Restyling on a budget

Creative Surrounds was recently featured in an article in the property section of the Northern District Times and Hornsby Advocate. The premise of the editorial was about styling your home for sale on a budget and I wanted to summarise a few of the points here;

1) Decluttering is key! A realestate.com.au survey showed that 56% of house hunters are turned off by clutter.
2) Think about your potential buyer. If you have a small apartment, it's possibly going to be young professional couples looking so set up a table/chairs on the balcony where they can envisage having a morning coffee. If you have a 3/4 bedroom house, it's probably going to be families looking to purchase so ensure you have lots of open space and don't fill up storage areas.
3) Flooring. If your carpet is tired looking, investigate if you have floorboards underneath. It's a minimal investment which you will benefit from at sale time.
4) Don't forget curb appeal! This is people's first impression. Mow the lawn, trim back the trees and shrubs. Plant some colourful flowers.

For the full article, go to the News page at the Creative Surrounds website at http://www.creativesurrounds.com.au/

Enemies of an Organised Space

The more I'm invited into people's spaces to resolve their clutter issues, the more patterns I see. There seem to be 3 main enemies to getting organised;

1) Flat surfaces - Cupboards, shelves, sideboards, dining tables etc. When people use an item or come home with something new, it's too easy to get into the habit of putting it on the nearest flat surface and dealing with it 'later'. Before you bring home new items, you need to think about where it's going to go. If it doesn't have a home, maybe it shouldn't come into the house?

2) Too much storage - This probably sounds odd, but ultimately the more storage you have, the more you'll accumulate. Instead of buying more storage containers, pair down what you currently own to make space.

3) And now that I've said 'too much storage' the other issue is 'not enough storage'. I'm shocked at how many homes don't have linen closets. This usually results in people stashing linen in completely obscure rooms. I would suggest either purchasing a nice chest of drawers for a hall area or somewhere central and storing all the linen there. Otherwise, you can utilise high shelves in the wardrobe of each room and store the linen for that room in that room.

Dinner with Julie Morgenstern

Wow, what a month! Last night I was invited to a dinner with several other Professional Organisers to welcome Julie Morgenstern to Australia (yes THE author of Organizing from the Inside Out).

We had a great discussion about differentiating the clients from those that have de-cluttering needs and those that have organisational needs. The de-cluttering clients are really about reducing the amount of 'stuff' and the organising clients need help setting up systems that they can maintain.

What was interesting to me was the comment from Julie that the need for Professional Organising is a universal thing. Wherever she goes it's a similar discussion of what the client needs are and what Organisers are providing. So many people have issues with organising and find such relief when they realise they don't have to tackle the problem by themselves. There is professional help out there!

Peter Walsh - Meeting an organising legend!

I was honored to be invited to a breakfast yesterday hosted by Dymo and Corporate Express, for National Organising Week. The guest speaker was Oprah's Organising Guru - Peter Walsh.

I'd like to share some quotes from Peter which I thought were absolute gems!

1) The biggest friend of clutter is the term 'later'.

2) If you start something, finish it.

He spoke a lot about 'finishing the cycle', meaning whatever the task is, do it to completion. If you're doing the dishes, wash them, dry them and put them away. When you get home and change out of your work/day clothes, put them in the hamper. It seems like a simple concept, but how many of you take your clothes off and leave them on the floor saying to yourself 'I'll put that away in a minute'. If you just finish the cycle you can move on to the next thing and you're not surrounding yourself with clutter.

Peter also spoke about not multi-tasking which follows on from what I just wrote about. The ideal is to focus on the task at hand and finish it. If you're trying to do several things at once, they usually don't get done as well and you're extremely stressed out.

Another great piece of advice is that the best time to organise your day is the 10 minutes before bed the night before. Write your to-do list for the following day just before bed. This will help you priorotise better and also sleep better.

National Organising Week 6th - 12th September

Starting Monday 6th September it's National Organising Week! What a way to start the spring season.

In honour of this week and to help out any lost souls needing advice I'm getting together with two other colleagues (Claire Lane from Urban Assistant and Michell Cudmore from Paperwork Rescue) and hosting a stand at the Belrose Supa Centre from Monday 6th - Wednesday 8th September.

So if you have any questions or need any tips and advice on getting and staying organised, please come and visit us at the National Organising Week stand on the Ground Floor of the Belrose Supa Centre.

You can also go into the draw for your chance to win a 3 hour organising consultation and a $100 Howards Storage World gift voucher!

Keep Australia Beautiful Week

Next week (23 - 29th August) is Keep Australia Beautiful Week. The best way to do so is to start in your own home! Make a difference by following these few steps;

• Choose an area that has been driving you nuts for a while now
• Plan how you want the space to work
• Set aside some time (put it in your diary so it's a commitment)
• First de-clutter the space of anything you don't need, use or love
• Sort the remaining items into groups
• Put back in the space in an organised way, using baskets or labels where necessary
• Enjoy your new space!

