Wonderful Support for Parents of Premature Babies

Having a premature baby must be one of the hardest things imaginable - one of my children was 2 weeks early and he seemed so tiny and helpless as it was! I feel for the parents out there who have their babies prematurely and wanted to promote a wonderful Organisation called L'il Aussie Prems who were on new TV Show 'Money for Jam' Recently.

L’il Aussie Prems was created by Julia Toivonen in March 2007 who is mum to two premature babies, Ronan born at 27 weeks gestation in 2006 & Tristan born at 36 weeks in 2008 at Monash Medical Centre, VIC. Through her experience of giving birth so early to Ronan, a year after his 110 day long journey Julia decided to create L’il Aussie Prems to reach out to parents and offer support and understanding whether parents are still in the NICU/SCN or at home. It has been a major learning curve creating and administrating a website but one Julia has thrived on. To date, the forum has a membership of over 1000 members with a staggering 185,000 forum posts on support and advice from other families.

Have you had a Prem Baby or do you know someone who has? How did you/they get through it?

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

L'il Aussie Prems also has a great blog too.

Last Day for My Outrageous Wellbeing Giveaway Freebies

Hurry - Last day for the “My Outrageous Wellbeing Giveaway” Event

It is the last day you can get all the wonderful free gifts at the“My Outrageous Wellbeing Giveaway” Event. The Event has been a HUGE success due to all the work that Lenore and Charly have done. Thanks for putting it all together ladies enabling people like me to help more people - That is our aim after all!

If you haven’t had a look at all the wonderful products on offer quickly go to the site before it's closed.


What are you waiting for !


Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

'How to get into the Organizing Zone' - Free Teleseminar

I have an (Free) Interview on 'How to get into the Organizing Zone' Wednesday Morning the Nov 4th, 10 am EST. It is with Author Amanda Robins of Toddler Taming Entrepreneurs

Don't be mistaken that you have to have kids or run your own business to get some great organizing tips you can apply to your life and home on this call. The Free Teleseminar can help with your Home based Organizing no matter what. The call can be listened to via a live webcast. So just click on the link to get the call details....Organizing your life, better home organization, decluttering and de-stressing your life is just a click away!

Look forward to hearing you on the call.

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

House building Tips to Stay Organized and keep Stress Levels Down

I felt the need to write a slightly more positive post about building your own house after my recent ‘overwhelmed’ house building post!! Apart from genuinely feeling overwhelmed by all the choices and house decisions I had to make, I was actually premenstrual at the time of writing!!, which tipped me over the ‘this is all to hard’ edge!

Well, I’m no longer feeling pre-menstrual and thought it may help to add some constructive comments about what you can do if you are building your own home to make it less stressful.

So here are some house building tips to stay sane and be organized in the process –or as organized as you can be – normal organizing rules seem to go out the window for a while – with Mess being and almost constant on the building site!!:-


Using good old Manilla folders to ‘house’ all the magazine clippings; Tradie quotes etc.

It also helps to use the one BIG note pad, so that you can always refer to that when you need to check notes you have made when talking to anyone to do with building your house. This keeps paperwork mess and clutter to a minimum –or at least all in the one place so it is a bit better organized.

Keeping a folder for all your receipts is also a good idea – and a big envelope for smaller receipts to keep track of costs/outgoings/progress payments etc.

Money Tip when building your own home:- Wherever possible pay by credit card to save on extra interest on your loan – which will even keep you ahead if a 2-3% surcharge is added by the company you are dealing with.

Take photos of your new and progressing house semi-regularly - some from the same spot for future reference. They are great to look back on. Sometimes when you are in the thick of the ‘build’ it’s easy not to bother as you are so busy and focused on the job at hand, but it is worth it.

If you have kids, to get them to feel some sense of ownership of the 'build' by sometimes helping where possible –even if it just sweeping out their ‘new’ room or helping get rid of rubbish into your trailer/skip bin etc

Another good thing to do with the kids when it comes to building a new house and be organized about it, is to have a look online for different ‘looks’ your kids may like to use for their rooms – colours of walls, curtains, carpet, light fittings etc - Reminding them that all good things must wait!! It makes us appreciate them more when we save to purchase new things.

We are now almost lock up with the Front and Back doors having just been hung – I’m surprised at how excited we all were by this latest milestone. Plaster is now starting to go up left, right and centre, which also makes a huge difference to the feel of the place and being able to visualize the house finished…...still can’t imagine living in it yet! But bring it on!!

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Now almost 100 Free Health & Wellbeing Giveaways for you!

Well the Outrageous Wellbeing Mega Giveaway Event is into it's 2nd week- so only 2 weeks to go! In fact I have just been informed by Lenore Miller - founder of Outrageously Healthy and this Wellbeing Giveaway event that our Organize Your Whole Life ebook set is the most popular. Lenore says:-

"Claire McFee - Popular with our members
and the most downloaded gift in the
My Outrageous Giveaway Event"

We continually get great feedback about Claire McFee's Organise Your Life products.
If you are interested in de-cluttering your head, home and heart in favour of harmony, health and happiness ... then this is the most exciting product you will have ever seen.

If you feel disorganized or over loaded, do you forget appointments or due bills? Maybe you lose track of birthdays, special occasion's or the favourite movie you wanted to hire at the video store.
Stop Feeling Overwhelmed & be in control of Your Life
Stop misplacing your "Stuff" & Never Miss An Appointment Again!
Take Control Of Your Money Fears...Once And For All!
At least go and take advantage of the 4 complimentary e-books, while you're their check out the E-organizer and see what you think. They have a video showing you how it works.

Thanks for the wrap Lenore!!!

