Renew Your Space: April 2011

Prepare Yourself Financially for Travel

In our modern society, travel is no longer a luxury, but it is considered a necessary part of having a healthy and meaningful life. Anyone with a dream of seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France or Machu Picchu in Peru can find a way to reach that destination if he or she plans well enough and long enough.

Before a ticket is purchased or a reservation is made, the first thing a person must do is to begin to save money. Travel, whether by plane, train, or automobile, is not cheap. Even if there are no immediate plans for travel, a Travel Fund can and should be started right away. Depending on the number of people in your family and the type of destination you think you are likely to choose, begin to put a set amount of money aside each paycheck. If you are paid twice a month, a good amount to start might be $50 to $100 each paycheck. Begin to deduct the determined amount from your checking account register. “Deposit” your travel savings each paycheck onto a separate page for your Travel Fund so you not only know how much you have saved, but so it will not get mixed up with the money that normally goes for regular bills and living expenses. After one year of saving for a vacation, you could possibly have $1200 to $2400 saved. This is a good start to your goal of a carefree vacation with your loved ones

The next thing you need to do after you have started a Travel Fund is to begin to formulate a travel plan so a budget can be created. Pre-travel expenses to include in your travel budget might be passports, maps, and pet care. If your family plans to drive to their vacation destination, then budgetary considerations should be made for tolls, gasoline, hotels and food along the way. If flying is the preferred or necessary mode of travel, then airline tickets, cabs, or rental cars should be included on the travel budget. Arrival at the final destination will bring more expenses to include in the budget such as hotels, food, entrance to attractions and museums, transportation costs, and souvenirs.

By following these two important steps when preparing for a vacation, you will be able to truly relax knowing you have prepared yourself financially for the costly good times of taking a vacation with family and friends.

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Jennifer Tankersley is the creator of ListPlanIt where you can find over 400 lists and planning pages including your own Travel Fund and travel budgets, plus packing lists and itineraries, to put your world in order.

Would you like to free up your time for more important things, like spending it with your family? Do you have trouble managing your paper clutter? How would you feel if somebody could take a weight off your shoulders with a little advice? I can help you get organized, (even online) and bring balance back into your life? ~ Visit my website Renew Your Space for a full list of services and details.

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Organizing a Royal Party

With all of the excitement revolving around the Royal Wedding this weekend, and hearing about all of the parties being planned around this colossal event, I thought - why not? It's a good excuse to get together with my girls and eat some fancy foods.

This brought me back to old days of hosting those "Melrose Monday" parties back in the 90's and how fun it was to gather my friends around the TV with a few margaritas.

Of course, with the Royals kicking their big day off at 1:00 AM Pacific out time, you will be watching it in re-run or DVR. If you throw a little twist on this idea, pass out the tiaras at the door, and create an indulgent royal wedding viewing party! Invite a circle of close girlfriends to make this a relaxing Saturday afternoon with the girls, and invite them all to bring a funky h'ordeuvre.

You can esily create an affordable table-setting with extravagant details and over-the-top bling by visiting your local party store. Raid the princess isles and go for the gold! Use gold toned placemats or chargers to make your usual china pop. Layer on your colorful tablecloths, then adorn your place settings with simple ring boxes, used as place card holders for each guest! (The idea from Nonpareil Magazine, was to inspire a "To Catch a Thief" themed wedding reception.) You probably have a few of these boxes laying around in your jewelry box, or borrow them if you don't have the resources to find them new. Create the name plate by printing out each name on your computer, cut colorful shapes out of construction paper & glue a toothpick to the back.

Think you don't have time for invitations? Send out invites by creating an event on Facebook. Upload a creative photo and plan your h'ordeuvre potluck on the spot! And don't forget the tea and crumpets for dessert!

But wait!! What is a girl's day in without a few girly drinks? Have you heard of the Skinny Girl Margarita yet? Bethenny Frankel, (Real Housewives of NYC) has created an amazing spin on the 500+ calorie drink we all know and love... her version is only 100 calories and all natural!

The Ingredients:• 2 oz of Clear Premium Tequila (count 1, 2 while you pour, no need for measuring)

•Tiny splash of Orange Liquor

•Juice of 4 Fresh Lime Wedges

To serve on the rocks, combine all ingredients over a glass of ice and garnish with a lime wedge

Enjoy!! And please come back to tell me know how your party turned out :)

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Sundays In My City - Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Photo taken at the Center for Spiritual Living - Downtown Ventura. Be sure to check out other Sundays In My City posts at Unknown Mami's blog for more great adventures!

