For many of you, the changing of the calendar means the end of one season and the beginning of the next,. That also means the transition from summer to fall clothes. Take this opportunity to purge your clothes. As many of you know less stuff means less clutter. Go through your summer clothes and take out all of the clothes you did not wear. Ask yourself why you didn't wear it and with the answer decide if it can go.
Final step…donate the items that didn't make the keep list.
So long summer…I will miss you!
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Andrea, it's not your stuff.
People often say to me that the reason purging stuff is easy for me is because…it's not my stuff. Ok, that's a fair statement. Of course I do purge items quite often but that topic is for another post. Let's get back to my original statement which is purging other people's stuff. Here is an easy assignment.
Your Kids
1. Their clothes
Do you have kids younger than the age of 12? Purge their stuff. Yep, I give you my permission. Go in their closets and dressers and take out all clothes that don't fit them. This is one of the easiest purging exercises in town. From here either donate the clothes or if there is a younger sibling pass those clothes on to that child.
2. Their toys
Now that the clothes are done and you are feeling so energized, how about you move on to the collection of stuffed animals and toys? Come on, you can do it. You and I both know the child has too much stuff. This is your opportunity to pass on toys to other kids that don't have them. Check out your local children's hospital to see if you can drop them off there.
Your Best Friend
Uh oh, where is Andrea taking me on this one? Have your best friend over to your house and take a couple hours to go through your clothes. Take every item out of your closet and one by one look at each item. Everything you and your friend say yes to, have your friend put back in the closet. Every item that is a no, goes in a donate bag. While your friend is putting your clothes back in your closet, have her organize them by category and if she is really nice by groupings of color. Having someone help you with the purging process makes it a lot easier.
Now do the same thing for your friend.
It sure is easy purging someone else's stuff.
Your Kids
1. Their clothes
Do you have kids younger than the age of 12? Purge their stuff. Yep, I give you my permission. Go in their closets and dressers and take out all clothes that don't fit them. This is one of the easiest purging exercises in town. From here either donate the clothes or if there is a younger sibling pass those clothes on to that child.
2. Their toys
Now that the clothes are done and you are feeling so energized, how about you move on to the collection of stuffed animals and toys? Come on, you can do it. You and I both know the child has too much stuff. This is your opportunity to pass on toys to other kids that don't have them. Check out your local children's hospital to see if you can drop them off there.
Your Best Friend
Uh oh, where is Andrea taking me on this one? Have your best friend over to your house and take a couple hours to go through your clothes. Take every item out of your closet and one by one look at each item. Everything you and your friend say yes to, have your friend put back in the closet. Every item that is a no, goes in a donate bag. While your friend is putting your clothes back in your closet, have her organize them by category and if she is really nice by groupings of color. Having someone help you with the purging process makes it a lot easier.
Now do the same thing for your friend.
It sure is easy purging someone else's stuff.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
When someone dies
What do you do with your loved one's belongings when that person dies?
I remember when my Dad died my Mom gave me his red and blue striped bathrobe. I loved that bathrobe and it reminded me of all the things I loved about him. There was something about seeing my Dad in that robe that gave me a sense of safety, of love, of happiness. I can picture him now wearing it and his smile that made me feel special.
So when my gave me the robe, I hung it on a hook where I could see it every day. On very cold nights I would occasionally put it on just to feel his presence. But as more time went by I kept thinking this robe needs a better home. It is something my Dad wore daily and so there should be someone else who would honor it with daily wear.
Then I thought about my brother Adam who lives in Florida. He has an outdoor shower,which due to the heat in Florida, he uses daily. So when his birthday rolled around in August, I packed up the robe and shipped it off to him. I knew my brother would absolutely flip for this gift and I was right. He said it was the best present he could ever receive. I like thinking about him wearing this robe to and from that outdoor shower and how much my Dad would approve…way more than a towel wrapped around Adam's waist. I mean really what would the neighbors think!
So how about you? Are you keeping some one's clothes because they remind you of that loved one? Are they sitting unused in a box, a closet, a drawer? Think about someone who just might enjoy wearing those clothes.
For me, I know my Dad is happy to see my brother wearing his robe.
I remember when my Dad died my Mom gave me his red and blue striped bathrobe. I loved that bathrobe and it reminded me of all the things I loved about him. There was something about seeing my Dad in that robe that gave me a sense of safety, of love, of happiness. I can picture him now wearing it and his smile that made me feel special.
