Delight In Real Life

Clutter Therapy Soothes My Soul

2011-02-21T19:56:00.000-08:00

I've been wearing my Clutter Therapist hat the last few weeks, working with a client whose husband is working temporarily in another state. She's very pregnant and they are scheduled to move across the country in two months. We have been going through each room of her house streamlining and decluttering, sorting, packing and throwing away. She wants to be organized before she packs everything up so when she unpacks in her new house with her new baby, everything will already be grouped together and hopefully settling in will be less stressful for them. We worked in her bedroom today and I was as pleased with the beautiful finished product as she was. Organizing is good therapy for my clients but it makes my heart happy too!

Another Shower Organizer Down the Drain

2011-02-19T10:54:00.000-08:00

I cleaned my shower the other day (yes, it's newsworthy sometimes!) and was frustrated by all our large salon-size shampoo bottles in the floor. Buying large is a better deal financially but a headache organizationally speaking because they don't fit in the standard shower organizers. The baskets that stick to the wall collect soap scum and look disgusting after a while. Yesterday we bought an adjustable one from Bed Bath & Beyond but by the time you work around the shower head and the size of the bottles and try to leave room for the soap, the thing just couldn't snap into place. When we slid the shelves to one side, the suction cup at the bottom wasn't strong enough to keep the rack in position. When I find one that works, I'll let you know!

Santa Is a Genius!

2011-01-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Can you believe I'm actually blogging again? Amazing I know, but here's something so wonderful I had to share the news.

We splurged this year and bought a prelit tree on 75% off clearance at Target. I wanted one because now that my kids are "grown" no one wants to cheerfully help put the tree up. Since the actual tree assembly and hanging lights is the worst part of Christmas, this will make things smoother next year. However, I wanted an easy way to keep this tree intact during the year, so we found an upright tree storage bag that compresses the tree for you.

Grant just helped me bag up our tree and it took about 10 minutes! Next year we bring the tree into the house, unzip the bag and pull it down, puddle the bag around the base of the tree like a skirt, and the tree is ready to plug in and decorate! For now our tree is standing in a corner of our garage but the bag is designed with many handles for hanging or carrying. Ours might live in the garage all year.

I ordered Santa's Tree Bag from HomeMarketplace.com for around $40. Check it out!http://www.thehomemarketplace.com/HomeMarketPlace/Shopping/ProductDetail.aspx?CID=Christmas+Holiday&SCID=Trim+the+Tree&CollectionID=DC0000637&num=230

Clutter Therapist Now Making House Calls

2010-06-06T20:58:00.000-07:00

To fund my workout/fitness routine and gym membership, I am starting a home organizing business. "If you're sick and tired of feeling disorganized, call the Clutter Therapist!" Hopefully the website will be up soon.
On a more "delightful" note, Kathy and I will be teaching the entire Delight in Real Life course this summer on Wednesday nights at Faith Baptist Church in Bartlett, TN. I will also be teaching an organization segment in the "Designing a Home" program on Friday mornings this summer at FBC Cabot.

Fall Greetings!

2009-11-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Kathy had a great time speaking to the Germantown Homeschool group this morning. So sorry I couldn't be there as well. It's always fun to tell others what we've learned about fighting chaos at home.

For all of you out there who wonder why I haven't blogged in a while, it's because I've been practicing what we preach! Since this is my daughter's senior year in high school, my husband and I cleared my calendar for the year so I could focus on providing her with a happy home (and mom!) during her final year with us. Believe it or not, when I stay home all day, there actually IS time to clean house, do the laundry and cook dinner. God has reminded me these past few months what a privilege it is to (1) have a home, and (2) work in it every day instead of heading off to another job. When we are thankful for the many ways God has blessed us, we add delight to our lives instead of filling our hearts and minds with complaints and resentment.

So, as we enter the 2009 holiday season, our challenge to you is to review your family's priorities. Resist the urge to rush through the malls and spend too much on stuff. Value time shared with loved ones and focus more on people than on presents this year.

