Blog
Our latest musings
Post Holiday Checklist: Update your holiday card list and address book from cards received If you haven’t photographed your decorated spaces and taped the pictures to the front of your storage containers, do so before you pack things up. Each of my holiday décor storage tubs contains the items needed to create the scene that is taped to the box. It’s so simple and cuts down on the amount of decisions I need to contemplate. After all, it’s actually the millions of holiday decisions that wipe us out. Take those photos and give your brain a break next year. Throw away/ Recycle: Lights that don’t work Broken ornaments Excess left over holiday cards you sent Holiday books you don’t read Donate: Gifts that you don’t want Holiday décor that did not get put up Excess wrapping paper that you won’t use
As we step into November, the season of Gratitude is here! I want to take a moment to share just how thankful I am for each of you, as well as our incredible team and trusted vendors who make everything we do possible! (Above is most of my team missing Karyn and Martina). Reflecting on the past year, I am reminded of all the connections we’ve built and strengthened! To our vendors, thank you for being reliable and supportive partners! Your collaboration means so much to us. To our clients, thank you for trusting us with your homes and lives. We’re honored to play a role in making your spaces more comfortable, organized and enjoyable. For all our moving and staging clients, thank you for allowing us to be part of your journey. Introducing Our New Services To make life even easier for you, we are excited to announce 2 new services!
1. Keep a family calendar in one central location. Track everyone activities on the calendar. Go over it everyday with the kids. 2. Use chore charts to show what chores are to be done. Daily check list of what is expected reminds kids: brush teeth, make bed, read 20 min etc. Use daily lists to keep track of homework too. Reward with extra minute of book time electronics etc. This tool helps kids learn to prioritize. Develop a reward system to help your child develop a routine. Be consistent it takes 21 days to get in a routine. 3. Assign chores that involve sorting, like sorting socks, laundry, mail or emptying the dishwasher. 4. Help kids prepare the night before by picking clothes out for the next day. Packing school or/and sports bag. Packing lunch and snacks. 5. Create systems for toys, clothes, closets, and books . Showing and teaching kids there is a home for everything. 6. Teach kids to use or binder for homework and each subject 7. Establish a homework routine. Set a timer and create a homework area that works for the child. 8. Kids love to help. Let them help when cooking or baking
After working with a few recently widowed families, I realized what if something happened to me or my husband, would I be able to find all the documents access his computer, etc. My husband and I had the what happens to me talk besides the medical, the house stuff. Have the discussion with your significant other or family member, take five minutes to write it down on paper, on your notes app on your phone or word document and share. Items to take note of: Is there a deposit box What is the safe code How to access the other phone or computer How to access all the bills and pay them Where are the house documents? Where is all the Tax Paperwork? How to access tax accounts? How to access Life Insurance accounts especially if it’s with work? Who to contact at work if there is an emergency What are Credit card, debit cards, business expense accounts, and any other open accounts What house hold items do you need? Alarm system contact, Where the water shut off is? The filters for the heater? Are there special considerations that need to be noted for the kids, what drs they go to? Foods they don’t like Having this list will help your family be prepared if there is ever an emergency.
Who has a junk drawer, or 2 junk drawers? Some people may feel that a junk drawer should not exist, in my opinion you need one drawer to hold the miscellaneous stuff as long it organized. As long as you are not lacking drawer space a junk drawer can be a mini organized command center. Do you need the drawer space but still need the miscellaneous items at the ready, think of over the door organizer with horizontal pockets. The pockets are great to hold the flashlights, tools, pens and clip holders. Declutter the chaos of the junk drawer is quick organizing task with amazing results. Empty the drawer, throw out the trash Sort like items together, put all the lighters, candles together Here is the moment of TRUTH: DO you really need 50 ketchup packets from fast food restaurants? Do you need 30 silverware packs from take out places? How many menus do you really look at? Do the 100 of pens and sharpies actually work? Do you need all them in the junk drawer? Consolidate all the excess pens, condiments, and tools. Relocate the pens to the office area, and tools to the tool area. Recycle the extra menus, donate condiments and silverware packs Organize: Once you have only the essentials that you need at hand you put the like items together in a utensil organizer Enjoy the quick organizing task! Thanks to the 10 minutes you took there is no more digging for what you need!
