Work and storage areas are of the places in a home that sometimes need organizing.
By Christina Giaquinto
In my experience as a professional organizer and brand ambassador of DIY customizable closet units that organize any space in your home, I have discovered a number of helpful decluttering tips. Here are some tried-and-true strategies:
Isn’t it the worst when you are trying to leave for an outing and can’t find your keys, cellphone, or other essentials? Organize a bin by the front door or in the garage that contains essentials.
Write down five things you want to do. By taking pen to paper and consciously thinking of what you want to experience during a season, you will truly be able to make your dreams a reality. Then, once you write down the top five must-do’s, schedule each of them into your calendar. This will ensure you accomplish the bucket-list items and allow you to plan other activities around them.
Write down your home organizing goals. Have you been meaning to paint one or more of your rooms a new color? Do you really want to clean every single carpet and rug in your living space? Commit to one home organizing project. I highly recommend scheduling the project into your calendar so that there are plans set in stone to get it done!
It’s paramount to have your car organized. First, do a deep clean. Yes, that means vacuuming under the seats. Once the car is deep-cleaned, organize a station that you keep in the trunk for items you might need while on the road. Preparation is key!
Organize your garden tools. If your garden tools have been buried in the garage or shed all year, declutter any rusty or broken tools and organize a garden tool bag for yourself that ensures you can focus on the love of gardening and not stress about finding what you need. Staying organized means you have a system in place and know where everything is.
ChristinaGiaquinto, who represents Modular Closets (a marketer of DIY closet units), focuses on helping her clients declutter and organize. Her work has been featured by Women’s Health, Reader’s Digest, and Realtor.com.
With over a million acres of wilderness, Olympic National Park has plenty to see, including pristine old-growth rainforests.
By Rae and Jason Miller
One of the best things about America’s national parks is how unbelievably different they can be from one another. You can explore the mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park or the swamps of the Everglades. Or what about baking in the desert sun of Big Bend or getting iced down at Glacier National Park?
No matter what environments or activities you prefer, there are a few crown jewels of the national park system you simply can’t miss—10 incredible places offering some of the best landscapes, activities, and history that America offers.
Glacier National Park.
Known as the “crown of the continent,” Glacier is in northwestern Montana near the Canadian border. The million-acre park includes over 700 miles of trails crisscrossing ecosystems from prairie to lakes to tundra and, of course, the park’s namesake glaciers. It’s also home to one of the national park system’s most famous scenic drives, Going-to-the-Sun Road. There are very few other places on earth where you can see dramatic landscapes of lakes and mountains sculpted by massive ice sheets. The park is also well-known for its various ranger-led programs.
Acadia National Park.
This breathtaking area along coastal Maine preserves mountains, lakes, beaches, and other diverse ecosystems. It’s all interwoven with signs of man’s impact, including small towns, scenic drives, and quaint lodges and cabins. We’d argue that nowhere else can compete with the preserved beauty of Acadia’s quality. Drive or hike to the top of Cadillac Mountain to see the first rays of sun hitting the continental United States for part of the year. Or take a dip in the chilly northern Atlantic Ocean waters at Sand Beach.
Olympic National Park.
Olympic is home to three distinctive landscapes that make the Pacific Northwest famous: Ocean coast, mountains, and old-growth rainforests. A short drive from western Washington, it offers fantastic outdoor recreation opportunities for millions. Still, with over a million acres of land, you’ll have plenty of wilderness all to yourself if you so desire.
Yosemite National Park
One of America’s oldest national parks, Yosemite is a nearly 1,200 square-mile area of dramatic valleys, forests, lakes, and other habitats of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Among the most famous are the massive granite cliffs, including the well-known El Capitan and Half Dome. One look at the one-of-a-kind waterfalls and unbelievable rock formations, and you’ll understand the allure of this remarkable place.
Grand Canyon National Park.
Stretching through dozens of miles of northern Arizona, the Grand Canyon offers some of the southwest’s best hiking, striking scenic drives, and rafting for all skill levels on the Colorado River. It’s all well and good to see photos, but it’s hard to truly appreciate the scope of this gargantuan space without seeing it in person. Visitors can easily experience miles of canyon views along the mostly paved Rim Trail.
Bryce Canyon National Park.
Head to southern Utah for some of the national park system’s most otherworldly landscapes. Bryce is primarily known for its hoodoos, which are thousands of distinctive spire-like rock formations. Bryce is doable in a single day or even a half-day, making it a worthwhile stop.
Zion National Park.
Located around the breathtaking Zion Canyon, the park in southwestern Utah protects thousands of years of rich history, from ancient Native Americans to modern Mormon settlers who gave the park its current name.
Grand Teton National Park.
Located in western Wyoming near ski town Jackson (nicknamed Jackson Hole), it protects the most prominent peaks of the Teton Range. South of the more famous Yellowstone, the park is especially memorable for its wildlife-watching, mountain climbing, and hiking opportunities, especially along its many backcountry trails. Animals lovers will enjoy the moose, bison, elk, pronghorn, wolves, and bears.
Crater Lake National Park
In south-central Oregon, the park’s namesake is the deepest lake in the U.S. Crystal blue water fills the massive hole created by a collapsed volcano. The park offers amazing activities in all seasons, from hiking and scenic drives to snowshoeing or sledding.
Yellowstone National Park.
America’s first national park straddles three states and protects a massive expanse of forests, valleys, lakes, and most prominently, geothermal features like geysers.
