"SIMPLE"

Have you made it a goal to get organized?

One drawer?

A few rooms?

The whole house?

Use this method to systematically get through your stuff once and for all!

S--Sort

I---Imagine

M--Move

P--Prepare

L--Let go

E--Enjoy!

SORT: When organizing your stuff, it's imperative to sort through the items.  

Buying cute containers and putting every item you own inside of them is NOT organizing your things.  It's just boxing them up!

Sort your items into categories by what you use:

1.  Often

2.  Not so much

3.  Never

Items in #3 can be sold, donated, or trashed (only for true trash please!).

Items in #2 can be stored away (if you don't have space for them, consider getting rid of these too!).

Items in #1 will stay.

IMAGINE: Picture your 'perfect space' and see what's where.

MOVE: Place your items in their 'new home' as you imagined it, and keep them there.  

When you use an item, put it back in its 'home.'  This will keep clutter at bay.

PREPARE: Now's the time to get mentally prepared to send your stuff away.  

The items from #3 above will go away for good and you need to be ok with that.  No one but yourself can give the ok to get rid of things.  It's a mental game for some of us, and once we're prepared mentally, we can get rid of our clutter once and for all.

LET GO: This is where you physically get rid of the unused stuff--for good! 

ENJOY: Sit back, kick your feet up, and enjoy your newly simplified space!

Decluttering and organizing can be a challenging task.  

But if you keep it 'simple' it can be a wonderful thing!

The genders and their 'stuff'

I know there will be people who fall outside of these generalizations that I'm about to make, but for the sake of simplicity in this post--here goes:

Women tend to have more 'fashion-oriented' stuff, and men have more 'hobby-type' stuff.

And here is what we do about that: 

Women--realize that nothing you put on your body will ever change who you are inside.

Men--realize that nothing you have to use for  ______  {fill in the blank} will ever change who you are inside.

Once we realize that who we are is not based on what we wear or what we own, life gets a whole lot simpler.

I recently read this article and it summed it up nicely.  Women tend to buy more to try to BE more...and that's exactly what our consumeristic society wants you to do.  But the message we receive from advertisers is that we're inadequate {without whatever they're selling}--not because that's the truth--but because that will make the companies a buck. It's always about profit.  Always has been, and always will be.

Once you can read between the lines (and realize the lie that you're being fed), everything makes sense and it's easier to NOT buy things thinking they will make you someone you're not.

I stopped wearing make-up over 5 years ago.  

(I didn't wear a lot to begin with, but I did actually put something on my face every day.)

No one has ever said a word to me about not wearing make-up.  Even if someone had, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.  Sure, my skin gets a bit shiny here and there, but besides glaring a flash from my face in a random picture--it doesn't reduce my quality of life one bit.

And it saves me a whole lot of time and money every day.

{I can hear some of you gasping as you read this right now!}  

It might feel scary to do it--but I challenge every single lady reading this right now to go somewhere without any make-up on (a place you would normally wear it)--and see if you survive.  (Also, take note of how much faster you get ready!)

Then move on to clothing.

See if you can simplify what you wear for one week--then two--then three.

{And leave me a comment on the Facebook page so I know you did it!}

And now for the men...

Since I'm a woman, I can't speak from personal experience, but from what I see when helping clients organize:

Men want to keep memorabilia from their childhood--but hopefully they've grown a bit since then!  Sure, it's a nice reminder of fun times, but if it's not serving a purpose now--get rid of it.  (And please don't keep it because you're "saving it for the kids"--because they'll just keep it stored in a box and won't want to get rid of it because you gave it to them!)

Men also want to keep "manly" things like tools and gear and 'guy' stuff--even if they haven't used it in YEARS.  It doesn't make them any tougher (or smarter or stronger) just by having an accumulation of things they don't use.  

So let them go.

Like I said before: I realize these are very broad generalizations--but if you fit into one of these categories, do yourself a favor and evaluate what you have and where you'd like to spend your time.

