Simplify, Simplify, Simplify ......

We all want to simplify our lives.  Sometimes, we get caught up in our material possessions and forget about what is really important in our lives.  My neighbors husband recently passed away and it really made me start thinking about living a much simpler life.  My family's busy schedule, just as many of yours, keeps us running and thus leaves little time for much else.

I try to keep our home simple and organized through smart organizational solutions  that allow us to  find things easier and create a home for those things we really use and need.  I do not have lots of extra closets or storage space in my home, thus I really have to not only organize our things very efficiently, but also I have to purge and clean out often to make sure we really need and use all the things I am trying to store.  This brings me back to the statement about "simplifying our lives".  Make sure you really do need and use all the "stuff" you are storing. Cleaning out and purging those things you don't need or wear can really make your life simpler and less stressful.

One of my favorite blogs, The Joyful Organizer, just wrote a wonderful piece on this topic.  Follow this link for the complete article.  It is definitely one worth reading.  Here is a short summary of her comments:


Own Your Possesions - Part one   posted May 22, 2012  by: The Joyful Organizer

“Simplify, Simplify, Simplify” –Henry David Thoreau

So much of our identity is tied to our material possessions; our homes, our clothes, our cars and our gadgets.  We identify ourselves through these items instead of through our actions. We end up spending so much time and money caring for our items, storing them, maintaining them, that we sometimes don’t have time to do the things we love anymore.

When you first stop and think about your stuff (clothes, shoes, electronic devices, just for starters), it all seems very meaningful to you.  You simply can’t imagine parting with all the things you have.

 Visualize your life without the excess stuff.  Would you be able to make it out of the house more quickly and with less stress in the morning?  Would your kids have more room to play?  If you weren’t always looking for things you can’t find, would you be able to play with your kids in the yard?  If your garage were clean,  would you be able to pull the car inside and better care for it?  If you had more time in your day, could you squeeze in a workout?  What if the only clothes in your closet were clothes you actually wear and feel good in?

 We spend time cleaning and caring for all of our items instead of taking care of our health, and we even sometimes avoiding having people over to our homes because we feel the clutter is too embarrassing.

We all deserve to live better, more fulfilling lives that are filled with relationships instead of stuff.  The time to start living a simpler life is now.  

I could not have said it better myself,   THE TIME TO START LIVING A SIMPLER LIFE IS NOW!!!!!!

Home Staging - before and after photos

Check out the new before and after photos on my  Photos - Home Staging page of my blog.

A Home Filing System..... that makes sense!

There are 4 must - have sections for your Home Filing System ( Better Homes and Garden Storage - Spring 2012 )

Financial ~ Insurance ~ Personal ~ Home

The article recommends dividing the drawers into 4 color-coded sections as follows:
1.  Financial (green) - for incoming or outgoing  money such as banking, credit cards, investments, mortgage, taxes(current year only), utilities and estate planning.

2.  Insurance/Vehicles (blue) - home owners, auto, life and health as well as files for maintenance and registration of vehicles

3.  Personal (yellow)  - Create one file for each family member and pet to organize items such as medical records, education, church sports, hobbies, etc.

4.  Home (red) - use this final section to organize home maintenance,  improvements or repairs as well as past and future home projects and home owners association.


How Long should you keep it? ..... Get the Better Homes and Garden handy guidelines at bhg.com/paper

So here is a picture of  my attempt at the BH&G Color Coded  Home Filing System ......  now if those papers can just find their way into their beautiful  file!!!!

I took this a step further and decided to organize my tax returns as well since the BH&G article recommends only keeping the current year in your easy to access color coded system, I had to find something to do with the previous years. I store this container in the top of a closet since we do not access it often.  I  printed out labels with dates for each tax year as well as future tax years.  Take a look.....

Another  important note the BH&G article makes is to protect legal documents.    These documents do not belong in your home filing system but rather in  a safety deposit box or fire safe box.

I purchased a small  Water and Fire Safe box at Walmart for around $30 to store birth certificates, passports and other important legal documents.  Great investment for keeping important items safe and easy to grab in case of emergency.