The Monthly Organizer

July 2008

Monthly Motivation

A picture is worth a thousand words. If you are in need of some visual motivation to get your life organized check out the new Organization Videos at Tips to Organize Life. You can see for yourself what it is like to go from cluttered and chaotic to streamlined and organized. Get motivation from the experts and use the tips you learn to organize your own life.

Monthly Organization Tip

School has just come to an end for the year where I live. I have been having a lot of conversations with other mothers recently about what to do with all of those papers our kids bring home from school. Do you save them all? Do you just save some? Do you throw everything away for fear of too much clutter? There is a happy medium.

It is nice to have some memories of the different milestones your child has experienced. The key is to limit what you keep.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to saving school work is no more than one, medium-sized, plastic storage container for their entire school career. Think about the habits that you have developed when it comes to saving your kids' work. Are you on the right track? If not, it's time to do some purging.

Monthly Money Saving Tip

I have known about the website Cool Savings for years. It turns out it was one of those things that I took for granted. I recently revisited cool savings and discovered that it is way more than just a grocery coupon site! You can find money saving offers on just about anything under the sun - and it is free to join. If you need something for your home, don't buy it without checking for a money saving offer first.

Recipe of the Month

A few Summers back my husband, son and I took a vacation to Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan. While we were there we fell in love with smoked whitefish dip, an appetizer offered at many local restaurants. We had fun sampling this wonderful, creamy spread at every restaurant we went to and turned it into our own little contest to find out who made it best.

After arriving back home I did a little research, found some recipes, starting some experimenting and came up with a version that we love. Unfortunately, smoked whitefish can be a little hard to come by. The good news is that any smoked fish tastes wonderful in this recipe so feel free to substitute.

Smoked Whitefish Dip

Ingredients:

1 lb. smoked whitefish
8 oz. cream cheese, softened.
3 scallions, finely diced
2 Tblsp. half and half
2 Tblsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
1/4 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:

Remove any skin and bones from the fish and flake it into a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This dips is good served with crackers, pita chips or bread.

Monthly Entertaining Tip

Looking for the perfect excuse to get together with your closest friends? Host a fondue party! Fondue is delicious and fun but, most importantly, it creates a sense of togetherness. Picture all of your closest friends gathered around a fondue pot dipping a wonderful assortment of fresh foods into a pot of gooey, delicious fondue.

Fondue comes in many varieties from savory to sweet and just about everything in between. My absolute favorite is cheese fondue, followed closely by chocolate fondue which can be easily made by melting a 12 ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil.

That takes care of the appetizer and dessert. For the main event you can fill your fondue pot with oil and provide an assortment of marinated or seasoned meats and vegetables to cook in the oil.

Fondue parties are a lot of fun. They are the perfect way to share some time with good friends.

Back to Back Issues Page