Productivity @ Home

Clear the clutter, cleanse the soul

The following article, reprinted with permission from of the Arlington Catholic Herald, is more religious in nature than those you will typically see on Productivity @ Home.  But I felt compelled to share it here since I'm a great admirer of the work being done by Project Nazareth's founder, Abby Sasscer.  How many of us would have the generosity of spirit to share our time and talents with others who might benefit from the services we offer.  In Abby's case, this organizational expert, author and speaker provides free in home consultations to families in need of her service.  Making herself available in this fashion has supported her speaking work, helped spread the word about her e-book, and helped countless homes fight the battle against clutter.  I'm pleased to reprint this article -- written by Katie Bahr -- and to recommend Abby Sasscer's e-book as a great resource as well. 

Whether you want to do it or not, the time spent clearing the clutter from your house may be good for more than just extra closet space; it can also benefit your soul.

That’s the idea behind Project Nazareth, an apostolate formed to help families declutter their homes and simplify their lives to become closer to God.

According to Abby Sasscer, a parishioner of St. John Bosco in Woodstock and the founder of Project Nazareth, the act of living simply gives families an opportunity to love God and practice virtue in their everyday lives, or their “domestic church.”

“I try to teach the families that the goal is not to have a perfectly organized house. The goal is heaven,” Sasscer said. “We can grow in holiness everyday within our domestic Church by practicing the virtues exemplified by the Holy Family in Nazareth. Every time we declutter, we practice the virtues of simplicity and holy detachment. Every time we manage our time and treasure wisely, we practice the virtues of wise stewardship and trust in divine providence. Every time we plan our menu, we practice the virtue of faithfulness and prudence.”

For Sasscer, organization and simple living are second nature.

Growing up in the Philippines, she was exposed to poverty every day on her way to Catholic school. She was impressed with the way those families handled their lives with very few possessions.

“I noticed something beautiful, that the poor families tended to be happier, more content and more thankful for what they had,” Sasscer said. “The simpler they were, the happier they were.”

After coming to the United States as a teenager, Sasscer spent time visiting a few convents. Again, she was attracted to and impressed by the simple and orderly lives of the nuns.

After receiving her bachelor’s in business administration, she parlayed that love of simplicity and order into her career when she got a job systematizing small, and eventually home, offices.

After she left her job to home-school her three children, she couldn’t leave her organizational talents behind and kept working to systematize parts of her own house. Eventually, a close friend started asking for tips on how to organize her house as well.

Sasscer wrote a manual, which later grew into an e-book called Simplifying Your Domestic Church — A Spiritual Journal to Help Families Declutter, Organize and Systemize their Home.

The e-book was written originally for home-schooling families, but the information, with sections on organizing vital documents, decluttering, menu planning, time management, tithing and Christian budgeting, is helpful for all families.

Sasscer compiled advice from other mothers, motivational quotes from saints and the Scriptures, and workshops on topics like budgeting, scheduling and menu planning. The book is organized in easy-to-read sections, with bullet points instead of long paragraphs.

“Most of the books on decluttering and organizing are so cluttered and disorganized,” Sasscer said. “I’m not really out to have a best-selling book. I’m out to help people and I don’t think they need to spend all their time reading.”

After the e-book was published, Sasscer began getting invitations to speak at diocesan parishes and to visit people’s homes for private consultations, all of which led her to form Project Nazareth.

“It was almost like an accident, really. Chronologically, it wasn’t planned by me,” she said. “It was planned by the Guy upstairs.”

Today, Project Nazareth has three main parts — “Project Mary” speaking engagements, “Project Elizabeth” home visitations and “Project Martha” phone consultations.

During the “Project Mary” engagements, Sasscer speaks to mothers with young children, teaching them how to instill the values of simplicity at an early age.

For the “Project Elizabeth” home visitations, Sasscer visits families in and around Shenandoah County. Home visitations take a minimum of three hours during which Sasscer will either assess each room in the house and give suggestions, or she will help the family focus on totally decluttering and organizing one room.

“Most of my visits are with home-schooling families and we really work together to prepare their classrooms for the next year,” she said.

The last part of Project Nazareth is the “Project Martha” phone consultations, which use a 24/7 hotline families can call if they need guidance.

Because Project Nazareth is an apostolate, all services are provided free of charge, with Sasscer only accepting offerings to cover her own costs for gas, meals and supplies.