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Taking Advantage of Technology

I am the kind of person who needs structure and guidance to reach my daily goals, so I rely on automated reminders and forms to free up my mind for the more important things like writing. I have compiled several resources that I use to run my home and business which I am sure you will find helpful as well.

Let’s take a look at goal setting. This is one website that I have found to be very useful in organizing my career and long-term goals, which I have been faithfully using for about five years now. It is called 43Things, and focuses on common goals that you may sometimes just dream about. The wonderful thing about this site is that you can join in on the conversation about any goal, and hopefully learn something from those who have completed it. This became a great source for me after simply typing in “Start a business”, and it just snowballed from there.

Birthday Alarm is one of those things you may not think you need, but when I was working for a volunteer-driven company, I found it difficult to keep up with everybody’s birthdays. After taking about 15 minutes and plugging in each person’s name and date, I was amazed by how much paperwork and time I would be saving by this service. You can even go a step farther and sign up for holidays - believe me, there have been plenty of times I've been too busy to notice that big holiday is right around the corner and Birthday Alarm let me know just in time to get those airline tickets on sale! Reminders are sent to you via eMail 1, 2 days or up to a week in advance so that you are prepared to send your card or buy a gift!

In addition to your Microsoft Publisher, Excel & Word documents, Microsoft Office Online has a great list of free templates from Resumes to Business Plans. This is a treasure-chest of great ideas.

Cozi is a fun tool to schedule your family activities and appointments. You can plug in your errands and it will remember all of the important stuff for you.

Organized Home is another great site that houses TONS of other templates for your control journal or family binder – I love these resources because even though I can just make something up or use one from my software, I can browse through these to get fresh ideas that I can personalize into something useful.

If you love the knowledge and simplicity of Martha Stewart, here are some great checklists that will get you organized: Entertaining, Cleaning, Holiday, Moving, Home keeping, Stocking up… Lots of great reminders.

I hope that these links will become useful to you in your home. Do you have a link or website that is your go-to for staying on track? Please share!!

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The Cleaning Closet

Do you have a designated spot in your home specifically used to organize cleaning supplies? If not, here is a simple way to identify one, and stock it full of everything you need.

Find a cupboard, cabinet, hall closet or nook that is large enough to store everything in one place. Keep your laundry supplies, cleaning products, housework tools and cleaning rags on specific shelves. If you have enough room, keep your laundry detergent, bleach and other like items on their own shelf.

It’s also a great idea to find a bucket or basket for your every day cleaning needs – this is something you can grab in a hurry and hit the entire house with in one container. The trick here is to keep the tote able simple – just the basics… (As referred to in this post) : Febreze room freshener, Feather duster, Rag, Mini vacuum… This is my go-to for my evening house pick-up routine, and when company unexpectedly announces their arrival.

Your cleaning closet can be multi-functioning too. Reserve other shelving for extra supplies like your light bulbs, batteries, extension cords, matches, candles, etc. Or keep your bulky items like paper towels, box of garbage bags and toilet paper. This way you can fill the space for function and you will always know where to go when you need your supplies. If you have an available wall adjacent to your cleaning closet, attach some hooks or a rack to hang your mop, broom and other long cleaning tools. This can also function as storage for the dog leash and collar.

By keeping it all in one section of the house, you will not have to run back and forth to fetch your products, and easily access the things you need in a rush.

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Sundays In My City - Native Vibe

Once upon a time, I wanted to become an Expat and move to Costa Rica. I explored the beach town of Playa Guiones, which I got to know very well and made lots of friends. We spent our time picking out beach-front property and as many locals of Nosara have done decades before me, dreamt of living in "Pura Vida" paradise.

Then I came to my senses and did something a little more practical. I love Nosara, but after much consideration, we decided to hold on to the city for a while longer. While on this journey, I found this amazing local band called Native Vibe. A jazzy/bluesy blend of latin, and a bit of Santana all rolled into one. You can't listen to this band without immediately feeling transported to the jungles of Costa Rica.

Facebook is an incredible thing - after "fanning" their page on a whim, I was amazed to see my town of Ventura on their up-coming venue and the lead singer, Bill Macpherson has recently relocated here {What a small world!}. I quickly made reservations to J's Tapas in town and had a fabulous night out listening to an old favorite. This little bar is packed full of intricate details - Mediterranean lights and decor busting at every seam. Their mouth-watering cuisine and famous martinis made for the perfect evening with friends!