Category Archives for "Freedom Fridays"

Do you struggle with clutter and disorganization?

Are you frustrated by not getting things done? 

Is it overwhelming to think about creating an organizing plan?

Have you always wanted to make progress on clearing your clutter?

You need an organizing plan.

Don't Expect Progress Without An Organizing Plan

Decluttering and organizing takes planning, determination, and commitment to see your home transformed.

Don't expect progress without an organizing plan.

When you make the decision to eliminate the clutter and disorganization that frustrates and overwhelms you, upfront thought and planning are key to transform your space once and for all.

By creating an organizing plan, the likelihood of making progress and completing all of your projects over time improves.

Elements of An Organizing Plan

Step One: COMMIT

Commit to do something about it – this is an important first step.

Remember to take before and after photos to keep track of your progress and to keep you motivated!

Step Two: GOALS

Think about your goals and how you want your spaces to look and feel as you move about in your home.

Plan your spaces to serve you and how you want to live.

Come back to your organizing plan if your motivation wavers and you need a little push to keep going.

Step Three: DECIDE

Decide in advance where you want your unwanted items to go.

There are a lot of options for donation, online selling, consignment, or landfill (as a last resort).

We have done most of the research for you here on our DIY resources page.

Step Four: START IN ONE AREA

Start small.

Begin with a manageable project such as your junk drawer, linen closet or bookshelf.

Or you can start with your top 3 most important areas to declutter and rank the rest of your rooms or areas from highest to lowest.

You can rank whole rooms or areas within rooms to break it down in more manageable chunks.

Step Five: TOOLS

Ensure you have what you need to start.

Items such as boxes (donate/sell/keep/doesn’t belong), garbage bags for trash & recycling, and cleaning supplies.

Step Six: GET HELP

Ask a friend or family member to help or hire a professional organizer.

Step Seven: BOOK TIME

Book 2-3-hour blocks of time in your calendar when you typically have the most energy to ensure you stay on track and accomplish the projects you want done.

Even 20-30 minutes each time will go a long way over time.

Step Eight: REDUCE DISTRACTIONS

Reduce distractions – get a babysitter, put the dog in another room, turn off your phone/TV, make sure no one is dropping by.

Music to get you pumped up is totally okay though!

Step Ten: CELEBRATE

Celebrate your hard work on your decluttering journey and enjoy the freedom of living with less!

Once you have completed your organizing projects, it is important to assess and evaluate how your new organizational systems are working for you based on your original organizing plan.

Tweak if need be.

5 Secrets to Organize Clutter When Your Family Doesn’t Agree

Every Family is Dynamic and Diverse

Does your family disagree on how much clutter is too much? Do you have a hard time organizing the clutter in your home so it works for everyone?

Your family is dynamic and different from every other family. The various strengths, challenges, and personalities within your family make it unique. You are a family unit and yet at the same time you are different from each other.

Those differences bring a diversity of perspectives into your home and can make organizing your clutter a challenge.

It may be that you and your family don’t agree on how clutter should be organized. I get it. My family and I don’t always agree either, although I’m usually the one who’s right. I am the Professional Organizer after all, right?! Ugh wrong.

We each have various needs and different ideas about how much clutter is acceptable and what we are comfortable with.

You may like things tucked away out of sight while your kids need clear, open bins to see where everything goes. Your spouse might like to display his prized beer mug collection and you, well, not so much.

We all land somewhere on the clutter scale. Being at one end or the other or somewhere in between isn't right or wrong, it just is what it is.

Different Learning Styles

Another factor that can play into disagreements around how to organize your families clutter stems from the fact that we all learn differently.

There are kinaesthetic, tactile, visual, and auditory learners.

When putting an organizational system in place, take these learning styles into account so that the end result works for everyone.

The same organizing system may work quite well for each family member but different cues are needed to make it effective for each person.

For example, the visual learner needs to see a bill to be reminded to pay it and does well with charts. A person who learns best by hearing may need a calendar ding or a voice recording reminder.

5 Secrets to Organize Clutter When Your Family Doesn’t Agree

Secret One

Understand yourself and who you are living with.

