Summer may not be officially here yet but the weather is definitely warmer! As you make plans for your summer no doubt you are trying to get your ducks in a row. Be it vacation, planning a move, or summer activities – it all requires planning. Have you ever noticed that when we are planning on leaving for vacation, all (or more than the usual amount) of our work gets done? I know that my home is at its cleanest when I leave for vacation because I hate coming home to a mess. Imagine if we were able to get more things done “as if” we were heading on vacation!

What does it take? It takes planning, for sure. But if you want to keep it up, it takes habits.  So what 2 habits can you begin to implement this month? Okay, I’ll go first….

I want to get in the habit of walking for 40 minutes, 3 days a week

and

I want to plan healthy meals for my breakfast and lunch

You can see that my habits revolve around good health because that’s an area where I really need work. One of my favorite bloggers is Leo Babauta of Zen Habits.  He tells it like it is. Leo written 3 great ebooks that I would like to recommend.

#1) The Zen Habits Handbook for Life – Learn the arts of decluttering, single tasting, editing your commitments, eliminating all but the essentials, not doing everything on your to-do list, doing nothing, clearing your desk/inbox, becoming motivated when you are in a slump, accepting criticism with appreciation, and many more tips.

#2) The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life – Taking steps to reduce your possessions, figuring out what is really necessary, simplifying your schedule/work/life, going digital in your life. It’s the ultimate guide for creating a minimalism in all areas of your life (home, workspace, travel, wardrobe, finances, fitness) and even for dealing with kids and other loved ones.

#3) Zen to Done – Teaches you the key habits needed to be productive, organized, and simplified, how to implement these key habits, how to organize these habits into a simple system that will keep everything in your life in its place, and how to simplify what you need to do.

Each of these books are extremely easy to read and contain tons of valuable tips and lessons. It’s a great place to start if you really want to create room for life, better habits and stay organized. You can order this e-bundle right here for only $19.

Disclaimer: Some links in this post are my affiliate links.

I am always purging and donating items. We have a donation center in our home; it’s a rather large 3 drawer plastic dresser. All family members know that if they do not want an item or if something no longer fits, you put it in the donation center. Then, when I receive notice that there’s a donation pick-up in our neighborhood (which happens about twice a month) I put everything from the donation center in a box or garbage bag and set it out at the end of the driveway.

Recently, my neighbor mentioned that she is helping to gather goods for a yard sale to benefit the Chico Cat Coalition (her favorite charity). I told her I would “pull a few things together” to donate. Little did I know that this would cause a shift for me in my purging habits… What happened?

1. I started to look at my “stuff” differently

I have given my neighbor a plethora of things. So far over 20 things have moved out of my home to go to the Cat Coalition Yard Sale, with more purging happening almost daily. I realize that some things I had been keeping (but not using) were things I felt were “too good” for Goodwill. Now, there’s nothing wrong with Goodwill, it was just my own personal justification. Some of these items are nicer items (non-clothing) that cost a bit of money. I wanted to give them away before but I guess I felt that they would not get a good home at the thrift store?? I don’t understand the logic either… All I know if that I am releasing things on a whole other level.

2. It’s almost become an obsession

Now I am looking everywhere to find things to donate. It’s like the show “Biggest Loser”- I am digging down deep and really working hard at finding more [stuff] to lose. I am challenging myself to gather up things that I never considered letting go of before. It’s like a level of emotional attachment to stuff has come unraveled and I am free of those “clingy” feelings.

So maybe having the right cause is the answer. Or maybe it’s a focused event with a deadline. Or maybe it’s something else. I don’t care – hallelujah, I am letting it go!

By the way, the Chico Cat Coalition Yard Sale is Saturday June 2nd. Go here for more information.