For families looking to simplify and organize their own homes, Sasscer said the most important thing is to get rid of as much clutter as possible.

“On a practical level, the less stuff you have, the less stuff you have to organize,” she said.

She encouraged families to declutter twice a year, ideally during Advent and Lent. She also discouraged families from keeping things for future use.

“By excessively storing things for future use, you’re possibly depriving other people from using them right now,” she said. “Keep the gifts coming.”

During home visits, Sasscer encourages families to fill at least one big black garbage bag with stuff to give away. She jokingly calls these “body bags.”

“Consider it a body bag, like you just went to war and that’s the collateral damage,” she said. “You don’t keep body bags in your home because they stink on the spiritual level. It’s not alive, but it sucks all this energy out of you.”

When families are having a hard time getting rid of things, Sasscer often challenges them to think ahead in their lives to what they will really need.

“I encourage the person to constantly fast forward to the last two hours of life and ask, ‘Do I need this 20-year-old fondue set to get to heaven?’”

By clearing the clutter, families can redirect more of their attention to God.

“Picture yourself walking into a church,” Sasscer said. “You don’t have a lot of crazy clutter. Everything is simple, Christ-centered, uncluttered and light. You can focus on God. Simplifying the domestic church is like creating that same atmosphere within your home, and not just treating it as a giant storage shed.”

Find out more:

For more information, visit projectnazareth.info.
24 hour voicemail service: 800/382-0859 ext. 6498.
Buy the e-book at chcweb.com.

Way to Go Milo!

Congratulations to my good friend Lisa Umina of Halo Publishing and her buddy Milo for their recognition this week

in winning the Christian Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award for their tremendous book Milo and the Green Wagon.

At the time this book was released, I said of it, "Milo and the Green Wagon is a true gift for families. This precious story teaches children that they, too, can make a difference in our world by reaching out to people in need; Small efforts can add up to tremendous results! Author Lisa Umina and Milo teach us that there is true joy in giving to others." In the time since that review was written, Lisa and Milo have been working hard to educate kids (and their parents and teachers) to the fact that "ACT - Action Changes Things".

The award won by Milo and the Green Wagon is greatly deserved and a vote of confidence for the message that books can change minds and hearts. If you don't already own Milo and the Green Wagon, please consider purchasing this book to share with your favorite child. You will love it as much as she does!

10 Reasons to Have Family Meals More Often

When was the last time your family had a meal together? I don't mean sitting in the car munching on burgers from the drive-through.

I mean sitting down at the table and sharing a home-cooked meal. If you can't remember when you last enjoyed a family dinner, make plans to have them more often.

Experts have found - and continue to discover - plenty of benefits for both children and adults when families have dinner together at least three times a week. I know...I know, it's not always easy, so click here if you need help with meal planning and grocery shopping.

Here are 10 reasons why you should have family meals more often:

Good For The Body

1. When families eat together, everyone tends to eat healthier. People who have frequent family meals consume more calcium, fiber, iron, and vitamins B6, B12, C and E. It could be because home-cooked meals are healthier than fast food and restaurant meals. (Source: Archives of Family Medicine)

2. Children tend to eat more fruits and vegetables when they frequently have dinner with their families. They also tend to eat fewer snack foods. (Source: American Dietetic Association)

3. Children in families who eat dinner together are less likely to be overweight (Source: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine). This makes sense, given the findings in #1 and #2 above.

Good For The Brain

4. Children from families who eat meals together get better grades than their peers who don't have lots of family meal times (Source: Lou Harris-Reader's Digest National Poll). So family dinners are not only good for the body; they're also good for the brain.

5. When families eat together frequently, children have better language skills compared to kids from families who don't have family mealtimes often. (Source: Harvard University)

Good For Emotional Health

6. Children of families who eat together report feeling happier and are more optimistic about the future, than their peers who have infrequent family meals. (Source: Lou Harris-Reader's Digest National Poll)

7. Teenagers are less likely to use drugs, smoke, and drink alcoholic drinks, when their families eat together regularly. (Source: Columbia University)

8. It may come as a surprise, but among Moms who work outside the home, those who have family mealtimes reported feeling less stress than those who had family dinners less often. (Source: Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal)

9. The more often teen girls had meals with their families, the less likely they were to have symptoms of depression and suicidal behaviors. (Source: University of Minnesota)

Good For Family Bonding

10. Eating together gives family members the chance to communicate and build relationships, something that both adults and children appreciate very much. (Source: Nutrition Education Network of Washington & Oprah Winfrey's "Family Dinner Experiment")

I hope these reasons motivate you and your family to try and eat together more often. We're all busy - even children have plenty of after-school activities. But as the list above shows, family meals are worth every effort we put into them. It helps to plan ahead so that we're not scrambling to get dinner ready or panicking because we don't have all the ingredients we need.

