CREATING MORE MEANING IN THE HOLIDAYS

I am not one to rant, but I have to express my displeasure with what I have been seeing over and over again the last week!

I have been seeing Christmas stuff! I saw a Christmascommercial on the tv.  I really am not a Scrooge but why the rush?
Is it because retailers fear we, the consumers will forget?
Maybe it is more likely that greed has really become the name of the game? How can the retailer make the most money off of this religious holiday?

I have enjoyed seeing the number of retailers who have said NO to being open on Thanksgiving and some even said NO to Black Friday! Here is the list of stores saying NO to being open to Thanksgiving by giving acknowledgement this holiday should be spent with family and friends:

Ace Hardware

Barnes & Noble

Patagonia

Dillard's

Crate and Barrel

Neiman Marcus

GameStop

Nordstrom

Bed Bath & Beyond

Burlington Coat Factory

REI

TJ Maxx

Marshalls

Costco

Home Depot

Staples

THIS IS IMPRESSIVE!!!  Not only that, RE...

I love fall. I really love fall!!!

I hope you get that! It is the most beautiful time of year in my humble opinion. Where else can you see nature's beautiful palette transform before your eyes?

If you don't live somewhere that has a change of seasons, I am sorry. I really am....you got it see it at least once. Some of you may be somewhere that has already experienced the beauty of the fall transformation because you might have had SNOW!

So I want to share the must do things for FALL in no particular order:
1. a bonfire with smores
2. a hayride
3. visit the pumpkin patch
4. go for a hike through the fall beauty
5. Take a bike ride along a scenic path filled with colorful trees.
6. Go on a ghost walk to a "haunted" place. You can google them for your area
7.Enjoy a glass of mulled wine
8. Be a tourist where you live, see the sights with the beauty of fall surrounding you. It changes the whole feel. I would even encourage you to take a trip to Disney World even though the leaves won't be colorfu...

Who's right and who's wrong??? The answer is NO ONE!! The right brain dominant people have been picked on forever and called a variety of names such as "slob", "lazy", "messy" and the list goes on. I myself may have been guilty of this very thing. I am sorry to have to admit this but I am no angel!!!

Your organizing style is affected by how your brain works.  I am always fascinated by the brain, it such a complex structure. I read a book called, Organizing for the Creative Person where I gained all of this knowledge then I put it to use in the professional organizing world with my real life clients. I also looked into my own family as well. Let me share with you some thoughts on both the right brain dominant person as well as the left brain dominant person.  See where you fall.....

                             Right brain dominant- 
responsive to emotional appeals and this why they say "yes" all the time and get into time management trouble!
Deal with several problems all at the same ti...

So, you were excited to become more organized! You noticed your life got a lot easier and your family a little happier. You can find things around your house and your never late anymore. It is quite an accomplishment and you should be excited!!!!! Congratulations!!! I am so happy for YOU.

What happens when you fall off the proverbial wagon of organization?? What happens when all of those nicely de-cluttered spaces are a mess?
What happens when you are finding yourself slipping back into the old habits??

Let me say this to you, DON"T PANIC!!!!!! It will happen from time to time as life happens around you.  I would say you should evaluate WHY your organization is slipping.
-Is it because you are a little busier now than you were before?
-Is it because you've been sick?
-Maybe you are stressed about something else in your life and don't have the energy right now to focus on organizing.
-Could it be that your organizational system is too complicated for you to sustain?
-Are you fighting the peo...

SCHOOL SUPPLIES   SCHEDULES  HOMEWORK

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES  MEALS  TIME MANAGEMENT

The end of summer is upon us and a new school year has crept up on us. Are you ready??? There are so many things to think about in the next couple of weeks, it makes your head spin!   I am sending my baby boy off to middle school-YIKES! Plus, I have a 10th grader and my godson who is going into the 11th grade so I know just how out of control this time of year can be.  Not this year because you are going to be on top of things....YEP!! 

In honor of past school year's gone by this one is going to be less CRAZY! I mean it!!!

