to hire assistance with housework...hint, hint.  :)

 

Remember this, Carol?

Food is a favorite topic of mine.  It is one reason why I spend a lot of time on Mrs. L's blog reading entry after entry concerning food. 

Way back when, I used to enjoy weekly shopping trips to the grocery store.  Discovering new products and seeing how much I could save using coupons.  In the last 10 years, I have found it to be a task I dread.  Particularly when I discovered scrapbooking.  Those shopping trips would eat-up 2 hours of my hobby-time every Sunday.  I was beginning to get a little resentful. 

And when I would arrive at the grocery store, I was struggling to come up with ideas for meals.  This is a perfect example of not being prepared.  I would promise myself that I would peruse the cookbooks seeking ideas for meals but never got around to it.

Today, I can thank the internet for simplifying my life when it comes to food.  First, I can seek recipes online with the click of a button.  Then, I can go to Peapod and create my grocery list.  I try to initiate a grocery list every Monday and finalize it by Friday for an early delivery on Saturday morning. 

There is also Net Grocer, which I've used in the past.  They ship groceries to you.  And I know friends who live overseas that have used them too.  Net Grocer also comes in handy if you have elderly family members to look after.  It provides peace of mind knowing you can get groceries to them from afar.

Like I mentioned yesterday, we have our Carry-Out Menu binder for nights when we do not feel like cooking.  The internet plays another role when it comes to pizza.  We have an online account set-up with Papa John's, Dominos and Pizza Hut.  It is so convenient.  With Papa Johns you can plan ahead (I haven't checked the other pizza websites to see if they do as well) with at least 2 hours notice.  (In my attempt to be healthy, I order a thin crust pizza with black olives, no cheese & extra sauce...yum!)

 

Papa John's on Valentine's Day

One time recently I was traveling and talking to my guy on the phone.  He indicated that there was nothing to eat at home.  I happen to be in front of my laptop so I logged onto Papa Johns website and ordered a pizza to be delivered that evening.  How's that for service!

Back to grocery shopping.  I gave up on coupons long ago.  It's a great way to save money but I found it to be time consuming.  If you are a coupon user, Peapod does accept them.  And their selection of meats & fruits have been far better than what you get in the grocery store.

There is no dispute in our household for the expense of using Peapod (around 6.95-9.95 per delivery).  If I can only convince my guy that some assistance with cleaning our home would be worthwhile too.  That's a subject for another day.  :)

Time Savers: Organizing with binders...

If you couldn't tell from yesterday's post, I do enjoy organizing paperwork with binders.  When we purchased our current home, I created a binder with tabs representing each room.  Behind each tab were ideas, including tear-outs from magazines, as to the decor, color, etc. for each room.  Now I have my trusty Dream Home Journals to record my thoughts.  Even if only a small portion of the ideas materialize, I enjoy the process of writing it down.

In addition to our Bills binder, we have ones designated for Medical, Quick Reference and Carry-Out menus.

For Medical paperwork, I purchased a binder specific to this topic to help guide me with my organizing initiative.  We've had it for over a year now and it really has come in handy.  Not only do we keep appointment cards, lab reports, track our prescriptions and doctors orders in this binder but we also keep a list of our physicians, dentist and the name and telephone number of our local pharmacy in case we need to provide that info to a physician in order to phone-in a prescription.

I find it is helpful to also include the name and number of a local pharmarcy with 24 hour service in the event of a late-night emergency (this info is in our Quick Reference binder too).

There are 2 binders I maintain on our home.  One is Quick Reference.  It pertains to basic things about our home and neighborhood as well as pertinent contact numbers.  It is housed in the same-type binder as our Bills binder.

The other binder is our Home Reference material and is much larger.  It holds all the manuals/warranties to all the appliances, fixtures, etc. in our home.  Whenever an item has been serviced, I make a notation directly on the respective manual.  This is something I will leave behind for the new owners when we sell our home in the future.

Our most-utilized binder is the one for Carry-Out menus.  I do not cook very often but my guy does.  And when he doesn't feel like cooking and turns to me and asks what's for dinner, I pull out the Carry-Out menu binder.  Ours is divided by cuisine:  Pizza, Oriental, Restaurants, Fast Food and yes, Miscellaneous.