What type of learner are you? How about your kids or spouse? 

Find creative ways to compromise with each other when setting up organizational systems.

You will actually be less frustrated because your family will embrace the new system if their needs are respected as well as your own.

A win/win is always better than a win/loss and your clutter gets organized!

Secret Two

Get everyone involved. This is critical.

Agree together what your greatest areas of concern are when it comes to how your home functions and talk about what each family members priorities are. 

When your family discusses and plans your organizing projects together, you will have more buy-in and help to get it done.

Establish a plan with a budget in mind and schedule the time to work on organizing projects together.

It is always better to encourage "skin in the game" than forcing your ideas, or doing it all by yourself, and then getting frustrated when clutter returns and things don’t stay organized.

Secret Three

Don’t be too quick to say no to an idea.

If one of your family has what they think is a great idea and they are excited to implement it, why not try it? 

Be sensitive to the needs of others. The worst thing that can happen is that it doesn’t work well and you have to tweak it later. The best thing that can happen is that it might be really awesome!

Secret Four

Let go of perfect or “it’s not good enough”.

Trust me, very few homes or organizing systems are perfect. You don’t live in an Ikea catalog and neither do your neighbors! 

Comparison and perfectionism are real joy killers.

Surround yourself with colors, accessories, and stuff that you LOVE. It doesn’t have to match or go perfectly together. It doesn’t have to be the latest organizing product from Bed, Bath & Beyond. ​

Repurpose and use what you already have on hand as long as you need it, use it, love it and it does the job for your family.

For instance, one of my all-time favorite desk drawer organizers is the white box that your iPhone comes in. Really, try it and you'll see what I mean.

Secret Five

Keep your organizing strategies simple and functional. Don’t over complicate your organizing efforts.

The simpler your family systems are, the more likely you will all stick with it over the long haul and stay organized over time.

Overcomplicating the end result will only lead to frustration and disorganization. 

Organizing Your Families Clutter With Diversity in Mind

Organizing clutter with each of your families diverse needs in mind will bring mental and emotional well being to you and your family, not to mention a better functioning home so you can have more fun and downtime together.

If the clutter in your home is leaning more towards a chronically disorganized state, it might be best to work with a professional organizer who can help with understanding why you accumulate stuff, provide you with effective strategies for letting go and teach you how to stay organized.

We Are Here to Help

A Day of Rest

The ancient wisdom of resting one day a week is deeply rooted in good health practices and our natural rhythms.

Science also agrees that a day of rest is imperative for your body to heal and repair itself.

You need a day of rest every week from the responsibilities of your life to renew and recharge.

Reasons You Should Rest, Renew, Recharge

Allowing yourself a day of rest to renew and recharge is one of the most important ways you can take care of yourself.

You spend your days working hard and playing hard. I encourage you to unplug hard. As intense as your effort is 6 days a week, your rest day should be just as intense.

If your body is not given the time to restore and recharge, your immune system weakens and disease can set in. So taking a day of rest actually increases your life span!

The mind also needs to shift out of overdrive to a slower pace. If not, constant stress and exhaustion becomes hard to overcome. Depression is an epidemic and part of the reason is that we are constantly on the go.

Time off from busyness and work allows you to be more creative, calm, focused and productive when you get back at it.

Spiritually speaking, when you are constantly on the move, you don't give God the time or space to care for and lead you in His purpose. What your constant action is saying is that it's completely up to you to work for everything and you don't trust God's provision for your life.

This simply is not true.

You can rest in the fact that there is enough, you don't have to do it all and you are loved no matter what you do or don't do.

You can never earn it by running faster and faster on the treadmill of life.

Resting and trusting that you are completely loved with nothing you need to do to earn that love, is powerful beyond measure.

This is your true state of being and how you were meant to live.

Two Types of Rest

There are two types of rest - active and passive.

Active rest is your typical weekend activities - watching TV/Netflix, going for a walk, grocery shopping, coffee with a friend or morning yoga.

