Saturday, October 17, 2009

Fall in love with your closet




I’ve been helping clients with closets all week! I do love me a good closet re-do mainly because I know it will make a lasting, positive difference every day for the closet owner. Our closet is one of the few places in our homes we utilize, without fail, on a daily basis. It can be a source of headache-inducing chaos. Or, properly organized, our closet can be a source of relaxing calm before we charge out the door to meet the storms of our too-busy days.

Fall is a great time to organize your closet. Don’t forget to use the S.P.A.C.E. process from Julie Morgenstern: Sort, Purge, Assign a Home, Containerize, and Equalize. You won’t know you need to purge white blouses until you realize through sorting that you have eight of them! Likewise, you won’t know how much space you need for said white blouses until you have purged the ones you don’t want to keep and so on.

The other essential tip for closet organizing – this is going to sound painful but you can do it – is to remove everything from your closet before you begin your sorting process. Otherwise, you will find yourself simply flipping through hangers, taking out an item here and there, and not really making much headway in your S.P.A.C.E. process. Yes, your bedroom will look like a clothing explosion during the process but it’s really the best way to do the work necessary to get your closet in shape!

OK now, get out your calendar and make a date with your closet. Trust me, you’ll fall in love with your organized closet and wonder how you ever lived without it!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Perfectionism be gone!

It's been bugging me that I haven't found the time to post in awhile. I heard recently that you don't "find" time, you have to "make" the time to do things that are important to you. So, I'm making time here this afternoon. John and Mimi are having a super full Daddy-Daughter Day. They went out canvassing this morning, doing their part for the tight Virginia governor's race. Then to their fave pre-movie dining spot, T.G.I.Friday's. And finally, where they sit at this very moment, the 3-D, double-feature Toy Story and Toy Story 2. I'm sure Mimi is loving life. John, not so much.

I just ran across a note I had scribbled which is actually what inspired me to write this post. It reads:

Let go of perfectionism. It will stall you out. It's OK to be good enough.

Wow! I wish I could remember where I saw this so I could give proper credit; however, I am letting go of perfectionism (MUST find out who said this before I include it in a post) and sharing someone's very wise words with you.

I don't consider myself a perfectionist although I sometimes put off doing something if I can't do it "just so" right then! Perfectionism is sometimes at the root of disorganization. Counterintuitive, huh? You would think that a perfectionist would be uber-organized, right? But sometimes perfectionism manifests itself as "If I can't organize my closet perfectly, I will not organize it at all!"

Let go of the notion that you or your house or your children or your car or your office has to be perfect. It really is OK to be good enough.