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4 Powerhouse TIPS for Traveling!

Want to take the STRESS out of packing? Wouldn’t it feel great to be all ready the day it is time to leave?

Get Ruth Hadlock’s 4 simple, yet powerful Tips for Travel. We are here to tell you they work!! Ruth is the owner of Streamlined Space and has a gift for making everything SIMPLER!  Use these travel tips and ENJOY!

Watch the VIDEO below along with reading the TIPS!

My clients tell me they spend the day before their vacation running around in circle, frantically trying to pack for their trip! How can you make this process stress-free? Here are 4 suggestions.

Clear & SIMPLE, Ruth Hadlock, Travel

  • Create a packing list. This sounds so remedial, but do you actually do it? It’s easy nowadays to keep a checklist in an app on your phone. It’s not that I’m trying to convince you to pack lighter; I’m simply encouraging people to pack the appropriate items for the trip you will be experiencing!
  • Staging. As with so many organizing projects, you need a place to lay out all your clothes and items. Do this at least 48 hours in advance. I’ve found that my clients pack too little or too much or not the right items because they do it last minute without thinking clearly.
  • Pack Correctly. Pack shoes against the edges of the suitcase. Roll your clothes rightly, placing larger, bulkier items at the bottom and ending with smaller, lighter ones. Put your toiletry kit and accessories on top. This way, you won’t have to sit on your suitcase anymore to be able to zip it! if you have dress clothes you don’t want wrinkled, lay them a the bottom of the suitcase, with the ends hanging out over the suitcase edge. Then fill the space with your rolled items and carefully fold the dress clothes ends on top. You can even use dry-cleaning bags to decrease wrinkles. Because the bag is slippery, creases won’t set in as much.
  • Get the right luggage and accessories. Here are some of my favorite items, in no particular order:

Compression Bag | Bag Bungee | Toiletry Kit

VIEWER HOMEWORK: On your next upcoming trip, commit to using a packing list and staging your items ahead of time. You can view my favorite items on the Resource Page of my website streamlinedspace.com.

Ruth is a Clear & SIMPLE Certified Organizer™ (CSCO). Read about our 3-tiered training program.

We are all having adventures this summer and embracing tips that make traveling simpler. Let us know if these helped and what you are up to.

Marla, Kate & Team

Is Organizing Overwhelming? See SORT in action!

SEE THE SORT in action – Thanks Ruth Hadlock (a Clear & SIMPLE Certified Organizer™)

You’ve picked the organizing project to do, you have set aside the time and now the overwhelm hits. You look around at all the stuff and feel paralyzed about where to start…We are here to help! Read and watch below as Ruth Hadlock brings the power of SORTING FIRST to life!!

 

Clear & SIMPLE, Ruth Hadlock, SORT

Click to watch Ruth on TV

 

We just love when other people share in their own words the steps of The Clear & SIMPLE Systems™. It affirms to us how simple and supportive they truly are. Ruth Hadlock of Streamlined Space, who is also a Clear & SIMPLE Certified Organizer™, explains the power of a simple SORT.

PARALYZED! My clients tell me it’s often overwhelming when they decide they are going to finally organize a junk room/craft room/etc. They are inspired and ready for action but as soon as they walk into that room and look around at all the clutter they are paralyzed – they don’t know where to start and what to do! I’m a certified organizer in the Clear & Simple method, a step by step system called S.T.A.C.K.S. © that takes you through the entire organizing process.  The first step is SORT. I have seen over and over again that by sorting first all the other steps are easier; they actually build on each other.

So we start with setting up for the SORT. Put together 15-20 bankers boxes. You can buy them at Office Depot or Costco [or best price at Wal-mart]. These are great because once you’re done with this project, you fold up the bankers boxes until you’re ready to use them for your next organizing project. [read Clear & SIMPLE’s blog post on bankers boxes to get more]

The goal of SORT is to put like with like according to categories. As you pick up an item, ask “What is it?” and put it in a bankers box with a post it note label. For example, if you were sorting your office, you might have books, office supplies, filing supplies, projects, etc. If you don’t have a box already with that category, then make a new one. 

The benefit of using boxes is you can freeze the process in time. How many of you have tried to organize an area, run out of time, friends are coming over, so you shove it into a closet and shut the door essentially wrecking any organization you just tried to implement!? This way, when you run out of time, simply stack the boxes against a wall and when you have time another day, you can easily pick up where you left off.

The key is to focus only on sorting. You’re not jumping ahead to “Am I going to keep it? ” Where will I put it?” “Does it need a container?”. Those are later steps. Just sort until the room is completely categorized.

Does this take time? YES! But how long has this room of yours been the way it looks now? I promise this method pays off if you follow the system. You will feel the progress!

VIEWER HOMEWORK: Choose a room in your house to sort. Download the Clear & SIMPLE Systems Card for free. Next time, I’ll share the 2nd step “Toss” with you.

Marla, Kate & Team

Would you like to become a professional organizer? Check out our in-depth, 3-tiered training program.

Clear & SIMPLE, SEE IT MAP IT DO IT & S.T.A.C.K.S.