30 Simple Steps to a More Organized Life

Happy Tuesday everyone!   The snow has finally melted here in Ottawa and the sun is shining.   I even went out this morning without a jacket on.   Some days, it felt like spring was never going to arrive but today  I am so grateful to see the sun.

Many of you read my daily "Take 5" on Facebook and I am told daily how much people enjoy reading them.

The daily "Take 5" are part of my free tips and techniques which get shared on the Adventures In Organizing Facebook page and this newly released eBook takes that program one step further.

30 Simple Steps to a More Organized Life will proved you with simple daily activities, that at the end of just 30 days will have you seeing your home and your life from an entirely new perspective.

If you are feeling fragmented and pulled in 100 different directions, this is the eBook for you.   At just 4.97 you will have access to this easy simple  to use, quick and concise daily organizing tool.   Real results in just 30 days for just 4.97 - how can you lose?

It is incredible how freeing getting rid of clutter and finding a home for all of your belongings becomes.   Clarity of mind and a renewed purpose often follow.
 
I encourage you to download your copy today and better still,  buy a copy for a friend and spread a little clutter free Spring Cleaning love around.

If you are having trouble with the links, visit our website at www.adventuresinorganizing.ca   and click on the download tab on the left.

The exact url to paste in your browser is:   http://adventuresinorganizing.ca/index.php/downloads

Ottawa Mom's - Solution to the Dinner Dilemma

It all started with defrosting the freezer

This month, I  thought it would be fun to write a product review and while not a typical organizing product, I decided to find a explore solutions to the "Dinner Dilemma".   So began my quest to solve the age old problem of getting a delicious, nutritious meal on the table in as little time as possible.

 One of the key things many of my clients, and I struggle with is finding the time to prepare and serve home cooked meals and avoid stopping at the drive through window on the way home.   We all want to eat better and serve our family nutritious meals that do not take forever to make.

In that vein, I put my cash on the table and tried out two dinner solutions companies this month.  I wanted to see whether or not the service, the quality and the value were reasonable for the price.

The first company was a franchise dinner preparation company called Supperworks. We visited the location on Hazeldean Road in Kanata. My husband Roy and I actually went there for our 31st wedding anniversary and prepared 12 entrees - I know what you are thinking, "Man, that Jennifer lives a wild and crazy life". 

Anyway, I digress, Supperworks was very clean and the staff were friendly and helpful.  They signed us in, handed us our menu and offered us a glass of wine - (they had me at the wine).

If you have never used a service like Supperworks, it basically works like this:

Meatloaf - simply remove the lid and cook

• Visit www.supperworks.com, choose your city
• Select your dinners for that month’s menu items (they change each month) 
• Choose your date and time to go prepare the meals from the available booking schedule 
• Show up to your appointment and assemble the menu items. All directions and serving containers are provided. If you do not want to assemble them yourself, they will do it for you for an additional fee. 
• Take your meals home and put in the freezer –they have all been assembled and you simply need to thaw and cook.
• All cooking instructions are adhered to the packaging.

Take a cooler or two with you to transport your items home.

Quiche!
Crust with eggs and filling in one baggies and the shredded cheese in another.  
Freeze, thaw, pour into crust and bake.   It was really yummy.

It took my Roy and I about 1 ½ hours to prepare the 12 entrees but you could likely do it quicker alone – we were in no hurry - it was our Anniversary after all.

Likewise, you could pay a $40.00 fee and have Supperworks prepare everything for you and simply pick it up at the store and take it home.

While not inexpensive, it was much less expensive than if we were all to eat out at a restaurant 12 times. The per serving price is approximately $5.00 based on a family of 6.

The thing that impressed me is that we are a family of 5 + my daughter’s hungry 26 year old Fiancé who eats with us most of the time. Each entrée was plenty big enough for everyone.

The pork chops came in a package of 6 which surprised me; I expected there would only be 4. The pork tenderloin dish included 2 full tenderloins so again, they do not skimp on the protein.

The most surprising to me was that the roast beef, while not a cut I would normally buy, was not only large enough to feed us all it was extremely tender which I was not expecting. I had visions of a chain saw being needed and happily, we did not need to drag it out of the shed.

Roast Beef!   Tasty and no chain saw required.

