Rubbermaid - Adventures in Organization

Organizing for a Scrapbook Retreat

I love to scrapbook. I have not done much of it since moving to Charlotte and have A LOT of pages to complete.

Thankfully, my mom and I and a few of our friends (picture Mother, Daughter trip) decided to go to a scrapbooking retreat. It was a WHOLE weekend of scrapbooking all weekend and late into the night (it's sad when your mom stays up longer than you do but my mom totally did).

Getting ready for a retreat is hard work. Passionate scrapbookers have A LOT of stuff: paper, tools, embellishments, stickers, etc. It was interesting to see how everyone organized there stuff to bring what they need but not bring EVERYTHING (which it seemed like some people did...). Here are the pointers I found most helpful:

• Decide the week before what album/albums you will work on. Layout each page with the pictures, paper, embellishments, letters, etc. that you will need. This way you know what tools you will need also to limit bringing too many.

• Have a scraping partner (this is what my mom and I did). Get with one other person and between the two of you divide up your tools. One bring half of the tools and the other bring the other half. Share when you get there. This cuts what you are bringing by half.

• Have a snack/drink queen. Us scrapbookers need energy which means we bring snacks and caffeine to retreats (or at least I do). Four or five of you get together and chose one person to bring a cooler filled with drinks and snacks. Divide up the cost and pay the queen. This is great if one person has a larger car than everyone else. As someone with a two door, it was nice not to have to try to fit in my own cooler and food!

  

(a snack queen carrying out a cooler with some help!)

• To make transporting easier, fill up a couple of Rubbermaid totes with all your tools. Many people had one smaller storage container that had all their paper in it divided with special folders based on colors or paper packs. As someone who was not smart enough to do this and carried a lot of smaller things individually - this is a smart idea. Even limit yourself to two or three totes; this will help you bring only what you need.

• Find out what supplies the retreat is providing. Our retreat had a few Cricket machines and TONS of punches. My mom and I did not bring these but saved this room for more paper. We had to wait a few times to use these tools but most times it was a much needed break and an opportunity to see what other people were working on.

• This picture just amused me. Someone was mixing Crystal Light or Kool Aide in one of our jugs as an alternative to all the soft drinks that were there! Way to be healthy!!! (and please ignore the horrible picture of me - part of me can't believe I am putting this on the web!!!)

Hopefully, a little organizing can make scrapbooking retreats easier and more fun!

Save Money by Packing Your Lunch!

You can really save a lot of money and eat a lot healthier by bringing our lunch to work.   In fact, a few of us in the office formed a "Skinny & Rich Club" on Tuesdays last year in order to align on a date where we would all bring our lunches and eat together, at least one day a week. it was quite a gathering as people came upstairs from our medical division, and some guys came over across the parking lot from our IRWIN tools division. 

While the club disbanded due to hectic travel schedules, I try to make it a habit to still bring my lunch 2-3 days a week.

My favorites are:

1) Frozen Soup - see previous post on how I like to portion & freeze my soups

2) Leftover Dinner - I bring it in a Divided Premier to work and heat everything on foil in our toaster oven.

3) Salads - I put the ingredients (packed in little containers) in a large Premier and then dump & shake it all up when i get to work.  Our large containers are excellent for shaking and mixing dressing.

Here are 2 examples:

Left = Salad w/ Cranberries, Mandarin Oranges, Goat Cheese, Walnuts, Balsamic Vinaigrette

Right = Salad w/ Carrots, Ginger, Sliced Almonds, Asian Vinaigrette

What are your favorite lunches and how do you bring them to work ?

Packing Adventure

I am back from a little hiatus from work doing a construction mission trip in the Dominican Republic.  

Of course, I was looking for organization everywhere [ ok, maybe not all of the time :) ] but wanted to share some things I learned from the experience, especially with regards to packing:

1.  Organization is not as important in this area of the world -- Since they don't have a lot of belongings like we do in North America, the storage of things isn't as prevalent.  Hmmm...maybe if we had less stuff we would be less stressed about it!!

2. How to pack a suitcase in an organized fashion for a trip like this -- This packing recommendation was given to me in advance of my trip, courtesy of Megan Murphy who is a product manager in Food Storage.  Since I was concerned about "creatures" crawling in my suitcase, I packed daily outfits in plastic bags with zip tops.  The bonus was that with the lack of electricty, while everyone else rummaged through their suitcase every morning with a flashlight, I had a perfectly packed outfit every day by just pulling out the bag, complete with socks, etc..  If anyone is doing a trip like this, I would highly recommend it! 

BEFORE - a very disorganized pile

AFTER - an organized packed duffel

3. My most valuable item -- I am slightly embarrased to admit this, but my most valuable item that I packed after bug spray was my fanny pack.  It was newly purchased for the trip [ from Amazon.com for only $6! ] with concern about how i would keep my passport secure, but it honestly was a source of organization on the trip. 

I carried:
-chapstick
-sunscreen
-bug wipes
-camera
-money
-facial cleansing wipes

It was invaluable to have while we were working since we didn't have a secure place at the worksite for our stuff, plus it saved time not having to go back to the vehicle everytime someone needed a clean up or we wanted to snap a shot.

You can see the fashionable lavendar pack here....

We would be interested in seeing if anyone had any packing tips, either for a normal weekend trip or anything out of the ordinary??