To take part in this great giveaway go to My Outrageous Wellbeing Giveaway and get heaps of great free stuff including Freebies covering :-

"Stress Relief Audio Tool" Contributed by: Amanda Robins
Weight loss and fitness advice
Self confidence Tips
Allergy prevention /solutions
Beauty secrets
the Law of attraction explained
Finding your passion
Expert reviews on popular diets
Healthy Detox methods
Ethos =energy transformation healing open source method
Baby massage
Alternative healing explained
How to’s for yoga and Meditation
Action guide for smart savvy women
How to achieve guilt free eating

.......the list goes on!!

Bye for now,
Claire

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

building a new house can be stressful - hang in there you can do it!!

For our regular readers you know my husband and I are building our own house at the moment. I wanted to share my thoughts on the whole building process. As we are still in the thick of the whole process, my view is probably tainted with the overwhelming nature of building your own home. To build or to buy a house ready made?? At the moment I would say buy don't build!!

If my husband wasn’t a builder I can tell you we wouldn’t be building ourselves that’s for sure. Don’t get me wrong – building is great for lots of people – those that thrive on the pressure and the constant decisions that have to be made, but I think many people go into building their own place not realizing what they are in for.

I am sooo over choosing things and making decisions and cleaning up mess and hardly seeing my husband due to the long, long hours he has been working for well over a year and I really don’t want to do it again. I think I was smart way back when I was 21 and first met Neil and he was about to start building the home we lived in for almost 10 years. We were young and falling in love and kiddie free and I hadn’t started Organize Your Life yet, so it was a VERY different scenario to now. But I said to Neil at the time I would only go through the building process twice – that’s it. I can tell you now we are onto our second that it is definitely my limit – a small reno maybe down the track but building our own house again from scratch – No way. It’s a huge undertaking when you are already a busy person. So think about ti carefully if you are considering this option.

Anyway that’s my 2 cents – if you feel overwhelmed with your life at times as it is, without the stress of adding more to the mix then choose the easier option by buying a ready made house.

There are of course many things my husband and kids for that matter have learnt from the process - you can find good in most all situations. I just feel like I have had enough lessons for now -can you tell!! I am also grateful that I am as organized as I am. For dis-organized people who take on building their own place I do not not envy - it can make the difference between nervous break down or not!!

Have you built your own house? How did you find the experience?

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Know your Health could do with some help to function better? Then get these Freebies while you can!

As mentioned yesterday, here's some more about some of the Free Health & Wellbeing products (including an awesome Organize Your Life giveaway) that are being offered at no charge through My Outrageous Wellbeing Giveaway

Dr. Joe Rubino's life-impacting "7 Steps to Soaring Self-Esteem" Achievers Club Membership:
This insightful, eye-opening audio program based on the internationally best-selling book, "The Self-Esteem Book: The Ultimate Guide to Boost the Most Underrated Ingredient for Success and Happiness." Learn the reasons why this program has been the primary guide for thousands to totally improve their lives by elevating their self-esteem. Healthy Self-Esteem is the #1 factor for all successes in life!

Maryam Webster's ETHOS Method Quickstart Kit: This fantastic free package from Maryam Webster, creator of The Energy Transformation and Healing Open Source Method, or ETHOS, contains the full ETHOS eBook tutorial, transformation program "how to" audio class, explanatory videos. With this package, you'll learn to live in bliss.

Gillian Hood-Gabrielson's The Truth About Buring Body Fat report: Learn the truth and dispel the myths about burning body fat. You deserve to be educated on the truth - not what the diet and exercise industries would like you to believe. You will come away from this ebook enlightened and ready to take action to once and for all reach your health and fitness goals.

And that's just 3 of the fantastic products that you can get for absolutely nothing....

There are OVER 80 Health and Wellness products waiting for you at My Outrageous Wellbeing.

Organize Your Life is giving away four high quality eBooks on Organizing Your Whole Life - specifically Organizing Your Home; Organizing Your Family; Organizing your Money and of course Organizing your Self - worth $67!


So, how do you get access to these Free products? It's really EASY!

1. Simply Sign up to My Outrageous Wellbeing Giveaway
2. Confirm your membership
3. Login and access your gifts!
4. Of course, you should tell your friends about the event so they can get in on the action too -- Charly and Lenore have made that really easy to do too.

Don't miss out!

Happy Organizing and Happy Health!
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Outrageous Wellbeing Giveaway - Awesome Health & Wellbeing Freebies up for Grabs

Hi everyone,

I'm really excited to be able to tell you about the best Heath and Wellbeing giveaway event I've ever seen. A lot of Giveaway events suck you in, only to try to up-sell all sorts of stuff you don't want as part of the freebies. This event is free from any of that rubbish - it just has great quality free stuff for you - no strings attached.

Organize Your Life have some seriously good freebies on offer too. Four free Organizing eBooks covering organizing your home; organizing your family; organizing your money and of course organizing yourself.

click here to take part in this brilliant free giveaway offer if you are interested in health and wellbeing like I know most of you definitely are!!

I will drip feed what some of the other freebies are in the coming days and weeks as there are way too many to cover in one blog post! This Health and Wellgeing Giveaway Event only goes for a set period of time, so I'd get organized if I was you and hop on over there now to make sure you don't miss out! :)

Here is the link again for this amazing free Monster giveaway.

Enjoy !!!

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Community Forum / COMMUNITY CONNECTEDNESS pt 2

Attending the Community Forum I mentioned in a recent post, made me realize that I have neglected the 'community participation' aspect of my life a bit lately and I have noticed the effect. I used to be on various Community Groups/ Committees, but am not on any at the moment and really miss the feeling of fulfilment that you get - helping do work that wouldn’t otherwise get done and meeting other locals you would probably otherwise not meet - let alone get to know. So when our house is (finally finished) I will join a group that sparks my interest – perhaps LorneCare which helps with weeding and revegetation in the area.

