My Top Tips for an Organised Office Space

Once upon a time I had a whole spare bedroom dedicated to a study/ home office space and let me tell you it was bliss. I had room for a large desk, filing cabinets and a super generous bookshelf to boot! Two kids later (bye, bye spare room) and my home office is confined to a small space that we added on purely for a storage area in an extension several years ago.

Now I cannot stress enough that this space is 'small', so it is imperative that it remains clean and tidy so that I actually have enough space to swing a laptop. Running a small business from home (plus a bit of blogging thrown in for good measure) does mean that I stare at these four walls a lot, so I have tried to create a home office space that is not only functional, but a little fabulous too.

Here are just a few of my tips for organising your very own office space...

Pretty Up
 

Gone are the days of boring beige manila folders and silver in-trays. Nowadays office and desk accessories are so chic and affordable too thanks to stores such as Typo, Officeworks, Kikki-K and even good old K-Mart.

 

Image Source

Look for desk accessories that are not only practical but pretty - trust me they will get your creative juices flowing! 

Image Source

Clear Desk, Clear Mind

 

No matter how chaotic a day I have had, I always make time to clear my desk and office space at the end of each day. It means that when I return to this space the next day, I feel calmer and more organised from the onset.

 

Spend a few moments at the end of  the day clearing your desk, popping everything back in its place, filing and tossing away any paperwork not needed and your mind will thank you the next day - trust me. Make it a routine in your day and it won't feel like a chore after a while.

Leave Room for the Imagination
 

In the form of an Inspiration/Vision board. Not only will this tame your loose papers and little odds and ends such as teeny business cards and post it notes, but it will inspire you.

 

Image Source

 

I love to keep a few personal photographs on mine to make me smile during the day too!

Pick up a super cheap Pinboard from K-Mart or Ikea for under $10.00 - bargain!

Give me a Home!

My number one organising tip for any space in the home or office is to give things a home. Invest in storage and organisational solutions such as filing cabinets, shelves, bookcases - whatever it takes to give your paperwork, files, books and whatever's a home.

It is no secret that I love to label, I just find that it gives items a home (and looks so pretty too). You don't need to go crazy with expensive labelling, I just print my little labels off on my trusty home printer on adhesive paper. The storage boxes were purchased from Ikea and have served me well over the years.

 

What are your top tips for an organised office space?

Outgrown your office space? Maybe TGC can help you...

Rice Bubble Muesli Bar Slice Recipe

Well with school back in full swing, I thought it was high time for a bit of a good old fashioned lunch box filler recipe - the good old Muesli Bar Slice.

 

When I was a little girl, my Mum used to make the yummiest Muesli Bars in town. As a 'slightly' older girl, I have searched high and low for the same recipe to no avail. I tried recipe after recipe until recently stumbling across what I consider the solid gold of all muesli bar slice recipes! This one uses Rice Bubbles, is so quick and easy, requires no baking and you can add in any type of fruit or seeds your little heart desires....

 

• 1 Cup Toasted Muesli
• 1/4 Cup Sultanas
• 1/4 Cup Apricots (Diced)
• 3 Cups Rice Bubbles
• 1/2 Cup Coconut
• 1/4 Cup Sesame Seeds
• 4 Tbs Honey
• 125g Butter
• 4 Tbs Peanut Butter (may want to omit this if sending to school)
• 1/2 Cup Raw Sugar

 

1. Line a Lamington Tin with Baking Paper - I use one that is 30 x 20cm
2. Combine your dry ingredients (Muesli, Sultanas, Apricots, Rice Bubbles, Coconut and Seeds) in a large bowl
3. Melt Butter, Honey, Sugar and Peanut Butter (if using) in a saucepan over a low/mid heat.
4. Once melted, bring to boil and simmer for approx. 5 mins (be careful not to burn)
5. Add the melted ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine
6. Press in to prepared tin and pop in the fridge to set (an hour will do the trick!)
7. Cut up in to desired bars or squares and enjoy!  

NOTE: As mentioned above, if sending to school you may wish to omit the Peanut Butter from the recipe.