School supplies are never ending in the first weeks of school. Just when you think you have them all, you don't.
It is best to wait until the 1st week of school goes by to see what the teachers want especially if you are dealing with middle and high school. Elementary school is a little different and a little more organized. Gotta love those elementary school teachers and their orga...

As we near the end of summer, I notice that I have a mind shift. My mind is changing gears all toward getting the kids back to school. Fascinating, since just 3 weeks ago we were preparing to go on our family vacation!


Then I realized how our lives really have seasons not unlike the weather. 

We have the season of our youth until we graduate and change seasons all along the way. The season really changes after graduation as we gain more responsibility on our path to adulthood. During all of this time we can have our rainy periods where it seems as if life is against us. "When it rains, it pours." We also have our sunshine periods of time where "life is good" and going our way. 

After we get to adulthood we move onto our next season of marriage. How different our lives become in this season because it's about 2 people now and just yourself. This season is not without its storms like those little disagreements and arguments you may have from time to time. It also has lots of sunshi...

Today was the day I had to do it....

For the past week, I had been walking past my kitchen counter looking at "stuff" piling up. It is the central gathering place for everyone's "stuff". I looked at it and kept saying to myself , "I need to get my hands on this." I just felt like it was going to take more time and energy than I could give. Maybe you have a space like this too?  I think most of us do. Fortunately or unfortunately, we have alot of counter space in our kitchen and I think that is what gives my family permission to dump here! The other problem we have in our home is that there is no office. So this particular area of the counter is really a mini office minus the filing cabinet! It is a challenging space even for ME! It works when I am diligently protecting the space. If I let my guard down for a day, I know someone is going to stick something here that doesn't belong. 

Today was the day I was tired of looking at it all over the counter. For giggles, I decided to time mys...

I had the blues, the post vacation blues....

It felt like a hangover. It was from the high of my vacation to the low of facing everyday life. Let me just say that I had really needed the time off!! Running my business while still working a full time job had wore me out. 

I can't lie about this, I was totally overwhelmed when I got home not to mention unmotivated. I looked around and saw a mountain of things to do and only a day to get it all done. Yes, even organizers get overwhelmed with our own stuff! 

I knew I was going to be in trouble if I didn't get myself together. I thought about what I would tell a client and here's what I did....

First, I unpacked. Seems basic but it is that thing that people will avoid. I've seen people walk around the packed suitcases on the bedroom floor for days. Once I unpacked, I triggered positive momentum in my body and I started to feel like I was coming alive! Mentally, this forced me to get back in the moment and stop living in the vacation fantas...

Summer is a great time to de-clutter and reorganize. Here's why I believe this to be true:

1. More time to do this kind of work
2. It makes sense to do this when you have children as it is now the end of the school year
3. More hands to help if you have children home
4. Great way to spend a staycation
5. Seems like a popular time of year to move

Now let me expand my thoughts on this.....

When you have children you spend alot of time running them around in the evenings after you get home from work during the school year. For many of us, that seems to slow down with summertime. Why not, spend a designated amount of time on a particular project? For example, you could set aside a half hour per evening to work on a closet in your house. This could be done sooner if you could designate more time but anything is better than nothing!!

With the end of the school year comes many pieces of paper, awards, etc. This is a great time to take a picture of the artwork and let your child select which thin...

So this blog is about everyone else.....

This is for the person who is ORGANIZED but living with the DISORGANIZED, is that you??  In Digging Deeper, I talk about how we can overcome those around us who are less than inspired to live in an organized space. What I have found is that COMMUNICATION is key to success. I know that word gets thrown around alot but it is true. You have to do a couple of things:
1. Share your goal for the living space
2. Be a good role model
3. Cheer them on-positive reinforcement
4. Celebrate

So, let's break them down....
1.) Sharing your goal for the space with those you live with is probably the step most people forget to do. We ASSUME others will know what we are trying to achieve. They can't know so you have to share it with them. I don't care if you draw it on paper, cut out pictures from magazines, etc it has to be done. Your definition of organized is just that, YOURS. Mine may be very different. So be clear and concise!

2.) Be a good role model in the way ...