by Kate Fehr
We could all use a little big dose of slow and simple.
Recently, I was sitting outside my son’s basketball practice reading and enjoying a new book. I overheard two parents reconnecting after being away for the summer. “How was your summer?” The woman asked politely. “It was great, but went by so fast! How was yours?” The man inquired. “Oh my gosh, so fast. I think it was the fastest summer ever and I was not ready for school to start.” She replied.
I sighed deeply in empathy for I have also experienced just how fast life goes by. On the other hand I also felt grateful for Our Simple Summer that rolled by at a sweet pace; something I know was very intentional on my part.
As I lamented over the “too fast” culture we live in, I continued to notice scenarios before me as parents zipped in and out of the parking lot, some dropping kids off and some picking kids up.
- One mom talked aggressively on her phone as her son climbed in the car and they drove away. Been there.
- A father was urging his son to hurry up and tie his shoes to get into practice. Been there.
- Another woman pulled into a spot, tapped her fingers impatiently while watching the school door. After about 15 seconds she jumped out and ran into the school to retrieve her son. Been there too.
After many layers of simplifying our stuff, our time and our lives, my family’s approach looks very different than what I witnessed. We leave the house with more than enough time to get there. Our phones are put away so that we can be present with each other to talk, sing and laugh all the way. We arrive early giving us a bit more time to connect. As my son hops joyfully out of the car and saunters into the gym, I push the driver’s seat back, kick my feet out the window and dive into a book.
This particular day I was reading a fantastic book called In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed and was on chapter 8, Work: The Benefits of Working Less Hard. Over the last 6 months my soul has been begging me to bring my work life into alignment with our minimalist energy. The combination of this book, a couple of months of summer sweetness and experiencing the fast-paced madness of my fellow humans, has created a great urgency in me to make this happen right away.
Barely making it through the day over-stressed, overly disconnected, under-nourished and under-inspired is certainly NOT the kind of life I want to live. How about you?
With lots of love,
Kate
by CS Team
Are your precious photos stashed in boxes & bins in the basement?
Do you have thousands of pictures on your phone and computer?
Photos can be our most precious possession yet trying to keep them organized can be a nightmare.
We are excited to share our best tips and systems for photo organizing all month long. This blog is all about the Sort Step in S.T.A.C.K.S.© (Sort, Toss, Assign, Keep it Up & Simplify). We are also sharing the fabulous ABC’S system created by Cathi Nelson, President of APPO (Association of Personal Photo Organizers).
Watch Marla talk through the ABC’s on KUTV Fresh Living!
The first step is to SORT into general categories such as family, friends, major events, or time lines such as increments of 1, 2 or 10 years. This is your general sort and it goes easier if you stick to the categories.
Next take each category and SORT again using the ABC’S© system. SORT the photo’s into the following four categories:
• A stands for ALBUM. This is for the photos that you know you want printed for albums or photo books. These are the treasures that you want to look at often and share with your loved ones.
• B stands for BOX or BACKUP. These are the pictures you want to keep but don’t need to see regularly. Printed photos can be stored in a photo box. Digital ones can be stored on your computer and in the cloud.
• C stands for CAN (Trash Can). These are all the duplicates, the bad shots, and the meaningless shots! You will be amazed how many of these surface when you are going through the piles.
• S stands for STORIES. We remember most of our life by events and stories so keeping your photos this way works wonderfully.
Remember – you can get help from a professional organizer. Go to www.APPO.org to find a trained one in your area. For those of you in Utah, we have two excellent organizers.
1 – Natalie Avery, of 2sparehands, is a member of APPO and can help with all levels of the process.
2 – Donna & Scott Harper, of SharperTransfer, can help you with your photos and your old movies.
Or – Come to our August 19th LIVE workshop to meet the experts and see all our tips in action. you even get to bring 25 treasure photos and have them scanned onsite. clearsimple.com/photoworkshop
We have experienced such fun and freedom having our photos organized and ready for viewing and hope you will too! Marla, Kate & Team
by CS Team
Write down the 3 MOST IMPORTANT to do’s of your day and let that be enough.
FREE is the word we hear the most when we ask our clients to share how they feel after getting organized! Getting free of the clutter and chaos allows you to have what you really want.
One of the most challenging areas to clear & organize is our calendar. We tend to pile on way more then we can possibly handle. And technology has only added to the overload. The stress of this eats away at our health and happiness.
At C&S we love making things simpler. So here is our favorite, and our client’s favorite, tip for your time. This is the DO IT© step. (Check out SEE IT© and MAP IT© blogs.)
