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Falling in Love With Your Home

2/4/2021

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!

Let's Get Started, Here is the 5 minute Challenge

10 Tips For Working From Home

1/26/2021

Does it feel like you are stuck in the movie Groundhog Day? I do especially on the weekends! I blinked and January flew by so fast. This past month Life Simplified has been very busy helping 2 families organize their homes, organize a laundry room, and organize another person papers. This past week a major house clean out was started.

Besides helping clients in their homes, I have started Tuesday Organizing Challenge Videos on Social Media. Check out the videos for organizing tips. This week tip was managing the paper. This is a crucial part of keeping things organized with everyone working from home and kids doing school from home.

Here are 10 Tips for Working From home

5 Quick Time Management Tips

1/6/2021

Happy New Year! Start 2021 conquering Time Management

5 Quick Time Management Tips:

Prioritize the tasks. What absolutely needs to be done.
Set a plan for the day and set time limits for each activity, such as 10 minutes- check emails use Time Timer app
Learn to say No!
Create Organizing Systems, being organized saves times. Create a filing system for documents. Make sure all items have a place to be stored.
Unsubscribe from email lists if you do not want to receive their content

Streamline, streamline, streamline

Still need help schedule a organizing session Get in Touch - LIfe Simplified - Life Simplified, LLC (lifesimplifiedpo.com)

Organizing Strategies For Wrapping Up The Holidays

12/18/2020

From my family to yours, Happy Holidays! For all who celebrated Hanukkah I hope you had a great holiday. This year the holidays will be different with the pandemic restrictions, but make the most of the holiday. Celebrate and enjoy this time with family making memories. Enjoy the little things!

Holiday Survival Guide

12/14/2020

This year has been extremely stressful, emotional and hard on everyone. The Holidays in general are difficult for some. This year in particular not being able to travel or have the normal family gatherings makes decorating foe some extremely difficult. In some the desire to bring joy to this horrible year has the decorating spirit overload.

Who doesn't love Christmas? It's a time of good tidings and joy, but with those come a whole lot of clutter! That's the reason why so many people make their New Year's Resolution: "Get organized."

But here is the problem; by the time the new year comes, it's already too late. Your already disorganized home is now literally overstuffed with new decorations, presents, clothes, and everything else that comes with the winter holidays. By January 1st, the vast majority of homes in the United States are beyond bursting

Preparing For The Holiday Season

12/2/2020

This Holiday season will be quite different this year! Assess your holiday traditions like family gatherings and church services. Do they need tweaking this year due to social distancing? If so start planning now. Schedule one-on one time with the people you want to see, in person or on a zoom call. Are your travel plans cancelled? Schedule a video call to open presents with family or friends. Send holiday cards, even if this is not a regular tradition for you. Everyone can enjoy some cheerfulness.

The one tradition we were able to follow through with this year is decorating the house inside and out. My husband and son have certain decorations that they want to put up. Being able to put up the decorations and still maintain a stress free environment takes lots of organization. I thought my 13 year old and 10-year-old would know that some of the holiday activities we normally do would not happen this year, I was wrong! I decided to find some fun holiday activities that are safe but still bring cheer to my kiddos. This time of the year is so magical for us. Driving around and seeing the homes with all their lights brings a smile to me. What are you doing to stay calm during this busy season?

Below is a list of some fun no contact holiday list.

Want more Holiday tips check out my Christmas Checklist. If you are still struggling we can help with all your organizing needs, reach out to make an appointment today.
christmas_countdown_checklist_-.pdf

Enjoy The Holiday Season
Annie

# Guaranteed Ways To Make Your Thanksgiving Easier

11/10/2020

Can you believe Thanks giving is almost here? Like everything else this year, the holidays are going to look different. Although our regular events and travel plans may be cancelled, we can still find ways to celebrate with our loved ones.
Assess your holiday traditions like family gatherings and parties. Do they need tweaking this year due to social distancing?
Schedule one on one time with people you want to see.

It's not to early to start planning for Thanksgiving. Whether you are playing host, doing a zoom Thanksgiving or attending a feast, make sure you have what you need NOW so you have plenty of time to fill in the gaps. To help you get ready for the holiday here is my Thanksgiving checklist.
thanksgiving_checklist.pdf

Halloween Tips and Tricks for the Family

10/23/2020

Eight Halloween Safety Tips for Kids
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love dressing up, and going trick or treating with the kids. I also love decorating the home with cobwebs, spiders and tombstones!
Halloween is awesome, but going out after dark with little ones can be a stressful experience, especially this year. so here are seven tips to keep the kids safe while out and about