Yes of course – doing this will take away from work time and even family time and will take organization of course to do, but it will be worth it.

One of the speakers at the Forum today was Professor Mardie Townsend - from Deakin University. She in fact spoke about the scientific proof that Nature does plays an integral role in our wellbeing and mental health - and the health of communities on the whole.

There are apparently 5 key factors to consider around these issues –
• Physical exercise
• Social connectedness
• Creativity
• Productivity
• Interacting with nature

And surprise, surprise Gardening covers all 5.

I have never had much of a green thumb but as I get older it is finally something I ‘want’ to do, so I look forward to establishing our new garden when we get to that stage too, knowing how good it is for me to do. Again to make it happen and fit it in – I need to make it a priority and have an organized approach to it to be productive. If I don’t make it a priority no one else will!

Inspired by Mardie I got the gardening gloves on and got the kids to help tackle some serious weeds out the back and we all felt a great sense of achievement with the results.

What do you get from gardening? Does it help you de-stress?

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Community Forums - Make it a priority to join in

I attended a Community Forum this week in the small coastal town where I live, that only has ~900 permanent residents –that swells to ~30,000 during peak times, with a highly fluctuating group of ‘Seasonal’ workers.

Although there was a lot on my ‘TO DO’ List, I decided to make it a priority to attend because these meetings are notoriously under-represented by young families to advocate their needs - i.e.: child care – not just adequate child care but child care full stop. There are a ridiculous amount of women with degrees here, who end up working as Waitressing and Cleaners long term b/c that’s all they can do without access to child care – which of course cuts into already small family time…..which of course leads to other problems.


Anyway…back to the Forum - the day was very positive with the State Goverment representation and our local Mayor Libby Mears – a highly articulate and considered lady.

The point I want to make about it though, is that I could have easily put this ‘whole day’ Forum in the too hard basket and not attended, missing out on valuable information, contacts and community connectedness on offer. I know many people think it’s all just too hard and opt out of these events – esp. when they have young children, but there are often ways we can ‘make it work’ if we want to make it a priority.

I used to do ‘kiddie play date swaps’ when our daughter was younger, so that I could volunteer at our local community house/do Committee of Management related work. This gave me a sense of being helpful and useful and increased my skills set at the same time (the Internet was just taking off), and actually gave me the confidence to start my own business – Organize Your Life - realising I had way more capability that I previously thought possible.

After all, our Local and State Government only usually act on community issues when enough people put there hand up and make it a priority to try to address. Groundswell movements are what ‘make things happen’ and you have to be a part of Community Meeting, Gatherings, Forums etc to be heard and for things to have a chance of success.

So if there is a Community Meeting in your area rather than putting it in the too hard basket, perhaps reconsider and try to attend even for a short while. You never know who you may meet or what you may learn.

Do you do any Voluntary Work in your Local Community? If so what has it taught you that you didn’t expect it to?

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Anxiety & Depression Awareness Month & "RU OK DAY"

It is Mental Health Week this week and Anxiety and Depression Awareness Month during October. Here is the link to Beyond Blue and Depression Alliance for more info that may help you if you or someone you know has Depression.

There is also a great Special 'Day' coming today in my region, called the R U OK DAY

Our Local Community has just had a whole "All will be well" Week, which has brought forward an R U OK Day morning Tea tomorrow that I am going to. In the past when I have struggled with Depression - the difference it makes when someone bothers to ask if you are OK can be profound. To feel like someone cares enough to ask means a lot.

So I encourage you to ask the Question of a friend, or colleague or whoever you notice are not themselves. A little bit of Kindness goes a long way - even during our busy lives we can all fit in a bit more kindness to those around us. What a great idea!!


Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Time to stop all the complaining weighing you down? Try the 21 Day Complaint Free Program Challenge

It’s all too easy to live a life whereby complaining and commenting negatively about others (Gossiping) and being sarcastic comes naturally to you, but it doesn’t have to be. This bad habit feels ‘normal’, but you can turn this unhelpful habit on it’s head and benefit enormously at the same time. Here's how...

Pastor Will Bowen started a fabulous movement known as the “Complaint Free World” in 2006 with a visual reminder of a Purple bracelet worn while you create a non-complaining habit and move it from wrist to wrist as you get the knack of catching yourself when complaining. When you find yourself complaining you simply swap the purple bracelet to the other wrist until it has stayed on the same wrist for 21 days. Sound easy!!??

Reprogramming your mind (or organizing your thoughts you could say) can take months but once you have reached the 21 days straight the new whinge free/complaint free attitude will put you ahead of the rest, with a much more positive outlook and therefore more positive life. Oprah has jumped on the bandwagon too - promoting the idea via her show – can’t get much bigger endorsement than that!

If you have found that you are stuck in a complaining, whinging mode of life, then consider it is affecting all areas of your life – including your personal and professional organizing effectiveness. Complaining equals 'victim mode' which when it comes to organizing usually equals excuses about why you haven’t done what you know you should have which equals inaction. The opposite is 'solution focused' and propels you to where you want to be…

Some people may argue that venting is a good thing – with a ‘Get it off your chest’ type attitude, but Studies say this isn’t the case. Venting or complaining about anything (and everything in some cases) just keeps anger and negative emotions alive. Imagine for example talking to a friend about something negative that has happened to you. They are more likely to show sympathy and ‘bag’ them too, rather than offer constructive feedback about what to do to solve the issue, which only makes the situation worse. So not talking about it is often a better alternative, which actually allows you to learn to trust and follow your 'gut instincts' rather than having a knee jerk reaction.

As Pastor Bowen says “Most of the complaining we do is just a lot of ear pollution detrimental to our health and wellbeing."

Over 6 million purple bracelets are already in circulation all over the world. What a great uplifting proactive idea. Thanks Pastor Bowen!

