Get Organized HQ - HeaRty.PH

For 2 weeks in February, I took the time to make sure I attend almost every video available in the Get Organized HQ event. Not a lot of people may know but I’m so addicted to organising my house and my life. This must be because I’m OC. I just love getting organized. I feel like if our things are in order, we’ll feel better. Clutter is our enemy. When I learned about Get Organized HQ where we’ll learn from popular organising experts in the US, I was totally in! To be honest, I feel like I can be one of them. Maybe Get Organized HQ will give me an idea on how I can be recognised as one!

From I Heart Planners’ Website, this is how they describe the Get Organized HQ Event:

Free online event that will show you step by step how to organize and streamline your life and home – to make more space for your big goals and dreams.

Join 10,000+ busy, motivated women just like you who want to get organized ONCE AND FOR ALL.

There are 15 sessions all in all lead by the following organising experts. I honestly learned so much and I’m glad I took the time to watch most videos. I missed two though since we can only access the video for free during its first 24 hours of going live. I felt that I already got all the lessons that I need so I opted not to sign up for the all-access pass. I’m thankful to Laura of I Heart Planners for organising this. I feel so inspired in getting more organized and sharing my organising style in this blog.

I always forget things so I use my blog to take note of all the lessons I got from any event I attended or readings that I finished or videos that I watched. I’m really thankful for all the trainers for sharing their knowledge on home organization and productivity. This will be a long post since there are so many gems of information to share!

Decluttering 101 with Sarah of Early Bird Mom

She started her decluttering journey when she visited her sister-in-law and saw that they only have a few things. She realised that she had a lot of things. Her sister-in-law’s family were happy and they use all the things that they have. She started getting rid of stuff and started blogging as well.

Advice on how to start decluttering

There are no rules. Go on the easy stuff first. If you have 49 cups and only 4 people in the household, maybe just keep 8 cups. Start letting go of things. Don’t overdo things. Keep it small and focused. Have one target at a time (one drawer, one shelf, one type of item).

How to deal with the emotional side of decluttering

People think they are not supposed to be sad when decluttering. Be ready to let things go and allow yourself to be sad when you do. Making the decision to let things go is the hardest but once you’ve done decluttering, you’ll get a huge sigh of relief. It’s a healing kind of thing. Don’t rush it.

If someone in your household has a lot of clutter, what do you do?

they might feel threatened if you change things around the house. Help them feel safe & secure (like you only work on your own stuff and not theirs). You’ll be surprised that your household will get influenced by you decluttering. Lead by example and some may follow.
ask your kids to pick their favourite toys and donate the rest. It can be a toy rotation. Kids do not need every toy. They will be happier with less stuff. You can love the toy but you don’t love the space they take up. You need to tailor for your situation. Set some limits.
ask yourself if you still like the stuff at home and ask your housemates to do the same. Assessing things and deciding to either keep or discard/donate.

How to stop more clutter after decluttering?

Stop over-shopping. Ask yourself why you have the urge to buy all those things? Is it filling a need or addition to shopping? Realise that your home is not a storage facility. You have to appreciate open spaces. If a closet is overflowing, it’s a trigger to stop shopping or to discard items. Habits of housekeeping (putting dish in dishwasher rather than leaving them in the counter, put laundry in the laundry basket) makes a huge difference.

What area is where people struggle the most about paper clutter?

Papers are a horrendous issue. Do not save coupons and do not save leaflets. Address the papers that come in and get rid of most of them. Deal with them on a weekly basis (file them). Make the filing system convenient and easy to put stuff in. Get into a routine before things get out of control. It’s okay to be overwhelmed but it’s better to have progress than letting things pile up.

What are the questions you usually ask yourself when decluttering?

from Marie Kondo – does this spark joy?
will I pay the full price for this? If not, why do I have it?
Why do I keep stuff I don’t value?
Got too many books? Read Books one at a time then donate.

