1. Emotionally
Excessive clutter often causes feelings of guilt, anger, shame and embarrassment that create an inner feeling of burden and heaviness.
Clutter can drain your energy - and you may not even notice it until the clutter is gone. Every item in your home has an energy to it. When items go a long time unused, unloved and uncared for, they become stuck, stagnant energy that actually physically drains you of your energy. Energetically too many items in a house can cause a sense of overwhelm or disturbance.
2. Mental Health
Clutter decreases your ability to enjoy life causing stress, confusion, inability to focus, and often leads to depression. Sometimes clutter is initially caused by depression, but clutter also makes it nearly impossible to recover from depression. Most often once people start releasing their clutter, their energy comes back and their depression gets better, sometimes it may go away for good. There are some people who are extremely sensitive to their environments and just never realized what a difference it could make.
Even in people who don't have ADD, clutter causes ADD like symptoms.
3. Relationships
Clutter and chaos causes conflicts in relationships often due to chronic lateness and disorganization.
Cutter can keep you from socializing because you don't have the energy or can't find clothes to go out. It can keep you from getting close to people because you don't entertain or want to have people visit you in your home. Again, bringing up shame or embarrassment.
4. Time
Every thing you own requires some amount of care and organization. Simply having too much stuff eats up your time like crazy. If you have too much stuff, it's much more difficult, time consuming, and expensive to get organized.
Having too much stuff often leads to procrastination and lateness which wastes yours and other people's time and causes a whole host of other problems.
Not being able to find things is a huge time cost of clutter. In extreme it can waste several hours every day.
5. Loss of Self-Esteem
Clutter can cause you to feel like you aren't capable or are missing some basic skill that everyone else "seems" to have so you feel bad about yourself - the truth is you are not alone, many people have issues dealing with clutter. It is actually way more common than one thinks.
6. Physical Health & Stress
The stress caused by clutter is enormous. Every time you can't find something, or an argument flares up with a loved one, or you can't relax because you worry about all the things you need to do, but can't till you get the clutter cleared, your stress levels increase. Stress will then lower your immunity and resistance and so you may have frequent, persistent colds or other physical symptoms such as headaches, fatigue, sinus problems and allergies and more. It also results in not eating healthy meals.
7. Family
Clutter causes irritability, resentment and stress that leads to temper tantrums, outbursts, and overall disharmony (especially, if people are having to deal with "other people's clutter". You may start to feel like you aren't a good parent or aren't a good example for your kids
Excessive clutter can cause depression, acting out, bad behavior in children due to their inability to focus caused by the clutter. Self-judgments are a source for many forms of separation and disturbance within a family. Then of course, judgments on others create the same.
8. Financial
All things need a place to be – a home. Whether that home is an extra room, a piece of furniture, or a container, you continue to pay for things long after you initially acquire them. Clutter directly costs money in the following ways:
o Credit card debt - often for unused stuff
o Late fees for bills paid late
o Renting storage facilities
o Duplicates purchased because you can't find things – this happens a lot!
o Some people move to larger home to accomodate the stuff
Clutter affects people's careers. Studies have shown that people with cluttered desks and offices are less likely to be promoted. This of course affects how much money you can make. And if you own your own business –then productivity directly affects your bottom-line.
9. Safety & Hygiene
In extreme clutter, people have a hard time walking without tripping or bumping into things. Often there are things hidden in the clutter that are very unsafe for children. There are cases where a young child is pretty much confined to a playpen all the time because it just isn't safe to be out of the playpen.
Inability to clean cluttered areas can lead to extreme dust and even mold and mildew that can create even more potential health problems in yourself and your children.
10. Your Future
Holding on to clutter often grounds you in the past at the cost of your present life and your future.
Clutter distracts you from being able to think about your goals, projects, hobbies and get things done.
Learning to let go of items is a way of learning to let go of the past so that you can move on. This is often seen after divorce, death of a loved one or even with inheritance of items people actually don’t want or have space for but feel obligated to keep.