What are your thoughts? Do you think you could do it? Do you think it would make a difference to your life and the world around you?

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Heard of the Slow Life Movement ?? Maybe we could learn a thing or two from it....

Slow Life Movement

A friend gave me a stack of old magazines the other day including a recent copy of the Cleo Mag. I was pleasantly surprised about the quality and depth of all manner of interesting articles considering I am now probably outside their demographic - at the ripe old age of 36!!

There was an interesting article titled "Do less, worry Less and want less", by Georgia Clark covering the Slow food Movement, Slow Relationships, Slow careers and even Slow Sex.

In our modern fast paced society the Slow Life Movement groups(www.slowmovement.com) take into account taking the time to connect with what is around you, which not surprisingly correlates to living a happier more fulfilling life. Slow food focuses on ‘Good, Clean, fair food with as small a carbon imprint as possible. The least distance between the paddock to your plate..the least amount of chemicals if any, taking the time to enjoy food with loved ones, not rushing or eating mindlessly in front the TV.

This improves our digestion and the quality of our relationships. If you have fallen into the habit of eating with the TV on, you would be amazed at how much more quality conversations you have without it on, so that you really know what is going on in the lives of those closest to you…....otherwise it’s all to easy to live separate lives together in our McMansion's, not really knowing about the day to day lives of our family members.

The article went on to talk about the importance of Slow relationships, quoting Psychotherapist Dr.Pam Stavropoulos who says we are fitting so much into our already full and busy lives, 'we do not connect with our emotions, which in turn puts our system on auto pilot.' and that 'Speed can sometimes make us de-sensitised.. and we can lose touch with our feelings.' Slowing down can reverse this process.

Scheduling in some essential ‘Me time’ can counteract the effects of some of this unavoidable busyness. Factoring in Meditation, regular relaxing baths, journaling etc are great for this purpose.

Ever heard of a Slow Career? This comes back to being in tune with what you want from your life, not what others ‘expect’ of you. You need to be fulfilled in your chosen job/career. Sometimes this takes time to become evident, so don’t rush into jobs that may pay better for example but aren’t fulfilling to you – especially if the workload and pressure involved is really high. Work/Life Balance is proving to be much more important than your pay packet to the majority of people who have been there and done it. After all - as a favourite quote of mine goes ‘At the end of the day, are you going to say I wish I had worked more or I wish I had worked less?”

Slow sex…
This part of the Worldwide Slow Life Movement article about advocates for example that it’s "better to have slower better quality sex less, than rushed, obliged sex more often." It’s about quality not quantity. Many people get stuck in the trap of an auto pilot sex life which isn’t healthy long term. Slowing down and getting more in tune with your partner and vice versa can improve relationship satisfaction immeasurably. As with anything – a balanced sex life is ‘key’- sometimes a quickie is preferred by one or both parties and that’s ok too. :)

Worth thinking about I think!! Don’t you?

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

nb: if you are having trouble factoring in ANY Sex Life let alone a slow sex life then you may life to read this article "Organize Your Sex Life' for some practical tips on how how to improve your love life.

Peri & Post Natal Depression Help - TV Show

SBS’s Insight program just aired a great and informative show on Peri & Post Natal Depression.

Among many things the show discussed was how the Government are increasing funding for PND screening to hopefully detect it better, which will hopefully help these mothers in need. But it was clear though, that a more holistic approach to tackle the problem is require and equally a more holistic approach once PND is diagnosed. The whole family needs to be treated not just the mother. PND affects everyone in the family unit deeply.

The Show importantly showed a lot from the father’s perspective and how difficult it is for them too. Also, how often a males innate desire to ‘fix’ the problem in most cases doesn’t work, but rather listening more is a better strategy – as well as getting professional help of course. P.A.N.D.A ( www.panda.org.au ) is a wonderful Australian Not For Profit Organisation that you can turn to if you or someone you know has Post Natal Depression.

It was saddening to learn that there are only 7 or 8 Mother/Baby units – which is not enough by a long shot – and they desperately need to be subsidised by the government, as they are unaffordable to most otherwise.

A few ladies who had PND commented on their Post Natal Depression and how Organization helped, saying how it made a difference to “Plan out my days” & it “Helps to create a routine”. I obviously agree with this point, having come up with the idea for the Organize Your Life Organizer after experiencing depression myself and knowing that being better organized would help prevent a relapse. It is also important to remember that everyone has good days and bad days - so to not be too hard on yourself.

If you are like many women who were unfortunately given unhelpful advice from their GP, keep trying – elsewhere if necessary....you aren’t imagining things. Above all the message was you don’t have to suffer in silence – there is help.

For more info got to www.sbs.com.au/insight (They have re-runs if interested in seeing it for yourself.)

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers


For more info about what solutions I have found over the years to help manage depression go to "Solutions for depression"

Do you have young children? Have you or do you want to start a Home Based Business?

Sooooo many women - particularly mothers - are starting home based businesses that I thought if you are in this category - with toddlers in tow - then this is just the resource to help you. I could have done with a site like this when my kids were younger. It would have saved me so much time and money it's not funny!

Ok so the details are:-
Amanda Robins, Business Coach & Author of "Building a Business while Taming your Toddler" has a great new membership site who is launching on the 21st Sept. Go to Toddler Taming Entrepreneurs to check out what they have on offer.

Tell her we sent you!
Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Moving House - What Not To Do and Save a bucket of Time

Another mother at my children’s school recently moved house. I asked he the other day how the move went and all the unpacking etc. I was surprised to hear her say that she hadn’t actually done a thorough cull/de-clutter BEFORE they moved all their stuff, but rather had it still all in boxes in cupboards to go though ‘down the track’. They had also moved from a bigger house and had about a ¼ less space so definitely needed to downsize.

