Consider using a Time Timer. Learn more about it in PR Newswire’s Seven Practical Tips for Making 2018 The Year You Get Organized and Manage Time.
Posts Tagged ‘motivation’
Here is a GREAT Deal for you!
If organizing your home is on your to-do list for 2018, take advantage of this offer.
Contact A New Leaf by February 15, 2018, and let us help you get organized.
Pay for 3 hours and receive a 4th hour at no charge!
5 Keys to Forming Any Habit
If you’re looking to make some changes in 2018, check out Leo Babauta’s The 5 Keys to Forming Any Habit.
Ask yourself, “How can I be more productive?”
CLEAN OUT and ORGANIZE YOUR FREEZER
Happy New Year!
It’s mid-January, and winter has certainly arrived.
What are your New Year’s resolutions? Or did you decide not to make any this year? Do whatever feels most comfortable for you.
Chances are you don’t remember the last time you cleaned out your freezer.
We’ve had a lot of extremely cold weather already this winter. Take advantage of it, and clean out your freezer.
CLEAN OUT and ORGANIZE YOUR FREEZER
Step 1 – Remove Food
Remove all frozen food from your refrigerator freezer or deep freezer. Place food in an alternate location–refrigerator freezer, deep freezer, garage or a neighbour’s freezer. Or you can store food in coolers filled with ice. I use laundry baskets to hold frozen food and put it in our garage.
Discard any items that show signs of freezer burn or that won’t be eaten.
Step 2 – Clean Out Freezer
- Check your owner’s manual.
- Turn off and unplug your deep freezer. Leave the doors or lid open.
- Once the ice is melted, remove any water.
- Wipe out your freezer and any shelves or baskets with warm soapy water. I prefer to use baking soda and warm water.
- Don’t forget to wipe down the outside of your freezer too.
Food Storage Guidelines
How Long You Can Freeze Everything, In One Chart
How Long You Can Store (Almost) Anything in the Fridge, Freezer and Pantry
Step 3 – Refill the Freezer
Once your freezer is clean, plug it in and turn it on. Check your owner’s manual regarding the length of time required before putting food back into the freezer.
Some suggestions:
- Group like items together–meat, vegetables, butter, ice cream, etc.
- Place containers in your freezer to hold small items.
- Keep frequently used items close to the front or top to allow easy access.
- Label items so everyone can find them easily.
- Put a date on items and/or containers.
Clean out your freezer on a regular basis–just before green bin or garbage day.
Remember – Many food items have best before dates. It’s helpful to follow the First In, First Out principle. Use the oldest items first. When unpacking groceries, place new items behind/under the older items. This seems like it should be common sense, but I’m surprised how many clients don’t do this.
Now that you’ve cleaned out your freezer, keep going and clean out your kitchen cupboards too. Check out our archived Organizing Your Kitchen blog post.
Get started and turn over another leaf!
Until next month,
Mmmmmmm…. chicken!
If you’re craving comfort food on a cold winter’s day, here’s a recipe to try.
CHEESY CHICKEN STUFFED SHELLS – Courtesy of CentsLessMEALS
Ingredients
- 1 lb jumbo pasta shells
- 1 cup ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese)
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese divided
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 12 oz evaporated milk
- 10.5 oz condensed cream of chicken soup
- 4 oz herb & garlic cream cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Boil and drain pasta shells until al dente. Rinse in cold water and set aside.
- In a medium sized dish combine the shredded chicken, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, garlic powder, parsley, and salt & pepper to taste.
- Pour cream of chicken soup into a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat. Stir in evaporated milk and whisk until mixed.
- Add cream cheese to soup mixture stirring over medium heat until melted. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
- Fill pasta shells with chicken mixture and place in a 9×13 pan. Top with sauce and remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake until hot & bubbly (about 25 minutes).
Looking for new cookie ideas this year? Check out 50+ of the BEST Christmas Cookie Recipes.
It’s never too late to make healthier choices!
Introducing Georgina Forrest from Smartworks!
The Super Simple Secret To Getting Stuff Done!
When you look around, do you see evidence of incomplete commitments, projects, tasks and “I’ll deal with that later” piles?
Do you wonder how on earth you are EVER going to get it all done?
If you answered yes to these questions, you’re not alone.
Now, let me ask you this: are you as tired as I am about hearing from the ‘experts’ on how to get this stuff done? You know … write down your goals, prioritize them, set dates and schedule them in your planner … yadda yadda blahdey blah.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Boooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnng!
Not that this isn’t good advice, and there’s no denying we wouldn’t ALL benefit from following these practices, but for some people this is the stopping point in the whole process of getting stuff done.
It may just be too complicated and structured for some of you … right now.
We live and work in a time where there’s much more to do than we have time to do it. It’s the reason it’s more critical today, than ever before, to find simpler ways to stay on top of our ever-expanding workloads.
Want to know my super simple secret to getting stuff done?
I set time limits and I limit the amount of stuff I can reasonably do.
Yup. It’s that easy.
Before you toss this idea out, think about it for a moment.
If you knew you had a set amount of time to work on something, how likely is it you’d get down to the crux of the work and eliminate the superfluous stuff?
For example, how ruthless are you the day before you leave for vacation? Suddenly many tasks and commitments don’t appear to be nearly as important as you thought when it seemed you had time available to do it.
And if you limited the amount of commitments and stuff to do, wouldn’t your workload get a bit lighter? Thereby giving you more time to work on the REALLY important stuff?
I think so.
Time management doesn’t need to be a complicated, step-by-step process. It can be as easy as setting time limits and limiting how much you can reasonably get done.
It’s time to GET REAL!!
You are not Superhuman – you cannot get it all done at the pace you’re currently working at. And an endless amount of ‘time’ is NOT going to suddenly drop down into your life.
You need to start doing something – anything – to get that stuff done quickly.
So, what can you limit today? Do it. Get more done.
Now, get on with your day!
Georgina Forrest owns and operates Smartworks! in Red Deer, Alberta. Smartworks! specializes in helping people learn the principles of organizing and developing good work practices, so they can work in the kind of stress-free environment that they’ve always dreamed of. Additional services include getting your office and computer organized and functional, enhancing your productivity and time management through coaching, and process improvement and/or development.
Pumpkin Muffins
If you love pumpkin, try this 2-ingredient recipe from Momcrieff.
PUMPKIN MUFFINS – Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 spice cake mix
- 1 can (15 or 16 oz.) pumpkin puree (NOT pie filling)
- chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Stir spice cake mix together with pumpkin. Scoop into lined or well sprayed muffin tins.
- Optional – add chocolate chips.
- Bake 18-20 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean).
It’s never too late to make healthier choices!
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