So when my gave me the robe, I hung it on a hook where I could see it every day. On very cold nights I would occasionally put it on just to feel his presence. But as more time went by I kept thinking this robe needs a better home. It is something my Dad wore daily and so there should be someone else who would honor it with daily wear.
Then I thought about my brother Adam who lives in Florida. He has an outdoor shower,which due to the heat in Florida, he uses daily. So when his birthday rolled around in August, I packed up the robe and shipped it off to him. I knew my brother would absolutely flip for this gift and I was right. He said it was the best present he could ever receive. I like thinking about him wearing this robe to and from that outdoor shower and how much my Dad would approve…way more than a towel wrapped around Adam's waist. I mean really what would the neighbors think!
So how about you? Are you keeping some one's clothes because they remind you of that loved one? Are they sitting unused in a box, a closet, a drawer? Think about someone who just might enjoy wearing those clothes.
For me, I know my Dad is happy to see my brother wearing his robe.
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Open the windows
Don't you love this time of year? Days are longer. The weather is hotter. I instantly want to shed the layers of clothing and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. I think that my home feels that way too.
It is time to open the windows, air out the closets and shed the layers of winter clutter. For some, this is not an easy task. The bedrooms feel full and the closets are stuffed to the brim.
Here are some of my quick easy tips:
1. If you have kids, go through their clothes and pull out all the clothes that are now too small and put them in a bag for donation.
2. Sort through all the books your kids read over the year and decide which ones can now be donated to your library. Have your kids participate. They may surprise you and say they are ready to donate their books. Your attachment to a favorite book and their attachment may be very different. I also suggest while you are at the library for everyone to get a library card.
3. Get a couple clear bins and sort through all of your holiday decorations by category - Christmas, Hanukkah, Halloween. Any ornaments you didn't use, put them in a bag for donation.
4. Go through your winter clothing and any clothes you didn't wear, it is time now to take them out of your closet and donate them. Think of it like you are pruning a tree of its dead leaves. You are creating space for new leaves to bloom.
5. Tackle that pile of clothes that need a button or stitch. If you don't have time, take them to your local dry cleaner. You may be surprised that its not that expensive and the task gets done!
6. Get a vacuum/mop and thoroughly clean the closets.
7. Take the bags to a donation shop and collect your tax deductible receipt.
Sometimes just doing these simple steps will motivate you to tackle other cluttered areas of the home.
Now go ahead an open the bedroom windows and open the closet doors and enjoy the cool breeze.
Happy Summer.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Spring Cleaning by Jen Johnson
Looks like Spring is just around the corner so it is time freshen things up a bit. I just got this email from Jen Johnson who works for the Biggest Loser resorts. Here is her list to jump start that spring clean. (note number 7 - I must be on to something with the decluttering of the home.)
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Want another easy job?
Since you did so well with tossing out the make-up let's move on to another easy task. I will call it the things you don't use and will never use task.
Do you own items in your house that you will absolutely never use? If you answered yes, then go get yourself a box or a bag to donate those items. Go room to room and pull all the items you don't use.
Here are suggested items that might be on your list:
Kitchen - did you have ideas on that kitchen appliance about making waffles or something else that you have never used? Put those appliances in the box.
Bathroom - how many nail products like polish or spa machines that you never use? You know you go to the nail salon for your mani/pedis. Put all of those items in the box.
I think you get the idea. To make this an easy project tackle this project one room per day. Once you have gone through all the rooms take those donated items to the Goodwill and collect a tax receipt for your donations.
Do you own items in your house that you will absolutely never use? If you answered yes, then go get yourself a box or a bag to donate those items. Go room to room and pull all the items you don't use.
Here are suggested items that might be on your list:
Kitchen - did you have ideas on that kitchen appliance about making waffles or something else that you have never used? Put those appliances in the box.
Bathroom - how many nail products like polish or spa machines that you never use? You know you go to the nail salon for your mani/pedis. Put all of those items in the box.
I think you get the idea. To make this an easy project tackle this project one room per day. Once you have gone through all the rooms take those donated items to the Goodwill and collect a tax receipt for your donations.
Monday, March 20, 2017
The Low Hanging Fruit
I realize that getting your home in order can seem like a daunting task. So how about we start with some easy stuff?
The biggest problem I see and I say it again and again is that we have too much stuff. You open a drawer, a cabinet, a closet and it is stuffed full. Where do you begin?
How about start with your make up? Did you know it has an expiration date? OK, go get it…yes all of it. Clear off a table and and sort the categories…lips, eyes, face. Now grab the items that you wear and…throw out the rest. You might think that you spent a lot of money on all of that make-up. I say o what! You don't use it. Now clean the items you are keeping and wipe down where you store the make up. Put the make up away and throw out the bag of unused make-up.