Passive rest is doing absolutely nothing. No laundry, no golf game, no cleaning the house, no going to the gym, no social media (gulp).

Allowing Time to Rest

So let me ask you, how many days of "passive rest" do you schedule into your week?

My bet is not one.

I get it. You're busy with work, the kids, your long to-do list that doesn't end but keeps growing.

But nothing is ever really done is it? There is always dirty clothes in the laundry hamper or dishes in the sink or bills to pay and papers to file.

That's life and it will never stop.

You will rarely experience a perfect moment in time when you feel truly able to take a day off. In spite of that, are you able to let go and give yourself one day of rest a week?

I mean real rest. 

Rest that rejuvenates, restores and helps you recharge and be ready for the next ​week.

A Day of Rest

So what does a day of rest look like for you?

Maybe start the day by sleeping until you are done. Wake up naturally with no alarm and definitely no social media the minute you get up.

You could stay in bed with a mug of delicious coffee and read until you are completely lost in the story. Read until you feel sleepy and you need a nap.  Aaaaaaahhh.

Take long, slow breaths and meditate. Pray. Be grateful and thankful.

Connect with nature. Walk slowly to notice not to exercise. Really feel the sun on your face, admire how blue the sky is and appreciate the sounds of the little creatures all around you.

Paint outside of the lines. Write without thinking about what you are writing. Sing out loud to your favourite song.

Honour the Sabbath and keep it Holy.

How Can I Help?

Is there chaos and clutter in your life preventing you from experiencing the freedom to take a day of rest?

I want to help you get to a place where you feel you can take one day a week to rest and not feel guilty or stressed or overwhelmed about it.

Leave a comment below and I will get back to you within 24-48 hours.

Let me help you find the freedom to live your life...well rested.

Buy Less to Help Save the Planet

Earth Day 2020

Be Content

Do you really need the latest and greatest iPhone? Globally we buy approximately 1.5 billion new smartphones a year.....WOW!

Electronics make up about 70% of the toxic waste in our landfills so unless your phone is broken, you don't really need to replace it.

How many pairs of jeans or t-shirts do you have in your closet? The fashion industry is one of the biggest polluters on the planet. We have tripled our consumption of garments since the 1960's. 

Most of these clothes we don't wear for long and they end up in the trash. "Fast fashion" contributes to serious pollution in landfills as the dye's in clothes leach chemicals into the ground.

Our appetite for merchandise is trying to fill a space inside of ourselves that only relationships, love and gratitude can truly satisfy. 

Be content with what you have and only buy what you need.

How Can You Help Save the Planet?

1. Buy less stuff.
2. So "no" to disposable, single use items.
3. Purchase quality, not quantity.
4. Purchase items that are made from natural, sustainable or recycled materials.
5. Try living a minimalistic lifestyle.
6. Shop second hand.
7. Downsize your home.
8. Try a "no spend" day, weekend or month.

More resources to help

People Over Possessions

Our loved ones are far more important than our stuff.

People over possessions. 

Always.

If you struggle with too many possessions and it is impacting the people and relationships in your life, please let us help.

We promise you, no one has ever regretted making the decision to put people over their possessions.

We are always here for you.

Buying Less Means Less Clutter

Do you want more energy, more money and more time to pursue the things in your life that bring you real happiness?

Then buy less, choose wisely and take care of your things to make them last.

It sounds simple and it really is.

Buying Less

Buying less means less clutter. Less clutter leads to more energy and reduced stress. 

Plus you will have less to clean and less to organize. BONUS!

Consuming less reduces your carbon footprint which is good for our big blue planet.

You will experience increased contentment which comes from reducing the burden of owning too much stuff.

Buying less is far better than buying green.

Choose Wisely

Choosing wisely means buying better quality and buying only what you need when you need it.

Only buying what you need at a higher quality saves you time by not having to repair or replace items as quickly as an inferior item. 

Buying new isn't your only option! There are many ways to buy previously used goods in great condition for much less than buying new.

You save money by spending wisely more than by any other way. Being in control and making smart buying decisions will go a long way to lower your financial stress.

