Ready or not she is headed south y'all!
Believe to or not, I had a really fun day helping family with a project to get a condo ready to sell…
Ready or not she is headed south y'all!
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Life: Organized is in print for the August issue of Brava, a Madison based magazine.
Brava = women+substance+style. You can read the full publication at http://read.dmtmag.com/i/354830 ![]() While working with a client, she identified an item as a UFO. After my bewildered reaction, she explained that in the crafting world this meant "UnFinished Object." That term resonates with so many of my other clients, and let's be honest…myself. I am not going to act like I do not have a few projects of my own laying around that have been neglected! So what do we do about it? Be honest with yourself:
If your answer is yes to the first set of questions then: Make it a priority! Dedicate the time, like any other activity that is important to you to do it. If you can not make the time then re-evaluate how important it really is. If it is just a really busy time for you then take it off the current to-do list and pack it away for another time. Choose a time and put a reminder for yourself on the calendar. Maybe 3 or 6 months. If the timer goes off and you are still too busy re-evaluate if it is realistic or a dream. If your answer is no to the first set of questions then: LET IT GO! Life is far too short to be stepping over projects that you "might" get to someday, or that you really do not have a passion for. Maybe you know someone who would enjoy it who you could pass it on to, donate it, or sell it. One thing is for sure, it will not make you feel good to continue stepping over it. I often run into resistance from clients because of how much they paid for the supplies for a project. Please do not let this be the only reason that you decide to keep it! One of the smallest rooms in the house, yet they can break a buyer's decision to make an offer.
What are you going to do about it? Do what you can, and make it feel like a spa!
You have decided to sell and your real estate agent has suggested that you declutter. You decide to start in the living room. When you walk in, you look around and notice that you have "things" out, but they are useful and used every day. You decide to start in another room... Realtors and stagers do not have any emotional attachment to your things, and it is easier for them to point out the obvious "clutter." Be realistic about what it means to have your home on the market. You want others to picture living there, and their lifestyle may be very different than yours. It is very important to make sure your home is ready for it's closeup! Buyers will most likely have their first impression based on photos they will see online. This is where I suggest the staging start! Take a camera and stand at the curb, entrance to each room, and furthest corner from the door in each room. Snap a photo from each one of those locations. Then, upload them on your computer, and take a look, a real close look. Consider having someone such as a friend, family member, or neighbor help with this process and ask for their brutal honesty. What do you want potential buyers to notice about each room? What is the first thing you notice about each photograph? Is it what you want buyers to notice? Many times, the answer to that question in…NO! Make a list of things that need to be done BEFORE you have the pictures taken for your listing. Dedicate the time to get as many of those tasks done. All the time you put into making your house the bast it can possibly show, will help sell it faster. Buyers do not want to have to rehang doors, touchup paint, and clean before they move in. All of those things that you take care of for them, means a larger selling price. Once listing pictures go online, and buyers see them, it is hard to undo the damage. Consider learning a little about living a minimalist lifestyle temporarily…who knows, you might even like it! OK, I cheated. I grouped the last two weeks together… I have found great joy in searching my home for randomness that the family no longer uses, but honestly, I am done blogging about it. Just because I am tired of showing pictures of all my cast-offs, does not mean that I have any intention of stopping. Just the contrary! I have never been so motivated! I have had this feeling before, but usually when preparing for a move. I am now wondering if minimalism is my path… No, probably not, but in the mean time I will keep a box upstairs and a box in the garage to catch any of those items that I catch myself or the family not using and get rid of them.
So what made the box these past weeks? More kids stuff was donated: clothes, and a few small toys, two changing pads. More kids stuff thrown out: personal hygiene items, as well as several pairs of socks well past their prime. And some donations: costume jewelry. All in all, this has been very therapeutic and I hope motivating for my followers to see that even I, the Home Organizer, can find some useless items around my house to purge. I will do the project again. I am thinking instead of two months in a row (December and January), that I will pick January and July? We will see. In the mean time, I would love to hear what you are working on organizing and what you need help organizing. Happy decluttering to my faithfully organized followers <3 ![]() [Book Review] The Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Rid of It Eliminate the Clutter in Your Life by Betsy & Warren Talbot Platform: Kindle Fire There are a lot of big name organizing professionals out there who have really great print, audio and visual materials. Some of them I have read, watched or listened to. Often, these professionals are basing their materials on personal experience, client experience, and their past trials and errors in the or gaining field and the life before organizing. This book is not one of those.
This book is written by a couple who decides to downsize from a 3,000+ square foot house, to a townhouse, and finally to carrying a 26 pound pack each. They discuss some of the reasons why we keep things and the liberating feeling of purging the things that keep weighing us down. This is a good read for someone who may be intimidated by some of the more academic literature out there on organizing. It is really written from the view of an ordinary person who is sharing their journey and what worked for them. Out of their experience, they share lots of best practices that myself and most other organizers in the industry actually use. Added bonus= When you start looking… weird stuff starts showing up. Maybe that is why horses wear blinders!
What got the boot this week? Well, three batches of books (one is not pictured), pj's, ankle brace, long sleeve fleece, bottle brush, and a work bag. Common theme among these items? All except for the work bag have gone unused for over a year! Can you believe it? An entire year! OK, maybe it is just me shocked by my own abundance or maybe the reflection of this fact is startling for me. It really makes me wonder what else I have been holding on to and walking past every day that serves no useful purpose in my daily life, brings me no joy, and could possibly be bringing me stress. I do not want to make any irrational decisions too late at night, but I am thinking about continuing this project into January. Who is with me??? So, I committed to a December purge, and wanted to share with you my personal progress after only a week. My goal was to find one item a day that I could donate, throw away, or sell. Below you will find a photo journal of my first week's purge that includes: a child's Halloween costume, swim suit, athletic pants, plastic containers, seasonal decorations, child safety tools, and potty chair… Now, I should point out that some of the photos include more than one item, but I counted them as one "collection."
I wanted to do this in December for a couple of reasons:
So you want to get started, but are not sure how?
You will be so surprised at the end of the day, week, and month that you might be inspired to keep going. If you are having trouble getting started, then give me a call ;-) As always, I would love to see and hear about your personal progress. Feel free to share here or email me and I am happy to give feedback as well as share for others! Happy Holidays! ![]() So many books out there about organizing, so how can you choose which ones to read and which ones are not worth your time? Well, I am going to try to keep you up to date with what I am reading in the world of Home Organizing. I will let you know if I would suggest the book and then give a few tips that I found in the book to be well stated, cutting edge, or just plain awesome! Book Review: Miss Minimalist: Inspiration to Downsize, Declutter, and Simplify By Francine Jay Platform: Kindle Fire This book was a quick read...I will give it that. While Francine had some great ideas and the book reads well, I was irritated by the constant plugs for her other books. I wouldn't suggest picking this one up because I think your time can be better spent (perhaps on some of her other books?!?), but I will share with you a couple of the ideas that I enjoyed:
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