 

Do you have a Retro Recipe from when you were younger that you still love to make today for your own family (or you!)?

 

 

Win a $100 Gift Voucher for Oneflare.com

Hands up if one of your new years resolutions is to finally get that 'something' done around your home? It may be to get a gardener in to tame that backyard reminiscent of an African Jungle? Or a painter in to finally paint that 90's themed peach bathroom?! In my case, I should have both hands up, as we are planning to embark on yet another (this will be our second) major extension to our home later on in the year.

 

Well if you have the need for a service at your place (or workplace), then you are going to love this giveaway thanks to Oneflare.com

 

So what exactly is Oneflare?

 

Oneflare.com is Australia's leading local services marketplace that connections Australians with over 37,000 businesses across the country. 

 

Oneflare takes the hard work out of connecting you with trustworthy local businesses, saving you both time and money. The Oneflare Service Providers are checked for licences, insurance and qualifications, so you'll know that you are in safe hands with each and every job they help you out with. They even offer up a Oneflare Guarantee, whereby if something should go wrong with your job, they will pay you $500 to set things right - how is that for extra peace of mind?

 

So how does it work?

 

1. Simply post a job that you need done - this is free!

2. You will then receive 5 competitive quotes from businesses interested in your work. This will also include the Business profile, verification status and past customer reviews

3. You simply hire the best!

 

Sounds so easy doesn't it compared to the days of trawling the Yellow Pages or the Local Newspaper calling every Tom, Dick and Harry?!

 

Oneflare have also recently launched Oneflare Scrapbooks to help Aussies plan and build their dream homes, and also find the right trade professionals to build it - all on one website. It is an exciting new tool that helps individuals find and collect inspiring photos of their favourite home design, ideas and improvements. And of course, just like finding a local service on Oneflare, it's easy to use and best of all free!

 

Now to get you started on your own service needs, Oneflare is giving away a $100 voucher to one lucky Utterly Organised reader, that can be spent on any of the hundreds of services through Oneflare.com. A cleaner (yes please!!), removalist, gardener or even an interior designer - the list goes on!  

Entry is below via Rafflecopter...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

- The giveaway will be hosted by Rafflecopter and is open to Australian residents only
- The announcement of the lucky winner will be made on the Utterly Organised Facebook Page
- The lucky winner will have 5 days to contact Utterly Organised and claim their prize
- Failure to claim prize within designated period will result in another winner being drawn
- $100.00 gift voucher is only redeemable on Oneflare for the specified amount and for one single use only
- Entrants must like the Utterly Organised and Oneflare Facebook Pages
- Any questions on the competition can be directed to utterlyorganised@gmail.com

Good luck everyone - I would love for you to drop me a comment below to tell me exactly what you would do with this voucher...

My secret to making our Kitchen smell & look divine!!

I recently had a friend over for coffee, who entered my kitchen and asked if I had been baking. I gave her a rather confused face (as I hadn't made much more than a sandwich this particular day). It then dawned on me that what she had mistaken for cupcakes was in fact this.....

 

 

 

Once I let my friend in on the secret on what was giving her the impression of freshly baked goods, she immediately left my house and stopped en route to her local Woolies to pick up a bottle!

 

I later got a text from her saying just how amazing this stuff had made her kitchen look and smell and insisting that I share with my lovely readers, so here it goes!

 

Though I cannot take all the credit, I first got on to this product from the gorgeous Clare from The Home She Made and have been an addict ever since!

 

This product is available just at Woolies (as far as I know) and is around the $4.00 mark. I use this product every few days (alternating with my Method cleaners) and the smell still lingers (in a great way!). Definitely worth trying if you like a gleaming kitchen that smells just like vanilla cupcakes. Mmmm..... 

 

More information on the product can be found over at the manufacturers website here.
 

Tried it? Love it? Love to know what you think?

 

PS: This is not a sponsored review, I am just a fan happy to spread the joy!!

How my New Years Resolutions for 2013 went...

In so many ways this year has gone super slow - being stuck sick in bed with hyperemesis for 5 months will do that to you! But in so many other ways, 2013 just flew by and I cannot believe that in under a month we will welcome another little bundle of joy in our home (and boy I cannot wait to not feel sick each day!!).