To make it easier to get the family around the table with a home-cooked meal, check out Dine Without Whine's menu planning service. It cost just a penny to try it out!

Copyright 2009 Dine Without Whine

Retweeting Productively

Much has been made of Twitter's having gone mainstream in the past few weeks with the Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN Smackdown and Oprah's foray onto my favorite social networking site (for the record, I'm not one of her nearly half a million followers).  For those of us who have been tweeting for the past few years, we long ago realized the power the site has to help @ Home businesses network, to help those who work @ home feel less isolated, but also to become a major addiction and time dump if not managed productively.

Today, I ran across this great article by Dan Zarella at Mashable on "The Science of Retweeting".  It's worth a few moments to read this through if you use Twitter to promote your website or business and want your inforation to extend beyond your personal network.  For what it's worth, looks as though content that adds value is key - not a surprise but an important reminder about using Twitter productively. 

Home by 3

Perhaps you're ready to take your Work @ Home business to the next level by considering hiring a part time or flex time employee to assist you with projects or tasks that never seem to get completed.

With the creation of the new business HomeBy3.com, you now have a great resource for finding great, qualified help in your local area. 

This new, mom-driven company has two stated goals:  One is to empower women who want to raise their children while also utilizing their professional skills and experience in flexible employment positions.  Two is to help companies identify the hidden labor force of highly qualified individuals (i.e. primarily Moms!) with professional experience who want to work flexibly.

For a limited time, the creators of HomeBy3.com are offering employers the opportunity to post jobs on the site free of charge.  Visit HomeBy3.com for additional details. 

Spring Clean with Curb Day

I thought I'd share the following press release and invite you to consider a little Spring Cleaning around your home with the incentive of participating in Curb Day.  In Fresno, once per year we have this type of a city sponsored opportunity - in our home we refer to it as "Big Trash Day".  For the week prior to "big trash day", it's not uncommon to see folks in pick up trucks cruising the streets, looking for treasures.  I'm not sure if "Curb Day" would be legal in my home town, but I could see this being very popular in dense, urban areas.  Here are the details:

Curb Day – May 16, 2009

Give your stuff away

 

How many things do you own but never use? Now imagine the unused stuff all over America. We’re talking perhaps a billion items or more.  Collectively, let’s do something great on May 16^th.

 

On that day, just bring your unwanted items to your curb for others to cart off for free. No junk and nothing dangerous or illegal, please. Just usable, working condition durable goods. Please follow local ordinances and the guidelines below.

 

That’s it – a very simple, yet efficient way to relieve clutter and provide valuable items for those in need.

 

We don't think many items will be left over after Curb Day weekend. But you should be prepared to remove or dispose of items that are not picked up by others.

 

And if you could use something for free, take a walk in your neighborhood – you might just find it!  The key to success with Curb Day is nation-wide promotion. Please help by publishing this information and sending this email to friends and colleagues.

 

Important Guidelines:

• Obey local ordinances

• Place ONLY the allowed items on your curb (see below)

• Do NOT place trash, dangerous, or illegal items on your curb (see below)

• Be careful driving that weekend - many drivers will be frequently stopping

 

Acceptable Items to Donate:

• Appliances

• Computers (with hard drives scrubbed)
• Electronics
• Bicycles
• Sporting Goods
• Tools (be careful with sharp blades)
• Yard and Garden Equipment
• Tables
• Chairs
• Desks
• Musical Instruments
• Books
• Clothes
• Shoes
• Kitchen Utensils
• Lamps
• Plants, Potted Trees, etc.
• Building Materials
• Other Durable Goods

 

These items are PROHIBITED:

• Garbage or Recyclables

• Weapons of any kind
• Dangerous items
• Chemicals of any kind
• Food items
• Illegal Items

 

Want to help?

