"Refuse to let your present results influence your thinking. Keep
reminding yourself that you have a power within you that is superior to
any condition or circumstance you may encounter enroute to your goal."
Bob Proctor
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As a Professional Organizer, one of the things I've noticed over the years is that very often, people who struggle with clutter and disorganization, as well as hoarders, explain or justify their accumulation of clutter by telling themselves...
that they're keeping things because they have potential value. I often hear them say, "I kept it because it could be valuable." The client is absolutely UNSURE about the item's value but chooses to believe it has some value. And because they haven't taken the time to find out if it really IS valuable, it just becomes one of a million items they're keeping "just in case" they might be valuable. These poor people end up living in a giant pile of "potential", because they think they may be missing out on, or giving up its "value" if they get rid of something.
Hoarders live in a constant state of limbo, paralyzed by all this "potential" in the form of clutter, and it holds them back. What strikes me as particularly sad and ironic about this scenario is not only that these folks live in dismal physical environments which are sometimes unhealthy (mold, pests, vermin, etc) but even worse, this imagined "potential" prevents them from realizing their own HUMAN POTENTIAL and that's the real tragedy.
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To create a gallery, all you need is a section of empty wall, some common tools and a little time. The photo here is of a client's kitchen where I installed three lengths of cable about an inch from the wall using threaded screw-in hooks at each end, similar to the one shown, only heavier.
I just screwed the hooks into the wall about six feet apart, twisted one end of the cable around one of the hooks, slid a handful of small binder clips onto the cable and attached the cable to the other hook. You can see how the art gets clipped up using the binder clips, and the nice thing is that you don't have to track where the clips are because they hang permanently on the cable. I chose to put three cables up on the wall, one above the other so there is plenty of room for art. As more art comes in, my client just pulls down the old art and replace it with new.
Another fun way to create a gallery is to position a few magnet strips in rows on a section of wall and hang your kids' artwork that way. Just be very careful to store unused magnets stored on the highest strip and out of reach of children. One other way to show off your art is to simply collect a bunch of picture frames in varying sizes from garage sales, paint them all the same color and hang them in an interesting pattern on the wall. When a new piece of art comes in, just tape it inside the appropriately sized frame.
No matter how you slice it, if you have even a few feet of blank wall space, you can create a gallery to proudly display the precious creations your babies make.
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It's Veteran's Day here in the United States so I'm skipping the customary Wednesday Quote of the Week in favor of a quote from me...
From the bottom of my heart, I want to publicly thank all the veterans of the United States Armed Forces, living or dead, for the sacrifices they've made and continue to make, on behalf of this great nation. Please know that my gratitude for your service simply cannot be measured.
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Black heels
Pink shower shoes
Skirt
Spanx
Pink tank
Black jacket and belt
Jeans
Lightweight Sweaters (2)
Graphic t-shirt
Pajama pants
Pajama shirt
Cords & cables pouch
Toiletries
Planner
Curling iron
Makeup
Jewelry
Laptop (not shown)
It all fits into my Zuca bag and my Butler Bag so no baggage claim for me when I get there!
Of course, you can't see the clothes and shoes that I'm wearing on the plane. Granted, I don't have room in my luggage for even a Triscuit, BUT my goal of traveling for a week without checking luggage is REALIZED! (Yeah, we dorks get excited over the strangest things...)
So the life lesson reminders from today's travel packing post is this...
1. Success is about choices, even the seemingly small ones.
2. If you spend time planning in advance, you can create the result you want to achieve.
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In Atlanta, we've had an OVER abundance of rain lately! Trees down, flooded basements, leaky roofs. All of this abundant rain causes me to think about paper boxes. Paper boxes and rain…seems like a strange pair, but over the last several weeks as I have been creating abundance for my clients, more than one of them has lost a paper box to the rain.
If you're storing things in cardboard, NOW is the time to make the change to plastic containers. Especially, if shelving is not available to you. Storage containers on the floor should be made of plastic to prevent damage in case of flooding. In addition, bugs LOVE cardboard boxes, which is another reason to make plastic the container to use for storage! And of course don't forget labels!
So now as the leaves begin to change, it's a great time to clear out for a change too. A change to tame stacks of papers, finish summer projects that didn't get done, or liberate closets bulging with clothes. Wishing you the richness of the FALL season, hoping you can FALL into abundance and simple spaces!