I mustn't forget my craft binders.  Most of which pertain to classes I've taken with Big Picture Scrapbooking.  I have volume after volume of binders that contain material from very inspiring classes I've taken over the last couple years.

Now this may explain why I spend so much time down the office supply aisle at Target.  I can always use a pretty binder.

Thanks...

When the suggestion about hosting a Virtual Garage Sale was first made to me, I wasn't sure how it would turn out.  Now, a month and half into the sale, I've seen a number of items go to new homes.  I'm glad. 

The response I've received has kept me motivated to purge long-neglected items that have not received any attention from me for sometime now.  The process of purging actually began in January 2007 where I sold many, many items on eBay.   And although there is a much broader audience on eBay, the Virtual Garage Sale has given me the opportunity to exchange pleasantries with those who made purchases from the garage sale.

Remaining are several rooms in our home, including the garage, that I must clear out.    Once the items from the garage sale are gone, it will be time to paint walls and organize what remains with us.

For now, I am focussing on purging via the Virtual Garage Sale.  And here's a sneak peek at what I will be posting in the VGS in the next day or two:

The Audrey Tote by russell+hazel.  (SOLD)

I purchased it last year with the idea of incorporating it into my craft room.  Well it just sat in my room unused. 

A Rowenta iron.  Ever since I purchased a pink Rowenta, this one has not been utilized.

A copper desktop mail organizer from Southern Living at Home.  My kitchen desk has limited desktop space.  With a PB phone charging system a blotter and lamp, it is too much with the mail organizer.  I'm trying to pare-down the space.

And I plan to make my way into the basement very soon.  More to come.

Time Savers: Intro & bills

Striving for organization in our lives and household is a constant goal for me.  There are endless opportunities and a multitude of ideas which I'm sure most of us have read and/or heard our fair share of.  And it leaves us anxious to try a new method or approach. 

I often dream of having an orderly home and a day-to-day life where things run smoothly.  It hasn't happened yet but I haven't given up my attempt to achieve a decent amount of order in our lives.

There are some methods I utilize in our home and lives that work well but there is always room for improvement.  As I was making a list of organizing tasks, completed and to-be-completed, I decided to share them here.  Inspired by magazines, blogs, talk shows, books and friends, it is my pleasure to continue to spread the word.

I'll start with bills.  It is only in the last 4 years that we have been able to get a handle on our bill-paying method.  A combination of managing our bills online through our bank and maintaining a binder seem to work well.

Although our bills are managed online, there are some companies we continue to receive paper bills from.  And those paper bills are filed into our binder after we've designated the payment date & amount in our online bank account.

You can set-up payment to companies who do not electronically submit bills to your bank.  They are set-up as a payee based on the account information, payment address as well as the company name.  You are prompted by the paper bills and electronic statements you receive from these companies to then log into your bank account to initiate a payment for an amount and date specified by you.

Reminders can also be set-up monthly, quarterly and annually to initiate payments to companies with your online bank account.  This helps if you have a coupon payment book and want to be prompted to make an electronic payment prior to each due date.

As for electronic bills, most are set-up to go directly to our bank account and an email note from the bank is sent to us advising that a bill has arrived.  We log into our account, select the appropriate dollar amount as well as the date for payment to occur and submit the transaction.

In the binder, we have a list of all the companies that are set-up in our bank's e-bill system as a reference.  Tabs follow with these categories:  Mortgage/HOA, Utilities, Insurance/AAA, Taxes, Credit Cards, Magazine Subscriptions & the old reliable Miscellaneous.  Within each tab, paper bills/statements are filed and alphabetized by the company name.

We only save current bills and statements in the binder.  The new bill/statement replaces the previous one, which we then shred.

I no longer track our checkbook balance in a register booklet, as always was the practice before online banking appeared.  It is now rare that we write a check given today's convenience of debit cards.  And transactions from debit cards show up pretty quickly online.

 

Viewing bank accounts online, almost daily, is a good practice for us.  It gives us a sense of our bank account balance and awareness in the event any unauthorized transactions occur. 

