10 DeClutter Tips

This is a room in my house, from a couple of years ago, when I had scarcely a moment to breathe. This room, like many of your rooms, became the catch all room; the room I could close the door and ignore. During this period of my life, so much was coming at me, that emotionally I could do little more than eat, sleep, work, and take care of my family the best I could. This room is a clear representation of how emotional clutter can manifest itself through physical clutter. So how did I attack this room? 

 By using several of the  10 DeClutter Tips, 

I was able to restore this room to it's natural order. 

10 DeClutter Tips

1.  Take one area and focus only on that area; it can even be a category.  For example, in my room, I took out all the boxes and either broke them down or put a couple aside to be used later for storage or give away.  Once that was done, I focused on a square foot under the window.

2.  Set aside time.  I had to schedule the time to get this task done......things that are scheduled normally get done. 

3.  Find homes for all the objects.  Many things in my room had homes, I just had not taken the time to put them there.  

4.  Make a decision. "Clutter is the result of delayed decision making".

Be willing to make a decision and quit hanging on to things.....just because. 

5.  Visualize the end goal.  Don't start anything without an end goal in mind.  My goal was to bring order to the room and to be able to vacuum the floor!

6.  Work in short spurts.  Working for about 25 minutes at a time, taking a timed 10-minute break, then working for another 25 minutes will help you not burn out so easily.

7.  Have supplies on hand......garbage bags, a box for items needing 

to be relocated and a box for items to donate.  

8.  Put on some music.  It feels more fun to have some music going.  

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had it right when they sang whistle while you work!

9.  Don't organize clutter. Organize and label only what is really necessary to keep. 

10.  Don't buy storage containers until you know exactly how much of something you are going to keep and where you are going to store it.  When you buy storage containers, you don't end up using, you have only added to the clutter. 

Now, figure out what area of your home is causing you the most stress and apply some of these tips.  

Today just might be your day for a new beginning!

peggywbarnes@gmail.com

252.670.2951

The One Thing You Need To Do To Get Organized

Ok.  Here it is.  The magic bullet you have all been waiting for.  You only have to do ONE thing to get organized.....just ONE!  

What do you think the ONE thing is?  Throw away all your stuff?  Buy cute bins, boxes and organizing tools?  Never buy anything?  Make sure your house looks like a magazine?  Spend all your free time organizing and cleaning?  

Well, as you can imagine it is none of those things.  So, what is it?  

DECIDE.  Yep, that 5 letter word......decide is the main thing you have to do to get organized.   Deciding begins in your mind and your mind controls your behavior. So, once you really decide, the behavior will follow.  

You have to:

Decide you are going to commit the time to get organized.

Decide you are going to commit the resources you need to get organized.

Decide what your goal is about getting organized.

Decide this is important enough to push through even when your motivation wanes. 

Decide to focus on keeping what you value.

Decide to let go. 

Decide what is important to you. 

Decide what you want others to deal with when you are gone.

Decide how you want to live your life - managing stuff or enjoying people. 

Once you decide, really decide, the rest begins to fall into place.  You are resolute in your pursuit and you will do whatever it takes to get to the place of organization and peace.

Are you ready to do the ONE thing?  Are you ready to DECIDE? 

Confessions of an Organizer: Closet Clean Out - The Final Results

This is the last post about my epic closet clean out.  

I don't post any before and after pictures on my website because I think they are unrealistic.  Anyone can get an area cleaned out for a period of time, but the most important thing about organizing any area is not to make it clean but to make it organized and functional.  If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times - we don't live in magazines.  We live in houses where real people live, doing real life, so organize your closets, your home, and your life accordingly. 

With all that being said, I am posting my before and after of my closet clean out because I actually cleaned it out and organized it in a way that makes sense for me. 

BEFORE

AFTER

I have never been a person that wanted or needed matching hangers.  For some reason, I was ready to have my hangers look more cohesive.  I did not change them all but I changed most of my pants, dresses, jackets and coats.  The blouses and skirts are still on basic hangers with a few nice plastic hangers mixed in - not the hard plastic, white hangers, but the hangers that are found in department store hangers.  

I will say I don't love the hangers that have the "velvet" feel to them because I am one that will quickly pull something off a hanger and the "velvet" hangers won't allow for that.  

