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Handle with Care

Most of us have moved or will move at one point in our lives, and most of know how hectic and time consuming it can be. There are Boxes and bubble wrap everywhere, sharpies that get lost, tape guns run out, and lastly, you can never know what's fragile and what's not. What's more annoying than having to find that sharpie and spend 5 minutes per box scrawling in giant letters "Fragile!" or "Handle with Care!". 

Here are a few tips to help make packing your house or apartment go smoothly: Start packing a month or two before your move out date if you can. Catagorize your home into sections: books, tools, pictures, decor, bathroom essentials, clothing etc. Plan on a catagory a day (or a week) up until move out date.

Next get supplied. Go to your local grocery or hardware store and inquire about boxes. Most of the time they will be happy to give them to  you for free, if they have them. It's best to catch them in the morning  or evening after shipments have been processed. Buy a tape gun and a pack of packing tape (trust me on this one, stopping to rip duck tape with your teeth or scissors is not efficient). Lastly you're going to need packing labels.

These are probably the second most important tools when moving because they create a strong message that ultimately protects your personal items. The Handle with Care labels are bright in color and easily readable. Bonus feature for this particular label is the "THIS SIDE UP" indicator, So all you have to do is slap one on the side of each box that carries your valuables and other loosely packed items, tape it up and go.

Remember to lift with your legs, not with your back. Be sure to move boxes in loads according to rooms, with the heaviest, biggest boxes going in last (for stacking purposes in the new home).

Best of luck, and congratulations on moving into your new place!

Night and Day: Find your time of greatest productivity (it might not be when you think!)

Maybe you've always been ribbed for loving night over day. You always found it hard to get up for school. You enjoy runs at 2 a.m. You get your best ideas when everyone else is sound asleep.

Diagnosis? You're a night owl.

You might have already known that, but the truth is everyone has a certain time of day when they are more productive than others. Find the time when you feel most creative and set a schedule to keep the great work coming.

Need more productivity ideas? Check out 50 ways to productivity.

Lessons in productivity from a mountain of laundry

When faced with a mountain of laundry, it's likely you'll find a million other things to do than the pile of shirts and pants. 

The productivity mavens at Real Simple magazine have efficiency down to a science. The tips they suggest for tackling a pile of laundry can be applied to any area of you life. 

1. You don’t have enough hours to do all the laundry from start to finish.

The fix: Break the process up into small tasks that can be undertaken at different times. “I collect clothes in the evening and put them in the washer around 10 p.m.,” says reader Nicole Klemens of Rye, New York. (Experts say it’s generally OK to let clothes sit in the machine overnight.) “I throw them in the dryer when I wake up at 6 a.m. and fold while watching Sports Center at 7 a.m. I never really feel like I’m doing laundry―it’s just part of my daily routine.”

2. Asking your child to help with the laundry is like talking to a wall.

The fix: Unfortunately, Yo Gabba Gabba! has yet to dedicate an episode to doing the wash, so it’s up to you to teach your kids the basics. Preschoolers can help you sort by color and can gather clothing items off the floor. But once children are old enough for grade school, they can take on more responsibility, with some assistance from you. For 6- to 11-year-olds, consider posting a list of laundry reminders above their hampers.

** Label Value Tip** 

Busy Moms can use Letratag Iron-on Tapes to quickly identify clothing. It reduces loss of clothing items at school, daycare, camp and more.

3. The dryer seems to take forever.
The fix: Wash a load, immediately toss stuff in the dryer, and repeat. “Once the machine is warmed up, subsequent loads will dry faster,” says Zeitler. Start with lightweight clothing and end with heavier items, like towels, which won’t be damaged by the heat that builds up in a hot dryer drum. And don’t over- or underload the dryer. Shoot to fill it up about halfway for maximum efficiency.

4. You spend precious time folding T-shirts, only to have them get messed up when they’re stuffed into drawers.
The fix: When folding clothes, consider the space you’ll put them into. If your drawers are deep, fold clothes into rectangles to take advantage of that. If they’re shallow, fold clothes in squares so they don’t get scrunched up.