I say this with compassion and understanding - if only she had been able to organize herself to go though their possessions before they moved, because this would have prevented a copious amount of time, not to mention all the double handling.

The huge job of moving house is SO much easier if you get rid of all those ‘iffy’ possessions we all own, that we need that situational ‘crunch time’ to MAKE us ditch them. Otherwise we can hold on to utter crap to put it bluntly, if we let these opportunities pass us by. Moving House is one of the few ‘life changes’ that can prompt us to properly assess our belongs with the harsh eye needed to cut down on our ‘stuff’.

If we end up in the unenviable position of still having all our accumulated stuff in a new house – to get to later – the fact is later almost never comes. Moving house is a pretty huge event in anyone’s life and it can take us months to ‘recover’ from it, by which time the last thing we feel like doing it something that reminds us of all the hard work of moving house in the first place!!!

So please please please, if you are in the position of moving house any time soon –seriously see it as a wonderful opportunity to downsize – making way for new things in your life - not necessarily material possessions!! Conscientiously make anything new uplifting and more of a reflection of who you are or want to be. So start the sorting and packing process fairly early in the peace when you know you have to move, so that you can’t use the excuse that you don’t have time and that you will have to do it 'after' you’ve moved.

We have a great detailed article about moving house and having a garage sale if you are so inclined (As for me and Garage Sales – I prefer to donate the stuff I don’t want so it's G.O.N.E ASAP, once I’ve decided to ditch it. Check our website out to read it.

I must admit to something a little funny about a recent donating experience though... I did a bit of a cull recently (we are moving into the new house in about six months after all!), so I've started the house moving/de-cluttering process.

Anyway my daughter has a school art project where she has to replicate a miniature bedroom and wanted to see if the OP Shop had any small dolls house furniture. So in we went on the weekend, and what do I pick up thinking it looks quite nice to have a closer look at!!?? A top I gave them only the week before. I had to laugh at myself and remind myself that the reason I gave it away was because the colour wasn’t quite right on me and it didn't fit properly - so I didn't get donation remorse!!! Emma and I thought it was funny anyway!


Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

How to Organize a Gluten Free Diet - New Book

Elisabeth Hasselbeck, from popular US talk back show The View - has written a great book to help those who are gluten intolerant; allergic to gluten or have coeliac disease. The book is called “The G Free Diet – A Gluten–Free Survival Guide. “

Our two kids were diagnosed with being Gluten Intolerant about 4 years ago and it’s been a learning curve ever since. The gluten free range has improved dramatically over that time thank goodness, with prices falling in the most part reflecting how common it has become as well. We were dealing with some physical symptoms but had no idea just how much the overload of gluten was affecting our kids behaviour. After the first 24 hrs off gluten the improvement in behaviour was profound. We had happy, skipping, singing children - not kids who were ready to bite our heads off with no warning.

Being gluten intolerant is tricky for kids who often feel like they aren’t allowed to have anything their friends have, but researching gluten free recipes and the growing number of Gluten Free cook books, minimises this markedly.

Now that my daughter is a tween, her skin is easily affected by what she eats, so it’s a good self-deterrent – no one wants pimples. Kids ultimately need to learn to monitor it themselves, which takes a lot of self-discipline and by a natural side effect strengthens self discipline. So although it can be a pain and add a fair bit to your grocery bill, it makes the family as a whole much more aware of healthy and not so healthy food products and being more aware of the correlation of how you feel after eating certain foods. My kids will now (thankfully) say things like “I didn’t have any …(whatever) at the party).. because last time I did it made me sick..so I had…instead." That’s pretty good for a 7 and 10 yr old !! Although our poor Naturopath, who diagnosed their intolerance has remained the bad guy for taking away all ‘the good stuff!

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Get yourself Organized to participate in 'World Day of Interconnectedness'

I am a subscriber to a great Organization 'Global Mind Shift' and I just found out about a Special DAY from them coming up on Wednesday called - "World Day of Interconnectedness."

At 9am in every country, in every time zone (starting in New Zealand), "All people who are aware of interconnectedness and who are committed to translate that awareness into action are invited to practice interconnectedness as much as possible throughout the day."

So whether it's sharing your smile around a bit more, making the effort to compliment someone, or volunteering for a Community Group you've been meaning to for ages...the options are endless - Just organize yourself to do it! You will feel great 'connecting' more with others - especially absolute strangers when you see the response you get!

As I strongly believe small acts of kindness can make a difference to a better world - as they say "From Little things Big things Grow' Kev Carmody

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Victorian Gov Green Paper - Have Your Say

To my fellow Victorian's :) please consider adding your personal comment about the Governments Green Paper.

There is much scientific data to support a much worse scenario for our planet if Carbon Emissions are not reduced by more and in a quicker time frame. The Gov has a lot of lobbyists playing down our climate change problems, so having your say to help balance these views can really make a difference. If you agree please go to

http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/component/option,com_forme/fid,7/ and email your thoughts.'

"From Little things Big things grow!" Kev Carmody

Claire McFee

National Organising Week

Take part in Australia's National Organising Week - Sponsored by Dymo

Organised by the Australasian Association of Professional Organisers of course! http://www.aapo.org

If you have ever wondering what it would be like to enlist the help of a Professional Organiser or PO as they are known, then this is your chance to learn what they are all about. Scattered across Australia and New Zealand there will be Organizing Workshops taken by PO's in there area, to teach you how to maximize your space and clear out your clutter. This will be happening at key Officeworks Stores, so ask at your local store to see if they are one of the lucky ones.

This is happening on Thursday 10 September from 12-4pm. There are also some other smaller stores hosting AAPO-member workshops.

As with last year's National Organising Week (N.O.W) - Oprah-Famous Peter Walsh descends on Australia again!