All the "stuff" is off the top of the closet shelf.  I realized it had just become a dumping ground because it was available, out of the way space.  

When you/I have an area that is a dumping ground it is usually because you/I don't want to make a decision about something so you just put it aside to deal with later and later never comes. 

I actually did the whole closet clean out about 1 month ago and it still looks just like this.  There may be one piece of clothing on the floor today, but that is it.  

When you have things organized in a way that makes sense to you and you have less to deal with, it makes it easier to maintain your space.  

There you have it.  My closet clean out.  

What questions do you have? 

What is keeping you from doing your closet clean out? 

I would love to hear how it is going and what problems or successes you are having! 

Did you miss the beginning of this process?  Here are the links to blogs showing how this whole thing transpired! 

Confessions of an Organizer - Closet Clean Out

Confessions of an Organizer - Closet Clean Out - The Process

Clearing Out Those Emotional Closets

I spend a lot of time working with people and their clutter, actually, that is my full-time job as a Profesional Organizer and Life Coach. 

As an organizer, I work with people to get their homes organized.  

As a life coach, I spend  time helping people work through their mind clutter to get them unstuck and moving forward. 

Clutter is not just the stuff we collect, hoard, and store.  Clutter is anything that gets in the way of living our best life now. 

Do you know what needs to be cleared out of your emotional closet?

Jealousy

Anger

Unforgiveness

Perfectionism

Comparison

Resentments

Grudges

Past Abuse

Past Relationships

Guilt

Fear

Your Own Thoughts

Addictions

Old Grief

Unhealthy Relationships

Unfulfilled Expectations

Loss of Youth

Loss of Health

As you can see there are many things that can clutter our lives emotionally.  Many times we are unaware or unwilling to go through the pain of dealing with this clutter in order to move it out of our mind, heart and life.  We hold on to it because it is familiar even though it is unhealthy for us. 

The freedom that comes from letting go of emotional clutter is amazing.  

Don't you want that feeling of freedom? 

Do you want some help dealing with your emotional clutter? 

I will be holding a one day seminar, in New Bern, NC, 

February 13, 2016 from 9-4.  

Emotional Clutter is just one of the many things I will be covering.  

Take a day for you.  

Take a day to take stock about where you are, who you are and where 

you want to go. 

Registration information can be found at:

https://awesomelyfantasticbestlifeeverday.eventbrite.com

Confessions of An Organizer - Closet Clean Out

Ok.  I am about to open up myself to you, just like many of you do with me.  

I am going to show you my closet.....in a minute.  

I hope my closet says several things about me when you look at it:

1.  I am not a perfectionist, even though I am an organizer.
2.  I live in real life, like all of you, and my closet can become a mess, just like yours.
3.  I had to schedule time, just like you, to attack the closet clutter.
4.  I know I have too many shoes :) 
5.  I have several things in my closet that do not belong there.
6.  My husband and I share a closet, so not everything in here is mine. 
7.  I want my closet to be neat and functional, but it does NOT have to look like a magazine. 

What I found in my closet:

1.  Clothes that are adorable, but have passed their time with me.
2.  Clothes I paid good money for that I don't like anymore.
3.  Shoes needing to go in the trash or donate
4.  Clothes, good for one occasion, I will NEVER wear again
5.  Tags - why can't I just go throw the tag in the trash when I tear it off? (note to self - put a small trash can in your closet - pronto)
6.  Thread - I had a whole Ziploc baggie of thread.......I don't sew!
7.  Dust.  Yep, dust on the runners of the drawers, behind the drawers and on the baseboards behind the clothes.
8.  Memories - some good, some not so good.
9.  Hangers.  I hate hangers.  They become a tangled up mess!
10.A dowel rod with a magnet.  Yeah, not sure, but I am sure it had something to do with my two boys!

Things I was reminded of or learned in my closet:

1.  I like a lot of my clothes.
2.  I have aged out of many of my clothes.
3.  I had a lot more to get rid of than I thought.  I thought I de-cluttered my clothes pretty regularly, but apparently I was not ruthless enough.
4.  I didn't have to think really hard about getting rid of most things.  I had a gut feeling about an item and if I really stopped and paid attention to my gut, I knew what I wanted to do with it. 
5.  When I was putting the clothes back in the closet, I was able to get rid of a few more things.
6.  When I was organizing the clothes to take to donate, I took two things out of the donate pile and put back in my closet.....2 out of about 100 is not so bad.   
7.  I had too many dadgum socks.
8.  I make a BIG mess when I organize - nothing new, but I think it threw my husband for a loop. 
9.  I loved getting rid of stuff that no longer served me.
10.I am thankful to have a closet, clothes and shoes to wear and the ability and time to get it cleared out.  

