Well now, don't these uniforms rock?

This is Bongani's sleeve. I had to take this picture because look! They've built pen holders into their uniforms.

Fun and functional!

Wordless Wednesday - neat stack of clothes

Wordless Wednesday - beautiful desk

Share in the comments - does this kind of work environment make you do the happy dance, or is it too minimalistic?

I love it! But mine is a LOT more colourful and happy.

Frugality and my menu plan

I won't mention the R word but since I know a lot of you are watching your pennies, let me share some frugal organising posts with you:

1. Frugal organising with cereal boxes
2. Frugal labelling

How else can you be organised yet frugal?

And while we're talking free stuff, remember to download your free forms - menu planners, master to-do lists, shopping lists, etc.

So many forms; so little time :)

Look at this gorgeous beauty that now lives in my kitchen! Am I the only one who uses one of these every single day?



And now...my menu for the week

Monday
Stirfried veggies, noodles and beef

Tuesday
M - my year-end function
D - beef lasagne

Wednesday
Pineapple chicken, mashed potatoes and carrots

Thursday
Chicken steaks, rice and veggies

Friday
Hot dogs and chips

Don't forget to visit on Friday to show off what you declutter this week. The Mr Linky will be up at 12am EST so get ready :)

Have you bought your 2008 daily planner yet?

Here it is - my new 2008 daily planner.

Isn't it gorgeous?

Of course, I think it looks gorgeous because the colours match my website and my business cards.

But the best?

You have to feel it. I'm such a tangible person and I love feeling nice textures. This may or may not surprise you but I often buy things simply because of how they feel. And this planner is gorgeous. to. touch. Mmmmmm....

Why this makes me do the happy dance

1. It has a gorgeous soft cover.
2. I love the beautiful shades of green on the outside and inside.
3. It's smaller than the other one! And thinner (more space in my handbag)!!
4. Space for appointments and space for to-do notes
5. Financial planner for the year
6. Monthly event planner

Funny - the scriptures don't really make it for me. I always have a Christian daily planner but honestly, I look at the scripture reference maybe 2 - 3 times a month!

Now, if you've already bought your daily planner for 2008, I want to see it!

Please post your photos on your own blog or somewhere online (Picasa, etc.) and link up below so I can come see.

This definitely works for me. If you want to read about more cool tips, visit Shannon.

Favourite organising tools # 8 - sunshine organizer

I am so excited to tell you about this favourite tool of mine - the Sunshine Organizer. This calendar really works for me.

I was given mine as a gift and I had hardly walked in the door when Dion put it up on our wall and started filling it in. I had a small one up already but we both love this one so much because there is A LOT of space. And it's yellow/ orange so it makes me happy!!!


This is perfect for a family with kids, or any busy family (like ours). There's enough space for Dion's stuff and for my stuff and best of all, neither of us has to scrunch up our handwriting to make it all fit :)

The features of the calendar include:

1. 14 months (starts in Nov 2007 and runs through to Dec 2008)
2. Large blocks to write in
3. Lined blocks to write straight
4. See your month at a glance
5. Starts with Monday so you have Sat and Sunday together ( shaded)
6. Emergency Numbers
   

When you open it to hang on your wall, cupboard, etc, it looks like this. Look how much SPACE there is!!!

back of calendar with instructions for use, emergency numbers, space for telephone numbers, etc.

this is a page in use - see all the writing, stickers, etc. Lovely!

Because I love this Sunshine Organizer so much, I offerered to put a link in my store so that you, dear blog readers, can also get your own one. Scroll down the front page just a bit to view the details.

It only costs $18.95 or R130 which of course, includes packing and postage. Please note there are two buttons so please choose International or South African. International readers, it will get to you within 3 weeks and South Africans, it will get to you within a week. Or if you're really desperate to get yours, you can collect from Debbie, the creator of this gorgeous product, in Randburg.

Buy your copy now.

Favourite organising tools #7 - plastic envelopes

Plastic envelopes must be one of my absolute favourite organising tools of all time.

1. They are transparent so you can see what you have in them.
2. They have a clip (don't bother getting the ones with the string because they are just ANNOYING).
3. They are roomy so you can throw in any pens, clippings, envelopes, etc. you're working on.
4. They are portable so you can take them with you to work or read through in the car, at the hairdresser, etc.

I use them mainly for my projects so I have a number of these on my desk, each with a different purpose.