Easy Tax Prep Tips

2009-02-27T06:20:00.000-08:00

After filing taxes for how many years now (?), I think I finally have a system down for getting all the paperwork together. In addition to our regular taxes, we also have to keep up with housing allowance expenses and my business tax information, so our piles can easily grow into very unmanageable stacks. The best solution? Notebooks! 3-Ring binders continue to prove themselves as my most indispensable organizational tools.

As I separated our tax information into various categories for our accountant, I made a list of all these categories. For my business tax notebook, for example, I have website expenses, receipts for supplies, sales tax records, mileage, etc., so each of these categories became a tab in the notebook. Now whenever I process an order or pay a business-related bill, I just hole-punch the paperwork and file it. This way it's easy to keep the numbers current on a monthly basis, so at the end of the year I only have to tie up loose ends, not hunt/sort/add everything all up.

To keep an accurate record of receipts, I copy them and file the copy in the notebook (with the originals stapled to the copy). This allows me to keep up with which receipts have been accounted for instead of working with piles all the time. Also, many receipts are printed on slick paper, so the ink rubs off or evaporates, leaving me with lots of small pieces of paper but no real evidence. Copying the receipts keeps them legible and again makes things easier for me to keep on top of things month by month.

Then I made a checklist of all my tabs/categories to guide me as I gathered all the stuff to hand over to our accountant. This way I don't waste time looking for stuff I don't need, I can tell where I left off if I have to come back to it, and I have an organized record to hand to someone else (just in case he doesn't understand how my mind works!).

Hope this helps--I'd love to hear any tips from readers about how you tamed your tax paperwork monster.

Helpful Bargain Stories with Happy Endings

2009-02-24T07:17:00.000-08:00

Before grocery shopping at Kroger yesterday, I had flipped through all my coupons so they would be fresh in my mind in case I ran across something on sale that wasn't on my list. (I try to save my coupons until items are already on sale, so the discount is even bigger!) One coupon was for a free bag (12 oz or larger) of frozen meatballs. Kroger puts them on sale often, so evidently I had purchased enough bags for them to send me a coupon. Anyway, I grabbed the biggest bag--which was $16.95. When I handed over the coupon to the lady at checkout, she said it probably wouldn't let me have that expensive of an item, but it went through and we were both surprised. That made me smile the rest of the day! The moral of this story is always read the fine print on coupons, then go for the biggest size. By the way, these are great for family and company. To prepare, mix together grape jelly and chili sauce (sounds gross, but it's good!) and pour over meatballs; use enough sauce to generously cover. Cook them in microwave, crockpot or on stovetop. Makes a very quick, tasty, easy dish!

Later I called Dillards to check on a clearance recliner (for $189) we happened upon over the weekend. Greg had taken a picture of it on his phone to show our son. Grant had just rearranged his room to maximize his reading space and wanted a comfy chair. This recliner was a small but funky design in the exact gray color of Grant's bedroom walls. He liked the picture, so I called yesterday to see if it was still there. The salesman found the chair and offered us tomorrow's extra discount off clearance items if I went ahead and bought it over the phone. Tomorrow I'll go pick it up and post a picture of it for you to see. The moral of this story is to check out all the sale racks at Dillard's tomorrow and get an extra 30% off their clearance prices store-wide. Or, go today and see if they'll let you pre-buy!

Organizing Coupon Alert!

2009-02-19T22:56:00.000-08:00

Although I'm an adamant Oprah non-fan, I can't resist a bargain. Mom called today to tell me Oprah was urging her viewers to cut clutter by offering a 20% off coupon at the Container Store. My hubby's off tomorrow and thinks we should go use it! One of you readers asked how my Elfa closet was coming along and I must be honest and say the shelves look great but I have not had time to work on them. Both kids have had the flu and today was dedicated to organizing all our tax documents for our accountant. I've also taken up water aerobics and have spent hours shopping online for decent swim suits and swim caps. (My beautician says I have too much color on my hair to swim without a cap!)

Anyway, those are just some of my excuses for not blogging lately. Besides, if I don't have anything helpful to say, no need to waste your time.

Hope you're all having a well, warm February. In my next post I'll share some pointers on organizing your important papers to make tax filing easier!

