Choices

#GivingTuesday: A Great Way to Cut the Clutter this Holiday Season!

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Since becoming a professional organizer I’ve really changed my outlook on gift giving.  It’s astounding to me how many unused and often unopened gifts fill the closets, basements and even entire rooms of individuals I’ve worked with.  The waste can be measured not only in terms of money spent, but also in terms of the effort expended by the gift giver, and mental effort expended by the gift recipient, worrying about not using the gift. You see, … Read More

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Talking Back: You Get to Choose How to Respond to Self Talk

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Self talk.  We all do it, though some of us don’t really like to admit to it. Self talk doesn’t necessarily mean talking out loud to oneself, but it can show up that way.  Instead, by self talk, I’m referring to what we find ourselves saying which results in self-limiting behavior.  Phrases like “I can’t”, or “I don’t” or “I’m not the kind of person who does ___________” don’t exactly do much to encourage forward movement, expand … Read More

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Sometimes You’ve Got to Fail to Succeed!

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  I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ~ attributed to Thomas Edison with regard to creating the lightbulb This quote makes me think about a situation I experienced while serving as a board member for a non-profit organization.  I had worked for weeks to prepare what I thought was an amazing agenda for an important two-day meeting.  Unfortunately when meeting time rolled around, a lot of things happened that resulted in … Read More

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Shifting Perspectives to Create Space

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This is the bookshelf in my office. Over the years, I’ve accumulated lots of books on myriad topics such as Home Staging, Feng Shui, Hoarding, Coaching, ADHD and surprise, Organizing. The top four shelves house reference materials while the bottom shelf holds primarily project materials. Over the years I’ve become more selective about what resides on these shelves.  This bookshelf only contains materials I consider to be of value at any point in time. Materials no longer … Read More

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Refeathering NOT Empty Nesting

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We dropped off our twins off at college this week.  For the first time since September of 1994 there are no children living in our house.  My husband and I have had countless people comment to us over the past few weeks about how we would soon be empty nesters.  The more I hear the term empty nester though the less I like it.  Webster’s Dictionary tells me the term was first used in 1962 and means … Read More

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Cleveland Indians Loss Provides Opportunity to Cultivate Gratitude

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A while back I wrote about the practice of keeping a gratitude journal.  In it I mentioned that before actively practicing gratitude I would lie in bed after a bad day and ruminate on what went wrong and worry about everything else that might go wrong as a result. Before integrating the regular practice of gratitude into my life, last night could have looked like this:  Me lying in bed reliving Cleveland Indian’s pitcher Perez’s atrocious performance, … Read More

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My Favorite Things: What You Need to Know…

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A few years ago, my father gave me a gift that continues to keep giving. It is a one page document containing information I would need to know to settle his and my mother’s affairs should something happen to them.  Information so important that we keep this document in our safety deposit box.  Since that time I have created a similar document for my family. Is this document all inclusive?  No.  Have my father and I thought … Read More

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One Hit Wonders: Keeping Only What You Use A LOT!

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I have always loved this picture, extracted from a Woman’s Day magazine long ago, and taped to a page in my recipe notebook for as long as I can recall. I made the bunny shaped cake for my kids once when they were small and it made us all smile.  I thought of this photo today when I started this post and it made me smile, again.  Smile about a simpler time when folks got creative about … Read More

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What you Focus on Becomes Your Reality: Using a Vision Board to Reach Your Goals

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This is my vision board for 2012. A vision board is a collection of visual images pasted or pinned to a board that represents things that you want to bring into your life.  My board, created on a framed cork board that hangs above my desk, represents the reminders of goals aspired to and goals achieved in a particular year.  Creating and regularly focusing on a board like this can be instrumental in reaching one’s goals. A vision … Read More

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What’s Most Important About Decorating this Holiday Season?

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When I was growing up I loved decorating the Christmas tree.  Dad’s job was dragging the tree in, setting it up and putting on the lights.  My little sister Amy and I helped him with the lights, but then he typically disappeared while Mom, Amy and I decorated the tree.  It was so much fun unwrapping the ornaments and recalling the stories behind each of them. My mom will probably tell you I lost interest in decorating … Read More

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