Media Personality Peter Walsh - Dymo's NOW Ambassador be whipping up a media frenzy in Sydney and Melbourne to help promote the organising message. So keep an eye out for then world renowned Organizing Guru.

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Getting your Kids to learn how to be organized and responsible

Something happened the other day that reminded me about the need to teach children to be responsible and organized with their ‘things’ and I wanted to share it with you.

Our daughter has tutoring in town, an hour away, every Friday night. It is her job to make sure she has a change of clothes and her tutor worksheets and weekly book. On one recent occasion Emma forgot her jeans, so that she was only in her super-short tennis shorts and nothing else - ok while paying tennis in daylight, but not once the sun has set and it’s the middle of winter!! Yes... I could make it easy on her and do this job for her, but apart from preventing her from being cold on the odd occasion it wouldn't teach her anything about responsibility or organization. Instead is was a great opportunity to help ensure she doesn't forget in the future.

If I did this an other things like it for her, she wouldn’t be thinking for herself and learning to think ahead and be more responsible for her belongings and the jobs she has to do as she gets older. It’s these experiences I believe, that instill important life lessons in our kids and helps them step up and become more independent. Kids learning to be organized and responsible for their stuff is a big part of this and I give our kids lots of opportunities to step up, so that they get a chance to do this.

Without it there is Over-Dependence on you and worse still, possible stunted emotional growth. Which would you prefer in your growing, developing child? Sure there’ll be some mishaps and mistakes along the way but that’s exactly where the learning comes from!


Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Outrageously Healthy Free Tele-Seminar Series....Expert Guest Line up

Well the TeleSeminar I blogged about recently has been and gone and I am happy to say it was a blast. Talking with Lenore for an hour about Organizing Solutions absolutely flew - with lot of listener interaction!

We covered a lot of content – based on the top 5 Dis-organization Signals and how to handle them. It was great that there were so many listeners on the call and that so many sent in various q’s as well. There are heaps more Expert Speakers in the coming weeks (as seen below), so go sign up for the webinars (by becoming a free ruby member to the site) - which will get you several freebies from both of us. So get in quick! http://www.outrageouslyhealthy.com/rep/organizeyourlife.html

Lenore's just sent me this lovely comment about our interview which was really nice of her. She is such an inspirational lady, that I want to interview her for our subscribers soon too!

“Thank you so much for the excellent value you gave to our members on our interview this morning Claire. Your passion and expertise is inspiring and I know many of our members have been given new fabulous tips that will help them get organized and live the outrageously healthy life they deserve. I especially appreciate your honest warm approach. Our planet certainly needs people like you”
Lenore Miller
Founder and Host
Outrageously Healthy

Outrageously Healthy Free Expert Tele-Seminar Series Line-Up
Phyllis Briggs - will tell us how she risked $27000 and lost 27 kilos

Paige Haines - will show us how to reduce stress and increase the quality of your life quickly & easily

Holly George - discuss the Real Effects of Imbalances in Western Lifestyle and how we can overcome them

Liz Lichti and Laura Whitelaw - will help Boost Your Self Esteem and Achieve your Dream Life! using great fast effective methods live on the CALL!

Janelle Manton - will show how Success, Style and Sexuality - are Everything a woman needs!

Angie Tousignant - will show us How To Transform our Bodies and Relationships, she has some super cool workouts for us to workout with our significant other or workouts just for you

Amanda Moxley will share her outrageously healthy approach to holisitc health

Cyndi O'Meara - from Changing Habits Changing Lives will be sharing some super cool information with us about living an outrageously healthy lifestyle.

Here's the link again to get in on the action & get 4 Free Organizing eBooks hot off the shelf! http://www.outrageouslyhealthy.com/rep/organizeyourlife.html

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Dis-Organization Warning Signals & solutions for them

** Free Teleseminar ** http://tinyurl.com/pqhpsz

Morning everyone,

Hope you are having a great start to the day. Just wanted to remind you/tell you about a great new Tele-Seminar series coming up with Outrageoulsy Healthy tomorrow - it's free!

I've just partnered up with a close associate of mine and her team at Outrageously Healthy . Their mission is to help as many people on the planet as possible, live their best life. One way they do this is by finding the most outrageously healthy experts to interview and bring those live interviews to people like you at no cost!

And guess what? I am this week's Expert! I will be interviewed by Lenore Miller and you can listen in live either by phone or webcast for free.

To gain access to this call and to all future expert calls just go to http://www.outrageouslyhealthy.com/rep/organizeyourlife.html and sign up for their Free Ruby Membership. When you do you will also receive a Gift from Lenore and the Team - the MP3 'Feeling Great for No Good Reason'. The call details will be emailed to and a reminder sent a few hours before the call. It's really easy!

Plus we have Four New Info packed
Organizing eBooks as a gift for you too.

So come join us and learn about my favourite Outrageously Healthy topic this week, I can't wait to hear you on the call.

You can even send in questions live!

....till then,

Claire

Claire McFee

P.S. Here's the link again to register and get your free gifts from us and Lenore.
http://www.outrageouslyhealthy.com/rep/organizeyourlife.html

Happy Organizing
Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

I won a Competition - Lucky me!

It's not everyday that you win something - especially something of a great quality but I just did. Founder of Wonderful Web Women Janet Beckers - who is also a newly published Best Selling Author - of Our Internet Secrets - had a competition last week to create an Audio Information Product. I had never done this before - but had wanted to learn how - so got past my fears, bit the bullet and just did it!!

Janet had several categories to be able to win and I won the best 2 Tips for creating the Audio Product which were:

Top 2 Tips

Tip 1 “Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils …” - Louis Hector Berlioz

Having procrastinated about recording an audio Info Product for several months, hearing Janet call herself a ‘RECOVERING PERFECTIONIST’ struck a chord with me. So don’t let any more time pass - & like me just bloody do it!” If you are not already of member Wonderful Web Women then join up because it is instrumental to our business success.

