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Timing is Everything in a Lot of Scenarios

By |2023-03-23T11:34:13-05:00March 23rd, 2023|Categories: Time Management|Tags: , , , |

Think of timing as being proactive. The consequences of your actions, or inactions, depends on the timing of those actions, inactions, or choices really. This is true in a lot of scenarios. In this post we will explore different scenarios to drive home the point. Selling a house is a scenario where timing is important. Spring and summer are the prime times to list a house for sale. Most buyers are looking to buy a house during those two seasons for good reasons. If they have a family, it provides adequate time to enroll the kids in a different school, [...]

Preparing to Sell Your House

By |2022-03-14T10:34:38-05:00March 16th, 2022|Categories: Moving|Tags: , , , , , |

This is a very good time to sell your house for a lot of reasons. The main reason is that there is low inventory for available properties and sellers are at an advantage. This situation is commonly referred to as a ‘sellers market’.  There are currently more buyers than available homes for sale, which creates competition among buyers to get the seller to accept their offer. If you have ever sold a house, then you know that there are many preparations to complete in order to put your house on the market. Several years ago, I wrote a post called [...]

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Focus on Safety First When Decluttering

By |2021-09-07T16:00:53-05:00September 8th, 2021|Categories: Decluttering|Tags: , , , , |

Decluttering is the first part of the organizing process. You may think that only applies for older adults, but no, safety first applies to all decluttering projects for all ages.  Not only is clutter a safety issue, but as mentioned in many past posts, it causes stress. During the needs assessment consultation, the client is asked about every area to be organized. We discuss what works and doesn’t work, and potential organizing solutions for the areas that are not working so well. As we walk through their spaces, I’m focused on safety first as I think about solutions. As you [...]

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Pros & Cons Of An Interim Living Solution For Retirement

By |2020-11-17T13:41:17-06:00November 13th, 2019|Categories: Downsizing, Retirement|Tags: , , , , |

My friends Cindy & Joe (not their real names), that are in their mid-60’s recently retired. They lived in a beautiful, 3k+ square foot, 3 level home on a lake with their dog.  Both of them love the outdoors.  They didn’t plan on retiring that soon, but their situation sort of pushed them into it. They wanted to get out from under the costly, and physical maintenance of owning such a large home so they put in on the market. At this point, they weren’t sure where they wanted to live in retirement. Another thing I need to mention, is [...]

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3 Reasons to Start Downsizing Sooner Than Later

By |2020-11-17T13:41:18-06:00October 30th, 2019|Categories: Downsizing, Home Remodeling|Tags: , , , , |

At some point everyone needs to do some downsizing of their belongings. This post is about starting the downsizing process sooner than later. Purging and de-cluttering are also terms that have the same result, to reduce the number of the things we own. We accumulate many items throughout the course of a lifetime. Things wear out, or we grow out of them, or our tastes change and we get more things, maybe different things. What we do with the things we are no longer using may be different for each of us.  A lot of times we stash them away [...]

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Just In Case I May Need it Someday

By |2020-11-17T13:41:19-06:00September 4th, 2019|Categories: Decluttering, Organizing Tips|Tags: , , , , |

“I’m keeping this just in case I may need it someday”.  I hear this a lot from clients as we are decluttering. We run across an item that they forgot they had.  They will actually tell me that they forgot they had this thing, but seem happy that they found it. It may be something that they don’t need now, but they may need it someday.  In my experience, most of the time someday never comes. It’s living in fear, the fear that you may need this thing after you let it go. This mindset may be more prevalent in [...]

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Storage Unit – To Rent or Not to Rent

By |2020-12-18T13:23:31-06:00June 27th, 2018|Categories: Decluttering, Downsizing, Storage|Tags: , , , , |

In the U.S., 65% of self-storage renters have a garage in their home, 47% have an attic, and 33 percent have a basement. This suggests that Americans have more things than their homes allow them. ~Brute Storage There are a lot of situations where people have a need to rent a storage unit.  Some of those situations are temporary, or transitional, while others may be to put a band-aid on a much larger issue. The statistic above says a lot about Americans and their love of things. Renting a storage unit doesn’t always mean there isn’t a need, however, a [...]

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Swedish Death Cleaning is More About Decluttering Than Cleaning

By |2020-11-17T13:41:26-06:00June 13th, 2018|Categories: Decluttering, Downsizing, Home Organization, Seniors|Tags: , , , |

Swedish Death Cleaning, what is it?  I’ve been hearing a lot about this lately and did some investigating, this is what I learned. A woman named Margareta Magnusson wrote a book called, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family From a Lifetime of Clutter. She wrote this book after she had to deal with the possessions of her parents and her husband after they passed away. The Swedish culture has a practice called döstädning - dö translates to death & städning translates to cleaning.  The idea is not so much about cleaning as it [...]

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P.E.A.C.E. Step 5 – Evaluate

By |2020-11-17T13:41:26-06:00May 30th, 2018|Categories: Home Organization, Peace|Tags: , , , , |

Several years ago, I wrote a post called, ‘Creating Peace at Home Through Organizing’.  Click on the link to read the full article.  The article explains why decluttering and organizing the spaces in your home is so important to achieve peace in your life. In that post I used the acronym PEACE to describe the five steps in the organizing process.  The acronym was created to depict the result of organized spaces - peace. This post is the fifth and last in the series to provide more details for each step in the organizing process. You can read the first [...]

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Shredding Documents

By |2020-11-17T13:41:26-06:00May 16th, 2018|Categories: Home Organization, Paper Management|Tags: , , , |

Shredding documents that are no longer needed and contain personal information, has become a part of the spring cleaning ritual.  It makes sense, as mid-April is the deadline for filing income taxes.  We accumulate copious amounts of paper year-round, and after filing our income taxes is a great time to purge the excess. Shredding Service - Free Typically, banks and credit unions hold free document shredding events after the tax deadline, some just before. These free events typically occur in April and May. They understand the importance of minimizing the amount of paper in our homes and our businesses. These [...]

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