Making do at year's end

Tomorrow is the last time we'll write 2007 on checks, school work, letters, "to do" lists, and the calendar. It's been a pretty good year Chez Making Do. A had just one surgery, AG finally got a major wish fulfilled (learning to play the sax), T is having lots of good work and church stuff, and I'm knitting like a fool. Not bad, not bad at all.

I just finished dismantling the Christmas effect. It's all so much easier now. Two years ago, I purchased plastic bins and labelled them with their Christmas contents. One bin at a time makes the work pretty smooth. And I use the bins to store the various accessories temporarily displaced by all the fa-la-la. All is calm and clean. We're ready for the New Year!

My Preschool Phonics business is in its sixth year and I fully expect to be scheduling classes next fall. Juggling the Nature Center, Preschool Phonics, freelance writing, and a burgeoning design business seems to be working so far. Scheduling and organization are critical. Just as I tell my kids, you can't put off the minor stuff because it'll get in the way of the unexpected major stuff that's always waiting around the corner. Which means I have to finish the laundry and ironing in the AM. My niece is arriving for two days (she and AG are just two months apart in age) and I want to be able to focus on two very busy and quite social ten year old girls!

Speaking of Preschool Phonics, I'm doing some preliminary work for the Level 2 classes that begin the second week of January. My little respite is nearly over and I'm raring to get back to the preschool world.

Making Do Pointer #5: Treasure other people's cast-offs.
I hit the Goodwill in Sandy Springs and came home with two ginormous bags of toys for the Preschool Phonics treasure box. Most are brand new - stuffed animals, birthday party goodies, fast food toys, and more, all with tags or in the original packages. I aced nearly 70 prizes for less than ten bucks. That sure beats even the reasonable costs of prizes from Oriental Trading Company!

Making Do Pointer #6: Sometimes it's just as important to save time.
For years, I stood at two copiers at the local Kinko's, copying and colating 36 to 48 workbooks (depending on how many classes I scheduled that year). It took several hours, then I had to assemble them once I got home. After a spontaneous discussion with the services guru at Office Max, I discovered that they would do the copying, colating, and hole-punching as well as laminating the covers - for about the same amount of money. All I'd have to do is the plastic combi-binding with my machine at home. Blinding glimpse of the obvious here - let someone else do the heavy stuff! I'd just assumed that do-it-yourself was cheaper. Not so in this case!