~Sara
"Wealthy people tend to be orderly, while those who struggle have lots
of messes. Each mess is a lock on the gate that keeps abundance out."
Raymond Aaron
From Double Your Income Doing What You Love
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Today's HMS Tip is for all you out there who can't commit to taking time off to do something fun, because in your heart of hearts, yo just know your business world will cease to exist if you do! The office will blow up, you'll lose your biggest client, or (horrors!) someone might send you an email and not get an immediate response!
You know who you are. I'm here to tell you COMMIT! You'll never "find" time. But you can MAKE time, simply by choosing to block time on your calendar in advance. Then once it's in there, you just have to work around it like you'd work your schedule around any other work-related meeting or commitment.
So think of something you'd like to do -- a long weekend in the mountains, a whole day downtown at the museum, or just a Tuesday lunch and movie date with your wife and kids. It doesn't matter what you're blocking time to do; it matters that you're blocking out time in advance and committing to it. If something for work comes up for that time slot, you simply work around it by saying you already have an appointment that day. Nobody needs to know what that appointment is, do they? Just try it and let me know how it works out! Come on, humor me!
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Let's do a little math, shall we? (and you KNOW how I feel about math...)
Let's take a look at the cycle of $100 spent on a pair of jeans.
First you earn the money. Depending on what you do for a living, that could mean an hour's work or two days work. Next, you exchange that hundred bucks for the jeans. Then you put them in your closet where they may or may not get worn for an unknown number of years. Flash forward to the end of the life of those jeans. If you wore those jeans a lot and you feel that you got your money's worth of value and enjoyment from them, that's great news and a good use of your money.
IF on the other hand, those jeans spent most of their life hanging quietly in your closet, that's where your financial loss is realized. You spent money on something you barely got any use from and when you and your jeans part ways, you can donate them and recoup nothing, consign them or sell them at a garage sale where you'll get about ten to twenty percent of what you paid for them.
Over-spending on clothing is like pouring money into a magic shrinking machine. You put a hundred dollars in, you get ten dollars back out. The next time you're tempted to spend money on something you don't really need, imagine selling it at a garage sale tomorrow for ten percent of what you paid and see if you still feel as passionately about buying it.
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"Self-discipline begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don't control what you think, you can't control what you do."
Napoleon Hill
1883-1970, Author of Think and Grow Rich
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During a walk through The Container Store, I happened upon this cute little blue gift bag that had an interesting feel in my hand. I learned from the store associate that it was called a "Treeless Tote", and was made without using any paper.
The interesting thing about this little bag is that it was touted as being "photodegradable", which means it's supposed to break down when it's exposed to sunlight. So (much to Christmas Boy's dismay) I hung it on a branch of my Chinese Holly Hedge by my front door, where I could see it daily and monitor its progress.
Not much happened for about ten months, and I wondered if it would ever actually break down. That was a photo of the bag on day one. This is my little bag today, fourteen months later...
About eleven months into my experiment, the bag began to show signs of degradation, and today this is what the little bag looks like. You can see that the bag split open on the front side (the side that was exposed to the elements), there's a layer of dirt, bird excrement, and bug carcasses in the bottom of the bag, but the blue braided cotton handle is still fully intact.
My thought on the Treeless Tote being "photodegradable" is that I guess technically, it's true, based on the bag's present day condition. However, if you're looking to spend your money on "green" products, this one isn't worth it unless you're in the habit of hanging used gift bags outside in the elements for fourteen months or longer.
Many companies tout their products as "biodegradable" or even photodegradable, and the idea is nice, but the problem with these items is that even if they are decomposable, they never get an opportunity to break down.
In order for items to break down, they need to be exposed to sunlight, moisture and oxygen -- the three things that a landfill doesn't allow for. Even things like food, which you'd think would be a biodegradable no-brainer, can take months or even years to break down once it gets buried in a landfill.
The point of my post is that biodegradable or not -- NOTHING really breaks down once it gets into a landfill. If you're trying to be "green", recycle as much as you can, and don't be sucked into spending more money on products that say "biodegradable" because unless you spread your trash out across your back yard for a few years, it isn't breaking down. Bummer.
