I do like maths -and love statistics. This week’s ‘Good Weekend’ had another interesting one.

Which leads me to this year’s Christmas gift giving tip:
Give sensible, give things people need – even for children, ask what they want, accept if someone says “I don’t want anything”.
Because if you keep on giving, it can get  too much. People find the task of putting all the gifts away after Christmas overwhelming. You don’t want to be the one tipping someone from ‘a bit too much stuff’ to “I have so much clutter around, I don’t know where to start!”
Did you know, that most of us find it harder to let go of an unwanted gift than something we bought ourselves for a lot of money? So be mindful this year – and if you think potatoes are a bit too ‘down to earth, think of something slightly more pretty, but still useful.

Our family cycled over the Harbour Bridge, participating in the Sydney Spring Cycle. With 10.000 others, we prepared the bikes and lunches the night before, got up early, took a train to North Sydney – up the first hill –“are we there yet?”
At the starting point we had to find the choir, because on top of cycling 55km we were registered to take part in a Guinness Book of records attempt to be the biggest choir on a bicycle. We rehearsed Waltzing Matilda with the Choir of the Opera House. (The lyrics are actually hard to learn; and explain to a 8 year old why someone wants to die rather than go to jail; and how he can drown in a puddle?!)
“are we starting yet?” when we waited for our choir section to get the go ahead. “can we have morning tea?” as we cycled through the Rocks. “how much further?” every 5 km.
Despite having participated in that event for 7 years, we are never sure of the route. They changed it considerably this year and because we don’t have (working) bike computers, nobody ever knew exactly where we were going and where we where up to.
So we focused on the ‘now’ time, on our instincts as how much further to go, on our knowledge about local bike paths to try to guess where we are heading.
We knew where the finish line was going to be – the kids knew they would get an ice cream, but apart from that, we just took our time and enjoyed the ride.
I think it’s a good analogy how I work with most of my clients: Be prepared. Have a end result in mind. Have a plan that doesn’t’ have to be followed by the letter. Embrace the unexpected.  Have a  clear idea about the reward at the end and willingness to enjoy the journey.
PS: despite the brilliant rehearsal, the singing on the bride was quite disputable – and we haven’t heard back from the organisers yet whether we are indeed the biggest choir on a bicycle.

please have a look here for my guest blog about camping simplicity

This weekend a  friend of ours popped in with, this story:
“I have been buying Philip’s irons for over 40 years, they used to last 10 years, now they just do 5. I kind of accept that loss of quality. Last week I bought their middle of the range model, and it didn’t even last at all. It was kaputt straight away. So I went and returned it – got another one, which, in turn had the same fault. Going back to the shop I was offered an upgrade to the top end model, which cost twice as much. I am very happy with what I gained, but felt the need to write to their operations manager for Australia (someone with a ‘van’ in his name, being Dutch!) informing them of my ordeal and that really this shouldn’t be necessary. I also included a copy of my travel ten (public transport ticket in Sydney) and asked for a refund of the travel cost.”
He got his refund and a better, brand new iron. This story highlights two things for me: the necessity to keep receipts, an understanding of which ones could be relevant for how long and the need for all of us to make use of our right for perfect products and customer service.
I pride myself as being a bit of a queen of refund and return: I returned stockings with a run (luckily I still had the packaging in the recycling) and last week I returned some flour to Aldi. It wasn’t flour. It tasted all right, but everything I baked was dense and gooey. I did a test with two identical loafs of bread, baked with two different flours. The Aldi one was UN edible (except Mr. 8 eats everything, so he toasted it and gobbled down the whole loaf). On returning the flour (without a receipt – who keeps that?) I got my refund and the remark: “but you are the first one returning it.” But it wasn’t what it is supposed to be – and NOBODY realised????

… I do when not organising

I have been teaching an “Art Club” at my kid’s primary school for the last two years. It’s one of the many things like chess club and bands they offers after school. I don’t get payed for this, but I enjoy it so much. I was always complaining about what kids learn in art but whinging gets you nowhere so I started this. Before the Easter break we did action painting with a group of 10 “advanced” kids. They absolutely loved it and it was good fun, especially because it was very messy. Action painting is such an event art, that I had to try my new found movie editing skills and did this video.

If you are interested in more, we did murals two years ago

It all starts with an organised pantry:

before

pantry after

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way” B.Washington

hanging your spare chairs from the wall.

using wall lights as ceiling lamps: much cheaper

using  shoe boxes and ice cream containers to hold your sorted and de cluttered posessions.

making the kids sort the spare change: for a percentage

When having little ones to care for, you need all the extra time you can get. And learning how to survive that can change your life. At least that’s what happened to Julie Morgenstern, the well known Professional Organiser in America and author of the book ‘Organizing from the Inside Out’.  In the introduction, she writes how she had been a disorganised person all her life.  Her first child changed all that:  She realized that always having everything ready to go in her nappy bag, life was so much easier.