Last week I discovered a new product that is great for those who have a tendency to pile things. Pilers, you know who you are… if not, I described the 3 types of personalities when it comes to dealing with paper in a blog post. I interviewed the creator of Fishbinz, Lisa DeVeau, of Completely Organized. She confessed that she struggled with piling and had to find a better way. (Necessity is the mother of this invention!) I believe this product is the perfect solution for those who like to stack their papers and projects sky-high!

Introducing Fishbinz

The Fishbinz system consists of a tower with shelves, binz and optionally, lids. The tower comes in 2 heights – just under 48” or 26” tall, in your choice of black or white. The small binz are 2.5” high and the large binz are 5” high. The bins are see through and can be easily labeled.
It’s not just for paperwork. Imagine a place to hold:

• yearly school memorabilia for your kids

• your direct sales products

• scrapbooking and card making supplies

• laundry sorted by the family

• toys, toys and more toys

• pantry overflow items in your garage

• all of your projects

If you want more information, I suggest watching their video. And when you order, tell them Natalie sent you!

Leave a comment here and tell me what you would use Fishbinz for…

I was helping a client this week who has a beautiful home. Everything seemed to have its place and the home was very warm and inviting. I was asked to help with the home office. The office had a desk piled with papers, bills and receipts as well as boxes of more of the same tucked under the desk. I have seen much worse than this, but my client was struggling to get the home office organized and back into a functioning room. As we began to work, we talked about the reasons for the room’s unorganized state. There is always a reason behind the clutter. I am not saying this so that we can justify the clutter but to help us recognize that there is something behind the physical clutter we see. Here are a few examples of the reasons why people now have clutter when they used to be able to handle it:

• Death of a loved one

• Medical crises/long term illness

• Change/loss of job (including retirement)

• Family members moving in/out

• New baby

• Divorce

• Depression

• Moving to a new location

All of these reasons have something in common; change and transition. This is a very common trigger for many of us that causes a once under-control home to become cluttered and less functional.

“Every time we go through a major change, we experience a breakdown in our organizational systems.” ~ Julie Morgenstern

Periods of transition, such as the ones listed above, require that we give ourselves time to adapt and adjust and then rework our organizational systems to be more in line with our new, current reality.

“Our life is not static and neither are our organizing systems.” ~ Natalie Conrad

In other words, give yourself a break. You are going through, or have just gone through, a transition. Once you feel the earth is a little more solid under your feet again, then get some help and get back to being organized. Tweak your old systems or set up a new organizational system.

But here’s the thing – start with the present. Don’t try to go back through all the things that were “let go” during your transition. Deal with the things that are presently coming in the mail, the projects at hand, and the bills to be paid this month. Set up a system to manage today and if you have time, go back and straighten up the past later.

If you need ideas on how to get started on being more organized now that you’ve gone through a transition, keep reading this blog for ideas to get you started. Use the “search” function and key words to get help for your particular situation or room in the house. You can also leave me a comment and pick my brain a little!

That dark, hidden area under the sink.

It’s an awkward place because of pipes and having to bend down low to see anything.  It’s also an area that rarely gets organized again after putting things away in there after moving in. Here’s what it looks like under my sink:

That garbage disposal is huge, taking up nearly half of the right side of the cabinet!   The yellow crate, also in the right side of the cabinet holds my potatoes, onions and garlic.  It’s something I’ve done this way because that’s how my mom did it.  I think she told me the potatoes like a cooler dark storage environment.  (I digress…)

Then there are the cleaning supplies which I keep on a lazy susan for easier access. I also have cleaning rags and sponges behind the kitchen garbage bags.  To the far right I have a microfiber dish drying mat that conveniently folds up and doesn’t take any space at all.

Here’s a quick 3 steps to putting the under the sink clutter in order:

1. Remove all the items under the sink and clean the area.

2. Sort and purge what you have taken out, only keeping what you will use to clean the KITCHEN. A portion of the under the sink cabinet should be reserved for just kitchen cleaning and maintenance supplies. Find a home for the other items you will not put back.

