by CS Team
Let’s take a look at your Bedroom. Is it time for a change?
Is your bedroom a sanctuary or a dumping ground? As professional organizers we are often asked, “where should I start organizing in my home? There is clutter and chaos everywhere.” Your bedroom is the place to start!
The bedroom often becomes the landing zone for homeless items, or the make shift home office, the TV room, or even a place where a person can’t sleep anymore because there is so much clutter. This breaks my heart.
Your bedroom is meant to be a place of rest, relaxation, intimacy and healing. You spend more time here than anywhere else. It can be a favorite room in the early morning and late evening. One of the best gifts you can give yourself, especially in the cold months of winter, is creating a bedroom that is a sanctuary.
So here is a true story from Marla’s past – I asked my talented friend, Jeanine Mallory of Fresh Space Organizing, to help with a client’s bedroom. The woman had moved in months before, but her bedroom was boring and plain. She is a talented artist, loves color, fabric and unusual things. So we needed a makeover. By following the steps below and working together we transformed her bedroom in a day. We went shopping at Ikea! We hung purple curtains on the wall behind her bed along with sparkly lights. We brought in bright colors and candles. We used things she already had and found perfect homes for them. She now loves being in her bedroom. She is reading, journaling and sleeping so much better. How about you? Is it time for a makeover of your bedroom?
SEE IT – take a look at where you’ve been and where you are
Be brave. We invite you to take a look in your bedroom today and pretend you are a stranger. Just notice what is there and how it feels. Are there items that don’t belong in your room and that drain you when you look at them? What patterns do you notice? What do you notice that you love? Take it all in.
MAP IT – make a plan for where you want to go
How do you want your bedroom to look, feel and function? Do you want color or neutral shades or a combination? Do you want busy or simple? Do you want to add something like a reading or meditation chair? What you do want to take out or change? Take 5-10 minutes and write down what you want.
DO IT – take the actions to get what you want
Choose an hour or a day to transform your space. Give yourself this gift. Here is a super simple solution:
Set the timer for an hour and remove the following things from your bedroom:
1 – Anything that doesn’t belong in this space.
2 – Anything that is now past time or no longer relevant, like old clothes or broken furniture.
3 – Anything that doesn’t support your vision of how you want your bedroom to be.
Then set the timer for one more hour and ask what you can add or move or change so that the room feels fabulous to you!
Please let us know what you do!
Marla, Kate & Team
SEE IT. MAP IT. DO IT. © Copyright of Clear & SIMPLE, LLC. All rights reserved
by CS Team
Love lists? Dread lists? Try this cool tool!!
We are on fire about Wunderlist and we just have to share it!! We have known about it for some time, dabbled with it a bitand then got totally hooked. Because it is available across most devices, we always have our lists with us. We are able to MAP easily. We can share lists with other people through the app or by emailing them. We can also print and carry them around when needed.
A feature that we have just begun to use, but are very excited about is Emailing to Wunderlist. You simply forward the email to Wunderlist and it becomes a To Do. The subject is the Task Name and the body of the email gets put into the Notes. Even attachments are included on the To Do. Seriously? Thank you Wunderlist for giving us a way to clean out our inboxes!!
We are now running our whole business and our personal lives using this cool tool. We loves that it reminds us what to do and when to do it, having one place to dump everything that we need to remember, and knowing can access it everywhere we go.
You can have lists for…
- Places to visit
- Personal To Do’s
- Work To Do’s
- Personal Projects
- Work Projects
- Books to read
- Groceries – with sub categories for each store she shops at.
Check out Wunderlist on iTunes and Google Play. Go to the Wunderlist Website to download for other devices.
Wunderlist helps millions of people around the world capture their ideas, things to do and places to see. Whether you’re sharing a grocery list with a loved one, working on a project, or planning a vacation, Wunderlist makes it easy to share your lists and collaborate with everyone in your life. Wunderlist instantly syncs between your phone, tablet and computer, so you can access your lists from anywhere. Take a look at the possibilities in the picture below! All of this possible in the FREE version, but they do offer a PAID version with even more options.
