Weekly Tip

“The beauty of the house is order. The blessing of the house is contentment. The glory of the house is hospitality.”

“If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer the house allows one to dream in peace.”

“We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us.”

“Home interprets heaven: home is heaven for beginners… is yours?”

“A comfortable house is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.”

“A thousand days at home are a pleasure; an hour away from home is a trial.” Can you say this about your home?

“From piles to peace…”

Where were you when you made your big life plans? Perhaps in college surrounded by friends discussing hopes and dreams… the possibilities were endless and exciting! Where might we live? Would we get married? O! the career plans, families and adventures that awaited!

I think it’s safe to assume none of us ever said “I hope I have a big house full of things that I bought just because they were on sale.” We never talked about our intentions to own so much stuff that we would spend our free time trying to organize it all. No one said, “I hope my future kids have so many toys that they can’t pick them up because there is nowhere to put them!”

Why do we trade in our hopes, dreams, goals and plans for things that will eventually end up in a garage sale, consignment store or landfill? We pull this baggage behind us as we go through life thinking about the next thing we can add to it! Stop doing that!

I still love shoes and handbags, kitchen gadgets that slice and dice… but I don’t like the idea that someone would trade in special hopes and dreams for something that can be bought. I like my stuff but I am SO OVER IT!

Give me passion, pursuits, wholeness, healing, compassion, audacious goals, love, grace, kindness… give me those instead, and let me not be distracted by anything less.

Are closets and cabinets overflowing with never used possessions while everyday items cover your home?  What is in that confusing hall closet-vanity thingie?  Has emotional clutter stolen your focus and zapped your creativity, productivity and enthusiasm?  O yeah! that asymmetrical under-the-staircase junk repository.  Tossing and turning all night long?  There is that messy forgotten bedroom nook…

It’s never too late to change all of that into a positive, stress-free lifestyle… make that lifestyle change today by calling a professional!  OrganiZare can help and allow you time for family and fun!  Think of it as a personal trainer for your home.  Refresh, try something new, help is a good thing and just a call away!    

We work all our life to buy some stuff.  Then we realize we have too much stuff.

When we go on vacation we have to take stuff along, but most of our stuff we leave at home, and then we worry about someone taking our stuff.

We go to all kinds of sales to look for stuff.  At garage sales we buy stuff that we usually end up putting in the next garage sale, so others can buy the stuff!

The price of stuff keeps going up and we don’t get much stuff for our money anymore.   Advertisers encourage us to buy all their stuff.  Storage units are stuffed with stuff.

One more thing about stuff… we can’t take it with us when we leave this world… I think I have enough stuff, but sometimes I would like some different stuff, wouldn’t you?  

Some research date:

71 – Percentage who say their quality of life would improve if they were better organized.

65 – Percentage who described their home as at least moderately disorganized.

27 – Percentage who agree disorder keeps them from being effective at work.  

Recently I was tasked with a supply and copy room in an office building.  The manager wisely emptied out the entire room of all boxes, bins, piles and her employees sorted it out in a large empty room.  When it was my turn, I had a clean slate with which to work… shelves, cabinets, drawers.  I knew all the items in front of me were to be kept and it was a snap to put it all together in an organized fashion using drawer organizers and a label maker, I had the supply room looking pristine in no time. 

This method is perfect for anyone, anywhere.  Home, office, garage… empty, sort and organize.  Always better to start with a clean slate.

Like wine?  Belong to a few wine clubs?  Shop wine sales?  Collect fine wines?  I see many homes where wine is abundant and everywhere throughout the kitchen, pantry, countertops.  Some dusty, some open, some standing and some laying.  While wine is meant to be enjoyed, corral the cheer and invest in a wine refrigerator or a rack and then organize the wines!  Organized by vintage, varietal or both works well.  Take it one step further… with a silver, Sharpie marker on the bottom of the bottle write the year it is to be opened or a small dot means this bottle is not your Tuesday night dinner wine, but a special birthday or anniversary wine.  With this done, a toast to you!  

New Year?  Resolutions?  Fresh Start?  A great time to get organized.  Office supplies and filing supplies are on sale everywhere!  Get started!  In today’s cyber and digital world, we truly don’t need to keep paper like we used to.  I had a client who insisted on keeping paper documents and tax returns that dated back to 1973.  I couldn’t talk him out of it as he was afraid of the big bad auditor!  So, with respect I organized all his boxes and files into bins safely in his garage.

The important part was moving forward.  I organized all his receipts and supporting documents all year through so when it was time to file, it was easy and quick to package it up for his accountant.  The accountant?  Loved me.  My client?  Sadly, passed away this year.  The bins in his garage entered the teeth of a shredder.  The moral of this story?  We don’t need to keep old paper documents forever.  Don’t leave these for your children to sort through.  Seek the advice of your accountant as to what to keep and what not to keep and how long.  I promise, you don’t need to keep the 1973 documents. 

So, start fresh… clean out… the worn out manila file folders can be replaced with colorful ones that will make you happy when opening that drawer… use a label maker to label the folders so they are consistent and readable… get some new pens and pencils… perhaps fun colorful desk accessories… most important… file the piles and keep up with it all year long!  That is a worthy resolution!

This year while packing up Christmas, I decided to seriously sort and organize our decorations.  We enjoy a collection of beautiful glass blown ornaments, some which have sentimental value and others that are simply pretty on the tree.  As I carefully packed them away, I labeled the most precious boxes in which they sleep all year with the following:

~ Where or when we found the treasure

~ Which child gets this (you know, when they are cleaning out their parent’s belongings…)

Morbid thought?  No!  Organized preparation!  Our daughter loves to cook and we have several foodie ornaments.  Our son loves color and unique art and he gets the ornaments that fit his personality. 

Through the years, we will continue to adorn our tree with these baubles, but they are organized, labeled, and when the day comes, our kids will appreciate and continue to enjoy the same joy every Christmas.

Your home or office didn’t get this way overnight!  Perhaps you had to move in a hurry and threw everything randomly in boxes.  Those boxes sat in a garage or corner until now. Maybe, you inherited items from a relative who has passed away.  You used to be organized and then the twins arrived.  Health problems arose and you don’t have the energy or physical ability to deal with the piles.

Whatever the reason… de-cluttering is a process.  Peel the onion one layer at a time. One drawer, one closet, one shelf at a time. Set aside two hours of de-clutter time and set a timer. STOP when it goes off and you won’t “hit that wall”.

When you decide to donate or throw… follow through.  Be careful of putting it in another pile, like “to be donated”… take it to the drop box the day you purge.

There are professionals who can help, like organiZare and sometimes it takes that extra shove.

Follow these tips and you will stay inspired and push ahead with the process.