Healthy Meal Planning Made Easy – Sign Up Today!

Have you always wanted to plan your own healthy homemade meals but just don’t know where to start?  Are you tired of feeling tired? Ready to take charge of your health? Don’t wait for another year to roll around – now is the time to get organized and start meeting your goals!  Our very own Tabitha Colie, Professional Organizer and Holistic Health Counselor will be teaching sessions on Healthy Meal Planning Made Easy. 

No matter your age, you can have your best, most energized year yet. Learn valuable tips on how to purge your pantry, makeover your meals, and savor the flavor of healthy and sweet success. Walk away with time-saving techniques for meal planning and preparation, ideas for streamlining your kitchen, and savory recipes that will make every mealtime both delicious and nutritious! 

Tabitha’s first session will be Thursday, February 16, 6:30-8:30 PM in White Salmon, WA (Columbia River Gorge area) at D’Lish Delivered kitchen: 521 E. Jewett Blvd. Cost: $40
To register, email Tabitha Colie: tabitha@itssimplyplaced.com but hurry, space is limited!

Look for more Healthy Meal Planning Made Easy classes coming to a venue near you this Spring and Summer – please let us know if you would like to attend a class in your area.

How do you plan your meals at home?  We want to know!

Join Us! Fire Up Your Biz and Enrich Your Life

Wouldn’t it be great if you could find everything you needed to learn in ONE place?

Get the benefit of advice, brainstorms and business shortcuts from global business consultants and coaches, who are bringing their ‘best game’ to the table.  There are 20 experts lined up to help you fire up your business – and reclaim your life – in 2012.  Seekers of organization and productivity wisdom can go to Fire Up Your Biz and Enrich Your Life  and sign up free to hear over 20 global experts share specific strategies and tactics that helped them gain control and purpuse in their business.

Thanks to to organizer of Fire Up Your Biz – Enrich Your Life, Stephanie Calahan, starting on January 18th, you can listen in on interviews with 3 experts a week for 6 weeks.  You can listen to our own Debbie Rosemont discuss productive meeting techniques on January 25th in We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This: How To Run Meetings That Actually Get Things Done!  Each interview will deliver practical, actionable strategy and tips.  You can join in on one call or all of them!  The more you listen in, the more you will learn…and, if you attend live, you just may win a great business boosting prize.

Join us for this amazing interview series and you will:

Fire up your personal performance

Unleash your profit potential

Discover new strategies to manage the demands of running your own business

Have a profitable business and more time to focus on what’s important to you

Simply Placed is honored to have been asked to serve as a Featured Expert for this series. We look forward to sharing valuable information to help you have more productive meetings. In addition, we look foward to listening in on the other expert calls, where we don’t doubt we’ll learn and benefit as well.

Join us, won’t you?

Are you ‘Good to Go’ for 520 Tolling?

Its here! After many announcements over the past year about “upcoming” tolling on the 520 bridge connecting the Eastside communities with Seattle, today is the day that tolling officially begins.

The Washington State Department of Transportation is encouraging drivers to get their Good to Go pass.  Buying a pass will save you money when you need to make the trip across the bridge. (Thinking that you’ll avoid 520 and just use I-90? That may work for some, but if 520 is the most direct route, and traffic is increased on I-90 because of lots of drivers with the same idea, then you’ll want to keep you best options open – you may find its worth it to pay the toll to avoid increased traffic and reach your destination sooner).

Drivers who cross without the Good to Go pass will pay an extra $1.50 per trip so Simply Placed has gathered some important information and great tips about this big change.  Here are 5 steps that can save you time and money:

1. Buy your Good to Go pass at Fred Meyer, Costco, Safeway or QFC.  It’s only $5.00 for the pass itself (less at Costco) and having it will save you $1.50 each trip which can add up fast. You can also purchase one online.

2. Don’t forget to activate your pass online or over the phone.  Activating your pass links it to your vehicle and adds money to it for tolling costs.  When you activate your pass, you will be required to create an account and put a minimum of $30 on it  so have your credit card handy when you make the call or log on.  Also, don’t be alarmed when activating your pass online and the system drops the last digit of your pass number.  The automated system is supposed to do that, the last digit is unnecessary.

3. Purchase a pass for each of your cars.  Passes cannot be moved between your vehicles!  The pass you purchase at your local grocery store will be connected to your specific license plate once you activate it online.

