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Entries Tagged 'Home Organization Blog' ↓
And some that I don’t want to find in your garage either! Starting with….
1) Rats-dead or alive. Now, we actually happen to have pet rats at our house that came from the Hoarder’s Show (I know, I know, a professional organizer with rats from the Hoarder’s Show), but they are contained, cute & fluffy and clean themselves like little cats. But when I’m working in a garage, I don’t much care to run into one.
Keeping your garage clear of clutter will help eliminate nice, toasty warm homes for creatures who should live outside.
2) Cardboard. What’s up with cardboard? People just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cardboard, you know, the boxes for just in case. OK, if you move you can always get more boxes. If you move, you can wrap the coffee pot in bubble wrap instead of pulling out the original box from 8 years ago. At the very least, please flatten the cardboard if you must keep it.
3) Dried up paints. Make sure old paint is disposed of in a way that won’t harm the environment. If you need to remember the paint mixture for the future, just keep the lid with the label on it. In our area, we can drop off latex paint at the hazardous waste station and we can dry out latex paint and throw the can in the garbage. Be sure to find out what the rules are in your area.
4) Hazardous chemicals that you no longer use. Get those out for the safety of pets and people; contact your local hazardous waste station to find out what is and what is not accepted. I was pretty surprised to find out that our station takes shoe polish!
5) Broken belongings. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. But if it is broken-fix it! Don’t put it aside for someday. Either fix it, get it fixed or trash it. Wow, I’m so tough this morning.
Kick these 5 things out of your garage and open up some space for important items or even your car maybe! For more garage organizing tips, please read more right here-I’ve got ya covered!
Tags: chemicals, clutter, DIY organization, Garage Organizing, garage organizing tips, hazardous waste station, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, paint
Monday Mantra for Women: “I will stop working so hard to get more stuff and start appreciating what I already have before me.”
Tags: DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, Monday Mantra for Women
Awwwww, now don’t make your closet cry… make your closet happy-an organized closet is a happy closet! 
An organized closet also makes for a happy woman when she can pull off a cute outfit and get ready for the day on time-winner!
Organizing your closet doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Follow a few closet organizing tips and consider adding a few organizing products to conquer closet clutter.
Closet Organizing Tip #1: Purge, purge, purge. Let go of clothing that you aren’t wearing, that doesn’t fit, that doesn’t look good on you or that’s out of style. If that leaves your closet bare, that’s OK, you weren’t wearing these items anyway so go ahead and open up space for new clothes that you love.
Closet Organizing Tip #2: Store clothing that doesn’t fit elsewhere. Make sure you can wear anything in your closet right now. You can store future sizes under the bed or in another closet. If you don’t have that kind of space, then dedicate one section of your closet just for the clothing you plan to fit in soon. If it’s not going to be soon, then consider letting it go.
Closet Organizing Tip #3: Place your hangers the wrong direction, make the hanger face you instead of away from you. When you wear something and hang it back up, hang it the correct direction. At the end of the season, turn and look at all of the hangers that are still the wrong direction, this means you never chose these items to wear. Let them go.
Once you’ve gotten your closet down to the items that fit, feel good and look good, you can stretch your space by adding these must-have items from Organized A to Z.
Baskets are great to wrangle belts, socks, underwear gloves and scarves.
Hangers of all one type add visual appeal and continuity.
Hooks for belts and ties hang up and take very little space.
And to help you in the right direction, here are 5 DIY Organization tips to help you reclaim your closet!
Tags: closet, closet organizing tips, DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, organized closet, Organizing Products, purge
I’d say the #1 thing I help clients with is paperwork & file systems. Paper can be overwhelming and when you don’t have a flow for your paper, it usually backs up into piles and those piles = stress. Something that you don’t want to lose in paper piles:
#1 Money that you owe by the way of bills. Paying bills late will cost you even more money.
#2 Money that is owed to you. Professional organizers find money all the time-cash, uncashed checks and gift cards. Something else I have recently started coming across with clients that they don’t know what to do with: Groupons. You don’t want your Groupon to slip through the cracks and miss out on a fun event or meal because it expired.
Well, recently I came across this awesome site to help you organize your bill payments AND Groupons-yeah! Welcome to manilla.com.
Just a few of the things Manilla offers:
- Alerts when bills are almost due or reward points are about to expire.
- Just one log in to get to all of your accounts means just one password.
- Manilla files & stores you account documents.
- Just a sample of accounts they handle: Cell, cable, utilities, credit cards, Groupons, Living Social & Netflix.
- It’s FREE! Companies pay a lot of money to send you your bill, instead they pay Manilla which can save them money and it makes it free to you!
If paper piles and due dates are causing stress in your life, give this service a shot and eliminate some stress-who needs more stress anyway?!