DO IT© – How can I possibly fit everything into my day, much less make it simple? Try out the power of 3.
Start by taking only 5 minutes at the start and end of each day to ask what are the 3 MOST IMPORTANT TASKS for your personal and work life – the ones that only you can do? Then write them done in a simple notebook, on a yellow pad, in your smart phone notebook or app (try Wunderlist), on a 3×5 card or even a Post-it note. At the end of the day, look back and celebrate getting those 3 things done! Or you will get to notice how you got distracted so you can practice again the next day.
This simple practice will help you discern what really needs your attention each day. Along with the sense of accomplishment for getting done what matters most to YOU!
Using the Clear & SIMPLE System of SEE IT© MAP IT© DO IT©, we can show you how to make time tangible and manageable!
Let us know what your experience is once you try this – Marla, Kate & Team
by CS Team
Traveling is FUN, but planning & packing can be stressful. Apps can make it easy.
From Marla – I love to travel but have always put off the planning and packing till the last minute. Of course this just adds to my stress and my belief that I can’t make traveling simple. Well I am happy to share that all aspects of traveling have changed for me and now I get excited when it is time to plan a new trip. I give the credit to the apps below. Planning my first fun trip of the summer has been a blast and quite simple. Instead of being in stress mode, I had fun preparing to visit my dear friend Michelle in CA where we will have 5 days to talk, create, walk, explore, laugh & cry.
I want to thank my business collaborator Kate Fehr for teaching me about these apps and strongly encourage you to check them out and use them on your next trip.
From Kate – For me, the biggest stress around traveling used to be the giant list I would create of all of the projects that just “had” to get done before I left town. THEN I would start thinking about planning and packing for the actual trip. With next to no time left, I would pack way more than I really needed, or even wanted. Now when I plan a trip, I get my itinerary and any related travel information into TripIt. Then I go to Wunderlist and create my plan, from what I want to get done before I leave (like making sure my home is clean) to what I want to take with me. Simple, brilliant, and oh so freeing!
1. TripIt When we first heard about TripIt two years ago, we were ecstatic…but could it really make things that much easier?! We found out it helps more than we imagined. After you book a trip, you simply forward the confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and the system builds an itinerary for you. If you make changes, simply forward that confirmation email and TripIt updates the plan for you. Once the itinerary is built, you can go in and add, change, and/or delete things. If you prefer to not send your emails, you can input the itinerary yourself or sign up for the Pro Plan where the app will update things automatically. For more details read our earlier blog here.
2. Wunderlist Wunderlist is a life changing app – you can use it for all the lists in your life. We are now running our whole business and our personal lives using this cool tool. Marla loves that it reminds her what to do and when to do it!! Kate loves having one place to dump everything from her brain, then knowing she can access it everywhere she goes. Get more details here.
3. LastPass – When Kate talks about digital organizing, the very first thing she discusses is a password keeper. She has found that one of the number one stressors around our digital lives is trying to remember and/or track all of the passwords our lives require. We love LastPass not only because you can store passwords, but you can also save banking and credit card information and digital records like insurance cards, membership cards and misc. notes. Their app is available on most devices and can be accessed offline. All of that information can sure come in handy while on a vacation, especially if you lose a credit card!
We hope you have a fabulous summer filled with travel of all kinds. We would love to hear about your adventures.
Marla, Kate & Team
by CS Team
Digging in the dirt takes us right back to being a kid. There is nothing else like it.
When Spring comes, our hands start itching to go digging in the dirt. For thousands of years spring’s arrival meant it was time to till and plant. This primal instinct is wired into us. We need this time with the earth. It is healing unlike anything else. So we feel ourselves called outside, driving to the plant store and co-creating with mother earth.
But like everything else in life, the project of planting can feel overwhelming, especially for someone like me. I am not a born gardner like my daddy was. He started each day outside, wandering through his yard and garden, picking weeds, talking to the plants and digging in the dirt. He could get things to grow that no one else could. He had a way with the earth. Growing up I wanted to work alongside him and learn but it felt overwhelming. Sadly I never did.
As an adult, when spring arrived, I would have the urge to go plant but didn’t know where to start. So one year I thought why not start small. I started with one pot on my front porch holding one plant. I let myself enjoy this sweet & simple ritual. Then everyday I was greeted by the bright flowers when I came home. Overtime this has grown to a flower garden in front of the house and more in the back.
Just getting ready to write this blog, I had to go get new plants for our new office. This spring let yourself go dig in the dirt and take in how fabulous it feels to your body and spirits.
Let yourself play! Marla Dee
