Have you started thinking about your holiday gift lists yet? Creating gift lists is one of the many holiday related items on my to-do list this weekend. I’ll be asking my family members to create their wish lists, and I’ll be putting together a wish list of my own. (Fun!)
With gift giving on my mind, I thought it’d be fun to put together a blog post or two on gift ideas. This first post includes three book ideas for yourself or the organizer on your list. I love to receive books, and I also love to give them as gifts. So here are some ideas to whet your book-giving appetite.
For the Mom on Your List
The Five-Minute Mom’s Club: 105 Tips to Make a Mom’s Life Easier by Stephanie Vozza is wonderful compilation of organizing and time management tips for Moms. This book includes tips from real moms like Julie Morgenstern, Gretchen Rubin…and there’s one from me, too. (How fun is that?)
I love tips—especially the kind that make life just a notch easier or solve a dilemma. This book offers just that—105 practical tips for Mom. For example, Tip #53 talks about using rewards to motivate your children. The author shares the story of Nancy Beck who used video games to create a reward system that works so well, her children ask her for chores to do. (Gotta’ love that, right?) Here’s Nancy’s story, from the book.
“As a Christmas present when my son was about eight, I allowed his sister to buy him a video game console. I remember in my sleep on Christmas Eve I had an overwhelming feeling that I had just allowed something too powerful into my house.”
Oh, do I know that feeling. I remember feeling the exact same way when Collin asked for (and received) a video game system for Christmas several years ago. I love the plan that Nancy came up with to solve this dilemma. She has her kids do chores to earn video game time. Here’s how she does it:
“I estimated how many minutes it would take to do a particular chore and that would be the amount of minutes earned. We sat down as a group and had a unanimous vote about the time payment.
For example, if sweeping the floor takes five minutes, then the person doing the chore gets five minutes of video time in his bank. We use a community jar of change on the kitchen counter. Each of my children has their own jar. As they earn minutes, they take change out of the community jar and place it in their own. And when they spend the minutes, they move them back into the community jar. The children keep track of their own time, and they tend to keep an eye on each other. They also have learned the concept of time…”
Yep, I love that. If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer for a Mom on your list, give this book a look. I think you’ll enjoy the tips, and you’ll be happy knowing that this book also supports a great cause. A portion of the proceeds from this book go to the Pajama Program (www.pajamaprogram.org), an amazing nonprofit organization that provides a warm pair of PJs and a new book to children in need, many of whom are awaiting adoption.
For the Time Crunched Person on Your List
Earlier this year I read the book 168 Hours: You Have More Time than You Think by Laura Vanderkam. 168 hours refers to the number of hours we each have every week. The author builds a compelling case that this is really a lot of time. She shares inspiring stories of people who use their 168 hours intentionally to build a life that really works well for them. Additionally, the author shares strategies that will help you (or your time crunched friend) make the most of your weekly 168 hours and fit in the activities that matter most to you.
For the Scrapbooker on Your List
As I mentioned in an earlier post, The Organized & Inspired Scrapbooker, the book I co-authored with Wendy Smedley, is back in print. (I have now held the new version in my hands—woohoo!) If creative clutter is getting in the way of your scrapbooking plans, this book will help. Step-by-step The Organized & Inspired Scrapbooker shows you how to design an organizing and storage system that will work for you, your creative process, and your scrapbook space (even if that happens to be the kitchen table!) So if you have a scrapbooker on your list who is in need of a new organizing plan, give this book a look.
I’d love to hear from you. Do you love to give (or receive) books as holiday gifts? If so, what’s on your wish list this year? Thanks for sharing!
My wish list is to get the new Peter Walsh titled lighten up. I seriously need this myself and my mother recently died and she lives out of state but none the less I am now planning on incorporating some of her stuff into my house most of the items are of sentimenal value or items that have been in my life as long as I can remember so at this stage in the game is too early to part with. How do I keep the balance of lightetning the load? I hope this book will help. I also love books cookbooks are some of my faves as they are sort of like magazines and you can keep going through them and see new things each time thus making it more justifable to keep around. I do sometimes give books but it is harder as you never know what one might like unless specifically known.
I love to give and receive books. Books are actually my favourite thing and the only thing in my house that can lay in piles and not be called clutter 🙂
THis year I have put a Swedish comic book on the wish list. It is made by a couple who lives in my town and they are hysterically funny. As an adult in the 40:s with kids you recognize yourself. And since they come from my town you might recognize someone else” Or even yourself! But that would be scary….
I am actually thinking about putting the organized scrapper on there too. I don’t scrap but do a lot of textile work and I figure I could get ideas on how to organize my sewing and weaving room.
I’m giving my nephews gift certificates for a bookstore for christmas. I found an old Martha Living magazine that showed rally cute ways to wrap gift cert’s so I’m doing something nice to spruce it up 🙂
Hey Abby,
I actually follow this “mantra” when Christmas shopping. Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. I can’t remember where I came across this but it has made my shopping SO much easier and really cut down on the amount of gifts that my immediate family gives each other. We give three gifts each (as the Wise Men gave Jesus)and small things in stockings. So one of these ends up as a stocking stuffer. With all that being said, a book is given and received every year. I recently found out that I cannot eat wheat, so I have asked for gluten free related books.
Thank you so much for the ideas. I’m emailing my husband this url and asking him for the “Five Minute Mom’s Club” book.
I always give my children books for Christmas. We go to “Half-Price Books” (used bookstore) and get lots of books for really cheap. And of course I always give my husband books because that’s all he wants. Oh, and have you ever heard of goodreads.com? I love it! It’s basically a social networking site where you share your ratings with friends on books that you read. I’m hooked on it. Thanks for the post! I love your blog!
Abby,
I’m wondering, do you have any more good book recommendations for organizing? I love the 5 Minute Mom one, but do you have any others? I’m a stay-at-home mom, and I’d love some additional organizing books. There’s so many out there, I don’t know which ones are the best!
Thanks!
I want the DAM book about photo organization, back up and workflow.
Hi, Anne Marie,
Here are some other posts I’ve done on organizing books I like…
http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/creative_organizing/2009/04/throw-out-fifty-thingsa-book-review.html
http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/creative_organizing/2009/01/favorite-organizing-books.html
http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/creative_organizing/2009/01/favorite-organizing-books-post-two.html
http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/creative_organizing/2009/01/the-eye-candy-book.html
http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/creative_organizing/2008/08/when-organizing.html
Hope this helps!
Aby
Thanks Aby!