Below are the 6 most recent journal entries recorded in marianoclutter's InsaneJournal:

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
6:08 pm	Declutter+your+house Five Incredible Decluttering Tips For Moms Posted By: Marlee Dorst Five incredible declutter tips for moms... just what you need! If you are a mom, you know how busy your life can get running after your child/children, keeping your house tidy, carrying a part-time-job (or full time), preparing varied yet delicious meals, and the list goes on and on. It is amazing, isn't it, how quickly your house can look like tornado went through it! You told yourself before your first child was born that your house would NEVER become one of those houses where you raised your eyebrows upon entering at the clutter and toys everywhere, but lately, you stand in your own door way and shudder at the mess before you! Read the 5 incredible declutter tips for moms below, and take heart... it is not impossible to once again achieve that clutter-free sanctuary called home! DeClutter Tips #1. Discuss. Have a conversation with your partner, children, and whoever else calls your house home. Acknowledge that a cluttered home is rarely the result of only one person, and rarely will one person be able to fix the problem alone. If you take a few minutes to explain that what you want, why you want it, and that you could use their help, you can go a long way to getting to that point. And remember, encouraging and persuading will get you much further than nagging and being accusing. DeClutter Tips #2. Plan. Start with small, achievable goals for your family. Be realistic. Aim to clear one area and get yourself and your kids in the habit of ensuring it stays completely clutter free. This is your Clutter-Free Zone. It can be a counter, your kitchen table, the parlor, or the three-foot perimeter around the couch in your den, whatever you and the kids decide. Have your kids help you ensure it stays clutter-free by enlisting their help monitoring the "Clutter-Free Zone" and ensuring that nothing can be placed there that is not actually in use. If you are creative, you can turn this declutter tip into a game! DeClutter Tips #3. Teach. Teach your kids where things belong. If you teach your kids where things go, and get them inot the habit of putting them there, your house will begin to look much more organized. Declutter tips for Moms who are rather messy themselves: 1) set an example and get into the habit yourself, and 2) be very patient! Your kids (and you) may not learn the habit overnight, but the patience and effort will be WELL worth it! The long term effects of teaching your kids to live uncluttered lives are worth the short term pain. DeClutter Tips #4. Implement. Implement the Pre-Dinner Pick-Up Plan (Also works with Pre-Bedtime, or Pre-Movie Watching, etc.) Before dinner is served each evening, assign different areas for you and the kids to pick up. For example, you could take a basket into the living room, pick up everything that doesn't belong there and take the items to the proper rooms. Your kids can put the toys in the play room (and any that have drifted into the hall) back into their proper places. If you enforce this routine strictly for a month (and yes, your part too), soon it will become habit! Your call of "dinner in 10 minutes" will soon mean "start cleaning up"! DeClutter Tips #5 Encourage. Build a Rewards System. Get yourself a sheet of small stickers for your calendar, and for every day your child keeps his/her room (or the playroom) organized, he/she gets a sticker. 7 consecutive stickers equals a prize, but so do 15 non-consecutive ones (so that occasional bad days are "forgiven" without wiping out the progress that has been made). Declutter tips for Moms whose own bedrooms and rooms are a disaster? 1) Create a reward system for yourself! You know what you like, and be strict enough with yourself to follow through! 2) Give yourself "Demerit Points" for times you fall off your de-clutter plan! 10 Demerit points means you can ___ (you fill in the blank.) 3) If you're brave and have kids that won't do this disrespectfully, have them be your "judges". Children are a blessing, yes, but their mess is often aggravating and stress-inducing, especially when a neighbor drops by expectantly. We tend to feel embarrassed that our houses are full of clutter and wish there was a way to turn out cluttered homes into peaceful and orderly havens. The above Declutter Tips for Moms are hopefully 5 places you can start to get that back! Your household can be clutter-free once more, but your family needs you, Mom, to lead the way! </p> decluttering your home declutter my home declutter my home Marlee Dorst is love spending time with her family in her clutter-free house and wants to help others achieve the same thing! She acknowledges that it is not an easy journey, however, and wants to help you get a firm plan in place by sharing the BEST source of declutter tips she has come across. To check them out, Click Here! decluttering your home: declutter house Article Source: www.articlesnatch.com (Comment on this)
