I absolutely adore aprons and wear them all the time.  If you are ever having trouble feeling motivated to work around the house I’m telling you put on a cute apron and you will feel energized!  I was so excited to recently get the opportunity to try out one of the Flirty Aprons I’ve been seeing around blogland and I have to tell you, they are fun, fun, FUN!  Did I mention fun?  Oh my goodness girls, check out this beautiful Sweet Sunshine apron that arrived for me a couple of weeks ago:

Okay if that doesn’t make you want to bake a pie I don’t know what will…lol.  I asked my kind (and oh so gorgeous girlfriend) to model this thing of beauty for us so you could see it in action.

Apple anyone?

How about some Luscious Lemon Bars?

(okay I totally made up the name of the bars but it sure sounds good doesn’t it?)

Look at this sweet ruffle detail:

You can also see that the tie is long enough to fit any size AND it ties up at the neck for even more flexibility in size.

Let’s have a closer look at that beautiful bow shall we:

Ahh, so pretty.  Now no apron would be complete without pockets.  I don’t understand an apron without pockets.  It’s just wrong.  This apron is NOT wrong.  In fact it’s very very right.

I so want to look this beautiful (and tall!) when I grow up:

What’s not to love about a flirty apron?

Even the prices are great, from $24.95 to $29.95!

Some other fab features include:

Soft Designer Fabric

Strong 2-Ply Construction

Designed to Fit Every Woman

Won’t Fade or Tear

Let me tell you, as soon as our little photoshoot here was finished, I snatched that apron back so fast.  It’s mine, all mine I shouted!

Okay do you really think I’d be that mean?  Of course I let my gorgeous model keep the apron but I’m definitely expecting some Luscious Lemon Bars in return!   Thanks Joy

So here is where all you lovely readers get the chance to win a lovely Flirty Apron of your own.  You’ll even get to pick which one you’d like.  So take a look at all the super fun designs and let me know in the comments which one you’d pick if you won.  Be prepared to have a hard time making a decision though, they are all so stinkin’ cute….this is just a sample of them:

One winner will be chosen at random from all entries.  Giveaway will close on Tuesday, January 26th at 2:00 pm PST.  Open to everyone.

You can also connect with Flirty Aprons on Twitter @Flirty_Aprons and/or their Facebook Page.

Have fun!

And be flirty!

Are you interested in learning basic organizing concepts and maybe uncovering the reasons why your past organizing attempts may not have gone as you wished?  Then this online workshop, hosted by Professional Organizer, Aby Garvey, is for you.  It’s appropriately called Organizing 101 and it’s presented in bite-sized pieces over the course of six lessons.  By taking simple action steps you won’t just learn how to get organized-you’ll understand the process and begin creating change in your home right away!

You know I love how Aby runs her workshops…informative, supportive, organized and fun!   What I may not have told you though is that Aby offers a money back guarantee.  That means if you join and decide it’s not right for you, they offer a full no-questions-asked refund in accordance with their cancellation policy.  How great is that!

Haven’t decided if an online workshop is for you?  Watch this short video to get an idea of what is involved.

To read all about what is being offered in this latest workshop go to Organizing 101.  Class starts January 21st.

Today I’ve got one seat to give away to one of you!  If you are ready for change and would like some help getting started, then just leave a comment on this post to enter to win.  Giveaway closes Tuesday, January 19th at 2:00 pm PST. Open to everyone.

Enjoy!

This past week I made two recipes from the newly released $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook written by Erin of $5 Dinners.  I made the Asian Chicken Wraps and Beef Roast and Potatoes.  They were both VERY easy to prepare and delicious.  Sure wish I’d remembered to take pictures for you.

The unique thing about Erin’s cookbook though is that out of the 200 recipes included every one of them was made for $5 or less.  That’s quite a feet.  And while I’m not sure I could match the prices she is able to achieve in her hometown of Dayton, Ohio, since I live up here in Northern Canada where groceries are pretty expensive, I do like that she breaks down the cost of each ingredient so you know exactly how she got to her total.