I seem to have lots of ideas for e-books, courses, etc. so when I'm ready to work on something, I'll prepare a plastic project envelope. I usually use a post-it note to label the project so that when I'm done, I can just throw it away and I still have a nice-looking envelope (like the green one above) without that horrible sticky stuff that most labels leave behind.



In the top one, you'll see my latest product that I was working on - the Organise your Business system (this one is mainly to organise your home-based business). I have an e-book in the second one (you can just see the edge of the post-it) and some weekly tips ideas in the third one.

I usually only keep the plastic envelope until the project is complete. Then I toss my rough notes because everything is either in the e-book or on my website.

The coloured polypropylene ones come in a pack of two at Pick & Pay (most things I buy at P&P) for R6.99 (US$1).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now allow me the chance to rave about my new, best plastic folders.

These ones are called book bags, they're made by Croxley and I bought mine at Pick & Pay for R12,99. They are lovely soft plastic, attach with velcro and have a little flap for a name tag/ subject insert.

I've been testing this one for the last month and it is lovely and durable. You can see there's plenty of space for my gorgeous gel pens, flash drive and all the stuff I'm reading and working on.

I'm not getting commission for this, nor have I been asked to review them (why not, Croxley?) - I just really, really love them and they definitely make me do the happy dance!

Wordless Wednesday - 2008 calendar

Isn't it gorgeous?!

Tackle it Tuesday - huge book shopping

Last weekend I had the wonderful idea to go to 3 bookshops (they're all the same, just different franchises within about a 2km radius) to check out the latest stuff. Clearly I am soooo led by God because there was a HUGE SALE!!!!

No time to do the happy dance because the biggest store was about to close so I had about 7 minutes to grab everything and pay. Now I am a champion shopper so I grabbed a basket, focussed and got on with the job at hand :-)

We then went to the other two stores and got some more stuff at the one place.

And came home with this...

The two baskets on the right have things I picked up at Clicks - again, led by God - some great gift sets for rock-bottom prices.

This is my good deed of the day - we detoured at Pick & Pay and these stationery sets were going for R10 each ($US1.43), marked down from R39.99 ($US5.71) which is still dirt cheap. Anyway... I decided to pick some up and give them away.


You might be wondering why the photos above are in black and white - it's because the pile of shopping doesn't look so bad that way! But here is a smaller photo, in colour.



Anyway, I tackled both those surfaces this week and I'm very happy to say all that stuff is put away or has been given away.

1. Gave a stationery set to my cleaning lady for her 3 sons and another to an underprivileged school.
2. The books I bought purely for gifts have been put away on my gift shelf (which now overflows to a second shelf).
3. The books for me have been put on my bookshelf. I must say, it felt like I was working in a library because my bookshelf is sorted by topic, so I filed under job/work, family, life balance and novels.
4. Also moved some books to my bedside table to start reading soon.

What did you tackle today?

(don't forget to check my main blog for my giveaway)

Menu plan Monday - 16 July 2007 & good mail!

Look what I received on Friday from the Organising Junkie herself - good mail! What a lovely thank-you card all the way from Canada. I am already using the bookmark in my Bible.


Thank you so much, Laura - this made my day. I had been having a rather blah kind of day and this perked me right up :-)






Now, onto my menu plan for the week...


Monday
Pork chops, sweetcorn & potato bake (recipe below) and carrots

Tuesday
M – out at work function (I’m told they will feed us)
D – chilli & rice

Wednesday
D – burgers
M – leftover pizza (if you have not yet tried Sandra's pizza, do it. You won't regret it!)

Thursday
Pasta with chickpea & vegetable sauce, topped with cheese

Friday
Chicken burgers and fat-free chips

Sweetcorn and potato bake
4 medium potatoes
1 can cream
style sweetcorn
salt, pepper, Italian herbs to taste

Scrub the potatoes with their skins on.
Dice into fairly big squares (about 2cm).
Throw into a microwave dish with spices and microwave on high for about 5 minutes (nearly but not quite done)
Now add the can of sweetcorn and stir the whole lot, to thoroughly mix.
Microwave for a further 2 - 3 minutes until potatoes are done.

There you go - done!

If you want to be decadent, you can top with cheese. I don't, but I do add some more pepper. Yum.

For more Menu Plan Monday participants, go on over to Laura's blog.

I've been a bad commenter this last week because we had power cuts on two of the nights so I've been prioritising and doing the absolute basics, like sending out my newsletter and responding to emails. Got to practise what I preach, right?! :-)

Wordless Wednesday - files!

Gorgeousness galore - these were spied on a colleague's desk.

Does this not make you happy? Beautiful bright , colourful folders, neatly organised?