Monthly Archives: January 2012
Work From Home Survey
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To better serve you, my dears…
Monday Bliss: Add Your Favorite Colors
Welcome to “Monday Bliss”, my Monday posting to help us start off the week with our best foot forward (instead of dragging behind with the “Monday Blahs”). My idea for this week is to:
Add Your Favorite Colors to Your Space
Can you name your top 3 favorite colors? Can you also name 3 spots where you’ve incorporate them in your home’s interior design?
Our favorite colors are colors that resonate with our spirits. They can change over time, as we change, but utilizing them (besides in wardrobe choices) is something we always have the power to do. Our favorite colors can give us a feeling of warmth when we come home, a connection with our true selves. Having pops of them around can lift us up if we’re Debbie Downing, or ground us if we’re all over the place.
Not sure where to start? Below are some easy additions to your home. Bring in one or more of these to your home this week, in your favorite color.
- Coffee mug
- Set of dishes
- Tea kettle
- Vase
- Kitchen towels
- Bath towels
- Throw pillows
- Throw blanket
- Curtains
- Bedding
- Chair
- Magazine butlers
- Desk organizers
- Paint for an accent wall
Permission to shop granted! Pick out exactly what calls to you, so you can feel good calling your space home.
True Confessions of a Professional Organizer: Magazine Hoarding
How come I can’t get rid of my Southern Living magazines?
With a little downtime on a cold wintry Sunday, I decided at last to go through my Southern Living magazines. This collection, dating back to 2008, is one I have hauled with me through two moves.
Said magazines, which I acquired a subscription to as an Independent Southern Living at Home Consultant, are not something I “need” to keep, for any logical reason.
- I don’t live in the South
- I don’t regularly travel to the South
- I don’t live in a growing region anything like the South
So, I decided, time to purge. But just tossing the whole lot was NOT an option. I KNOW there’s valuable stuff in these magazines. (Just what I can’t specifically say right now…some cool decorating ideas, fabulous recipes…) I can’t just dump ‘em. Maybe I’ll sit today and go through the whole stack. Maybe I’ll just whip through one or two a day to whittle it down to nothing.
Grabbing one off the top of the stack I think, “This’ll be easy and quick. I’ll just tear out the good stuff: deco ideas for a binder and recipes for my recipe folder, and recycle the rest.” Exactly what I would tell a client to do.
And it did start out easy. And quick. I whipped right through the regional features and travel content.
Then I got to an article about a den makeover. “Hmm, I don’t think I’ve read this. Oh, I love what they did with that fireplace. Yikes, I can’t believe they painted the parquet floor!” Finished the article, moving on…
Recipes. This’ll be fast, I’ll just tear out what sounds yummy. This one, that one, another and another…All of them sounding delicious (and I’d just had breakfast). Turn the page, “Chicken Dumplings – Mama’s Way and Your Way”, I need this too.
You can see where this was going.
These magazines have been taking up precious shelf space for YEARS. I’ve passed by them, ignored them, not consulted or needed them until now. Now, I can’t live without them.
What am I going to do? 
(The stack still sits there.)
Monday Bliss: Buy Yourself Flowers
Welcome to “Monday Bliss”, my Monday posting to help us start off the week with our best foot forward (instead of dragging behind with the “Monday Blahs”). My idea for this week is to:
Buy Yourself Flowers
Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon, everyone! What better way to celebrate than with some fresh flowers to radiate beauty in your space and perk up your spirits as you move forward into the new year.
Why do we enjoy getting flowers? Because it means someone thought of us. They made a gesture of love and appreciation.
You can do the same for yourself. Make it a gesture that says, “Self, I love you. You’re so <insert compliment here>. I give you this gift of beauty so that you know what a beautiful person you are.”
And let THAT carry you through to the next week!
Having an Organized Year Part 2
In my earlier post, I discussed the difference between making “resolutions” and setting “intentions” for the new year. If you’re on the bandwagon with that shift, what intentions do you have? If you’ve already made “resolutions”, how can you re-frame them as intentions?
Maybe you’ve made a resolution to “be more organized”. That resolution tends to be weak because 1) it’s too vague and 2) it implies that you’re not organized, and that not being organized is bad (needs to be changed).
Getting Clear
I encourage you to ask yourself the questions below, to become clear about what “being organized” means for you, as it is different for everyone. And when you can define a clear intention, you can work with positive energy to fulfill it, even by using feng shui to put it into physical form in your space – but more about that later.
Questions to Get Clear: What Does “Getting Organized” Mean for You?
What area of my home needs organizing or de-cluttering attention?
What area of my home tends to collect lots of things?
What area of my home bothers me the most?
What do I struggle with keeping organized on a day-to-day basis?
If I had success organizing or de-cluttering an area that needs attention/tends to collect lots of things/bothers me the most/that I struggle with keeping organized on a day-to-day basis what would that look like?
What is the least I would like to see happen?
What is the most I would like to see happen?
Do I have a “happy medium” that would bring me peace for now?
Do I have a “goal for now” that will lead me to a “goal for the future”?
After answering these questions, can you come up with your “intentions” for getting organized this year?
Examples:
- I intend to keep a clear walkway into my home.
- I intend to file papers at the end of each month.
- I intend to have a system for organizing kids’ toys.
- I intend to go through my closet each season.
- I intend to make the storage area clutter-free.
What are yours? Please share in the comment section below.
Monday Bliss: Display a Motivational Quote
Welcome to “Monday Bliss”, my Monday posting to help us start off the week with our best foot forward (instead of dragging behind with the “Monday Blahs”). My idea for this week is to:
Get Motivation “In Your Face”
What do you need a little motivation for? If you’ve got some intentions for new things to come-to-be in this next year, it’ll help to put a motivational quote or saying in a prominent place in your space. So you can’t miss it, get a boost every time you see it, and continue to put a positive force out there for what you want. It works even on a subconscious level.
Maybe it’s something that will carry you through the weeks to come, maybe it’s just something that can help you get through this week. What do you want to focus on, to stay positive and propelled forward towards your goals?
Great places to get motivation “in your face”:
- Refrigerator
- Bathroom mirror
- Top of dresser
- Car dash
- Cell phone/computer screen
- Cell phone/computer reminder
Need help finding a great quote? Click here
Or maybe some classic sayings (or shall we say “stolen slogans”) will do the trick for you:
- Just do it!
- Be all that you can be
Do you have a favorite? I’d love for you to share, please comment below.
Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks.
Johann Gottfried Von Herder
Keep clutter under control and make your home work for you. Contact me today to schedule a complementary, no obligation 15-minute phone session, to discuss how we can make it functional, beautiful, and uniquely yours.