Below are the menu items that were part of the experiment and I included the price as well

Aunt Bea's Beef Stew (3-4 quart crockpot or stovetop)			1
Cheddar-Jack's Black Bean & Brown Rice Wraps (oven or freezer-to-microwave)			1
Cheesy-Chile Quiche (oven)			1
Dads Favourite Meatloaf (oven)			1
Panko Crusted Chicken Tenders (oven)			2
Peachy Pork Chops (stovetop)			1
Roast Beef with Sun Dried Tomato Gravy (oven AND stovetop)			2
Shrimp Rotini (stovetop)			1
Sonoma Pork Tenderloin (oven)			2
	Subtotal for 12 meal package:			$345.00
Side Dish: Creamy Peas & Orzo (Freezer to Microwave)			1	$6.00
Side Dish: Curried Cranberry-Raisin Rice (Shelf to Stovetop)			1	$6.00
Side Dish: Rosemary Focaccia with Herbed Olive Oil & Balsamic Dip (freezer-to-oven)			1	$7.00
		Food Subtotal:	15	$364.00

The second company that was part of my experiment was a local Ottawa company called Scratch Kitchen. I saw their truck drive by a month or so ago and thought I would check out their website www.scratchkitchen.com

Here is what I discovered…


Scratch Kitchen is a family run business that uses as much as is possible, given our climate locally sourced and organic ingredients. Along all the regular menu items, they include some gluten-free dishes as well as vegetarian offerings.


The food is prepared in a commercial, health inspected kitchen then is packaged and frozen ready for delivery. They deliver within most of the Ottawa area each Friday.

This company works like this:
· Visit their website at scratchkitchen.com

· Click on the online ordering tab to ensure you are within their delivery zone

· Start an account

· Click on the menu tab and review your options – you can buy as much or as little as you like (I bought pre-planned bulk orders under the Meal Ideas Tab and then clicked Stock-Up)

· Once you have made your selections you go to the shopping cart and check out.

· Your cooked and frozen food will be delivered Friday – leave a cooler on your porch if you are not home but if paying by cash you have to be there.

With Scratch Kitchen, I ordered two of their food packages. The two packages were roughly $30.00 more expensive than my adventure at Supperworks + another $5.00 for delivery which I considered a bargain at today’s fuel prices. While I say it is more expensive than Supperworks, keep in mind that if I had them prepare the food and picked it up, they would have come in more expensive – it’s all in the preparation.

As soon as I placed my order I received an email from Scratch Kitchen apologizing and saying two of the sides were not available and was given the choice of a refund or to substitute with soups. Since the purpose of this experiment was to see what the dollar comparisons were, I opted for the soup instead of the refund. I love soup anyway so it was a win in my world.

The entire Scratch Kitchen Order.
Lunches on  top, mains in the middles and sides below.

Here is what my online order looked like:

One order called Stock My Freezer – the cost for this plan was $195.00 and includes:

Sides

· Quinoa With Mixed Mushrooms and Vegetables

· Risotto with Roasted Butternut Squash

· Creamy Mashed Potatoes

· Chili Lime Rice

Lunches

· Italian Three Cheese and Meat Lasagna

· Traditional Shepherd’s Pie

· Guinness Beef and Mushroom Ragout

· Indian Butter Chicken

· Thai Chicken and Vegetable Green Curry

· Butternut Squash Curry Coconut Soup

Mains

· Braised Lamb Shanks with Rosemary

· Savory Turkey Shepherds Pie

· Beef Bourguignon

· Gourmet Macaroni and Cheese

· Chicken in White Wine Cream Sauce with Leeks and Asparagus

· Madras Chicken Curry

· Indian Butter Chicken



The other order was called The Busy Week and cost for this plan was $200.00 and includes the following:

Lunches

· Chicken in White Wine Cream Sauce with Leeks and Asparagus

· Pasta with Sausage (Pennine)

· Savory Turkey Shepherds Pie

· Indian Butter Chicken

· Thai Chicken and Vegetable Green Curry

Dinner 1:

· Quinoa with Dried Cranberry, Roasted Winter Squash and kale (Side)

· Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole (Side)

· Braised Lamb Shanks with Rosemary (Main)

Dinner 2:

· Quinoa with Mixed Mushrooms and Vegetables (Side)

· Hungarian Beef Goulash (Main)

· Chicken in a White Wine Cream Sauce with Leeks and Asparagus (Main)

Dinner 3:

· Chili Lime Rice (Side)

· Indian Butter Chicken (Main)

· Madras Chicken Curry (Main)

Dinner 4:

· Creamy Mashed Potatoes (Side)

· Guinness Beef and Mushroom Ragout (Main)

· Boeuf Bourguignon (Main)

The "lunch" meals from Scratch Kitchen impressed me the most.   They come packaged like a frozen dinner and the tray is sectioned off and contained delicious veggies, a starch of rice or potato and the protein in a third compartment.   This option would make a much healthier choice than grabbing fast food for lunch each day. 