Did you know we help families declutter and pack/unpack for their move? Two weeks ago, my team helped two families with their moves. Each Move experience had important issues I wanted everyone to know to protect themselves. Triple check your movers! The movers may pass your interview, but have you checked Google reviews and Better Business Bureau? Have you called several of the references provided? My client endured undo stress and hardship from the movers. Movers were supposed to do 2 day move. The movers took 3 days, causing a postponed walk through. My client and her husband have injuries and were not able to move items. These movers showed disrespect and vulgarity to my client and her family. Every item was marked, and the rooms were marked by coordinating color. The movers just dropped majority of boxes and mattress in the foyer. After lots of redirecting, some items were moved. The 3rd day the movers were still putting furniture in the wrong places but having the head mover there helped with redirect of this items. The worst was the movers disregarded my client’s stuff. 2 boxes of dishes were broken when the boxes were dropped down the steps. The movers never told the client that items were broken. Witnesses to the crash dishes told the family. Remember We have a list of accredited movers we were work with. Family crises happen all the time. When it happens to you its tackle one day at a time. When 4 siblings in 4 different states get a call that their loved one fell and previous health conditions exacerbated from the fall making living at home impossible. The daughter reached out to Life Simplified. We were able to come up with a plan to have antiques and auctioneer appraisers come evaluate the items. The realization that the father’s collections of war memorabilia were going was too much for the kids to bear. The family decided to pack all the items with care and be moved. Our team made sure to pack the antiques in its special way to protect from damage. Doing the walk through with the family I noticed several antique guns. The family did not know that these guns are registered with the ATF and need to be moved by a gun specialist. Which usually is an off-duty cop. Also, my knowledge of war memorabilia was off since my 14 yr old son saw a picture of one item that was going be packed and informed that it was not an old telescope but a old ww1 machine gun or Cannon. I reached out to a retired military friend who informed me that it was WW1 Cannon I it’s an artifact it may be packed if it’s the real deal the family needed to obtain a permit from the ATF to move the item, otherwise jail time. If you or a family member have a collection, start discussing what will happen to it. If you need a move manger, we would be happy to help you out.
Hello! Are you ready for a five-minute challenge that could transform your home? Yep, you read that correctly. In just five minutes you can take one huge step in decluttering your home. Wanna know the best part? You can get the kids involved too! You should be able to enjoy the items in your home without feeling bogged down by the clutter. And in five minutes you can create habits that will tidy your space and ease your mind! - Annie Your home should be your sanctuary, a safe space where you can relax and get away from it all. But if you live in a space with no order, it can be difficult to actually unwind, even when you’re within the walls of your own home. You should be able to enjoy the items in your home without feeling tense when you spot clutter. It’s about time to make space for the things you love! Quickly glance at the surface areas in your home. Are there items that you like but don’t love? Do you have a beautiful picture of your family with no place to put it? Are all your surface areas covered with things? Congratulations, you just conquered phase one of decluttering! Now it’s time to put on some music, grab a box or a bag, and set your timer for five minutes. Pick a room, look at the surfaces, and ask yourself this: Do I use these items? Does this item work? Do I love this item? If you answered no, it’s time to donate these items and let them go to someone who will make better use of them! It’s not always easy to comb through your belongings, but when you have a common goal in mind, it makes it a lot simpler. If you have a gift from someone you love, take a picture of the item and cherish the memory, not the item! Before you buy more ‘stuff,’ ask yourself, "will I use this?” And before you buy multiples of something, consider if you have a place to store them? Can you maintain them, and do you really need two? The key to success is finding a home for the items that you love! - Schedule 5-10 organizing days on your calendar. - Have an accountability partner. - Work when you have the most energy. - Don’t tackle the whole space. Tackle one pile or shelf at a time.
Does the word MOVING send chills to you and utter like a curse word! Does your mind start racing to where am I moving to? AM I downsizing? What will I take? What the best movers? Where do I get moving supplies? I don’t want to take all this stuff? Overwhelmed!!! Life Simplifed has seen clients go through the stress of the moves and wished they would of reached out before the move. I hear it all the time movers job is to pack, your job is to organize. This is not true! Movers offer packing, but they prefer to just move. Yes my job is to organize and to make my client life simplified, and less stress! Thinking of moving- we can help client start to declutter and organize way before a move or right before a move. The best part about having us come help declutter. We can start to pack the household items to make the house be stage ready for pictures and potential buyers. While we do this we can leave out certain items that can be used for staging. After all that is done then we can suggest a realtors to discuss the move. We provide downsizing questions to help if that is part of your move plan. Every client gets a moving checklist that provides an outline of what needs to be done by weeks and months before the move. Downsizing we can help you decide if your furniture can fit in the new place. We go over the plans and if possible the space to see what will fit