organizing

I’ve probably packed for hundreds of trips - long and short, near and far - and I feel like I’ve done a pretty decent job, but after reading this short book by girl on the go, Hitha Palepu, I’ve learned or been reminded of a few tips that I hope will make packing and traveling on my next trip a bit easier and slightly more organized, like:

• If you travel a lot and don’t like waiting in line, for a small fee you can join TSA precheck and Global Entry and beat the crowds.
• Don’t use the water in the plane bathroom to brush your teeth, as the containers that hold the water aren’t cleaned

Many of you have heard of Marie Kondo and about her KonMari method of organizing your home, so you may already know that you’ve gone about it wrong. It isn’t that you need to improve your systems for storing and arranging stuff. It’s that you need to throw your things away. If they don’t bring you joy, yes, joy, they have no place in your life.  Old paperwork – joyless – chuck it. Extra buttons – joyless and useless (according to Kondo!). Toss ’em. Clothes you don’t wear – allow them to illuminate your abhorrence of them. Then say goodbye.    

Don’t read this book if you are interested in

O’Toole, award winning author of Asperkids and The Asperkid’s (Secret) Book of Social Rules, a social worker, teacher, mother of three Asperkids and an Aspie herself, has developed a “how-to” guide for parents of children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) on how to best structure their home life to support their AS kids.  O’Toole’s instructional manual demonstrates the importance of structuring the home life and everyday tasks (or chores) around the house so that children with AS can feel confident, successful and comfortable thus reducing their stress and building self-esteem.  This visual

Organic Housekeeping (or Green Housekeeping as titled for the newer paperback version) is a useful and informative guide to green cleaning and organizing. Ellen Sandbeck will help you to enjoy your home more by simplifying your cleaning process, using non-toxic cleaners and time saving techniques. It is a lighthearted and highly readable book full of common sense, practical and inexpensive tips some of which go back to good old-fashioned advice. “Clean it, don’t chemically contaminate it!” that is what Ellen says.

The chapters are well organized by parts of the house you are dealing with. The