As you would expect the ingredients are straight forward and not fancy schmancy.  I’m not a fancy girl by any stretch of the imagination and definitely don’t have the time to be running all over town trying to find something I can’t even pronounce that is for sure.

Another fabulous take away of the $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook, that I was really impressed with, are the many pages of how-to information at the beginning about strategic grocery shopping, couponing and meal planning.  Everything you need to know about these topics is detailed for you in plain English so you can be saving money in no time.  Erin does a great job of breaking it all down for you step by step so you too can be a savvy supermarket shopper.

My only disappointment about this cookbook is that each recipe does not include a picture.  However several pictures are included in the middle of the book.  I do understand though that it’s done this way in order to keep costs down.  The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook is currently available on Amazon for only $10.19.

I have TWO copies to giveaway to two of my readers.  To enter just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite comfort food is?

Giveaway closes Tuesday, January 12th at 12:00 pm PST.

Please note that this giveaway is now closed.  The winners are: #57 Marie, #81 Brook-lyn, #45 Sandra, #103 Shannon and #85 Pam!

The latest online conference being put on by A Woman Inspired is called Nurturing Creativity/Efficient Living and I’ve been asked to a speaker!  This online conference runs from Janurary 25th to 29th and is only $12.95 to register for the whole event.  Be sure to check out the amazing line up of speakers.

If only life was simpler: dinner ready on time.; freshly laundered clothes in everyone closet; every item has a place; money saving was easy and effective; time management was second nature to us. Hmmm… if only, right?

Well, we can ‘t change your home overnight but we can provide you with the tools to begin the process and motivate you to get started. We’ll have sessions on organization, money saving and management, easy meals, effective scheduling, overcome procrastination and more! This is one conference you can’t afford to miss!

I’ll be speaking on organizing and kids and how to get them involved in the PROCESS.  You can read more about my session and all the others here.

The best part about an online conference is that you can listen in your jammies if you want and if you can’t make it to all the scheduled sessions you can listen to them later on mp3.  It’s awesome!

You can register for the conference here.

Today I’m giving away 5 tickets to the conference!  If you’d like to enter your name please leave a comment on this post prior to Friday, January 8th at 2:00 pm PST.  Thanks!

Hope to see you there!

This giveaway is now closed.  Winner is #204 Charity and #214 Ezzy!

Welcome to 2010!  It’s a brand new year and I know many of you are deciding that this is your year to get organized.  I have always said one of the best places to start in this quest is with menu planning.  Planning for your week in advance, saving time in the kitchen, eating healthier, saving money on groceries and basically eliminating this stress from your life are all excellent reasons to menu plan.  I feel such a sense of accomplishment from knowing what I’m going to eat for the week and my entire family benefits.  Menu planning is totally flexible and with practice and/or with a little help it can be such an amazing tool to implement into your organizational plan.

There are many menu planning resources out there for you to utilize.  Many of them do all the work for you and are a great service for those who feel they don’t have the time to menu plan or who just want someone else to take all the guess work out it.

However, like me, many of you enjoy perusing recipes each week and selecting your own recipes to include in your menu plan.  I know for myself I’m very particular about the recipes I chose and have a specific recipe criteria in place to help me achieve my goal of finding easy, quick and healthy recipes to include in my plan.  So when I heard about the service Plan to Eat I was very excited because it is a menu planning service that gives you the freedom of selecting your own recipes and then stores and organizes them permanently for you all in one place.

Plan to Eat allows you to import recipes from popular recipe websites or easily input them by hand.  Then all you need to do is drag and drop them into your menu planning calendar, print off your calendar if you chose AND as well print off a complete shopping list based on your chosen recipes.  It’s absolutely brilliant and organized!

Calendar:

Shopping List:

What makes Plan to Eat particularly brilliant though hands down is how easy the site is to use.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Things designed to make our lives less complicated tick me off when they are too complicated for us simple minds to figure out in the first place.  I abhor complicated with a passion.  So, considering I’m a pretty tough critic, I was very surprised when I checked out Plan to Eat and discovered the simplicity with how easy it is to use.

