Ready, Set, Organize! A Workbook For the Organizationally Challenged

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"Ready, Set, Organize! A Workbook for the Organizationally Challenged" by Pipi Campbell Peterson with Mary Campbell is just what it claims to be, a book of useful, entertaining, and quick advice for work and home.

If you are unorganized, you don't want to read a huge length text on what you need to do. After all, time is something you are most likely short of, that is part of the problem! One thing I really liked about "Ready, Set, Organize!" is that it was a quick read. Being disorganized wastes time. This book takes no time at all to gain advice that you can put to use now.

If you like lists, you will especially like "Ready, Set, Organize!" The book contains numerous list and charts to assist you with your planning and organizing. While you could just fill them in, I would recommend photo copying the pages and keep the book where you can make additional copies as needed. Or, you may wish you use the forms and lists in the text as guides to make you own on the computer so you can print them out when needed, or even keep your planning on the computer entirely.

The book is organized with nine chapters divided into three parts. Each chapter is simple, to the point, and relevant to get you organized right away. Part One focuses on taking the time to find time. It is the planning before the organizing. This is a very important step. If you are someone who already writes out your priorities, your mission, and your goals, this part might not be as beneficial. There are more complete texts on these topics. However, if you have never completed exercises such as these, do them. This is a great little primer to start. Chapter one gets you thinking about what your priorities are, how you use your time, and determining what your goals and objectives are. Chapter two then goes into determining what you want to accomplish with annual, monthly, and daily agendas. This leads to the third chapter which focuses on using a planner to organize your days.

Part Two focuses on your stuff. Chapter four gets you looking at what kind of belonging you have and what places you have to store them. And just like the rests of the book, there are lists and ideas to help you along. Chapter five covers a problem that many people seem to have with their clothes. No room to keep them all! If your clothes are unorganized this chapter will help! Chapter six goes into one of the biggest areas of clutter for just about everyone. The paper chase. Short chapter on creating files from piles. There are entire books on this topic, so if you need more help it is out there. But this chapter will give you a good start, and may be all you need.

Part Three focuses on organizing your household. Chapter seven will help you organize your home office, both for personal and business activities. Chapter eight has suggestions and ideas on organizing children's stuff and how you can get them to assist you with the organization. If you have kids, there are some good tips here. Chapter nine is the last chapter and it teaches you how to organize personal and family records, personal property, financial information and your final wishes. Most of this chapter is forms and worksheets to assist you in organizing. Photocopy them or use them as guides and you'll be able to get your things in order.

Read this book and get organized today. It is a quick read with loads of practical advice. It contains numerous lists and worksheets to assist you. If you really want to succeed in life and get the most out of your time, being organized is a must. This book will help you get started and more importantly, keep you on track.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a mediator/attorney with Bennett Law Office P.C. and an author/speaker through his own company Burrese Enterprises Inc. He writes and speaks about a variety of topics focusing on the business areas of negotiation and success principles as well as self-defense and safety topics. He is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks, several instructional dvds, and numerous articles. You can find out more about Alain Burrese at his websites http://www.burrese.com/ or http://www.bennettlawofficepc.com/

The Greenest Thing You Can Do - Square Foot Gardening

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AppId is over the quota

I really love this article, because it records my first real step in becoming a consciously sustainable person. I don't mean becoming eco-friendly or environmentally conscious or any other nebulous phrase that suggests some effort at environmental awareness without really being concrete enough to define a measurable standard.

I have taken tentative steps before, but now that I have done my research, I know what true sustainability is, I know that is our highest goal, and I know how to get it done. I chose to start this journey to full sustainability by starting to become a producer. Yes, of course I will still consume, and for right now there a lot of holes in my game, but I am becoming a producer as well, and it feels pretty damn good.

I bought All New Square Foot Gardening because I had heard good things about it, and I wanted to start growing my own fruits and vegetables with the least amount of hassle. I happen to know that hydroponics is the most efficient way to grow anything, but it is a pretty complicated place to start. Square Foot Gardening seemed to be a good simple solution from the outside looking in. But would it deliver?

After reading it and buying the materials for starting my own square foot garden, I have to say it truly does provide a very easy way to start growing your own food. Among the many fantastic things about this method is that it can be done in any living setting, even an apartment balcony. I strongly recommend this book to people like me who do not want to deal with the hassle of gardening. The author Mel Bartholomew provides a step by step process for building your planter box, mixing the perfect soil, planting, growing and harvesting. No fertilizers. No pesticides. It is good stuff.