Most of us experience some of these areas. Some of us may experience many of these. If you are, it may be too difficult to dig out alone. Please seriously consider getting help.
There are people and companies such as SIMPLY CHANGE in your community that specialize in helping people improve the quality of their life and the lives of their families.
There is no stigma about this - most everyone can use some help in these areas.
Please reach out if needed. Your life is just too precious and too short to live in a manner that doesn’t support all the areas of your life. Help is available and change can happen quickly!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Making Money from Your Closet
Making money while cleaning out your closets.
Most people have hundreds of unclaimed dollars hanging in their closets just taking up space? How about you?
Do you have last year’s purchases that you may still have not worn yet?
Do you have expensive clothing that no longer fits your fit body?
How about clothes that no longer fit your ever-changing personality.
Clothes you wish you never would have bought but did.
Clothes you don’t even remember how they got in your closet!
Sound familiar? We all make shopping mistakes or out grow our style of clothing, but why live with them the rest of your life? Turn past year's bargains into cold hard cash right now by putting them on consignment or selling them in a garage sale. Or exchange them in a local clothing swap. (These are becoming very popular these days in many cities.)
Consignment stores are popping up everywhere because people know that they can find great bargains on quality used clothing for themselves and their families. Selling on consignment is a great way to clean out your closet, make a little money and create space for new clothes that would better suit who you are today – not who you were 5-10 years ago!
So how do you start? You do it by pulling each item from your closet (don't forget your dressers too) one at a time, and separate into piles based on the following criteria:
• You love it and wear it faithfully, and you like how you feel when you wear it.
• You like it and you wear it fairly often, or it works well with a few of your outfits.
• You hate it and never wear it. In fact you wonder what you were thinking when you bought it, it doesn't fit, or you bought it because it was a bargain.
• This pile is for undecided items--those that don't really fit into the other piles.
Many people like to have someone with them in this process to have another set of eyes. The same way you should never buy eyeglasses without someone you respect giving you their opinion. This is why our business of Professional Facilitators of Change is becoming so popular. People desire and need the help of another – it saves money, time and frustration.
Here are five easy steps to complete the job:
1. Once you closet is empty, put all the items from the "Love it" pile back into the closet. This is a great time to sort them by color and type of clothing. Shirts got here, pants go here, and scarves go here…..
2. Then put the items in the "fairly often" pile back into the closet. You should be left with two piles of clothing--the "hate it" pile and the "undecided" pile. (This is where the fun begins!)
3. Neatly fold everything in the "hate it" pile and wish it well, for it will be taking a little trip out of your home and your life.
4. Go through the "undecided" pile piece by piece, and ask yourself what value each piece currently gives you.
Warning: Avoid sentimentality - such as, “this was given to me by my mom or sister I can’t let it go.” “The last time I wore this I had such a great time in the Bahamas.” These are not reasons to keep your closet cluttered with items that do not suit you Now!
And do not get sucked in by the clothing trying to convince you of its value and reminding you how good you used to look wearing it. Clothing is sly and it will say anything to get you to keep it around. It will remind you of how expensive it was, or that it was a gift from your mother-in-law, but do not fall for these sneaky tricks! You must be strong and objective. Clothes that aren't serving you need to be purged to make room for valuable, well-suited clothing. Note that the fact that you are undecided on this pile indicates that you don't love it, which means you should be able to get rid of more than half of it if you're fierce in your decision-making process. Once you've culled the pile, you should have a whole bunch of clothes that didn't make the cut back into the closet. This is where your secret cash stash is hiding.
5. Call a local consignment store and find out what their guidelines are for consigning clothing. Determine if you need to make an appointment or if you can just drop in. Ask how the proceeds are split between you (the consignor) and the store, and you should be able to get at least 50 percent. Ask what happens to your clothes if they don't sell, most consignment stores will donate anything that doesn't sell within a certain period of time to a shelter or another nonprofit organization. You don’t want the clothes showing back up on our doorstep.