I just love the recipe import feature.  Many other resources similar to this one require you to manually add your recipes to the site.  Um no thanks, that would take me forever.  As you know I get the majority of my recipes from sites such as Taste of Home, Tasty Kitchen and Kraft Canada.  I’ve used the import feature with all three of these sites and all I have to do is add the recipe url, hit import recipe and voila my recipe is there, complete with ingredient list and instructions.  You can even upload a photo if you’d like.  It also keeps track of my favorite websites so I can go straight there from within Plan to Eat.  Stuck for ideas? Plan to Eat has a “search google” toolbar that lists your results right there with a handy import recipe button beside each one.  Just so awesome!!

I also love that you can add tags with each of your recipes to make finding them again a breeze.  I can create any tags I like and am not limited by a select few.

I also love love love the shopping list feature.  It automatically adds all the items from your selected recipes and then easily allows you to select/deselect items you don’t need.  You can also add in additional items as necessary.  Further making my life easier, when I print out the list I’m given a handy reference key that shows me which ingredients go to which recipe in case I need to make substitutions at the grocery store.

Plan to Eat is available for $4.95 a month or if you pay for a year at a time it is $39.00/yr which works out to only $3.25 a month.  You don’t have to just take my word for the awesomeness of this site either because you can try Plan to Eat absolutely free for 30 days to see if you like it.

Today Plan to Eat has kindly offered to giveaway TWO one year gift subscriptions to two lucky readers.  I’d really like to giveaway these two gift subscriptions to someone who thinks this service would benefit them in their menu planning endeavors.  Take a look around and if you think this is a service that would work for you leave a comment on this post letting me know.

I’ll close the giveaway next Wednesday, January 6th at 9:00 pm PST and the winner will be chosen at random from the comments left.

Happy New Year everyone!!

You have heard me love on Aby Garvey and her workshops before but just in case you haven’t, I’m a huge HUGE fan.  Aby is a Professional Organizer that regularly offers affordable online organizing workshops on her site Simplify 101.  I’ve been part of her workshops in the past and can absolutely vouch for how informative and supportive they are.   You know me, I want no part of anything complicated and will totally run away from anything that confuses me.  And no way would I recommend an organizing course meant to simplify your life if it was only going to frustrate you just trying to maneuver around the course.

Aby’s latest workshop is called How to Achieve Your Goals and Create a Life you Love.  It is a 4 lesson/8 week course that starts next Tuesday, January 5th and is priced at $50.00.  Check out what it has to offer:

• Learn how to dream. As crazy as this may sound, many of us have forgotten how to dream! Faced with the realities of the “real world” dreaming about what we truly want is becoming a lost art. In this workshop you’ll learn how to free yourself from anything that’s holding you back from allowing yourself to dream, which is the first step in creating a life you love.

• Learn how to turn your dreams into goals. Find out how to create an effective goal statement for all the key areas of your life—from career to family and everything in between. Plus, learn how to make your goal statements super compelling so you can’t help but take action on them!

• Learn how to make it happen! Find out how to turn your goals into simple action steps and begin taking action on your goals during the workshop. With the support and encouragement of your instructor and the workshop’s online community, you’ll be well on your way to creating a life you love before the workshop is over.

• Learn how to track your progress and celebrate your achievements. Monitoring your progress and celebrating your victories are keys to making goal-setting and accomplishment of those goals a habitual part of your life.

• Learn on your time schedule in a format that works for you. Class materials are presented online, via a printable PDF document, and via audio files you can listen to on your computer or MP3 player. Select the method (or methods) that work best for you!

• Get the support you need to succeed! Throughout the workshop you’ll have direct access to your instructor via the private workshop forum. Plus, get inspiration and support from your classmates via the private online community and photo gallery. The workshop and online community will remain open four additional weeks after the lessons are released, giving you ongoing support and time to create habits that will allow you to achieve your goals!

• Have fun! Includes bonus, creative organizing project downloads, with colorful, step-by-step instructions. These optional projects make it even more fun to take action on the workshop concepts and make them part of your daily life.