Tags: DIY organization, Groupons, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, Living Social, Manilla, manilla.com
What do you think, does this garage need some organizing-yes, no, maybe so? I think I know the answer. This garage was in need of organizing and despite how it appears, a huge amount of work was done in only two hours with quick decision-making. How do you know if your garage is in need of organization? Let’s take a look at 5 warning signs and you can see if any of these fit the bill for you.
Warning Sign #1: You can’t park in the garage although you would like to. Usually this means your valuable vehicle sits outside exposed to the elements and possible vandalism while stuff you haven’t seen in years sits on the garage floor. Now if you don’t want to park inside, that’s ok, but you should still be able to use your garage and not let your clutter use you.
Warning Sign #2: You feel stressed every time you come home. Even if you park in the driveway, the chances are good that you open your garage door and enter the home through the garage. Well, every time you come home that means you are welcomed by stuff that’s causing you stress. I want your home to be a source of comfort for you at the end of a long day, not a source of stress.
Warning Sign #3: People driving by stop because they think you are having a garage sale, but you’re not. Well, that’s embarrassing, maybe it is time for a real garage sale then. Just make sure it’s worth your time, effort and energy to put together a sale. When clients are overwhelmed, often it’s just easier for them to donate the items in good condition and take the tax write-off.
Warning Sign #4: You’re embarrassed for the neighbors to see your garage when you open the door. Our garage is often a glimpse into our home and if your garage looks that bad, people may wonder what the rest of your house looks like. The chances are good that this is confined to your garage as the garage is often a dumping ground, but your neighbors don’t know that.
Warning Sign #5: You have no idea what’s being stored in your garage. Your garage is prime real estate and it has the potential to store even more prime real estate such as your vehicles. Maybe you are storing empty boxes (just in case), maybe you have boxes that belong to someone else that no longer lives there, maybe you have boxes that were never unpacked from a move or maybe you have boxes full of items that were passed to you after a death. Whatever you may have out there, make sure that you know what you have and that you have access to be able to use and enjoy it. Just take a box at a day if you have to.
If any of these signs make you realize you have some work to do, then here are some awesome garage organizing tips to get you started in the right direction-you can do it!
Tags: DIY organization, garage, garage organizing tips, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, organization, warning sign, warning signs that your garage is in need of organization
Sometimes people just plain get stuck and they don’t make decisions that will help them reach their home organization goals. They get overwhelmed and they don’t even start the process. Why is that you may ask? Because they are afraid.
- Afraid of making a mistake.
- Afraid of getting rid of something they will need later.
- Afraid that an item had monetary value and they just “got rid of it.”
- Afraid someone may ask them to borrow something in the future and they can’t help them out.
- Afraid that they will get rid of a gift and the gift giver will ask them where it is.
- Afraid that they will miss their stuff.
- Afraid that their stuff has feelings and will feel bad if they get rid of it.
Don’t let fear hold you back! Never make decisions for your life out of fear. Sometimes you just have to move through the fear to get to the other side. And boy does the other side feel amazing!
Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but there is a chance that you may make a mistake and you may get rid of something that you regret. I’ve done it, it happens. This morning I was looking for a pill cutter to cut the cat’s antibiotic pill, but apparently I got rid of it after not using it for years. Dang. But guess what? Scissors work too, problem solved.
I’d like to think that when you feel amazing because you are happy in your home and you can have company visit without being embarrassed, well, that will overcome the mistake. I would rather make a mistake that makes me unhappy for a few minutes then feel unhappy in my house every day.
Just be really careful with heirlooms and one-of-a-kind items. But if you decide you are going to keep them, please use them!
Here are 20 easy things to toss to get you started-you can do it!
Tags: DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, home organization goals
You’re rollin’ along in your home, perfectly calm, perfectly peaceful, until suddenly the Big Bad Wolf comes knocking at your door. Who summoned the Big Bad Wolf? It wasn’t me! In seconds, calm is disrupted, chaos ensues and stress levels skyrocket and home organization is kicked to the curb. Ick. What are your Big Bad Wolf habits that come knocking at the door and cause chaos to reign?
Here are 3 Big Bad Wolf habits & 5 Simple Solutions to Fix Them:
1) Drop it like it’s hot. Do you drop things wherever you happen to be: the counter, the couch, the floor? This often creates stress when you try to get back out the door when you can’t find what you need. Create new habits by giving your stuff a home and place it there every time. Make sure you create the “home” close to where you are naturally dropping things so you don’t have to work too hard at a new habit.
Dropping keys? Put up a key hook.
Purse on the floor? Another hook!
Mail on the counter? Add an attractive basket to place a cap on how much piles up.
Shoes kicked off everywhere? Buy a big basket and kick them off there. You’re already kickin’ it, might as well kick in one spot.
