Good Can Come out of Difficulty!
There is no doubt that we have been going through challenging financial times lately. As we enter into tax season, I’m sure you are taking a close look at how you spent your money in 2009. What we choose to spend our money on is as much a decision we make as how we spend our time or what stuff we choose to own.
So when times are financially hard, what tends to give? Usually, it’s the extras and we discover that we can actually live without a lot of them. Surprising, isn’t it. Could it be that the recession, forcing us to make do with fewer quantities of things, has actually enabled us in some respects to have better quality of life than we had when the money was flowing?
One of the main benefits of pursuing an organized life is so you will enjoy your life more and have time to spend on the people and things that are of the most value to you. But how, I hear you ask, could there have been anything good about the difficulties that the recession has caused so many people?
Well for one thing, you may have found that you cut back on cable TV or even got rid of it altogether. What did that mean for you and your family? That you found other ways to entertain yourselves, either playing board games, getting the kids off the couch and out to the park , reading more or having more time for good old conversation. Or perhaps to save on childcare expenses, your parents now watch your kids after school while you work, giving them an opportunity to bond with their grandparents that they might never have had if circumstances hadn’t dictated it.
Instead of eating out or ordering in, many families have taken to cooking more meals at home in the evenings and sitting down together as a family instead of rushing and eating on the go. That’s a good thing. And I know you probably haven’t been buying as much stuff as you used to. Things you really thought you couldn’t live without, you’ve been living without and life has gone on just fine. You’re still here!
Look around you. You have an abundance of stuff, right? Yeah, and most of it comes with a manual! So take a minute to check out my February Organizing Tips for some great ways to organize your manuals so you know exactly where they are when you need them.
And remember, no matter how hard things get, you can always count your blessings and find things to be grateful for. Do you see your cup as half empty or half full? I say it’s always full – half full of water and half full of air.
~ Jodie ~
February’s Organizing Tips: User Manual Organization
Creating a system for keeping track of manuals for the things you own will go a long way to helping you know where to look for them when you need them.
1) Gather all your manuals together. Go through and discard any that you no longer own the item for.
2) Separate the ones you do have items for into categories. You can separate by room or category or a mixture of both. For instance, you can separate into office, kitchen or living room manuals, or all audio visual, appliances or furniture manuals.
3) In a file drawer or file box, label a hanging file folder for each of the categories that you have separated your manuals into.
4) Place all the manuals for that category into the hanging file that is now labeled “office manuals,” or “audio visual manuals.”
5) Keep it as streamlined as possible by removing plastic bags and anything that is not paper based and taking out any of the pages of the manual that are in a language you don’t speak.
6) Keep any software in a CD box labeled “Product Software.” They can really bulk up your manuals folders and/or fall out the sides and easily get lost.
7) Maintain your system by always remembering to put manuals back in their folder when you are done using them.
Contact Jodie Watson:
If you have any questions, would like to schedule a free professional organizing telephone consultation, or would like Jodie Watson to speak at your next corporate function, group meeting, social event, or retreat, call at (818) 590-7800. You can also contact Jodie on Facebook and Twitter or visit her website at Supreme Organization.
One of the largest and most famous Spring Festivals anywhere in the United States, the San Francisco Chinese New Year celebration is a month-long affair, with pageants, parades, street fairs, and performances by Lion and dragon dancers. Each year, a new Miss Chinatown is crowned at the annual Pageant and Coronation Ball, and the Chinese New Year Run raises funds for the YMCA’s youth and teen programs. But for many San Franciscans, the biggest and most spectacular event is the well-known Chinese New Year Parade, which is one of the few remaining illuminated parades, and is always held at night.
Last month, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) completely took over the city of Las Vegas. The whole city feels the transformation, and while it can hardly be said that the city’s ordinary dazzle goes out, it definitely pales in comparison to the bustle of CES. Each year, the show draws over a hundred thousand industry insiders to Sin City, for a massive show-and-tell of their newest creations. During CES, it feels like there are more Samsung reps than chorus girls crowding the casino floors.
What business are you in?
Meggin founded Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., a company that changes what people know, feel, dream, and do through workshops, consulting, and publications. She is the productivity queen, who shares her knowledge on how best to become peacefully productive. If you want to become more strategic, optimize your productivity, and just generally create a fabulous life, then Meggin’s website is a place you can find solutions and options worth exploring. You can also sign up for her 
For most of us, Presidents’ Day (or George Washington’s Birthday, as it is officially known) isn’t a huge holiday. Sure, it’s a great time for bargain-hunters to find 50%-off sales and reduced prices on everything from TV’s to cars, but George Washington’s Birthday usually doesn’t stir up the kind of large-scale family trips and grand celebrations that are common on holidays like Memorial Day, Labor Day, and even Veterans’ Day. Still, many Americans, especially history buffs and die-hard patriots, consider Presidents’ Day to be a holiday worthy of full-scale celebration.
There are many benefits to maintaining an organized environment. Besides being more efficient (i.e., finding things more quickly) and more productive (i.e., completing tasks fully and on time), living in an organized home or office space allows one to be more stress free. It’s no secret what stress can do to the body. One of the biggest side effects of stress is high blood pressure. Stress also affects your critical thinking ability, how well you sleep, and can even make you more susceptible to illnesses. Less stress = happier, more productive life.
January 27th marked the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the largest Nazi death camp. It also marked the fifth annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which the United Nations General Assembly designated an international holiday in 2005. On this annual day of commemoration, nations all over the world honor the millions of people who fell victim to genocide during Nazi rule. Here in the the United States, we officially commemorate the Holocaust each April, during the Days of Remembrance, which mark the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. But International Holocaust Remembrance Day did not go unobserved in Washington D.C., where the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum hosted a candle-lighting ceremony attended by the diplomatic community, Holocaust survivors, and the general public. President Obama delivered a television address, and reminded Americans of their “sacred duty to remember the cruelty” of the Holocaust.
At each junction of your family tree photographs and other visual representations of ancestors are either handed down or discarded. Before you claim that your ancestors weren’t interested in pictures or were too poor to afford them, remember that photography began in 1839, which means it’s possible your ancestors sat for a picture anytime in the last one hundred and seventy years. Even before the first camera, individuals captured their visages in paintings, sculptures, engravings and silhouettes. The fact is you just never know where they are going to turn up.
Ask Maureen to Analyze Your Family Photos
The recent disaster of the devastating earthquake in Haiti has sparked an enormous response from Americans. Volunteers from across the globe continue to travel to Haiti to provide much needed health care, cleanup, and other services, while millions of Americans have donated money to aide the relief efforts. Even during this difficult time, the people of Haiti remain hopeful that there are better times ahead, and many world leaders, including President Obama, have expressed hope that the recovery process will grow into a full-fledged rebuilding process for the Haitian nation.
