Organizing Your Christmas Decorations

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The holidays have come and gone.   Getting organized for the holidays really depends on organizing your Christmas decorations the year before!  I wanted to share a few of my favorite products in organizing for after the holidays.  These are available at Target, WalMart, Container Store, Stacks and Stacks and more!

Take Back Your Life… By the Sea Galveston Weekend

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Take Back Your Life Now! … by the Sea!
A Weekend of Happiness and Positivity
Empower Women to Lead Healthy, Balanced and Organized Lives
Presented by Deborah Olson, M.A., LPC, Kingwood Counseling and Ellen Delap, CPO, Professional-Organizer.comTake Back Your Life Now! Women Empowering Women.

  • Discover your unique strengths and how these contribute to your happiness and resilience
  • Learn your organizing style
  • Enjoy sessions on wellness, photography, and fashion
  • Relax and rejuvenate at the spa, walking the beach and reflecting
  • Share and bond with engaging and energized women

Register Now:
Event: Take Back Your Life … By the Sea
Date: January 27-29, 2012
Location: San Luis Resort, 5222 Seawall Blvd, Galveston TX » SanLuis Resort, 5222 Seawall Blvd, Galveston TX.
Cost: $295.00
Includes: Fees include all workshop materials as well as breakfast and lunch Saturday, and breakfast Sunday.
Hotel Fees: $139 per night, single or double occupancy

REGISTER EARLY »
via email or call 281-360-3928

Registration deadline January 10, 2012

Address the Mess at University of Houston Small Business Development Center. January 19.

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Join us for Address the Mess! 

Join the UH SBDC as they team up with the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) to bring you an exciting and informative session on the latest ideas and solutions for organizing your business.  NAPO is a group of over 4,000 professional organizers dedicated to helping individuals and businesses bring order and efficiency to their lives. January is national GO – Get Organized month so make plans now to attend.  You will receive strategies for email productivity, must-have guidelines for organizing your business finances, and secrets for organizing and preparing your desk and workspace for immediate impact.

NAPO speakers include:

Holly Uverity, CPO®, Office Organizers – The Entrepreneur’s Organizer™

Ellen R. Delap, CPO®, Professional-Organizer.com

Gayle Goddard, The Clutter Fairy

Breakfast included.

Institute for Challenging Disorganization Conference and Motivational Interviewing

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Learning is important to me.  I love to learn, especially tools I can use in my work with my clients.  This year at the Institute for Challenging Disorganization Conference, I learned more about Motivational Interviewing. 

What is motivational interviewing?  It is helping a client resolve ambivalences in their life by supporting change with authentic resources. So what does this mean?  Through motivational interviewing, my clients can talk through a challenge and find a possible solution.  It is ” a person centered form of guiding to elicit and strengthen motivation for change.”  It is basically a guided way to talk through a challenge that the client has decided needs to be changed. 

How will this help my clients?  In finding additional tools in our work together, my clients will be using their own voices to resolve organizational, motivational, time management and paper management issues. This tool will be in addition to coaching and bringing resources to them.  We can create our own solutions with a partner guiding us and coaching us through the questions we have, as well as adding insights and resources from time to time.  In listening and reflecting back to clients, they are finding answers.  In addition to coaching, this client centered approach is a great fit for the clients I work with and helps us work together to establish their vision of organized!

Thanks to Cathy Cole (www.cathycoletraining.com) for instructing us at the ICD conference!

Small Ways to Make A Difference this Holiday Season

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It is so easy to get caught up in the blitz of the holidays.  How easy it is to overlook the ways we can make a difference for others.  Here are a few small ways to make a difference this season.

Star of Hope Mission          http://www.sohmission.org/NetCommunity//

FamilyTime                            http://www.familytimeccc.org/

Humble Area Assistance  http://www.haamministries.org/

Drop some change in the Salvation Army bucket.

Drop off a toy for Toys for Tots at ToysRUs.

Gather your kids and donate your used toys to thrift shops in our community.

What are your favorite ways to make a small difference? 

Cut the morning chaos

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Morning time can be crazy time! Add in kids, timelines, a little extra traffic, and it can be a rough start to the day.

  • Do as much as you can the night before, including packing up your purse, kids backpacks, and stuff in the car.
  • Get a great night’s rest with an earlier bedtime.  Moms and Dads need bedtimes too!
  • As the mom or dad, get up 30 minutes earlier than your kids. You are getting yourself together ahead of getting everyone else up.
  • Simplify breakfast with smoothies, ready made microwave foods or cereal to go in a cup.
  • Create a happy sound track to the morning with great music.
  • Keep a simple routine with simple steps for the morning.
  • Get everyone out the door with a hug!

