1. Love how it looks.

When you love how it looks you’ll want to keep it organized. Choose containers and other organizing solutions that are attractive to your eye and you’ll be motivated to do the tasks required to keep your spaces organized.

2. Get buy-in.

Anytime you organize a shared space get input from everyone who uses the space. While you may end up organizing the space differently than if you organize alone, the benefits will be worth it in the end. When you get buy-in up front your family members are more invested in how the space looks and functions. This will make them more likely—and better equipped—to help keep the space organized going forward.

3. Use labels.

Today it’s easier than ever to create attractive labels that give your project a professional finishing touch. (This plays right into tip #1.) But even more, by removing the ambiguity over what goes where, labels help others jump on the “keep it organized” bandwagon. Gotta’ love that.

With a little bit of planning before your next organizing project, you’ll be setting the stage for staying organized with ease.

Happy organizing!

The post 3 Ways to Make Staying Organized Easier appeared first on simplify 101.

If you’re new to my blog, Finish It Friday started as a way to get something that has been lingering on your to-do list for a while, finished up and checked off. It has evolved into a weekly event where you are invited to share your weekend to-do list. Around here, the weekend to-do list involves stuff to do for fun, as well as stuff you’d like to get done. We don’t always check everything off our to-do lists each weekend, and that’s okay. Because what I know for sure is that we have more fun and get more done because we decided to plan ahead and decide how to use those precious days known as the weekend. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines up until now, consider yourself invited for a dose of more fun and more done this weekend.

Alright…here are my lists:

FUN

• Race for the Cure. It’s practically becoming a tradition for Kailea and I to run together in the Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure. Tomorrow is the big day. By the way, we went to pick up our t-shirts and bibs on Tuesday…and my bib wasn’t there; it was supposed to arrive via overnight mail yesterday…and it didn’t. Keep your fingers crossed that I get it in time, some way somehow. (#slightlyworried) Check! The race was fun. Running with Kailea and running for the cause were the highlights. The bib thing was distracting…and while I was able to run, someone else ran with my bib. I have no clue who…but someone else’s time is recorded as me. (And they didn’t run as fast as me. Bummer. But it’s time to let this one go. ) 
• Make cards for camp. This is another annual tradition. Next Sunday we take Kailea to camp, where for one week she has the time of her life, and I miss her like crazy. The camp has a “no contact with home” rule…which is actually a good thing for the kids, and (I guess) the parents, but it does make me a little stir crazy. And so…I send handmade cards. It is the one and only time of the year that I make handmade cards, by the way, so it’s a fun little project. No check. I’ll be doing this throughout the week…  
• Father’s Day. Ugh. First Father’s Day without my Dad…it has definitely been approaching like a freight train. But, we’ll make it a fun day for Jay and we’ll go visit my father-in-law, so it isn’t all bad. Check. I kept busy trying to make the day nice for Jay. Hopefully he had a good day…I think so.
• Make candles with Kailea. This one is a maybe. I have plenty of candles made…but still have same wax, jars and wicks…so we’ll see if Kailea is up for it. And this didn’t happen either, but…

DONE

• Print school registration forms. Again, the goal is to get ahead of the game and fill these out a little bit at a time. Should be an easy check, right? Check!
• Edit + print photos. I made some more progress during the week. I’ll be caught up one of these days.  CHECK! I edited and printed 100 prints (which means more actual photos because when I print 4″ x 3″ photos, I put two on a single 4″ x 6″ print. Long way of saying, this was a BIG project. But it is done! I now have all of April and May’s photos in my hands. Now for the fun part…putting together the pages (and ordering a new Project Life kit). Hooray!) 
• Laundry. This is in relatively good shape right now. Love heading into the weekend with a light laundry load. This one gets a partial check. No one will go naked, so it’s good enough for now.
• Meal plan + grocery shop. Check!
• Research blinds and measure. No check. No worries. Still basking in the glow of the printed photos victory.
• Figure out steps to paint front porch chair. And take one step. Check. I figured out the steps, and I decided on a color. 
• Take in bike. Check! That one feels good…it has been lingering for a while. Yay! 

