Blog
In addition to actually doing the organizing, another of Angie’s passions is writing about organizing.
She has been writing a blog on organizing ever since Shipshape Solutions launched in 2016. Most of the blog posts were also published as monthly newspaper articles in the Kingsport Times-News and Johnson City Press.
To access the Shipshape Solutions Blog, you can either:
Click on a category below to see all the blog entries from that category; OR
Scroll the feed of blog entries below
- Apps
- Bathroom
- Business
- Children
- Christmas
- Computer
- Decluttering
- Digital organizing
- General Organization
- Getting Records Together
- Goals
- Health
- Home Organization
- Kitchen
- Media
- Medical
- Mental clutter
- Minimalism
- Moving
- New Year
- Office
- Organizing Principles
- Paper organizing
- Phone
- Photo Organizing
- Photo organizing
- Preparing for Death
- Purse
- Residential organizing
- Resolutions
- School
- Technology
- Television
- Time Management and Productivity
- Travel
- Working from Home
Stop Giving (Meaningless) Gifts
If you don’t want your gift recipients to react like this when they open your gifts, read this article!
Simplify the Season & Save Your Sanity
Even if you agree with the song that says “it’s the most wonderful time of the year,” the holiday season can be stressful! This article can help you make this year’s holiday season a more peaceful one.
Stop Giving (Meaningless) Christmas Gifts
I fully expect some controversy with this article. I may even be likened to Ebenezer Scrooge, that archetype of misers, for daring to write it. Though I don’t relish negative reactions, I believe Joel Waldfogel’s 2009 book Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holiday is worthy of inclusion in a discussion of holiday gift giving. (By the way, I am only scratching the surface of this well-written, interesting, and comical book. I recommend a full read.) I promise to also include practical tips outside the scope of this book. My ultimate goal is to lead you to smarter purchases that could decrease clutter, increase the satisfaction of your gift recipients, and even contribute to world well-being. A lofty goal indeed.
Organizing Gift Wrapping Supplies
The holidays are officially here, bringing with them the accompanying merriment and good tidings as well as the decorating, baking, visiting friends and family, card sending, gift buying, and etc. Most of us are extra busy during the holidays. Even typing this list of activities stresses me out, much less doing them! I am always looking for ways to simplify my life and to be more organized, especially when it comes to the Christmas season. With that in mind, here are a few ideas to simplify your gift wrapping and to organize all of the supplies.
More Peace, Less Pressure
We’ve probably all read articles about being less stressed during the holidays. The recommendations are usually spot on. I’ve tried many of them with varied amounts of success. I’m not going to repeat those lists. I just want to emphasize one that I believe has the potential for a big impact.
Organizing Your Christmas Supplies
The holidays are in full gear now, and most of us are busy with shopping, decorating, baking, and holiday parties. Since most of us decorate our homes for Christmas, this is the ideal time to get our Christmas decorations and gift wrapping supplies better organized. This article will give you some practical tips for organizing your Christmas ornaments, lights, wreaths, other decorations, and gift wrapping supplies.
A Clutter-Free Christmas (Part 2)
Merry Christmas! It’s Christmas Eve, and I hope that you have all of your gifts wrapped and are just about to “settle down for a long winter’s nap”. What a whirlwind this time of the year can be! Sometimes it seems like we anticipate this time of the year for so long, and then in the blink of an eye, it’s over. As you begin to put away your decorations and start to work on some New Year’s resolutions, let’s reflect just a bit on the Christmas gifts we receive.
A Clutter-Free Christmas
Of all the characters in all the Christmas specials I watched every year as a child, I feel a certain kinship to the Grinch. Both of us desperately want to stop Christmas from coming. After celebrating Thanksgiving, I find myself wanting to second the Grinch’s lament, “I must stop Christmas from coming! But how?”