How to Travel with only a Carry-On
You are on vacation and arrive at your destination ready to unwind and finally take that much needed deep breath. Your entire flight is flowing upstream like salmon to the baggage claim where it is guaranteed that your bag will be the last one to spit out of the center of the carousel. The smell of coconut sunscreen and the warmth of the sun is calling your name…you drift off into la-la-land only to snap out of it to an empty baggage claim. The conveyor belt is mocking you as it disappears into the depths of the airport innards. No bags left. Your entire vacation is now prefaced with panic and then an unplanned shopping trip to replace the items you need for the day. All your photos of the trip are highlighted by your tie dye “My mom went to Mexico and all I got was this T-shirt” shirt and your memories are of washing your underwear in the sink only hoping it would dry in time to wear to dinner the next day.
Seasonal Decorations
It’s that time of year. We have a bunch of holidays ahead of us, each with it’s own vibe. Halloween is spooky, Thanksgiving is harvest, Hanukkah is sparkly and Christmas is festive. If decorating for the holidays brings you joy, this can be a lot of fun, but also can bring a lot of things into your home that are used for very short periods of time. That is unless you are decorating for these holidays in line with the retail calendar. Thankfully, I haven’t seen any friends decorate for Halloween in July - yet.
4 Things I’m Saying NO to for the Rest of 2024
In my last post, I talked about things that I’m saying YES to for the rest of 2024. When you are busy and frazzled, NO can be the easy answer, especially if you have kids. Everything just feels like a lot and one more thing could be your tipping point. So let’s talk about the 4 things I have decided to say NO to for the rest of the year.
4 Things I’m saying YES to for the Rest of 2024
I recently listened to some very old episodes of a podcast highlighting the host’s YES list and NO list and I thought it would be fun to do my own spin on it. While in the world of decluttering and organizing, it feels like we are saying “no” to a lot of things, I wanted to start with my YES list because there are still a lot of things to say “yes” to!
The Power of a Brain Dump
I don’t know about you, but my brain is all over the place lately thinking about squeezing all we can into the last few weeks we have left of summer break, back to school, work, travel plans, and more. If your brain feels like that cluttered basement of yours, it might be time for a brain dump.
Mindful Shopping on Amazon Prime Day
It’s no wonder people are frustrated with all the stuff in their homes. The temptation of a good sale, the excitement of a new & improved item, the rush of that box showing up on your doorstep. They’ve got many of us pretty good. This is a great time to reflect on our shopping habits over the past several years and prepare for the temptations and urgency that are ramping up.
The purpose of this post is to prepare you for the coming days. Knowledge is power and while I’m sure you already know how this time of year makes you feel, it doesn’t hurt to have a little reminder or perspective going into it.
Organizing Tiny Spaces: Dorm Room Edition
Organizing and maintaining a tiny space can be just as - or even more - challenging as a large space. You need to get creative, prioritize, and be a real problem solver as you try to Tetris all of the things into a limited area. Dorm living is a great example of this challenge!!
The End of School Pile
If you have school-aged children, you know about the dreaded pile of schoolwork that comes home that last week of school. The actual amount varies from year to year, usually a lot less as the child gets older, but it’s inevitable and bound to be on the receiving end of your side-eye as you put off tackling it for “a better time”.
The Mom Effect
Have you ever done your holiday shopping only to realize when you are wrapping that you went way overboard? So much so that you put some items aside to gift during the next holiday or birthday? When you see it all in front of you at once, you can easily recognize that it’s…a lot! Well this is what happens when I’m sitting with clients after we’ve sorted the area we are working on. Not all the time, but many times, we end up with a lot of something (sometimes it’s toiletries, socks, or toys) that has been gifted to them over and over by a single family member. This family member clearly has a very big heart and loves this person a lot. But they don’t see the pile in front of them like we do. The full-sized bottle of body wash in that scent they know you like are great…when there is a need for a new bottle. The really nice thick wool socks are amazing…when you don’t already have 3 unopened packages stuffed in your sock drawer. Sending gifts on auto-ship might end up in taking away the beauty of the thoughtful gift in the first place and result in a pile of items that they can never ever get through even if they tried.
The Seasonal Switch
Here in Vermont we are lucky enough to enjoy 4+ seasons (don’t forget stick season, mud season and fake spring 1/fake spring 2) every year. While enjoying the weather changes, we also get to enjoy the routines of moving out the old - in this case winter - and bringing in the new - spring/summer.
The piles of wet mittens are replaced with piles of wet pool towels. Coat after coat after coat on the hooks in the mudroom are replaced with hats, bathing suits and beach toys. It’s like starting a new chapter of a book - so much possibility and promise of adventure ahead.
Embracing the Benefits of Downsizing
While generations ago the ideal life included the biggest house, now it’s about the biggest life.
The Paper Situation
Deep in the “fun” of tax season, and despite being in the digital age, the flow of paper coming into our homes is at a high-point. If not tended to immediately, it can get out of control and add to the visual clutter that is already stressing us out in our homes.
1o ways you can declutter your digital life
For most people when we think of clutter, we think of visual clutter - what you see piling up in your home and office. Digital clutter can be just as important to address as we delve deeper into the digital age.
Making sense of it all
ADHD is Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Symptoms might include: a hard time keeping track of things (keys for example), not being able to focus on jobs, activities, conversations, and tasks for extended periods of time, talking too much, not being able to settle down/sit still, fidgeting, difficulty waiting, and more. As you can imagine, these symptoms often result in a disorganized mind which can lead to a disorganized home.
Simplifying the holidays
The simple task of asking your family what comes to mind when they think of a specific holiday is a great way to start your planning.