Give yourself the gift of time.

How about purchasing a few months of housekeeping instead of clothes? Purchase a gift certificate to a restaurant so you don’t have to cook. Have the veterinarian groom your dog instead of doing it yourself, being soaked, and making a mess. Buy a book on tape to listen to in the car on the way to work. Purchase a cell phone and eliminate phone tag by forwarding your calls when you leave the office. Have your groceries delivered once a week for a month (less than the cost of a blouse). Hire a teenager to do the major cleaning required before houseguests arrive.

Recycle and Reuse Holiday Cards

Each year 2.65 billion Christmas cards are made. Instead of throwing out your old holiday cards, consider donating them to charitable groups that will create new cards - or turn them into new cards yourself.

• Send holiday cards to St. Jude's Ranch, a nonprofit home for youths that collects old holiday cards for reuse. Either cut off the backs of the cards or leave them intact. Children at St. Jude's earn money by creating new holiday cards from the old. Mail the cards UPS "ground" or "bound printed matter" to St. Jude's Card Recycling, 100 St. Jude Street, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, NV 89006.
• Cut off the backs of old holiday cards that do not have writing behind the front and use them as postcards.
• Create your own card by cutting and pasting parts of old cards onto a new blank card. You can find packages of blank cards at most arts and crafts stores.
• Use old holiday cards as gift tags by cutting them into square or rectangular shapes and punching holes in the corners for string or ribbon
• Make placemats out of holiday cards instead of buying new ones. Cut out pictures or shapes from the old cards, place them between two pieces of contact paper and press together.

Preparing to Organize your Home

Before you rush into home organization - plan your work. Go though each room and decide what you want to do with each.

• What has served it's time and needs to go?
• What can stay?
• Where will they be placed in the room?

Don't forget to note how much time you think each room will require.

Clean out your Kitchen Drawers!

Open your drawers and cabinets. Look through the tool caddie on your counter. Pick up each and every hand tool, electric tool, and gadget in your kitchen and ask these questions to help you pare down to the essentials:

• Is this easy to use?
• Do I frequently use it?
• Is it enjoyable to use - e.g., It feels good in my hand.
• Is it easy to clean?
• Is it easy to store and does it earns its keep in storage space?
• Do I have too many of these?
• Can I do this task just as easily by hand (without the messy cleanup of a machine?)
• Does this tool really make the task easier and quicker, or is it just a cool gadget?
• Is it uncomplicated to use, clean and care for?
• Is it clean, in good shape, and ready for action?

After review, throw away or give away the items you really don't need!

Staying Organized at the Office

1. Have a master to-do list for each day at your desk.
2. Pre-Sort the mail. To-File, To-Read, To-Contact(write or call).
3. Create a separate drawer for personal paperwork, items, etc.
4. Color-coding your files makes it faster to find information.
5. Sub-divide larger files with interior file folders.
6. At the end of each project or event, organize paperwork and file or store it.
7. Straighten desk at the end of the day and especially at the end of the week so that you can start each morning with a clear desk.

Divide and Conquer Your Makeup

Drawers in the bathroom tend to be catch-alls for lots of different containers, most of which badly organize their contents. An expandable cosmetic drawer organizer fits in a shallow drawer and takes the place of bulky cosmetic bags. Different size compartments will organize lipstick, blush and eye shadow so you never have to root around to find what you're looking for. As you organize your makeup, be sure to throw away anything that smells or is expired. Old makeup contains bacteria that can irritate your skin.