It took me less than a week to read the book, purchase the materials, put the box together, mix the soil and plant my veggies. The author does not mention costs, so I am going to list my costs for materials right here, for your benefit:

Heirloom Seeds (more on heirloom in my next blog): 8 packets - $23.25Lumber: (1) sheet of plywood + (2) 2x6 redwood - $28.59Soil Mix: vermiculite + peat moss + compost - $80.93Grid: 5/8" x 1/4" trim board - $14.98Total cost: $147.75Work Time: roughly 8 man hours

This was more than I expected, but most of the costs are one time. The only ongoing costs are for compost and seeds. If you compost yourself, that line item is eliminated. With Mel's technique, seed use and waste is significantly reduced in comparison with tradition row gardening, so seed packets can last as much as five years.

So what is the payoff?

I will have to wait and find out for myself, but according to the book, here is an example harvest from a 4x4 box:

1 cabbage1 broccoli1 cauliflower4 romaine lettuce heads4 red lettuce heads4 leaf lettuce heads4 salad lettuce heads16 scallions5 lbs. of sugar peas8 swiss chard9 bunches of spinach32 carrots32 radishes16 beets

I priced out this theoretical harvest at my local supermarket, and it came to over $115.00. If you have two growing seasons per year (this is typical), you will be in the bonus after the second harvest.

You have probably heard a million times about "getting back in touch with nature", so I'm not going to bore you with that. What I do want to say is that the project is a lot fun, it is a fantastic way to beautify your yard, it has endless possibilities for adaptation and creativity, and it is one of the greenest things you can do. Sometimes I think green can be summed up in one sentence: make it yourself, or buy local. That is the long and the short of it.

The book is far more detailed and complete than this little summary suggests, so I strongly urge you to buy it, read it and make it happen in your garden.

There are a few other items I would like to mention before I sign off that I will be expanding upon in future blogs.

As I mentioned before, my researched has determined that hydroponic agriculture is the most efficient, and I love the idea, but it does require more upfront cash than a square foot garden.I will be pursuing this in the future though, so stay tuned.

One technique I will be testing in future growing is living water. I am not doing it in this first season, so this first yield can be considered as a control in my little experiment. For those of you who are not familiar with the work of Victor Shauberger or Masaru Emoto, water can have amazing regenerative and vitalizing properties given the correct energetic charging. As with hydroponics, I will elucidate in the near future.

OK, one last near future note. One method which is outside of the square foot gardening book that I did experiment with is the seed planting process mentioned in Anastasia, the first book in the Ringing Cedars series. I am late to this party, having just finished the first book, but all I can say is wow. That book has already contributed mightily to the shifting of the paradigm and the material is great, but I am not going just take it at its word. I will review that book in the near future, and let you know just how effective the practical advice in that book is based upon how my crop turns out.

That is all I have for now. Happy Passover, and love to all,

Millard

Source Green Blog [http://source-green.com] offers sustainable news, movie and book reviews, success stories and practical solutions from our "Road To Green" series. For more information on Source Green, please visit our What We Believe page.

Owner and founder Millard Nathan Arterberry, Jr. was born and raised in San Diego. He graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995, has worked in the architectural profession for over 12 years, and is LEED accredited by the United States Green Building Council.

Do It Yourself "How To Books" - Electrical

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AppId is over the quota

When there are better and more interesting things to do why should one bother with trying to learn how to fix ply boards, repair the fuse and rectify the water faucet? This feeling is most prevalent when one is an adolescent and nagging parents seem to disturb the peace and quite of a teens room. All they want and that too all the time is to make you be an apprentice in whatever they are doing be it plumbing work, electrical work or kitchen work.

With pop, it is either a beam that requires holding while he fixes a hole in the shed wall or handing over nails or holding the torchlight while he tries to get back the electricity. All that this apprentice work gives you is a pain in all the joints that you can count. Little do we realize that we are missing out on a training that will probably come handy some day. It is only on the day that the crisis lands up at our doorstep that we look back longingly and feel "had I paid more attention, I would have been able to solve this issue"

When you finally buy a house of your own and the first night the electric power goes off, you repent that you have never ever tried to learn the nuances of fixing a fuse wire or understanding the live wires from the earthed ones. At times like these one regrets the decision not to invest in some handy 'how to' books.

Looking at all sorts of wires and trying to figure out a way to get the power can have you cracking. These 'how to' electric books explain the matter in great detail using charts and illustrations. This helps the most ignorant people as to the various steps involved when standard issues crop up. There are separate books available for trouble shooting

Before buying a particular 'how to' guide, you must research the Internet and ask those who have purchased such books in the past. Once the right choice is made, these books can help in becoming an all-in-on worker at home. It gives you a sense of pride at having achieved control over certain circumstances. The next thing you know you shall be buying drills and tools and actually looking for areas in your house that need the use o these tools.

To find tips on many subjects check out some "how to" books [http://advice-books.com/how-to-electrical-books.php] visit [http://advice-books.com]