Memorial Day is more than just a day off from work. It was created to honor those lives that were lost fighting for our country. Celebrate by attending a parade or local veteran memorial. While you are at it, extend a thank you to a military family that you know or see. Enjoy this day with friends and family, and keep in mind the reason for this special day!
Photo: history.com
If you can believe it, Americans have always felt the need to keep everything in their cars. Take, for instance, this old vintage photo! If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time in your car. From coffee mugs to gym bags, sometimes your car can start to feel like an extension of your house and start accumulating mess. Like your home, your car can also maintain a level of organization. To avoid a traveling pigsty, try these easy car organization tips. That way, you can rest assured that you won’t be one of those cars.
Remember, just because you’re goal is to have a neat and clean car; this doesn’t mean it should be void of all essentials. Depending on the month or season, it’s best to keep extra supplies in your car to be fully prepared. For examples, jackets in the winter and sunscreen in the summer.
Photo: Etsy
Attention New England parents. In about a month, school will be out for the summer! On one hand, it will be nice to spend quality time with your kids. On the other hand, most parents find that when the kids are home, they often lose their personal time and space. The key to providing your kids with the summer of their dreams, while ensuring you have the personal space you need rests in planning!
Make sure to start scheduling in day camps, sleep-away camps, sport clinics and other commitments. Then, once all of the big items are scheduled, you can start thinking about how you’ll spend your normal, summer days. Below are three tips to consider as you’re planning for the summer.
Personally, I couldn’t be more thrilled for summer. It was a long winter, and it’s certainly something we all will enjoy. To sign off, I want to leave you with this quote from a great book by the brilliant John Steinbeck – Travels with Charley: In Search of America:
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?”
Photo: Boston Parents Paper
The mudroom is often the first point of entry into a home, and can quickly go from tidy to turbulent. Family members will take their shoes off, throw their backpacks on the floor, leave trash lying around…you get the drill. In order to maintain some level of sanity, there are some essential products you should consider to help tame the clutter.
Photo: Better Homes and Gardens
Each year, it gets easier to live a greener life at home. There are emerging, eco-friendly products, rebate incentives, and a wealth of information online to learn from. There are also small things you can do at home that really make an impact on your environmental footprint. Today is Earth Day, and as we observe the beauty of our planet, I encourage you to make just one change from the list below to help preserve our environment for future generations. If you set a realistic “green” goal each year, then overtime you will have a greater environmental impact, and also save money, too.
I hope you join me in adopting greener practices at home. As a professional organizer in Boston, I’m going to encourage my clients to make one or more of these changes. By working together, we can collectively make a difference.
Photo: Green Living Online
Today we’re digging deeper into the one area of the kitchen that most people simply can’t manage – Tupperware™ containers. As a professional organizer in Boston, I’ve seen this scenario time and time again: you have a drawer or a cabinet space overflowing with tops and bottoms to various containers. Take, for example, the photo above. When it comes time to piece a lid and bottom together, tragedy ensues. My friends, as much as you may think this is unavoidable, you can actually organize that Tupperware™.
To start organizing your Tupperware™, follow these three tips that I always share with my professional organizing clients:
Take these professional organizing tips into consideration, and in the future, packing lunches and putting away leftovers will be a lot easier!
Photo: Remarkably Domestic
Walk into any New England basement, and you’ll likely see an old super-sized television sitting collecting dust. As a society, whenever we upgrade our television or other large electronics, we have a hard time letting go of these older, outdated electronics, and we typically migrate them to another part of the house “just in case” we need it again. Here’s the thing: you won’t need them again. Trust me. What will instead happen is you’ll walk into your basement 10 years later and realize you have to somehow get that large eyesore out of sight. Instead of waiting years to discard these items, get rid of them as soon as you upgrade your electronics.
