Moving. A. B. C.

Moving is the perfect opportunity to decide which items in your life you use, value and love.

Every item you decide to move will need to be packed, moved, unpacked and stored in your new home.

Every box you take ‘costs’ you. In time, moving fees, and square footage in your new place.

How much of your old life do you want to make space for in your new life?

Which pieces of furniture really fit?
What hobby supplies will you really need and use?
How many souvenirs, mementos and tee shirts are necessary?
Would you buy this item now?
Where will it actually live in the new place?

Once you decide about what you want to pack up and take with you,
instead of just packing up each room, marking the boxes with room names and brief content descriptions:
Try this method instead.
Set up an A, B, C box for each space/room you are packing.
    Use the C box for items you want to keep, but use infrequently. (Think Christmas cookie cutters, platters for entertaining, oddly shaped vases……)

    The B box gets packed with items you use regularly but not necessarily on a daily or weekly basis. (Muffin pans, table runners, extra linens)

    The A boxes get packed with the items you use all the time.
The things you need to make you feel settled and moved in right from the beginning.
(Usually the items you will pack up at the end of the process)

All these boxes will still need to be marked with room locations as well as contents.

The advantage to this system is that when you get to the new place you only need open the A boxes.
You don’t have to spend time opening all the kitchen boxes to find the cups and coffee pot to have breakfast on day one.
They are in an A box.

Plus, by opening the A boxes first, those items will get the prime real estate/storage locations in the new space.

Then you can move to the B boxes, 

finding storage for those items.

And finally, if and when you get around to it, 

you can open the C boxes.

Or just store the C boxes and when you need an item from those boxes you can retrieve it. Or after a few months (or years) of the boxes being unopened, you can just donate them!

Moving should be an adventure.

A chance to create a new place that looks and feels like home to you.

Only pack and move things that make you happy.

Your life, your home, your choices.

Windshields vs rear view mirrors

There's a reason that windshields are so much larger than rear view mirrors...

True, it can be helpful to look at what's behind us, 

what we've moved beyond;
but the place we need to be paying attention to is 

what is in front of us.

This life we are creating today.
The choices that are being presented to us now.

We are in the driver's seat.
Where do we want to go?
What experiences will have the most meaning?
Who do we want to invite along on the ride?

Pack light.
Don't cram the trunk full of clutter.
You'll be able to get what you need.
I promise.

Have a fabulous adventure.

Act.

"It’s easier to act ourselves into a new way of thinking, than it is to think ourselves into a new way of acting. 

You just start where you are."  Udaya Patnaik 

You can read books and articles, think about the whys and hows, consider the hoped for results, imagine your life looking and functioning in new ways, but until you
put things away when you finish with them,
deal with your mail on a consistent basis,
stop saving things for Justin Case,
or wait until you have the perfect storage containers;
your life will still be cluttered and disorganized.

You may also have told yourself that you'll try to do things differently.

You'll try to not buy so much.
You'll try to hang up your coat.
You'll try to stop adding to the piles.

"Do.  Or do not.  There is no try."  Yoda

All the thinking and trying  won't change a thing, you have to act.

This week take action.
Start where you are.

Your life.  Your choices.

Take advantage of the vertical.

Taking advantage of the unused vertical spaces in your home is a great way to maximize your storage possibilities.

One of my favorite ways to do that is by using clear over the door shoe organizers.
Accessible, and with the contents visible, you can store a variety of items near where you use them.

Inexpensive, readily available, and easy to install, they are the perfect solutions in a variety of locations.
For example:
  Coat closet: Hats, mittens, scarves, sunglasses, dog leashes, flip flops...
  Pantry:  Kid's snacks, seasoning packets, small cans or boxes, spice jars...
  Linen closet:  Cloth napkins, votive candles, small candle holders, napkin rings...
  Kid's room:  Toy cars and trucks, dolls, or socks and shoes, underwear....
  Adult bedrooms:  Scarves, belts, jewelry, hose, special occasion shoes, clutch purses..
  Home office:  Back stock of pens and pencils, staples, toner cartridges, Post its...
  Bathroom:  Washcloths, cotton balls, extra shampoo, soaps, razors, lotions...
  Laundry room:  Cleaning supplies, rags, spot remover, sponges, rubber gloves...
  Door to the garage:  Tape measure, duct tape, screw drivers, small hammer, glues...
  Garage wall:  Gardening supplies-seeds, gloves, plant markers, fertilizers, nozzles...

That's just a few possibilities.

Use your imagination and circumstances to create solutions that work for you.

Give things homes here you use them,
make it easy to access items and
easy put them away.

Simple, inexpensive solutions can produce great results.