by CS Team
A little package with powerful purpose.
The holiday season is in full swing and as much as we wish that everyone could move through this time joyfully and easily, we know it can also be challenging. We are here to help simplify this time with practical & meaningful tips. See below for our GIFT to you â all our top tips for home & holidays!!
Tip for your home: Simplify.
Start SMALL. Choose an easier project like your purse, junk drawer or top of the dresser to begin.
Pick ONE. Choose one tip, one home area or one project for each season of the year and let this be enough. Then enjoy your life and loved ones the rest of the time rather than stressing about the stuff.
Tip for your holidays: Make your own traditions.
Itâs your life and your choice. Create your own meaningful traditions based on your familyâs current values and desires, not just what has âalways been done.â Why not set aside an evening in front of the christmas tree â go around and ask each person in the family what would mean the most to them? Then consciously choose and deepen your traditions.
Here are a few ideas from our lives â
- Special one-on-one time
- a sledding or skating outing
- reading a chosen story before bed
- giving to a family in need
- a game night each week
- choosing a theme for the year
- making ornaments, cookies or candy
- caroling with loved ones
Wishing you a magical and soulful holiday season â Marla, Kate & Team
Get all of our TOP TEN TIPS for Home & Holidays in this eBook.
This is our GIFT to you during the holidays! Feel free to share this with others in your life.
Visit Our Shop where all of our downloadable are 50% off for the month of December!
by CS Team
We are FREE of stuff that was dragging us down and keeping us stuck!
We are deeply honored, humbled and inspired by everyone who joined our 30 Day Clutter Clear Out this year. Wow. Thank you for showing up, taking action and sharing your wonderful stories with us! We now want to share a little with you about how our lives were changed.
Marlaâs story
Where does all the stuff come from? Â How does it keep piling up? Â Why do I still have that? These were some of my questions as I wandered around my home each day looking for something to release. Â What surprised me was that I found old stuff in every room. I couldnât believe it. Â I have been practicing living simply for years now.
Yet, I still found stuff!  Stuff that was homeless, stuff from years ago still taking up space, stuff I had forgotten. It was little things and big things.  It was singular things that held deep meaning. The most loaded items for me were the ones that tied into my kidâs childhood.  I have been an empty nester for only 7 months now.  After 30 years of creating a home for my children and caring for their things, I am on my own. My daily life is different without my kids and their stuff. It is not simple or easy to trust this change.  It is a daily journey.  The 30 day group has been a big gift to me. I donât want to do this alone.  Hearing others share about going through their drawers, magazines, emails and kids stuff was the strength I needed to go through mine.
Here was a story of mine from day 3. These awesome Pooh ABC foam puzzle pieces are from Jessicaâs 1st birthday. She is now 20. My grandson used them but he just turned 10. Both my kids say let them go. Seems like it would be easy but I have such resistance. Â I realize they came from a special friend that I miss. Â Also, I want to make sure they go to someone who will really enjoy them.
I get to trust the Universe here. I get to practice what I preach.
To close, I am compelled to share that I saved the toughest stuff for the end â the digital and calendar clutter.  I am now seeing the light at the end of my email nightmare tunnel. Kate is teaching me how to use Wunderlist to handle all my to doâs and keep them organized in one place. And I have released giving time and energy to work that doesnât serve my soulâs purpose. More coming on these insightsâŠ
Kateâs story
Since relocating to Los Angeles in June of 2013, my little family and I have been radically shifting our lives and home. What started as just wanting to greatly simplify turned into minimalism. For us that means having only things that we use and/or support us in living truly soul-inspired lives. Weâve discovered that we want to spend as much time as possible playing, loving, learning and adventuringâŠand we now know it is possible with less stuff taking up time, energy and money.
Through about 25 layers we have released somewhere around 75% of what we moved with. Our drawers, closets and cupboards are organized and everything has a home. Sure our day-to-day activities bring the stuff out and we end up with piles of things that sit, often longer than I would like (I even sometimes let the kitchen stay messy and play games instead of cleaning), but homeostasis is easily reinstated. It is the most liberating experience of my life. (moreâŠ)
by CS Team
Get our most simple, yet powerful, TIPS for time!
