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Posts Tagged ‘seasonal items’

10 Door Mats To Welcome You Back

By Annie | November 2, 2016 | 1

Welcome

Annie Traurig was born with the ability to see order through clutter. As a child, she spent playdates organizing friends’ closets and packing their duffle bags for summer camp.

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Expiration dates are indisputable proof of how long an item has been in your possession. That is valuable information when it comes to editing.

An expired product—whether or not you believe in its safety/ efficacy—has a high likelihood of being unnecessary in your life.

Maybe you’ve let it get out of date because you had too many other options in line ahead of it. Or because you started to prefer an alternative. Or because you stopped eating canned goods altogether. Or because you bought it because you had that weird skin thing that one time and not again since.

Whatever the reason, when you’re looking for ways to lighten your load, expired goods are a low-hanging (potentially rotten and/or flavorless fruit).

#professionalorganizing #declutteryourhome #declutteryourlife #expirationdates #editinghelp

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One’s spiritual center and a Birmingham, Michigan, Coney Island Restaurant would appear to have nothing in common.

The first is an intangible–one’s source of higher knowing, tuned into through calm and focused stillness. The other, a restaurant at which you might grab a hot dog, greek salad, and chicken finger pita.

For me, the two are inextricably linked.

There was a year or two in my childhood when my mom and I had dates at Leo’s Coney Island so often that we had a regular booth, waitress, and order. It was a tumultuous time for my family; my sister was struggling, and my mom’s MS was rearing its brutally ugly head. Sensing my increased need for respite, my mom made our lunch dates a priority. Some days she insisted it was more important than school.

The two of us would sit in that little red leather booth for what felt like hours. We talked and laughed and ate.

I can’t recall any one conversation in particular, but I remember what it felt like. I remember our delight in having a secret escape, a place no one else knew we went, but where we were known. I remember the feeling of her presence and focused attention, and the way she saw me so fully for who I was. No pretense, no distraction, no performing. Pure connection. Joy. Love.

When I feel my busy brain go into warp speed, cataloguing the list of things I need to do and the things I’m not doing, I close my eyes, and think of the two of us in that booth. I focus on the feeling that the memory represents. All of the busy-ness and bullshit fades away, and I feel myself centering again.

Whatever kind of life you’ve lived, there must surely have been a moment along the way when you remember feeling good, safe, and at peace.

Maybe it was the time you spent at the beach as a child. Or, maybe it’s holding your own child. Maybe it’s a vacation you took, or a time you sat and marveled at a particularly beautiful scene.

When you feel yourself going off kilter, close your eyes, take three deep breaths, and tune into it. The place. The people there. The way it looked. How you felt.

Let that memory be your portal to your spiritual core and to the truth of who you are.

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Thanks to a special person in my life for the reminder that some (very well meaning, no doubt) people are still under the impression that goodie bags are a Thing, when they absolutely, most certainly ought not to be.

Save your money. Save the planet! Spare other parents. Pour all the resources you would have directed into bags meant for after the event into the event itself.

#professionalorganizing #clutterfree #clutterfreeliving #declutteringtips #goodiebags

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Come along on a recent kitchen move in day…

#professionalorganizing #kitchenorganization #kitchenorganizer

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There’s a poignant scene in the Barbie movie when Margot Robbie’s character, Barbie, sits on a bench next to an older woman. Barbie is dejected, crying, her shiny blonde bubble having been burst by existential wonderings, which neither her Dream House, her Ken, or her coif can nullify.

The older woman beside Barbie exudes the confidence of vulnerability, experience, and age. The beauty of her humanity is so striking to Barbie that she tells the woman so. Her bench partner replies, “I know.”

It’s worth noting that Greta Gerwig, the film’s creator, declined the urging to delete the scene, saying that without it, she wasn’t sure what the film’s message was.

But of course the recommendation would have been to remove the scene; our society celebrates shininess while overlooking shine. After all, shine is not a marketable commodity.

Shininess, on the other hand, is sold to us in spades: Buy the right status symbols of trendy clothes and covetable bags; drive the right car, belong to the right clubs; wear the best makeup and skincare, achieve the perfect look and you’ll communicate to the world that you are important and in the know and surely you’ll be happy, we’re told.

Instead, what we find is that the endless pursuit of a shiny exterior only convinces us that we are unremarkable without increasing amounts of it.

Shine is different. When you love and accept yourself on a deep level–not for what you look like but for who you are–you kindle an internal light that does not hinge on external factors. When you are tapped into the truth of your worth, show up authentically, and communicate directly, you allow the essence that is you to shine with a radiance that disarms, and that inspires others to beam as well.

Shininess is perpetually dimming and dulling.

Shine grows stronger and brighter as you work to connect with yourself.

One is a futile pursuit that leaves you with less than you started with; the other is a relationship that provides increasing empowerment and fulfilment.

Barbie ultimately chooses to pursue the latter. Which will you?

[calendar designed exclusively by @arielm_garcia ]

#mytimetoshine

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Take a peak inside a recently completed closet move-in / organization project…

#professionalorganizing #closetorganization #closetgoals

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Peeks into a recent move in project.