2) Paper Pile Up. Don’t let this happen to you. I see paper piles as well as bags & bins of paper all the time as the majority of my clients bring me in to help with paper stress. First, get that basket for the incoming papers that are piling on the counter. From there, process your paper into an “Action System.” For tips on how to set up your action files, read more here.
3) Decisions, decisions (and a lack of making them). When you don’t make decisions on what to do with your stuff, those items pile up. They end up sitting on shelves, filling garages, piling up on beds, overflowing offices and crowding out guest rooms. If it wasn’t easy to make one or two decisions, it’s certainly no fun to go back and make a room full of decisions. That’s when people get overwhelmed and that’s when my phone rings.
- If you don’t know where to put it or how you will use it-pass it on.
- If it’s broken, get it fixed or throw it away.
- If you want to get some money from it, sell it or take it to an eBay trading assistant who will do it for you.
- If you got it as a gift but you don’t like it-regift it, donate it or sell it and buy something you like.
- If you have duplicates-pick the best and get rid of the rest.
Put these good habits into action and the Big Bad Wolf will never be able to huff and puff and blow your house down!
Tags: DIY organization, habits, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, solutions
Happy Valentine’s Day to you! Today is a day that you can show yourself some love, show your love some love and show your home some love too! Or, you can take a break, put your feet up and show your home some love tomorrow and here’s the list to help you do it!
5 Ways to Love Your Home:
1) Walk from room to room and make a list of little fixes and repairs that need to be taken care of. Either hire someone to take care of them or fix them yourself while they are still small fixes to keep them from turning into big fixes.
2) Find one area that’s really bugging you, whether it’s clutter or room layout and get to the bottom of it. If you need to bring in a friend who can help you who is organized or has an eye for design, coordinate your schedules now.
3) Display beautiful flowers even if you have to buy them yourself. Aren’t they all beautiful? Flowers inside or outside make a happier home and a happier lady inside the home.
4) Give your bathtub a good scrub, then light a candle, add some bubbles and relax in a nice, warm bubble bath. Chocolates are optional (although, really they are a necessity in my book).
5) Take out the recycle, the trash, shred papers and drop off donations-get all that heavy weight out and lighten the load in your home.
Well, maybe these tasks don’t sound all that romantic (although the bubble bath has potential) but these are still ways you can show your home some love and feel better in your own home, even if you tackle them tomorrow!
Here’s a little song for Valentine’s Day for you, one of my favorites! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Tags: DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, love, Valentine's Day
Monday Mantra for Women: “I will eliminate negative self-talk that’s playing in my head. I will replace those thoughts with positive messages to build myself up to be a more confident woman.”
Tags: DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, Monday Mantra for Women
How can I volunteer my time? Let me count the ways… As a busy woman, I’m sure you’ve had plenty of opportunities and requests that have come your way to volunteer your time. And once you’ve proven yourself to be a trustworthy volunteer, the requests will keep on a comin’. Requests may come in the form of any one of these worthy volunteer activities or a slew of many others not listed here:
1) Girl scouts
2) PTA
3) Room Mom in the classroom
4) Classroom party planner
5) Carpool duties
6) Church programs
7) Board position for an association that you belong to
Neighborhood block party planner
9) Art docent
10) Teacher’s helper
11) Field trip chaperone
12) Community needs such as food drives, school supply drives, food bank, homeless shelter, animal shelter, etc., etc.
There’s no possible way I could list all potential opportunities here, but as I’m sure you already know, the needs and options abound! But just like any other activities in our lives, we have to stand up and protect our life balance. I’m all for helping others as this is something near and dear to my heart, but I do believe we need to make sure that we aren’t spreading ourselves so thin that it causes stress for ourselves, makes us lose sleep or disrupts the balance in our homes with our own families.
To ensure that you can be of valuable help but not cross the line by stretching yourself too thin, please follow these tips:
1) Make sure that you understand how much of a commitment you are making before you say yes. It’s common for a position or activity to start out sounding like just a little thing, only to jump in and learn there are a lot of meetings and a lot more work than you planned for.
2) Consider removing another activity or position from your plate before taking on a new one. Just like stuff in our homes, there’s only so much room just as there’s only so much room in our schedules. If we keep taking on more, something else gets pushed out like sleep, eating healthy, time to clean your house or your sanity.
3) Make sure that you only say yes to activities that you are truly passionate about and are near and dear to your heart so it’s a joy to volunteer and not a drag.
4) Make sure you have the skills for the position or that you have the time and energy to learn something new.
If requests come your way that aren’t a good fit for you, here are 10 ways to say no gracefully to save face and manage your time and life balance.
Tags: Balance-Family, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, Self, time management, volunteering, Women, work
