I've come upon some more Good Little Things Lately from all over the world to share with you, and I hope you enjoy them and find them useful as well.
BTW, some things would make great dollarwise Christmas gifts too.
"I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me into a department store and he asked for my autograph." --Shirley Temple
:)
GOOD THINGS TO ORGANIZE A DESK:
I've been doing lots of year-end and 2022 planning the last few weeks so I revamped my home office desk area and I love these new floral products that have put my life and desk in cozy bloom! Calendar, purple file holder, yummy file folders, little flower vase, "determined vintage lady" pen holder, weekly TO DO planner, and floral postcards. Yummy colors! It's still a work in progress, but I will get it done before year- end.
Other older organizing helps (or similar) on/near my desk: index card file, drawers for supplies and biz cards, pen mug, drawer trolley. Love these trolleys to keep office supplies sorted and they work great for multiple colors of paper etc. too. I label the front of my drawers since you can't see through them as to what's in there. Labeling makes for a quicker finding of things.
I plan to paint the rest of my desk pink in the future using Fuchsia Fizz from Ecos Paints which is the color on the top of my desk in the pix above. Ecos makes wonderful non toxic and odorless paints for the home and has done so for 35 years. I so appreciate their paint as a highly allergic person. Customer reviews.
My pretty rose-pink blackout drapes work dandy for keeping out street lights glare.
The "girl in the garden with a book" canvas pix I have had for a couple years and Steve kindly hung it for me on a silky rope with a c-hook behind the curtain. Worked great. I didn't have a wall to hang the pix on so we improvised! Steve always tells me this pix reminds him of me. Yes, when I was her young age I looked like that and I always had a book in my lap, too! Maybe that's why I turned out like this.
My home office/computer is 95% paperless these days, after years of slowly and steadily working towards that goal. Mission accomplished!
How we organized Steve's home office space above last year. His L-shaped desk is three of this desk put together. Steve is about 95% paperless too. Hurray!
Home office press article I was interviewed for about small home office spaces.
GOOD COTTAGE HOUSING THINGS:
I so love the fun soothing colors in the little Bamboo model cottage-style house in Jimmy Buffett's 55+ Florida retirement village, a.k.a., Margaritaville. (Of course. And Jimmy sometimes even makes surprise appearances and will sing to you!) :) And a beach close by in this beautiful coastal area of Florida would be great to retire to as well, right? Great cottage-style homes right along the beach too -- with gulp-inducing price tags, to be sure.
Simply Taralynn blogger has a beautiful "modern cottage" home in Charlotte, NC. I like the touches of black and her plans for a music room. The North Carolina fall leaves near her back porch are gorgeous. She and her husband also love bed and breakfast inns like Steve and I do. She has wonderful travel posts with links so be sure to take a look. I enjoy reading young bloggers' views now on more modern cottage style, since my decorating style is more vintage. (Like me.) :)
GOOD WARDROBE THINGS:
If you need wardrobe ideas for how to look polished yet feel comfortable for Christmas, pretty senior lady SusanAfter60.com has pix of holiday wardrobe ideas by event, and her outfit examples are great! Her longtime beau, Mr. Mickey, is quite dapper in case you want to show your hubby/significant other some polished dressing ideas for men too. Also, she has nice scenery photos of their lovely outings in Tennessee and the surrounds.
Eat too much at Thanksgiving Dinner so now your clothes are a bit tight? I hear you. How about some easy exercise fun in a chair? Too cute.
GOOD MONEY THINGS:
My husband Steve likes these shirts on "super sale" at Jos A Bank. Steve retired this year from his full-time banking career of 41+ years, so as a savvy-spending kind of guy, he loves "super sales" on quality goods. Me too!
GOOD RETIREMENT THINGS:
Our "pre-retirement years" cottage, (a.k.a. Cactus View Cottage), that we bought new in Arizona in 2018 and have been organizing and decorating to our tastes ever since is now officially our "retirement cottage" since, as I already mentioned, Steve retired this year. Inside pix. (Scroll down.)
For us, our small home is a good fit because it's cozy, easy to clean, easy to maintain on the outside, energy-cost efficient, near a golf-course for Steve, has many fun on-site activities, and is a good "lock & leave" since it's in a security community. For us, this checked all our retirement home boxes. (Of course, this might not be what YOU want for your retirement home.) Our home was built by Cavco, a nationwide leader in the manufactured/modular home building industry, and they continue to grow. This style of retirement home is very popular in the Phoenix, AZ area.
If you'd like to buy a modular/manufactured home in a 55+ retirement community in Arizona, or elsewhere in the U.S., here is a good resource site filled with both new and existing homes, and lots of information. FAQs about this style of home. The prices have gone up a lot in AZ since we bought in 2018, but that's true everywhere I do believe.