Take Care of Your Things

Taking care of your things makes them last longer which saves you money and can ease any current and future financial burden.

Being responsible and respectful of your belongings is also a reflection of how you take care of yourself. 

Less really is more and you can be content with what you have. Consumerism and comparing yourself to others is not a healthy way to live. 

How can we help you?

Share Kind Thoughts or Appreciation with Others

The Power of Kindness and Appreciation

The power of sharing kindness and appreciation with others cannot be disputed. There is a "happiness high" generated as serotonin is released into the body of the giver of a kind act. It just feels good to give kindness and appreciation.

Think about a time when someone told you how special you are to them. How did it feel when they expressed how much they care and appreciate you? When they told you how loved you are, how hard you work or they appreciate you going the extra mile? It lights us up to hear kind words and expressions of gratitude.

Kindness and appreciation are really simple concepts. Yet they have the power to magically open our hearts leading to strength in relationships that is hard to break.

Not only does treating people kindly boost the recipient, it does wonders for the giver. It reduces your stress, helps with depression and improves your mood. The gift of kindness and showing appreciation to others is a win-win.

What a beautiful practice we can share with the ones we love and care about. Sharing kind thoughts and appreciating others truly makes the world a better place.

"Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are.” ​- Harold S. Kushner

Selflessness vs. Selfies

Our modern society has drifted from valuing and taking time to express kindness and appreciation with others. We tend to view these acts as weak or exposing ourselves as vulnerable.

In many ways, we have lost this natural act of a healthy community in favour of the perfect selfie for our Instagram feed. We rush around so preoccupied with ourselves that we have lost the connection between our hearts and all other hearts that beat on this planet.

The inverse logic of God says that outward kindness is strength, not weakness. Being kind and expressing gratitude requires great courage and can transform your life.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted” - Aesop

Be Kinder and More Appreciative with Others

The qualities of kindness can be said as being friendly, warm, considerate and generous. We also think of kindness and appreciation in terms of care and concern of others. 

• Do you need to show more consideration to your spouse after they've had a stressful day? 
• The next time you see your neighbour can you spend 5 minutes chatting with them and ask how things are going?
• Or could you be more understanding of the co-worker who is going thru a tough divorce and she's not focused on the big project you are working on together?
• What about the guy who just cut you off in traffic....perhaps he was up all night worrying about his teenage daughter whose been doing drugs and getting in trouble at school?

Think about how you express kindness and appreciation to the people in your family, your neighbours, people at your workplace or the strangers you encounter every day.

We all carry unseen burdens and scars. By being kind, understanding and appreciating people whenever we get the chance, we lift each other up.

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” - Desmond Tutu

Adjust Your Automatic Responses

Try adjusting your automatic responses. Slow down and look for opportunities to share a kind word, a compliment or generous praise with others.

Seek first to understand if someone is frustrating or angering you. Why are they doing what they're doing? And then choose to be kind. Focus on appreciating the good in people not on the negative.

Be present in the moment. When you are in a meeting, talking on the phone or having a coffee with a friend, be there with them. Don't think about your to-do list, look at your phone or script in your head what you want to say next.

Do try this at home. We are generally nicer to complete strangers than our own loved ones. Be the hero and act with kindness and appreciation to your family. This could be the one thing that improves your relationships at home.

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act." - Proverbs 3:27

Put Your Hand on Your Heart

Sharing kind thoughts and appreciation is a daily practice and a powerful way of choosing to show up in your life. It is not a one and done project.

Kindness and appreciation are wonderful ways of being with others but it is also important how you treat yourself. If you catch yourself thinking unkind thoughts or undervaluing yourself, do this one thing....

Put your hand on your heart.

Really. Put your hand on your heart. This technique is scientifically proven to bring you back to yourself and connect with your inner compassion and gentleness.

Be kind and appreciate yourself for the amazing, unique and deserving person you are. Not because of what you do or your job title or how much cash you have.

Just for being beautiful you.

