Sunroom Office Switch-Up
1/16/2019
I started painting the light fixture in my “office” this week. I've been wanting to paint it black for several months but I kept putting it off because I could never find enough time to do it. I finally just decided that was never going to happen and that I should just paint a little... The post Sunroom Office Switch-Up appeared first on The Lettered Cottage.
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Judy Robinett is the founder of JRobinett Enterprises and author of How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+100 Rule... The post CFD 508 – Networking Strategies For Cracking The Funding Code appeared first on Cashflow Diary. As the old saying goes, “a clean home is a happy home,” and there is plenty of truth behind that. Creating a happy home environment is just one of the many benefits you can achieve by keeping a tidy and clean home. There are many physical, health, mental, and emotional benefits you can expect to see as a result of having a clean house. Here are a few examples of benefits you will notice by living in a beautiful, clean home. Prevents Spreading of GermsOne of the biggest reasons you should keep a clean home is because it helps prevent germs from spreading. There are many areas in your home that are big, germ-ridden spots that you need to keep clean and sanitized. Your kitchen, in particular, is one area that is especially germ-ridden and should be thoroughly cleaned every time you use it. Additionally, you should frequently be washing your sheets, especially the pillow sheets. To maintain a clean home from germs, you should also be sanitizing your remote controls and other electronics frequently since those are other spots that bacteria tend to concentrate at. Relieve Stress and FatigueWhen you do not have a clean home, it places a great toll on you. A messy home can easily stress you out because the mess is a constant reminder of work that you have to do, which can tire you out simply by looking at it. An unclean home can also make it more difficult to locate items quickly, which will only add to your stress. Having a clean home can easily solve these issues, but when you have limited time, it can be hard to find time to clean which only further stresses you out. This is why you should consider hiring a professional cleaning service to give you a clean home, freeing up your time and relieving you of a great deal of stress and fatigue. Create Lasting ImpressionsYou will also want to make sure you have a clean home so that you will be able to make a good and lasting impression on people who visit you. By having a clean home, you are making a more relaxed environment that people will be able to enjoy when they come over. By creating a clean home, people will find it appealing and inviting and will want to come back over whenever you extend an invitation. Call Misty Clean Today for a Professional Cleaning!Every home is unique, and every homeowner requires different cleaning services than the next. It's important to hire a professional cleaning company that can customize their services to your needs, rather than paying for services you don't need. Whether you need to the master bath deep cleaned or you're looking for the entire home to be sanitized, Misty Clean can help. If you're ready to get your home Misty Clean, give us a call at (410) 255-4111 or visit us online. For more cleaning tips and tricks, follow us on Facebook, Google+, and Pinterest. The post The Benefits of Maintaining a Clean, Tidy Home During Winter appeared first on Misty Clean. With the start of a new year, it seems like one of the first tasks we look to is making space for productivity and fresh inspiration. A home office is one of those things that so many of us would benefit from, but can't seem to find the square footage for. The good news is that whether you have just one small corner of your den to work with, or an entire designated room, you can carve out a workspace that's all your own just about anywhere you can place a desk. (Sourcebook-1) First, Consider the Purpose of Your Office SpaceBefore choosing a spot to set up, it's important to ask yourself what you'll need to accomplish in your office area. Will you need a lot of room for organizing and storing files? Or will you simply need a spot to park your laptop? Knowing this will help you determine how much space to budget for. (Sourcebook-2) Choose Your Space + LightingIdeally, natural light would be key, so look for an open space near a window first. If that isn't an option for you, a lamp or sconce that projects warm, soft light is a good alternative for your desk. If your workspace is small, you may also consider purchasing a floor lamp or a lamp that hangs from the wall to save desk space. Additionally, make sure there is an outlet close by so that you can plug in your lamp or charge your computer as needed. Choose Your Desk FurnitureIf you don't yet have a desk, measure the area you're working with before going shopping. When you set out to find the perfect one, remember that your desk doesn't have to be pricey. Consider searching your local antique market or yard sales around town to find one you can polish up before heading to a furniture store. Even simple, modern desks are easy to find and not too expensive. Your chair is another important piece of the equation. If you plan to be sitting at your desk for long periods of time, opt for something comfortable and practical. If you prize form over function, choose the chair that speaks to you and simply pad it with a pillow when you find yourself camped out for long periods of time. Before committing to a chair, consider