NEAT & SIMPLE LIVING with Ariane Benefit, Organizing Coach

Goodbye Blogger, Hello Typepad!

I think I may have killed Blogger.  Maybe I was posting too often?  Was it because I publishing via FTP?  (I do have a way of multitasking that often results in crashes and reboots.)   Maybe it was just the Blogger version of the dreaded"blue screen of death".  I don't know..but one day -December 1st to be exact - I went to post...and my blog simply wouldn't publish.   Neither would my other 2 blogs.  Alan & I tried everything, even writing every day to the support email address.  Ha, Blogger can't even spell support.  No replys.  No nothing.  Just 3 dead blogs on my hands. I think maybe the whole account / file became corrupted. 

So there I was - out in the blogosphere, effectively gagged and bound, with no one to help me and no way to tell my readers what was going on.  So here I am at Typepad.  After researching alternatives to Blogger till my head was about to explode - I opted to go with a paid service in hopes that I'll get some actual support.  But I am bummed that I can no longer post via FTP to my own webhost.  I was really moving up in the Google, Yahoo and MSN ranks thanks to all the content on my site. 

Now I'm trying to learn a whole new way of blogging and figure out how I'm going to get my dead Blogger blog to reappear here.  I suppose I'm lucky it happened after 3 months of blogging and not a year.  And, I do still have my content.  Maybe it was just time to grow up and get a serious blog!  I actually can't wait to have CATERGORIES!  Maybe I don't need multiple blogs after all.   Being a professional organizer and writer, I love the concept of CATEGORIES!!!!  I'm all about designing information to be easy to access and navigate.  : )

  Here's to Typepad!

Creative Ways to Recycle Greeting Cards

Again from Dawn at www.frugalforlife.com

Other uses for those holiday/birthday/anniversary cards include:

• Bookmarks
• Gift tags
• Recipe cards
• Decorate brown paper gift bags
• Make your own cards
• Use the pictures for magnets

See more great tips from Dawn.

Happy Holidays,

moon added this comment  (before we moved to typead)

HI, found u on blogazoo..will be sure to come back I have been using old xmas cards to make gift tags for many years. The ones that have writting on the back of the front (u know ppl who write u a letter in the card) well those I just glew onto coloured constuction paper, THEN cut out what ever it is I want.....anyway, great blog...thanks, have a good day

                  

 

creative holiday tips recycling cards

Tips for Creating a Home Filing System

The Challenge

Most people I know find it a challenge to deal with office paperwork - even if they are very well organized in other areas of their home. Organizing your home office and creating a filing system is one of the more difficult organizing tasks in any home.

Especially if you work out of your home office. It's hard to focus on organizing when you have paid work to get done. Another reason is that creating a great filing system can be a very time consuming task.  For a creative person, it can be a nightmare just to define categories for all the paper. There are so many choices!  Almost every paper in your file could be filed in any number of categories. And then once you do decide on a category, it's hard to remember what you chose! It's a vicious cycle.  And then you have to figure out how long to keep everything for tax purposes.

The Solution
Here are some tips to help make "doing it yourself" a little easier.

Create Filing Index
One way out of that cycle is to create an Index for your file system that explains what's in each category. That way, you have a guide to help you file...AND a guide to help you find documents.

Use a Premade System - The HomeFile System
If you don't want to do all this work yourself, you can now buy products that have done all the work for you! We feature one of these products in our Neat Living Store. It's called the Home File system. (Shown in the photo) It has file folder cards all set up so you don't have to make any labels. And it includes an index already made.

All you have to do is open the package, stick each card that is relevant to you in a pendaflex type hanging folder, and then start filing!

Your system will be ready to use in 5 - 10 minutes and all the category decisions have been made for you.

This is a Lifesaver for people with ADD, or anyone who gets overwhelmed with setting up and trying to maintain their files.

If you would like to see more or order this product, go to our store, and click on Office, or search on "homefile" (don't put a space between home and file)

Here are a few other places online you can get pre-made filing systems & folders (we use Office Depot Brand hanging files rather than Pendaflex - it saves a lot of money.)

Organize-Everything.com

Office Depot

and search on "Filing Systems."

To help you create your own filing system, we've created a 3 Page document that provides and a planning tool listing all the diffent categories and clearly explaining exactly which documents to keep and how long to keep them.  To get our FREE "Document Retention & Filing Guidelines" just sign up for our Neat Living Newsletter! It's a great way to be ready for the upcoming tax season!

 All the best,

 

Are Candles Ruining Your Health?

CANDLE LOVERS - There is good news and bad news!

First the BAD NEWS
As beautiful as candles are, they are one of the worst things you can do for your sinuses. If you wake up with headaches often, paraffin wax candles could be the reason. Some people think they have allergies and its really due to burning candles. They pollute indoor air so badly, that most air purifiers include a warning that the purifier can't work properly if you burn candles.

Many candles also produce carcinogenic toxins. We stopped burning candles a couple years ago when we started having chronic sinus infections. Our doctor said no more candles! We only burn them outdoors or near an open window, and even then, only occasionally. And now, we almost never wake up with sinus headaches or get chronic sinus infections now.

