My grandmother, E. Louise Miller, grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country using homemade egg noodles. This recipe is a dryer, crumbly mix that you add to broth for the desired creamy thickness. [NOTE:  Rivels will absorb and expand so start with less than you think you need.]

Rivel Soup

*1 beaten egg

*½ tsp salt

*1 cup flour

* 2 cans chicken broth with 1 tsp chicken bullion granules (or 2-4 cups chicken stock)

Optional: diced cooked chicken, sliced cooked carrots, parsley flakes, pepper

Combine egg, salt and flour until crumbly. Heat stock to boiling, add rivels slowly, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat and summer 15 minutes. Add cooked carrots, diced cooked chicken, parsley, and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

This is a yummy way to use leftover chicken in a homemade soup. Enjoy!

Chicken Soup Weather is a post from Organized for Life - . Copyright © Organized For Life, LLC, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

Did you go over budget on groceries these last two months? That’s easy to do with holiday baking and entertaining family and friends.  Odds are you have leftovers or your pantry is bulging from extras that were not consumed.

Why not take a Kitchen Inventory? A Kitchen Inventory lends itself to meal planning and is a good way to put feet to your New Year goals of healthy eating, watching finances, or spending more face time with family.

Let’s get started then!

1.  Grab a pad and pen. Divide your paper into five sections: Refrigerated (fresh) Food, Dry Goods (canned and boxed), Frozen Foods, and Expendables (spices, leavening, oils).  If you want to get fancy, EHow has instructions on making a computer inventory here. Just don’t make this harder than it is, OK?

2.  Make a list of what you have on hand in fridge, freezer, and pantry, checking “use by” dates as you go. Throw out any bulging cans!

3.  Put a star by:

• Fresh food  more than a week old (like those baby carrots you swore you would eat instead of cookies and candy)
• Canned goods/boxed foods more than a month old
• Frozen food more than 2 months old
• Spices/seasonings  more than 1 year old for ground, 2 years for whole.

4.  Brainstorm meals that will use only what you have on hand, especially the starred foods. Think soups, stir fry, casseroles. Recipe sites that allow you to search by ingredients can help.  These are a few of my favorites:   recipe.com,  allrecipes.com,  RachelRay.com

5. Make a grocery list including only the staples (bread, milk, eggs) you go through regularly and specific ingredients you will use in the next 5-7 day’s meals.

Yes, making the inventory takes time, but this process gives back to you! What you will save:  time wondering what to have for dinner, money you can put toward any holiday charges hanging around your neck, space in fridge/pantry for fresh ingredients.

Do this exercise once a month to truly gain is control over your kitchen storage spaces, your food consumption, and your grocery bill. You are your manager. Would you hire yourself?

Save on Groceries with a Kitchen Inventory is a post from Organized for Life - . Copyright © Organized For Life, LLC, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

So, when I opened my Christmas present from my oldest daughter, I know my face showed exactly what I was thinking. “You’ve got to be kidding! My daughter just gave me a trash can for a present!”

Sarah was quick to say, “I know it’s a trash can, Mom, but I know you of all people will appreciate how it works.”

Once I saw how the molded plastic arms easily store and use plastic grocery bags for quick disposal, I was thrilled and want to share the website where you can get one (or more) for yourself.

This Urban Eco Trash Can comes in either black or lime green.

To store the bags, place handles over the side arms. Then pull up and hook the handles over the inner tab to form a new liner. I love both ease of use and the excellent way to reuse those grocery bags.

Sad to be excited about a trash can, isn’t it? I do love my present, Sarah!

Hope you had a joyous holiday!

Product Review: Urban Eco Trash Can is a post from Organized for Life - . Copyright © Organized For Life, LLC, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

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Does your struggle to be productive at work and at home feel like waging war with yourself and others?

Perhaps it makes sense to perceive that struggle as a battle ground. You are the commander. You are waging war on several fronts – special projects, ongoing skirmishes, and supply logistics.  You have a map of the terrain (the floor plan) and know what your resources are:  equipment,  personnel, and supply lines.

To win the battle, you  must match trained personnel with specialized equipment and ensure that needed supplies are available for immediate use. In other words, you want to have all the components needed to engage the enemy to come together in the same place at the same time.