 

Last year I sat down and nutted out my top 4 New Years resolutions which you can read about here.

 

I am so glad that I popped these up on the blog, so I can look back and reflect on how well I went (or didn't) meeting these goals during the year...

 

1. Stop Biting My Nails

BIG fail here. I did manage to stop while I was so sick during this pregnancy and had talons that looked like they were the work of an acrylic nail technician!! However sadly these were short lived and my badly bitten nails are back..

 

2. Get Healthy

I started out the year really well here with introducing more 'clean' recipes in to our home and was doing well with my exercise.

 

However the pregnancy and the severe sickness has done nothing for this healthy diet and I find myself (even still) needing sugar, sugar and more sugar to stop myself feeling sick each day during this pregnancy.

 

As for exercise, I have been lucky if I can even walk to our letterbox most days because I still feel very ordinary.

 

3. House Project Completion

I had earmarked two projects for around the home in 2013, converting Mr B's nursery in to a Toddler Room and converting our spare room in to a Playroom.

 

Just as soon as I had completed Mr B's Toddler Room conversion, I discovered that I was pregnant (yay!!) and therefore planning a 'Big Boy Room' instead.

 

The Playroom Set up was completed but has now been moved to our Family Room area to make way for the nursery for #2.

 

Both projects will be on the blog in the New year!

 

4. Continue Building my Events Business

Unfortunately the pregnancy meant that I wasn't able to do as much as I had of liked with my little business Utterly Organised Events.

 

However looking over the records for the year, we assisted with 117 different events during the year which was just amazing!! I definitely couldn't have done it without my hubby who was amazing packing up orders and helping clients when I wasn't well enough to even be able to shower!

 

So that is how I went with my resolutions for 2013, I definitely didn't achieve as much as I had hoped but what is more important that building a baby?!! What about you? Did you manage to succeed at your resolutions for the year?

 

Time for me to sit down and plan out what I hope to achieve in 2014...

Little Nest Busy Bag Giveaway

Well I don't think that this giveaway couldn't have come at a better time with school holidays, family vacations and weeks and weeks of long summer days ahead of us. Thanks to Little Nest I have one super doper Little Nest Busy Bag Flight Pack to give away to one lovely reader.

 

The Busy Bags come in a Little Nest cotton tote bag which is ideal for your pre-schooler to take on a long-haul flight for hours of entertainment!  The Mini Busy Box contains 10 different educational activities including lacing, colour sorting and shape discrimination.  The Cupcake Shop and Pizza Factory Busy Bags are fantastic for imaginative play, while the Foam Bead Threading and Pom Pom Pick-up Busy Bags are excellent for practicing fine motor skills.  Finally, the Popsicle Stick Patterns Busy Bag is great for colour discrimination and pattern replication.

 

Each Flight pack is valued at $60.00 and can be purchased direct from the Little Nest Etsy Site (along with all of the other individual fantastic products in the range).

 

Entry is below and good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

• The Giveaway will be hosted by Rafflecopter and is only open to Australian readers
• The announcement of the lucky winner/s will be published via the Utterly Organised blog (via Rafflecopter Widget) and announced on the Facebook Page
• The lucky winner/s will have 5 days to contact Utterly Organised and claim their prize
• Failure to claim the prize within this period will result in another winner being drawn
• Any questions on the competition can be directed to utterlyorganised@gmail.com
• Entrants MUST like both the Utterly Organised and the Little Nest Facebook pages  

Little Nest is run by Sarah Grose who lives on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Sarah is a SAHM with a 20 month old son, a 6 month old son and another baby boy on the way at the end of April. After discovering the concept of Busy Bags some time ago, Sarah saw a gap in the Australian market for these portable, self-contained educational activities.  Little Nest was born out of hard work, many late nights, a passion for creativity, and a mother's determination to make her family proud!

 

How to Host a Stress Free Dinner Party

In our busy lives, there’s nothing quite like a night in with friends bantering over good wine and delicious food. Dinner parties aren’t like going to a restaurant; you don’t have to compete with other patrons for the waiter’s attention, there’s no fussing over splitting the bill and no incomplete or missing orders (we’ve all been that guy whose order came twenty minutes after everyone already finished – awkward!).

