Best Life NOW! Blog

I am in the midst of preparing a 10 minute speech for Wednesday about organizing for the holidays.  I will be speaking to the Business Women United - Chesterton Alliance . I thought I would post the tips here so that everyone can benefit.  Or mock them.  Whichever. 1.   Store all of your gifts in one place.  Along with those gifts, keep your gift wrap and accessories.       That way, everything will be together.  Easier to wrap and no gift will be forgotten. 2.   Holiday products and bundles.       They are so attractive, right?  Everyone from Dove bath products to Dove chocolate has a "special" holiday package full of extras.  This is great if you actually use the product.  If you do not and are enticed by the beautiful packaging, you may end up regretting that purchase and it will probably turn in to clutter.  It is not a bargain if you don't already use and love...

This holiday season, use your credit card points to purchase gift cards for those on your gift list.  You have the points, now use them!  It may make purchasing gifts just a little less painful. The other benefit of purchasing gift cards?  You are giving a clutter free gift.  Plus, you don't have to wrap anything.  Simply place the gift card into a Christmas card, sign your name and you are done.  Some ideas for clutter free gift cards: Gas card Restaurant card Itunes (my personal gift of choice!) Now, go check your points balance with your credit cards and get those gift cards ordered.  Christmas will be here before you know it!

Okay, I will admit it.   I have begun decorating for Christmas.  I could not help myself. In the process of taking the decorations from storage, I decided to let some of them go.  Here is my criteria for what went: 1.  I no longer liked it.       Our tastes change over the months and  years. 2.  It was a gift from someone and I never liked it.      It really is the thought that counts.......enough said. 3.  I no longer wanted to store it, maintain it or go all out decorating.      You only have the space you have.  I am not willing to take up as much room storing my Christmas items as I have in the past.   I used to really go all out and decorate to the point where it looked like Christmas threw up in our home.  At this point, I just don't have the time or quite honestly the energy to go all out.  Simple is so much better! I will be...

Anyone out there a germ-a-phobe like me in public bathrooms? Do any of you flush the toilet with your foot? You know, hit the silver bar with your foot so the toilet flushes? So let me set up this little scenario for you. My husband and I are at the York Train meet in York, PA held at the fairgrounds. Now, the women’s bathrooms inside the buildings are staffed by women who are continually cleaning the stalls, mirrors, floors, spraying air freshener, making sure the toilet paper and paper towels are stocked, selecting a radio station (not kidding), etc. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen but then again, I won’t turn my nose up at a clean public restroom. So, there are signs posted that they work for tips so please be generous. Okeydokey. So, I go to flush with my foot and I manage to flush but I also…………….lost my balance and my foot slipped. Yep, right into the still flushing toilet. Oh yeah, and did I mention that at this time it was just me and the bathroom attendant present at the t...

At Mass today, our priest was talkinga about gathering as a family for meals and the benefits that it offered. I had no idea that gathering as a family at least 5 times a week could improve your child's grades as well as preventing self destructive behaviors, to name a few. One barrier that may stop you from enjoying a meal with your family may be clutter. Some tips to help you de-clutter and organize your kitchen are: 1. Create zones in your kitchen to save steps: Some examples of zones are baking, cooking, chopping/preparation zones. 2. De-clutter your gadgets. Instead of buying one gadget for every process, buy one gadget that does multiple things. 3. Make it easy for your children to set the table. Place your dishes (not the good china) in a low cabinet as well as your placemats and glasses. Need more reasons to get your kitchen organized? Read more here .

Isn't she gorgeous?  She is my brand new organizing bag. I got her from L.L. Bean last week after ditching my trusty backpack.  Why?  The backpack was okay but it was not GREAT.   It was too deep and everything that was not in a container of it's own fell right to the bottom.  This "bean bag" has the potential to be great. This bag is actually mean for packing toiletries when traveling.  I re-purposed it. I am still in the process of tweaking my new bag.  Right now I have all of my small parts (paper clips, tape, rubber bands) in my roll up bag.   I may be ditching the roll up bag in favor of the small pockets that my new bag contains.  Also, this bag is designed to hang on a hook.  Inside the bag is an over the door hanger that I purchased that should fit the bill. I will report on further developments on  my new bag. 

The beginning of this year, I did some re-evaluating regarding my business.  I took some time to think about where my time and money were being spent and what kind of return I was receiving.  After re-evaluating, this is what I did: I eliminated extra web pages on my website that were taking extra time to maintain and were unnecessary. I switched from using Constant Contact to using Mail Chimp for my newsletters.  (Mail Chimp is a free service and has most of the same functionality as Constant Contact.) Instead of offering a monthly newsletter, I now offer a quarterly newsletter. I eliminated one business networking group from my schedule.  This freed up my time (it was a weekly meeting) and my money (it was a huge investment.)  Also, it was not a good fit for me as this group did not represent my target market. I joined two business women networking groups who I really connect with and who understand me and what I offer.    Here is...