This shows a very important point in the journey to getting on top of things:  Start little!!!  Don’t try to do the whole house in one weekend.  Remember, if it took you 10 years to arrive where you are now, it may take you a while to get out of it.  Don’t be overwhelmed about how long it will take, rather remember, that finding the right system for you and your family takes time but will last you a lifetime.

With the very young around, it becomes a fairly important part of your life and always having it ready to go makes getting out of the house just much easier.  So what should be in there?  There’s nothing wrong or right.  I have a girlfriend who had just a compartment in her handbag for this.  Others buy the full size nappy backpack and are happy with it.  As a rule of thumb, I would say “less is more” the less you put in the less you have to refill and keep up to date.   In addition, less makes it lighter to carry.  As your baby’s needs change, or you have two in nappies or a toddler and a baby, you should change the contents and probably the bag itself.

This demonstrates another rule of organsing: know what you want to store and measure before you buy. You should take all the things you find necessary in a nappy bag with you when going out to buy one and not buy something that looks nice but then turns out to be too big or too small.

Fortunately, I am out of carrying a nappy bag, after almost nine years, but still had a little zip plastic bag in my handbag: a pair of stretchy shorts, the sort who will fit a very tall nine year old, a six year old and a four year old. (Not to forget all their friends who happen to have an accident because the toilets in the park are locked!!)  A pair of undies and one of those little packs of baby wipes.

Now that we are on the tail end of the school holidays (as you might have guessed by the amount of sibling fighting going on in your house), here are a couple of points I find/found helpful over the years:

Don’t buy the school uniform too early. When I helped at my kid’s primary school at Orientation day in October, I couldn’t believe how many parents bought every item available, even winter clothes. Kids can grow considerably in three months.

Same goes for shoes

Buy at least two school hats

These are our favorite lunch boxes. They have a hinged lid so you’ll never lose the lid. And I am very happy to report, that they are available from Woolworth. I used to import them from Switzerland – complicated and expensive. They come in different sizes, so you can avoid buying overpriced single wrapped snack/ treat items. Just put two biscuits in one of these and you’ll save the planet from too much packaging. And if you can pack the sandwiches separate from the fruit, you don’t have to use any glad wrap. So that can’t be blown away on the playground, because my kids tell me, that’s what seals get wrapped up in.

To keep all the boxes in one place use one big container. The best all year round ones are the slightly isolated with a zipper. The sipper should open on the big side, so you can access all the boxes at once, rather than have to fish them out one by one from the top.

Stock up on lunchboxes (I never thought I would use the word: stock up!) you’ll never find the same variety throughout the year. And you might need them. Some kids lose a lot. Others just give up in term III (the lunchboxes not the kids). For some reason boy’s lunchboxes are quicker sold out than girl’s.

Water bottles. Well, this is a bit of an issue. Decor used to have these very flat ones out of hard plastic, but they don’t make them any more, and I have been searching all of last year. There is plenty out there in that sort of size, but I am not too keen on the softeners in the plastic. So if anybody can point me in the right direction….?I also like them nice and flat, so they can act as a cooling pad in summer. Fill it with water up to 2/3, then top it up in the morning. Otherwise it might not have defrosted enough by the time the first brake comes.

there are other specialised containers out there. I found these at “Chalet” but didn’t buy them yet. I am contemplating the green one, because bananas are really hard to transport, and once they ripen in our garden, I have to feed them to the crowds.

Reading through this, I actually realised, that there are a couple of tips for my “no kids” customers. Maybe one of your New Year’s resolutions were to save money. So what about starting to take a sandwich from home instead of buying lunch in the city. You’ll save yourself a staggering $1500 a year – and don’t spend that on another handbag!!!!!

… and with that I don’t just mean travelling for holidays – I found with little kids it doesn’t really matter whether you go to visit Grandma overnight or just dash to the shops. So with travelling I am talking about everything which involves going from A to B.

As a mother of three I know what I am talking about, having travelled overseas on my own with a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 4 month old – survived and actually enjoyed it.

I think the secret is in being organised, know what to expect and prepare for the worst so nothing is surprising you!!

On the same token, sometimes it is easier to avoid travelling – for example going to the shops “just” to pick up some bread.

Most people don’t believe me, but I find it easier and quicker to bake my own bread then getting three kids out of the house, strap them into the car, get them out, chace them though the supermarket, back in the car, and finally out of the car…that’s a lot of effort for just a loaf of bread.

So I would say: be prepared when you travel, enjoy it, but avoid unnecessary travelling.

Here is my Travelling list: pleaese comment to add to this

Short trip:

Always have the nappy bag refilled and ready to go.

Have some spare clothes that fit more than one child.

Have a basket/box on the passenger seat for everything you need during travelling. That way it stays in one spot and you can take everything out after the drive

Car:

Have some toys in the car which don’t get played with otherwise – make them special

Take little toy treats to bribe them for silence and good behaviour.

Play kids music and sing along

Play story tapes

Plane:

Take an (inflatable) ball for stopovers so they have a purpose to run around.