Rae and Jason Miller wrote this article for their website, getawaycouple.com. They’ve been RVing across the U.S. since leaving their jobs and California home five years ago.
State Rep. Kelly Chambers holds one of the newly minted specialty license plates that support Washington’s wine and tourism industries.
State Rep. Kelly Chambers is the prime sponsor of legislation creating the placards that cost $40 apiece and feature a scenic landscape of Washington wine country.
Proceeds from the initial sales of each plate and their $30 renewal fee will go into state coffers to promote the tourism industry statewide, including “small mom-and-pop shops, local restaurants, hospitality businesses, and retail businesses, many of which sell Washington wines,” Chambers said.
Nearly 4,000 Washingtonians signed a petition calling for the new specialty license plates, according to Chambers, who represents the 25th Legislative District in Pierce County.
Throughout history, the times and places people lived in shaped the skills they needed to survive. Think about the years before the invention of electricity: Back then, many Americans knew how to build fires, drive wagons, or preserve food. Today, those once-essential skills have been replaced with tasks our ancestors could have never imagined, such as driving cars, building websites, or taking photographs.
In the last two decades,
Balancing a checkbook is one of the life skills that younger generations don’t (and might never) possess, according to a survey of adults from 18 to 76 years old.
Are some skills destined to become relics of the past? To find out, TheSeniorList.com conducted a study of 1,076 adults in equal amounts of four generations–baby boomers, Generation X, millennials, and Generation Z. Overall, 52 percent were females and the rest males. In almost every case, the skills in the study were most common among older adults between the ages of 58 and 76 and least common among younger adults 18 to 25. There were some slight differences, but several stood out because of how uncommon they are in more youthful generations today. The three skills most at risk of extinction are:
Negotiating purchase prices.
By a 39-point margin, baby boomers were much more likely than their younger counterparts to know how to negotiate the purchase prices of things like homes or new cars. Eighty-one percent of boomers said they can haggle on price, while only 43 percent of Gen Zers said the same. This could be explained by broader economic factors and the nature of the younger generation. Gen Zers in the research ranged in age from 18 to 25. According to an analysis by Realtor.com, Gen Z holds just a 2 percent share of the U.S. housing market, though as this generation ages into young adulthood, their share will rise. Additionally, with more transactions occurring online, opportunities to haggle may become increasingly rare.
Balancing a checkbook and writing a check.
Almost 90 percent of baby boomers know how to balance a checkbook, compared to just over half of Gen Zers. Research also revealed a sizable skill gap regarding checks between Gen Zers and millennials. About 70 percent of millennials said they could write a check or balance a checkbook if needed.This difference is likely due to online and mobile banking and the widespread use of credit and debit cards. About three-quarters of Americans use mobile apps for financial tasks like checking bank statements or making deposits. And while people still write checks, it’s a form of payment that has rapidly fallen out of favor. The most recent data from the Federal Reserve indicates that among all forms of non-cash payments, checks account for about 8 percent, down 26 percent since 2012.
Ironing.
Nearly 90 percent of baby boomers said they knew how to use an iron, compared to 64 percent of millennials and 56 percent of Generation Zers. This could indicate a shifting attitude toward clothing and work. In recent years, many businesses have relaxed their dress codes and allowed professionals to give up their suits and ties in favor of jeans and other casual clothes that don’t require ironing. Additionally, many employees are still working remotely since the start of the pandemic and don’t need to dress professionally while working from home.
Other life skills in decline are public speaking, salary negotiation, and reading analog clocks. They are significant ways in which younger generations may be falling behind.
Essential professional communication may be more difficult for younger workers. For example, 36 percent of Gen Zers said they know how to negotiate a raise or a salary at a job, compared to 63 percent for baby boomers and Gen Xers. Considering this generation will comprise about 30 percent of the American workforce by 2030, an inability to negotiate could pose problems.
Additionally, 58 percent of Generation Z and 63 percent of millennials said they were skilled in public speaking, compared to 71 percent of baby boomers. Many professionals have had limited opportunities to hone their face-to-face communication skills, especially since the pandemic. Combined with society’s ever-increasing reliance on smartphones, anxiety around public speaking may increase.
When it comes to domestic tasks, most people in all age groups feel confident doing things like baking or cooking without a recipe or preparing a meal for a family. But a couple of clothing-related skills may be going out of fashion. By a 31-point margin, baby boomers are more likely than Gen Zers to know how to iron clothes; similarly, they’re 28 points more likely to be able to make clothing alterations, like hemming a pair of pants or replacing a button—things only 40 percent of Gen Zers half of millennials can do. By comparison, 61 percent of Gen Xers and 68 percent of baby boomers can.
One reason for the decline in several domestic skills could be that in many schools, family and consumer sciences (once called home economics) are either not taught or not required. An NPR (National Public Radio) anaysis found that such classes have declined over the past 20 years.
When it comes to do-it-yourself home repairs, Gen Zers are relatively competent compared to their older counterparts with using a power drill, mowing the lawn, or painting a room. Again, younger people are less likely to own homes, so, likely they have simply never had to do many such tasks. For example, 29 percent of Gen Zers know how to fix a leaky faucet. Plumbers typically charge anywhere from $45 to $200 per hour, so people of all ages would be well-advised to roll up their sleeves and get dirty.
The median income of all survey participants was between $50,000 and $74,999 a year.
Source: TheSeniorList.com provides consumer and product information for older adults and their caregivers.
