Goalposts: What Football Players Know About Setting And Reaching Goals

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

Wheeling my shopping cart down the aisle at the supermarket this week, I was forced to take notice that it was, indeed, football season. With my attention distracted by a flashing soda display, my cart crashed into the corner of a miniature football field, constructed entirely out of beer cases. What deranged hearts and minds live in the person of advertising executives!

Untangling my cart (and trying, unobtrusively, to shove the cases back into line before anyone noticed that I'd creamed the goalpost), it occurred to me that I could learn a lot about goals from football players. Read more »



New Year In The Kitchen? Clean Out The Refrigerator!

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

clean out refrigeratorIt's January. Standing in line at the supermarket check stand, nobody can deny that we're on the dreary downside of a new year. Tabloid headlines scream the weight-loss secrets of the stars, while traditional women's magazine covers sing siren songs of money-saving, belly-busting, speed-cleaning tips, tricks and techniques.

We ourselves? All those resolutions that looked so basic, so easy, so noble through the champagne haze of New Year's Eve have lost their rosy glow viewed in the stark light of a morning cup of coffee. With the children back to school and holiday decorations back in their attic boxes, our resolve for a better, thinner, healthier and wealthier year has once more washed up against the hard and niggling realities of daily life.

Be of good cheer! There's a tried-and-true boost for just about anybody's New Year's resolutions. [I'm talking garden-variety resolutions here: weight loss, financial prudence, better home or personal organization. If you've vowed that this is the year you read the Russians, my hat's off to you but you're on your own!]

I'm talking about cleaning the refrigerator. Spearing the Great White Whale. Read more »



Jumpstart January For An Organized Year

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

Face it: it's January. Dreary weather is matched only by the dreariness of a house stripped of holiday decorations. Children slog through the great dull stretch between New Year's Day and Spring Break, no longer distracted from their schoolwork by the excitements of the holiday season.

December's crowded calendar gives way to January's social slump. Video rentals soar as comfy sweats replace dress clothes on Saturday nights.

Take heart! There's another side to January!

The freshness of a new, un-scribbled calendar. The clean lines of household furniture, freed from December's tinsel, trash and clutter. The sweet silence of a second cup of coffee after the children mount the school bus. The delicious feeling of energy to spare, energy released, but not expended, by December's holiday frenzy.

Tap that energy to get organized in the new year! Read more »



New Year, New You: Keeping New Year's Resolutions

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

New Year's Eve ... a festive beginning to a new year. For most of us, it's a time to take stock and to move toward a happier New Year. But what looks so easy as the minute hand approaches midnight falls away in the cold light of January days.

For most of us, New Year's resolutions die a slow and quiet death. They're tossed aside, along with the party hats and noisemakers. As January winds down, so does motivation, energy and desire for change.

Too often, resolutions wither along with the Christmas poinsettias because they lack strong roots in real life. It's not the resolution that's at fault--it's the follow-through. New Year's resolutions are easy to make, but much harder to make real in the noisy bustle of everyday chores and concerns.

Stop! Don't let those resolutions slip away so quickly! Each one represents a longing of the heart, a reach toward better health, happiness, knowledge or wisdom. Try these concepts to revive and strengthen your New Year's resolutions: Read more »



Speed Clean Tips From Cleaning Pros

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

Paid cleaning help can be a wonderful short-cut to a clean and organized home--if the household budget can stand the cost.

But what do you do if the Prize Patrol bypassed your door this year?

Take a speed-cleaning lesson from the pros! Paid cleaning services are masters of the art of speedy, efficient cleaning. They don't waste time, cut corners or dawdle over the job--and they know how to clean fast, clean right.

Take a tip from their copybook. To clean your house in record time, try these tips from professional cleaners: Read more »



Don't Forget! A Christmas Checklist to Simplify Your Holidays

Posted December 7, 2008 by Cynthia Ewer

Psst! One of our own is featured in the current issue of Woman's Day magazine.

Even if you make a list and check it twice, a few items can fall through the cracks during the holidays. What are the things you shouldn't forget as you prepare to celebrate the season?

Check the link for a Christmas checklist of often-overlooked holiday to-do items, from Cynthia Townley Ewer, editor of Organized Christmas:

Holiday Checklist - Woman's Day Read more »



Party Time: Four Steps To Easy Entertaining

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

Shhh! Don't look now, but the holidays are right around the corner. Will you be ready to offer hospitality in your home?

Busy home managers have many reasons to dread entertaining, whether it's drop-in visitors or a large party. Entertaining can be costly, in time and in money. Our homes may not measure up to the standard touted in glossy furniture store ads. Often, we're unsure of ourselves in the role of hostess. Many of us didn't learn the knack at Mother's knee-yet we still measure ourselves against her yardstick.

Take heart! Changing times have brought changing ideas and standards. Entertaining doesn't need to be stressful. With an attitude adjustment and some advance planning, even the busiest home manager can entertain with ease. Read more »



Sew Organized: Declutter The Sewing Room

The verdict is in: a big house is not the answer to the clutter problem.

Biggest culprit: CEO's sewing area. One small room. Two large closets face one another in the hall outside with facing mirrors. Perfect for storing fabric and supplies, and just the thing for checking fit and marking hems!

Except that who can pin a hem in the middle of this? Check out this unretouched photo to see the bitter, bitter truth!

Time to kick some clutter butt! Experts like Michelle Passoff recommend beginning with your biggest clutter challenge. I'm game! Spring is here and the wardrobe is empty. Let's get started!

Set Up Clutter Central!

Choose a workspace and sweep the counter clean, if you must. I've assembled my Clutter Central essentials: notebook computer, Perry the teddy bear, 3-by-5s for notes, planner, pens, boxes, black garbage bags, and boxes for storage and give away items. Read more »



Sew Organized: Storage Solutions for Sewing and Crafts

Posted December 5, 2008 by Cynthia Ewer

Sewing, quilting, stamping and crafts! Add them all together, and you've got the storage challenge of a lifetime!

The fabric stash reproduces stealthily, outside the light of day, until closets, containers and cupboards overflow. Craft supplies multiply like a population of rabbits. Add the tools and gizmos required by each activity, and it's enough to overwhelm even the most organized.

How do you manage the myriad tools and supplies required by sewing and crafts? Check out these pointers to maximize storage in your sewing area:

Climb the walls

Look up and down to find storage possibilities at the work area: climb the walls! Empty space above and below workstations can be tapped to store most-needed tools and equipment.

Wall-mounted organizers keep tools and equipment near this sewing workstation. Thread racks, pegboards, and a shallow shelf inserted in the kneehole area corral small items useful for machine sewing. Read more »



Sew Organized: Designing Sewing And Craft Areas

Posted December 5, 2008 by Cynthia Ewer

Do you sew, quilt, stamp or craft? You know the problem! Seldom do so many create so much in such little space--and the stuff! Without proper design and organization, sewing and crafts areas quickly become clogged and unusable.

Save time, energy and frustration by designing an efficient sewing or crafts area for your special hobby. Whether it's a corner, a closet, or the luxury of a whole room, use these concepts to organize your favorite sewing spot: Read more »