6:08 pm	Declutter+your+house How To Start Decluttering Your Home Posted By: Marlee Dorst You are not sure how to start decluttering your home. You find it overwhelming even to THINK about undertaking such a huge task! And, you have known for quite some time now that the clutter is getting out of control. You know you need to do something about it, but are at a lost as to exactly how to start decluttering your home! You can admit it. Instead of getting to work, you are here on the internet looking for help! Before we get to any concrete ideas or tip on how to start decluttering your home, however, you need to have the right mind-set about the challenge ahead. Here are some things to think about that will help you get to the point where you are actively ready to get to work! And then, get ready to DECLUTTER YOUR HOME! 1. Clearly define your goal. What would your home ideally look like? What are you willing to give up to achieve this goal? Why do you want a de-cluttered home? 2. Be optimistic. Remind yourself of all those old sayings that are cliche but true: "Rome wasn't built in a day" and "The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time". Do NOT tell yourself that you're too far behind to start anything, or that the project is too big for you. 3. Ask yourself why you are holding onto things. Emotional attachment? Frugal nature? Guilt? If you can determine (even vaguely) what it is that stops you from getting rid of clutter, you will be better able to confront those issues head on and see if they are in fact valid. 4. Analyze what stops you from putting things away immediately. Distractions? Laziness? No easily-accessible place for mail to be filed once you open it? Lack of adequate storage containers, shelves, or cupboards? 5. Consider your strengths. Decide what method or plan of attack may best suit you. Do you enjoy crossing completed tasks of your to-do list? Do you think you might enjoy a timed approach where you dedicate a specific amount of time to sorting and de-cluttering each day? Or would you be intrigued by the idea of having a "DeClutter My Home" weekend where you allow no distractions and get as much done as possible in one long stretch? Once you have thought these through, congratulations! You are one step closer to getting your home clutter-free! Mentally you are prepared for the big challenge! Now you are ready to start looking for practical tips on how to start decluttering your home! Check out my article 15 Ways To DeClutter Your Home for some great "in the trenches" ideas! </p> decluttering your home declutter your home declutter your home Marlee Dorst enjoys her clutter-free house and wants to help others achieve the same thing! She wants to share an excellent resource with those of you who aren't sure how to declutter, and those who simply want to declutter fast! Click Here to check it out! decluttering your home: declutter your home Article Source: www.articlesnatch.com (Comment on this)
6:07 pm	Declutter+your+house Bring In 2010 With An Exciting And Compelling Goal Posted By: Jacqueline Sinfi When we think of the New Year we automatically think about New Year Resolutions. However resolutions are usually a highly ineffective way to achieve what we would like in our life. For example, if your new years resolution is to lose weight, or get fit, you will likely to do really well for the first few days or even a few weeks, eating an extreme diet or going to the gym every day. But then the resolution way of life becomes hard and boring and its more comfortable to revert back to old ways. New Years Resolutions are based on pure will power, and without a compelling goal, or big enough why, Resolutions will not be sustainable. However the New Year IS a great time to set goals. I have just read an inspiring book called 'Taming Tigers, Do things you never thought you could do' . The author Jim Lawless tells of how he achieved his goal of riding his first televised horse-race in the space of one year. Before he set this goal for himself he had only been pony trekking twice! In order to achieve this ambitious goal he had to get up every day at 5am to train, continue his day job, lose 1/4 of his body weight (jockeys are very light), move houses to be near the training ground, and give up alcohol (which can't have been easy for someone that hadn't gone to bed sober for 17 years). It would have be extremely hard to do these things if Jim hadn't had a compelling goal. This year when you are thinking about what you would like to achieve think BIG. What would you move heaven and earth to achieve? Start with your big goal and then work backwards. You are much more likely to stick to a diet, declutter your house, get fit, etc. when the big goal excites you. The sense of exhilaration that Jim felt when he completed the race was - Absolute Elation'. Not only did he achieve his goal but he now has the knowledge that he can do anything that he sets his mind and this will stay with him forever. When inspired Adults with ADHD can achieve incredible feats in a very short space of time, so can you. So your first action for 2010 is to create a compelling and exciting goal. Don't worry about how you will achieve your goal, your only job today is to think WHAT you would like to achieve! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Copyright (c) 2010 Jacqueline Sinfield</p> decluttering your home declutter my home declutter my home Jacqueline Sinfield is an ADHD coach and author of the book, Untapped Brilliance: How to Reach Your Full Potential as an Adult with ADHD. She has worked in the healthcare field for nearly twenty years. She has an Honors degree in Psychology and trained & worked as a nurse in England before moving to Montreal, Canada where she has her own private coaching practise. http://www.untappedbrilliance.com decluttering your home: declutter your home Article Source: www.articlesnatch.com (Comment on this)