Alright…the weekend is a wrap! Hope you have a great week.

Okay…I think that’s it! Looking forward to a fun and productive weekend. What’s on your list today?

The post Let’s Organize Our Weekend Plans appeared first on simplify 101.

Fun

• Boot camp or Run in a 10K. I’m so on the fence about the 10K. It’s supposed to be cool in the morning, but humid. Hey…I think I just figured it out. I’ll probably be outside in the humidity at boot camp anyway…so what not just do the 10K? Hmmm… I will let you know on Monday what I decide. Check! The 10K won. It was my first-official 10K race…and I’m so glad I did it!  
• Trip to the mall. Check! 

Done

• Minor decluttering. We have a Red Cross pickup tomorrow morning…so it’s time to weed out some dressers and closets, and empty out the donate bin. Check! 
• Fill out running forms. Check!
• Print school registration forms. Not yet…but registration isn’t until July…so I have plenty of time still. 
• Thank you notes. Check!
• Edit photos. I did work on this a bit during the week. Yay. Check. Good progress was made. Still more to go until I’m printing and caught up, but I feel like I’m gaining momentum here. 
• Laundry. Check!
• Meal Plan + Grocery shop. Check!

Hope you had a great weekend, too! And here’s to a fun and productive week. See you back here on Friday.

(Hmmm…is it Groundhog Day? This list looks very similar to last weekend’s list.)

What’s on your radar screen this weekend? Hope you have a great one!

The post Happy Friday! appeared first on simplify 101.

Today’s success story is from Elisa who has taken several of my online classes including Quick & Simple Clutter Control, Goals, and It’s About Time. I asked Elisa to share her experience taking the Goals workshop because I think you will find her story very inspiring…and she’s created a lovely Etsy shop that I think you’ll love, too. Thank you to Elisa for sharing your story – and beautiful photographs with us

What were some of the challenges you were facing before you signed up for the Goals class?

Before the class I was often overwhelmed with ideas and responsibilities, and at a loss for how to overcome fear. I set out to develop a shop for my site, appleturnover.tv, and needed to find ways to do that consistently, step-by-step, without upsetting the balance of my family life, art practice, homeschooling, health or household.

How did the class help you solve those challenges?

I learned to set goals in all areas of my life as well as goals toward creating the shop and filming the tutorials to support the traditional, educational kits & patterns I design. I learned to approach things on a monthly, then weekly, then daily basis. I loved working with ideas of gratitude as a positive focus, and ideas about progressing a project in small actions, instead of trying to ‘finish’ projects. I find being overwhelmed is often the other side of inspiration, and working through things with Aby’s guidance and a whole year of support from my classmates really helped me stay active and inspired.

There are all sorts of organizing ideas on the internet, what prompted you to give simplify 101’s online classes a try?

I loved that simplify 101 offers a forum, particularly with Aby there to support you with her brilliant solutions and encouragement. Such a great community follows her. I like to be accountable and I get more done when I can check in with others.

What has been your biggest a-ha moment so far?

I began to see that although there are always a million more things I want to learn and do, I can choose seasons, or times of the day, to pursue some things and let go of others, and to progress bigger projects in small steps. I recognised that all the energy I use to avoid a project, to procrastinate on taking action, is often more than the energy required to just get on and do the project. Agreeing with myself to take one imperfect step forward usually pushes me past that ennui and into joyful action.

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m an artist immersed in learning traditional skills. I’m trying it all myself, joining in a revival of heritage methods and old-world knowledge. Lately I’ve moved with my family from a 400 year old cottage in England to a tiny lakeside cottage on an island off the pacific coast of Canada, to pursue more of what I love – learning to fish, to garden organically, to keep chickens, perhaps even bees, and to host old school workshops for others to learn all kinds of handmade skills from knitting and quilting to painting furniture, drawing, and on and on.

I write at appleturnover.tv, homemade stories that explore the pleasures of the handmade, tried & true tools, old fashioned remedies, recipes, and sound ideas. I’ve taken classes with Aby at every major step, before starting the blog, before moving back to Canada, to help me start up the Etsy shop, and now to move to the lake, and start up a shop off the site and develop the ‘old school! (coming soon!)