7. It’s clear with some clothes that they are not suited for consignment. They will either be boxed up to go to a shelter or non-profit or, if they are torn or in any other way in bad shape, through them away.
8. Last step is a trip to the consignment store of your choice. When back at home let yourself feel the difference of a cleaned out closet, what it represent to you in creating new space for a new you and generating money from what was just hanging around.
Simply Change
Professional Facilitators of Change.
Most people have hundreds of unclaimed dollars hanging in their closets just taking up space? How about you?
Do you have last year’s purchases that you may still have not worn yet?
Do you have expensive clothing that no longer fits your fit body?
How about clothes that no longer fit your ever-changing personality.
Clothes you wish you never would have bought but did.
Clothes you don’t even remember how they got in your closet!
Sound familiar? We all make shopping mistakes or out grow our style of clothing, but why live with them the rest of your life? Turn past year's bargains into cold hard cash right now by putting them on consignment or selling them in a garage sale. Or exchange them in a local clothing swap. (These are becoming very popular these days in many cities.)
Consignment stores are popping up everywhere because people know that they can find great bargains on quality used clothing for themselves and their families. Selling on consignment is a great way to clean out your closet, make a little money and create space for new clothes that would better suit who you are today – not who you were 5-10 years ago!
So how do you start? You do it by pulling each item from your closet (don't forget your dressers too) one at a time, and separate into piles based on the following criteria:
• You love it and wear it faithfully, and you like how you feel when you wear it.
• You like it and you wear it fairly often, or it works well with a few of your outfits.
• You hate it and never wear it. In fact you wonder what you were thinking when you bought it, it doesn't fit, or you bought it because it was a bargain.
• This pile is for undecided items--those that don't really fit into the other piles.
Many people like to have someone with them in this process to have another set of eyes. The same way you should never buy eyeglasses without someone you respect giving you their opinion. This is why our business of Professional Facilitators of Change is becoming so popular. People desire and need the help of another – it saves money, time and frustration.
Here are five easy steps to complete the job:
1. Once you closet is empty, put all the items from the "Love it" pile back into the closet. This is a great time to sort them by color and type of clothing. Shirts got here, pants go here, and scarves go here…..
2. Then put the items in the "fairly often" pile back into the closet. You should be left with two piles of clothing--the "hate it" pile and the "undecided" pile. (This is where the fun begins!)
3. Neatly fold everything in the "hate it" pile and wish it well, for it will be taking a little trip out of your home and your life.
4. Go through the "undecided" pile piece by piece, and ask yourself what value each piece currently gives you.
Warning: Avoid sentimentality - such as, “this was given to me by my mom or sister I can’t let it go.” “The last time I wore this I had such a great time in the Bahamas.” These are not reasons to keep your closet cluttered with items that do not suit you Now!
And do not get sucked in by the clothing trying to convince you of its value and reminding you how good you used to look wearing it. Clothing is sly and it will say anything to get you to keep it around. It will remind you of how expensive it was, or that it was a gift from your mother-in-law, but do not fall for these sneaky tricks! You must be strong and objective. Clothes that aren't serving you need to be purged to make room for valuable, well-suited clothing. Note that the fact that you are undecided on this pile indicates that you don't love it, which means you should be able to get rid of more than half of it if you're fierce in your decision-making process. Once you've culled the pile, you should have a whole bunch of clothes that didn't make the cut back into the closet. This is where your secret cash stash is hiding.
5. Call a local consignment store and find out what their guidelines are for consigning clothing. Determine if you need to make an appointment or if you can just drop in. Ask how the proceeds are split between you (the consignor) and the store, and you should be able to get at least 50 percent. Ask what happens to your clothes if they don't sell, most consignment stores will donate anything that doesn't sell within a certain period of time to a shelter or another nonprofit organization. You don’t want the clothes showing back up on our doorstep.