6:07 pm	Declutter+your+house Clutter Help For Moms Like You! Posted By: Marlee Dorst You are a busy mom, and you need some clutter help! It seems lately like every way you look you see clutter! You remind and remind your children to put their toys away, but every time you turn around there is another mess that will have to be cleaned up. You're tired of the constant clutter, but what are you going to do? How can you get back that calm, orderly sanctuary that you had before you had children, and more importantly, how can you help your children develop better organization and decluttering skills? If you don't want to be the one cleaning up your children's clutter for years to come, the first thing you need to do is establish a plan of action. Sit your family down and discuss the issue. Explain what you want (garbage thrown out, no more toys and books left everywhere, space to put things, etc.), and then ask their advice on how you can get that. Have your children design a plan that makes sense to them! Trust me... if you simply lay down the law, say "it will be so", and then expect your house to get tidy and organized, it won't happen! BUT... if you can get your children to design ways you can get that calm and orderly house back, they will be MUCH more inclined to help you follow through without your nagging! And if you can turn it into a game, all the better! Moms, although "your home is your castle", your little princes and princess also have some "ruling power" there whether or not you admit it. After all, whose items cause the most clutter? (If yours, well, you know the truth that you are leading by example, right?) Your children need to be involved in assigning places for things if you expect them to remember where they go. I know you're thinking "I tell them again and again and again..." but, have you ever thought of asking your children where they think a particularly often-left-lying-around item should go? Clutter help for you could come in the form of your son telling you that he always drops his school bag on the floor by the door because he doesn't feel like walking up the stairs to his room to put it away before coming to you to say hello. A solution he might come up with that would solve that problem could be for you to designate a hook beside the coats for him to hang his school bag! As you are a busy woman and you need some help keeping the house tidy, get your family involved in solving the clutter problem, not just in cleaning up the clutter! Having children live with you does not have to immediately mean you live in a cluttered home. If you want no clutter, help yourself and your family get to that state by learning patience and using the resources available! Even if you are the very best teacher and you set a fabulous example, the truth is that your family will not learn by osmosis how to live decluttered lives. However,, your patience and effort will no doubt be WELL worth it when little by little your house gets back to that orderely, peaceful state you want so badly, and when your child learn to live decluttered lives!</p> decluttering your home declutter house declutter house Marlee Dorst knows that keeping a clutter-free house can be a difficult challenge, especially with a busy family. Read about one way she has found success by clicking here: Clutter Help: Holding A Declutter Challenge! Marlee also highly recommends using the best resources available to ensure that you are successful in your decluttering battle! decluttering your home: declutter house Article Source: www.articlesnatch.com (Comment on this)
6:07 pm	Declutter+your+house Help Me With My Clutter! Posted By: Marlee Dorst Have you asked anyone in the last few months to help me with my clutter? Perhaps not, but if you even once have claimed this will be the month I will get my house organized, but then turn around and merely add to the heaps and piles of excess "stuff", then perhaps you should be looking for help with your clutter! Read this article and continue stepping in the right direction... the direction towards a clutter-free home! Would you believe that almost everyone you know has a clutter problem of some sorts? Unless that friend of yours with the always immaculate house is obsessive-compulsively tidy and organized, there is a good chance that she will have that one junk drawer (that of course you have never seen) where she shoves anything, that one stuffed box of loose photos that need to be filed at some point, or that purse that is bulging with old receipts and unused lipstick tubes. But, this friend does not worry over the minor clutter! Why not? Because she has her clutter problem under control! How did she get there? What sets apart the organized from those like you that have said "help me with my clutter"? Allow me to share a couple of ideas: Some people have acted on the knowledge that it takes a lot less time and energy to declutter even an enormous mess than it does to look at those loads of clutter and feel guilty about them day after day, month after month. Some people know that creating order in their lives is energizing and even confidence building and they desire that badly enough to take action! Some people are aware of the secret of how they can still keep all the stuff they want, yet still have a decluttered home! Some