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Nov 08
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5 Easy Steps to a Holiday-Ready Home

By Blog, Quick Organizing Tips, Time Management No Comments

Is your home ready for the holidays? The time is now upon us – there is absolutely no denying that!

 

You’ve got to finish up all the loose ends before you’re stuck cramming these last-minute tasks into one week. December is already packed tight with to-do’s and errands, so do you and your family a favor by getting them out of the way early.

 

This way you’ll actually have time to be present for that quality time!

 

Here are 5 easy steps to a “Holiday-Ready Home”:

 

 

  1. ✨ Declutter your Guest Areas

    The living room, dining room, kitchen, den, bathrooms, guest bedrooms… every social room in your house needs a thorough going-over. However tempting it may be, don’t stuff things inside cupboards praying it won’t fall out. Your guests might find themselves looking for toilet paper or dish-wares at some point and the last thing you want is a waterfall of clutter falling on them! Be prepared for this instead. Keep it organized and clutter free, period.

  2. ✨ Store Clutter Away

    We often underestimate how our every day clutter (or organized chaos) can seem more like a mess when we have a house full of guests. Why put ourselves through that embarrassment? All the excess clutter that you know you won’t be using during the holidays can be stored away while your guests are present. There has to be some space free in your garage, crawl space, attic etc. to simply set it aside until after the holidays. Who knows, you might like the freed up space anyhow!

  3. ✨ Have it Ready!

    Whether it’s your ingredients for cooking, your games for playing, or your fine dinnerware for serving, it is always wise to get it out and in an easily accessible location before your guests arrive. You’ll spend less time rushing around searching for items you haven’t used in a year and makes entertaining more fun and less stressful. Set yourself up for easy entertaining and more enjoyment this holiday season!

  4. ✨ Make it Sparkle

    Deep cleaning and making your home perfect is best done after the busy holiday season. Make your home sparkle where it counts! Like the powder bath, your kitchen, dining room, family room, and guest room if you have company coming to stay with you. Pick a couple areas and make them areas shine. A sparkly home over the holidays will make everyone’s hearts shine a little more too!

  5. ✨ Give them Luxury

    Those fancy towels you purchased that you’ve been afraid to use, it’s time to get them washed and ready for display! Your guests will absolutely love them and I know it will make you smile when you see them on display. It will be like staying at a spa or fancy hotel while they’re with you, and being pampered will automatically lift everyone’s spirits up!

And voila – you now have a Holiday-Ready Home!

Sometimes, it’s the smallest things that make the biggest impact. Only do what you have time for. And remember, it’s more about the experience and being present in the moment that matters most!

Do you have family coming to stay with you this Christmas? Comment below!

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

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Aug 16
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gym bag organization

Gym Bag Essentials Checklist

By Blog, Checklists, Closet Organizing, Home Organizing, Time Management No Comments

Have you ever gone to the gym, worked out, showered and realized you forget to bring your towel?  Ooops, that’s no fun trying to dry yourself off with your sweaty workout clothes or sweaty gym towel.  Yuk!  Or have you ever forgot to bring body wash, realize your shampoo bottle is empty, forgot your flip flops, hair brush, blow dryer or the one thing you hope never happens to you, undergarments (oh my that’s uncomfortable).  A gym bag essentials checklist saves the day!  I’m sure you can relate one way or the other.  I know I can.  “Been there, done that” as they saying goes!

Create a Checklist for Routine Tasks

Going to the gym at 5:30 am is very early for me and I’m hitting the snooze button a few times to squeeze every last minute of shut eye that I can possibly get before I need to jump out of bed, get dressed, brush my teeth, grab my gym bag and go.  Just ask my husband.  I know I’m not alone on this one. Maybe you can relate to this as well.

Use Checklists for Routine Tasks

Since going to the gym was a new routine and I didn’t like wasting time in the morning or having a really bad hair day, the logical side of me decided to create a gym bag essentials checklist. One of my top tips on how to organize your life is to create checklists for routine tasks you do on a regular basis, like packing your gym bag three times a week.

So I sat down at my computer and created my first gym bag essentials checklist and you can download it here and create your own. It’s super easy when you have something to look at and follow. So take my Gym Bag Essentials Checklist and make it your own.

Create Multiple Copies

Getting organized is easy when you know what to do and how to do it. This leads me to another one of my top organizing tips when using checklists. Create multiple copies and place them where you’ll see them. Place a copy of your checklist in your gym bag, by your toothbrush and in your toiletries bag. These are all logical places and great reminders to help jog your memory so you don’t forget to pack what you need in your gym bag.

Time-saving Workouts

Organizing your gym bag is one thing to accomplish, it’s another to actually go and work out!  Driving to the gym, working out for an hour, then driving back home or to work can take 1.5 hours out of your day and frankly who has that kind of time when there is so much to get done today.  Thankfully there are some very effective workouts that you can do at home or when you travel.  My favorite workout is JJ Virgins 4×4 video’s that I can watch on my laptop, iPad or iPhone if I really wanted to.  JJ’s Fit Clut 4×4 video’s pack a whole of of workout in 15 minutes and you can modify them when you’re travelling.