• Donate your stuff on May 16th

• Tell all your friends - pass this email along
• Tell your local media
• Post this event on Craig's List and other sites
• Send in your ideas, stories, and photos

For more information contact:
Mike Morone
curbday.com
mike@curbday.com

The Benefits of Roping Children into Community Service

There’s something about volunteering for community service that melts your insides and makes you feel soft and warm all over. Maybe it’s the fact that you’re not expecting anything in return for what you’re doing; maybe it’s just the thrill of being able to make a difference in someone’s life; or maybe it’s just that you find yourself spending your time in a worthwhile manner. Whatever the reason, community service gives back to you as much as you do for the community, in terms of emotional fulfillment. So it’s only natural that you should get your children involved too, because their lives are going to be enriched by helping other people. There are various advantages to be gained by roping your kids into helping out in the community, some of which are:

• They develop a sense of WE rather than I: Children are born thinking only about themselves and remain that way till they’re able to reason and think for themselves. Community service helps them understand the value of thinking about other people, about putting their needs before our own, and about the need to be less selfish and more generous with what we have. Children learn how to share, both on a physical and an emotional level, when they’re exposed to community service at an early age.

• They understand the problems that are a part of our world: It’s not easy to teach our children about poverty, illiteracy and homelessness, some of the few problems that exist in today’s society, when they have all the food they want, go to the best schools and live in comfortable homes with their own rooms. Community service helps them understand that there are people who are not as fortunate as we are, and that we need to open our hearts and our minds in order to help them in any way we can.

• They realize how fortunate they are: It’s tough to make your child realize the futility and stupidity of wasting food when there are millions of children starving all over the world. But if they see people who are less fortunate than they are, they will be less inclined to complain about their perceived woes in life.
• They utilize their time usefully: Community service is a good way to use free time. It also helps you bond with your kids outside your home and spend more time with them. If your kids are with you, it becomes a family affair, something the whole family can do together on a particular day of the week or over the weekend.
• They pick up new skills and discover hidden talents: If your child is a born organizer, the fact is going to be revealed when they work as part of a team and take on leadership responsibilities during community service. They discover other talents as well, like learning how to get along with other people and communicate effectively, qualities that will stand them in good stead when they become adults.

This post was contributed by Courtney Phillips, who writes about ranking of community colleges. She welcomes your feedback at CourtneyPhillips80 at gmail.com.  Courtney taught for two years before becoming interested in writing full time for various online publications relating to education, nursing, and health.  She writes her articles from knowledge through past experiences, research, and learned information.

9 Simple Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat More Veggies

It seems like a never-ending battle with the kids. Although you and I know veggies are delicious and they’re also good for you, they act like vegetables are a plague they want to avoid at all costs.

If you need creative ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables, here are 9 ideas to incorporate into your daily meals right away:

1. Make healthy choices readily available and put the sugary and greasy snacks away. This doesn’t mean totally deprive yourselves of these delightful treats, but making healthy eating a normal part of your day goes a long way to helping kids develop better eating habits.

2. Add veggies like carrots or even asparagus to smoothies. Kids love fruit smoothies and they’ll never know you put in a little of those dreaded vegetables in.

3. Sneak vegetables into other foods. For example: Add grated carrots into spaghetti sauce or make a zucchini chocolate cake.

4. Try dip. You know kids love to dip everything. Just make sure they know they have to eat the dip stick and not just lick it!

5. Take your kids shopping with you. Let your child pick out a new vegetable in the grocery store that they’ve never tried. Then prepare the vegetable together.

6. Be patient and consistent. Avoid having a tantrum yourself when your child has a tantrum about vegetables on their plate. Sometimes it will take several times of serving the same food before your child is even willing to try it.

7. Make it artistic and fun. Place veggies into a smiley face on your child’s plate or decorate a pizza with them.

8. Let them choose: raw or cooked. Some children may have a definite preference as to whether their veggies are cooked or raw.

9. Plan your meals. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the veggies when you don’t have a plan…allowing your kids to get into the habit of veggie-free meals. Plan your meals and grocery lists in advance, so you won’t come up short on the greenery.

To make your meal planning a whole lot easier, sign up for you 1 ¢ no-risk trial at Dine Without Whine. They put together your weekly dinner plan and even make a quick and easy printable grocery list for you. Click here to get started