Your job for today is done. Oh and by the way, I just did this task for myself.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
You Don't Have to Wait for Lent
The most consistent challenge I see with my clients is that the volume of items exceeds the size of the space. This is a good way to put your home on a diet and you don't have to wait for Lent to start the 40 days.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
The Bottom Line is…We Just Have Too Much Stuff
The most consistent theme I see in every job I do - too much stuff.
Here is a great article on getting rid of the stuff. Enjoy.
Here is a great article on getting rid of the stuff. Enjoy.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
We need more time, and less clothes by Womankind
My assistant Nicoll just sent me this great article. Enjoy.
Why we need more time, and less clothes
Comments Off on Why we need more time, and less clothes
by Womankind mag on August 11, 2016
Why do we work so much? Why don’t we curate our lives so we can spend joyful hours painting, thinking, reading, going for long walks with our lover – why don’t we pursue the carefree life indefinitely, one of enjoying periods of rest, of learning, of growing? Why do we take more pay over less work? What’s wrong with us?
Juliet Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College has spent the past decade or so trying to understand why people work so much, often in jobs they don’t like. “Why don’t people save money so they can work less in the future?” she asks. “Why do people just take the money and spend it?”
Schor argues that a lot of our spending behaviour comes from trying to keep up with a rising standard of living. We feel almost forced to buy things for fear of falling behind. We feel compelled to take out a loan to buy a house, a car, a constantly rotating wardrobe because everyone else is doing it, family, friends, work colleagues as well as the people we see on television, movies, advertising, newspapers and magazines. In fact it’s this latter category that often has the biggest pull on us.
It’s the lifestyle of the wealthy that’s mainly shown in the media, talked about in newspapers and lifestyle sections, says Schor. “The media is increasingly orientated towards the lifestyles of the very top, and what I found in the US was that more people across the income spectrum were looking to that increasingly luxurious lifestyle for themselves.”
The “good life” in the media is about owning lots of stuff, jet-setting around the globe to go shopping and expanding everything from houses, to kitchens, businesses to economies. The good life is never depicted as a life of ample time – time to play the cello, write, plant flowers, or sit around doing nothing but chatting with friends. Indeed, the media has taught us to equate owning lots of products with a high standard of living, as opposed to growing other aspects of our life such as cultivating skills and friendships.
“We have a lot of stuff but we are poor in terms of our time and control of our time,” says Schor. “We must shift onto a path where we are less orientated to accumulating stuff and more orientated to accumulating time, connecting with people, building social capital. It is not how many toys you have when you die; it is much more the richness of your social life, that’s what really matters.”
The obsession with buying stuff to gain a high standard of living is most apparent in the fashion industry; in our McFashion world clothes are churned out in factory lines much like sausages, bundled up in plastic wrapping and shipped across the seas. Hardly any fashion these days is manufactured in small local shops with local seamstresses.
The glut of fashion is evident in the waste stream, ever-rising volumes of fashion stuffed down chutes in apartment blocks, buried in wheelie bins, and draped across rubbish tips; the previous season’s jackets, skirts, tops and pants are clogging up the arteries of our cities. Schor notes that textile rubbish in the US is a growing component of people’s garbage; figures from 2007 reveal that 35 kilograms per person of fashion is tossed into the garbage each year.
The most revealing fact about the contemporary fashion industry, notes Schor, is that clothing can now be purchased by weight rather than by the piece, and at a price as low as two dollars a kilo. Now, it’s even possible to buy high-end apparel for less than rice, beans and other basic foodstuffs – a boon for fashion houses, but a disaster for the planet.
Social scientists say that when we view an image of a fashion model wearing a dress, a photograph displayed online or in a magazine, we consume the image and symbol of the dress; perhaps the dress represents for us a feeling of scaling up to higher living standards just like the people on television. The physical dress – its fabric, lining, and buttons – is for the most part irrelevant, and so is the 20-something Chinese girl who sews its seams in a factory.
Interestingly, on the other side of the world, the factory girl has dreams just like our own of working hard so that one day she can enjoy the life beamed down to her via television sets and cinemas: the big house, the car, lavish parties, expensive education for her future children. She works for the same symbol that we do.