Depending on the town you live in, it can be somewhat of a challenge to recycle large electronics, but there are several other solutions. One of my favorite places to recycle electronics is Best Buy. Check out their website to determine what you are able to recycle at the store and if there are size restrictions. If you are buying a new large flat screen television, ask the store if they recycle your old one. The store may charge a fee for something of that size, but it is definitely worth it in my opinion – out of sight out of mind, right?
Additionally, if your electronics are still functioning, keep in mind that there are several non-profit groups that would love your donation! For example, Big Brother Big Sister is one organization that picks up large electronic devices.
The other thing you can do is call your town’s Department of Public Works. Sometimes towns have a designated day or time of year when they collect large electronics. My town charges for a yearly dump pass, and then depending on what I am trying to recycle, there is an additional fee. I have also seen ads notifying the public of a town-wide electronics recycling day. With Earth Day in a few weeks, now is a great time to investigate.
Photo: The Green Guide
Thanks to our guest blogger, Tom Matthews from Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty. Tom and his team mate Joanne Taranto assist a wide selection of home buyers and sellers in the Lincoln, Carlisle, Acton and Concord real estate markets.
Green power and efficiency have never been as affordable and obtainable as they are currently.
We demand more gas mileage and less pollution from our cars. We drive across town to save 20 cents on a fuel fill up. But when it comes to our biggest energy user, our homes, what are we doing about them?
Most energy companies will do a free or low cost energy audit. Concord Massachusetts Municipal Light even offers debate programs that reward energy efficiency in both homes and our local businesses.
These energy audits are your first step in determining where you need to focus your energy saving budget. According to Energy.gov the largest usage of your homes energy is in heating and cooling followed closely by water heating.
With that in mind here are a few green choices for making your home more energy efficient and potentially increase the perceived value that future buyers may have when previewing your property.
Programmable and smart thermostats like the Nest are one of the fastest and easiest ways to go green with your energy usage. The Nest programmable thermostat will remember the temperatures you like and automatically program itself. The device is also smart and knows when you are home and when you aren’t and ensures that you are never heating or cooling an empty house and wasting energy. Fear not, with your smartphone you can control the thermostat at anytime and sure that your home is toasty on a cold night or nice and cool on the hottest day before you come home.
Of course the best way to ensure you use less energy heating and cooling your home is to let less energy in and out, but without major construction how do you do that?
Enter the Automatic Shade System. Automatic shades can reduce the amount of energy you use by automatically opening and closing blinds and shades in your home when the sun is shining in your windows based on the settings you choose or temperature sensors to ensure an even and consistent feel throughout your home.
Now that you have your home energy usage down to the minimum via smart appliances, thermostats and HVAC systems, its time to look into how you power your new energy efficient home.
Solar energy is abundant, clean, free, renewable and you can get paid to convert!
According to IRS.gov you can claim a 30% credit of the cost of installing solar panels on your home. These include solar electric equipment, and solar water heaters. There is no limit to the amount of credit available to you, and if the credit is more than the taxes you owe you can even carry that credit forward to your next years tax return. But you had better act fast, these credits are only available through 2016.
If you’re worried about efficiency in cloudy or foggy conditions fear not, solar panels work just fine. These tax credits a
Finally, one of the easiest changes to make can be seen instantly, lighting. By replacing your home’s traditional incandescent bulbs with CCFL and LED bulbs you can save as much as 30% on your home’s energy costs.
Combining smart appliances, smart power and efficient electronics makes you a smart homeowner.
At this point, New Englanders are clawing at the opportunity to hop on a plane and fly away to a warmer land. Florida. Mexico. Anywhere warm. Anywhere with a beach. Anywhere without snow! If you don’t live in New England, you likely heard that we have had a record breaking cold, snowy winter. We deserve some warmth.
Now, you’re probably looking at the headline thinking, “Yes, of course I need a vacation RIGHT NOW.” But this post isn’t about planning a vacation for this March (after all, the month is almost over!). It’s about planning a family vacation for next year. That way, when next March arrives, you’ll be packing your suitcase en route to Punta Cana with the kids.