Gym Bag Essentials Checklist for Peace of Mind

The next time you forget to pack something, ask yourself “do I have a checklist for that?”  And in case you’re one of those people who are always running late and dashing out the door wondering if you forgot something, take 15 minutes now to create a simple checklist for certain routine tasks.  Checklists are one of the best ways to getting organized and will give you peace of mind that you’ll have what you need when you need it!

 

Mar 24
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How to Maximize Your Closet Space

By Blog, Closet Organizing, Quick Organizing Tips No Comments

Have a Messy Closet?

Despite your best efforts to keep an organized closet, does it still feel like a chaotic mess?

 

Do you often find yourself thinking “I have nothing to wear!” every morning?

 

In today’s consumer-driven world, we’re constantly being urged to buy more, and it’s easier than ever to accumulate more than we need. But with these few simple strategies, you’ll easily be able to purge and organize your closet.

 

Get ready to start each morning feeling fresh and confident in your new calming, functional space!

 

 

Declutter + Purge Your Closet

Think about this for a moment; how much time is wasted while you get ready each morning?

 

Between eating breakfast, picking an outfit for the day, styling ourselves, packing lunch, and don’t even get me started on adding kids in this routine… that’s a lot to manage!

 

Each day, we’re already making an average of 35,000 conscious and subconscious decisions. So wouldn’t it be more productive of us to save that extra brainpower and take a few of them off our plate?

 

There’s one particular moment about creating a organized closet that has always stood out to me, and it happened at the time I was just starting my business.

 

 

I was working in the home of a busy mom when she confided in me that the most stressful part of her morning routine was getting dressed.

 

Once asked when the last time her closet was cleaned out was, she had an epiphany!

 

She had never realized just how much stress was caused by her closet being disorganized and too full.

 

The next day I was with her, I said, “Today’s the day we get you an organized closet!”

 

 

She excitedly agreed, and one by one I pulled each item out of the closet and asked her:

 

 “Do you love this?”

“Do you wear this?”

“Does it fit and make you feel great when you wear it?”

 

If she answered No to any of these key questions, the item went straight into the donate pile! (we also had “Try-on” and “Give to friends” piles, too)

 

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Organize Clothes In Your Closet

Next, we started to hang related items together in the closet – pants, blazers, cardigans, dresses, skirts, and tops.

 

Then, we arranged each section by color. I like to go from lights to darks, followed by the classic ordering of the rainbow. Something like this; whites, greys, browns, blacks, then red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.

 

Ahhhh, what bliss it was to just awe at such an organized closet!

 

 

Design Your Closet Organization

With everything neatly hung up, we tallied how many hangers we had used and planned a shopping trip.

 

I made sure to follow an important organizing rule: Never go shopping for containers or other organizing supplies until you’ve sorted through everything.

 

Many people make this mistake and end up returning most of what they bought. It’s important to know what you need to contain before you try buying the how (supplies).

 

It is also important to buy the right hangers for the right items in your newly organized closet.

 

Because in case you don’t know, there are different hangers for pants, skirts, shirts, and jackets!

 

If you want to know where to find my favorite hangers, check out this Instagram post and DM me for the links!

 

In my home, we have very limited storage. So I like to keep things contained in an allotted space.

 

When the stuff starts to spill out of that space, it’s time to let some go. I am constantly (monthly) giving things away and I’m finding that I buy way less than I used to!

 

 

Our household is a strong believer in “What’s old for me is new for someone else!”

 

 

How To Actually KEEP Your Closet Organized

 

Have a “What NOT to Wear” Party

Invite your friends over and let them tell you what to get rid of!

 

Try everything on, relive some past memories, have a few laughs, then let those old clothes move out of your old cluttered closet. Now you’re on your way to an organized closet!

 

Note that your closet says a lot about you. Are you living in the present or living in the past?

 

BONUS: Let your friends shop your to-go piles! This doubles as a nice gesture for their help, and makes less donation trips for you 😉

 

Two Golden Rules to Live By

 

The One-In, One-Out Rule

This one is self-explanatory – when you buy something new, something old goes out. For example, when I buy a new pair of shoes or any piece of clothing, I remove at least one item from my closet.

 

Be ruthless!

 

 

It’s best to be realistic about what you actually wear, and what looks and feels fabulous on you.

 

I love passing items onto friends or taking them to my favourite charities. I’m a big supporter of the organization Dress For Success as well as various women’s shelters in my area. Also, keep an eye out for clothing drop bins in your area!

 

 

80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule states that typically, we wear 20% of our clothes, 80% of the time.

 

So to follow this and maintain an organized closet, only keep the clothes that you love, use, feel good in, look great in, and THAT FIT! Do not even try to keep clothes that no longer fit or that you won’t wear. Yes, styles do come back eventually, but designers always update the look. (some vintage, designer pieces would be an exception to this rule)

 

Be realistic!

Whenever I buy something new I use the golden rules above and bring at least 1-3 items to charity or give them away to a friend. Be it clothes, books, jewelery, etc. Just ask my friends Holli and Alison who have been the lucky recipients of many clothes from my organized closet over the years! What’s old for me can be new for someone else 😊

 

 

How does an organized closet make YOU feel? What is the biggest change you are looking to see? Comment below!

 

 

 

 

 

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