We undervalue our sanity but what about our peace of mind? It’s more important to be relaxed and have less stress. There’s more joy in life when there’s less things around.

Have you ever regretted decluttering something?

Yes. Early on her decluttering, she got rid of her ex-husband’s stuff and it made him very unhappy. The lesson is not to get rid of other people’s stuff. Other than that, no regrets whatsoever.

Sarah leaves us with a series of 10-minute decluttering challenges. I intend to follow the challenges and post them as soon as I complete them. I will have a different style of decluttering and probably will not do it within 10 minutes but those are great ideas that I can’t miss to follow so stay tuned 😀

Cure Decluttering Paralysis with Dana of A Slob Comes Clean

When Dana started, she used a fake name. It was her practice blog. She kept the blog from people during the first two years. She wanted to be a writer so she used her blog to practice writing. Dana’s decluttering strategy is to boil things down to super actionable strategy. The strategy work even for people who do not struggle badly. It’s not emotion-based strategy, it’s step by step. Everyone has at least one overwhelming space. Dana came up with ways on how to break through the overwhelming space all over her home.

Steps to Declutter

Main goal is to reduce the feeling of overwhelm. Fight the decluttering paralysis through movement.

Get a black trash bag and start throwing away trash. If things gets visually smaller, it helps you feel less overwhelmed.
what does not require for me to think or make decision? Find an easy step. Overwhelming space can cause us to procrastinate. Spend 5 minutes versus 5 hours. Do something small already makes you feel that you accomplished something. You don’t have to wait for the perfect time.
Take the steps that are not easy. Do not use emotions to declutter or else, there’s nothing you will let go. Ask yourself these questions:
1. If I’m going to look for this item, where will I look for it? First place that comes to mind, that will be their home. Put the item to that place ASAP. Once that’s done, you have progress on decluttering!
2. If I can’t answer the first question, If I needed the item, will it ever occur to me that I have one? If I didn’t know we have this, then we don’t need it. Donate it!
Contain it! When I have taken things to where they should be, then there are so many items, that’s where the container comes in. Container meant to contain (to limit). The container will limit how much item you can keep. Your house stays in control if you look at each space as a container. When you bring in a new one, you take out an old one. Get rid of whatever doesn’t fit in your house.

If there’s something that you can’t let go, you can re-declutter next time. By then, you might be willing to let go.

Parting words?

Just go ahead and get started. If you follow the strategies, you can make progress in 5 minutes or 10 minutes. At least it’s better and you decluttered.

End the Paper Clutter Madness with Lisa of Organise 365

Lisa started blogging last 2012. She wanted to start a business and she can’t get tired of talking about being organized.

What is the Sunday Basket?

Sunday Basket was created way back 2012 when Lisa’s kids were still young. Lisa couldn’t keep up with so much paper clutter. One day, while everyone was asleep, she laid out all the papers and put them into slash pockets. She did it all on a sunday. That’s why it was named a sunday basket.

What do you put in your Sunday Basket?

You put all the stuff in your kitchen counter, your pending tasks (notes, documents, etc) and put everything on the sunday basket. Then, you work on them during sundays.

What kind of folders do you have?

Lisa manufacture her own slash pockets. She uses 20 slash pockets sorted into 4 colors (personal goals, family goals, money/work-related & household stuff). She stressed that we have to have our own uniform supplies. She files them every week.

What do you do on your basket during Sundays?

every sunday, grab basket. Basket has to be portable and can fit on a shelf.
Sit on bed and take everything out on the basket then sort items to the “20”
all paper has a home.
You can decide to put off a task for another sunday
take orange folder and put everything on her computer. Whatever’s left will be dealt next sunday.
take green folder, pay bills and everything left can wait.
take yellow folder and put everything that goes to her car.
take pink folder, pull out the ones that needs to be done on that sunday.
keep accumulating until you get to a quarter and file things in your filing cabinet.

How long does it usually take you on a sunday to do it?

1-2 hours. It’s an actionable basket – you have to work on it every sunday.