Tip 2 Winston Churchill :- “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”

It’s so important to monitor your all-important SELF TALK . If you are worried about doing something out of your comfort zone - Use positive phrases like “I can do it”; “It will work out”. This helps you stay focused. If any negative self- defeating ‘Internal Dialogue’ crops up, remember that whether or not things turn out the way you wanted just having a “GO” provides so much opportunity for learning, growth and ultimately success.

….& a funny aside ‘TIP’ - Don’t wear big dangly earings while making your recording or you will hear them clanking around on the phone!!


If you have a web based business or would like to start a web based business, then Wonderful Web Women is a fantastic community of helpful and inspiring people, who can help make your dreams a reality. We have been members for over a year and can't recommend them highly enough.

http://wonderfulwebwomen.com/blog/2009/%e2%80%9cyou-are-my-hero%e2%80%9d-the-winners-of-the-passion-into-profits-challenge%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-8804

Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

How to get your husband / partner to do their paperwork

My husband did a big office paperwork declutter on the weekend, which was great. He avoids paperwork like the plague and lets it build up more than he should – as it only makes it harder on him in the long run. I’ve cut him a bit of slack lately though, due to him building our beautiful house at the moment and working 6 days a week. I’d be a bit of dragon if I nagged him about his paperwork all the time at a time like this wouldn’t I!

Anyway I was catching up with a few friends and it came up and they said “How on earth did you get hi to do it?” Their husbands clearly had paperwork clutter problems too! So I’ll share with you, what I told them and hope it helps you get your partner to take action, so you can have a clutter-free office/study or whatever area of your home you keep all your household paperwork.

I started with my term of endearment for him which is 'Darl'. Sounds so …I don’t know, but funny anyway!!

So I said with a bit of a smile - “Darl, I was trying to find some paperwork the other day and found the wrong invoice, and paid the wrong amount, which will cost us at the end of the day. The paperwork is really starting to get out of control and I know you don’t want me to turn into Cow Claire (my self-titled grumpy name) about it and neither do I, so I thought we would be able to go through it on Sunday. I am happy to help you do it if you like….” Pause waiting patiently for his response.


He agreed it was getting pretty bad and got stuck into it - in the main, without my help. I think offering to help him with the task did help and was appreciated though. I made sure I was ‘in the area’ at the time and helped him take out the recycling as he went, so it didn’t get too messy and overwhelming. I also did a little bit of my own paperwork organizing at the same time, which helped make the task not so onerous.

From past experience I know nagging your husband to do something generally doesn’t work and if it does, it comes with resentment underlying it which isn’t healthy, so a different approach is best.

I hope this helps you if you are in the same boat. Needless to say the office looks soooo much better - all organized and clutter free. Gosh I love that feeling don’t you!!?? What are you partner decluttering stories? Do you have a disorganized or organized partner? How do you get them to pull their weight if they are dis-organized??


If you want to learn more about how to get your disorganized partner on board you decluttering and organizing mission you may like to read this article.

Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Are your children over exposed to Advertising and missing their childhood?

I just watched a really interesting program on the ABC about The Consumerism of Childhood.. .

There were many experts interviewed explaining the dangers of the dangerous amount of advertising and manipulative marketing our children are exposed to from increasingly young ages. TV is obviously one of the biggest culprits but in this rapidly advancing technological world – all other manner of communication such as phones/ instant messaging/ chat rooms/ sadly schools & most disturbingly sly observations of children ‘in action’ with their friends that you are not even aware of, let alone have given permission for – all aimed at targeting our kids ever more closely so that what is being pushed on them is harder and harder to resist. Marketers are even conducting MRI”S of kids watching various ads to see what parts of the brain light up the most and therefore do more of that. Shocking I know!

In many ways it is a sad reflection society has come to this and clearly the Industry self regulating itself is not sufficient. The only way to keep tabs on how much your children are exposed to this media manipulation is by creating boundaries for you kids in the relevant areas and keeping the lines of communication open. Since our kids were very young we have talked about how ads exaggerate if not flat out lie about what their product or service can do, so they have a very healthy level of scepticism when it comes to advertising.

They are still not immune of course to the lure of wanting some latest and invariably expensive gadget – they’re only human and we sometimes let them purchase these things – within reason though.

We can all get a bit slack about the amount of hours that our children are having screen time be it TV or the Computer. I notice this happens in our family in Winter time, when it’s cold and the kids just want to curl up on the couch and VEG out. Just how much they are Vegging out is becoming increasingly clear and increasingly alarming. Kids impressionable young brains can literally be wired in the wrong ways affecting IQ; impulse control; anti social behaviour and so on. The statistic in numerous areas such as weight problems/ diabetes & Mental Illness problems are rapidly on the rise.

It can be hard to put limits on things that all your children’s friend’s supposedly have constant access too, and it requires having a strong resolve. I have wavered a few times with my 10 yo daughter and 7 yo son in this area in the past – but have always regretted it. Quite a while ago my husband and I banned TV in the Mornings, which although difficult at first –with a lot of complaining, this soon completely disappeared. I subsequently took I to the next step and have curtailed their watching of programs after school.

Because I work form home this has meant a big commitment from me to not work during the hours of say 3 till 8pm so that I can keep the kids minds active and engaged in more interesting ways. This may be playing hangman and doing a puzzle or putting together a letter to Gran and Gramps with some recent digital photos to send via good old fashioned snail mail. The difference in ‘quality’ communication and learning and engagement with each other increased markedly when we did this – I wish I’d done it sooner!! There’s no point admonishing yourself about when you put the foot down about too much TV and Computer time - it’s simply better late than never.