It's worth the hard work.  I promise.

Putting Things on Hold...

I'm a doer.  A go-getter.  Pretty much a busy body.

So when my body is injured or sick, it's really hard for me to just stop.

I just started training for my first half marathon and was scheduled to run 6 miles today.  But my body had a different plan.  I'll spare you all of the lovely details, but let's just say I had some digestive issues and would not be venturing 3 miles away from my house today...

It's difficult for me to do 'nothing' when I'm so programmed to just go non-stop. (And ironically, I was never a runner before this--I'm just teaching myself to be a distance runner so I can run a half marathon!)  

But life makes us stop sometimes.

And sometimes we listen...and sometimes we don't.

If we don't listen, things will keep happening until we do.

So, even though I really want to be outside running in the glorious sunshine today--I'm forcing myself to rest.  Telling myself that resting my body when it needs to rest is actually better training for a long distance run, than pushing it to the limits and injuring myself long before race day.

How does life tell you to stop?

Do you always listen the first time?

The BEST time to purge:

Our culture likes to do 'spring cleaning' but when is the best time to purge some stuff?

Since we've moved a lot in our 12 years of marriage (like 12 times!), I've always found that I like to purge when I move.  (Or maybe I like to move so it makes me purge?!)

But what if you haven't moved in a while and don't plan on moving any time in the near future?  When should you plan a purge?

Right NOW.

Sure, you can always say "I'll do it on Monday," but there really is no better time than right now.

You don't have to wipe out 90% of what you own.  It could be one thing or one box full of stuff--any amount that you can--but just do it now.  

Simplifying has a huge snowball effect.  It's amazing.  As soon as you get started, you can see and feel the benefits, and it's sometimes hard to STOP!

You can make it silly (race your kids to fill a box)--or be totally serious (sort, sell, repeat)--however you choose, the only rule is to start right now!

If you're on Facebook, pop over and comment to let us know what you purged (post a picture!)--tag your friends and tell your neigbors--get those donation boxes filled up!

Who's with me?!  Let's get to work!

Storage Units...

I've heard that there are more storage units in the U.S. than houses.

Am I the only one who thinks that is outrageous?!

Why do we pay rent for our stuff?

Why do we keep a second location filled (to the brim) with stuff?

Why do we never want to let it go?

We move our stuff to storage, keep it in storage, look throught it to find stuff in storage, add more to it, repeat the process, and one day--move it to another location.

Wouldn't it be nice to 

NEVER DO THIS AGAIN?! 

It's possible: just empty out your storage unit and vow to never pay for one again.

Ok, so you might be thinking:

But how in the world do I empty my storage unit?  

Where do I put all that STUFF?!

You put it in its place.

Everything has a specific spot where it belongs.

If you have more things than spots, then you need to simplify your stuff.

It always comes back to simplifying.  Period.

I help people simplify their stuff and I can always find things in our house to get rid of!  Life changes and you don't need things like you did in the past.  Or you get 'questionable' birthday gifts.  Or your kids outgrow things.  Or you gave in to temptation at the thrift store.

Whatever the reason--you no longer need or use or love the items--and now you can send them on their way.

Find enough of these items, and you've cleared out a shelf, a room, or even a garage-size amount of space in your home.  Now you have room for the stuff that was in storage.  

{But if I'd have to make a bet--I'd bet that MOST of what's in your storage unit is the 'stuff that can go'...}

I know I'm constantly saying "Simplify Your Stuff!"

But that's really what it comes down to--piles of clutter, overflowing rooms, cramped garages, storage units--it can all be resolved by simplifying.

If you currently pay for a storage unit, take a minute to see how that impacts your life--physically, emotionally, and financially.

See if you can challenge yourself to empty out that storage unit.  Make it a game, make it a goal--just get it done.  You'll free up your time, energy, and money that was going into that unit.  

