“Your success or failure in life will n

“Your success or failure in life will not be decided by the number of setbacks you encounter, but rather how you react to them.”

- Unknown

NEATNESS DELAYED IS NEATNESS DENIED

I just read this post on Sandra Felton’s daily post, “The Organizer Lady” and I wanted to pass this along for those that struggle with delayed decisions (piles of stuff) to think about.

One of the differences between people whose houses look good consistently (usually without really working at
it much) and those who do not, is the length of time between the time the mess is made and the cleanup.
Each time we let a mess just sit there until we get around to it, we give clutter permission to happen. If we do enough
of that, the house is one big series of messes. Then these messes turn into a project later on down the road!

The answer is to quit saying we will get back to it later because “Neatness Delayed is Neatness Denied.”

This is the main reason my phone rings is because all if these delayed decisions create huge projects that are overwhelming for my clients. Think about this the next time you say to yourself “I will just do that later!”

Happy Organizing! Bridges

Piled High with Magazines?

Here is a quick tip for those of you that accumulate piles and piles of magazines.  Tear out the pages!  That is right…tear out the pages and file them.  If you have ever tried to find the article, picture or recipe that you needed, I doubt you are able to retrieve it when you need it.

I have done this for years with my recipes and have included them in page protectors and placed them behind the category they belong.  Over the years I have created a great cookbook with all of the pictures and recipes that I could ever need.

Let me know if you have a great idea for your magazines!  Bridges@getorganziedwithbridges.com

Teaching our Children Organizing Skills

As a professional organizer, I sometimes feel that people expect my kids to inherently be good organizers.  Like I passed down some all powerful organizing gene that automatically makes my kids understand how to keep things organized.

Although some people are more natural organizers then others, most people know that there is no organizing gene and that kids need to be taught organizing skills.  This starts at an early age when we teach our children about picking up their toys.  But simply teaching our children how to pick up after themselves does not necessarily translate into them being organized.  We need to teach them skills that help them learn that everything has a proper place to be kept and that items need to be returned to their proper place. 

Some of the rules of organizing get more involved and need to be taught to older kids and adults, but don’t discount what the little ones can do.  Young children, even as young as 2, can learn to Sort Like Items (or Grouping).  Get a few baskets, tubs, or even shoe boxes for them to sort their toys in.  Remember my LIDS OFF policy, put the baskets out and teach them to put Lego’s in one box, Matchbox cars in another, and Barbie clothes in yet another.  You can even turn this simple sorting exercise into a craft project by having them decorate the boxes according to what is kept inside. 

(photos courtesy http://simplemom.net/organizing-kids-stuff/)

As your children grow, you can give them more responsibilities that continue teaching them about sorting like items, such as sorting the laundry into darks and lights or sort the clean clothes into piles for each persons.  Have them sort and put away the silverware after it comes out of the dishwasher.  Be sure to show them the proper place to put their items away.  Continue to give your children responsibilities that suit their age but also train them to organized.  Sorting is one of the basic skill to staying organized, but is an important skill to have and as your children grow into adults they will appreciate that you taught them this valuable organizing skill.

Happy Organizing! Bridges

Delayed Decisions

As you may recall, a powerful habit for change is “When you get it out, put it back.” This slogan needs one more additional important word to make it really powerful.

Because it is so important, I will risk repeating myself. “When you get it out, put it back RIGHT AWAY.”

Avoid:
- I’m too busy now
- I’ll get right back to it
- I’ll do it later
- Right there is okay for now
- I’ll do it in a minute.
- I’ll be using it again soon so I’ll leave it out.

Clutter is the result of many little postponed actions. Before you know it, many little I’ll-do-it-later piles make our houses messy and we hardly know how it happened.

Remember, delayed decisions create the clutter in your life. If you slowly adopt this habit you will quickly see a difference in your space.

Happy Organizing! Bridges

No Regrets

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the fact that you missed out on living a normal uncluttered life, spent time struggling with the problem of “stuff”, and could not have friends over freely because you were embarrassed of your space. So throw off the lines that bind you to the problem and sail away from the old way of life. Be brave, set your sail, and bravely head for the order, beauty and uncluttered life just over the horizon.

Happy Organizing! Bridges

Your House is Your Larger Self!

“Your house is your larger self.”

The house is not just bricks and mortar, furniture and personal items. Your psyche,
as a woman, is intrinsically connected to the condition of the house.

The problem is that a messy house does not properly reflect our better qualities. Instead it reflects our fears, bad habits, and misplaced ideas. What would your house look like if it reflected
you in the way you want it to?

That is something to ponder by Messies.com!

Happy Organizing!  Bridges