This method gives "Show me the money" a whole new meaning.

Bringing order...

The never-ending goal of bringing order to our home involved more purging, putting away freshly laundered clothing and organizing photos the Photo Freedom way.

I just ordered more albums and hope to finish this up in a couple weeks. 

In my effort to purge, I added more items to the Virtual Garage Sale (note: it is now 2 pages).  I honestly believe that by the end of the year, I should have much less clutter in our home.  Typically, I would see this as an opportunity to shop for new things, but it has been an awakening for me.  I now give items I consider purchasing some serious thought.  Do I really need this?  Or when I purchase a home decor item, I need to know where it is going to go in our home rather than buying it because I like it.  There has to be a purpose for this item as well as a place for it.

Admittedly, I am a work-in-progress and no way near perfection but I try.

It certainly is a great feeling when you can cross some items off your to-do list. It was a Sunday with a purpose and a mission.  Both of which were accomplished today.

Door-to-door...

The doors on the cabinets are up in the laundry room and I couldn't be more pleased.

It is pleasant to find a website where I can customize our cabinetry.

On a different subject, I just updated the virtual garage sale to include some new items as well as reducing prices on certain items.  I have more items add and hope to get to them this weekend.

I have been purging since January 2007 and it's still going strong.  I hope to have our home de-cluttered by the end of the year. 

And if you have a moment, check out the updated Iamadiva website.  It's chock-full of goodies and info.

Enjoy your Thursday. 

Laundry room update...

Easy Closets is now a part of our laundry room, minus the cabinet doors.  They arrive in a couple weeks as the doors are custom made to the size of the cabinets.

I spent my day-off installing, organizing and tidying up this space. 

I did make one error though.


The cabinets above the washer are a little too low and won't allow me to fully open the lid to the washer.

I am disappointed that it didn't occur to me before I hung the shelves.  On a brighter note, I created hanging space for clothes to hang dry. 

The room still involves a bit of eye clutter but when the doors arrive, it will appeal to us more. 

Below are a list of favorite items I've incorporated into our laundry room:

• A magnetic drying rack for hosiery, trouser socks and anything lightweight. It works quite well and is convenient as I'm pulling items out of the washer and hang them on the rack.  I also hung a wall shelf with hooks (from Pottery Barn but no longer available) some time ago as another option to hang clothes from hangers to dry.
• A magnetic paper towel holder.  I always like to have a roll of paper towel available for wiping up spills, cleaning mirrors and drying my hands.
• The trash bucket is perfect in size for cleaning the lint screen and tossing used dryer sheets.
• And in order to make the room look less small, I included mirrors I purchased from Pottery Barn last year.
• The clothes pin on the door is also from Pottery Barn but is no longer available.

My craft room is located next to the laundry room, where I can conveniently multi-task crafting with doing the wash.  When I hear the dings, indicating the washer and/or drying cycle is complete, it can take me at least several dings before I finally get out of my chair to tend to the laundry. 

Let's just say I do enjoy the convenience but I do not enjoy the interruptions.  :)

Master Bath Closet finale...

The last shelf arrived today and we now have a functional closet in our master bath.

Typical bathroom items have a designated home in this closet.  Using baskets from Target and Michaels, everything is in order.  And having a bag for dry cleaning is a wonderful thing. 

A trusty step stool that includes a little storage area.  Right now, it is empty, but it won't take me long to fill it with something.

My favorite part about this closet is having a small hanging area for robes.  It now frees up a little space in my own closet.  Maybe I should take advantage of Nordstrom's ongoing sale and fill up that little space.  ;)

I also hung a hook where I can hang a travel toiletry bag which I try to keep filled with travel necessities.  It helps me from scrambling at the last minute making sure I have everything packed.

My mornings go more smoothly now that my closet and our bathroom closet are organized.  And our weekends would go more smoothly if our laundry room was in order.  That room is our next plan of attack.

I'm always inspired by how folks organize their home, so if you have any suggestions, tips, resources and/or stories you'd like to share, please do so. 

I'll close by sharing one of my favorite organization resources, Martha Stewart's book, Good Things for Organizing.  I admire her discipline in keeping her homes orderly.