1. Fought with EVERY single peg to adjust these shelves, and it was worth it
2. Shelf dividers = instantly make things neater
3. folding art care of @y2kira
4. passionate about creating cutting drawers.
5. She said she wanted to live in here, so we’ll call that a win.
6. Sometimes it’s the right time to embrace the rainbow.
7. Whole family medicine cabinet/ cosmetic backstock, check.

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There’s a print hanging in my house of rows and rows of colored dots, each one captioned with a tongue-in-cheek moniker. Were I to count, I’m betting each color is represented in equal numbers.

But sometimes, I’ll look at that print and a red dot will catch my eye. I’ll read the name, something like picnic tablecloth, or Maine lobster, or Tide detergent, and relish the wit of it. When my gaze zooms out, all I’ll see are red-hued dots. I’ll think I’ve never noticed how many red dots that print contains, and wonder if the red dots vastly outnumber any other color.

Another day, my eyes will settle on a lovely blue–dried Hydrangeas your husband doesn’t see the beauty in. Next thing, the whole print will be flush with blues. They’ll appear to pop up towards the surface of the glass, while the other colors sink back down into the paper.

What we look for we find. What we focus on, we attract.

It never fails.

When you consider the variety and vastness of the world and the lengths our minds will go to in order to prove our beliefs are true, you can trust that what you want to see will materialize. And not only will it present itself–it will begin to expand. It will stretch and multiply and replicate, so that soon you’ll see it everywhere. It’ll pop up in line at the grocery store, in traffic on the highway, and in your living room.

If you’re focusing on feeling let down by others, all you’ll attract is more feeling let down.

If you’re focusing on lack, you will create more lack in your life.

If you focus on reasons to feel good, on how things always work out for you, your life will seem to overflow with blessings.

If you don’t believe me, take a large piece of paper, draw seven rows of ten dots, all of different colors. Pin it up and glance at it from time to time, and you’ll see: what you focus on expands, while the rest, though no less present, your mind cancels out.

Look for green; see green.

Look for light; see light.

Feel fortunate; attract good fortune.

Feel hope; attract affirmations.

Feel abundant; attract abundance.

Calendar designed exclusively for us by @arielm_garcia
#lawofattraction
#attractwhatyouwant

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Out here lobbing for The Art Of Folding…

#professionalorganizing #folding #organizinginspiration

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The secret to an organized closet…

is the combination of 3 things:

ruthless editing, intentional organizing, and consistent maintenance.

-Editing. Keep only what you actually wear and feel your best in. Not what you aspire to wear. Not what you once used to wear. Not what doesn’t fit you. Not the things you thought you’d wear at the time you bought them, which hasn’t panned out, causing you to feel guilty. And definitely not the items that feel hard to figure out how to style. You don’t need your clothes to be your job, unless, you know, clothes are your job.

-Organize intentionally.

Give thought to both the nature of your space and your tendencies. Put the items you wear most in the most accessible spots. Get uniform hangers for the love. Fold carefully. Arrange by category. Color code.

-Maintain.

Put things away where they belong consistently. It’s worth it. The end.

#professionalorganizing #closetorganization #closetgoals

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I’m a perfectionist, which means I’m perpetually aiming at doing things beyond even the best of my abilities. In striving, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes.

I realized a while ago how pointless (and damaging) it is to dwell in the lower energy plane of those mistakes longer than necessary. Scolding myself for not having seen back then what I surely ought to have doesn’t change the present circumstances.

The fastest and most assured way to move beyond whatever has transpired is to be committed to using the present moment as an opportunity to learn and improve.

“How will I use this as an opportunity to rise?”

It’s a refrain I’ve adopted and ask automatically now. The question is wonderful because it implies that using the present for greater good is obvious and natural. It isn’t a matter of if we can, but how we will.

Sometimes what’s transpired is far darker than a little, avoidable mistake. Despair, unjust cruelty, and devastating loss are parts of the human experience. So are moments of feeling overlooked, undermined, provoked, disadvantaged, angry at others and at ourselves, and adrift in grief.

Even (and often especially) then, we have the ability to rise by recognizing the valuable lessons each moment contains and integrating the learnings.

After we have processed the pain, released the wound, and relinquished our desire to rewrite the past, our challenges can serve as the kindling that stokes the blaze of our eventual ascensions.

There is so much power in knowing that your darkest place need not be your end point, but a reference point: the way you’ll recognize, one day soon, how far you’ve come.

[calendar design by @ariel_marko ]

#risetogether #riseup

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You are of most service to those around you and the world at large when you’ve first taken good care of yourself.

When you have sufficiently provided for your own needs—your need to breathe, be still, exercise, nourish yourself well, and exist in a calm and orderly environment—you are exponentially better equipped to problem solve for others, think creatively, collaborate, and contribute.

Make the time. It matters…first to you, but ultimately to all of us.

#selfcarefirst #declutteryourmind #timemanagement

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3 big reasons we love a slatwall⤵️

1. They are completely customizable.

With zero constraints, Slatwalls allow you to accommodate precisely what you own, grouped entirely the way you please.

