Winter Preparedness Checklist

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

winter safety checklistWhen wintry weather blows, will your family be prepared?

Take time now to review your family's emergency preparedness with our Winter Preparedness Checklist. It'll help you prepare your home and automobile for cold-weather hazards.

Out and About:

Will your home welcome winter visitors safely? Be prepared for snow, ice or rain on walks and driveways with:

  • Snow shovel
  • De-icing compound
  • Waterproof floor mats


Get With The Plan: Pretty Printable Planner from Brenda Arnall

Posted November 2, 2009 by Cynthia Ewer

Papercrafters, alert! Feast your eyes on this printable 2010 calendar planner from blogger Brenda Arnall:

printable 2010 planner

This fresh and pretty printable planner will help you get organized for 2010--and would make a lovely homemade holiday gift. Assembled with a Bind It All craft tool, it's easy to add decorated cover pages for a slim, efficient planner notebook.

WIth half-size pages, crisp digital graphics and extra pages for to-do lists, shopping lists and scrapbooking page planners, these free printable pages will make a sweet treat from your printer!

Get with the plan!

Get With The Plan: Printable 2010 Planner Pages



Fall Back: Home Preparedness Checklist for Time Change Sunday

Posted October 30, 2009 by Cynthia Ewer

Spring forward, Fall back: Time Change Sunday is on the way!

On Sunday, November 1, we come to the end of Daylight Saving Time in most of the United States. With an extra hour in the day--and winter on the way--it's time for a seasonal safety check!

As you circle the house, resetting clocks to Standard Time, make time for this short safety checklist. It'll see you into the winter from a safe--and organized--home:

  • Change the clocks, change the batteries. Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors save lives ... if they're powered on by a fresh battery. Safety experts recommend replacing smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries twice a year--so celebrate Time Change Sunday with fresh batteries all around.

    Energy savings hint: don't toss the replaced batteries just yet. While they're likely not fully charged, replaced batteries can still do duty in children's toys, media players or electronic devices. Squeeze the last drop of power out of them before you recycle!



Halloween Candy Overload? Repurpose, Recycle and Reduce the Trick-or-Treat Haul!

Posted October 29, 2009 by Cynthia Ewer

Halloween night is coming ... and so is the morning of November 1st! For parents, that's the time when the excitement of Trick-or-Treat night gives way to post-Halloween reality: what to do with all that Halloween candy?

Whether they're worried about tooth decay and nutrition, or simply want to avoid the stress of a week of candy-fueled behavior from the little ones, smart parents put strategies in place to handle the Trick-or-Treat haul.

Check out these ideas to repurpose, recycle and reduce the amount of Halloween candy in your organized home from sister site Organized Christmas:

Halloween Candy Overload? Repurpose, Recycle and Reduce the Trick-or-Treat Haul!



Changing Seasons: Clothes Closet Declutter

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

It's the time of the season: summer's heat begins to wane as shorter days, cooler temperatures herald the coming of autumn. What better time to head for those dim, dark, cool closets?

A closet clean-out clears the decks for the new season and gives even the most frazzled home manager a feeling of accomplishment.

Whether in the children's closets or in your own, follow these principles for efficient, organized clothing storage:



Organize Christmas: Create a Christmas Planner Notebook

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

What's the fast-track to an organized holiday season? Create a Christmas planner notebook!

Organizing holiday preparations in a simple three-ring binder takes the household notebook concept to new holiday heights!

To create your tool for efficient holiday planning, try these pointers from sister site Organized Christmas:

As we get ready for Christmas, we’ll be making lists (and checking them a lot more than twice!), holding discussions with spouses, children and parents, and drawing up a holiday budget.

Too often, we record our plans piecemeal, consigning them to a confused clutter of scrawled envelopes, jotted notes and cryptic calendar entries—none of which make it to the shopping center with us when it’s time to buy gifts.

Organized people keep the results of their work in a central place: a Christmas planner. Complement to a household notebook, it'll track preparations for a stress-free holiday season.


Fall Cleaning Chore Checklist

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

fall cleaning checklistIt's Autumn.

Pumpkins glow in golden fields. Shorter days, crisp mornings signal winter's approach.

Can the holidays be far behind?

Use Autumn's brisk and breezy days to conquer deep-cleaning chores for a clean and comfortable winter home, and wrap up summer's outdoor areas for the coming of cold weather.

Our Fall Cleaning Chore Checklist will help you prepare home and hearth for the coming of winter:



Feed The Freezer: Freezer Cooking Guide

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

freezer cookingAre you ready to cook once, eat for a month?

Once-a-month cooking. Frozen assets. OAMC. Meal assembly. Whatever you call it, cooking many meals in a single session banks home-cooked meals--and precious family time--for busy home managers.

What's not to like about freezer cooking? Economies of scale speed cooking chores. Buying in bulk saves money. Home preparation fosters good nutrition.

New options like "meal assembly franchises" help home cooks build frozen assets quickly.

Whether you cook once and eat for a month, sneak up on freezer cooking, or fill the freezer fast from the meal preparation storefront, get ready to feed the family--fast!

Click the links below to get up to speed on freezer cooking:


Get Ready for Christmas with the Houseworks Holiday Plan

Posted August 21, 2009 by Cynthia Ewer

get organized for christmasLabor Day weekend ahead! School bells are ringing, football fills the airwaves and September looms. Will the holidays be far behind?

Sure, you're dreaming of the perfect Christmas--then you open your eyes to reality. Looking around the house, it's hard to imagine how to cut the clutter, manage fall cleaning and prepare for Christmas all at once.

How will you bring the current state of domestic chaos into holiday readiness: clean, organized, prepared? You need a plan!

It's time to kick off the Houseworks Holiday Plan at sister site Organized Christmas!

Working week by week, we'll deep-clean, declutter, and prepare for the holiday season in small, sustainable bites.

Along the way, we'll create a personalized Christmas planner to simplify the holidays--and online HHP communities provide motivation, inspiration and fun.

The fun starts Sunday, August 30! Will you be ready?

Get The Houseworks Holiday Plan

Simplify Your Holidays With A Christmas Planner

Print Free Christmas Calendars, Checklists and Planner Pages

Get Inspired For Organized Holidays With ChristmasPlanner.com



Kids and Chores: Chilling The Chore Wars

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedHome.com
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

kids and choresThe blasted terrain is familiar: a dirty house, balky children, and frazzled, frustrated parents. How to negotiate a peace on the itchy issue of children and chores?

Try these strategies to calm the conflict and gain the goal:

The Buck(et) Stops Here
We have met the enemy, and it is us! Lingering ambivalence about our family's life and our own choices can keep us from successfully gaining kid cooperation where household chores are concerned.

Perhaps we grew up in a home heavy with sex-role stereotypes but have chosen a different viewpoint. Maybe we work, and feel a lingering guilt. Some of us may still harbor childish resentment against our own parents, and feel uneasy about "making" children do household chores.

Whatever the reason, an ambivalent mindset can sabotage attempts to enlist children in the fight. Too often, we announce a new regime of household chores in a moment of anger and frustration. Elaborate chore charts are made and ignored after the third day. Family meetings are held which settle nothing more than another layer of dust on the television.