We hope you embrace this fun and simple way to manage your lists! Let us know what you think.
Marla
Creators of the Clear & SIMPLE Way to get & stay organized!
by CS Team
Get our most simple, yet powerful, TIPS for time!
We’ve 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. We’d like to offer you one more fabulous tip and an offer for getting even more…
- 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. Let it be 5 words or less. Here are some examples –
- 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 we’d 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.
Let’s 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
Plan your week by your ROLES rather than massive lists.
We measure our life energy, our being and our doing by measuring time. We all have the same “24 hours” in each day. How is it that some people are naturally able to be more present and accomplish what is most important while others struggle?
Using the Clear & SIMPLE System of SEE IT, MAP IT, DO IT, we can show you how to make time tangible and manageable! This blog focuses on the MAP IT step for time – check out the SEE IT and DO IT steps.
MAP IT – Most of us avoid planning our day, week or year because it feels overwhelming even thinking about all we have to do. We have a simpler approach that our clients find easy and joyful to do. We suggest you try this out for planning out your week.
Make a simple list of the ROLES you have first –
- Self Care
- Partner
- Parent
- Home Care
- Work
- Family & Friends
- Community
Then ask what do I need/want to do this week for this role? It is much easier for your brain to sort the to do’s according to the roles you play in your daily life. Remember the MAP (Make A Plan) IT step makes a difference. The mere act of writing something down allows your brain to release and let go of holding that information.
One of our favorite Day Planners that is already set up with seven columns for your roles and the days of the week is Planner Pad. Their brilliant format allows you to funnel your to-do list from general to specific, all within your calendar week! Or just use a spiral notebook or yellow pad – the point is write it down.
Planner Pad even offers digital apps for all of your devices! Check out their website for a video on how it works.
However you map your time, make sure it works for YOU!
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
What does organization have to do with relationships you might ask?
Why is it that “Mr. Organized” partners with “Ms. Chaos”? Think about how often you are at odds with someone in your life because of organization issues:
- Not being able to find what your boss is looking for.
- Arguing with your child about the way their room looks.
- Being accused of throwing important things away.
- Always being asked where something is.
As professional organizers we constantly witness the stress in our clients relationships over organization styles and decisions. Too often those with the ability to organize do not understand when others cannot maintain their environment. Those that are organized need to keep in mind that our research shows only 10 – 15% of the population is naturally organized. Hence, the need to be able to communicate and get help when lack of organization gets in the way.
This barrier between those who naturally know how to organize and the other 90% who don’t is why our main focus is teaching people how. The foundation for any organizing project or communication is three simple steps outlined below.
SEE IT – take a look at where you’ve been
Begin by taking a realistic look at where a lack of organization is impacting your life and relationships. Choose just one area or issue. What’s working, what’s not and why? Keep it simple. Then look at it from both sides and try to see what is at the heart of the conflict. Often our relationships serve as mirrors to look at ourselves. Once you have clarity, why not share your truth with this person or persons and then ask for them to share.
MAP IT – make a plan for where you want to go
Now that you have each shared your truth, each person can create a simple vision for what needs to change. Try asking – what is the single most important change that needs to happen? What is one action you can take? Let this be enough. It is imperative to the relationship that each person has a chance to share their vision and what is important to them.
DO IT – take the actions to make it happen
How you choose to implement your changes or DO IT will be very specific to the relationship. Some may come up with a way to do it together, while others might call in outside help, and still others will compromise on different levels.
Some examples of this are:
- A family sets up a system for incoming mail and an active paper system together.
- A mother and child call it fun time, put on music, and make a game of putting everything back in its’ home.
- A couple decides to hire a professional organizer because they would rather enjoy their time together hiking or taking dance lessons.
- A boss and assistant set up a weekly 1 hour focused time to go through all the lists and questions.
- Two friends or buddies get excited about helping each other one weekend a month with the clutter areas – We all have them you know.
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