Happy Retirement, Mr. B! Love you, and your meticulous spreadsheets and copious tax estimate projections that have helped keep this 41-years-as-a-marital team moving forward with our money and lifestyle goals all the way into our retirement years. We did it! xxoo
MORE GOOD RETIREMENT THINGS:
These people below have studied and written extensively on the topic of retirement, both from the money angle, and the happiness/life-management angle:
GOOD CHRISTMAS THINGS:
I love Bramley products and think they'd make great Christmas gifts! From across the pond, (they are in the U.K.), I ordered several of them months ago as I am a highly allergic person so their products looked like something I should try. I was so happy with all the products and it was totally worth paying the shipping, in my opinion.
Prefer a simpler yet still-chic Christmas? Fiona's book on that topic is on sale now. She lives in beautiful New Zealand, where it's Christmas in the summer! :)
Need a yummy and clever and easy brunch idea for the upcoming holidays? Janet's build your own bagel board is brilliant!
Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer has a new book out on how to use big boards to entertain a group at home. Beautiful and practical way to entertain over the holidays, or at any time! Sandy is the go-to entertaining guests gal and she does it all with a huge heart.
GOOD READING THINGS:
I love that it's Hawaii Literacy's 50th Anniversary. I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1958, the year before it became a U.S. state. Now, that dates me, honey! :)
I wrote to a book publisher recently to ask them if they would consider turning my favorite Bible study book into a Kindle eBook. They wrote right back and said they'd forward it on for consideration to the right department. I love this book because it's a quick daily study that relates the Bible to real life.
GOOD LODGING THINGS:
My heart skipped a beat when I found out about Nashville's Russell Hotel, in an historic church. What a beautiful restoration and what charitable hearts providing hope to the homeless. Hope and faith. Faith and hope. Steve is still talking about it! We both found the history of the building very interesting. If we ever stay there, we're gonna go for the room with the stained glass window!
GOOD READER THINGS:
It's fun for me to get emails from readers who live in other countries, and to know they like my tips. Thanks to Helene from France who wrote to me recently saying Happy Thanksgiving and that she enjoys my articles and "good ideas."
If you'd like to contact me please email me at kathrynbechen (@sign) gmail (dot com). I read all emails I receive from real readers, (vs. icky spams!), and I appreciate receiving them, but thanks for understanding that I simply can't respond back to everyone individually.
GOOD FRIEND THINGS:
A touching story of two nine-years-old childhood best friends who were separated as Holocaust survivors and found each other again in their elder age of 91. What were the chances? Get out your tissues!
GOOD ORGANIZING THINGS:
It was 30 years ago this year that I started my organizing consulting and seminar business, Organized With Ease in our little house above in Omaha, NE. Home offices weren't much of a thing back then! I could never have dreamed where all it would take me and how many interesting people I would meet along the way!
I later earned my C.I.D. decorating certificate and added that to my life-long organizing skills. I retired my in-person Organized With Ease business long ago, but I've kept on teaching organizing and decorating through my writing, press interviews, and books/eBooks virtually as KathrynBechen.com and I will continue to do that, God willing, because ...
Now a "seasoned senior" looking in my rear view life and career mirror, I consider my teaching and motivating and inspiring others, (from all over the world by now), how to organize and beautify their own homes, home offices, and lifestyles so that they can live out the best life that God intended for them, (in spite of whatever hardships come their way and on the real-life budget they have), to be not only my God-given life mission and purpose, but my life legacy.
Me with my very first book, Organizing Tips & Quips, back in the 90s. It's now an eBook. It's still my favorite book I've written as it's simple motivation and fun stories about and for real people. Getting organized does NOT have to be complicated. Simple is best is what I've always taught, and always will, even more now during our complex times.
GOOD LITTLE HOME THINGS:
This cutting board is just the right size to hold the casserole cooker I told you about awhile ago. Steve suggested I buy a cutting board so we don't burn our countertop and he's right; it's a smart idea! (He knew if the countertop burned that I'd probably want to remodel the whole kitchen so that might have been a factor here in his prudent $35 suggestion, ha!)
I bought this trellis recently to put near our front porch and Steve assembled it and put it up for me. I will show you the result later; something so simple and sweet really added a nice additional cottage-y touch! And yes, I know it's not garden season in most places, but in AZ, it's summery year-round!
I survived many Midwestern winters growing up there, and am so glad I don't have to do that anymore as I prefer orange trees! Let it snow flag.
If you want to visit beautiful Arizona. (Once Covid is better under control, my friends. Be safe!)
Wishing you a great year-end, however you choose to celebrate the Good Little Things that come into, or that you bring into, your life.
Kathryn