Review – The Gift Elephant! – You won’t ever have to forget a gift again!

Gifts! Gifts! Gifts!!….How do you keep track of all of them….what you bought? What you received?
We are always buying them, receiving them…but did you remember to send that Thank you card?
Here is a FREE service that can HELP YOU!! It can help to save your sanity at gift time.

Do you ever forget what you got someone last year….for let’s say Christmas? Do you worry when you are out shopping that maybe you bought Uncle Bob a tie last year…or was it a sweater. Or what size is sister Suzie wear again? Or….did I remember to send a Thank you note to Grandma for that great vase she sent me for my birthday?
We have so many occasions that we buy family and friends gifts for. But do you have a system for remembering what you gave, who gave you what or if you sent a Thank you note to that person?

Now you can have all that memory stored for you in this Free site called Gift Elephant (because elephants have great memories..remember?)

Here is the link to sign up for Gift Elephant

Here is a link on how it works but it is simple.
1) Sign up
2) Add gifts you have both given and received
3) Add contacts
4) You can keep track and organize your Thank you notes
5) You can also create and send real post cards from the site (that isn’t free)

So check it out!! Yeah…anything that helps us organize is a plus to me. Especially something that many people don’t even think about organizing….BUT something that we always do and is needed. Gifts!!
I think this seems to be a great system. How many times do we get out to a store and forget what we have given someone before. You can access it from your smart phone and find out right there on the spot.

Organizing after Christmas

Use Christmas as a great time to Sort!

Christmas is over and you have lots of new memories, presents along with bags of trash, boxes and things out of place!
I think this is one of the reasons that we get the bug to get things cleaned up and organized. It can also add to the sadness that can feel after all the excitement and anticipation is over.

Grab a white trash bag (for donate) and black trash bag (trash). As you are taking the clothes to put away in your drawer, take 3 minutes for each drawer and quickly go through and pick out the things you have not worn in over a year, or that is too tight or too big and load into the white bag. If it’s torn then put it in the black bag to throw away. If you are seriously going on a diet and realistically think you can fit back into some clothes within the next 6 months, then make a pile for those clothes to go into a bin. Label that bin with a date for 6 months from now and if in 6 months you are not close to getting into them, donate them.
If you have 6 drawers then you have just gone through your dresser in less than 20 minutes.
One way to get through some sorting without taking all day and being too overwhelming.

Sorting Toys

Sorting Toys – One Toy In….One Toy Out

With all the new toys coming to invade your house (from you, Grandparents, gift exchanges at school etc…) can your house handle them? Do you have the extra room for them to have a place to go? Will you be trying to figure out where to put all the new ones?
Try the “One toy in…One toy out” rule. For each new toy that comes into your house, find one toy that can be donated (or thrown away if its broken) to go out.
This can be done with or without the kids. You know your children. If they are ones who are going to pitch a fit and say they they can’t possibly get rid of ANY of their things…then it is better to do it while they are not home. Don’t pick out their favorites that they still play with. Find those ones that are underneath a pile that they haven’t seen in months (or years) and get rid of those. Chances are they will never miss them. My children never complained or missed a thing that I got rid of over the years. HONEST!!
If you have children who have a heart for helping other children, then it may be good to involve them in the process. (Although it is probably the kids who have the difficulty giving up their things who really should be learning that other kids can really use the toys more than they can.) They will realize they are helping other children and will enjoy it. The triplets are good about this. I usually go through without them, but when they realize what I am giving away they talk about how much the other kids will enjoy using it.
Don’t continue to pile on more toys just because YOU have an attachment to them. Kids can only use and play with so many things. Less is so much more in this area.

Labeling Christmas Gifts

Labeling Christmas Gifts  so No Guessing presents Before they are Opened!

I don’t know about you, but we wrap many of our gifts and put them under the tree before Christmas eve. Then we bring out the rest of them after the kids have gone to bed. How do you keep your kids from being able to figure out what certain give away shape and size gifts are? I have been using a plan that I heard years ago and it works great!

Make Up Goofy Pseudo Names.
Make up fake names for your kids and label the gifts that way. You have to make a key for yourself (and don’t lose it!!) ahead of time. If you have 4 kids I pick out 8 names. I give them each 2 names so they will have no chance on figuring out their gifts. It may look something like this:
1) Joe – Dasher / Mary Poppins
2) Drew – Batman / Spiderman
3) John – Snow White / Elf
4) Tim – Belle / Hulk

Don’t make them gender basis either. Give the boys girl characters and the girls boy characters. That will throw them off even more!
My boys have been used to this since they were small. Dave’s kids just started it 5 Christmas ago when we were first together. They think it’s great and keep asking if we are going to do the “names” again on the presents.
That is my job today, to wrap gifts and come up with the code list. (That’s the hardest part for me coming up with 16 fake names)
Happy Wrapping!