Weâve walked you through SEE IT, MAP IT, and DO IT for Time, which each include one of our top tips. If you missed the earlier blogs, read them now. Weâd like to offer you one more fabulous tip and an offer for getting even moreâŠ
- Write a VISION for your day, week or year.
Many people think they are just too busy to make plans so we are offering the simplest of tips that can really make a difference in your life. Take 2-3 minutes and just write down your vision for the day or week. Â Let it be 5 words or less. Here are some examples â
- Today I will be hopeful
- Today I choose action
- I know what matters most
- This week is about family
- This week I celebrate me
- I am moving slowly
- I am grateful for life
Then try the same thing for your year! The most powerful time of the year is your birthday! Write a simple phrase of 5 words or less that encompasses what you most want in the next year. Make it visual and keep it with you throughout the year.
For a powerful and life changing vision recorded in your own voice see Ideal Life Vision. This tool will transform your life.
If you have found these tips to be helpful weâd like to invite you to purchase the whole collection along with our best tips for paper in our great little ebook TOP TEN TIPS for Paper & Time for only $10.
Letâs honor our life by honoring our our time!
Marla, Kate & Team
SEE IT. MAP IT. DO IT. © and S.T.A.C.K.S. © are property of Clear & Simple, LLC. All Rights Reserved
by CS Team
The Energy of Spring is contagious!
New life and fresh ideas abound. The urge to create has been building all winter long. Sadly, it can also be overwhelming because of all the fun choices. Just imagine taking a trip down to the local gardens and gazing at the abundance of flowers. Where do you start?
To help you really enjoy this Spring, we are sharing our top ten organizing tips throughout the month. Get a printable version of all of our TOP TEN TIPS for Spring.
This week is about the Practical & Pretty:
3. Keep it simple by choosing one project for the season.
It can be overwhelming to think about all the clutter clearing and organizing projects in your home, which can block you from ever starting. So begin with choosing just ONE project for each season and over time your space will be transformed. Also, each season has itâs own feel.
Spring is the perfect time to transform your closet, garage or craft area.
Remember to write a vision of what you want to create before you dive in (the MAP IT Step).
6. Get inspired and bring in new life with bright colors.
How often have you caught your breath at the sight of a flowerbed in full bloom? Just like the blossoming flowers, bright containers make us happy. Our brain and bodies react to color first. So make your space or project one you will love to spend time in with bright, fun colors!
To find containers
for all areas
of your home in gorgeous colors, we love & recommendÂ
The Container Store!!
Share your stories and photos on social media, #TheCSWay. We LOVE hearing from you!
Marla, Kate & Team
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by CS Team
If letting go was easy the clutter wouldnât be there.
The TOSS can be tough â we so get that! We shared in SORT First. TOSS Later. that sorting everything first, without trying to decide whether or not to keep the items, makes the toss step easier. When you can see exactly what you have and how much, you get clear about whether to keep or release things. Now we want to give you even more support for this challenging step in S.T.A.C.K.S. © (Sort, Toss, Assign, Keep it up, Simplify).
Here are our top ten tips to make letting go easier:
- Let go only when you are ready. To force the TOSS step is abusive whether we are doing it to ourselves or to someone else. If you let go of even 5% of your things you will free space for the new to come in. From Marla â I learned this from my meditation teacher Mary Nickel, of Time Out Associates, who helped me see that I couldnât clear a lifetimeâs worth of buildup in my body in a 2-hour session or even in 3 months. I have been meditating for 21 years and I still need a clean out every day.
- Let your vision support you. Ask the question, âDoes this support my current vision?â If not, be willing to let it go. It is powerful to print your vision and put it on a wall so you can see it often!
- Find an Agency you care about supporting. Let go of the idea that you have to figure out where everything is going. Keep it simple and find one agency that is meaningful to you and donate your things to them. If you have unique, valuable items, trust that someone is willing to help you.