The other thing I really liked about the lunch packs were that they would work well for a dinner for seniors who often have much smaller appetites.  They just need to peel back the film and pop it in the microwave.

Scratch Kitchen Lunch Serving 

The quality of the food that Scratch Kitchen used to create the meals seemed excellent and everything was tender and well prepared.  

Scratch Kitchen side serving of Chili Lime Rice

My goal when I began was to compare dollar value with both companies - basically what would $400.00 get me from both companies.     How would portion, quality, service and time to table differ? 

$365 at Supperworks got us:

12 mains 

and 3 sides

we prepared and packaged the mains and brought them home to freeze, later to be thawed and cooked.

The mains were in portions that worked for our family but if you have a small family, you can prepare 1/2 orders for less money. If we had Supperworks meals prepared for us the cost would have been $405.00.   The mains would work well for a family of 4-6. With 6 of us, we had plenty to eat when adding a side salad and extra veg (we like our vegies). The food was extremely flavourful and we would definitely use the service again 

$400.00 at Scratch Kitchen got us:

 9 sides, 

11 lunches, 

and 14 mains 

all of which were prepared, cooked, packaged and delivered. 

 The mains really are more suited to a family of 3, which I knew going into this experiment but again, wanted to compare dollar for dollar. 

 I did receive an email this week from the owner of Scratch Kitchen and they are looking at increasing the portion sizes to serve larger families and the price point they are considering is very reasonable. The food generally was a high sauce to protein ratio, one of my kids found it too “saucy” another loved it just as is. 

Scratch Kitchen would be an excellent option for a smaller family who is time crunched and wants a convenient quick and healthy meal.     All the dishes were had were mildly seasoned so for those who do not like foods with a lot of seasoning and spice, this would be perfect!   

Downside of Supperworks - you still have to remember to thaw it and you still have to put it in the oven or crockpot

Downside of Scratch Kitchen - small portions, only deliver on Fridays

Plus of Supperworks - large portions, flavourful and you can adjust the seasonings to your taste

Plus of Scratch Kitchen - quality food prepared, cooked, packaged and frozen,  delivered right to your door!

Mission Accomplished!
Our very full freezer with
Supperworks,
Scratch Kitchen
and  my  very own Dinner's by Jenn

Our family winner - Supperworks for overall taste and portion size.    

If you are not in the Ottawa area, I am sure you can find similar companies and small businesses in your area to provide you with the same service.   

Q is for Quiet - Finding Quiet Amidst the Chaos

                                         

When was the last time you just sat in the quiet.   No television, no Facebook, no radio, just quiet?

I live life at a pretty frantic pace these days and do not take as much time as I would like to just “be still” and listen for the glory and peace that can be found in silence.

Personally,  I find that time just being still relaxes me and allows me to focus in on what is really important.   I use this time to try and push away all the nonsense that the day, the week, the month or the year has thrown at me and re-prioritize.   

Sometimes, we just have one of those years where life just seems to hammer away at us – having a quiet time helps to refocus and relax amidst the chaos of day-to-day living.  

For me, being the spiritual gal that I am, having a dedicated quiet time allows me the opportunity to be alone with God and quiet myself to see where he may lead me through the day.    I tend to get wound up in the details and often find being still helps me take in the "big picture".

Try finding just 10 minutes in  in your week this week, to “be still” and listen to what your inner voice is telling you.   If you are not in the habit of finding time to absorb the quiet,  I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the calm that can be found in just doing nothing, being still and absorbing the quiet.

Jennifer

P is for Procrastinate - How to Get Things Done

is for Procrastinate

I don’t know about you but Procrastinating is one of my major character flaws.  

When there is a job that needs doing, one that I dread and loath -  (like taxes), I can find a million things to distract me from getting started.

As a result, I have devised some strategies to help me deal with my dreaded tasks

I need to deal actually schedule the  jobs on my procrastination list into my planner or they just will not get done!   Yup,  I actually have a list of items that I have been procrastinating on completing.

Ways to just get it things done:

If you really hate it – and can hire it out – just do it!

• Schedule it into your day planner
• Ensure your work area is free of distractions (Turn off email, Facebook and twitter, let the phone go to voicemail.
• Break the task down into components
• Get Started!
• Begin with a part of the job that is the least loathsome
• Work on the more difficult parts when you are at your high performance time of the day – for some this could be first thing in the morning, for others, right after lunch. 
• Take timed breaks after completing a component and then ensure that you get back to it

You’ve completed your task – reward yourself with a clutter free gift, positive gift ( a massage, a date with your honey, a walk in the woods, whatever makes you smile)

If you need help getting started with your organizing projects we can help.    Visit our website today.   www.adventuresinorganizing.ca

Are You Ready To Die?

