I take a bubble bath every night before bed. I usually read a good book or magazine and enjoy a good soak. I always sleep great afterwards!

I decided to hired a personal organizer for the New Year.

I took the afternoon and went to a spa for a relaxing facial and massage! It was nice... all the stress melted away and 3 days later my back is still feeling fantastic! A little indulgence never hurt anyone :)

Instead of toiling over a hot iron to straighten my hair every day, I found a cute and easy updo that works on me. On those late-start mornings I simply put my hair up and frame my face with a few pieces of hair, and look just as polished as if I would have straightened my hair.

I have two boys(one a toddler) and it has been very hard for me to clean up at night after they are in bed as they leave all cars, trucks, small lego parts everywhere. To make things easy, I set up boxes in each room they run around so that while I or my eldest son or my husband visit that room, they can put that in the box near by. Our toddler will pick it up from the box, play and put it right there again but we do put in the box again. In that we keep the place clean every time and our toddler can get his way also every time :)

I only go to class when I really should. If I am having a busy week with assignments or other life stuff I will go easy on myself in this way.

Vacuuming. I have two long-haired cats that shed constantly, but instead of lugging out the fifty pound vacuum every other day, I simply run a damp mop over the carpet, which lifts off all that lovely cat hair in minutes.

Signing up for home delivery of my dairy and vegetables. The weekly deliveries save me at least 1 trip a week of going to the grocery store and spending double than what would be on my list.

For $2 each I can take ten shirts to the dry cleaners just for ironing. That is less than one hours pay for me and I couldn't iron ten shirts in one hour. My husband and I each have 5 ironed shirts a week and I feel good about the expense.

With about 125 guests gathered in my small back yard, a call came in from the "priest" that he would be late for my daughter's wedding ceremony. About 30 min. later, he let us know that he would be MUCH later. We looked at each other and simutaniously said "chanpagne"! My sister and cousin qauickly visited every store within a few miles and purchased every bottle of cold champagne as I got out plastic glasses and trays. The mood changed immediately. Many still talk about that wedding with fond memories.

I'm a good cook. We're vacationing with family where each of us takes a turn each night cooking dinner. I know they'll all expect something great from me. I couldn't begin to think of what to make to wow them and it was making me a little crazy because I couldn't get my grocery list together. Then, early this morning I happened to read this column. It just came to me - lasagna, salad, and garlic bread. It's simple and it won't "wow" anyone - but who cares? I'm on vacation and I wanted something simple to make.

My morning routine has gotten much simpler this summer. After my shower all I do is finger dry my hair, put on moisturizer with spf, face powder, mascara, and chapstick. I can be dressed, showered, and out the door in 15 minutes flat and look fabulous!

Weight loss. Recently I have shifted my focus from losing weight to making healthy food choices, watching my portions and exercise. The way my clothes are fitting tells me I'm on to something.

My daughter is getting married this fall in another state. I was up to my eyeballs in details about flowers and centerpieces. I was creating the centerpieces and attempting a huge bouquet for the reception. We were stockpiling everything I bought at my daughter's home, which was a two day trip away! Talk about making something hard....I was having a hard time remembering which basement I had stored things in. Finally the light went on. Let the caterer do it! He had a special wedding package that we ignored initially because of the cost. But at this point, the cost seemed insignficant in comparision to the stress that I was experiencing. I suggested to my daughter that we "let the caterer do it" and I heard an immediate sigh of relief from the entire family. I suddenly felt pounds lighter, and can now sit back and just enjoy the wedding, without wondering where my glue gun is! I was getting lost in details, and missiing the big picture. My darling daughter found true love with a wonderful man and now I can make THAT the center of the day!

My first year of teaching high school. I decided the most important thing was building relationships with my students, not getting everything graded on time or over-planning lessons. Because of the relationships I built, I was able to delegate a lot of errands to the office, and even had students voluntarily clean for me (without prompting) on their free time! My project-based curriculum put the work on students, not me, and they learned far more as a result. Finally, I exercised my right to say no to the pressure to give up all of my free time to extra duties.

I'm a real collector of small items. All my collections are now under cover, mostly glass cases or shelves making it much easier to dust. Bigger items, such as large shells are covered with shellac.

I keep a birthday list and an annual gift list to minimize the time I spend shopping for cards and gifts.

On the beginning of each month, I write out my birthday cards for the month and write the b-day in the stamp section of the card. I buy birthday cards in volume so that I have a large, variety selection on hand.

For gifts, I like to buy in advance when items are on sale so I type on the list once I buy the gift and highlight it when it is shipped or delivered. That way I don't buy two gifts for someone and I document waht I got someone if I decide to wrap the gift early.

I hosted two summer missionaries (17-yr old girls) a week after having my daughter and her family here for a week. For the missionaries, I tidied, cleaned the bathroom and put on clean sheets. Then I stocked the fridge and pantry, made a list of what food was available, made them each a house key, left them my car, the pool key, and said "enjoy". I went on with my work schedule, dance lessons, meetings. I hear they had a great week, being able to relax when they were not serving at church, and not having to be "on" all the time.