I’m sure you have decided (as I have) to work on a certain project only to spend 20 minutes or more gathering all the varying pieces of information, supplies, and equipment before you can begin. Whether that is finding your mixing bowl in the kitchen, asking yourself “Where did I put my 3-hole punch this time?”, or just trying to get the kids out the door in the morning, it is time-consuming as well as frustrating!

The answer is to designate action zones.

1. First make a decision that you are  going to start now! The time you spend in planning for efficiency will be returned to you tenfold.
2. Brainstorm. Ask yourself what activities you actually DO in the room/area you are organizing. Perhaps the question should be – what activities do you ideally want to do there!
3. Assign specific areas in the room, or zones, to similar activities. Try to limit each room to 2-3 zones. In an office you might have action zones for:
   • Communication Central – your desktop and shelf above
   • Reference library – bookshelf and file drawer
   • Action/Projects – credenza with In/Out boxes and incline sorter for specific activities/projects.
4. Place equipment and supplies within arm’s reach in the appropriate zone for each activity.
   • Filing – extra hanging files, manila file folders, labels
   • Enjoying media – TV, Radio/CD player, VCR/DVD player, CD’s, DVD’s, and remotes, of course.
   • Paying bills – computer, bills, calculator, check book, stamps, address labels
   • Baking – measuring cups and spoons; mixing bowls; baking pans; spices, extracts and leavening agents
   • Getting in the car – keys, diaper bag, shoes, coats, hat, gloves & backpacks

Now that you have the stage set for control over each new project, all you need are the trained personnel. Is that you or do you have employees, friends, or children you can delegate the task to?

The beauty of action zones is that whoever is assigned to that battle will have all the tools necessary to succeed! That will save you time in both set- up and in wages paid.

You may find that once you know where everything is to get started quickly, you are raring to take on that project yourself, right now. You are the commander and it is an easy victory!

Declare War on Time-Consuming Clutter with Action Zones is a post from Organized for Life - . Copyright © Organized For Life, LLC, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

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OK, it’s time to decide how you will celebrate the religious holiday you embrace this season. Once you have several (no more than 3!) preferred activities in mind, you can begin to plan on menus, invitations, and gifts.

I love making lists, getting my ideas on paper. I simply refuse to try to juggle a myriad of details in my brain.

That’s why I love the ready-made lists that are available for a $20 yearly charge at ListPlanIt.com!  I have the professional membership so I can share pertinent lists with my clients.

You may choose to instantly download ListPlanIt’s Holiday ePlanner for just $7!  These are a few of the lists you will be able to access:

• Card lists & planners
• Address book
• Gift/Wish lists
• Holiday party planning pages
• Holiday meal planning pages
• Daily, Weekly, Monthly calendars & to do lists
• Advent planning pages

Sometimes the lists remind me of something I had not thought of. Have fun making your lists and getting a head start on fun and relaxing holidays!

Product Review: Holiday Planning Tool is a post from Organized for Life - . Copyright © Organized For Life, LLC, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

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As a group, we commiserated that we have more photos than we know what to do with. When I asked these questions to determine “Why photo organizing?” the group had some great answers! You have to laugh when the person sitting next to you says what you are thinking.

“What you don’t want?”

• A hodge-podge of boxes and bins full of photos in closet, attic, or basement
• Precious memories being eroded by those very popular, but acidic, sticky photo albums
• Photos of vacations that your parents took with their friends
• Not being able to find that picture you know you have when you need it
• Blurry, dark or otherwise meaningless photos that you should have pitched 15 years ago

“What you do want?”

• Less volume, more quality photos by choice
• A definite order in place so you can find photos you love
• Ability to easily share memories with friends and family
• Know what your options are for storage and sharing photos, both physically or digitally

My next question was “Can you actually get there from here?” and the answer is: Definitely! These are the steps we practiced in the workshop.

1. Gather all your containers of photos in one place.
2. Choose 5-10 categories that most of your photos will fit into. For example – Travel, Friends, Church Folk, Family History, Childhood, Holidays, Work Life. Write each category on a sticky note or 3 x 5 card.
3. Sort photos into your categories. (Attaching your titles to shoebox-sized Sterilite bins will work for this task, $1 at Odd Lots or Target.) Use rubber bands if necessary to keep specific events, dated pics together. Discard all duds, photo developing envelopes, and negatives. Keep the memories.
4. Decide on a format for long term storage or sharing – archival quality album sleeves, scrapbooking, converting to digital on CD/DVD, archival boxes, etc.