How can readers keep in touch with you?

I write at appleturnover.tv, and I make kits and patterns that teach good old fashioned skills; each one is a little hands-on education in the old creative ways. Every project is guided by a series old school movie tutorials, set to old records, with animated text for clarity. You can get my kits at the appleturnovershop

Stay in touch with Elisa:
https://twitter.com/appleturnover
http://pinterest.com/appleturnover
https://www.facebook.com/appleturnover.tv

The post Setting Goals – A Success Story appeared first on simplify 101.

Have you ever wondered that? I know that I have. As someone who likes to be organized and in control, I used to think that if I couldn’t carry out my plan exactly as I put it together, then the plan had no value.

As I’ve gotten older and wiser and more laid back, I know now that things rarely go exactly as planned. But when you have a plan, you can step back and reevaluate your next move based on a structured framework (your original plan.) So even when things don’t go as planned, your plan still has tremendous value.

Not planning because things may not go as planned is like not using a GPS on a road trip because you might make a wrong turn. Just as a GPS tells you where to turn next so you can get back to on track…your plan does the same thing.

Now you may be wondering why I’m sharing all of this…and it’s because my weekend didn’t go as planned. On Friday night we found ourselves hunkered down in the basement waiting out a big storm. We lost power (this definitely wasn’t in the original plans) and we lost a big tree. Cleaning up the big tree was also not in the original plans. In the scheme of things, no big deal at all. Being without power for less than a day and losing one tree (without any damage to people or property) are just inconveniences. We feel very grateful that it wasn’t worse.

But here’s the thing, since I made a plan on Friday, I was able to easily re-prioritize my weekend. I knew exactly what wasn’t going to get done as I tended to the now more urgent and important matters – finding hot coffee on Saturday morning and helping Jay with the tree on Sunday afternoon. The result was that the mission critical things on my to-do list like grocery shopping and laundry got done, while things with no real deadline (painting the front porch chair and editing photos) didn’t get done. Best of all – no stress. Because I had a plan, I knew I was attending to the most important stuff on my to-do list. 

If you’ve ever resisted making a plan or writing down your to-do list out of fear that things wouldn’t go as planned, I’d like to invite you to reconsider. The point of planning isn’t to execute the plan perfectly; it’s to provide yourself with a road map that makes it possible to make the best choices, whether things go as planned or not.

Alright…onto my Monday morning update: here’s my update for today: 

Fun

• Run. Check! 
• Boot camp. No check. 
• Dinner out with Jay and the kids. Check, postponed from Friday to Saturday. Way more enjoyable without tornadoes brewing in the area. 

Done

• Go to the bank. Check!
• Run some other errands. Check, check, check!
• Thank you notes. No check. 
• Mail in camp forms. Check!
• Fill out cross country forms. (What is it with all the forms to fill out this time of year?) No check!
• Hamster training. Check! 
• Project Life photo editing and printing. No check!
• Make hair cut appointment for Collin. Left a message on Friday afternoon. 
• Paint front porch chair. No check!
• Laundry. Check! (Almost done.)
• Meal plan. Check!
• Grocery shop. Check!

I hope you had a great weekend and that you didn’t have any unexpected or unwelcome weather events.

Have a terrific week!

The post When Things Don’t Go as Planned appeared first on simplify 101.

Fun

• Run. 
• Boot camp. 
• Dinner out with Jay and the kids. 

Done

• Go to the bank.
• Run some other errands.
• Thank you notes.
• Mail in camp forms.
• Fill out cross country forms. (What is it with all the forms to fill out this time of year?)
• Hamster training. We are hamster sitting next week. I have never had a hamster…so I definitely need some training.
• Project Life photo editing and printing. I’m still not caught up! I’m still basically okay with it…though I would love to feel the joyous rush of being caught up. 
• Make hair cut appointment for Collin.
• Paint front porch chair. (Not likely…but a nice maybe.)
• Laundry.
• Meal plan.
• Grocery shop.