“It’s not only the planet that suffers in this stage of consumer culture,” writes Schor in her book True Wealth. “The fast-fashion dynamic puts enormous pressure on consumers to keep up with what can at times feel like a dizzying acceleration in norms. It’s financially exhausting, and requires time to shop, compare prices, and learn to operate new technologies. Fast fashion fosters an unhealthy dissatisfaction with what one has and anxiety about falling behind.”
It’s not just fashion that’s turning our planet into a rubbish tip. We’ve somehow turned everything into a symbol of plentitude, from cars and bed linen to fancy vacuum cleaners. British sociologist Mike Featherstone calls it the “aestheticisation of everyday life,” pointing out that every aspect of life is an opportunity for aesthetic expression (the appreciation of beauty and art), from pens to bags, kettles to watches. We somehow use these items to shape our identities; for instance, we buy the rustic kettle to signify an “organic, herbal, naturalist” self, but then we might replace it with a decorative Japanese kettle to signify a “Taoist, meditative” self.
In the past, in contrast, items were used for their function. A kettle was used to boil water and it is unlikely to have even crossed people’s minds whether the neighbour had an identical kettle or not. If someone were to have said to a person a hundred years ago that they should ditch their kettle because it had fallen out of fashion, they would have thought that person was stark raving mad.
The trouble with placing a symbolic value on almost every tool we use – from vacuum cleaners to mobile phones – is that marketing gurus are constantly changing the signs on us, of what’s in and what’s out. “If what is symbolically valued remains so for only a brief period of time, then replacement goods become necessary,” writes Schor. Indeed, we’re forced to ditch, research the new products on offer, shop, buy, ditch again, and the cycle is endless, expensive, exhausting, and we have to work more and more hours to get back to where we started.
“If you look at what the growth model is doing to people in terms of their mental health, their physical health, their subjective well-being and all of those things – it is not as though the current system is giving us nirvana and oh dear we see that here is an ecological problem. It is undermining the well-being of the planet and its people,” says Schor.
So what’s the answer? “We need a new set of values and culture,” concludes Schor. “We need to talk postgrowth.”
From the ‘papillon’ edition of Womankind
Juliet Schor, professor of sociology at Boston College has spent the past decade or so trying to understand why people work so much, often in jobs they don’t like. “Why don’t people save money so they can work less in the future?” she asks. “Why do people just take the money and spend it?”
Schor argues that a lot of our spending behaviour comes from trying to keep up with a rising standard of living. We feel almost forced to buy things for fear of falling behind. We feel compelled to take out a loan to buy a house, a car, a constantly rotating wardrobe because everyone else is doing it, family, friends, work colleagues as well as the people we see on television, movies, advertising, newspapers and magazines. In fact it’s this latter category that often has the biggest pull on us.
It’s the lifestyle of the wealthy that’s mainly shown in the media, talked about in newspapers and lifestyle sections, says Schor. “The media is increasingly orientated towards the lifestyles of the very top, and what I found in the US was that more people across the income spectrum were looking to that increasingly luxurious lifestyle for themselves.”
The “good life” in the media is about owning lots of stuff, jet-setting around the globe to go shopping and expanding everything from houses, to kitchens, businesses to economies. The good life is never depicted as a life of ample time – time to play the cello, write, plant flowers, or sit around doing nothing but chatting with friends. Indeed, the media has taught us to equate owning lots of products with a high standard of living, as opposed to growing other aspects of our life such as cultivating skills and friendships.
“We have a lot of stuff but we are poor in terms of our time and control of our time,” says Schor. “We must shift onto a path where we are less orientated to accumulating stuff and more orientated to accumulating time, connecting with people, building social capital. It is not how many toys you have when you die; it is much more the richness of your social life, that’s what really matters.”
The obsession with buying stuff to gain a high standard of living is most apparent in the fashion industry; in our McFashion world clothes are churned out in factory lines much like sausages, bundled up in plastic wrapping and shipped across the seas. Hardly any fashion these days is manufactured in small local shops with local seamstresses.
The glut of fashion is evident in the waste stream, ever-rising volumes of fashion stuffed down chutes in apartment blocks, buried in wheelie bins, and draped across rubbish tips; the previous season’s jackets, skirts, tops and pants are clogging up the arteries of our cities. Schor notes that textile rubbish in the US is a growing component of people’s garbage; figures from 2007 reveal that 35 kilograms per person of fashion is tossed into the garbage each year.
The most revealing fact about the contemporary fashion industry, notes Schor, is that clothing can now be purchased by weight rather than by the piece, and at a price as low as two dollars a kilo. Now, it’s even possible to buy high-end apparel for less than rice, beans and other basic foodstuffs – a boon for fashion houses, but a disaster for the planet.