7. It’s clear with some clothes that they are not suited for consignment. They will either be boxed up to go to a shelter or non-profit or, if they are torn or in any other way in bad shape, through them away.
8. Last step is a trip to the consignment store of your choice. When back at home let yourself feel the difference of a cleaned out closet, what it represent to you in creating new space for a new you and generating money from what was just hanging around.
Simply Change
Professional Facilitators of Change.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Time Saving Tips - Just minutes a day can make a difference
Time-Saving Tips to Get Organized
What can you do in the time it takes popcorn to pop? In short: a lot. Learn how to reclaim the time you spend waiting, whether at home or on the go.
Let's face it: we all put off organizing our homes, purses, cars and lives because we don't think we have time. "Once you start looking at all the time you spend waiting for this or that, the minutes really add up," says Donna Smallin, the author of The One-Minute Organizer. Put those wasted minutes to work, she says; even just five minutes a day adds up to seven hours a month — plenty of time for organization.
While you're playing the waiting game, try out these quick and practical organizing tips:
While popcorn is popping
3 minutes in the kitchen
* Organize the day's mail — toss the outer envelopes and inserts in bill statements along with junk mail.
* Organize a drawer; if there's not a lid for a container, toss it.
* Be brave as you open the fridge to play "leftover roulette," popping open mystery containers to see what's still edible, suggests Donna. Also, check out the expiration dates on condiments and half-full jars of spaghetti sauce.
* Rifle through that overflowing coupon box and toss the expired ones. Then file new ones by category and date.
* Take out the trash, and make sure the recyclables are in order.
* Empty or load the dishwasher; wipe down a shelf while you're at it.
While cookies are baking
12 minutes in the kitchen
* Plan dinners for the week and write a grocery shopping list.
* Organize your junk drawer. Toss the stuff that's really garbage, like toys from fast-food restaurants, dusty plastic silverware and wrappers from used packs of batteries. Then use a compartmentalized plastic tray to separate loose stamps, paper clips, coins and things that aren't really junk.
* Organize your pantry: throw out expired cans, stale bread and cereal boxes with only crumbs left.
* Spruce up your spice drawer or cabinet: put the spices you use most toward the front, and throw out "mystery" spices without labels.
* "Chop up some fruit and make a fruit salad for tomorrow," suggests organizing expert Maria Gracia.
While the tub fills up
3 minutes in the bathroom
* Toss used towels in the laundry bin and hang up some clean ones.
* Organize your make-up drawer. A study from the College of Optometrists warns that mascara, lipstick and eye shadow more than three to six months old can be a hotbed for bacteria. Check the expiration dates in tiny print, or just toss whatever looks gunky.
* Organize the space under the vanity: toss crusty bottles of hair product, face wash/cream you haven't used in months, stray cotton balls and cotton swabs.
* Straighten your linen closet, and make a pile of threadbare washcloths and hand towels you can convert to dust rags.
* Toss expired prescriptions and over-the-counter medications; wipe down a shelf in the medicine cabinet.
* Clean the toilet. Pour in a quick-acting cleaner, then brush and flush.
* Gracia suggests organizing your hair accessories in an over-the-door shoe organizer. The pockets will help you sort everything beautifully, so you can easily find what you need.
During TV commercials
4 minutes in the family room
* Organize a DVD shelf or book shelf, and make a donation pile of movies your kids have outgrown and books you won't read again.
* Venture under the couch to hunt dust bunnies.
* Put all toys (including the dog's) in a toy box or basket in the corner of the room.
* Recycle old magazines, and put those you intend to read in the magazine rack.
* Do some quick calisthenics so you don't feel like such a couch potato.
While your kids brush their teeth before bedtime
5 minutes in their room
(You may want to wait to do these things with your kids.)
