Organizing Your Chaos Blog
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Do you feel like this?  This was me about six years ago. I kept telling myself, “I’ll clean my closet when I have time”. I was busy, tired, and overwhelmed. Managing our six kids, a business, and life. I knew that I had to STOP and take care of my closet. This had become a place where I tossed stuff until I had time to put it away. But, it didn’t happen. Not for a long time. I realized that I needed to take the time to declutter and organize. I spent one whole day decluttering my closet. I sorted through my clothes and eliminated everything that I didn’t like, fit, or wear. Then, I took the things out of my closet that didn’t belong there. And finally, I looked at the way I had it organized and I rearranged the areas that needed it. I felt AMAZING and RELIEVED after I was done. So many things that were in my closet went out the door; either to the trash, donation, or back to who it belonged to. The “less is more” phrase is so true! Less stuff = more freedom. Freedom from the things that don’t serve me. Freedom from the feelings of guilt I had because I “didn’t have time”. Freedom from the frustration I had when I couldn’t find something that I knew that I had. Does your closet serve you well, or do you need to take a day and deep dive into your closet? I would encourage you to set aside a day to tackle your closet. Supplies that I suggest before you begin:
 I’d love to see your before and after photos!
For more inspiration, The Ultimate Closet Design and Organizing Guide. Let’s Do it Together!
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The laundry will keep coming, no matter what is going on in the world today. The coronavirus season will either increase or decrease the laundry in your home. I say this because as our activities change during this season, you may have more time right now to focus on your laundry area. Some people who are not going into their place of work and working remotely from home may not need to “get dressed for work” and could possibly reduce the amount of laundry that is created during the week. Others will discover an increase in their family’s laundry because more people are home. Whatever your laundry situation is, if you need to work on your laundry area, this may be a good time to jump into this project! Begin by evaluating what your laundry area is being used for. Is it only a laundry area, or is it a multi-purpose area? Has it become a dumping ground for things because you’ve been “too busy” to slow down long enough to create easy to use systems and maintain them? This season of life that we are all looking at right now may be just what you need to make some changes in your laundry room!
 Do you have an easy and functional way to corral the dirty laundry that needs to be washed? How do you manage the clean laundry? Who does the laundry - is it your or is it a family group effort? Can the laundry room be simplified?
Some people like to do all their laundry on one day of the week. If this is your preferred way, how do you contain it until it needs to get washed? We have bins in our laundry room that are designated by color or type. These are the bins that we use in our house: special (hand wash/hang dry), towels/sheets/blankets, colors, whites, and dark colors. Our family has used the same laundry baskets for 19 years! They just stay in the laundry room. The dirty laundry gets put into the correct basket, and when it is full, it gets washed. I know that a full laundry basket is one load. Others like to do laundry throughout the week. I have done 1-2 loads of laundry every day for years when everyone lived at home. (This year we are down to 4 out of 8 people). There was no way under the sun that I could do it all in one day. Now I am able to do laundry just a few days a week. I prefer this method to the all in one day method because I can easily fold the laundry at the end of the day before I go to bed. Once the laundry is done, it’s time to fold and put away. This is where a lot of people stop. They just don’t like to fold and put away laundry. This leads to piles of clean clothes that sit unfolded - getting wrinkles - and potentially getting mixed up with dirty clothes. I’ve seen this happen. Then there is so much more laundry to do when you don’t know what’s what. Creating a simple system is key to making doing your laundry easy. Whoever folds the laundry in our home puts the clean clothes in each person’s assigned spot. Then, everyone picks up their clean laundry from the laundry room. It’s an easy delivery system for us. Maybe you keep laundry baskets in each bedroom, and send them back with clean clothes. Perhaps your family members do their own laundry. If this is the case, assign each person their day of the week to do their laundry and put it away. My family members now do their own laundry, and I just keep up with the laundry for my husband and myself, sheets, and towels. I'm encouraging you to use this season as an opportunity to dig into your laundry room and make changes that will help make it easy! Figure out what works best for you, and I’d love to see what your laundry room looks like! Let’s Do it Together!  How many times have we said “I’m too busy” or “I don’t have time” as a reason or excuse for not taking care of household projects? How many times have we told ourselves “I’ll do ____ when I have time”? We are moving into a period of time that will allow you and me to dive into household projects. We will have time because the world as we know it is slowing down. This doesn’t mean that everything will come to a screeching halt. However, with the restrictions that are being imposed, we will be at home much more than we have been.
Eating out in restaurants, for example, has been eliminated in many states. (I do, however, encourage you to continue to order from your favorite restaurant via carry-out.) Not spending time with family and friends at sporting, music, theater, and social events frees up time that you would be away from home. You now are given the opportunity to use this time to focus on the various home projects that you have put on the back burner due to being “too busy”. Here are some ideas of what you can focus on while you are home.
Declutter, discard, and then organize. As you tackle this area, you will not only see visible results, you will feel the stress that the disorganization created fade away. I promise you will have a spring in your step! Prioritize the above areas, and work your way around your home while you have the time! This may be the only time that you are encouraged to stay home! Kind of like a big “time out.” Embrace this opportunity to deep dive into your home spaces. Imagine how you will feel when the restrictions are lifted and your home is organized. The relief of getting those projects done is priceless. What area will you focus on first? Let’s encourage each other. :) Let’s Do It Together! De-cluttering can be overwhelming time-consuming. While it’s true de-cluttering can take a lot of time, the results can be life-changing! Before organizing your space, I like to talk about getting to Ground Zero. This is the place where all the unnecessary, unwanted, and junk is gone and you are left with the things you love and need. When you get here you will then be able to begin to organize your spaces. De-cluttering first is key!
You know you need to de-clutter your kitchen, office, spare room, or garage. You keep looking at the space and walking by it, vowing to get started “tomorrow”. Tomorrow comes and goes, as do weeks and months. Why haven’t you started? Why do you keep walking by, feeling overwhelmed, guilty, and frustrated? It may be because you don’t know HOW to start to de-clutter that space. It’s easier to put it off, ignore it, and tell yourself that you will get to it later. Here are 5 questions I ask my clients. Answering these questions will help you to gain clarity and decide if you need to keep the items or not. Let’s get to it!
Let's Do It Together! |
Monique HorbI coach busy, tired, and overwhelmed women who struggle with "winning at work and losing at home". We work together to transform your life from chaotic to calm. De-cluttering your home, paper piles, and over-flowing schedule will you the confidence, time an energy to do what God created for you to do. Archives
August 2020
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