Aby is totally interactive with her students and wants to see you succeed.  This is what she had to say in her blog post yesterday:

Whether you routinely set goals and love the process, or goals are a new and possibly uncomfortable concept for you, if you want to make change in your home and life this year, this workshop is for you.  The Goals workshop will give you the foundation, ideas and inspiration you need to dream about a life you love, and take steps to make it happen!  I only run this workshop once a year and this year’s session begins next Tuesday, so I hope you’ll join me for this once-a-year opportunity!

Yep that’s right she’s only offering this course once this year and what better time to set some goals for the year than right now at the start of a brand new one.  If you are ready for a change and just stuck knowing where to start then this might just be the opportunity you were looking for.

If you’d like to try and win a seat in this workshop all you have to do is leave a comment on this post before Monday, January 4th at 12:00 pm PST.  Open to anyone.

Good luck and happy goal setting!

Wheee, did you read that?  I’m giving away a basket!   Okay not just a basket (although just that would delight me to no end ) but a basket filled with great stuff too.  Yup Kraft Food products and a basket, did I mention the basket?

This giveaway was a no brainer for me.  I heart Kraft Foods.  I use their recipes in my menu planning all the time.  The recipes are simple and easy to prepare with usually minimal, not so fancy I can’t buy it in a normal grocery store ingredients.   I like that, it makes me happy and it saves my family $$.  I like that a lot!

Here are some of our family favorite recipes from Krafts Foods.  These are all off the Kraft Canada site (because that’s where I live) but the US site is very similar.

Taco Salad Bowls

Beef & Vegetables Noodle Bowl

Chicken Caesar Wraps

Smarter Fettuccinie Alfredo with Chicken

Okay now that I’m super hungry, how about a giveaway!  Check out the beautiful gift basket that one of you lucky ladies (men?) will win.

Okay that basket makes me drool almost more than the recipes do.  Just think of the organizing possibilities of it!  What?  You want to know about what’s inside?  Oh alright.

This basket includes:

4 delicious holiday recipes from the Kraft Foods Kitchens, a Zak Designs garlic peeler, an HA Mack olivewood mixing spoon, NEW Velveeta Rotini and Cheese Whole Grain, Planters cocktail peanuts, Planters pecans, Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate, Stove Top, Honey Maid cinnamon crackers, Jet Puffed marshmallows, Oreos, Kraft salad dressing, NEW Maxwell House Blend coffee, NEW Ritz Brown Sugar Cinnamon crackers and NEW Wheat Thin Flatbread crackers.

Kraft Foods recently re-launched their Facebook Fan Page and The Kraft Foods Channel on YouTube.  Both sites have delicious recipes and seasonal tips…just in time for the holidays!  They also provide a forum to exchange ideas and recipes, ask questions and provide feedback.  Also Kraft Foods is on Twitter as well.

I personally had no idea about the YouTube channel and can’t get enough of it now.  As you know cooking doesn’t come naturally for me so watching how it’s done is a huge help.

Kraft Foods would love your feedback on these new channels and as a thank you is giving away a gift basket to one lucky commenter for doing so.  In order to be entered into the giveaway just leave a comment answering the following question:

“What do you think of the new Kraft channels (Youtube and Facebook) that Kraft Foods has added to their family of resources?”

For an additional entry you can also Tweet the giveaway by tweeting the following phrase:

Win a Kraft Foods Gift Basket from @orgjunkie and @Kraftfoods http://tiny.cc/uzO3c

(don’t forget to leave a separate comment telling me you have done so)

Giveaway ends on Tuesday, November 24th at 9:00 pm PST.

Disclosure: Kraft Foods made two gift baskets available. One for me and my family as well as one to give away to a reader. The opinions listed above are my own and not just something I made up because they are sending me a basket.  Honest.

Earlier this year I told you about a terrific 40 page menu planning e-book that you can receive for FREE when you sign up for the e-newsletter at Econobusters.

