December Family Goals {Free Printable}

It's December!  It's the beginning of a new month and that means a Monthly Family Goals printable for you!

December is one of my favourite months of the year.  Of course Christmas is in December so there are lots of holiday festivities and gatherings.  And my birthday is also in December!

But December is always a really busy month, so it's extra important to take some time at the beginning of the month to think about the month ahead and set some goals.  Otherwise, time will fly by and at the end of the month you'll feel like you were always busy, but not necessarily doing things you wanted to do.

So, use the December goals printable to help you live more intentionally this month!  You'll be glad you did :)

365 Items in 365 Days: October and November Update

How are you doing in the 365 Items in 365 Days Declutter Challenge?  It's the 332nd day of the year today so if you started in January, your target is to have purged 332 items by now.  But don't worry if you've just started.  Just jump in!  Now is the perfect time to declutter with the holidays approaching so you'll be able to have guests over and enjoy time with family and friends.

{Stay tuned next week for an update on what's happening for the prize for this challenge!}

Today I'll be sharing what I've been decluttering since my last update.  By doing these monthly updates I hope to give you ideas of things you can purge from your home.

Day 4 - Shopping the Sales {12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays}

So we've made our holiday to-do list, planned what we will be giving everyone, and sent out Christmas cards.  Now it's time to start shopping!  And what better time than this week with Pre-Black Friday sales, Black Friday sales, Small Business Saturday sales, and Cyber Monday sales!  To help you make the most of those sales, it's important to have a plan for shopping, so today I'll give you some tips to help you maximize your time and your dollar.

Day 3: Holiday Cards {12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays}

Do you send out holiday cards to friends and family?  It's always fun to receive these festive greetings, but sometimes it can be overwhelming to send them out.  Today I'm sharing a few tips to help make this process easier.

Day 2: Planning Gifts {12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays}

Are you overwhelmed with all the gifts you need to buy in the next few weeks?  Today I'm sharing tips to help you plan out what you are going to buy for each person on your list!  If you shop early you'll avoid some of the crowds and be able to enjoy yourself during the holidays.

You Spoke and I'm Listening!

Thank you all so much for taking time to complete my blog survey last week!  I've had a lot of fun reading your responses and seeing the patterns and trends.

Before we get to that though, it's time to see who won the giveaway! 

Day 1: Planning for Christmas {12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays}

Do you get overwhelmed during November and December?  Do you get to the end of Christmas Day and you're exhausted and wonder if it was all worth it?  There's shopping, baking, wrapping, card-writing, cooking, and decorating.  All in the midst of parties, gatherings, and celebrations with everyone and anyone you've had contact with all year!  It's a lot to juggle.  And it can easily become overwhelming.

But it doesn't have to be that way.  With some advance planning and organizing, you can simplify the holidays and get things done earlier, so you can breathe and actually enjoy this festive season.  Doesn't that sound good?

To help you do that, I'm going to be writing a series called 12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays.  Each of the 12 posts will focus on one aspect of being organized for this special time of year.  I'll spread the posts out over the next 6 weeks, with an average of 2 posts per week.

Each post will have practical tasks you can to get organized.  If you've already completed those tasks {good for you!!}, feel free to do something else that's overwhelming you.  If you haven't checked these items off your to-do list yet, then spend some time working on them so you won't have to do everything all at once at the end.

OK, so now that I've told you about the series, let's get to today's post!  I'm going to kick this series off with some tips to help you plan out the next few weeks.

Holiday Gift Giving Organizing Ideas Galore!

I'm so excited to be included in this month's Professional Organizers Blog Carnival!  It's my first time contributing and I can't wait to read all the other posts.

What is the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival?  I'm glad you asked!  It's a monthly blog post that professional organizers contribute to.  Each month is a different theme and includes posts related to that topic from a bunch of professional organizers.  It's a great place to find advice, ideas, and tips for the theme of the month.

This month is all about Holiday Gift Giving.  Perfect timing so you can start getting your holiday gifts and wrapping supplies organized.  And there are several posts on clutter-free gifts too!

We Did It! So Can You! {Fall edition}

Do you have clutter in your home but don't know where to start purging?  Do you feel like you don't have enough time to declutter?  Have you seen all the 365 Items in 365 Days posts and thought "I really should do that", but you keep putting it off?

You're not alone!  But you also don't need to stay in your paralyzed state.  You CAN declutter!  And to prove it I want to share some stories of people Just. Like. You. 

Welcome back to the "We Did It! So Can You!" series.  This series is about real people decluttering their homes, one day at a time!  Busy people, with too much stuff, who decided to take the plunge and purge.

It's been awhile since I posted the first post in the We Did It! So Can You! series.  Too many other things to blog about!  But I want to get back to sharing some of the success stories from the 365 Items in 365 Days series.

Ready to be inspired?!  

It's Your Turn To Talk! {And a Giveaway}

One of the biggest thrills of blogging is that you, my readers friends, take time out of your busy lives to hang out in my little corner of the blogosphere.  I know the internet is louder than ever before and so many websites are competing for your precious time.  The fact that you choose to read my blog is something I don't take lightly.

I love sharing organizing tips and projects with you.  And when I hear how you are decluttering and organizing your homes as a result of things you've read here, I feel so honoured and proud.  It inspires me to keep bringing you my best.

5 Tips for Organizing a "Real Life" Garage

Is your garage cluttered and overwhelming?  Has it become a dumping ground for anything that doesn't have a home anywhere else?

Now, be honest, do you avoid organizing your garage because you can't afford those fancy garage organizers you see on Pinterest and in magazines?

There are some mighty beautiful garages out there.  I'm happy for those people who have them.  But most of us have plain ole' ordinary garages.  Sure, we can do some things to pretty them up, but they're still not going to be magazine worthy.  But they don't need to be beautiful.  We don't live in our garages.  We store things in them.  And hopefully have space to park a vehicle in them.  If we have limited funds for organizing, more often than not we'd rather spend those dollars inside our homes, where we spend more time.

Having a "real life" garage doesn't mean it has to be unorganized though!  I've got about as ugly a garage as you can get... you'll see in the pictures.  But I do my best to keep it organized.  And I just use basic stuff to do it.

Introducing the "New" From Overwhelmed To Organized!

If you've read any posts in the last 3-4 weeks, you've probably noticed things look a little bit different around here than they did before.  While working on the 31 {Cheap & Easy} DIY Organizers series last month, I was also busy working with a designer on a new look for the blog!

There wasn't really anything "wrong" with the old design.  It had been the way it was for about a year, after I made some changes to the menu and some changes to the sidebar last fall.  Both of those changes were a big improvement over how it was before. 

But as the blog continued to grow, and new people started reading it, I found it was getting challenging for people to navigate their way around and to find posts that applied to a particular need.  I really wanted a drop-down menu.  I also wanted my social media icons to be easily accessible in the header, rather than lost in the sidebar. 

So, today I want to take you on a little tour of the "new" From Overwhelmed to Organized!

3 New Ways to go From Overwhelmed To Organized!

Do like the organizing and decluttering tips I share on From Overwhelmed To Organized?  Did you know I share other ideas on a variety of social media sites too?  Things that never get shown on the blog!

November Family Goals {Free Printable}

It's November!  It's the beginning of a new month and that means a Monthly Family Goals printable for you!

October was a great month... my daughter's 8th birthday, Canadian Thanksgiving, a few days away with my hubby, and Halloween last night.  Fun times.  On the blog, October was all about the 31 {Cheap & Easy} DIY Organizers series.  I had so much fun bringing so many great ideas to you all month!

OK, on to November!