4. Adhere your sticker pass to the right place!  Attach your sticker pass to your inside front windshield below any metalized sun strips or visor tints.  The top of the pass should be no more than six inches below the roof-line of your car and at least 2 inches below the rear-view mirror stem.  Check out other placement tips from the DOT here.

5. Don’t assume you’re exempt.  Only a few vehicles will be exempt from tolling and even if you’re a carpool or a vanpool, you still have to pay up for every crossing.  Only emergency vehicles and tow trucks clearing accidents will be exempt from the toll.

Don’t have time to follow our tips and get your pass before your first trip across the bridge?  No problem, you can still cross but it will be more expensive.  A camera will take a photo of your license plate and you will be billed by mail.  Still have questions?  Check out King5’s article Top 10 questions about SR 520 tolling.

Want to think about ways to reduce crossings, further saving you time and money? Check out the post we did with some suggestions earlier this year, when the tolling was first announced.

Let us know if your work, travel or personal plans, routes or routines will be altered as a result of the tolling. Here’s to smooth sailing, or more appropriately, smooth driving, as you motor about the Puget Sound area.

Holiday Help is Here for Any Budget!

There’s a lot going on in our homes for the next few months, holiday guests, gift wrapping and meal planning just to name a few.  Simply Placed has three ways we can help you have a more joyful season to fit any budget.

For just $24.99 you can get our Simply Organized: Holidays eBook and Workbook bundle! This is a great resource to help you stay organized with your holiday details. Tips, worksheets, checklists and ideas abound and are suitable for printing and, if you choose, putting into a binder as a fantastic resource you’ll refer to again and again during the holiday season. Don’t need both? $17.99 gets you the e-Book alone or the eWorkbook alone. Pick your poison!

For $150 we can help you come up with a specific plan of attack for the season. We’ll work with you to brainstorm your lists, create an action plan and help you identify when to do what (and what not to do!), so that the stress and overwhelm of the season begins to melt away.

Starting at $225 (price dependant on number of hours used or purchased) you can also make an appointment with one of our organizers to get your home in top shape for holiday entertaining!  This is the perfect time to get your pantry in order so everything you need to make the best holiday feast is right where you need it.  You might also be expecting some overnight guests in November or December and with that comes the need to organize the guest room, linen closet, coat closet, kitchen, or other rooms!  Let us also help you unearth your dining room table so you can use it for family meals and entertaining, not as a holding place for piles of paper or things needing to find a home elsewhere. 

Need help with some of the details and errands of the season – shopping, wrapping, shipping, organizing your party plans or holiday menu, etc.? We can help with those things as well. Just ask.

We can help you for just a few hours, or save some money with one of our 12 or 24 hour packages. (Bonus! With the purchase of a 24 hour package this month or next, you’ll receive the Simply Organized Holidays eBook and workbook for free!).

What ever your budget this holiday season, Simply Placed is here to help. Please let us know how best to support you in having more joy and less stress during this magical time of the year.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Can you feel the change in the air where you live? Here in the Pacific Northwest, its been chilly the last few days, with talk of the snow in the forecast in some areas. As you reach into your coat closet for a warm coat, your gloves and scarf to wrap up, take an extra few minutes to pull out items you are done with that can help keep someone in need warm this winter.

There’s never been a better time to clean out your coat closet!  This holiday season, The Container Store is partnering with One Warm Coat, an organization dedicated to supporting local coat drives.  During November and December, customers can drop off a gently used coat at any Container Store location. 

In addition to gently used coats, they are accepting new sweaters, jackets, sweatshirts, hats and mittens.  Here in the Puget Sound area of Washington, the items donated will benefit those in need through the  Bellevue St. Vincent de Paul Society.  For additional information, readThe Container Store’s blog post about the drive.

If you’d like help cleaning out your closets, please call on a Simply Placed organizer. We’d be happy to help you. As a value added service, we’ll even deliver your items for donation directly to the Container Store on your behalf after the session. Whether you tackle your closets on your own, or reach out to us for help (we’ll make it fun, we promise!), it will be a win-win situation. You’ll save time, money and stress when your closets are free of clutter and you can more easily find what you need, when you need it, and you’ll be helping others in need with your donated items at the same time. Win-Win!

Stay warm on these chilly days. Great weather for organizing, in our opinions!