Kind of a bleak title I know but the point is - are you?

Once again in the crazy little world that is my life, we are about to lose another beloved family member.   This time though, he made all his plans and organized his estate well in advance, knowing that this day would come.

When my birth father learned of his Parkinson's diagnosis, and that he was in the early stages of Lewy Body Dementia he made sure to take care of his "business" right away.

He updated his will, assigned his executor (and a backup), ensured that he had his Power of Attorney taken care of.  He even took the time to have developed a Trust to take care of his Estate.   He does not leave behind a fortune but he was very smart with what he had and made sure to protect his hard earned blue collar dollars.

Shortly after diagnosis, he took the entire family away to Lake Nipissing  for one last family vacation.  All his grand children were there and we have great memories of that week away in the glory of Northern Ontario.  We had a chance to celebrate his life while was still well and to celebrate the life of our family.  Dad ensured that he had a final chance to fish and boat with his grand kids and create lasting memories that will hold them for a lifetime.

My Dad even made sure we were all very aware of what his last wishes were for a funeral and whether or not to bury or cremate.  While this my seem incredibly morbid to some, in our family, it is just a fact-of-life discussion. Without a doubt it was painful to listen to, but at the same time, it is  a discussion that needs to be had.

Today, with all the sadness we are feeling as a family, there is also an immense gratitude that we do not have to; guess at what his wishes were, that we do not have to feel regret for time not spent together, and that the stress of the closing out his estate and belongings will ultimately be,  as stress-free as he could possibly make for his children.

So, are you ready?

N is for Normal: Is all this Clutter Normal?

N is for Normal, Necessary, Needed, Numerous, Never-Ending....you get the  point!

Organizing really comes down to a few basic principles and one of them is whether or not the items we have in our homes, on our desks, on our computers or in our offices  are Necessary.   

While items of beauty are Needed to enhance our homes and bring us joy, sometimes the things we collect become too Numerous and we Need to find the power to say “No More” when considering adding to our collections.

Is it Needed, is it Necessary, are the questions we should ask ourselves on our organizing adventures and if the answer to both questions is yes – then where do they belong?   

The space in our home is finite and on occasion some of our belonging seems to be infinite.   When our belonging become too Numerous for the allotted space, it is time to pare them down to fit the allowable space.   

• Too many jeans for the drawer? Get rid of the least loved.  
• Too many purses for the shelf?  Look them over and start by getting rid of your least favourite, your least used, until you have enough space.

One of my favourite clients often asks me “is this Normal”?  There is really no real answer to that question - Normal is different for everyone.   What some consider normal others consider abnormal.   A more compelling question could be “how does this mess, this closet, this bins of photographs or this dining room table we can no longer eat at, make me feel?”   

If it does not make us or a member of our household feel comfortable, then it is time to make a NOW Change.  A  Now Change is one that needs to happen before it causes strife in our homes.  What Now Change can you make today to  home and your life more comfortable?


I have no idea why I have struggled so much with this particular blog entry but finally, here you go!  I want to thank my colleagues at POC for their assistance in coming up with some Organizing related “N” words.

I won! Office Candy Rocks!!!

Wow,   I never win anything.... well that is not entirely true,

the only other time  I won something was in middle school and I won a pair of cordory pants from Mountain Dew.

The problem with that was, they mixed up the leg length with the waist - there are not many kids with a 34 inch waist in middle school so needless to say, while I did win, I could never wear the pants because they just fell right back off again.

But such is not the case with this great win!!!

File Totes at Officecandy.com!

Office Candy had a fun contest on their Facebook Page & website and guess won?    ME, that's right!   I love this Patent Leather File Tote so much.    It has been out "on the job" with me all month, my clients love it, and I really like having easy access to all this week's clients at my finger tips.   So what do I carry in it?

• This weeks Clients

• Extra Copies of Time Sheets and Contracts

• My agenda for booking future organizing appointments.

It is sleek and sexy (yes a file tote can be sexy) and makes me smile.

I like the product quality and how quickly it was shipped so much, I joined their affiliate program.   If you are interested in taking a peek at Office Candy and all their fun "candy" check out the link below.


File Totes at Officecandy.com!

 Thanks Office Candy!    Jennifer