Common pitfalls/watchout for sunday basket

People put everything in there and finger through it and not empty the basket. You should physically empty the basket and not finger through it. Then ask, “can this wait?”

The Sunday Basket is actually pretty popular and I heard it from a podcast that I’m listening to. I’m glad that Lisa is generous enough to provide a free copy of the Sunday Basket eBook. I’ll read that soon and will post my review here 📕

How to Simplify with a Life Digitally Organized with Barbara of Simplify Days

Barbara started in 2010 when she and her husband decided to simplify their lives. They always spend their weekends shopping realizing that they’re not doing the things they love. They sold 90% of their stuff and moved to a smaller space (900 square meters). There were tons of papers that did not have space in their new place and that’s when she decided to go paperless.

benefits on going paperless aside from saving space

It’s so easy to find information since everything now is online. Just search and you can easily find the information.
Even on a trip, with just her iPad, all her information are there.
Sharing information is also very easy (doctor’s appointment, etc).

will information be secure?

Digital information is actually much safer than physical. You can backup digital information (cloud, external HDs). Barbara actually backup her information three-ways. In contrast to physical stuff, there’s no backup and if it gets lost, caught in a fire or stolen, you lose all the information.

This isn’t about not having paper or never using paper. It’s about having a structure to have your paper through so it don’t pile up. She still uses paper but when she’s done with it, she scans them and then file them.

how long does it take to set up?

Depends on how much stuff you have and depends on how organized or disorganised you are. The biggest mistake is thinking that paperless is a way to keep all your stuff. The biggest tip is to purge first before digitising. Average duration is 2 months.

how to start?

depends on how comfortable people are with technology. they need to have guidance in going through paperless. Gather all the paperwork then organise them into piles, then digitise then throw away the paper. Purge your stuff to open your life.

what kind of tools can you recommend for going paperless?

Different information you collect and the way you organise them is different.

reference type of information (recipes, websites, trips), she puts the to Evernote.
physical paper – she uses a physical scanner or the phone scanner to scan and file.
project and tasks are organized and in sync. Omnifocus is her choice for task management system. (aha! we use the same app!)
for appointments that has a specific date and time information, she uses a digital calendar.

Bullet Journaling Your Way to a More Organized Life with Kalyn of Kalyn Brooke

Kalyn was running her website and when she was browsing Pinterest to look for a printable tracker to use, she stumbled upon someone doing it in a bullet journal. She got excited seeing it and she went on for 3-4 weeks looking for more bullet journals. She grabbed her first notebook and started testing bullet journaling. She realised it took her a lot of time but eventually she got into the groove.

What is bullet journaling?

A blank notebook as a planner/keepsake where you keep track of all your notes inside. The possibilities are endless!

How did you write your list?

You just flip the next page as you keep going. You put page numbers at the bottom of your notebook and you keep a master index (table of contents of your notebook). Future log is a 2-day spread where you put like a mini calendar and put your big events there.

What kind of supplies do you need?

All that you need is a notebook and pen. As you get into bullet journaling, there are tools that makes it easier. Sketch out with a pencil first then when you’re satisfied, you can use a pen.

Is there any chance for people who don’t have good handwriting?

The reason why Kalyn went into bullet journaling is because of its functionality. But bullet journaling is a reason for you to start working on your handwriting skills by starting with doodling, etc. Start simple then work as you get more creative.

Do you feel your handwriting skills improved after you did bullet journaling?

Kalyn had an excuse to work on handwriting skills by doing bullet journaling. When creating titles, explore different fonts. If you want to learn different aspects of lettering, look at any font site and write your title and trace it into your bullet journal.

What are your favorite layout?

habit tracker (8 different habits you want to achieve each day)
lists (christmas gift list, etc)
dailies (can take up a whole page if you want to, you can put weather, meals, notes, all contained in a day)

Are there common pitfalls? what are things to watch out for?