* Organize the sock and underwear drawer, tossing anything that no longer fits or just doesn't look wearable anymore.
* Put all stray stuffed animals into baskets.
* Turn down the bed, pull down the shade and turn on a lamp. You're all ready for bedtime stories.
* Put all stray tapes and CDs into their cases. To get your child involved, buy a colorful plastic carrying case for him to store his lullaby and playtime music in.
* Donna suggests laying out an outfit for the next day, ready for your child's approval or a quick switch. This will save time during the morning rush.
Waiting to pick up your child from school
5 minutes in the car
* Bring a trash bag and pick up all cups, napkins and litter in the car.
* Pay bills: store statements, envelopes, checkbook, register, envelopes and stamps in an accordion file with handle.
* Schedule dental and doctor appointments, order prescription refills, confirm appointments.
* Donna suggests organizing the interior of your car, including the glove compartment and the catch-all netting on the seat backs.
Waiting in line at the post office or grocery store
3 minutes on your feet
* Write a to-do list for the next day.
* Make a quick phone call to schedule an appointment you've been putting off.
* "Look at the supermarket magazines and see if you can find any organizing tips," says organizing expert Maria.
* Organize your purse — put stray coupons in the side pocket, check hand lotion bottles to see if they're empty, throw out candy wrappers and old store receipts.
Waiting at the doctor's office
10 minutes in a comfy chair
* Organize your social life: make a lunch date with a friend you haven't seen in a while.
* Tackle your "should-do" list: write a thank-you note or a card to a friend; call your mother.
* Close your eyes, practice deep breathing and organize your thoughts.
* Check out the health magazines that are mainstays of a doctor's office. Learn something new about your kidneys, or some great exercise tips.
* Bring a tote bag with a couple of sewing repair projects.
On the phone, on hold
1-3 minutes (we wish!) in your home office
* Organize your e-mail: create file folders that make sense and delete spam.
* Go through paper file folders one a time, looking for outdated papers to toss or shred. Mark where you left off for next time.
* Send a virtual greeting card from your computer to let someone know you care.
* Run the virus scan or disk defragmenter on your computer to keep it healthy.
* Go through your file of tax deduction receipts and paper-clip those in the same category to simplify the process next April.
Tips credited to HGTV.com under organizing.
What can you do in the time it takes popcorn to pop? In short: a lot. Learn how to reclaim the time you spend waiting, whether at home or on the go.
Let's face it: we all put off organizing our homes, purses, cars and lives because we don't think we have time. "Once you start looking at all the time you spend waiting for this or that, the minutes really add up," says Donna Smallin, the author of The One-Minute Organizer. Put those wasted minutes to work, she says; even just five minutes a day adds up to seven hours a month — plenty of time for organization.
While you're playing the waiting game, try out these quick and practical organizing tips:
While popcorn is popping
3 minutes in the kitchen
* Organize the day's mail — toss the outer envelopes and inserts in bill statements along with junk mail.
* Organize a drawer; if there's not a lid for a container, toss it.
* Be brave as you open the fridge to play "leftover roulette," popping open mystery containers to see what's still edible, suggests Donna. Also, check out the expiration dates on condiments and half-full jars of spaghetti sauce.
* Rifle through that overflowing coupon box and toss the expired ones. Then file new ones by category and date.
* Take out the trash, and make sure the recyclables are in order.
* Empty or load the dishwasher; wipe down a shelf while you're at it.
While cookies are baking
12 minutes in the kitchen
* Plan dinners for the week and write a grocery shopping list.
* Organize your junk drawer. Toss the stuff that's really garbage, like toys from fast-food restaurants, dusty plastic silverware and wrappers from used packs of batteries. Then use a compartmentalized plastic tray to separate loose stamps, paper clips, coins and things that aren't really junk.
* Organize your pantry: throw out expired cans, stale bread and cereal boxes with only crumbs left.