 

While it’s all fine and dandy when you go to a friend’s dinner party, throwing one yourself is a whole other ball game. The moment you put the word out that you’re having one, you are suddenly overcome with what if no-one shows up syndrome. I’ll be the first to admit that parties never go to plan. Whether you’ve run out of drinks too early in the evening or you’ve nearly burned the kitchen down ten minutes before your guests arrive. If you’ve had some entertaining nightmares or are holding back from throwing a party because you’re afraid you’ll be too stressed out, never fear help is here. Planning the perfect evening doesn’t have to be a hectic affair as long as you follow these steps.

 

1. Make something you have cooked before

Regardless of whether you are the type of person that follows a recipe to a tee, the first time you cook a new dish is always stressful and it never turns out the way you’d hoped. When you are cooking an unfamiliar recipe for a dinner soiree, there’s also an added pressure to getting it just right. If you don’t, it will quickly turn your mood sour for the rest of the evening. That’s why it’s better to organise a meal that you are well versed with. You know it tastes good, you know how long it will take, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of how your friends will take to it – like a fish to water hopefully.

2. Check your guest’s dietary requirements

We know, we live in a crazy world right? Every Tom, Dick and Harry is following a strict diet regime. Whether it be paleo, lacto-vegetarian, lactose free, or gluten free – the list goes on. While you don’t need to make sure everyone loves what you are planning to make, take note whether someone you are inviting is kosher/halal, vegetarian/vegan or has any type of food allergies. There’s nothing worse than sitting down to a dinner with friends and realising you can’t indulge in anything.

3. Set the table the night before

Give yourself one less thing to worry about by setting the table the night before. It will save the hassle of trying to find the salad forks or having to clean the good china an hour before your start time.

4. Set the music and leave it

Everyone fancies themselves a DJ, however you’re music tastes may not suit the tone you are trying to set. Figure out who the music person is in your family and have him/her set up a playlist that is long enough to not repeat songs. Once you’ve set it up, turn it on and leave it alone for the rest of the night.

5. Prepare in advance

Avoid rushing around like a madman of party day and buy all your ingredients the day before. You can even start buying storable items weeks in advance. There are obviously going to be some spoilable items you need to purchase on the day – Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cake anyone?  But it’s much easier to only pick up a few forgotten items rather than doing big two hour supermarket excursion.

Image Source

The most important thing to remember when hosting a dinner event is to have fun and relax! Happy planning.

{Sponsored Post thanks to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream}

Win a Date with a Personal Stylist

 

This week on the blog we were fortunate to have gorgeous Personal Stylist, Agnes from Paper Doll Personal Styling, here as a guest blogger. If you missed out on her posts on maternity dressing, you can catch up on them here and here.

 

I am absolutely thrilled to annpounce that Paper Doll Personal Styling are offering one very, very lucky reader the chance to win a date with the fabulous Agnes herself!

 

One lucky winner will have the choice between a 2 hour Wardrobe Analysis or a 2 hour Personal Shopping Trip (both valued at $200). And because I didn't want my lovely readers not living in Melbourne to miss out, if you are interstate you will have the choice of an Online Styling Consultaion (valued at $135) instead.

 

If one of your goals for the New Year is to tackle your tricky wardrobe or to learn how to finally dress for your body shape, then this prize is a dream come true!

 

Entry is below and good luck...

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

- The giveaway will be hosted by Rafflecopter and is open to Australian residents only

- The announcement of the lucky winner will be made right here on the Utterly Organised blog
- The lucky winner will have 5 days to contact Utterly Organised and claim their prize
- Voucher expires on 30/06/14
- Failure to claim prize within designated period will result in another winner being drawn
- Entrants must like the Utterly Organised and Paper Doll Personal Styling Facebook Page
- Any questions on the competition can be directed to utterlyorganised@gmail.com

 

If you are interested in the Services of Paper Doll Personal Styling, you can find Agnes online or on Facebook.