2. They are a perfect solution for awkwardly shaped, otherwise cumbersome items.

So long as it can be suspended (or sit in a basket or shelf that’s suspended), it can have a home on a slatwall. From bikes to basketballs and skis to rakes, the slatwall plays.

3. They are endlessly versatile.

The ultimate magic of a slatwall is that it allows for easy evolution over time. Storage needs change? Choose a different hook and rearrange to your heart’s content.

(Have we convinced you yet??)

#professionalorganizing #garageorganization #slatwall

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Working practically on top of each other to achieve a level of intentionality in client spaces is our obsessive speciality. Matching jumpsuits is our hobby.

#professionalorganizing #professionalorganizer

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The key to keeping the storage scales even? Be uber selective about the areas and categories you care to own more, and ensure the rest are ruthlessly edited.

It’s perfectly fine to have activities or certain types of belongings that are related to your passions, and that you therefore feel compelled to own a not insignificant amount of. So long as everything isn’t “your thing,” you’ll keep the overall amount in your space balanced to a manageable amount.

If you’re purporting to love every category as much as the next, your lack of clarity about your priorities will ensure you own an excessive, unmanageable amount.

It’s like a budget: spend where it counts most to you, and be frugal with the rest.

#professionalorganizer #organizinginspiration #declutteringtips

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An intentional RESET restores optimal functioning and gives us the chance to begin anew. Reminded of how areas of our lives look and feel when they’re operating at their highest levels, we’re more likely to be motivated to sustain those high standards. In this way, a RESET washes away the past and paves a clear path forward.

Each of us has likely experienced this when we go to the dentist. We may walk in thinking our teeth and gums are clean enough from daily brushing, but a professional teeth cleaning is a RESET for our mouths. Feeling the squeaky clean of our chompers, we’re once again energized to maintain that level of dental hygiene. We’re more conscious about consuming staining foods and drinks. We enjoy the pearly white of our toothy smiles, and remember our mouths are worthy of excellent care.

When we work with a trainer who pushes us physically, it RESETS our barometer for our exercise practice. With their guidance, we’re reminded of what our bodies are capable of. We see more optimized results. We can use this to improve the workouts we have on our own, as we remember the feeling we’re aiming for, the speeds we’re capable of, or the stamina within us.

It’s in this spirit of continual improvement that we’ve recently launched Live Simply RESET memberships to our clients. By doing so, we’re ensuring the sustained effects of living within optimized environments: ease, calm, and clarity. We’re upholding the standards of beauty, Simplicity and order that allow clients to more aptly feel their best at home.

The new year, too, brings its own RESET. A new calendar invites us to release the past and fills us with a renewed motivation to aim for the best versions of ourselves.

This year, embrace your sacred opportunity to clear the slate and begin again, using the RESET’s power to restore and energize the things you care about most.

What are you going to RESET this year?

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2024 was Live Simply’s best year to date, in all ways. We did a record number of move-ins, we edited through thousands of items, we organized closets and kitchens and garages and on. Our secret recipe involves a mix of deep dive, emotional expunging, elevating surface level beauty, and laughter (always).

As we continually raise our standards for ourselves, the universe responds in kind. Who knows, maybe 2025 will be the year the stars align and you’ll listen to the cue to reach out to us. We’ll be ready when you do—ready to alleviate you of burdens and baggage you’ve carried for far too long, ready to bring order to your chaos—let’s be honest: ready to change your whole life.💁🏻‍♀️

In the meantime, THANK YOU for engaging, for being open and receptive, and for having even an inkling that you’re worthy of living in an environment that supports the best version of yourself.

🙏🏻💞💞

#professionalorganizing #declutteryourhome

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Organizing your gift wrapping supplies (if you’re a serious gifter) is the present to yourself.

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Empty Acquisition mode places the focus on what is lacking: your imperfections and the products that promise to solve them, your lack of fulfillment and the shiny objects you try to fill that bucket with, your fear about not having enough that causes you to collect more than you reasonably need, and on. It’s a mindset that convinces you that you’re not good enough, that you need to be more impressive, must keep up with the latest and greatest in order to remain relevant, and that you need something or someone else to validate your worth.

Present Contentment is a state of awareness and gratitude for all that you do have. It’s allowing yourself to enjoy what you’ve worked to create or bring into your life. It’s centering yourself in the knowing that your worth begins within and radiates without.

As it reaches the end of the calendar year, the fever pitch of the holidays, and the final tallying of the year, we have the choice between fiending and breathing, between getting sucked up into chaos and holding our calm, between emptiness And Contentment.

We don’t have to fear that contentment will melt into complacency, either. The appreciation for things as they are is what paves the way for future growth.

Let the goodness in your life register. Take a second longer than normal to connect to the people around you, to feel grateful for your belongings, and to relish the elements of your daily rituals.

All that you have and all that you are is enough to elicit contentment.

[calendar designed exclusively by @ariel_marko ]

#contentment #contentmentishappiness

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How to get a cluttered home (and the mindset fix!)…part 3

#declutteringtips #declutteryourhome #professionalorganiser

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