- Believe in win-win. Choose Trust over Fear. Look to the gift that you are passing on to others who will love what you no longer need or want. One of our favorite stories is about a client who kept getting stuck on this step because all of her items were so valuable. They represented thousands of dollars of her time, energy and money. But the stuff was paralyzing her. Finally, the day came when she had to let go. She called in sick, sat still, went deep inside, and called out for inspiration. Within minutes, she jumped up and started hauling all the stuff outside to the front yard. She took it all out along with a big sign that said FREE. Then she sat in her living room all day and spied on the people finding treasures. She let herself witness their joy and delight. It set her free. It was a beautiful way to honor the value of what she was letting go. She was then able to start a meaningful new chapter of her life.
- Trust your body to tell you. A simple exercise is to hold the object, close your eyes, take a deep breath and ask for a Yes or No. If your answer is yes, you will feel your body lift and expand. You will feel a YES. If your answer is NO, your body will sink or get heavy or tired. This tells you that the object is draining your life force. It is time to let it go. This works well with clutter clearing tasks also.
- One box, one pile, or one type of item at a time. This will support you in staying present and keep you free of distraction. Keep the other piles hidden in covered bankerâs boxes.
- Ask the question âDoes this serve me in the current chapter of my life?â Remember all of our clutter tells a story. Is this clutter from a past chapter that you are ready to close so you can get on with the new?
- Always do the TOSS step when you are fresh. Because this step takes so much energy, it is important to give yourself a chance of success by having as much energy as possible.
- Have a temporary staging area. If you canât let it go and donât want to keep it, give yourself permission to have a temporary staging box or area. Then choose how long. We suggest no longer than 3 months.
- Lastly, get help if you need it. We have other professional organizers come into our homes seasonally and support us in letting go of what builds up. Because it is our own stuff, it is very challenging for us. If you would like support from a professional organizer, check out NAPO and UPO.
Remember all choices boil down to FEAR or TRUST! You can trust to let go of what no longer supports you and that you will have what you need when you need it.
We want you to live free of clutter and replace it with meaning.
Marla, Kate & Team
by CS Team
Bring the sweet energy of spring into your space!
Ritual is a great way to anchor your intentions. It helps you to massage and soften and release tough holding patterns and bring to conscious reality the longs of your heart. Stephanie Bennett Vogt
To help you really enjoy this Spring, we are sharing our top ten organizing tips throughout the month. Get a printable version of all of our TOP TEN TIPS for Spring.
This week is about simple rituals to embrace spring:
*Guest Message â The One Minute Clearing Exercise from Stephanie Bennett Vogt.Â
Try this unbelievably simple, yet profound practice of only one minute a day for seven days. You will have a shift in your space and in your being. Click here for the video and feel spring energy move into your own body.
Clear & SIMPLEâs Tips on ritualâŠ
1. Invite fresh, clean energy into your space.
On a warm, sunny day, open up your windows and doors, turn on some music and let the freshness of spring flow through your space. This helps move the stagnant winter energy to rejuvenate all the moving molecules. Then let yourself enjoy the new energy and what you are inspired to do throughout the day.
8. Dig in the dirt â or simply plant one pot.
Ahh, the yummy feeling of dirt in your hands â dry, rough, wet, packed, smooth â so many sensations just waiting for you. Spring is the time to let your inner child go outside, get your hands dirty and connect with the earth. For those of you that love gardening, you know how healing this time is. Give yourself permission to put earth time first and love every minute.
If gardening isnât really your thing or you donât have the time, just pick out one cool pot, find an already created flower arrangement and plop it in. Place it on your porch, where you can enjoy the beauty every day when you arrive home.
Remember that SEE IT. MAP IT. DO IT. © work for projects like planning a garden.
Get a printable version of all of Our TOP TEN TIPS for Spring.
Remember Spring is about new life â so open up to the sweetness of a new day. We would love to hear from you anytime. Marla, Kate & Team
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