If you would like to read more on this topic you might like to read How to Organize TV/Computer time for your Kids.

Organizing Telseminar series

A Professional Organizer Colleague in the States - Maggie McCauley has created a great new Home Study Course called — Clearing The Way To Prosperity!

It consists of a 4 week tele-series including an e-workbook with 4 professionally recorded MP3’s.

The course blends Prosperity Principles with the practice of Organizing.

"When we let go of our limiting beliefs around money and let go of our clutter we open the energy for abundance and good to be brought forth."

The 4 sessions Cover:

• Create A Money Consciousness— money intelligence- develop a relationship with your Inner Money Manager, develop positive habits around money and create workable systems for managing money

• Shift the View—understand how perceptions, conditioning, values and beliefs impact our relationship with money and our stuff and begin the process of opening up to make the shift. This session also brings a new awareness around impact of attachments and resistance.

• Release The Old—a step by step process to let go of limiting beliefs around money and stuff

• Implementing New Practices—making a commitment to change habits and patterns and begin to enhance the learning by practicing gratitude, incorporating the Law of Circulation, taking 100% responsibility, getting clarity and meditation

Click here to learn more about this amazing program!
A New View Home Study Course


Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Want to be Outrageously Healthy?

Being Healthy means so much more than being your 'ideal weight'; having a good fitness level; exercising regularly; eating a balanced diet etc. It takes the right mental attitude and Mindset.

A little while back I met Lenore Miller, who founded Outrageously Healthy. Lenore has created a really supportive community of people with the same sort of healthy life goals, plus experts in ALL Health areas to help you reach those goals. We all need support when it comes to sticking to our goals - whether that help is 'in person' or 'virtual'.

In this day and age being supported virtually is really common, as it's so convenient and is another effective way to help us feel connected while helping to reach our Health goals.

I highly recommend you go and visit Outrageously Healthy and see what they can offer you if you know you need to improve your Health and current Lifestyle


For some extra tips on how to get fit and healthy read this article.

Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

The Gratitude Effect

For those of you who follow Sarah Wilson's Newspaper Column 'A Better Life' you will have read her recent article on Gratitude. I am big on Gratitude's or being 'Thankful' and am happy that it is making it into mainstream media. Sarah interviewed Dr.John Demartini - author of "The Gratitude Effect", who espouses that "What you think about and thank about, you bring about."

I know when you are in the middle of chaos and dis-organization with kids, work etc, it's hard to imagine, let alone appreciate how on earth this can really be the case. I have been in the overwhelmed, negative Mindset in that past and know that your Mindset or in other words your Attitude makes all the difference to your quality of life. That's not to say as soon as you start thinking more proactively and positively that your life will turn into a bed of roses. The life you have created took years to cultivate - for better or worse, and it takes time to undo some of the negative thought patterns and make the new thought patterns become the 'norm' and to have the desired effect.

I notice, as I am sure you do too, that my mood is reflected in my children. In the past when I was 'depressed' they were more needy and prone to bickering but when I am positive, solution focused and patient with them they are calmer and happier all round (not perfect by any means but WAY better without a doubt.)

Our moods bounce off each other collectively. Think about this on a larger scale, if you only come into contact with grumpy, aggressive or domineering people this takes its toll. If you surround yourself with positive, kind hearted people this will rub off on you. So if you are in a dark place, where you can not see the light at the end of the tunnel or can not think of much, if anything to be grateful, for that's one of the first places to start. Look at what is lifting you 'up' and what is pulling you 'down' - and start to weed out the latter and you will gradually see all manner of big and small things to be grateful for.

Demartini says, "The act of writing down your grateful thoughts is important. It makes the positive in your life become the focus, which brings about more of just that." So put pen to paper or at the very least think these proactive thoughts and with patience and as much humour as you can muster, whilst you make this shift you will get there. Read what you can on the topic to understand it better and above all put it into practice. It is worth the effort - believe me!

If you want to read more about how to become a positive thinker and what part being grateful plays then you like to read this article.

Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers

Organize Your Body to Get Pregnant

For many of us, getting pregnant doesn't just 'happen' and can be a hugely draining and emotional time with possilbe miscarriages, the stress of 'unknown' reasons for failing to fall pregnant and possibly the roller coaster of IVF.

Although my husband and I didn't have to go down the IVF route, I had a couple of miscarriages and it took quite a while to fall pregnant both times. We have two healthy children now - a Girl and a Boy - 10 and 7 after our up's and down's.

My heart goes out to those of you who are in the midst of fertility problems or have had to give up the dream altogether. I read an article on this topic recently called "In the nick of time" by Jacinta Tynan and one of the things covered (as hard as it may be to hear) that if you can not get pregnant, how important it is to "Try not to focus on having a baby as the only thing in your life. Have other things in your life to look forward to, and focus on areas that give you fulfilment. It is possible to be happy without that longed-for child. Of course it's difficult to get to that place but it is possible."

I know this isn't the case for everyone but for many women, 'stressing' about not being able to conceive is a major reason preventing you from being able to fall pregnant. I was certainly wound up with temperature takings, ovulation 'signs' I couldn't make sense of etc. When things just weren't 'happening' I decided I needed to forget about 'trying' to get pregnant so hard and take a more relaxed approach and in both cases (3 years apart) this was when I actually fell pregnant. Something worth considering?? Stress levels certainly do have an effect on our hormones and everything else in our bodies.

One thing that surprises me is the lack of information passed onto women having trouble getting pregnant in terms of things they can do, to increase their chances of getting pregnant. To read more about the sorts of things you can try that may well increase the odds of falling pregnant, then go to this article. "Organize Your Body to get pregnant."

Good luck.

Claire McFee
Organize Your Life Organizers