in the new place. We then discuss what pieces of furniture can go to the smaller place and what to do with the other pieces of furniture. Moving to a renovated or new build we can go over the plans to provide maximum storage options in the new place. Do you have house full of items that need to be sold we connect you with estate sale companies. Not sure if something is valuable we take pictures and ask our antique appraisers. Need items to be auctioned we can connect you with our antique and auction companies we partner with. Is there excess trash we schedule our junk company to remove the items. When you work with us we can calculate an inventory of estimate of boxes and what furniture needs to be disassembled and provide estimate to movers we get the estimates and provide you the estimate and the dates available . We do the all the work and have for you. We even order all the packing material for the move. Once you have contracted with the realtor your house will be ready to be on the market. We have helped you declutter and stage if needed. Once house is sold we can start to pack. We hear all the time I don’t want my house in chaos during the move ok, we respect that. We pack the storage spaces, garages, spare rooms first. Boxes are in not in the way. We pack all items like they are our items. We even will back separately and label differently if items are going to someone else. What difference us from movers when we pack. We pack everything like it is ours- we take extreme care of each item. We pack the items very well. We will ask you if we are not sure something should be packed such as a cracked cup, or broken toy. We check out expiration dates and only pack the non-expired food. We will mention if we see there is an excess of something like do you really want 10 strainer spoons? We will clean or wipe something down if it is dirty or dusty before we pack it up. Movers just pack they don’t ask. If there is a bowl of nuts they will wrap it and not empty it. We will take pictures of the lamps or cabinets to make sure they are put back correctly at the new house. Movers don’t do that. We unpack and organize the new house. So you can be fully functional in the new place with in a few days. Movers just empty the boxes. We love movers! We just provide ato z service to help our clients have a organized and less stress. Do you have a loved one who is in the hospital and can’t come home or a loved one who passed away. No worries we got you. We can work with you tag all items going to certain people or places. Then pack them accordingly. Then we can connect and arrange estate sale if needed. We can help create an inventory list if items are going to storage. We can organize the storage unit or even clean it out if needed. Moving is hard and can be stressful let us do all the work for you.
My Family’s Busy Bags When you’re at a restaurant, in the car, or headed to the beach, do your kids drive you crazy by fighting or by saying that they are bored? I have found several variations of a busy bag/box on Pinterest, and created my own. My bags have changed over the years accommodating items that will satiate my 4 year old and my 7 year old! My Restaurant Bag contains: Paper- That is kept in a fun print file folder Crayons – That are kept in a pencil case Coloring books Lacing boards – That are kept in a large pencil case or large utility baggie Laminated road maps – That are printed and placed in a page protector sleeve Matchbox cars – That are kept in a large pencil case or large utility baggie My Little Ponies Crayola Model Magic – That is kept in plastic baggies (This is like Play-Doh, but doesn’t crumble as much!) Laminated play dough mats – That are kept in a page protector sleeve (So the Model Magic doesn’t stick to the table!) Stacking cups Colored pom-poms or colored popsicle sticks When my kids were toddlers, I used pack lots of board books, large Duplo blocks, finger puppets, Crayola dough, laminated play dough mats, stacking cups and Fisher Price plastic animals. For older kids, add Legos, playing cards, trivia questions, the Uno game, books, Mad libs, and maze books. My Car bag contains everything from my restaurant bag, plus the following: Travel Bingo boards Books Small cupcake pans Magnetic alphabet letters Notebooks An Etch a Sketch Super hero figurines (most small items like these can be stored in an empty Wet Ones wipes container.) Paper on a clipboard Stickers Small snack containers – Filled with dry cereal and pretzels Granola bars Sports bottles filled with water Books on CD from your local library, or Conference CD’s from the NAPO-GPC library! A fun idea that I started on a 10 hour trip to Myrtle Beach, was to get baby links from the dollar store and connect them from one car hook to the one across from it in the backseat, and a super hero traveled link to link every hour that past. Also, since each of my kids had a small version of the car bag next to them, with each activity organized inside a smaller container, there were no melt downs! Taking a family of four to the beach is like a jigsaw puzzle! Everything needs to be organized and in a certain area or else it will be covered in sand or forgotten. Thanks to many invites to Thirty One parties I am well prepared for the beach with bags! My Beach Bag is a system of smaller bags: My pocket tote holds my cellphone, cash, my son’s EpiPen, and inhalers, a suncreen stick, baby powder, and sunscreen, plus a zinc stick for my son who fries in the sun. My large utility tote holds everyone’s hats, my long sleeve shirt, my kid’s extra rash shirts, four beach towels and my blanket that rolls up. My large zipper pouch holds my husband’s iPad and my Kindle. Another zipper pouch is filled with a small blank pad, small coloring books, mini markers and a small My Little Pony. (This pouch was added after thinking that just the beach toys would occupy my 3 year old last year!) Staying organized, even on vacation helps keep my sanity, and keeps my husband sane when the ice cream man rings his bell and both kids start running towards him. All he has to do is reach in the pouch for the money and not waste any time looking for it. I hope I have inspired you to create your own “Bags” for whatever situation calls for it.