Save on Christmas

Santa Saves: Shop Back-to-School for Holiday Savings

With summer winding down, school is on the way--and so are rock-bottom prices on back-to-school needs! 

During late summer, office supply stores engage in penny price wars, while discount stores bring racks of school supplies front and center ... and cheap! 

Back-to-school loss leaders--products sold below cost to attract sales--are hot and heavy in the supermarkets these days--and even the crafts stores offer a variety of binders, stickers and backpacks at sharply reduced prices.

August 15, 2020
Meal prep and menu planning

Menu Planning: Save Time In The Kitchen

What's for dinner? It's the question of the hour!  Too many of us look for answers in the supermarket at 5 p.m. Harried from the day's work and harassed by by hungry children, we rack our brains to solve the what's-for-dinner dilemma.

Three meals a day. Seven dinners a week. From supermarket to pantry, refrigerator to table, sink to cupboard, the kitchen routine can get old, old, old.  No wonder we hide our heads like ostriches from the plain and simple fact: into each day, one dinner must fall.

What's the answer? A menu plan. 

July 28, 2020
Get Organized: Tap the Power of Planners
Planner for an organized home
Cynthia Ewer July 26, 2020

Imagine a genie, a butler, a secret servant at your fingertips. Someone who remembers everything: when your kindergartner got his last round of immunizations, the name and number of that other Mom in the soccer carpool, what your second cousin named her latest baby.

Every home manager needs this informational paragon, but no one has to scour deserted beaches for a jeweled bottle. This secret servant is called a planner--and every home manager worth her gym socks needs to have one.

What is a planner? It's a collection of information, portable and accessible.

Save now for Christmas

Cash In! Start Now, Save For Christmas

Holiday spending can be hard on the pocketbook--and bought on credit, "Christmas Day" can stretch into the new year for weeks or months.

Ease the Christmas cash crunch with creative ways to save money for Christmas! Financial institutions offer dedicated Christmas clubs for the disciplined, but savvy holiday planners have found other ways to accumulate cash for holiday spending.

Best idea: start now. Saving money for holiday spending is a little less painful with these do-it-now ways to come up with Christmas cash:

July 24, 2020
What's Your Clutter Personality Type?
Clutter personality type
Cynthia Ewer July 23, 2020

It's silent. It's sneaky. It creeps about in corners: clutter! When the state of the house aggravates you to your last nerve, it's tempting to launch an all-out battle in the war against clutter.

First, though, know your enemy! 

There are as many reasons for household clutter as there are clutterers. As Pogo says, "We have seen the enemy, and he is us!"

Take aim on your household's clutter problem by going to the root of the problem: your own thinking. 

What's your clutter personality ... and which of these internal voices strikes a chord?

Cut Clutter in the Bathroom: Easy as A-B-C!
Cut Bathroom Clutter
Cynthia Ewer July 22, 2020

Busy school-day mornings bring new focus on the master bathroom. Home to grooming rituals and personal care chores--and heir to all sorts of oddments and obsessions--the master bathroom is your launch pad to an organized day. 

What's the state of your private domain? Time to cut the clutter with a session of sorting, tossing and decision-making. A simple A-B-C concept will make short work of organizing the bathroom's limited space.

Recipes for Homemade Cleaners

Clean Green: Recipes for Homemade Cleaning Products

Taken a trip down the cleaning aisle at the supermarket lately? If you believe the ad hype, you can't keep a clean house without loading your shopping cart with a different cleaner for each surface, floor and sink in the house.

Hogwash! Simple recipes using products from your pantry make effective household cleaning solutions. An added plus: these natural products are more environmentally friendly than commercial alternatives.

July 20, 2020
Kids and Chores

Kids and Chores: Chilling The Chore Wars

When it comes to kids and housework, the blasted terrain is familiar: a dirty house, balky children, and frazzled, frustrated parents--and a new school year throws the issue into high relief.

Tired parents try it all, from chore charts to screaming fits. Canny children engage in housework sabotage, selective hearing or childish irresponsibility to duck assignments. The noise levels--and stress levels--rise along with the stacks of dishes.

How to negotiate a peace on the issue of children and chores? Try these family-tested strategies to calm the conflict and gain the goal.

July 18, 2020
No Clean Clothes? Get Organized In The Laundry Room
organize laundry systems
Cynthia Ewer July 13, 2020

Nothing can streamline an organized home like a well-crafted set of household systems, and today, we focus on laundry and clothing systems. What do they do? How do you develop them? What benefits will establishing laundry and clothing systems give to you and your family?

Chances are, you already have these systems in place. After all, a system is just a set of organized items, decisions or actions, designed to work together to achieve a common end.

Travel Tips: Get Organized For Family Vacations
Organize family travel
Cynthia Ewer July 2, 2020

Memorial Day is on the horizon, and the school year is winding down. It's time to think "road trip" as summer begins.

Family vacation travel can be enriching, enjoyable and exciting--but only if you're organized. The family that fails to plan for summer travel can end up frazzled, frustrated and longing for the quiet comfort of home.

This year, get ready! Whether it's car trips, plane travel or close-to-home "stay-cation" trips, we've assembled OrganizedHome.Com's best, easiest tips to organize summer vacation travel.