I better get crackin’! What’s on your to-do list this weekend? Thanks for sharing your list in the comments and for joining me for Finish It Friday! Hope you have a great weekend!

P.S. Just a friendly reminder that time is running out on our bring a friend promotion for the Goals workshop. You can find out all the details here >>>

The post It’s Friday Again. Already? appeared first on simplify 101.

That’s what happened to me the other day when talking with my youngest daughter about things to do this summer. Faith expressed some worry that she’d be bored because she wouldn’t have anyone to play with since her sister always plays with the neighbor. I said, “What about me?” To which she replied, “You’re always too busy to play with me, Mommy. You always have to work or do laundry or do cleaning. I used to ask you to play, but I don’t anymore because you never can.” 

My heart? Broken.

Now, her answer is not entirely true or fair, but it doesn’t matter. That’s her perception, and I’m not okay with her feeling that way. Not by a long shot. 

Life is busy, and of course there is always a lot to do. I can’t just quit my job, stop cooking, and forego laundry. But, there has to be a better balance than this – one that shows my children that they matter more than a clean floor. I certainly want them to see me fulfilling my responsibilities, but being their mom – that’s my biggest responsibility. They are my priority. 

This summer, I’m fortunate that I have more wiggle room to define what our schedules are like, and during this time I’ll be working hard to strike a better balance. My goals are to regain control over my time, to really hone in on my priorities, and to live in a way that reflects that.

I was really impacted by something Aby wrote in Lesson 1 of the It’s About Time online workshop: “The crux of time management is to become intentional about how you spend your limited time. It’s about making the most of this finite resource. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the goal is to fill that bucket to the brim, or to try to be ultra productive every minute of the day. Rather, it’s about creating space for the things that matter most to you.”

Yes! That’s exactly what I’m after – making the most of this finite resource known as time and creating space for the things and people that matter most to me. I can’t yet see all the steps that get me from here to there. But it starts with knowing that I want something different. (Check!) And then it continues by taking steps in a new direction. Off I go…

Happy Summer!

P.S. If you could use guidance in regaining control over your time or going after your goals, take a look! Today is the last day for enrollment in our It’s About Time online workshop! Also, our How to Achieve Goals + Create a Life You Love online workshop begins next Thursday, June 6, 2013.

The post Re-prioritizing Time and Setting New Goals appeared first on simplify 101.

I have an ambitious to-do list this weekend, but it is a 3-day weekend, so we’ll see if I can pull it off. And if not, no worries. Most of these items are not time sensitive…so there really is no pressure to get it all done. Which is nice. Here’s my list:

Fun

• Run in a 5K tomorrow morning. I’m running in the same race as my very first 5K ever…oh so many years ago. (7 years ago! I just did the math. Wow.) Anyway…I think it will be fun to run this race again and this year Kailea will be running, too. Extra fun. Check! Once again, I was passed by a stroller pushing mom and a dad pushing not one, but two kiddos in a stroller! But there was some consolation this time:  1) The mom is a boot camp instructor at the Y. (Remember the pregnant lady who kicked my booty in boot camp? Yep, that’s the one.) 2) The dad just ran a half marathon and was my daughter’s cross country coach, so let’s just say he’s a really good runner. 3) Despite getting passed by all these stroller pushing parents, I got my personal best time at a race. (Yay!) So I’m really pleased with how it all turned out. So fun. Can’t wait for my next race!   
• Pick up race packet tonight. Check!
• Farmer’s market. (Maybe – we’ll see how fun that sounds after running.) Check!  
• Paint front porch chair. Nope. The weather was iffy…and other stuff sounded more fun.  
• Do some organizing in my basement. Check!
• Plant some flowers. Check! Jay deserves the actual check…but I did help pick them out.

Done

• Download photos and edit. By the way, I finished up my Project Life pages for the weeks I had printed last weekend. Oh I love that part! So fun. 1/2 check. I downloaded photos…but didn’t do any editing. Seems like there’s a lot of rain in the forecast this week…so I’ll do some editing this week in the evenings. 
• Make appointment with eye doctor. Check!
• Write / send thank you notes. Not yet…
• Make salad and cupcakes. It’s my father-in-law’s birthday this weekend, so we will be celebrating (with salad and cupcakes, LOL.) Check! 
• Plan weekly meals + shop. Check! 
• Laundry. Check!
• Make candles. And get the stuff necessary to do so. Check!
• Go to the Post Office. Check!
• Go to the bank. Check!
• Do some weeding / yard work. Check! 