measuring under your desk to make sure you will have plenty of legroom. (Sourcebook- 3) Consider How You'll Stay OrganizedWhen buying office supplies and accent pieces, consider giving everything a designated spot. If you have a larger desk, look for desktop organization such as magazine holders or file folders. For a smaller desk, you may have to get a little more creative with wall or floor space. If you have available wall space, installing shelves, cork squares, wall pouches, or a metal wall grid allows for more open desk space. If you don't have much desk or wall space, you could find a filing cabinet or basket that fits under your desk to store office supplies. This metal wall grid was originally black, but we spray painted it blue to add some color to the space. After it dried, we cut it down with wire cutters to fit the size of the wall space we had to work with. We fastened it to the wall using two standard nails and the clips that came with it. If you plan to hang heavier items on it, you may consider using anchors as well. A metal wall grid is perfect for keeping notes, reminders and other supplies hanging right where you can see them, without taking up precious desk space. Consider What Inspires YouOne of the most important parts of creating your own office is adding your personality and style into the space. What inspires and motivates you most? Think of colors, books, quotes, art prints, your favorite scented candle or even a plant or two. Create a moodboard with tears from your favorite magazines, all pinned on a cork board. Even personal mementos like photos or cards help make the space yours. Consider adding a rug under your desk to help your workspace feel cozy. To help start you off on the right foot, we designed this 2019 wall calendar to keep you organized this year! CLICK TO PRINT: 2019 - 8.5 x 11 Wall Calendar As you're planning for your home office space, we'd love to know what you plan to include and how you're getting inspired in the new year-let us know in the comments below! S O U R C E B O O K // Here's where you can find the specific products we used in this blog. (1) (2) (3) The post How to Create an Inspiring Home Office Space appeared first on Magnolia. How to Organize LEGO Instruction Manuals
1/15/2019
If you're wondering how to organize LEGO instruction manuals, this post is full of helpful tips and suggestions to keep the instruction books neat and tidy! Toys in general can be pretty tough to organize, but of all of the toys my boys have, their LEGO collection has probably taken the most time and effort... The post How to Organize LEGO Instruction Manuals appeared first on Just a Girl and Her Blog. As one of the most popular holiday flowers, Poinsettias are Less Is Best As with many desert dwellers and plants of the southwest, Warmth and Light The Phoenix climate is perfect for Poinsettias as they need Poinsettias and Pets Almost everyone has heard that Poinsettias are poisonous to Not only are Poinsettias a long time holiday tradition It's week 2 of the challenge and we are moving right along. We're still in the kitchen this week but we will re-focus our efforts towards organizing our food & the pantry. If you don't have a pantry (like me), organize the area where you keep your food. If you didn't get your refrigerator cleaned out last week, do it now. You have 7 days to complete the second challenge but shouldn't take you that long. Be quick and efficient with your time. If you would like to purchase any of the items featured in this post, check out my favorites shop here. FIRST TIME PARTICIPANTS: Welcome! We are glad you're here. Take a minute to look over the challenge details then begin working at your own pace. You can find the week 1 challenge here. Before you start, print out the complete 14 week schedule and checklists below. Welcome to week 2 of the challenge. We will be spending the next 7 days deep cleaning and organizing the pantry (or the area where you keep your food). For encouragement, join our Home Organization Facebook community to share your progress, or struggles, or questions. Or simply look through the photos and read how others are doing. This week should be pretty straight forward. Empty the pantry, wipe it out, toss expired food, and put it all back in an organized fashion. THE PROCESS
We do not have a pantry in our new home. It just wasn't important to me. From my experience, having a pantry meant a lot of expired food (because I bought too much and we didn't eat it in time) and excess clutter. I also shop for groceries every Sunday so I don't need to store too much more than a week or 2 of food. This time around, I made plans to use a small cabinet to store food. It's in the hallway right outside of our kitchen. I also have huge 10 foot island that has the storage space I need for small appliances, canned goods, etc… so it works well for us. Each week after I return from the grocery store, I spend a couple of minutes tidying up the cabinets. It has helped me to eliminate wasteful food and indulgent grocery shopping. I try to stick with a list and only buy what we need for the week. It's been a nice change from the overstuffed shelves full of food. THE LAYOUT. No matter if you have a large pantry or small set of cabinets, categorize your food storage into zones for easy access and order. DRY GOODS. Glass jars with airtight lids are the perfect way to condense boxes and bags into uniform food storage. These jars are my favorite. You can also store dry goods in OXO containers or mason jars. Use a labeling machine to label the jars. If you don't have a labeler, you can use a wet erase marker and write on the glass