How good will that feel?

Stuff and Guilt.

Guilt is a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has compromised his or her own standards of conduct or has violated a moral standard and bears significant responsibility for that violation.[1] It is closely related to the concept of remorse.    ~Wikipedia

What does it feel like to read that?  

How many things do you have in your house right now simply because you would feel guilty if you got rid of them?  2? 5? 100?

When we get rid of things, we're not sending away the memory that the item represents, we're simply sending the physical object on its way.  

We're freeing up physical space.  

We're creating opportunities for energy to flow more freely.

So why is it so hard for us to send things on their way?

Imagine your most prized posession.  Maybe it's in the room with you now.

Now imagine getting rid of it.  

Selling it.  Dropping it off at the thrift store--it doesn't matter where it goes, just that it's out of your life.

What does that feel like?  Does your heart sink as you envision it going out the door?  

Why?

Would you feel like less of a person without it?  Like you'd lose a piece of yourself if it's not in your posession?

Let me ask you this:  Are you the same person when you're on vacation?  When you're out of your 'normal' routine?

Yes?

Then you'd be the same person without that thing.  It's just an object.

I know--how could I speak so poorly about your ____________ {insert name here}...but if you take a step back and look at the item from an outsider's point of view, you can see that it's just that thing.

This is the frame of mind you need to be in when simplifying your stuff: As an outsider seeing items for what they really are--not the strong memories they represent--but the actual physical items themselves.  

I know it's hard.  And sad.  And stressful to make yourself do this.  

But if you truly want freedom from things, it's a necessary evil.

And you can do it.  You have what it takes.

Dig deep and get to work!

Simplifying more than 'stuff'

I like to organize and simplify 'things' but sometimes we need to simplify our lives in general.  When you hit that "everything is stressing me out" feeling, you know it's time to take a step back and evaluate your day-to-day life.

If you could watch your life from an observer's perspective--what would it look like?

Hitting the snooze button a few times, dragging yourself out of bed--too exhausted to truly be present with your kids, frantically rushing out the door, running kids to school and yourself to work, trying to play catch-up with your to-do list, rushing through lunch to finish more work, picking kids up from school and running to activities, trying to quickly make dinner (or hitting the drive-thru), finishing up more work, getting kids ready for bed, cleaning up from dinner, getting to bed too late...restless night of sleep...waking up and repeating it all over again...???

Believe me, I fall into this category completely!  The 'always doing something' category.

It's partly my personality, partly anxiety, partly 'not-wanting-to-really-face-issues-that-need-attention' syndrome.  But if I take the time to just stop--truly stop--for 10 minutes, 2 minutes, even 30 seconds--it helps bring everything back into perspective.  

When we rush from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next...and never give our minds (or bodies) a chance to take a breather, it can wear out our lives to the point of causing chronic stress and anxiety issues.  And then how do we handle that?  By doing 'more' to compensate for the feelings of being out of control.  It's weird how we, as humans, tend to do the opposite of what our minds and bodies really need.  

Stressed about weight?  We eat.

Depressed and lonely?  We shut ourselves inside and watch tv.

Sleep deprived?  We drink coffee and stay up too late.

When we can stop and just BE--just for a minute--we can focus on what we truly need.  And if we can meet that specific need--the true need--not what our craving is telling us, or our anxiety is telling us--then we can give our minds and bodies what they need and stop doing/thinking/saying detrimental things. 

But how do we find the time to stop and just be?

We simplify our lives:

Turn off the tv.

Say 'no' to things we don't really want to do.

Clear out the clutter.

Schedule down time.

Go to bed earlier.

Say 'yes' to things we really want to do.

{This may sound counterproductive--but if you can do things you love to do--it can give you energy and motivation because it's fulfilling and rewarding.}

Simplifying the 'stuff' helps us simplify our lives...but sometimes we need to go one step further and simplify our daily schedules.  

So...How will you simplify your life this week?