This might be my longest Finish It Friday list ever! Wish me luck, and best of luck with your list, too. Hope you have a great weekend. I look forward to reading all about your plans and accomplishments in the comments. See you back here on Tuesday.

It was a really fun weekend – loved having that extra day! Hope you had a great one, too!

The post Let’s Organize Our Weekend Plans appeared first on simplify 101.

It takes quite a bit of trust to give someone access to our homes like that, but isn’t it worth it? I find such peace of mind knowing there’s someone I can count on to keep an eye on things while I am away.

So…what if I were to tell you that your friend might have another key, one you may not realize they even have? Don’t worry! I promise it’s neither scary nor illegal!

Your friend might very well hold the key to helping you achieve your goals. And vice versa. It’s true! And if that sounds just too good to be true, let me back it up for you. Research actually shows that when we share a goal with a friend and give them weekly updates on our progress, we are 33% more likely to succeed. 33%! 

OK, I realize you’ve still got two-thirds of the way to go, but the beauty of our How to Achieve Goals and Create a Life You Love online class is that it’s designed to get you the rest of the way. I feel so strongly about the importance of having a buddy help you achieve your goals, that I’m offering an amazing special right now for the summer session of the Goals class. We’re letting 50 people bring a friend for free! If you are one of the first 50 people to sign up at the regular price, grab a friend, and save them a seat, we’ll let your friend take this online class at absolutely no cost. 

By doing this, you and your friend will both be working on achieving your goals, creating the life you love, and helping each other all along the way. What better way to spend time with a friend than by encouraging and motivating each other to create the lives you’ve been dreaming of?

I won’t keep you any longer… I’m sure you’re in a hurry to check out all the details on this special bring-a-friend offer and give your friend a call!

The post Friends Hold Key to Achieving Goals appeared first on simplify 101.

Happy Friday friends! How was you week? Hope you had a good one. I’d like to invite you to participate in Finish It Friday today…especially those of you who have been sitting on the sidelines. It really is a simple and effective way to have more fun and get more done. And it’s as simple as sharing your weekend to-do list in the comments, and then, sharing your updates on Monday. The “Fun” list is stuff you’re planning to do this weekend for fun, and the “Done” list is stuff you plan to get done…or if it’s a bigger project, it’s stuff you plan to make progress on this weekend. Are you ready to share? Here’s my list. Hope you’re inspired to share yours this week.  

Fun

• Run 3-1/2 miles. Hopefully with Kailea. Check! It was hot and humid, but not too bad. Love running with my girl. So great.  
• Organizing appointment. Check! Really fun project.

Done

• Laundry. Check. I have one more load to go…and then we are caught up. 
• Plan meals + grocery shop. Check! And thanks to Collin for filling in for me on the shopping piece of this. 
• Project Life. More editing and printing (hopefully)…and some assembling, too. Yay! Check (ish.) I didn’t do any editing or printing, but I did spend quite a bit of time assembling. I really didn’t realize how far behind I was! I have a bit more assembling to do tonight…and then it’s back to editing and printing. (And tweaking my approach so this can move up to the fun category. )
• Wash reusable shopping bags. Check!
• Clean out paper basket in kitchen. (Getting ready for summer – 2 days of school left!) Nope. Not yet. I will do this tonight. 
• Update calendar with summer plans. Nope. Not yet. Again…I’ll do this tonight.
• Trader Joe’s run. Check!

Okay…I think that is plenty to keep me busy because like last weekend, Saturday is pretty much spoken for. I hope you have a terrific weekend! I’m looking forward to seeing what’s on your weekend to-do list. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for joining me again this week! I hope you had a fabulous weekend.

The post Are You Ready to Get Organized for the Weekend appeared first on simplify 101.