avatar by on August 25, 2010   •   26 Comments Inspiration

Free Online Tools for Tracking Your Goals

Written by organizing columnist Mandi Ehman of Organizing Your Way.

This month here on Simple Mom, Tsh is focusing on reviewing — and renewing — our goals. I’ve heard it said that New Year’s resolutions shouldn’t be made in January but rather in September, and it’s true: there is something about the end of summer and the start of the school year that leaves me refreshed and ready to tackle the goals I’ve set for myself!

Today, I want to share with you some free online tools that are available to help you track and achieve your goals. I haven’t used all of these myself, but I’ve read tons of reviews on them, and I think they represent the best of the best. Please feel free to share your experiences – and other services you use to track your goals – in the comments.

Tracking your goals — whether on paper, online, on your phone or on your desktop — is an important part of staying motivated and on track. The cliche “out of sight, out of mind” was coined for a reason, and it’s important to keep any new habit or goal front and center where you can practice thinking about it and making the changes necessary to achieve it.

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avatar by on July 14, 2010   •   37 Comments Going Outside Your Family

Creating a Kid-Friendly Yard to Promote Outdoor Play

Written by organizing columnist Mandi Ehman of Organizing Your Way.

One of my favorite parts about spring and summer is how much more time my kids are able to spend outside. They argue less, use their imaginations more and sleep better after a long day of playing hard outside.

When it comes to our yard, our goal is to create simple landscaping that invites our children to explore and enjoy being outside. For this reason, we try not to include plants or features that will leave us constantly saying, “No,” “Don’t touch that,” “Be careful,” et cetera.

Here are a few tips of my tips for creating a kid friendly yard.
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avatar by on June 18, 2010   •   12 Comments Travel Your Family

Get Organized for Your Staycation

I’m on maternity leave from June 11 to July 16: The following is a guest post from Simple Mom contributor Mandi Ehman of Organizing Your Way.

Let’s face it…as mothers, family vacations are rarely restful. Fun, full of memories and worth the hard work,  yes. Restful, not so much.

Many families are taking back their yearly vacations with the advent of “staycations,” but a staycation has the potential to be just as stressful — if not more so — than a vacation.

Whether you’re considering a staycation for financial reasons, to take advantage of the many opportunities right in your local area, or because you want to minimize your impact on the  environment, take some time to plan for it so that you’re not wasting precious moments on chores and to-do lists from your everyday life.
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avatar by on June 2, 2010   •   44 Comments Family Bonding Your Family

Making Summer Memories at Home

Written by organizing columnist Mandi Ehman of Organizing Your Way.

For many people, summertime is a busy season of lessons, camps, activities and outings. If that works for your family, great! But if it leaves you stressed and frazzled, there’s nothing wrong with taking a more laid back approach to summer.

Here are three ideas to make the most of your low-key summer, without sacrificing the memory making or learning opportunities that we associate with being on the go.
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avatar by on April 16, 2010   •   15 Comments Organizing Your Home

Spring Cleaning Week: The Importance of Organizing Your Way

This week, Tsh has been focusing on her three-step plan for spring cleaning: decluttering, cleaning, and organizing.

As you go through the process that she outlines in her ebook, Spring Cleaning for Normal People, you should be emptying each shelf, cabinet or closet, decluttering its contents, cleaning all the nooks and crannies and then organizing the items as you put them back.

For some people, decluttering is the part of the process that stops them in their tracks. Because of their emotional attachment to the stuff they’re holding onto, they’re unable to make tough decisions about letting go of those things.

For others, decluttering and organizing are the fun parts of the process, but cleaning is the one that drags them down. They want their homes to be neat and organized, but scrubbing the baseboards just doesn’t excite them.

And still others find that decluttering is easy and cleaning is no big deal, but when it’s time to organize, they’re just not sure where to start. They aren’t sure which way is the right way to organize their kitchen drawers or how Martha Stewart would say to organize their linen closet or how the toys should be organized.

Today, I want to tell you a little secret…

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