Today - A review of the series

In the past 37 episodes I’ve covered rather alot of ground. I’ve explained exactly what clutter is, what causes it and the mental and emotional impact that a cluttered home or work space can have and some survey statistics to back that up. Then I listed the common mistakes that people make when attempting to organise their clutter and how to avoid these problems. I touched on the mental blocks that often stop us from making any progress and the number one secret of organised and successful people which of course is managing their time.
Then I covered the concept of the family CEO or domestic diva as a way of stepping fully into the very important and responsible role of successfully managing your household. This was followed by learning how to set goals a couple of ways to go about decluttering and then what your big picture vision is for your home and life., and then the huge importance of plugging the leak that’s causing much of your clutter problems in the first place.

At this point we got into the nitty gritty of how to go about clearing your clutter by taking the tried and true clutter diet method or the bigger and harder week-end wallops. I provided some resources for recyling useful but unwanted items you find in your clean up and some options for limiting the build up on the future. I followed this by providing detailed ways of approaching specific problems areas of the home like kitchen appliances, garages, wardrobes, kids rooms and many more.

Then onto the paper problem with solutions for filing systems, mail and setting up a communication centre and family binder. I covered dealing with hobbies, emergencies and staging your home for sale and lastly preparing for a house move.
I’ve enjoyed creating these information and how to programs for you and hope they’ve been of us to you.

Follow the series link below to find all the previous episodes.

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Today - Preparing to move house

Moving house can be and in fact is well noted as a high stress life situation but much of this can be avoided with a little planning.
The first and most important thing is to avoid packing and taking stuff you don’t need or use - yes clutter! I know I probably sound like a broken record by now but why pay to move stuff from A to B when you don’t even need it! Really you may well be able to hire a smaller vehicle if you get rid of the junk. So first thing is to declutter well ahead of time.

Next if you are moving yourself and not hiring removalists then DO NOT under estimated the size of the vehicle you’ll need to move everything, this is a very  common problem so make sure you allow extra room.
Now when you pack it is vital that you label what’s in each box and also what room it’s for - you should know where you’re moving to and the various rooms that are in it. So if you currently have 2 kids on one room and youre moving to a home ehere they’ll have a room each then the items packed for each child should be in separate boxes marked for the different rooms.

This same technique can be applied in a micro fashion for the kitchen whereby you mark what the items are that’s in the box and where in the kitchen they’ll be going.
Create an inventory of all your boxes and other items so that you have a comprehensive list that you can check off at the other end immediately. That way if something is missing you know straight away rather than a month down the track when you go looking for it.

Moving house is a fabulous time to declutter,  free yourself of stuff you don’t need and get into new habits in your new home. It’s a whole new start where you can apply all the best strategies covered in this series and become totally organised at last or again as the case may be! All you need to do is a little planning, it’s quite simple and well worth the effort.

That’s it for this time, next episode is the series Finale!

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Today - Preparing to stage your home for sale

I’ve noticed that far too many people fail to realise the drastic difference home staging can make to the price you get for your home. Now this does mean you need to roll up your own sleeves, but think about the end result and more so if you’re selling to avoid further debt. It’s possible to make a big difference for very little cost.

You first need to remove ALL clutter, strip the house down to the barest of furniture and decorative items - it needs to be as neutral as possible. If this means packing suitcases and storing at a friends then do it! A coat of paint will often make the biggest impact (and it really isn’t that hard to do - search online for how to paint instructions) Check out what the latest fashion colours are and choose the light neutrals for the bulk of the house and some occasional accent colours for feature walls if at all. Avoid lots of colour changes between rooms and certainly get rid of wallpapers if there are lots of different patterns through-out the house.
It’s best to have a minimal amount of different floor coverings as well as this helps to unify the look and increases the size of the home visually and the bigger a house seems the better off you are.
Make sure you clean every square inch of the home, every nook and cranny, skirting boards, windows, window frames, fly screens etc etc Make it sparkle like new!  Simple things like whitening the tile grout in the bathroom can have a huge visual impact and make a big difference to the overall impression your home gives.
Stand back and be objective - put your tastes and opinions aside and ask yourself whether it would be better to rearrange the furniture or the purpose of the rooms to be more appealing to buyers - chances are it will.  Ask a few different real estate agents what they think as they’re more in touch with the market, but remember they aren’t always right so weigh up those opinions before making any changes. Buying some cheap throw rugs to cover lounges so as to bring their colour in line with the overall scheme is a low cost option or better still hire furniture if you have the budget.
When it comes time to sell put together a document that contains all the features of your home and all the local conveniences like bus stops, train stations, schools, hospitals, parks, highways etc. to ensure that buyers are fully aware of what’s available to them when living in the area.

That’s it for this time, next episode - Preparing to move house.

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Today - Being Prepared for an Emergency

In such a busy world, taking time to think about what you’d need in the event of an emergency can seem like too much of a bother and one of those “it won’t happen to me” kind of subjects. But folks for the couple of hours it might take you to organise, it will save you alot of heartache should something dreadful happen, and if it never does, which is what we hope, then all you’ve lost is a few hours of your time.

Now as dramatic as this might sound - one approach to this topic is to imagine returning to your home to find nothing but ashes then ask yourself “What would I want to have stored with a relative or friend that will make this situation a whole lost less traumatic?”
Documents of importance include copies of birth certificates, passports, insurance policy numbers for house, vehicles, boats etc. Medical records might also be necessary. These could be in hardcopy or digital form kept on a disk. In addition things like family photos are often the kind of thing whose loss is greatly lamented. Now making copies of photos may be time consuming but it’s the perfect time to refine your photo collection down to the most important ones that you want to keep in the long term.
If you’re totally into the digital age then creating a disk with your entire collection of photos on it shouldn’t take too long.
The next thing to consider are slightly bulkier items like a change of clothes for each family member a first aid kit and this might sound odd but a picnic set containing plates cutlery and mugs for drinking.
All of these can fit in a small suitcase which can be stored in a garage, roof or basement of a relative or friend for whom you’re doing the same.

Make it an annual task to update this emergency pack so that any changes to policies, clothing sizes and photos is kept relatively up to date. There’d be nothing worse than diving into your emergency kit to find what’s there is basically useless.

That’s it for this time next episode - Preparing to stage your home for sale

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