“Be kind to yourself as you proceed along this journey. This kindness, in itself, is a means of awakening the spark of love within you and helping others to discover that spark within themselves." - Tsoknyi Rinpoche

Share the Kindness Message!

Save Time Cleaning an Organized Home

Reducing clutter and getting organized saves a ton of time when you need to clean your home.

Did you know that for every 1 hour you organize, you save 2 hours of time?  WOW.

What if I told you that an organized home takes 40% less time to clean?

You're in right?!?

Get a handle on the clutter in your home to save time cleaning

The fastest way to save time on cleaning your home is to get rid of all of the obvious trash and recycling. Go through every room with a trash bag in hand and start picking up what you know belongs in the garbage or recycle bin.

The next step is to pick up all of the dirty dishes lying around and put them in the dishwasher or wash them by hand and put them away.

Do you have soiled laundry lying around on the chair in your bedroom or on the bathroom floor? Pick it all up and put it in the hamper or better yet put a load in the washing machine.

Now go room by room picking up what you know doesn't belong in that space like the kid's toys or books. Tidy up as you go, fluff pillows, fold blankets.

You are ready to save time cleaning!

Clean as you go

A clean house is important for the health and well-being of your entire family. A clean home is a healthy home. 

Living in a clean and organized home makes you feel happy, but more importantly, it eliminates the stress that's caused by a chaotic environment.

And of course, by living without clutter, you will save time cleaning.

More resources for you

Here is a link to an article posted in our Freedom Living blog about All-Natural Homemade Cleaning Products to help keep your home chemical free.

Need a spring cleaning checklist? Download your Spring Cleaning Checklist here!

If you have any questions or need help with decluttering and getting organized, leave us a comment below and we will get back to you within 48 hours.

We are always here for you.

Clearing Clutter Makes Space for What Freedom Means to You

What does being free from clutter mean?

Freedom is a powerful word. It means you have choices and space to breathe.

It also stands for your right to live your true purpose and not be burdened by what doesn't serve you.

Freedom allows you to choose how you live your life and what brings you happiness without feeling constrained by clutter and disorganization.

Freedom means your life flows easily and you are not prevented from doing what gives you joy.

What are the impacts of living in a cluttered space?

Being surrounded by clutter can literally choke the air from your space.

It takes away your ability to develop and progress. It limits your ability to move forward and achieve your dreams.

Clutter takes a toll on your mental health & well being. You experience feelings of guilt, shame and embarrassment and these negative emotions can become the only way you live in your home.

Clearing clutter to make space for freedom

Clearing clutter allows you to decide how you spend your time, your money and your energy.

Organizing and clearing clutter does more than just make your home look clean. It lowers your stress levels, helps you sleep and take better care of yourself. It gives you energy to get more accomplished.

You are not a slave to your stuff - physically, physiologically, financially.

Your life is worth so much more than the piles of paper or mountains of clothes that surround you.

“Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.” – Moshe Dayan

How can we help you clear clutter and find what freedom means to you?

Take 15 Minutes a Day

What changes do you need to make in your life to find just 15 minutes a day to spend time in nature? 

Spending time in nature has a magical way of making you happier and isn't this what you want more of?

Benefits of spending time outdoors

Spending time in nature benefits your brain and your physical health. Short term memory improves, your attention span increases and stress/anxiety are reduced.

Being exposed to the wonder and beauty of creation stimulates your brain allowing you to be more creative and productive once you go back inside.

You experience a greater sense of vitality and have more energy for the things you want to do. 

You are also more resilient to physical illnesses.

What amazing benefits for simply taking 15 minutes a day to enjoy nature!

Ways to spend time outdoors

Try going for a bike ride or a walk, have coffee with a friend in the park, watch the sunrise or sunset.

Do a yoga practice in your backyard or pack a picnic to enjoy with the kids at the park.

Go sledding or snow shoeing in your neighbourhood.

Lay out a blanket on the grass and star gaze before bed instead of watching TV.

Organize a garden party with your friends and family.

How can we help you find more freedom in your life to take 15 minutes a day to enjoy nature?

We love to hear from you!

Let us know how you love to spend time in nature by commenting below.