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Simplified Living Solutions

Author: Sue Anderson

I’m a “Do It Yourself-er”

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I have always been the type of person that would prefer to do things myself. I like the feeling of accomplishment I get when I do things myself and I like the challenge of figuring out how to do it on my own. In all honesty, I think one of the biggest factors that played into me being a do-it-yourself-er was that there was never an excess amount of money that I could use to hire others to do it for me. Well, I can tell you that my opinion of not having enough money to have other people help… read more »

Category: Time Management Tips | Tags: ,

It’s a constant battle

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Junk mail is a real problem. Unless you keep a good handle on it, your mailbox will be full of it every day. I work with so many clients that are completely overwhelmed by their piles of paper and mail. Junk mail is my biggest pet peeve so I am extremely proactive about stopping it. Even though I have taken all of the steps to stop junk mail that we share with our clients, I have been bombarded with a bunch of junk mail the last two weeks. Probably because of the upcoming holidays. I had received about 15 different… read more »

Category: Paper Management | Tags: ,

Suffering from email overload?

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Go through ALL of the emails currently in your inbox, one by one, and decide what you need each email for. Create folders in your inbox with the following names and move each email into the appropriate folder once you make the decision on each of them. Reference: Is this something that I don’t necessarily have to see as it comes in but I need to keep it for future reference? Action: Is this something that I need to do something with or take action on? Pleasure: Is this something that I subscribed to because I am interested in reading… read more »

Category: Office Organization | Tags: ,

What? Do you think I’m crazy?

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If you think it’s a crazy idea to hire and pay a professional organizer to help you with your clutter and disorganization, think again. It costs you a lot more if you don’t hire one. Here are just a few of the ways you’ll “pay” for not de-cluttering and getting organized. You stay stuck in the past. Because your space is full of stuff from the past, there is no room for relationships, or a fuller life, to come in. Since we are constantly distracted by the things from our past that are all around us, we can’t focus on… read more »

Category: Random Musings | Tags:

Why is it so hard to let go?

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You’ve probably heard me say a hundred times that all clutter is delayed decisions. Well if we know that, why don’t we just make the decisions? We don’t make the decisions because we’re so busy that we don’t have time to slow down and think through why we are keeping things. Here are just a couple of common reasons that people hold on to things. (**In July 2016, I finished my book about this very subject which goes into even more in depth details and insight. Get your copy of The Truth About Clutter: Why Am I Holding on to… read more »

Category: The Truth About Clutter | Tags: ,

Did you just call me Fatso?

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About 7-8 years ago I found myself knee deep in depression. At that time, I didn’t realize that I had turned to food for comfort and happiness. By the time I realized it, I had put on 50 lbs! Needless to say, none of my clothes fit me anymore. I held on to those clothes though because I knew I was going to lose the weight and fit into all of the clothes again SOMEDAY. Since I had spent a lot of money on the clothes and some of them were relatively new, I wondered how I could just give… read more »

Category: The Truth About Clutter | Tags: , , ,

Ask yourself the hard questions

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If you’re like most people, you probably struggle with what you should and shouldn’t keep. Part of what professional organizers do is help our clients think through whether or not they should keep something by asking them a series of questions. If you jot down this partial list of questions and start going through your home or office asking yourself these questions for every item you have, I guarantee you’ll see that you don’t need, or even want most of them. What is this? What do I use this for? Do I really even use this? How many of these… read more »

Category: Decluttering Tips | Tags: ,

Weed constantly

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A very big part of getting, and staying organized, is weeding constantly – everywhere. Rather than looking at your entire house or entire office and thinking how you have to weed all of it, break it down into manageable pieces. This way you can tackle it in little bits rather than thinking you have to give up an entire day to weed out unwanted stuff. Here are some simple ways of breaking down the weeding: Closets – Do just the linen closet. Do bedroom closets by doing just the shoes, just the shelf, 1/2 of the hanging clothes, etc. Bookshelves… read more »

Category: Decluttering Tips | Tags:

Recycling is easy

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You know, when we find something too big for us or overwhelming, we tend to put it off. We procrastinate about doing it. Do you know I wanted to recycle for years before I finally just jumped in and did it? Why? Because I was afraid I would have to learn a lot of stuff about what could and couldn’t be recycled. I wasn’t sure how I would contain it until the trash company picked it up, etc. I had what seemed like a million questions and just like you, I’m a very busy person. Once I finally slowed down… read more »

Category: Decluttering Tips | Tags:

Three common organizing mistakes

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Buying the container first. – People tend to see a really cute organizing product that they just know is going to work perfect for something. Chances are it won’t get used. It’s important to organize and purge your belongings before you decide what you’ll contain them in. Keeping paperwork without thinking it through. – Life is busy. We’re all in a big hurry. Because of that, most people feel like they’re in too big of a hurry to deal with the papers that come into our home or office and so we keep them just in case. Not determining a… read more »

Category: Home Organization | Tags:
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