#1 is trying to do too much at once. You should start with basic layouts (monthly, daily, index, future log, collections) then create collection of ideas you want to do next. Take it step by step. Bullet journaling is customizable per person. Try different things and find something that works for you.

What kind of things have you achieved because of bullet journaling?

Outside the habit tracker, Kalyn was able to complete her projects. There are a lot of steps and she created a two-page spread with all the steps needed to do to achieve her project goal. Brainstorm on paper then write plan on journal.

For example, if you want to read more intentionally as a goal, then you put a section on your monthly on books to read.

Any advice for people who started out excited yet ended up falling off the wagon?

It is hard and a lot of people has that kind of struggle. You can do the following:

put an end date/deadline for your project
assign each of your task in your task list to a certain date of the week
focus on one or two tasks. do not do too much things at once.

Label Love with Megan of The Homes I Have Made

Megan’s husband is a US marine thus they move every 1-3 years. She always try to come up with all sorts of ideas and solutions on how to make their new home more personal, make their house functional and organization is a huge component to make the house look fantastic and adding labels so that everyone in the family can find items. She launched her blog when they’re on their 7th home.

Part 1: what to use as labels

anything
paper, cardstock
- any shape, any color
- cardstock versus regular paper
- can make labels out of any image and print out
- laminate in order to make it more durable
printable papers & labels
- designed in a wordprocessing app then printed out in a sticker paper/label
- pre-designed labels
- magnetic paper
tags & die-cut shapes (chipboard, wood)
- wooden shapes loaded on magnetic strips (can color code)
- letters and numbers can serve as labels considered as groups (hats in basket 1, cups in basket 2, etc)
fabric
- ironing and melting on fabric (permanent solution but makes it look sleek and fun)
paint
stickers
- washable stickers
- pre-pinted and labelling made easy
scrapbook supplies
tape
- washi tapes (any pattern, any color) – especially love it for things that rotate regularly
- can also be considered as signs for cords and adapters
vinyl
- incredibly versatile
- quick and easy to use, can layer it
- it’s peel and stick (sticks to all sorts of things)

Part 2: how to write on labels

handwriting – quickest and easiest way to label
- chalk markers
- dry erase markers
print – words
print – pictures
label maker – clear crisp writing without having to use pen
stencil + paint – warning: this is permanent
vinyl – words or pictures
stickers – letter stickers to label things (all temporary, can peel on or off)

Part 3; how to attach labels

adhesive
label holders
velcro – no special tools, all peel and stick
string or ribbon – you can thread through or make a handle
magnets – use long ribbons and put magnets on each end then hang on basket
hardware – screws, book plates

Conclusion

Sometimes markers are enough to label. Anything that you like the way it looks can be used to label. Only thing that matters is that the labels makes sense to you (can be colors, pictures, words or patterns as labels).

How to Organise All Your Recipes with Laura of I Heart Planners

We can store recipes digitally, physically or a combination of both. Laura says that she stores recipes both digitally and physically.

Digitally, she uses Evernote:

everything is sorted in a note
tags -> notes -> notebook -> stack
you can set privacy of a notebook if it’s private or shared
you can do a quick search
you can easily change notebooks
you can share via note or notebook
people who has access to the notebook can edit
in order to add a recipe, Laura either takes or drags photos, manually enter recipes of use Evernote web clipper (where it automatically guesses notebook & tags)
can print recipes

Laura also uses Pinterest boards for recipes.