Social scientists say that when we view an image of a fashion model wearing a dress, a photograph displayed online or in a magazine, we consume the image and symbol of the dress; perhaps the dress represents for us a feeling of scaling up to higher living standards just like the people on television. The physical dress – its fabric, lining, and buttons – is for the most part irrelevant, and so is the 20-something Chinese girl who sews its seams in a factory.
Interestingly, on the other side of the world, the factory girl has dreams just like our own of working hard so that one day she can enjoy the life beamed down to her via television sets and cinemas: the big house, the car, lavish parties, expensive education for her future children. She works for the same symbol that we do.
“It’s not only the planet that suffers in this stage of consumer culture,” writes Schor in her book True Wealth. “The fast-fashion dynamic puts enormous pressure on consumers to keep up with what can at times feel like a dizzying acceleration in norms. It’s financially exhausting, and requires time to shop, compare prices, and learn to operate new technologies. Fast fashion fosters an unhealthy dissatisfaction with what one has and anxiety about falling behind.”
It’s not just fashion that’s turning our planet into a rubbish tip. We’ve somehow turned everything into a symbol of plentitude, from cars and bed linen to fancy vacuum cleaners. British sociologist Mike Featherstone calls it the “aestheticisation of everyday life,” pointing out that every aspect of life is an opportunity for aesthetic expression (the appreciation of beauty and art), from pens to bags, kettles to watches. We somehow use these items to shape our identities; for instance, we buy the rustic kettle to signify an “organic, herbal, naturalist” self, but then we might replace it with a decorative Japanese kettle to signify a “Taoist, meditative” self.
In the past, in contrast, items were used for their function. A kettle was used to boil water and it is unlikely to have even crossed people’s minds whether the neighbour had an identical kettle or not. If someone were to have said to a person a hundred years ago that they should ditch their kettle because it had fallen out of fashion, they would have thought that person was stark raving mad.
The trouble with placing a symbolic value on almost every tool we use – from vacuum cleaners to mobile phones – is that marketing gurus are constantly changing the signs on us, of what’s in and what’s out. “If what is symbolically valued remains so for only a brief period of time, then replacement goods become necessary,” writes Schor. Indeed, we’re forced to ditch, research the new products on offer, shop, buy, ditch again, and the cycle is endless, expensive, exhausting, and we have to work more and more hours to get back to where we started.
“If you look at what the growth model is doing to people in terms of their mental health, their physical health, their subjective well-being and all of those things – it is not as though the current system is giving us nirvana and oh dear we see that here is an ecological problem. It is undermining the well-being of the planet and its people,” says Schor.
So what’s the answer? “We need a new set of values and culture,” concludes Schor. “We need to talk postgrowth.”
From the ‘papillon’ edition of Womankind
Friday, January 27, 2017
2017
It's a new year and you are resolved to get your house in order. Where to begin? I can help.
Let's start with linens and towels.
Grab a couple garbage bags.
Step 1
Walk around your home and every where you store linens get them and put them in a pile. Match up all you sheet sets. Do you have any sheets that you really don't use? Do you have more than one set for each bed? Do you have any sheets that you don't like? OK, if you answered yes to any of these questions, put those sheets into the garbage bag. Now put your completed sets away - in one location.
Step 2
Walk around your home and grab all of your towels. Match up all your sets. Do you have any towels that look a little tired and worn down? Do you have any towels that you just don't like? Do you have more than 2 bath towels for each person who lives in your home? Do you have too many hand towels and/or wash cloths? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, put those towels in the garbage bag. Now put your towels away - in one location!
Step 3
Donate the bags of towels and sheets. One place I like to go for donation of sheets and towels is the SPCA.
Let's start with linens and towels.
Grab a couple garbage bags.
Step 1
Walk around your home and every where you store linens get them and put them in a pile. Match up all you sheet sets. Do you have any sheets that you really don't use? Do you have more than one set for each bed? Do you have any sheets that you don't like? OK, if you answered yes to any of these questions, put those sheets into the garbage bag. Now put your completed sets away - in one location.
Step 2
Walk around your home and grab all of your towels. Match up all your sets. Do you have any towels that look a little tired and worn down? Do you have any towels that you just don't like? Do you have more than 2 bath towels for each person who lives in your home? Do you have too many hand towels and/or wash cloths? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, put those towels in the garbage bag. Now put your towels away - in one location!
Step 3
Donate the bags of towels and sheets. One place I like to go for donation of sheets and towels is the SPCA.
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