Through the next several blog posts, I am going to walk you through the process I went through to de-clutter and organize my closet.  Please comment below, if you have any questions......I would love to hear how it is going for you. 

So here is the beginning picture of my closet - 

Here is a link to my Closet Clean Out Process and my Closet Clean Out Final Results

Confessions of an Organizer - Closet Clean Out - The Process

In my first Closet Clean Out Blog Post 

I showed you what my closet looked like prior to the clean out.
If you missed the first blog post, click on this link to see how all this began!  

In this blog post, I am going to show you what it looked like as I was organizing and talk (well, write) about the process I went through as I was doing the clean out.

Beware - it's not pretty!  

These are scuff marks on the walls in my closet.  

Who knows how they got there, but after 20 years, they just happen. 

In my first blog post, I talked about all the thread and sewing stuff I had.  

Here it is. Where in the world did all the pink thread come from?  

I pulled out all the drawers and drawer units from the closet.

By taking the drawers out of the closet, I could spread out and could clean the 

baseboards behind the units. (I will not show you a picture of the dust....ugh)

Stacks - short sleeve, long sleeve, workout shirts and workout pants.

I divided everything into categories, then went through each category and purged. 

It is much easier to make decisions when you have gathered all of one

category together to see what you really have.

Hangers - everywhere! 

See all the t-shirts in this picture? These are t-shirts that belong to my boys that

I am saving for a future project for them.  

I'm pretty sure they don't read this blog so I don't have to worry 

about ruining their surprise :) 

I had these t-shirts in bags on my closet floor and they were taking up 

valuable closet real estate. 

Did I mention there were a lot of hangers? 

My pile of give-away clothes.  

At least, 100 pieces of clothing that someone else can use!

I looked at each piece and realized many of them look cute

but don't look cute on me - t-shirts that are too short, jeans I no longer 

like the style, shirts in good shape, still cute, but don't fit, clothing I 

keep passing by day after day and never putting on to wear.

 I then went through my hanging clothes to make decisions about each piece. 

I really wanted to make sure if a piece of clothing made the cut 

that I was actually going to wear it and feel good in it.

                                               

 I could have kept this gem for sentimental reasons, but decided that 

season of my life has passed so it is time to let it go. 

 #VelourChristmasPajamas #instyleyearsago

This jacket may not look like much, but I paid a pretty penny for it, a long time ago.   

Divide the cost of the jacket by the number of years owned - the decision is then easy

to get rid of it.  This does not represent who I am or what I wear anymore! 

Remember - people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. 

The same can be said about the "stuff" that comes into your life. 

Don't hold onto anything that was only supposed to be in your life for a reason or a season. 

There are usually very few things you need for a lifetime. 

There you have it.  My process for de-cluttering my closet. 

Was it tiring? Yes

Was it overwhelming? Yes

Was it manageable? Yes

Was it easy? Parts of it

Were the decisions about what to get rid of easy?  Most of them

Was it worth it? YES

In my next Closet Clean Out blog post, I will reveal the finished product so stay tuned! 

The final blog post has been published - here it is:

Confessions of an Organizer: Closet Clean Out Final Results

The One Thing You Can Do To Make 2016 Great

Have you ever noticed how you wake up one day and a whole month or year has passed! Life is speeding along at an ever increasing rate and you are just muddling through and moving mindlessly from one day to the next.  

So how do you change that trend? 

Live with intention. 
Live deliberately.  
Pay attention to the moments.  
Plan your day.  
Adjust your plan when your day doesn't go as planned.  
Live with gratitude - focus on the good.
Quit sighing so much.
Don't project into the future.
Do things afraid.
Keep the main thing the main thing
Know your end goal in life and live accordingly
Do what you can with what you've got
Quit wishing your life away
Quit waiting for the next "stage" of life.
Make yourself focus

Life can be lived a better way......more intentionally and more purposefully.  You can make that happen, now go to it! 