For tried and tested recipes, Laura prints them physically and file them on a plastic binder:

Choosing your recipe binder

ring binder
sheet protectors (magazine clips, recipe cards)
any kind of labels work (breads & side dishes, main dishes & desserts)

Setting up your recipe binder

you can set whatever divisions you like
best to have lots of extra space so it’s easy to add recipe
intro/divider page, index (section & page #), page numbers at the bottom

Setting up your meal plan

separate sheet for each type of main dish (chicken, beef, seafood)
have a favorite sheet (go-to-recipes)
designate if it’s good for company or crowd
freezer inventory, pantry inventory, refrigerator inventory
make lunch, dinner and prep plan
make your grocery list

Tackling the Challenging Areas with Becky of Your Modern Family

Laundry

do a load a day. Once you gather up enough clothes for one load, deal with it right away.
Mix everything except towels and sheets

Paper

deal with paper right away. Don’t touch it twice.
For kids, have a friday basket where parents can deal with kids’ papers once a week.
Becky usually doesn’t keep receipts. She use credit card statements to get receipt details. Or if really needed, she sticks the receipt to the item itself.

Kitchen

keep countertops as clean as possible
no paper comes in to the kitchen
every area of the kitchen has to be useful.

How to Re-Order your Life 10 Minutes at a Time with Beth Ann of Brilliant Business Moms

This is probably the most jam-packed among all the sessions in Get Organized HQ. I think I used the time mostly to take notes so this is the time for me to really absorb all the valuable lessons shared by Beth Ann.

In this class, you’ll learn
• How to make the most of your tiny pockets of time
• How to make big things happen, even if you’re home with your kiddos and have ZERO time to yourself!
• How to hack the motivation myth and get more done (motivated or not)

The Problem…
We all have a lot of things we’d like to accomplish in life:
• Great big goals
• Becoming a certain type of person
• Finally getting things clean and organized
• Having more time for fun and friends
But we constantly feel like there’s not just enough time

Slogan for life: I don’t have time

But that’s a lie
The reason that ultra-productive, goal-crushing people person lives the life they want isn’t because they have more time than you.
We all have the same amount of time in a day.

They’re just using their time BETTER

And contrary to popular belief..
you don’t need to:
• Lose sleep
• Have a quiet, corner office
• Go back in time and ‘un-birth’ your kids
• Be ultra-motivated
• Have unlimited energy
To accomplish your goals or become the person you want to be.

Don’t lose sleep
I’m sure you’ve all heard about successful people who wake up at 4am and spend 2 quiet hours alone working on their “most important thing” before anything or anyone else interrupts their day.

And smarty-pants researches back me up on this
According to research from the university of Pennsylvania, if you get 6 hours of sleep per night for 2 weeks straight, your mental and physical performance declines to the same level as if you had stayed awake for 24 hours straight.
That’s the cognitive equivalent of being legally drunk!

Don’t worry about the perfect workspace
It’s so easy to look at the successful role models out there and think, “sure, but Elon Musk doesn’t have to watch his kids all day. And Cheryl Sandburg has a private chef and doesn’t have to think about what’s for dinner.
And they BOTH have quiet, corner offices where they can CLOSE THE DOOR!
Closing the door on a beautiful office is a LUXURY most of us don’t have!

Things weren’t perfect for Noah
But he just got started
Type 1 diabetic since infancy. He doesn’t want to be a diabetic forever. He believes there’s a possibility for a scientist to find a cure in his lifetime. He found out funding is the only limitation for it to happen. Noah decided the way he will help raise funds. He’s going to walk from southwest to northwest and he raises funds as he walks. He just finished his track last 2017. And take note that this is a child with a serious medical condition. He was walking 11 miles a day. He’s meeting his goal one step at a time.

Don’t unbirth your kids
I accomplished more in the first 2 years after I became a mom than I had in the 5 years of adulthood before that.
Run first half-marathon, his boy has a disability with loads of PTs, surgeries, doctor’s appointment, running with pushing Holden in a stroller, working occasional night shifts as a nurse, volunteering at church, military spouse clubs & activities.
Co-wrote with her sister “Time Management Mama”, getting ready to move across the country, get house ready for renters, launched a planner with her sister too.