Wear reflective clothing. If your area’s trick or treating happens after dark, always make sure to add some reflective tape to their costume. Even if they are right with you, a small child can be hard to spot after dark.
Use strollers or carry in crowds. When you are going out into a crowd with a toddler, use a stroller or choose to carry or wear your child instead of letting them walk. Busy areas after dark can make it hard to keep up with them and it can be easy to get separated.
Feed them before you go trick or treating. If your kids have been fed dinner before you go out trick or treating they are less likely to eat too much candy. Being full will help them to not grab all the snacks and treats right away. Plus feeding a toddler on time will help them to be happier and easier to manage while you are out.
Avoid suckers and hard candy. While these are popular on Halloween, choose differently or keep those out for older siblings or yourself. Hard candy and suckers are often easy for toddlers to choke on and should be avoided.
Empty their bucket into a main bag to inspect later. Don’t allow candy while you are out and about. This is especially important for kids with allergies or dye/food sensitivities. It is rarely a concern of food safety as much as reaction to foods due to the child having an allergy. It is much safer to keep all treats out of their mouths until parents can inspect.
Usually I would say skip the face mask, but this year wear a mask is best! The mask should be just a regular face mask not a full dress up mask that blocks the kids view.
Put them in regular shoes instead of dress-up shoes. One of the best Halloween safety tips for toddlers comes with putting them in regular shoes instead of dress-up shoes. While the dress up shoes look cute, they are not functional. Not only do they often lead to tripping and falling, they can cause blisters and injuries on the foot itself. Avoid these and put them in simple solid color shoes instead.
Bring lots of wipes and hand sanitizer

These eight tips should help ensure that your Halloween trick and treating experience is a fun, safe, and stress-free experience for the whole family, especially for Mom!

Organizing Tips for When the Tricks and Treats are Over

1. Store your decorations in storage containers that are easily identifiable by color or by large easy-to-read labels so that you don’t waste time shuffling boxes around trying to find your holiday decorations. Plastic storage bins are the best. Boxes attract bugs and mold.

2. Create a content list for each bin. Place the content list inside the box on top of the contents. This will help you find the exact item you need in the future. The content list will also help you pack items away next year because you’ll know exactly which box they’ll fit in.
3. Place fabric or paper items in resealable plastic bags. This helps protect the item from bugs and moisture.
4. Label each resealable bag with the contents. I label each plastic bag with the contents so that I know which decorations go where when I pack away the decorations.
5. Place smaller items inside of larger items. I always place smaller items inside larger items so that I can pack more into each box. This also helps secure the items so that they won’t rattle around as much.

Happy Halloween! Enjoy the spookiness!

Junk Drawer Clean Out

9/30/2020

Junk Drawer Chaos
Who has a junk drawer, or maybe two junk drawers?

Some people may feel that a junk drawer should not exist, but 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.

Follow these quick steps for an organized Junk Drawer:
1.       Empty the drawer, throw out the trash
2.       Sort like items together, put all the lighters, candles together
3.       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?

4.       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
5.       Organize: Once you have only the essentials that you need at hand you put the like items together in a utensil organizer
https://www.amazon.com/Dial-Industries-B694W-Small-Organizer/dp/B00114ZTBO/ref=sr_1_11?crid=KOD3Y4R9SMPM&dchild=1&keywords=utensil+tray+drawer+organizer&qid=1600698369&sprefix=ut%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-11

Drawer Organizer:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/picassoRedirect.html/ref=pa_sp_atf_aps_sr_pg1_1?ie=UTF8&adId=A0726999119C6O5KUMDET&url=%2FIHOMECOOKER-4-size-Drawer-Organizer-Storage%2Fdp%2FB0897B6X9D%2Fref%3Dsr_1_4_sspa%3Fcrid%3D15EYDPY8FKV7S%26dchild%3D1%26keywords%3Dsmall%2Bdrawer%2Borganizer%26qid%3D1600698286%26sprefix%3Dsmall%2Bdrawer%252Caps%252C161%26sr%3D8-4-spons%26psc%3D1&qualifier=1600698285&id=2629135421184885&widgetName=sp_atf

Drawer Divider: https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/picassoRedirect.html/ref=pa_sp_atf_aps_sr_pg1_1?ie=UTF8&adId=A02774767GVRVSB6SGZT&url=%2FAdjustable-Organizers-Spring-loaded-Expandable-Organization%2Fdp%2FB088TBDB2Z%2Fref%3Dsr_1_2_sspa%3Fcrid%3D1OGSSUJ0WZOC3%26dchild%3D1%26keywords%3Ddrawer%2Bdividers%26qid%3D1600698534%26sprefix%3Ddr%252Caps%252C188%26sr%3D8-2-spons%26psc%3D1&qualifier=1600698534&id=7380495419192101&widgetName=sp_atf

Enjoy the quick organizing task! Thanks to the 10 minutes you took there is no more digging for what you need!

Fall Clean Up

9/18/2020

Does the falling of the leaves cause dread or beauty? For me it’s both, it means lots of leaves to rake, but I love the beauty of falling leaves.
Have you checked out my Fall Checklist:
C:\Users\annie\OneDrive\Life Simplified\Printables\Annie Kilbride - Fall Checklist - V1, AF.pdf

Top Fall items to tackle:

Clean up the leaves, and gardens
Winterize the outdoors, put away the furniture and outdoor toys.
Organize the garage to make room for outdoor stuff
Change the batteries for the smoke detector

For help prepping for the Fall Season, schedule your free consultation here
https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=17323642&appointmentType=9365957