Take Back Your Life… by the Sea (Houston, Galveston, and Southeast Texas)

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A Weekend of Happiness and Positivity

January 27 – 29, 2012

Empower Women to Lead Healthy, Balanced and Organized Lives

Presented by Deborah Olson, M.A., LPC, Kingwood Counseling and

Ellen Delap, CPO, Professional-Organizer.com

•Discover your unique strengths and how these contribute to your happiness and resilience

•Learn your organizing style

•Enjoy sessions on wellness, photography, and fashion

•Relax and rejuvenate at the spa, walking the beach and reflecting

•Share and bond with engaging and energized women

Location: San Luis Resort, 5222 Seawall Blvd, Galveston

Cost:         

Workshop fees $295.00 including materials as well as breakfast and lunch Saturday, and breakfast Sunday.

Hotel fees $139 per night, single or double occupancy

Register early by email or call 281-358-2030

Registration deadline January 10, 2012

Last minute holiday organizing

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Thanksgiving is here! And so are your guests! Just take a few minutes to do a little last minute organizing.

  • Keep it simple sweetie.  Set a plan in motion and stick with it, whether it is one type of dressing or how you fix the turkey. Last minute changes are what make us crazy. So make a simple plan and stay on course.
  • Room by room 30 minute decluttering can make a difference. It is a little like sweeping the dust under the carpet, but sometimes all that is needed is a quick once over on clutter. Be sure to have your family redistribute items that are in the wrong rooms.  Gather your paper together, place it in your home office and set a date to do paper triage next week.
  • Freshen up your home with seasonal touches purchased at your grocery store.  Fresh flowers, miniature pumpkins and scented candles add warmth to your home.
  • Delegate to friends and family. Everyone wants to share and contribute. Be sure to share responsibilities with those at your holiday gathering.  If no one offers, a polite invitation to help includes everyone.   Get help with dinner from your local grocery, Sams, Costco or other source.  Order your turkey and have everyone bring a side dish.  There are many ways to delegate. 
  • Remember your holiday is about people and connections, not perfection.  Enjoying your gathering is the most important part!  Take a few minutes to write down 5 things you are grateful for this holiday. It will remain with you longer. 

Upcoming! KHOU and Audrey’s Success Story

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Next week KHOU will be sharing Audrey’s success story!  Look for a date and time soon! Here is Tiffany Craig, KHOU reporter, Audrey and I together in Audrey’s new home.   I know you will want to learn more about Audrey’s courage in making big changes in her life.

Get Ahead for the Holidays

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The holiday season is just around the corner! That means there’s a lot to be done in a short time.  The holidays are about giving and sharing, as well as helping those in our community.  

  • Plan your holiday season with a big paper month at a glance calendar or the google calendar online.  Knowing your upcoming commitments and plans keeps you from double booking.  Review it weekly to keep on track with purchasing gifts and making goodies. Set deadlines on your calendar to get it all complete.
  • It all starts with lists. Go into your gift closet and make a list of what you have purchased all year. Make a list of who you are giving gifts to this year.  Make a list for Thanksgiving dinner, what will you serve and who will be attending.  Lists make our life run like clockwork.  Use a cute holiday spiral notebook or your smart phone notes section.
  • Get your holiday cards in the mail efficiently with Send Out Cards.  Gift cards are also available on this site too! www.sendoutcards.com/EllenDelap
  • Use the smart phone app Red Laser to comparison shop. http://redlaser.com/
  • Shop online at www.amazon.com to get discounted items and often free shipping.
  • Gather your family together to decorate your home.  Set a time, put on holiday music, and have a blast together. 
  • Go online to stores where you shop and get additional coupons for your purchases. Join their Facebook Business Pages to learn about sales and discounts. 
  • For families, give the gift of time together with memberships to the YMCA, Houston Children’s Museum, Houston Zoo or Houston Museum of Natural Science. Family gifts of an ice cream maker or a movie set are great way to connect. Think small this year!
  • Make a holiday playlist to get you in the mood and keep your attitude jolly. Many of our favorite artists, from Sinatra to Michael Buble, have their own holiday albums to listen to.  Or make your own with Pandora. 
  • Use www.usps.com to mail your boxes. Create your shipping label at home and skip the lines at the post office.  Set early deadlines for you to get items off. 
  • Plan one family activity for your family to connect with our community.  Talk to your family about what means the most to them and how they can contribute.  Bring your items to the philanthropy with your kids to share the real meaning of the season.  There are lots of needs around us this year.