The GOOD NEWS!
The good news is we can now burn candles again! Thanks to soy wax candles. According to ROBYN LANDIS, author, activist, musician, and personal Eco-Shopper at http://www.theecoshopper.com/ , they don't "produce petrol-carbon soot (the stuff that blackens your walls) Soy wax is non-toxic and non-carcinogenic. It also burns slower (up to 40% longer) and cooler than paraffin, which means the candle lasts longer. There is no wasted wax. Because soy burns evenly there is no "tunneling effect" as with paraffin wax candles. Finally, soybeans are a renewable resource. Paraffin contains petroleum, which as we well know is not a renewable resource. Paraffin wax also contains 11 documented toxins. Soywax is completely biodegradable. Many paraffin wax candles also use lead laced wicks."

To learn more visit: http://www.healthycandles.org/

Here are some places to get Soy Candles

http://www.herbalremedies.com/ (Some very reasonably priced candles here. For example, get the Country Barn Jar Candle, Triple Scented, Lead Free, All Natural Soy Wax Blend, In Glass Mason Jar w/ Antique Screw on Lid, 120 hr - 16 oz for only $10.95)
http://www.sensia.com/
http://www.soyphisticatedcandles.com/
http://www.secretclosetgifts.com/
http://www.sunlightspa.com/
http://www.vickyscandles.com/
http://store.naturessoycandles.net/
http://www.vickerey.com/
http://www.soylights.net/
http://www.caterpillarscandles.com/
http://www.ecolightcandles.com/

Health Candles Soy Products Sinus gifts Paraffin renewable resource

Light Up Your Open House and Sell!

If you are selling your home, one way to accentuate your home's best features is to light them. For example, if you have a great fireplace, you can put uplights on the mantle, or perhaps flank the fireplace with beautiful floor lamps on each side.   Lighting is also a key Feng Shui technique for enhancing the energy in a space.  Beautiful lighting makes you feel good, and feel good about the space in you are in, so it's a great way to enhance potential buyer's experience of your home.

Also consider using small uplights under plants to accentuate them and provide interesting shadows on the ceiling.To make a room feel inviting, lighting from lamps is far superior to overhead lighting. This is because overhead lights tend to cast unflattering shadows.

Click the photo to the right  to see it larger.  This is an example of one my lighting designs.  We put uplights on the top and in the plants on the side.  We put down lights inside the shelving unit to give it depth.  With this lighting arrangement, there is no need to burn candles!  We also hooked up all the lights to a single switch to turn them on and off.

 Your lighting plan should call for lighting each area of the room with lamps or task lighting as needed.  If you have several lamps that you would like to turn on all at same time, link them all into one extension cord, and then plug that into a single flip switch which plugs into the wall.  You can buy these at hardware stores, or home stores such as Home Depot or Lowes.

Lighting can also be used to help you get motivated to organize and keep things neat! If you have an area that you tend to be messy with, casting a light on it will help you keep it neat. For example, once you've organized the items on a shelving unit, lighting up the inside of the unit will help motivate you keep the shelves neat!

To take your home lighting to the next level, check out the lighting ideas at Lighting Showplace! And don't forget to choose Energy Star products to help you save on your light bill.

Click here to take up to 33% off at LightingShowplace!

All the best,

Humanitarian Gifts for the Holidays or Any Occasion

A really wonderful trend I'm seeing this year is the practice of giving humanitarian aid gifts this year instead of the usual gifts. Many of us who know people who have experienced great tragedies as a result of Katrina (and the many other disasters that have occured the last few years) are looking for ways to help. Using money that we normally spend on holiday gifts to donate to worthy causes is a great way to contribute and to experience the real joy of giving. Here are some ways you can give  Humanitarian gifts:

Alternative Gift Website (AGI) at www.altgifts.org 

They let you pick specific gifts from a catalog and send beautiful cards to notify your recipients of your gift.  Here are some example alternative gifts:

• Give job training so impoverished women can earn better wages / USATrain and equip poverty-stricken women for a year-round, income-producing livelihood. More...
• Rescue victims of forced prostitution / Southeast Asia Millions of trafficked women and girls worldwide are working as prostitutes against their will. Some were kidnapped, others were tricked or sold. Rescue, a safe place and healing aftercare can restore their lives. More... 
• Give micro-loans for small businesses / Haiti, Ukraine Poor people in undeveloped countries have good loan repayment records. Give hardworking, enterprising people a chance to improve their livelihoods. More...

Habitat for Humanity's Holiday gift page

 Americare's Holiday Gift Site

Save the Children

For just a few dollars each month, you can give a child the gift of being a sponsor of a less fortunate child through "Save the Children." Your sponsorship can help a child eat a warm dinner, see a doctor, or even graduate from school, while also teaching your child the value of helping others.   Sponsor a Hungry Child.

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Exchange Links with Neat Living

Feel free to link to any content on this blog. If you would like to exchange links, send me your link or leave a comment here.  I'll review your site and if it's G-rated and appropriate to our readers in some way, I'll link back to you.

Thanks!

Great Site for Getting Things Done - Even if you aren't a Mac User

Thanks to Mervin Mann at 43 Folders.com!  When I found his blog, I discovered David Allen and "Getting Things Done".  This is an excellent and very extensive site with tips and "hacks" to help you manage your time, your paper, your to do's and your life!  It's geared toward MAC users, which I'm not, but I love the tips!  I especially love the "Hipster PDA" idea.  Without giving it away, it has a real sense of humor and REALLY gets back to basics.

Another great resource I found and I'm planning to test out is a TO DO managament software tool called  NeatNotes!  Gotta love the name.  I almost used that for the name of my newsletter!  I'll activate the link to get it after I've evaluated NeatNotes.

All the best,