From Here to There: Moving Tips
'Tis the season for moving! So I thought I would offer up some of my top moving tips. It's not an exhaustive list but should still be really helpful.
Top Ten of 2020
Little Red Stool Organizing has been official for 4 years now and it has been a delight to be in so many homes! Choosing only 10 after photos of all the hard work that went in to decluttering and organizing during a pandemic is going to be next to impossible. If I don't limit myself, though, you'll be here reading for days as I had the absolute honor of working in 33 households in 2020. I'm going to stick with sharing my favorites in chronological order to keep from really showing favorites. I love each and every client that I worked with this year and each of them deserves a reward for the work they did!
Permission: 5 Things You Can Let Go Of, Linen Closet
Today we’ll be in the linen closet. You may not have an entire dedicated to just linens but we will soon see that there are other things that can be tossed from what may only be by name the linen closet. In my experience linens are in dozens of different ways and places. And those linen closets hold much more than just linens. So let’s jump in and see what we can let go of today.
Permission: 5 Things You Can Let Go Of, Playroom
Today we’ll be in the playroom talking about children’s items. This can either be the easiest or most difficult space for people to work in. It can be easy as many of these items are outgrown either physically or mentally. It can be the hardest if you tend to be sentimental. If you find yourself being super sentimental, just set those items aside as sentimental and look back through those items in another year or so. Taking items out of the playroom will allow your children to grow and learn without the hinderance of layers and layers of stuff they will never use.
Permission: 5 Things You Can Let Go Of, Bedroom
Today we’ll be in the bedroom. Dressers, side tables, and beds all lend themselves to a few easy things to let go of to make your bedroom more peaceful for you. Whether it’s just you, you and your spouse, or your child’s room here are a few things you can easily take out.
Permission: 5 Things You Can Let Go Of, Bathroom
Today we’ll be in the bathroom. It turns out we spend, on average, 30 minutes a day in the bathroom. Anyone else think it would be higher? I guess it all just depends on what you’re doing in the bathroom. No matter how much time you spend, there are a few things you can let go of across the board fairly easily that may just shave a few minutes off of your time especially in the morning when you are getting ready.
Before You Suffer a Loss
Retired, empty-nester, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. In the middle of a session she said to me, "I'm glad I'm doing this now. I can't imagine having to go through this after suffering a loss." We were up to our necks in items that needed to be decided on.
Do the Hard Thing
Years ago I created the image below. Little did I know that I would be continually learning this. I’m not a huge fan of doing things that are hard for me. (Helping you declutter and organize is easy for me so never you fear!) I keep choosing to do the hard things first and I keep growing to be able to do more and more things.
What About the Sentimental Stuff?
Every February and August I run a fun game over on Facebook. Toward the beginning of the game I ask everyone what they think their biggest obstacle will be. Every round at least one person mentions "sentimental stuff." #LRSOMG is not the time to deal with sentimental stuff but I would like to address it for those of you who are ready to deal with sentimental belongings.
One Tennis Ball
I'd like to tell you a story about how a tennis ball changed my perspective on junk. About eight years ago I did my first spending freeze experiment.
Parents and Their Grown Children
Two of the most common phrases I hear when I tell people what I do for a living are, 1. "You should see my house," and, 2. "My parents need you." We have put ourselves into storage units with all the stuff we collect and keep in our homes. And sometimes it's not even our own stuff! Whether you are the parent or the adult child, there is something for you in this article.
Not Perfect
Twice in the past week I've come across the sentiment of perfectionism holding people back from doing anything at all at times. This can work its way out in many ways. You like to do crafts but you just can't get it right so you don't do it at all. You like to bake but the last batch of cookies you made were a flop so you aren't going to try again. You like to write but the words just aren't coming out on paper the way you want them to so you give up.
The Problem with Paper
The problem with paper isn't just that there is so much of it. The problem with paper isn't just that it's coming into our homes from every direction. The problem with paper isn't just that there is so much unsolicited paper. The problem with paper is all of these things on top of which we put...
How to Get the Answers to All Your Questions
We have turned into such a crowd source group of people (I am one for sure!) that we forget that we can actually go straight to the source to find out the answers to a lot of our questions. Is that store open and what are the hours? How do you pronounce that business name? How do I care for this product? How do I get rid of this product? Most of the time we forget that we should go directly to the source to answer our questions.
From Here to There: Moving Tips
'Tis the season for moving! So I thought I would offer up some of my top moving tips. It's not an exhaustive list but should still be really helpful.
Appliance Closet
As our homes have gotten bigger so have the the number of different things you can put in them. I am not telling you to go buy a bigger place to store all of the things you own. In fact, I would tell you to go through all of the things you own, keep only the things you want and love... then spread them out giving them (and you) room to breathe.