by Kate Fehr
Spring is just around the corner! Are you ready for freedom & fun?
Join us once again at the Spring Home & Garden Festival for new tips and inspiration
Here is one to inspire you now…
Tip #5. Choose containers that you LOVE for the areas and stuff you use the most!
One that we love is the Feathergrain Wood Bin from The Container Store. It’s pretty, sturdy and functional. Use it in deep cupboards as a make-shift drawer, or in closets to organize items from toiletries to office supplies. Since they are lightweight you can easily move them about the house, like for toys or art supplies.
Get the rest of our top tips from Marla who will be speaking ONLY once each day, so mark your calendars!
Friday March 6th @ 2 p.m.
Saturday March 7th @ 10 a.m.
Sunday March 8th @ 11 a.m.
Visit our Booth #2743, near the Design Stage, for Expert Tips and to enter our drawing!
You can also Purchase Discount Tickets.
Show Information:
Friday March 6th @ 12:00 p.m. through Sunday March 8th @ 6:00 p.m.
South Towne Expo Center
9575 S. State Street
Sandy, Utah 84070
Go Here for additional information and directions.
by Kate Fehr
Are you caught up in the ongoing battle of inbox clutter? Welcome to the club!
Email is absolutely one of the biggest places of stress, clutter, and loss of productivity. Below are 5 ways to tackle that craziness. And let me just say, that it definitely takes practice and consistency for them to work.
1. Process your email, do not just “check it.” – This is one of the most common areas of email time waste. When you set aside time to mindfully deal with your inbox, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can get through things and in turn, how much time you will have for other things in your work day. Schedule the time in your day specifically for this.
2. Have a system for the incoming. To effectively process your email you’ve got to know what to do with each one. My email system is the same as my paper system. To R.A.F.T.© my email, I have a folder for each step.
R – READ: for all the emails lists I am on. I have a dedicated time each week to read through these. Once I have, I toss them or file them.
A – ACT: for the emails that need a response, or info needs to be placed on a calendar, etc. Each day I have scheduled time during the opening and closing of my work day to handle these.
F- FILE: for future reference.
T – TOSS: this is just my trash folder, but I like to stick with acronym for ease.
3. “Unsubscribe”!!! – There is a wealth of information on the internet and most of us want to read up on our fair share. Subscribing to email lists is a great way to do this…until the emails start flowing in. Be realistic about the information you truly want to receive and unsubscribe to the rest.
4. Do NOT use your inbox as your To Do List – As a former “email to do list” junkie, I cannot stress this enough. Combining your to do list with emails makes both systems less effective mostly because you get lost in between the two lands. Use your planner, a spreadsheet or an app on your phone for action items.
5. Clear out “Sent” and “Trash” folders – This is just like taking our house trash out to the curb for pick up. It’s clutter, it’s sub-conscious stress. Get it out of your email and off your mind. Depending on how often you reference your sent files will depend on how far back you want to keep things. For my line of work, I only save a month’s worth.
To reiterate some of my statements above, I learned all of these things the hard way. The honest truth is that I’m still practicing them. Even though I have the foundation and systems in place, sometimes I simply don’t follow them. The great thing is that they are implemented and therefore make it fairly quick and easy to restore homeostasis.
Please write and let me know what you do to help with the email clutter – Kate Fehr
For more information on using R.A.F.T.© for your paper, Read This Post.
R.A.F.T.©, Diane Hatcher 2000-2015
by Kate Fehr
We all love choices, but at what point is variety a burden rather than a blessing?
Courtney Carver of Be More With Less posted an inspiring article about simplifying decision making in some top areas of our lives. As I read through it, I just kept taking deep breaths and realizing it really can be simple. I’m going to be sitting with this over the next week or so and really clearing out even more things, commitments and demands on myself.
My top 3 areas to simplify from her article are…
- Choose fewer items at the grocery store
- Undo your to-do list
- Pretend the internet is broken
I invite you to read her article “Maybe Variety isn’t the Spice of Life” and see if it sparks a little simplicity inspiration in your life.
by Kate Fehr
And what are you going to say “No” too?
Today’s society is so “go, go, go” “do, do, do” and “spend, spend, spend” that every day we have numerous invitations to say yes. Within all of this craziness, most of us are moving through this life like zombies; constantly maxed out just from the overwhelm of all that stands before us. We are simply just saying yes to too many things.
The brilliant Stephen Covey said, “You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly, smilingly, unapologetically – to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way to do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside.” Yes, yes, yes!
In my book saying “no” applies to any of, but not limited to, the following…
- Birthday Parties
- Shopping
- Vacations
- Projects
- Possessions
- Email Subscriptions
- Magazine Subscriptions
- Food
- Baby Showers
- Bridal Showers
- Clothes
- Shoes
- Electronics
- Social Media Profiles
…you get the idea
Today, I invite you to schedule some time for yourself to reflect on what the “bigger yes” is stirring deep down in your soul. Once you have an idea of what that is, breathe deeply and feel into what allowing that into your reality would be like. Then think about what it would be like to say no (“pleasantly, smilingly, unapologetically”) to everything else.
You REALLY do get to decide what you engage with. It may take some time to get clear about what you really do want and then more time to transition into a new way of living, being and interacting with the world, but it IS possible.
Here’s to consciously choosing our realities!