I’m going to teach you..
How to make big things happen, even if you’re home with your kiddos and have ZERO time to yourself

How did I do it?
• I didn’t lose tons of sleep
• I didn’t have a quiet, corner office
• I DID have a child at home
• I decided that my life was never going to slow down or get easier
• I decided that the “perfect time” was a myth
• And I just got started right in the middle of the beautiful mess that was my life
• I made the most of every little pocket of time I had

I took my great big goal & broke it into bite-sized steps like this:
• Write an outline
• Write an intro
• Write a chapter on sleep
• Write a chapter on time-saving tools
• Research sleep studies
• Poll my private facebook group on time management hacks
• Hire someone to design the cover
Anytime she has a tinsy-time to work, she’ll grab her laptop and starts working on her next step. Never use the excuse that she doesn’t have the perfect space to write or wait till later/another day. The more that you decide that you’ll take advantage of your 10 minutes, you’ll get to do a lot.

10-minute tasks make progress on all types of big goals (anything that matters to her, she turns into a 10-minute tasks)
• Today tasks
• Big goal tasks
• Joy tasks
• Connecting tasks
• Character tasks
• Health tasks
• Clean up tasks

So if you want to get moving more, but you don’t have the time…
10-minute health tasks

Or you want more joy in your day…
10-minute joy tasks
Or you’re ready to quit putting off that dream for “someday”….
10-minute character tasks

They all become 10-minute tasks
10 minutes tasks might feel really uncomfortable at first

Single biggest factor that makes you be better at anything is just by doing it.
10 minutes a day adds up to 3,650 minutes in a year or 60 hours in a year.

Why quantity wins and perfect is stupid
Perfect isn’t possible. We strive for perfect. We give up on stuff when it’s not perfect all the time. Why doing is what matters. A teacher separated his students into 2 groups: 1 group will submit based on quantity (submit as much photos as you can) and the other group will submit 1 quality photo. The quantity team won on quality too! They were getting better as they took so many photos. On the quality group, instead of doing it, they theorize and didn’t do the thing. Just get out there and do the thing. Just quit stressing about getting to perfect and just do it.

Cereal for dinner is better than no dinner at all
Do the mom thing in a non-perfect way than not do dinner at all. Don’t just quit just because things aren’t perfect. Progress is better than no progress at all.

How to hack the motivation myth and get more done (motivated or not!)
• We are going to solve the motivation problem
• AND the energy problem

You dont need more motivation to get things done.

The motivation problem
Let’s solve it with the 10-minute trick
You take feelings out of the equation by telling yourself “just 10 minutes”
Once you get started, you’re on a roll. That 10 minutes becomes an hour in progress.
Even if you spend 10 minutes only, that’s okay. It adds up to hours in a month or year.
Really easy to get started because you remember all those other times you’ve completed things before in 10 minutes.
Just 10 minutes, you’ll be able to have progress on your goals.

Don’t be a toddler
When you sit there and whine and debate on whether or not you’re going to do the thing, just shut up and do the thing and move on.
When you ask a toddler to do things, they cry, they argue for a looong amount of time and have tantrums.

The energy problem
Let’s solve it with moving tasks
10-minute health tasks

What smarty-pants researchers have to say
• 10 minutes DOES make a difference!
• Study at the university of western Ontario where participants either sat and read a magazine or did 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise on a stationary bike
Following the reading and exercise session, the researchers measured participants’ reaction times to a cognitively demanding eye movement task.
The task was designed to challenge areas of the brain responsible for executive function such as decision-making and inhibition.
Those study participants who had exercised showed immediate improvement.
Their responses were more accurate and their reaction times were up to 50 milliseconds shorter than their pre-exercise values.
That may seem minuscule but it represented a 14-percent gain in cognitive performance.

We can also eliminate the need for motivation by designing the right environment
• Instead of mindlessly checking your phone. Use this lock screen and go consult your 10-minute task list instead
• Hide time-wasting apps away on the last screen and inside folders so they’re harder to get to.
• Delete them all together if you can
• Use a news feed eradication

Work environment
• Work in full-screen mode
• Phone in the other room
• To force myself to give feedback or make decisions on projects, I just start a screen recording so I just HAVE to decide. I use Litecam HD for my PC. You can also use Screencast-0-Matic for Mac.
• To organize thoughts and ideas on other projects (and not let them distract me from my current work or task!) I use Google Keep to record voice messages for myself or my team.

