Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

It's that time of year when we need to go through our closets and purge out the old clothes and prepare for the new ones. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to try and clean out your closets. I'm going to take you through the process, step by step. 1. De-clutter your bedroom. Make your bed (it will be a work surface), and clear the floor of all items that have nothing to do with your clothes. You don't want to try to organize on top of clutter. 2. Take out each item of clothing and place it in a pile according to the type of garment it is. Example: shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, jackets 3. Don't sort shoes or accessories yet-that will come later. 4. Go through one pile of clothes at a time. Start with the smallest pile first. Take away any clothes that are too small, too big, too ugly, too old, wrong color, wrong style, wrong decade. It helps to have an honest friend with you to help you make these decisions. If you're not sure about the item, try it o...

Do you ever feel like you are falling behind in the maintenance of your home and car. It's those little things that keep getting pushed aside. Before you know it things are looking a little run down or even becoming a safety hazard. We've developed a way to keep track of those little maintenance jobs. 1. Make a spread sheet on your computer (or even use paper and pencil). 2. Down the side, list all of the areas you can think of that need occasional care. (examples will be given at the end of the post) 3. Across the top, list the months of the year 4. If you want to remind yourself when to do the jobs, highlight each month the job needs to be done. Also, write it in your planner or calendar on the correct month. 5. When you accomplish a task, check it off in the appropriate box. If you have a bad memory, like me, you will appreciate this chart. With one glance, you can see what you have done and what still needs to be done (or delegated :)) ...