people know how they CAN beat procrastination! Some people have learned the tips and essentials which are vital to never again saying I need help with my clutter! Where would you like to fit in? That you happen to be reading this short article must tell you that you desperately want to lessen the clutter in your house. You want to be one of those some people I just described. Maybe it had even been your New Years Resolution this year to declutter your home! So, how do you do it? The best guidance I can provide you with is to encourage you to get busy today! Don't wait, don't put it off for another day... never have to say "help me with my clutter" again! Reap the benefits of the information and resources available which will lead you through the battleground that is currently called your home! There are many free "tips to declutter your home" or "declutter tips for moms" or "ways to start decluttering" on the internet! Use those search enginges and find something that works for you and your household! Trying to conquer clutter on your own is tough because the clutter can be a formidable enemy! But, remember, you CAN win the battle! </p> decluttering your home declutter house declutter house Marlee Dorst knows that clutter can be a huge challenge, and wants to start you off on your search for tips by sending you here: 15 Decluttering Tips! Want some professional advice guaranteed to help? Check out quick, intriguing, and valuable declutter fast tips that have received overwhelming raves from former pack-rats, former clutter-bugs, and former people like you! decluttering your home: declutter your home Article Source: www.articlesnatch.com (Comment on this)
6:07 pm	Declutter+your+house Decluttering Your House For A Quick Move - Tips And Advice Posted By: Marlee D All of the sudden your "To-Do list" has one glaring 1 item on it that you were not expecting for some time yet: Decluttering your house for a move! Yes, the deal went through much quicker than you anticipated, and suddenly you are faced with the scary reality of deal with the clutter that has built up over the years, clutter that you know you don't want to take with you to your lovely new home. How do you going about decluttering your house for a move? Get started with the tips and advice below and get your boxes packed with ease! If in doubt, throw it out. Be realistic and even brutal with yourself as to what you need to pack, and what you wont use. Keep the garbage bags, recycle bins, and boxes for charity beside you as you sort through your house room by room. Do you really need 2 phonebooks (already outdated) from your soon-to-be old hometown? Is packing your whole supply of empty margarine containers really necessary? Will you really FINALLY USE that 2nd spare for good table-cloth that youve kept in the cupboard since you got married? Is that ugly old love-seat really worth shipping to your lovely new house? If in doubt, get rid of it. Make some extra cash. Do a quick walk-through with your camera and take pictures of larger items that you KNOW you want gone before the movers come. Upload them and list them on Craiglist, Kijiji, or Ebay. Earn some cash and empty your rooms of the big items. Price them low, and they will go. Block out time for decluttering. Unless you want to be going crazy the day before the move, you will need to get started right away, and work hard during the time you have. Set aside large chunks of time (the whole evening, the weekend, etc.) and focus on the task at hand. Work systematically. If you just declutter here and there and wherever you feel in the mood to work, you wont see and appreciate the progress you are making. Declutter your house for a move by finishing one area, one room, one persons clothing, etc., at a time. Deal with the clutter NOW. Dont succumb to the Ill deal with it when I unpack lie. Will you really? Or will you just put those boxes full of unnecessaries into the garage and deal with them four years from now? Free yourself from distractions! Hire a baby-sitter to take your kids on an outing for the afternoon, or ask a friend to take your kids for a few hours. Use this free time well and declutter with no distractions! Use resources! There are many different ways to declutter, but some will help you with decluttering your house for a move much faster than others! A move is the perfect time to start with a fresh, uncluttered house. When you pack, keep that thought in mind and DO NOT pack items that you cant see yourself ever wanting, missing, needing, or using again. Perhaps that sounds obvious, but if you look around your house at the clutter in your closets, drawers, spare room, basement, and garage, you are certain to see several things that fit into that category. If you really want to do a good job decluttering your house for a move, follow the advice above and your Moving Day will be smoother and easier than you thought was possible! </p> decluttering your home declutter your house declutter your house Want to cure both your home of clutter and yourself of your "clutter-bug" status? Check out http://www.declutterdiva.info to learn about the quick, interesting, and helpful tips that have received overwhelming raves from former pack rats and clutter-bugs alike. If you want to learn about the latest craze in decluttering, visit Take The Declutter Challenge now! decluttering your home: declutter house Article Source: www.articlesnatch.com (Comment on this)