Now you are ready to actually DO something with your photos. Here are your choices:

• If you have lots of time, make the album, scrapbook, or CD.
• If you have more money than time, hire someone else to do it.

If you have neither money nor time to spare, organize your categories into archival photo boxes (the modern version of a shoebox) and leave it for someone else to do when you are gone.

Whichever you choose, rejoice that you know where to find what you need and can share one box (album, scrapbook, or CD) at a time with friends and family!

Ready, Set, Share! is a post from Organized for Life - . Copyright © Organized For Life, LLC, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

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The ethics of my profession require that I keep all client identities and foibles confidential. If that were not so, I would be able to describe the clients I have worked with who match these descriptions. I am not making this stuff up!

Perhaps you have already said to yourself, “How did Martha know to describe me so well?” The reason I can do that is you are not alone in your struggle with paper, or the underlying causes. If you haven’t recognized yourself, you may be one of the remaining 4 personalities.

4. The Go Getter has many projects going on simultaneously. He doesn’t want to put away the projects he is working on because he “will just have to drag it all out again anyway!” Supporting documents become lost in the shuffle. Many times work is delayed because a vital piece has gone missing. Duplicated effort is required to get the project back on track.
   Remedy: First, ask the question – are you able to do an excellent job on all the projects, or are some slipping through the cracks? Which projects are you the best at and will generate the most value? Keep those, delegate others to the person who is better suited, and let the rest go entirely.Second, to keep current projects separated [a project is an activity that has a definite beginning, middle, and en end] use colorful, distinctive and roomy file jackets. Scoop all supporting documents for each project into its file each time you take a break for more than 20 minutes. Use an incline sorter on your desktop so you can find any project file at one glance.
5. Scarlet O’Hara says “Tomorrow is another day.” She puts off deciding what to do with mail offers, when to pay the bills, what to do with important papers. Because she has no system, there are no homes for paper to land, and she can never find what she needs when she needs it.
   Remedy:A paper management system is simply making decisions ahead of time about homes for the three categories of paper that arrive in your mail/inbox:
   • Action – you have to do something with the information.
   • Finished – all action is done and you NEED this info in the future, so is reference material to be filed.
   • Shred/Toss – done, don’t need it, get rid of it.

When you don’t have a system for paper flow in place, you will essentially be asking yourself this same question over and over, “Where should I put this so I will know where it is?

6. The Seeker wants to keep on top of the latest breaking news. He has too many subscriptions, no time to read all of the information that pours in, so it piles up. He intends to read each magazines, newspaper, or professional journal, but finds himself 2-4 months behind (or more!)
   Remedy:For non-professional material, decide on a set number of months of magazines, days of newspapers you may keep. I suggest two months per magazine and no more than a week of newspapers. On the first of every month go through your stash and recycle old periodicals. Better yet, if you never get around to reading that magazine, cancel the subscription.Professional material is a must-read, but contains advertising and reiteration. Scan each periodical when it arrives, remove the articles (with small exacto knife) that are key to keeping current. Make a “To Read” folder that you can put in a briefcase, or grab on your way out the door on a slow day.
7. The Bottom Line Watcher refuses to take the time to deal with paper since there is no money or distinct benefit attached.
   Remedy:Take the time to calculate how much time you waste daily looking for papers you can’t find. (In a survey, executives admitted to wasting 6 weeks per year looking for documents.) Now multiply the time you waste by your hourly rate. Does that make solving your paper clutter problem a higher priority?If you can afford it, hire someone else to set up the system and come in regularly do the filing/follow-up. If you are IT, schedule appointments with yourself to do 30 minutes of filing 3x/week. Start with the current piles – on desk or counter – until they are gone. You can be much more productive on other tasks when that visual clutter no longer effects your concentration!

Paper is ubiquitous – it’s everywhere! You can win, with the right tools and mindset.

Drop me an email to let me know what your paper personality is and how you have cut your piles down to size. I love hearing the success stories!

7 Mistakes that Lead to Paper Clutter, Part 2 is a post from Organized for Life - . Copyright © Organized For Life, LLC, 2010. All Rights Reserved.

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