1. Carpet Scraps: make an exercise mat, car mat, protect floor under plants, cushion kitchen shelves, protect tools.

2. Compact Discs: use as driveway reflectors, catch candle drips, make an artistic bowl or even make a clock!

3. Duct Tape: remove lint, repair toilet seats, repair frames, cover a book, make a bandage, hem pants, make a bumper sticker, make halloween costumes!

4. Fabric Softener Sheets: deodorize your car, gym bags, suitcases, and sneakers/ repel mosquitos, make sheets smell good, end tangled sewing thread.

5. Nail Polish: stop a pantyhose tear from spreading, mark hard-t-see items, seal envelopes and labels, make needle-threading easier, keep buckles shiny, fix nicks in floors and glass.

Pour about a quarter cup of any soda- preferably clear soda, along with water into the vase of flowers.  The sugar in the soda will make the blossoms last longer!

- “Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things” from The Reader’s          Digest Association, Inc.

If so, create a deep-cleansing facial mud mask for your face with a couple of handfuls of cat liter!!  The clay in the litter detoxifiesyour skin by absorbing dirt and oil from the pores!!

- “Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things” from The Reader’s Digest 

 Association, Inc.

 WHO KNEW!

Every morning after breakfast, my cat has a shower routine. She licks her right paw and swipes it over the right-side of her face and ear several times; then she does the same with her left paw. This is followed by licking her belly and her sides. I have read that cats lick after meals not only for cleanliness but from their days in the wild, this was a way to get rid of the scent of the food they just ate so that other predators didn't smell the meals and come after them!

Do you feel like stuff enters your space so quickly that you don't even have time to notice what you have? Is your calendar so stuffed with tasks and to-do's that you barely have time to breathe? Maybe you can identify with the main character in James Scott Bell's book No Legal Grounds, "Usually he'd jolt awake the night before a trial. This felt different, like he was the conductor of not just one runaway train, but several. He was simultaneously outside the trains and inside, and he could only ride in one for a few moments before shooting to another. He couldn't get his hands on any controls." Sound familiar?

If we want to live in a NOW (newly organized way) this year, we have to put the brakes on the trains! First, let's identify the trains. Here are a few suggestions:

Apply hairspray on your clothing item that has the lipstick stain and let it sit for a few minutes.  When you wipe the spray off, the stain comes off with it!

- "Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things" from The Reader’s Digest 

 Association, Inc.

  WHO KNEW!

     Is "getting organized" one of your goals/resolutions for 2010? Has it been on your list in previous years? If you want to attain organization with lasting results^TM in 2010, I have some great news for you! Minding Your Matters® is going to partner with you this year in an initiative called new decade, live in a NOW. You see, just as Rome wasn't built in a day, so organizing doesn't happen in a day. It is a process. After all, it took a period of time for the clutter to accumulate, so it will take time for the clutter to disperse. And I hate to break it to you, but while you are trying to declutter and get organized, stuff will try to creep back into your space. After all, you get mail every day, you pick up extra groceries because there was a great sale, or you bring in two shirts instead of one because it was a buy one, get one half off and you couldn't resist the dealJ But we are here to help you with all aspects of organizing, even helping stem the tide of insidious clutter accumulation.

     We are calling this initiative new decade, live in a NOW and we want the word NOW to stand for Newly Organized Way. Do you want to live in a NOW? Great, then let's get started! First, you have to decide where you are and where you want to get to on the Organizing Continuum.

Substitute club soda for whatever it is the liquid calls for in your pancake or waffle recipe.  You’ll be amazed at how light and fluffy they’ll turn out!

- "Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things" from The Reader’s Digest  Association, Inc.

WHO KNEW!

The great book “Polish Your Furniture With Panty Hose” suggests these useful alternatives for vaseline: 
 
• Like to fish? Lure trout by cating small pieces of sponge with Vaseline to stimulate fish-egg bait! 
• Prevent car battery corrosion by smearing Vaseline on clean car battery terminals. 
• Remove gum from hair by working Vaseline into hair until gum slides off. 
• Get a ring that’s stuck off your finger by using Vaseline to help slide the ring off your finger. 
• Moisturize your face by rubbing a small amount of Vaseline on thoroughly washed face. Health spas use this “secret”! 

Don’t buy special powder to get rid of dishwasher iron deposits. Just dump in a packet unsweetened Kool-Aid. It’s a much cheaper way to make the inside of your dishwasher sparkle. 
 
- Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things from The Reader’s Digest 
Association, Inc. 
 
WHO KNEW!