How to put away your nativity scene(s) faster

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I hope you had a great Christmas!  I certainly did.

Now that Christmas is over, it's time to put the Christmas decorations away.  (Awwww, sad face..)

If you have a nativity scene fancy enough to come in a foam box with little individual spaces for all the figurines, putting it away will likely take five minutes (or ten) since the spaces do not perfectly resemble the figure that goes in it and you have to fuss with it just to figure out which way the figurine goes in.   (“Is Joseph supposed to go here or is it the standing wise man?  Hmm... Is Joseph supposed to lie on his back or his side?  Dang, I can never remember!”)

I finally figured out a way to eliminate all the guesswork about which figure goes in what space AND a way to eliminate all the time it takes to find the orientation of each figure.  With this system, it takes maybe 45 seconds to put away the nativity set.

What figure goes in which space?

First, number all the figures in your nativity set.  Write the number on the bottom where it won’t show.  Or you can write the name of the character in the space where it goes.  (Numbers help when you have multiple nameless shepherds and multiple animals included in the set.)

This wise man was dubbed "3"

As you figure out which figurine goes in which space in the box, write the number of that figurine in the bottom of its space where you can see it.  Ta-da!  You have halved the time it will take to put away your nativity set!

Space "3."  Also notice the dot with arrow coming out of it, which is explained in the next section.

Which way does the figurine fit in its space?

When you have figured out which way the wise man fits in its space, take it out and place a dot on the wall of its space to show where the wise man’s feet would be.  When you see the dot, you will know the feet should always "stand" on that dot.

 Then draw an arrow from the dot that points in the direction that the wise man will face when he’s put in correctly.

Congratulations!  You again halved the time it will take to put away your nativity set!  In total, it should take a quarter of the time than it did before!

This may not seem like it buys you much time if you have just one nativity set, but if you are one of those people who happens to collect nativity sets and display them all, this tip will really save you a lot of time and effort. My Mom helps with a church nativity display that involves something like a truckload of nativity sets, and she has a very similar system to help her put them all away in the right place.  (She also has to code the figurines and boxes so she knows which figurines go in which boxes.)

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

Organization is not always pretty

I recently blogged about creating Master Meal List, creating a Weekly Meal Plan, and using that to create the grocery list in my post What should I make for dinner tonight?

I just wanted to make the point that these lists don’t have to be pretty.  They just have to work.  (Plus, they are small and simple enough that visitors probably won’t notice them.)

If the main way you learn about getting organized comes from home magazines, it is easy to get the impression that organization will always be (and should always be) pretty to look at.  Thankfully, that is not true, and understanding this will help you jettison unnecessary guilt.  (Keep in mind that if magazines did not have pretty pictures, we wouldn’t be so drawn to them, so these magazine editors know a pretty picture of rows of color-coordinated ribbon in a white shelf is going to please the reader more than a system that is functional but slightly messy.   However, magazines can’t capture some very useful aspects of organization visually, like routines and systems.)

Yes, pretty is a bonus, but if pretty conflicts with function and efficiency, living will not be as easy and streamlined as it could be.  As an example, do you want to see what our meal planning system looks like?

This stack of papers represents our Weekly Meal Plans and grocery lists, probably for the last 37 weeks.  We keep it clipped together hanging on our refrigerator.  No way are a bunch of squealing homemakers going to share this on Pinterest.  ;-)

We only cook for two people, so our grocery lists aren’t going to be very big.  It saves paper to have our grocery list on the same page as our weekly menu.  Also it means there is only one piece of paper to keep track of, instead of two.  Yes, the paper looks dog-eared.  That happens when you keep putting it in your pocket and taking it out over and over at the grocery store.  Yes, I could copy the menu onto a nicer sheet of paper after grocery shopping, but that would add an unnecessary step.

Next, here’s our Master Meal List.

Obviously this is also not something likely to show up on Pinterest.  The major advantage is that it is really easy to add to it.  I can do it with a pencil if I want to!  (As opposed to printing something out with just the right font, or making a bunch of mini tags with scrapbooking doodads and bows on them..)

For a while I used a chart on which I listed our meal plans for a whole month, but that turned out to be not so helpful. 

Notice how usage trails off after a while..

For one thing, we could see we had eaten quesadillas at least once every week, and seeing that over a month made us feel pathetic.  (Who wants to be shamed by their own organizational methods?  Not I, said the duck.)  So we decided we only needed to look at a week at a time.  We’re okay with eating quesadillas once every week as long as we don’t have that frequency blatantly called to our attention. 

What systems do you use that work really well but wouldn’t get featured in a home magazine?

Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!

What should I make for dinner tonight?

Lorenzo Serafini Boni, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenzo_serafini_boni/6441999729/ 

Every night the same thing happens.   You stand in front of the refrigerator for 10 minutes wondering what to make for dinner and often give up in disgust by ordering pizza.  You have a vague feeling that you should eat better, but you’re not sure what to do to change.

The problem is that you are forcing yourself to be inventive at a time when it is difficult to think (when you are hungry).  A much better method is to create a Weekly Meal Plan that you post near your refrigerator.  When dinnertime comes around, you will choose from the list what you are in the mood to make and eat.

A Weekly Meal Plan may sound like you have to list out 21 separate meals, which is a very intimidating prospect.  Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that involved.  First, you can take it for granted that breakfast will be cereal (or some other breakfast food that you make).  Second, you can also assume that lunch will be something very simple like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or leftovers from last night’s dinner.   That will leave only seven meals to choose and plan.  Depending on how big the meal is and how willing you are to eat leftovers, you may only have to plan three or four meals.   Planning 4-7 meals sounds a lot more doable, doesn’t it?  You will use your Weekly Meal Plan to build your grocery list.

To make it easier for you to create a Weekly Meal Plan, you can make a Master Meal List.  This is a list of all your favorite foods that you like to make.  You keep this list with your recipe books and you will consult it weekly when it is time to create your Weekly Meal Plan.

A fast way to create your Master Meal List is to:

1.     Look through your recipes and write down all favorite main dishes

2.     Walk down the frozen food aisle at the grocery store and write down everything that looks good

You can also make master lists of favorite veggie dishes and fruit dishes to help your family get adequate nutritional intake.  You may choose to rotate according to schedule if routines help you, or you may pick and choose according to mood.   When you try out new recipes, decide whether it is good enough to be put on the Master Meal List or whether it can be consigned to oblivion.

Having a Master Meal List and a Weekly Meal Plan has been a big help to us.

·      The Master Meal List makes it much faster to plan meals for a week.  No more straining the brain to make something up.  Instead, you choose from a list.

·      Having a Weekly Meal Plan makes it really easy and fast to create our grocery list.  You only put on the list what is needed to make the menu.

·      Buying only what is needed to make the menu means you don’t waste money on impulse buying.  

·      You won’t waste food, since everything you buy is needed for the menu.

·      No more standing hungry in front of the fridge trying to think of something to make for dinner.  You have a meal plan to guide you!

 Do you need extra help with organizing and de-cluttering? Hire me! Go to www.phoenixhomeorganizing.com for more information about my services! Did this article help you? Be sure to share it with your friends!