For other suggestions to keep Australia beautiful visit www.kab.org.au

Free chemical collection

Today (Saturday 17th) and tomorrow Sunday 18th April, there is a Free Chemical Collection at Mona Vale Beach Car Park on Surfview Road. A perfect weekend to clean out the laundry or garage.

Products accepted are;

Pool chemicals, paints, pesticides, poisons, solvents, motor oil, car batteries, gas bottles

For more information visit http://www.cleanout.com.au/

Free E-Waste Recycling

Just a reminder that this weekend there is a free e-waste drop off in Sydney at Terrey Hills and Mosman. Details are;

Terrey Hills - Kimbriki Recycling & Landfill, Kimbriki Road
Mosman - Mosman Council Car Park, The Crescent

Saturday 13th March and Sunday 14th March 9am-4pm

Items accepted are any computer, laptop, monitor, tv, dvd player, cd player, printer, mobile phone, computer related peripherals. 20 items per carload.

So.... do the right thing!!!

Unfinished Projects

I recently had a discussion with colleagues about different types of 'clutter'. One main form of clutter was identified as 'anything unfinished'.

Unfinished projects can be anything from half-done craft projects, items bought for DIY projects around the house, that lamp you're getting fixed, clothing that no longer fits but is kept because of the excercise program you're going to do to lose the weight... Any of these sounds familiar?

I have one request as an organiser - STOP beating yourself up. People really hold onto this stuff because they feel like a failure if they let it go, that they didn't get around to finishing that project or reaching that goal.

Life is too short. Set realistic goals for you in your current situation. Don't worry about the person you were years ago with many more free hours, or the person you want to be that is the yummy mummy of the century. Live your best life today and free yourself from that constant to-do list.

Let go of the projects and just enjoy your time!

The greatest gift of all

Wow - a new year! I have to say that Christmas and New Year are already a distant blur. It was a relatively relaxed xmas, but far too many presents exchanged and having to find room for more 'stuff'. (Although that's always a great excuse for me to do another declutter).

The best gift I received (except for time with my boys) was a duck. Yes, you read correctly, a duck. It was in an envelope and purchased through Oxfam. It was the gift of a duck to be given on my behalf to help create a better future for someone less fortunate. I thought it was the coolest idea and would strongly recommend this for someone you care about and as a perfect gift for the person who has everything. You can find out more by visiting www.oxfamunwrapped.com.au

I hope everyone has a prosperous and organised 2010!

Be our guest...

If you have family or friends staying with you this Christmas, make sure they feel truly welcome. If your guest bedroom has become the household 'junk' room, set some time aside to plan, declutter and organise the space.

1) Envisage what you want the space to be - a retreat for your guests after a long journey. Remember this will be their home away from home.

2) Remove any boxes or clutter, turning it back into a bedroom rather than a storage space. Throw out or donate items you no longer need and things to be kept can be stored in containers under the bed.

3) Don't forget the wardrobe. Ensure there is some hanging space for guests clothes.

4) Put fresh linen on the bed and leave enough towels for each guest.

5) Leave a basket of comfort items people forget to pack - toothbrush, moisteriser, floss.

6) On the bedside table leave a bottle of water, magazine, notepad and pen and a vase of fresh flowers.

7) A nice touch if you have people staying for more than a couple of nights is a folder of tourist information about your area.

Remember they're there for a good time - not a long time...

Images from marthstewart.com

The simplicity of yesteryear

I just adore historic towns, so on the weekend we decided to escape Sydney and visit Berrima. It's such a quaint village where shop owners are happy to chat about nothing in particular. The buildings are beautifully restored sandstone and one (Harper's Mansion) is owned by the National Trust. It now acts as a museum of life in the 1800's.

It makes you realise how much simpler life was then. The home was considered a mansion, but is small by today's standards. There are no shelves piled with paperwork, toys or clothes. They merely lived with what they needed for daily life, or items of profound beauty (e.g. hand embroidered linen). Their time was spent keeping house or entertaining guests with tea in the garden.

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era...

Bye bye baby stuff

I have a little one who recently turned 3 years old. He's now outgrown a lot of clothes and toys and I had the dilema of what to do with this 'stuff'. I realise I can't keep it forever as I need to live in the 'now' and not get stuck in the memories of the baby days (or daze... as some of it was). I decided to sort the items into 4 categories;

1) Items to sell - anything that was brand-name and in great condition. Luckily I have a wonderful second-hand kids clothing store near me.

2) Items to give to friends - I have a friend who is now pregnant so anything unisex I can give to her and in my mothers group there are a couple of women who had second children (boys) and as their firsts were girls, they're grateful for any cute little things.

3) Donate to charity - Any items that are in good condition but not sentimental at all.

4) Keepers - I have allowed a small box of special 'treasures' for keepsakes. I am completely ruthless though, so not much ends up here. I realise the memories are in my heart and some wonderful photos and I'd much prefer someone else's baby enjoying the lovely items than being held captive in a dusty box somewhere.