The Value of a Squeegee

2009-02-04T20:28:00.000-08:00

Do you squeegee? Bernard Walton from Adventures in Odyssey talks about it. All the cleaning experts recommend it. In our "Snatch Away the Dirt" seminars, Kathy and I advocate using a squeegee after each shower to lengthen the time between thorough cleanings.

We have one hanging in our shower and sometimes I remember to swipe the walls and floor with it, but I haven't been fastidious about using it. Honestly, how much good does it really do to squeegee? Well, I decided to conduct an experiment of sorts to determine the importance of removing all the water off the shower walls and floor and I was shocked by the results.

On the day of the test, I vacuumed all the water droplets from the shower walls, door, and floor with my Bissell Little Green Machine instead of squeegeeing everything dry. It only took about 2 minutes. When I emptied the collection tank's contents into a measuring cup, more than 15 ounces of cloudy water filled the cup! Gross! To give you an even clearer idea of how much that is, I poured the liquid into an old 16-oz. Pace Picante Sauce jar and nearly filled it. Suddenly, that occasionally used squeegee bought from the Dollar Tree seemed much more valuable to me. Now I faithfully wipe down the shower each morning, knowing there will be nearly two cups less of murky moisture building up on the walls, growing mildew, requiring stronger chemicals and greasier elbows to remove it. Seeing a quantifiable benefit of my work like that certainly makes me feel good about squeegeeing. Maybe next time I'll measure the amount of dust bunnies I vacuum up!

On My Own & Starving

2009-02-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

I spent this afternoon with a young mom overwhelmed by all the demands of running a household, caring for a 6-month-old, and figuring out how to organize all the stuff that comes with real life. Since she's expecting another baby later this year, we talked about several practical things she could do to preserve her sanity. Cooking was one of her concerns, so I had prepared some basic recipes to give her. We printed them off, slid them into sheet protectors, and clipped them into her Family Notebook. Stored this way, the recipes are easy to find, handy to use, and easy to wipe off.

Most of the recipes were created by others but I have used many of them my entire married life. When we were poor newlywed grad students, barbecue chicken drumsticks was one of our favorites. Made from cheap ingredients, the dish felt like a meal mom might have made and it satisfied my hungry husband. I can still remember how fulfilling it was to just dump everything into the crockpot before I dashed off to work and to return home hours later to an apartment filled with a wonderful aroma. That barbecue smell truly made me feel like a real wife.

Over the years I've shared these recipes with many single adults, newlyweds, young moms and people who just don't like to cook. If you know someone on the brink of starvation because they're not sure what to do in the kitchen, print these off and share them. They also make great starter recipes for kids and teenagers learning to cook. Bon appetit!

Still Tinkering with the Blog

2009-02-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

Okay, readers, please forgive my blog-gnorance. I've been working on this thing, trying to add new features for improved functionality and just discovered that some of you have been leaving comments about my posts. For some reason, this wasn't showing up for me so I haven't been responding. So sorry! If some of you are more blog-savvy than me, I'd appreciate any tips. Just signed up for TypePad Connect, not sure if that will be helpful or not.

I'm trying to add new blog post links to my Facebook status without typing out the URL address but may be working too hard on irrelevant details. My website designer is also working on a matching blog design, so please be patient with the appearance changes. I promise we have lots more tips to share if I can quit working on this tech stuff and concentrate on generating helpful practical stuff we all can use. Thanks for your support and have a blessed day!

The Curse of Closet Clutter

2009-01-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

This week I've really had the urge to clean out closets and get organized. (Staying organized is an ongoing task, by the way!) Before Thanksgiving I lost part of the hard-floor attachment for my vacuum cleaner and had searched the closet where I kept it plus the house and garage, with no luck. After borrowing a friend's vacuum twice during the holidays, I finally ordered a replacement piece for $13 plus shipping. When we emptied the closet the other night to hang the new shelves, we found the missing vacuum wand (of course!). Dave Ramsey would say I just paid $18 in "stupid tax." This whole incident made me realize there are two main problems with cluttered closets.

They're a poor use of space. How much did you pay to build/buy that space? How much does it cost to heat and cool that closet each year? Don't waste your hard-earned cash paying for storage that's too cluttered to benefit you.