* Spruce up your spice drawer or cabinet: put the spices you use most toward the front, and throw out "mystery" spices without labels.
* "Chop up some fruit and make a fruit salad for tomorrow," suggests organizing expert Maria Gracia.
While the tub fills up
3 minutes in the bathroom
* Toss used towels in the laundry bin and hang up some clean ones.
* Organize your make-up drawer. A study from the College of Optometrists warns that mascara, lipstick and eye shadow more than three to six months old can be a hotbed for bacteria. Check the expiration dates in tiny print, or just toss whatever looks gunky.
* Organize the space under the vanity: toss crusty bottles of hair product, face wash/cream you haven't used in months, stray cotton balls and cotton swabs.
* Straighten your linen closet, and make a pile of threadbare washcloths and hand towels you can convert to dust rags.
* Toss expired prescriptions and over-the-counter medications; wipe down a shelf in the medicine cabinet.
* Clean the toilet. Pour in a quick-acting cleaner, then brush and flush.
* Gracia suggests organizing your hair accessories in an over-the-door shoe organizer. The pockets will help you sort everything beautifully, so you can easily find what you need.
During TV commercials
4 minutes in the family room
* Organize a DVD shelf or book shelf, and make a donation pile of movies your kids have outgrown and books you won't read again.
* Venture under the couch to hunt dust bunnies.
* Put all toys (including the dog's) in a toy box or basket in the corner of the room.
* Recycle old magazines, and put those you intend to read in the magazine rack.
* Do some quick calisthenics so you don't feel like such a couch potato.
While your kids brush their teeth before bedtime
5 minutes in their room
(You may want to wait to do these things with your kids.)
* Organize the sock and underwear drawer, tossing anything that no longer fits or just doesn't look wearable anymore.
* Put all stray stuffed animals into baskets.
* Turn down the bed, pull down the shade and turn on a lamp. You're all ready for bedtime stories.
* Put all stray tapes and CDs into their cases. To get your child involved, buy a colorful plastic carrying case for him to store his lullaby and playtime music in.
* Donna suggests laying out an outfit for the next day, ready for your child's approval or a quick switch. This will save time during the morning rush.
Waiting to pick up your child from school
5 minutes in the car
* Bring a trash bag and pick up all cups, napkins and litter in the car.
* Pay bills: store statements, envelopes, checkbook, register, envelopes and stamps in an accordion file with handle.
* Schedule dental and doctor appointments, order prescription refills, confirm appointments.
* Donna suggests organizing the interior of your car, including the glove compartment and the catch-all netting on the seat backs.
Waiting in line at the post office or grocery store
3 minutes on your feet
* Write a to-do list for the next day.
* Make a quick phone call to schedule an appointment you've been putting off.
* "Look at the supermarket magazines and see if you can find any organizing tips," says organizing expert Maria.
* Organize your purse — put stray coupons in the side pocket, check hand lotion bottles to see if they're empty, throw out candy wrappers and old store receipts.
Waiting at the doctor's office
10 minutes in a comfy chair
* Organize your social life: make a lunch date with a friend you haven't seen in a while.
* Tackle your "should-do" list: write a thank-you note or a card to a friend; call your mother.
* Close your eyes, practice deep breathing and organize your thoughts.
* Check out the health magazines that are mainstays of a doctor's office. Learn something new about your kidneys, or some great exercise tips.
* Bring a tote bag with a couple of sewing repair projects.
On the phone, on hold
1-3 minutes (we wish!) in your home office
* Organize your e-mail: create file folders that make sense and delete spam.
* Go through paper file folders one a time, looking for outdated papers to toss or shred. Mark where you left off for next time.
* Send a virtual greeting card from your computer to let someone know you care.
* Run the virus scan or disk defragmenter on your computer to keep it healthy.
* Go through your file of tax deduction receipts and paper-clip those in the same category to simplify the process next April.
Tips credited to HGTV.com under organizing.
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