First, think about budget. If you’re trying to be frugal, there are ways to save. Use airline miles on flights
, or book an affordable house on AirBnB or another home exchange site. Most of the time, these places tend to be more affordable, and provide more space for the kids. Also, if you book early enough, you can secure better deals, especially during busy spring break periods in March. By planning ahead and saving money now, you’ll be comfortable with spending the money while you’re on vacation.
The second step to planning the perfect family trip is getting the family involved. If you want to avoid hearing ‘are we there yet’, ask them for ideas. I recently came across a great online tool to help with finding the perfect family destination. The website, MiniTime, is like the Trip Advisor of planning family vacations. If the destination has already been determined, have the kids do research on the location and get involved in planning fun things to do together. Look to see if there is a book or movie that ties into the destination. This will keep everyone engaged and a fun family activity to do in preparation for your trip.
Next, make sure you’re securing the appropriate time off from work, and planning in accordance with school vacation weeks. If planning a vacation during a school vacation week, make sure you’re booking early to avoid the rising costs of airfare and accommodations.
Lastly, have fun leading up to the trip. Put milestones on the family calendar – Two months until Punta Cana! This will keep everyone engaged, and on their best behavior.
Photo: SheKnows.com
There are so many awareness weeks devoted to topics of all different varieties, but my favorite (surprise, surprise!) is Clutter Awareness Week, which starts next week. This occasion is devoted to helping you see the light – or the bottom of your closet floor – when it comes to organizing and purging. Instead of just writing about this topic, I wanted to issue a challenge to my Boston professional organizing clients and the readers of this blog. Each day next week, I’ve listed different areas of the house along with a simple task that will help you tremendously reduce clutter. Are you ready to get organized in 2015? Let’s get started…
Monday – The kitchen is a communal space where people like to hang out, but sometimes clutter can start to pile high. To make more room and clear the counters, I challenge you to remove one appliance that is taking up precious counter space. A toaster and a blender are two great examples of items that can be stored in a cabinet. Your kitchen will look less cluttered and since you only use these appliances once in awhile, why are they front and center?
Tuesday – For most, the bathroom is a room where clutter can be neglected. For example, do you need that old makeup from ten years ago? Likely, the answer is no, but most of the time old personal care items sit in drawers or medicine cabinets. This week, I challenge you to go through your medicine cabinet and take out anything that has expired. Do not throw them in the trash or garbage; rather take them to drugstores or police stations that accept expired prescriptions or over-the-counter medications. Then, of course, move on to your older personal care items.
Wednesday – We’re halfway through the week, and you’re doing great! Now, let’s dive into your wardrobe closet. Open your closet and examine your hanging clothes. I am sure you can easily spot one to three pieces of clothing that you never wear. If your clothes are in good condition, donate these items. You will have more space in your closet when you bring home an article of clothing that looks fabulous on you.
Thursday – We are all guilty of hanging on to old magazines or catalogs. For today’s challenge, I want you to go through the collection of catalogs and/or magazines. Go through the pile and purge anything that is over a month old. If you haven’t read it yet, it is likely out of date and there’s a good chance you have a newer issue waiting in your mailbox. Additionally, if you’re getting mail you don’t want, remember to use the PaperKarma app we discussed in last week’s blog post.
Friday – Today I want you to open your linen closet. Take a peek at each shelf. You’ll likely realize that there are towels or sheets you rarely use. I recently donated a sheet set to an animal shelter that started to fringe at the hem. Those sheets were creating a mess of string. Also, ask yourself if any of these linens are too scratchy, too thin or too unattractive for the home. Keep in mind that animal shelters are always looking for linens to keep their little animals cozy and warm.
Now that you’re finished with the five-day Clutter Awareness Week Challenge, take some time to reflect and ask yourself if you feel and see a difference. For most of you, the answer will be a resounding ‘yes’. Remember, you should challenge yourself to do this quarterly, so that you can maintain a clutter-free home throughout the year!
Photos: Glas Bergen
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