Today I’d like to tell you a little bit more about the Econobusters site and their fabulous monthly digests.  Econobusters is a fairly new blog that started this past January by a group of women whose purpose and passion is to empower and encourage keepers at home during this tough economic downturn.  They provide tips on ways to save, frugal ideas, do-it-yourself projects, meals that save time AND money, and so much more. What makes this site unique though is that it is hosted by a fictional character named Molly Green.   “Molly” is one smart gal too.  My goodness you just have to check out the site to get plenty of ideas and tips on everything from organization to decor to shopping and crafts.

In addition to daily posts on the blog, each month Molly also writes and publishes an e-digest that she offers for sale at the low price of $4.95 each.  These money-saving digests include more in depth discussions and articles on topics regarding frugal living.   Molly (and her helpful team of course) were kind enough to send me the September 2009 issue so I could see for myself how great these digests are and you know I have to say I was not disappointed.

Each month has a theme and September’s theme was all about frugal decorating.  Let me quote Molly herself:

“A lovingly decorated home is not about high price tags, debt, or keeping a set of design rules. It’s about pulling together pieces that work for your family, at a price you can afford, in a way that makes you smile . . .”
—Molly Green

I told you she was a smart girl

In this 33 page digest I enjoyed reading a variety of articles on many great money saving topics.  Here is a sample of what’s included:

• Begin with the Basics: Are you couponing yet? Maybe you’re not convinced that it’s worth the hassle. Listen up with a sensible, step-by-step introduction to why and how coupons really can help your family’s budget.  This is the first part in a series by Amy Howard that takes a good, close look at how a real family uses coupons for real savings. If you are tempted to shy away, you need to read this!
• On Sale This Month: Every little bit adds up! What items are usually discounted?  What should you stock up on? Find out now.
• Keeping it All Together: Creating a Home Décor Binder—Learn from Kris how to create and maintain your own three-ring binder that will save you time and money, and keep all of your pertinent decorating information in one place! Get organized to ensure that you have what you want when you need it and go on to acquire the fabulous results you envision.
• Feather Your Nest Frugally: How did Virginia help her son find and refurbish a solid wood dining room set for only $135? See this photo transformation!
• Pull up a Chair: There are plenty of interesting reasons to celebrate in September! What should you put on the menu? Get the recipes for Black Bean and Sausage Soup, Paul’s Cornbread, and easy-but-tasty 1-2-3 Cheesecake!
• Parenting that Pays: Todd Wilson, the funnyman of Familyman Ministries, shares a cartoon, and Molly shares some brief, but sound, advice on keeping your family’s decibel level lower. You can have a more peaceful home—within minutes! This advice alone is worth the price of this E-Book!
• Something Old-Something New: What do you have in your home right now that’s just screaming for a li’l update? One of Molly’s favorite bloggers, Tracey Buxton from A Cottage Industry, takes an old calendar frame and gives it a charmingly new 2009 look. Sometimes it’s all in the paint!
• Monthly Feature: Frugal Decorating—With the word count down and the picture count high, you’ll hear from three special guests then go on a “blog walking tour” visiting a dozen additional favorite décor bloggers. These are real women with real families living in real houses and creating lovely home environments on a realistic budget.

My favorite feature was the Something Old-Something New column.  I love love love to take something intended for one purpose and turn it into something new and fresh and totally functional.  That’s exactly what writer Tracey Buxton did with an old calendar frame.  I never would have thought to do this and kick myself now for not having picked one up at the thrift store the other day.  What did she do?  Well I guess you’ll just have to read the monthly digest to find out

One of you will get a chance to do just that if you win today’s giveaway though.  Molly is giving away a copy of the fabulous September issue in e-book format to one lucky reader.  Just leave a comment on this post answering the following question:

What’s your favorite part of Thanksgiving?

The question totally has nothing to do with anything but I thought I’d give you something fun to say rather than just “pick me”

Giveaway closes on November 14th at 9:00 pm PST.