Why You Won't Reach Your Goal, Even Though You Want To

Wow,  How negative can I be? 

 I've already decided you won't reach the goals you have set for yourself in 2016!!  

What the title should read, but it would have been entirely too long is:

Why You Won't Reach Your Goal, Even Though You Want To, But If You Do These Things You Can Reach Your Goal!

So what are the magic bullets for reaching your goals:

1.  You have to be a little uncomfortable 

Yep, most goals take you out of your comfort zone. 

You have to get up earlier, you have to exert more effort, you have to change old habits, you have to change your way of thinking.  All of those things take you out of the familiar.

2.  You have to really want to change, not because someone wants you to change.

Many of us will set goals because a friend, a spouse, a parent are encouraging us to be different in some way......make some sort of change.  Yes, the change probably would be good for you, but until you are ready and you own it, your exuberance and drive will fizzle very quickly. 

3.  You have to make and schedule time.

Most New Year's goals center around weight loss, getting more organized, gaining financial freedom, practicing more quiet time, etc.  All of those things take effort and time.  So, when have you scheduled time to do these things?  If you say you are going to get up 30 minutes earlier each day, is that when it is warm outside the covers or are you really committed to getting up?  If you say you are going to clean out your closet, when is that non-negotiable appointment on your calendar?

  

What is planned gets done! 

So, now, look at your goals, re-evaluate and work on being a little uncomfortable, being committed to change and scheduling time.  If you do those things, this time next year, you will be saying.....LOOK AT WHAT I DID!!!!  

HAPPY 2016!  

Are You Listening?

In my business, I have to spend a lot of time listening.......and not talking. Whew, for this magpie that is a difficult thing to do and sometimes I just don't do it as well as I should. However, listening is one of the most important things you can do, day in and day out.  What is the old saying.....that is why God gave you 2 ears and one mouth.  Research says we remember only about 25% of what we hear.....that is not a lot of remembering, therefore that is not a lot of listening.  

Active listening, implies doing just that....actively listening as opposed to passively listening. Active listening is something we all need to get better at doing because we can glean so much more information when we are really listening.  So here are a few tips for you and some great reminders for me!

1.  Focus on paying attention.  I know that sounds silly but you have to be intentional about listening.  

2.  Mirror back to someone what is being said so they can know they are being heard and being heard correctly.

3.  Maintain eye contact, nod, use vocal cues like "nice", "yes", "I see", lean forward a little bit and watch your body language.  

4.  Don't spend your "listening" time figuring out what your response is going to be (although at my age I am afraid I am going to forget what my response is going to be!)

5.  Don't interrupt (yikes - I think I might have that problem but working on it!)

6.  Don't start daydreaming, thinking about your own personal problems, your grocery list, etc.  

7.  Lastly, try to listen "non-judgmentally".  It is difficult to listen without putting your own history and frame of reference on what the other person is saying but this is an important component to listening. 

So, with all that being said, what did I just say??  Were you really listening?  
It is a fun experiment to see how actively you can listen and how actively people are listening to you.  You may find you are just talking to hear your own self talk!  
Now go use those ears and close that mouth!

The Next Step.......YOU Have To Take It

As I work with clients, as an organizer and a life coach, I find one consistent issue, not taking the next step.  Let me show you a little bit about what the next step looks like in my life and see if there is anything you can apply to your own life.  

The towel on the floor

Next step:  hang the towel up - time taken: 1 second

Husband's clean socks on the floor

Next step:  socks matched up and in the drawer - time taken:  3 minutes

Hair Dryer and Straightener on Bathroom Counter

Next step:  Put hair dryer and straightener in drawer (even without wrapping the cord or making it look beautiful!) - time taken:  2 seconds

I have a goal I want to reach this year and I have it written down.

(photo: freedigitalphotos.net/stuartmiles)

Next Step:  Schedule a few action steps that will help me reach my goal - 

Time taken: 5 minutes 

(photo:  freedigitalphotos.net/stuartmiles)

The biggest problem with next steps.....YOU have to take them.  No one else can take them for you.  You have to commit to doing what you have to do to get to where you want to be. 

Next Steps - the best way to reach your goals in life and in 

organizing your home. 

It takes less time than you think but it will take you less time if you do it now rather than taking all the next steps later.