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Since spring is here, now is a good time to do some Spring Cleaning with Allizon.com. Staff will be working on some exciting and new changes to help serve YOU better.

This blog will be on hiatus as staff focus on making the updates.

Please check this blog often for updates.

Your Car and Cleanliness

It never fails. You just cleaned the inside of your car when your children have made it messy again with their food, wrappers, and their belongings. They may have even tracked the seats with mud.

Although, you can't keep your car totally mess-free, especially when children are involved, you can reduce some of it.

1. Keep odd shaped plastic bags in the vehicle. This is would be used for garbage such as wrappers, chewed gum, sticky items, anything that you normally would throw in the trash can. Once the bag is full, throw it in the dumpster, or your main garbage area.
2. Keep an old tote or handbag, for a few "car" toys, meaning these toys are to be played with when traveling in the vehicle only. Remind your children, these toys are privileges. If it comes to the point that you have to put their toys in the bag, they may lose that privilege as a consequence.
3. Keep eating and drinking to a minimum in the vehicle.
4. If you know their shoes will track mud or dirt, place old towels ahead of time, so your children's shoes will be wiped on the towel instead of the car floor.

Hope these tips help as you and your family begin making traveling (or even going out for short trips and distances) plans.

Spring Cleaning Part Three

I tackled my living room. Once again, I looked around the living room to see what needed to be done. Then I wrote a list.

I dusted the art decorations hanging on the walls. Then I straighted the furniture. I dusted the tables and the entertainment center.

Last, but not least I vacuumed the carpet. I try to vacuum a few times per week.

Spring cleaning the living room was much easier than the kitchen. It went by quicker because of less clutter.

Use a Timer When Checking Email

Many people now use Email as a form of communication. Often, it's for personal or business. It is possible to get hundreds of Emails in your Inbox, which can be an overwhelming task and even a time waster to go through them.

Here are a few ideas to help you organize your time when checking your Email. Set a time limit and enforce it. Use a timer that will ring at the set time. This will force you to delete emails that are not worth reading or taking your time. Once you do that, then it is time to read the most urgent or with highest priority.

And if you are on groups, such as Yahoo groups, be sure to be on digest, so that it will not take much space in your Email.

Once the timer rings, stop checking your Email.

Spring Cleaning Part Two

I tackled the kitchen last week, and I am proud to say that the kitchen is STILL organized and clutter free. How? You ask. The secret is to clean up a bit every day and not save it for later during the week. Not only is it a little cleaning, it just takes seconds--which could be done during television commercials, for example.

This is what I did. I wrote a list of what needed to be done in the kitchen, which included reorganizing cabinets, washing dishes, cleaning the floor, and getting rid of unnecessary clutter. I started from the top down, meaning the cabinets working my way down to washing dishes, cleaning out the refrigerator, and then finally cleaning the floor.

I ended up getting rid of dishes I no longer used, donating them to a thrift store. I reorganized my recipe files. I recycled cardboard boxes that was taking up space in the refrigerator.

Not only does the kitchen look better, the air is fresher.

Remember the key is to clean bit by bit everyday, not letting anything stack up for later.

Spring Cleaning Part One

For the next four Tuesdays, I will be blogging about Spring Cleaning since Spring is around the corner. Here, I hope to give you tips and ideas to make YOUR spring cleaning easier and more efficient.

Today, I would suggest to write a list of the top three to five areas that need to be cleaned or organized. (I know there are many areas, but if you list more areas, it may become overwhelming.) Once you finish your three to five areas, then you can make another list to complete.

In your current list, prioritize what you is most important to you for cleaning, starting with 1 as the most important.

My top three are:

1. Kitchen
2. Bathroom
3. Living Room

I will then study each room and decide what I would like to improve about those areas. That should be your next step as well. I will also try to "guess-estimate" how long each room will take me. Be sure to "guess-estimate".

Start with one area of the room, and work in small chunks. Set a timer for so many minutes to work uninterrupted as long as there are no emergencies. Do not start in more than one room. That could become overwhelming. Be sure to finish one room at a time, and cross that room off once you have finished.

I will give you my thoughts on Thursday as I tackle the Kitchen.

Use Family Menus

Time is precious as is. You are trying to be efficient with your time, yet be there for yourself and family. Often completing family tasks are endless like washing dishes or clothes, or even grocery shopping. However, with careful planning of certain tasks, you can dedicate more time for other tasks like spending time with your family or yourself.

Although family meals are special moments that strengthen bonds, often time it can be stressful as you prepare a meal because you may not know what to cook until the last minute. Then you realize you are missing an ingredient or two.

Use a calendar to plan your family meals. This is an advantage because you can buy ingredients in advance. If this is your first time doing this, or it has never worked out for you in the past, plan only for one week at a time. When family menus become a habit, slowly increase planning to two weeks, then a week extra when you feel it is time.

Not sure what to plan when preparing family meals?

Get your family involved. Ask for input or ideas on what kinds of meals to cook, or you can even designate a day for a family member to choose meals for. How you get your family involved is up to you.

Happy menu planning!

Thursday's Treasures: Busy Mom Agenda

Now that the kids are in school, concerts are coming up, sports practices are three times a week, and fieldtrips are happening soon. Work or project deadlines need to be remembered. Now don’t forget doctor appointments for yourself and your family. What about weddings, parties and reunions?

How will you keep track of all those events and activities? An organizational technique is needed to keep you and your family running smoothly. One way to do this is to have a day planner or agenda to keep track of all events and activities. It is important to list events and activities in one agenda, so you are able to tell who is doing what where at a quick glance.

Not all agendas are created equally. You should have freedom to do what you want with your agenda. You should be able to include all your tasks. At Allizon.com, Busy Mom Agenda 2007-2008 is a perfect example. Not only does a Busy Mom Agenda save time, this product was featured on Today Show and in Real Simple Magazine. This product offers many valuable tools to a busy mom or dad. For more information, click here.