3 Steps to becoming a Scheduling Minimalist

Uncategorized Aug 11, 2017

 The minimalist lifestyle is becoming quite popular. Some may choose to live in their homes that way but I choose to live my schedule in this manner. The one key thing to living as a minimalist in any area of your life is to cut out anything that doesn’t belong.

In scheduling, this requires an assessment of your calendar.

Let’s talk assessment, do you know your priorities for you and your family? This sounds basic but I honestly believe it isn’t looked at enough. So, the question to ponder is what do you want your life to look like on a daily basis? Do you want to run around in many different directions without the time to breathe or speak to one another? Do you want to have a qualitative life filled with what you have determined to be the most important activities and tasks?  There was a day in particular when I must have said, “hurry up” to my boys at least 25 times! I realized then that I might have a problem!! I really was afraid they were...

Continue Reading...

Shopping spree vs Shopping addiction

Uncategorized Aug 02, 2017

This is one of those topics you just never know how it will be received! My goal is to educate and offer support without judging, this is a subject near and dear to my heart as a Professional Organizer.

I see this the most in the closet. Most of my clients don’t have enough room in their closets to fit all of their clothes. I have to talk with them about how they got to this place and then we can move forward to organizing the closet. Letting go of the clothes can be a stressful event if not handled carefully. Many well meaning loved ones think that shaming the person will get them to purge and stop shopping, not true at all. In some cases, it can make the condition worse, much worse.

So, let’s be clear, a shopping spree is different than an addiction to shopping. There’s an emotional and behavioral experience that goes on with an addiction to shopping/compulsive buying, not unlike many other addictions. One of the essential distinctions is the euphoria one feels...

Continue Reading...

Books, Books, everywhere….

Uncategorized Jun 15, 2017

It’s the end of the school year and time to clean out dorm rooms, lockers and backpacks for millions of students. It is also peak moving season. What do these scenarios have in common? BOOKS!! Where can these books go?

Well, there are plenty of high school students who have required reading to do over the summer and you may have a book they need.Check out the local high school’s required reading list to see if you have something on that list.  Younger children are encouraged to read over the summer as well and some may not be able to afford the purchase of new books. College students spend a lot of money on books that they no longer need but someone else may.

You may choose to do one of 2 things with your gently used unwanted books, get paid for them or donate them.

If you would like to make a little money off your books here are some places you could use.

1.    Hold a yard sale - be prepared for people to haggle on your prices so price accordingly.

...

Continue Reading...

Not a fan of change….

Uncategorized May 15, 2017

It’s a new season of life for so many of us. May-June is that time of year where the talk is of change and what is coming. Then August-September rolls around and change just happens. Graduations always bring CHANGE! In my home, we have been through this twice and are about to go through it again!

For so many years, being someone’s mom has been the most important focus of every day and rightfully so. Somehow during that time, the actual person behind the mom disappeared. I like to think she is still there but much quieter because of the enormity of being someone’s mom. From time to time she likes to do what she really likes to do and then the rest of the time she goes along with the flow of the family. This is not a slight at being a mom but is a reality. There is an imbalance in the mom-wife-person ration. Mom in most cases wins out!!

Part of what I do as a Professional Organizer is to figure out where my clients are. Usually, in talking with them for a few minutes...

Continue Reading...

The bad habit I had to get rid of….

Uncategorized Apr 24, 2017

Have you ever had that feeling where you know you are falling into a bad habit and still continue to follow along with the behavior?  I was really developing some bad habits with checking social media. It really was ridiculous how many times a day I was looking at my phone! I really was becoming a slave to my phone. The sad part was that I actually don’t have that kind of time to waste! There were tasks I was avoiding by wasting time away on social media.  I recognized I was using my phone to distract me from making business calls. I was on the phone just not making business calls. It became necessary for me to change my behavior and create some better habits. I decided to see how I could do with 5 days of habit changing behavior.

 

Day 1

 I put this task on my schedule to really create some accountability. I put facebook, instagram and email on a schedule. This allowed me to take control and create some good habits. I could only check them once in the...

Continue Reading...

Breaking bad ( a bad habit)

bad habits Apr 07, 2017

I am not much of a TV watcher so I really don’t know much about Breaking Bad! One of the things I have heard is that people binge watch it. I have other areas of indulgence and binge watching I participate in. This is what brings me to self-awareness of a really bad habit I’ve got to break free of and now! 

I check email and social media excessively to the point of avoidance of important tasks!!!!!Yikes! That makes this a vice for me. I used to be really good at limiting myself and then slowly I got away from it. I am providing my own intervention. I am only going to allow myself one time/day to check email and once/day for social media!!!!!! I know, this sounds EXTREME, however, I know that I must do it this way to reprogram my brain. With a lot of prayer, I hope this reprogram won’t take very long!!

My plan is to tell everyone who is close to me so they can support and hold me accountable. We all need someone to hold us accountable especially when we are...

Continue Reading...

5 steps to becoming organized in 15 minutes

Uncategorized Mar 13, 2017

Watch this super short video if you would like to learn how to be more organized!

Continue Reading...

Lonely socks do good works

Uncategorized Mar 06, 2017

Everyone has an unmatched sock pile, don’t you? I do. How did we get it? How long do we keep it? The questions for me are endless. I do think there is some secret connection between washing machine manufacturers and sock companies! (Conspiracy 101!) Think about the time it takes to go through that sock pile and try with a positive attitude to match up all the socks to only match a couple! It’s like being on an emotional roller coaster. Let’s face it,  it’s another chore. One we aren’t likely to put on the chore list.  It probably gets attention only when someone is looking for socks, at least that is how it works in our home.

The fad for some is to wear mismatched socks which is a good thing if you are under the age of 18 and a female.  As an adult, I am not sure that is a professional look for the workplace! I actually saw Amazon selling mismatched socks, can you imagine? Who would pay for that? In a short amount of time, you will have...

Continue Reading...

Learning to schedule saves me money

Uncategorized Feb 23, 2017

Can you feel it? The weather is warming up and the robins are hanging out all over the yard. Spring must be here or at least in close proximity. Watching my children play lacrosse in the yard tells me it is here.

For me, this means I no longer have my evenings free or Saturdays and there is lots to coordinate on a daily basis. I am not complaining, just stating the facts. I’ve learned the hard way how to make this less painful on myself. I use to run myself ragged and fed my family junk. This was my situational disorganization. I couldn’t keep up with household tasks not to mention have a social life. Not anymore, I have developed my “ A” game.

The 1st thing I do is get it on the calendar. For example, just today my 7th grader’s schedule for lacrosse came out so I marked the calendar and then added it to my phone. I like a 2 step system. It helps solidify it in my brain!! My high schooler’s schedule I have a rough idea of so I mark off that time...

Continue Reading...

It’s all about the system….

Uncategorized Feb 12, 2017

I have been sick for the last 3 weeks, some days I’ve been more functional than others.

The nasty sinus infection that just wouldn’t leave had really taken a toll on my body. Living with a  foggy head made it tough to be on my “A” game which is what I must be every single day as a wife, mom and business owner. Good thing I have systems in place so I don’t have to worry about it so much.

My family stepped up and proved themselves quite helpful. They followed the systems and life ran smoothly around the Illig house.

Do you have a system in your home? You probably do and really didn’t think about it in that sense.

I’ll share with you some of the systems in place in our home….

1.    A schedule-it’s an outline how the day could go if everything goes as planned. It starts with waking up and goes to bedtime. I make sure we build in time for the unexpected as best we can. Even if the unexpected happens just having a...

Continue Reading...
Close

50% Complete

Two Step

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.