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Simplified Living Solutions

Tag: client stories

Facebook was key in decluttering efforts

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If you want to declutter but you don’t want to see everything end up in the trash, or if you lack the resources to hire a professional organizer, rent a truck to move the big stuff or invest in a dumpster, I’ve got a great solution for you. I actually have to give all of the credit to one of my clients. She was sick and tired of all of the stuff in her house, cramping her style and she finally decided to take matters into her own hands. What she did next was absolutely brilliant. She began posting pictures… read more »

Category: Decluttering Tips | 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: , , ,

Filing fiasco

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This is a before picture of the filing system of a very busy, overwhelmed executive client of ours. The problem she was struggling with is a very common problem with entrepreneurs, her business grew very quickly. Doesn’t sound like a problem, does it? Actually it’s a good problem to have, but it causes a great deal of everyday stress because there are no systems in place to track or complete the endless amounts of office work you have as a business owner. The problem with this filing system, and most of the ones that we see, is that there is… read more »

Category: Paper Management | Tags: , ,

Perfectly productive

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Look at the dramatic difference in this after picture from our Messiest Desk Contest. Imagine how much more productive the client will be now that they are organized and not distracted by all of the visual clutter. Here are some simple tips on how to set up a productive, stress-free work environment: Keep the things you use the most within fingertip reach. Keep the things you use often within arms reach. Keep the things you use rarely the furthest away. Everything on or in your desk, and in your office, should be assigned a home based on it’s use. Don’t… read more »

Category: Office Organization | Tags: , ,

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

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If you don’t believe that you can be taught organizing skills, think again. My oldest daughter was recently preparing for a trip out of town. She began planning (organizing) for the trip about 2 weeks ahead of time by starting a list of things she needed to bring or do before the trip. She had learned these organizing skills by living with me. Some of the skills were taught and some of them she just observed me doing. As a professional organizer, I got such a kick out of her list that I just had to share her outline. Things… read more »

Category: Random Musings | Tags: , ,

I remember when…

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I can still remember a time so vividly, almost like it happened yesterday. When in fact, it’s been closer to 20 years ago (yikes!). I was a recently divorced, single mother of two young girls, 6 months old and 3 years old. I held a very good full time job, but since we were not receiving any type of financial support from their father or my family, and I had to pay ENORMOUS daycare bills, were struggling to put it mildly. We had just the very basic things in our apartment. What I remember most is that we only had… read more »

Category: Random Musings | Tags: , , ,

Oops, I did it again…

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I’ve talked about my problem with time clutter many times before. It continues to be a challenge for me since my desire to help others is so strong, I forget to think about myself, and my own needs, when I accept commitments. In May 2013, I cleared my schedule completely for 2 weeks while I took the time to map out the vision, or direction, for my life, family and business. After mapping out the vision, I had to remove things from my schedule that didn’t fit into that vision. It was a great feeling to get clarity on what… read more »

Category: Goals | Tags: ,

Grieving mother

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I worked with a grieving mother last week who tragically lost her young son 6 weeks ago. Because the death was so unexpected, the family was not prepared for the financial burden of a funeral. There was a enormous outpouring of support, both financially and otherwise. This mother had been facing a gigantic pile of cards, scribbled notes of who gave what, jumbled notes of people’s addresses, etc. Every time she would attempt to sit down to attempt to write thank you notes, she was overwhelmed by the task because of the completely disorganized pile. We worked together to sort… read more »

Category: Simplified Living Solutions | Tags: ,

Creating a responsibility chart that works

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Yesterday, I shared a great chart on our Facebook page that you can use as a visual reminder to help your kids learn routine & structure. I also mentioned that making the chart together helps kids take more ownership of the process too. That post prompted one of our clients to share the responsibility chart that she uses to rotate the chores between her 2 daughters. She has given me permission to share the chart and how it works with you here. First things first, after the family all worked together to come up with a list of the areas… read more »

Category: Home Organization | Tags: , ,

Use it or lose it

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Every single thing that we own has a story behind it. Many of our items represent things that we had hoped to do but just never got around to. Rather than facing all of that reality head on, we just default to keeping things so we don’t have to deal with it. That’s where hiring a professional organizer comes into play. A big part of the service we provide as professional organizers is coaching people through the agonizing decisions about their stuff. Last week while working with a client, we started going through a gigantic paper pile. With each piece… read more »

Category: The Truth About Clutter | Tags:
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