Tag: family

Are the Meds in Your Medicine Cabinet Older Than Your Sneakers?

Are you storing medicine in a medicine cabinet? If you answer, “Yes,” you are doing so incorrectly according to experts. It seems that bathrooms are much too humid for medications, and that can affect their efficacy. Rather, store meds in a cool and dry location, such as a closet.
Now, the next logical concern is: Are the meds in your medicine cabinet older than your sneakers? For most of us, we do not know what to keep, what to toss, and how to toss them out even properly, so they just stay put.

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What to Pack?

We recently posted some tips about packing for your vacation. Well, here are yet more tips, this time, to help you decide what to pack for a specific trip in that the summer months of travel are upon us.
Yes, as you can imagine, there is an app for help on packing. In fact, there are many, some free and others you can upgrade, paying for a premium version with more features. Here are a few free ones: Packpoint, EasyPack, and Packr. In full disclosure, we have not tried these all for ourselves, therefore, undertake your own search for the apps that best meet your needs.

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Unique, Personal Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Graduate

Tis the season of high school graduations. The issue often is, what gift to buy for your favorite graduate? One needs to think beyond the college insignia sweatshirt. We used to depend on the old standbys: Wallets? No, today’s grads do not carry cash or credit cards; they likely pay by cell phone. Briefcases? Seriously? Watch? Buy one only if it is an Apple watch. Perhaps a new laptop case instead? Planner/calendars? Well, there is an app for that.

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Declutter Your Brain

Memorial Day … the unofficial start of summer. A tough academic year is nearly behind students and families, and it is time to “break out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer” as the old song lyrics remind us. Vacation planning fever is about to hit, and perhaps the beach is calling for us.
What better time to think about unwinding and centering ourselves? My readers know that I usually blog ways to declutter your home, office, and life, yet this seems like an opportune time to consider a different kind of “cleaning up” entirely.

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Less (Stuff) is More (Time)

I would like to share with you an article from the Washington Post which extols about the need to buy less stuff.

For my last birthday, I was delighted that my friends gave me flowers, gift cards, and balloons—nothing that needed storage, batteries, recharging, maintenance, dusting, or repair. When you are fresh out of school and just starting out, accumulating stuff is what you do: you need to furnish your first apartment and buy clothes for work, for example. But as we age, the stuff gets to be a burden: things break, get dirty, take up space. The less we have, the simpler our life.

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Ten Packing Tips for Your Next Vacation

Does it feel like you pack your entire house when you travel? Have you ever remarked with utter amazement that you do not wear or use half of what you cart along on any given trip? If you are going by RV or car, you can take a lot. However, if you are flying and need to navigate via trains, subways, taxis, boats, and planes, you will want to travel light. After all, no one needs to bring my sister’s non notorious 22 turtlenecks for a ten-day family Christmas vacation home or one of my close friend’s four pair of sequinning evening pumps for her cruise!

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Don’t Toss Out Expired Food Until You Read This!

When was the last time you cleaned out your refrigerator and freezer? How about your kitchen cabinets (or pantry, lucky you if you have one!)?

Some foods, think produce and dairy, “announce” their expiration dates. Lettuce and other greens wilt, fruit rots, and milk turns sour. What about packaged foods, though, whether in bottles, cans, boxes, or bags? Besides, what about those leftovers or prepackaged meats and fish in your freezer? How long can you really keep those?

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An Easy-Peasy Way to Take a Household Inventory

If you ever need to file an insurance claim for damages to your home or a police report for stolen items, you will need to produce a list of affected property. You could always write out a list and type it up, but that would take hours. Here is an easy-peasy way to take a home inventory.

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Take the Adventure Out of Finding Items in Your Basement

Is your basement a stockpile of junk? Does it involve what amounts to a treasure hunt just to sift through the clutter to find what you need? Set aside a weekend to take the adventure out of finding items in your basement and to make this area of your home more manageable. Here are the basic steps:

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Nineteen Uses for a Closet Organizer Not Involving Clothes

You know those organizers with pockets that you can hang on a closet rod or over the door? They are useful for a lot more than just clothes. Buy one with clear pockets so you can see what is inside or label the pockets with a label maker or masking tape.

In the spirit of a fresh start for the new year, here are nineteen uses for a closet organizer not involving clothes:

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