PS:  If you are interested, you can read about all the past and present digests here.  You can also purchase digests through their Pick-a-Pack program which means you can select five digests for the price of four ~all five for $20.00!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Photobooks changed my life!  I absolutely have converted over from printing individual digital pictures and filing them away in an uninteresting album to creating beautiful photobooks that are fun to look and way less work to produce than traditional scrapbooking.  They also make stunning inexpensive gifts!

I recently had the pleasure of creating a photobook using Shutterfly.  They sent me a coupon for a free photobook and I jumped at the chance to create an album of our summer camping trip because both my mom and sister have used Shutterfly in the past and told me what a great experience they had.

So easy to use!

I am happy to report that Shutterfly was very easy to use and I was super excited to find out that they have a Simple Path format  for people like me who don’t have a lot of time and want to create beautiful photobooks fast.  With Simple Path all you have to do is upload your photos, choose a photobook size and theme and then have Shutterfly auto-fill those photos for you in chronological order into your book, automatically selecting the photo layouts and backgrounds.  I LOVE this feature so much because when it’s done I can quickly and easily make any necessary adjustments I want and be in and out with no fuss, no muss.  It really couldn’t be any easier than that.

Of course you always have the option of doing a more custom photobook as well depending on the time you have available.  It’s totally your choice, the cost is the same either way.

So many background options and picture layouts!

Choosing background wallpaper is what make photobooks so much fun.  Shutterfly has many different coordinating varieties to choose from.  You can use all the same one or be wild and crazy and mix and match them

Picture quality is superb!

Oh my goodness I was stunned by the first class picture quality.  The photos are sharp and the colors true to live.  Many of the pictures in my book fill an entire page and it feels like I could step right inside the photo it’s that clear.

Oh and I almost forgot to tell you about one of my very favorite features.  Spine writing!  You can write your title on the spine so that when your books are lined up on your shelf you can easily grab the one you need.  Such great attention to detail!!

Want to try Shutterfly out for yourself?

I have TWO coupons available from Shutterfly for two free photobooks.  One 5×7 book and one 7×9  book.   Leave a comment on this post and I’ll select two random winners to each win one photobook to try out.  Winners must use coupons before November 30, 2009.

Deadline to comment is November 7th at 9:00 pm PST.

Good luck and happy photobooking!!

Friends, it’s that time of the year again.  That time of the year when we promise ourselves that this is the year we are finally going to get organized for the holidays.  Well how would you like a little helping hand keeping that promise to yourself once and for all this year?

My friend Aby Garvey of Simplify 101 is once again offering her very popular 5-lesson/10-week online workshop Get Organized for the Holidays and this year I’m excited to announce that I’m going to be a part of it, yay!  Aby has asked me to to contribute by offering a bonus handout to participants on Holiday Meal Planning Made Easy.   I truly believe the holidays are about spending quality time with family and friends and not about spending hours in the kitchen missing out on all the fun.  It’s definitely possible with some advance planning and during the workshop I’m going to show you how.

This fantastic holiday workshop is set to begin next week and there are many more highlights and benefits to signing up.  Some of those include:

• Figuring out what’s most important to you and your family to have a joyful holiday season.

• Creating a holiday planner and filling it up with printable forms and worksheets that will organize all aspects of your holiday preparations.

• Creating a customized holiday plan so you can get it all done. You’ll be organized, prioritized and energized!

• Learning practical, doable strategies for simplifying the key areas of your holiday preparations…from cooking, baking and entertaining, to shopping, wrapping and sending out holiday cards.

• Sharing gift ideas, recipes, holiday traditions, tips and more in the private workshop forum.

• Learning a simple process for getting your holiday gifts put away and your home put back together.

• Learning how to store your holiday décor efficiently and effectively.

• Getting tips and ideas for making next year’s holiday season even better than this year, and exchange ideas with your classmates.

• Sharing photos of your holiday decorations and storage solutions in the online photo gallery.

• Creating a simple and fun project to organize your holiday cards so you can enjoy them next year.

Today I am giving away ONE spot in this upcoming workshop.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post answering the following question:

Which one of the above workshop highlights interests you the most?

Last day to enter is Saturday, October 31st at 12:00 pm PST.

Happy holiday organizing everyone!