This is just the beginning
• You’ll find as you just get going that you’ve got your own environment hacks and tools that work well.
• You’ll discover which movement tasks really give you energy
• You’ll discover which character or connecting tasks are your favorites.

It gets easier
• At first, you’ll slip up 100 times a day and check your phone instead of your task list. It gets easier
• At first, you’ll act like a toddler and choose not to engage in “just 10 minutes”. It gets easier
• Every bit of progress you make is rewarding! Every time you move things forward just an inch, it’ll be that much easier to make progress the next time.

Just get started
Write down your most important goal tasks, your favorite ways to move or connect with others, the things you need to clean and the things that have to get done today.

How To Stay Organized in Small Spaces with Grace of Plum Cheeky Solutions

Grace was a huge organization fanatic. She has 4 children, lots of small closets and a small space. People had been asking her about organization and planning meals. Thus, she decided to start the Plum Cheeky Solutions blog.

Bathroom Closet

wall paper at the back of the shelves & baskets
cleaning items under the sink
command hooks on the back door

Small Entryway Closetstore offseason clothes in the basement/storage or under the bed

over the door shoe pocket organizer
picnic buckets, make use of vertical space
hook with tote to put on reusable bags

Girls’ Room

closet side – place hooks where they can hang purses & bags
close top – big bags to store off-season clothings
craft buckets on top
stacking buckets for socks and undershirt
baskets for pants, pajamas & undergarments
another container for special items

Toys & Books

Grace turned her bookshelf into a toy centre.
she uses a lot of container and organiser for toys

General rules for organizing in smaller space

refine & declutter the excess stuff before diving in to organizing
organise and gravitate towards the vertical
use any space that’s available to make it all work.

What things do you recommend in the kitchen? what things you shouldn’t have?

rule of thumb – keep what you use
don’t hold on to things that you don’t usually need (you borrow items that you rarely use)
put in storage room items that you don’t regularly use.
hold on to one of each thing that you use
make everything accessible.
use stacking baskets, containers, shelf risers and under the shelf hangers to organize

How do you deal with closet?

store offseason clothes in the basement/storage or under the bed
be very specific on what to keep, scale down to what you actually need.
get rid of things that are stained/ripped.
work on your space and buy stuff for practicality purposes
hold on to favorites.

Bathroom

hold on to necessities. we tend to have a lot more than we need.
stick to one shampoo and one conditioner for the whole family.
very minimal linens.

Decluttering

Grace is not a sentimental person so it’s easy for her to get rid of stuff.

There’s a bit of give and take with family members. Her kids has a basket to keep their special stuff in and for those items that do not fit, they can be discarded.

Papers/Books

office doubles as homeschool room
have designated spots for everything (blog, courses, kids’ stuff, household papers/bills)
magazine filler will help keep things separate.

Where to buy bins/baskets

Dollar Store or Bed, Bath & Beyond.

how to be motivated in organizing

we function a lot better when our home is organized
knowing the end result is what keeps us going
think that it isn’t your home or small space but it is your attitude that is not being thankful for what you have. Think of that as a motivation in organising and making your home more functional.

Last Advice

Don’t wait for everything to be perfect.
Start with an area that’s bothering you the most.
It is worth putting time and effort to organising your space.
Enjoy the process and have fun!