jar. BASKETS. Wicker baskets & bins are great for storing potatoes, onions, bagged items, and cutting boards. It's also easy to grab what you need quickly. CANNED GOODS. We keep our canned goods in the cabinet under our kitchen island. I am grateful for this extra space. There's not much pretty organization involved down here. Everything is placed into categories and that works for us. Another way to organize canned goods is by using narrow bins. Here is a photo of my canned goods in our old pantry. You can see more detailed photos here. The bins are from The Container Store. DECOR. Not only can your pantry be functional but it can be pretty as well. Bring your home decor into the pantry and add a little charm. I love to display vintage bread boards and Demi John jars. I also keep my French apron & dried lavender hanging on the sides of the cabinet. Here are several blog posts that are sure to inspire you to get your pantry organized.
For the perfect companion guide to our challenge, purchase The Complete Book to Home Organization. It includes all 14 weekly challenges and will be your guide over the next 14 weeks, as you tackle your spaces. No need to log onto the computer for ideas, this manual has it all! For help with cleaning your house during the challenge, be sure to get the complimenting book The Complete Book of Clean. It has tons of cleaning recipes, tips, and checklists that will teach you how to get your homes sparkling clean. Concentrate on purging your pantry this week. Follow the process I've laid out for you. Make sure to set up organized zones for better functionality. If. you need more guidance, be sure to get my book. Try not to get side-tracked and don't move ahead until you are completely finished with the space. Share your progress on Instagram using the hash tag #abfolchallenge, blog about the weekly challenges, and share your before and after pictures over at my Home Organization FB group here. Hold yourself accountable and finish all 14 challenges! I can't wait to see what you accomplish. Good luck. I'll see you back next week for the week 3 challenge. Happy Organizing! ~Toni
Hey everyone, Noah Winkles here from New Life Painting. This is going to be our first annual Pain It Forward for Ezra Lionheart. We are doing this in memory of Ezra, my best friend, Eric, and his wife, Sarah who are a part of a program called Angels Foster Care, and they had Ezra for about seven months, and he had passed away a year ago. So what we're doing is we're going to do a Paint It Forward in his memory. We worked with Angels to get Cindy and Wally Hernandez and we're going to be painting their house today. We chose them just because they have worked with Angels for about six years. They've had 15 kids through their house in the foster program and so we're super thankful, and really happy to work with them and paint their house. I want to thank Kelly-Moore Paints and Lalo at Kelly-Moore for donating about 25 gallons to repaint this home. We want to just say thank you for that. With an excellent question and answer navigation, and a user interface that was free from clutter, E-File.com looked poised to earn a recommendation as a tax software worth considering. Unfortunately, a few software issues and a mid-tier price point knocked them out of contention for being at the top of the tax software pack. We review the pros and cons of E-File.com, so you can decide whether the software service worth considering for your 2019 filing. Check out how they compare here: The Best Tax Software. Quick Summary
Quick Navigation E-File NavigationE-File allows users to choose between question and answer or self-guided navigation. The interview style was simple and quick to use. I was impressed by how E-file grouped questions together to streamline the tax filing process. However, I somehow got stuck in a loop when I was answering questions about itemized deductions. I would complete the section, and then be prompted to start the deduction section again (even though my answers were saved). Thankfully, the deduction section was the last section in the software. If it weren't for this issue, I would rank E-File.com as highly as H&R Block and TurboTax for its navigation. Unfortunately, sending users into the holding pattern could really throw off newer filers. Advanced users who want to use the self-guided navigation will have an easy time finding what they need using the menu on the side of the screen. E-File Ease Of UseE-File.com is one of just a few software services that has a dedicated support staff of tax professionals available during tax season. This can be exceptionally helpful if you've got tax related questions. You cannot import W-2 forms, and it's tough to figure out how the software is doing it's calculations. This is important if you want to “gut check” information such as depreciation on your rental properties or your total business expenses. After all, it's easy to mistype a few numbers and lead to dramatically different results. E-File Knowledge ArticlesOne of E-File.com's strongest points is it's knowledge articles. You can either search for information, or use the question marks throughout the software to understand what certain words mean. Overall, E-File.com simplifies the tax jargon, so that most users (including new filers) can enter their information correctly. Pricing And PlansE-File.com offers three pricing tiers which includes a free tier, a deluxe tier, and the premium tier. The premium tier is the only tier that fully supports all credits and deductions as well as all schedules for income. Be sure to use the E-File promo code SAVE24 to get the prices listed below.