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1. Use a clear, action-oriented subject line. "Yo home dog!" might be effective and fun when emailing your BFF about what smokin' hot chicks will be at this weekend's tailgate, but in business, you need to be more specific. Use words such as "Action Requested by Friday Nov 13" or "Please review and respond". These subject lines are more likely to get your email opened and acted upon in a timely manner.
2. Use ONLY a subject line. On the topic of subject lines, why not convey a super short message using ONLY a subject line? If you're confirming an appointment, or responding to a yes/no question, just put it in the subject line like this: "CONFIRMING: Chili's Nov 3 @ noon. END" or "Response to blue fabric choice is yes. END" You use the word "END" to signify that's the entire message. It works!
3.Address a single topic. Sometimes it's impossible, but it's best to try to address a single topic per email. This ensures your subject line is accurate and then if your reader is searching later for your email, he'll find it quicker based on the subject line.
4. Use bullet points in the body. Don't you love when you get an email and you open it and it's two or three paragraphs long but you go ahead and read it anyway and then you realize that you're halfway through it and you still don't know the reason the person emailed you and then you have to skim it again to look for the action items and the questions? Whew. Don't be that person. If you MUST address more than one topic per email, make it simple on your reader by using bullet points and short sentences.
5. Pay attention to spelling and grammar. This one should go without saying, but you'd be amazed how many emails I receive with misspellings and horrid grammar. I'm not saying you have to whip out the AP Style Guide, but for Pete's sake if English is your first language, have some pride, people. Know the difference between there, their and they're. Use your and you're properly. Apostrophes show possession or create a contraction -- they aren't for pluralizing. And once and for all, the word "LOSE" only has one O! Listen, I know I sound fussy but in business, clear, professional communication is crucial. It doesn't matter how amazing your ideas, skills, products or services are if you can't communicate intelligently.
Use these five tips to make your emails stand out and get noticed among the sea of other emails, and you'll get the answers and actions you need a lot faster!
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As you were.
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OXO Pop Canisters
These just totally rock. There's no two ways about it. Airtight, easy to use with just one hand, attractive, durable, and crystal clear, you can't go wrong with these babies! Love 'em!
Expand-A-Drawer Dividers
These are great for creating division in silverware, utility, bathroom drawers. Keeps your small items organized and shrinks or expands to fit your drawer.
Turntables
These are some of my favorite tools of all time. I use them with clients in kitchen cabinets, refrigerators, beneath the bathroom sink, and even on top of an office desk.
ELFA
The ELFA system is a fabulous solution for adding storage in closets, pantries, basments, garages, or any other place you need wall storage and organization. Modular and simple to install, I've never seen a better closet system.
If you don't have a Container Store near you where you can shop for your organizing needs, you can also shop online and still get the discount by using the coupon code savenow when you check out.
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In my quest to find new resources for uncluttering, I just discovered this cool service that will take your old shirts and turn them into quilts! You can even send them your old sentimental baby clothes and they'll turn them into a quilt too!
Check out the quilt photos to see what the finished product looks like and maybe you'll be inspired to give yourself or someone else a special gift of t-shirts this year!
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Spezify responds to your search terms and aggregates all kinds of media -- Twitter posts, images from Flickr, ads from Ebay, and many other sources into a collage-like results page.
Give it a try yourself and let me know how you feel about it in comparison to your current favorite search engine.
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There are two types of things in our lives -- consumable goods and what I call hard goods. Consumable goods are things we buy, use, and re-buy to sustain our lives. Hard goods are items we buy with the intention of keeping them long term. There are some important differences between consumables and hard goods. First, the obvious is that consumables get used up and need to be re-acquired. Second, it makes sense to purchase consumables in quantity because of their consumable nature, provided you have ample space to store them. But most importantly, hard goods live in our homes until we choose to move them along, while consumable items need to be balanced and in motion and if they're not, you've got trouble. Trouble in the form of overspending, crowded storage spaces, mystery inventory and expired products which equals MORE wasted money.
To avoid these perils, evaluate your consumable inventory regularly. This means keeping on top of three primary areas: The fridge, the pantry and your toiletries stash.
1. Clean out the refrigerator weekly (the night before trash goes out to the curb).
2. Keep informed about what's in your pantry and don't buy things you already have.
3. Only keep a few extra toiletries on hand at any given time.
There you have it... three simple ways to make sure your consumables get consumed in a way that doesn't crowd your life, waste money, or waste food.
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