Stuff gets lost. You might as well throw your stuff away if you're going to keep it in a cluttered closet. Cramming or tossing too many items into a closet means we can't find what we're looking for when we need it. Worse, we can totally forget that we even have it!

Since installing Elfa shelving in our garage a few weeks ago was a smashing success, we decided to move Elfa inside and fix this closet where I lost the vacuum wand. Because of its convenience to the garage and kitchen, the closet is usually a mess even though I've rearranged it multiple times. (See the "before" picture, right.) It's the traditional poorly planned space--a long, narrow closet with a hanging rod and shelves across the back. I kept a bookcase in there to try to bring some order to it, but every time we opened the door we just tossed more stuff in. We took out the existing rod & shelves, patched the walls and painted, then installed the new Elfa shelves along one wall and even configured two hanging rods.

When I finish organizing everything, I'll post an "after" picture to show off. Until then, learn from my mistakes and work on your closets. If the thought of organizing your cluttered spaces overwhelms you, read the "Spatial Therapy" chapter in our How to Find Delight in Real Life workbook!

Pondering Homeschooling

2009-01-28T13:55:00.000-08:00

Last week Kathy and I treated ourselves to a writing retreat at Prospect Place, a beautiful bed & breakfast in Hot Springs (www.bbonline.com/ar/prospectplace/). Our mission (if we chose to accept it instead of just enjoying massages, shopping and hot baths) was to adapt our How to Find Delight in Real Life workbook for homeschoolers. We plan to release our new materials at homeschool conferences later this spring.

Being an outsider to this way of life (my kids go to "gasp!" public school!), I found it very interesting to think through all the challenges that educating one's own children at home would add to the already stressed-out life of most moms. All of us mothers have such a tremendous responsibility for equipping our kids for real life in the real world, and homeschooling moms choose an even greater task. In the words of Tiny Tim, may God bless us every one!

Presidential Inauguration Celebration!

2009-01-18T21:59:00.000-08:00

Are you excited about getting a new President this week? Even if you didn't vote for Obama, you can still recognize that this is an historic highlight in our country's history. More importantly, as Christians we have a spiritual obligation to pray for all our governmental officials, even those who don't hold our same political views. We all win when Christians pray for our President, regardless of whether we voted for him or not. These are serious times and our new President needs your prayers as he determines solutions to the world's problems, as he chooses his advisors, as he sets in motion policies that will affect you and your family for decades. How can we possibly afford to selfishly withhold our most powerful tool for impacting our world?

To take this one step further, I encourage you to "reach across party lines" and host an Inauguration Celebration this week. If you can't pull one together now, determine to celebrate in February during the President's Day holiday. Gather neighbors or coworkers together to pray as a group for our nation's top leader. For more ideas on how to host an inauguration celebration, visit www.delightinreallife.com and click on Hospitality.

Clorox Love

2009-01-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

One way we love our families is by disinfecting!

When my kids were young, I regularly wiped down the telephone, remotes, light switches, toilet flush handles, and door knobs with a germ-killer to help us stay well during flu season. Now that they're virtually grown, I realize I've forgotten to do that in recent years. Not surprisingly, somehow pink-eye invaded our home last weekend and landed in both my eyes. I'm still not sure where it came from because we'd been staying close to home, enjoying the last few lazy days before school resumed. No one else in my house caught it because my sweet husband ran some Clorox disinfecting wipes over every surface in the house early that morning before the kids got up and ran to the pharmacy to pick up some eye drops. I forced myself to throw away the brand new $8 mascara and almost new wonderful purple eyeshadow contaminated before I realized I had the crud. I meant to sharpen down my favorite purple eyeliner pencil . . .

Excited about going back to church yesterday because I had to miss last week's sevices, I applied my makeup and realized too late that I never fixed that eyeliner pencil. So, when I later woke from my long Sunday's nap, my pink-eye was back! This time, I wiped everything down with Clorox wipes and repeatedly washed my hands until they've dried out.