Simply Placed Holiday Special

Stress-proof yourself for the holidays with Simply Placed!

To help better prepare you and your family for the busy holiday season, we’re offering our Simply Organized: Holidays eBook and Workbook  free with the purchase of a 24 hour hands-on organizing package!

How can Simply Placed help you during the holidays?  Do you have a dining room table that needs clearing off before you can host your family for a festive meal?  Is there a guest room in your home that needs organizing before your out-of-town family or friends arrive? Want to finally organize your kitchen and pantry so that holiday meal planning and entertaining is that much easier?

Or maybe you need some assistance with all that decorating and gift wrapping in the next month?  Save yourself the stress, book a 24 hour organizing package and get a great holiday organizational guide free!

Book your 24 hour hands-on organizing package anytime during November or December to get your free Simply Organized: Holidays package.

Do you have guests over during this season?  How do you prepare?  We’d love to hear about it!

Want an Extra Hour in Your Day?

Before falling asleep this Saturday night, don’t forget to “fall back” and set your clocks back one hour.

This is also a great opportunity to remind yourself to do a few other things you might do semi-annually.  In our productivity workshops we teach participants to tie a new habit they’re trying to develop to something they already do routinely. This takes the need to remember to do the new thing away.

Is it time to replace the batteries your smoke detectors?  Shut off/cover the outsdoor water spickets to prevent frozen pipes? Do you have a few closets full of linen and decor that need organizing before the holiday season?  Do you need to do some last minute gardening to prepare your plants for the winter months?

What do you have planned to tie to “fall back?”  We would love to hear your ideas.

Enjoy the extra sleep or, set your clocks back earlier in the evening/day and enjoy the extra hour of “awake” time to spend on what matters most to you. When’s the last time you wished for “just one more hour” in the day? How will you use this gift of time?

Introducing the Getting Organized Magazine!

Treat yourself to some sanity!  Every few months the Getting Organized Magazine will serve as a reminder and inspiration to get and stay organized. Each new issue is filled with strategies, motivations, new product reviews and much more.  In addition to the magazine, you’ll get the ebook 80 Quick and Easy Tips to Get You Started free with your subscription.  Below is some information from the creator, author and a professional organizer herself, Stacey Anderson.

All the Better to Serve You With!

Our final new addition to the team this Fall is Cailin, our new Client Service and Marketing Assistant for Simply Placed.  If you remember our previous post, Simply Placed has been expanding the team!  Below is some information about our latest addition.

Cailin Shovkoplyas has a degree in Communication Journalism from the University of Washington and is also a certified technical writer.  She enjoys working with clients and being a resource to them. 

Cailin loves providing people with whatever they may need to help bring balance into their home and work lives. She believes any goal can be achieved with a little enthusiasm and the willingness to embrace new habits.

She joined Simply Placed in 2011 as a client service and marketing assistant.  Cailin is often the first point of contact someone will have with Simply Placed and she’s perfectly suited for that role with her resourcefulness, professionalism, compassion and “can-do” attitude.

When she isn’t communication with clients, Cailin can be found cooking, baking and spending time with her husband.

Cailin can be reached by email at cailin@itssimplyplaced.com or by phone 206-579-5743 Ext. 702.

Simply Placed’s Newest Organizer…Kelly!

We mentioned in our previous post about our team expansion that we’ve added three new team members!  Below is some information about one of our two new professional organizers, Kelly Huffman.

As a busy wife, mother of three and active community volunteer, Kelly knows first hand the challenges and the importance of staying organized.  Her compassion and patience allows her to relate to clients to fully engage and meet their needs. 

Kelly’s love of organizing was sparked early on.  As a child, she organized the bedrooms and closets of friends and helped her teachers organize their classrooms.  Over the years, she has transformed many spaces through organization. 

Kelly wanted to become an organizer to exercise her natural talent for streamlining spaces, clearing clutter and stress from life and her desire to help individuals find peace through productivity. Her favorite thing about being an organizer is empowering clients to realize their own ability to take control of their environment and improve their quality of life.   

Her professional goals are to help clients save valuable time for the things that matter most to them, focus on what is important, to relieve stress and chaos, and to realize their own capabilities in maintaining an organized and productive life.

Kelly can be reached via email at kelly@itssimplyplaced.com or by phone 206-579-5743 Ext. 703.