3. Measure your space and the height available (due to the plumbing arrangements under your sink).  Figure out the best way to contain these supplies.  I did this with a lazy susan but you can also use these types of products-

   

   www.organizeit.com

Items like these can be found at Target® and Bed Bath and Beyond®.

Is it time to organize the things under your sink?  Leave me a comment and let me know how it goes.

Do you eat dinner on the couch because you can’t find the top of your dining room table?

Is your dining room table filled with homework, bills, papers and other things without a home?

Any horizontal surface has the potential to be a catch-all place. I find that many clients use their kitchen table as this kind of place. Many have asked me what to do because once they clear it off it doesn’t take long for the stuff to come back.

First, there’s a habit here that needs to be broken. That’s the habit of indecision. You have to stop and make decisions about the papers and other things on your table. Some questions need to be asked:

Where does this belong?

Do you still need it?

Whose stuff is this?

Does this need a home?

After you have cleared the table, found homes for the items, and set up a paper management system, then it’s time to do something that will help you remember not to pile on the table any more. The solution – set the table.

Think model homes and real estate staging. You walk into a REALTOR’s open house and see this nice dining table with plates, silverware, matching napkins and a gorgeous centerpiece. It makes us feel welcomed and is pleasing to the eye. Now that you have cleared off the dining table and resolved to break the former habit of piling things there, bring out your dishes and a centerpiece and set the table. The next time you are tempted to set something there, you will see this nice table arrangement and think twice before messing it up.

My desk can get out of hand quickly when I have a busy week. The messier it gets, the more frustrated I become. The reason for the frustration is that I cannot focus when there is clutter strewn about in my office. At the end of the day, I allow time to get things back in order.

Yesterday I found this note:

It was attached to this:

And so, here’s the blog post! This handy little piece is called an organizer. Like many things we buy to help us get organized, the tool is only as good as the habits we have. I found myself sticking things in this holder that I didn’t know what to do with (um, clutter is postposed decisions, right?). Soon it was so full that I couldn’t slide another thing in it. I went through the items it contained. I threw away some blank business cards, I put a few things with my craft embellishments and what was left got filed or thrown out. I decided not to hang onto this for fear of filling it up again. So now that you’ve seen it and I’ve blog about it – it’s going in my donation bag.

Can you relate? What clutter catchers are you using that maybe need to find a new home?

More Closet Tips:

- Use baskets to hold your scarves, winter caps, purses and tote bags

- A wooden box is a handy container for batteries

- Put your hamper in the same location where you get undressed each day

- Designate a space in your closet for the clothes you want to wear more than once

- The see-through pockets of a hanging jewelry organizer make picking jewelry for your outfits quick and easy

- Use a hanging shoe holder for your flip flops

- Keep swimwear handy if you use it year-round in a convenient location

Kids School/Artwork

-        Use a lidded box, color coded per child and label

-        Use large envelopes, labeled by year and child

-        Transfer yearly papers to labeled accordion file keeper

Travel/Sightseeing Memorabilia

-        Have a journal with you to notate date, locations, and events

-        Gather tourist brochures, postcards, etc. in journal

-        Transfer to accordion file keeper, categorized by year

-        Tear pages from journal and include with memorabilia

I haven’t done a Tool Tuesday feature in a while, so here ya go!  I helped a client in her home office last week and introduced this product to her. She is a local realtor and although she had been in business for years, she felt that she needed to get “re-booted” in her office.  She felt it was cluttered, the work process didn’t flow, and her files were a mess (her words, not mine).

While we worked together for a couple of days on all aspects of her office environment, I want to tell you about the tool we used to revamp her filing system.  Based on my clients existing files, personality, and needs I recommended the FreedomFiler®.

FreedomFiler® is best known for being a self-purging file system. This system goes a long way in keeping your files organized and is very user friendly. It uses color coding to categorize odd year versus even year files as well as separating your active and yearly files from your permanent, or archive, files.