Who Should Use E-File 2019?Unfortunately, E-File.com is a mid tier software with mid tier pricing. This means it's tough to decide who could benefit from it. For a similar quality at a lower price point, most users should opt for FreeTaxUSA. Users who want more robust features should opt for H&R Block or TurboTax. The post E-File 2019 Review – A Few Issues But Otherwise Great Tax Software appeared first on The College Investor. With massive improvements from previous years, Online Taxes (OLT.com) may finally be a tax software worth considering. If you're an experienced filer who wants an audit assistance guarantee at a low cost, OLT may be the right software for you. It's not a perfect filing solution, but with it's rock bottom pricing, many filers may be tempted by the offering, here's what you need to know about filing your taxes using OLT.com in 2019. See how OLT.com also compares to our top tax filing software options. Quick Summary
Quick Navigation OLT.com NavigationOLT.com continues to have a barebones user interface, but it's significantly less complicated than previous years. OLT does not offer guided navigation, but its system for entering data is far more streamlined than before. The section headers are also generally free of overly complicated jargon. The one exception to the technical jargon came in the “Business Depreciation” section in which business owners and real estate investors are expected to know that form 4562 is for depreciation. Since OLT.com does not offer guided navigation, users have to figure out what sections apply to them on their own. Experienced filers will likely have an easy time of this, but newer filers may end up confused. For example, when I went to declare my capital gains, I had to figure out whether I needed to enter a 1099-B or a 1099-S form. Of course, for most people this is pretty easy. You should get a Form 1099-S from your brokerage if you sell stock in a given year. Overall, OLT.com's navigation is best for experienced users who know exactly what they need. Inexperienced filers who want guided navigation should skip over OLT.com altogether. OLT.com Ease Of UseThough OLT.com has cleaned up the user interface, it's still a bit clunky. It's robust “Tax Reform” section means that OLT has better (and more relevant knowledge articles) than previous years. However, it continues to link out to the IRS website which means many users have to figure things out on their own. OLT.com Knowledge ArticlesWhen it comes to helping users through the software, OLT.com has a decent selection of knowledge articles. The best articles are those it developed for its Tax Reform Section. Outside of these knowledge articles, the software often links out to the IRS website. While the link out to the IRS website may come in handy, other tax software systems tend to answer the most common questions directly in the knowledge articles. OLT.com Pricing And PlansOTL.com has a free Federal plan (state $9.95 per return) or a premium edition. The primary difference between the two plans is that the second plan comes with audit assistance protection, customer support via phone, and live chat. The customer support representatives are both knowledgeable and helpful, but they offer tech support not tax support.
Who Should Use OLT.com in 2019?OLT.com offers value by including all the schedules with both it's free and paid editions. If you're a side hustler who is also an experienced tax filer, OLT.com may be an appropriate choice for you (especially with regards to audit assistance). In particular, people who get annoyed by guided navigation may find that OLT.com is a good choice. However, FreeTaxUSA offers a superior experience for just a few dollars more. The post OLT.com Online Taxes Software Review 2019 – Massive Improvement appeared first on The College Investor. |
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January 2019
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