Become an Organized Crafter with Jennifer of Smart Fun DIY

Jennifer started crafting when she was 9 years old. However, she is now a reformed craft hoarder. She used to spend more organizing than crafting and she needed to get rid of stuff as there’s nowhere for her to put the stuff in. She dealt with the hoarding issue straight on. Afterwards, she started sharing tips on her blog to help other people.

top strategies

When you start organising, reflect on the following issues:

too much stuff
- shop strategically
- ask yourself if the things in your shopping cart will make your life better. how does it feel?
- make some rules for yourself:
  - if you buy this, you should use it today.
  - you can buy something as long as you lose 10 other things you have today.
- clean between projects
- be realistic
not putting stuff away

tips for people holding back when throwing stuff away

set a deadline. If the item is not used by April 2019, the stuff will not be used and you need to discard it.
Jennifer was able to earn $14k by selling her stuff off. Stuff has no value until you put a value to it. Sell it or donate it and the value you put on it is passed on to someone else. It’s nice to see someone else put it into good use. Jennifer was able to discard 90% of her stuff and she was feeling so good about it. It’s like being a good crafter again.
Have plans for things you’re buying.
when you plan on how you’re organising your place, it will support on how you will create.

Keep Your Home Clean (Without Spending All Day Saturday Cleaning) with Becky of Clean Mama

Becky always enjoyed having a clean and organized space. She was an art teacher for almost 10 years. Becky figured out while she was teaching, that she loves giving tips and tricks to parents & co-teachers on how to clean things. She was a stay-at-home mom for a while and decided to start blogging in 2009.

how much time do you spend cleaning each week?

10-15 minutes each day for main tasks. Becky does it routinely so it makes it easier to clean.

do you ever feel not motivated to clean?

She feels that way all the time.

Tips to manage:

Main thing is if cleaning is not done in the morning, it’ll never get done. Find the time that is your window to clean.
set timer for 10 minutes for toilet/etc. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Something is always better than nothing.
listen to inspirational music to keep mind off of what you’re doing.

Is your family involved?

Becky is the most responsible for the cleaning tasks but her family members do help. Kids bring their dishes to the dishwasher and put away laundry. Her husband puts away laundry and make the bed.

If you have guests coming in 20 minutes, what would you do to make your house look good?

She puts up fresh towels, takes off dishes from the pantry, wipes down sink and toilet, straightens up any sofas & throw towels and vacuums super quickly.

do you have any favourite cleaning products?

DIY recipes – window cleaner, countertop cleaner, making it with rubbing alcohol, water & essential oils. With DIY, at least she knows what she is using.

what is your favourite and least favorite areas to clean?

favorite – dusting (instant gratitude)
least favorite – bathroom

how do you keep track of your cleaning tasks?

She has a monthly calendar in planner form. Becky also has a checklist. She makes sure she follows a routine as it will make things easier and it will save lots of time.

How to Organize Your Finances with Jessi of Jessi Fearon

Jessi started with budget mama.com. She paid off $55k of consumer debt. In 2013, Jessie wanted to become debt-free. As she and her husband had more kids, she started researching for more options, in order to have freedom to do more things while being more financially in control. She decided to help educate others to make a living out of budget possible.

As you were paying your debt, how important is organising?

They wrote down life goals together and the big picture on where they want to be 5 years from now. They wrote them down to keep them motivated. The closer to the goals they are, they get happier. Then they celebrate it together.

Do you use a digital program for budget or do you have a budget binder?

It depends on you and your season in life. Sometimes she goes back and forth on different systems (digital & manual). The downside of digital is that you need to manually categorise stuff while in physical form, you write your transactions with the category beside it. You’re more in control if you are paying attention. You can make better decision in your long term planning.

What are some tips for getting started?

Take how much you have in your account, check your calendar and look at what expenses are for the month and subtract the expenses from the amount of your account. See the difference. It means assigning the amount to a certain goal. If it’s a negative balance, think of ways to make it positive.

How do you organise receipts?

Every single day, she writes down transactions then throw out receipts she doesn’t need. She uses filing folders for current year’s taxes.

Any parting advice?

To make sure you are taking action in order to actively manage your money. Stick to your budget.

After attending the Get Organized HQ online, I subscribed to a couple of the speakers’ websites. Most of them have challenges for us to do and I’m up for the challenge. I’ll post some of those I have accomplished soon!