The moral of this story is don't forget to show your family some Clorox love! Especially during these cold damp days, keep an extra box of disintecting wipes out so everyone will remember to use them. Pay particular attention to cleaning the handles on faucets, the microwave, the refrigerator, the washer, dryer, dishwasher, and car doors. Swipe all cell phones, telephones, remotes, light switches, door knobs, the security alarm panel, even soap dispeners. Remember, loving your family with disinfectant is a whole lot less trouble than dragging them all to the doctor's waiting room!

Enjoying an Organized Garage

2009-01-10T14:07:00.000-08:00

Santa brought me Elfa for Christmas! Elfa is an organizational shelving system available at the Container Store. I understand Home Depot sells something comparable, but I'm addicted to the Container Store since it recently opened in Little Rock. The beauty of this system is that you only have to hang one track along the top of the wall and then everything else hangs off of it--no more hooks and screws. You can also move it and reconfigure it as your needs change. I've been waiting and saving for the 30% off sale that started Christmas and goes until February.

It took exactly 3 hours to install (precisely what the salesman told us it would) and no tools were thrown, no tears were shed, and no cuss words were yelled--all in all, a very pleasant project experience for a very non-handy couple. After a pizza break, we drug the kids into the garage and all worked sorting things, sweeping, stuffing trash in garbage sacks, building a garage sale pile, sweeping, labeling boxes, filling up the shelves, then sweeping again. Afterwards, we got two vehicles in the garage with room to walk around them! You know, it's the little things in life that bring much joy, isn't it?

I posted pictures and tips on the organizing page of DelightInRealLife.com. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Get Up & Moving!

2009-01-06T08:04:00.001-08:00

My friend Tammy called last night to say she needed to stop by this morning after 8:30; I warned her I would still be in my PJs. Today was the first day back to school and I'm in the habit of staying up WAY too late, so I got up early to see my kids off to school (thank goodness they drive themselves!), re-set my alarm for 8:30, and planned to go back to bed, but . . . I thought about the Proverbs 31 mom. She got up while it was still dark and got her household moving, so that's what I did. By the time my friend arrived, I had showered, dressed, picked up the kitchen & living room, and was halfway through my Mamma Mia soundtrack while making my day's to-do list when she arrived. I'm sure she wasn't impressed by my accomplishment--she had already been in traffic delivering 3 kids to school--but it was good for me to shake off the blanket of laziness and rejoin productive society this morning. Before Tammy left, I asked her what time she would be stopping by tomorrow!

If you're struggling getting back on task after the holidays, read Proverbs 31:10-31 this morning for inspiration on being a godly mom who accomplishes much. The Bible tells us Mrs. P31 "looks well to the ways of her household," so spend some time in God's word and let Him empower you to use your time wisely. Happy busyness!

Family Dinner Fun

2009-01-03T19:54:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated my daughter's 17th birthday with dinner and a movie (Bedtime Stories is quite funny!). We played one of our favorite games--making as many words as we can out of the letters of the name of the restaurant. This anagram game stimulates their vocabulary, provides non-threatening conversation starters, and impresses the waiters. Let me tell you, Macaroni Grill is one of the toughest ones we've done, but these are some of the better words we came up with tonight: magician, rancor, organic, loam, oragami, aroma, local, Magi, Camaro. Our total word count was 61! Try it sometime!

Taking Down the Christmas Tree

2009-01-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Today I'm home by myself taking down all the Christmas ornaments. Greg drove to swap a friend's son we've had since Christmas for our daughter who stayed with them all week.

I've got my favorite music cranked up on my ipod, I'm still in my PJ's and I'm enjoying taking everything down. It's going slower than usual, though, because I'm making notes of how to make the process easier and updating my website with how I'm organizing things. Click on "Tips" on my homepage (www.delightinreallife.com) and it will take you to a "Undecorating Christmas" page. Hope you find some helpful info that will make boxing up your decorations easier. Check back because later today I'll have lots of pictures!

2008-12-23T19:10:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our new Blog! We are so excited about this feature of our redesigned website. We've entitled it "Real Life at Home" because we want to help you apply the things we teach to make your home a delightful place for real life.

Please join us here and share what helps make your home happy. Merry Christmas!