It's time to admit it.

You’re never going to wear that sweater your mom gave you for your birthday-five years ago.
You’ll never need plates and flatware for 20 people at once.
Your downhill skiing days are far behind you.
You don’t even still have the laptop/toaster oven/printer that go with the boxes you’ve been saving, just in case.
You won't be do anymore hikes that involve a pack 

and three man tent.
You don’t need five pairs of old jeans, baggy tee shirts or holey pull overs for paint clothes.
You no longer decorate every room in the house 

for Christmas.
All those free, sample, or give aways might be small, but they’re still cluttering up the drawer.

Be honest with yourself.
Let some of it go.

That was then. This is now.

Open up some room and 

some space in your home and life.

It’s time.

Simple and easy.

Keep it simple.
Make it easy.

The easier you make the system the more likely you are to comply.
The fewer the steps, 

the more likely you are to complete the task.
Limiting the options makes choosing easier.

As examples:
Use hooks instead of hangers.
File in broad general categories.
Always have a donation bag in the laundry room.
Sort the mail over the recycle bin.
Put your keys in the same place, everyday.
Pay your bills on line.
Don’t put something down, put it away.
Say no; without guilt or explanations.
Move on.

Make the mechanics of daily living as simple and 

effortless as possible.

Put your energy into the relationships and 

activities that matter most to you.
Make choices that support the life you really want to be living.

Three no cost things you can give to improve your relationships

Improving your relationship with your partner,
your family, your friends, your coworkers
and people you interact with on a daily basis
gets rid of mental and emotional clutter.

Three things you can start giving today:
1.  Give someone the benefit of the doubt.
      Assume that everyone is just trying to 

        do the best they can.

      No one and nothing is against you.
2.  Give someone your full attention.
      Listen without considering your next comment.
      Turn off your phone during the meal.
      Don't offer advice, a solution or 

         one up with a story of your own.
3.  Give up the need to be right.
      Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?
      A day, a week, a year from now; how important will  it be to have been 'right'?       

And if those three aren't enough,
Give someone a compliment.
Give someone else the close parking spot.
Give a little more than someone is expecting.
Give someone five minutes of your assistance to make their job easier.
Give thanks.  (You really do have a pretty amazing life)

Consider what you would most like to receive from others:  Try giving that.........

Interested in learning more about the power of giving?
Check out, Adam Grant, a professor at Wharton business college and his book, Give and Take

Endless time.

"You don't need endless time and perfect conditions.
Do it now. Do it today.
Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart start beating."

―Barbara Sher

There will never be endless time.  

(There may never even be an extra half an hour)
The conditions will never be perfect.  

(Not sure we'd recognize them even if they were)

Stop waiting.
Quit overthinking.
Give up needing permission or approval.

Decide to start.
Make an effort.
Focus on the process and not the results.

Organize one shelf.
Attend one yoga class.
Sort a single box of photos.
Meditate for five minutes.

You know exactly what it is you've been wanting to do.
Stop waiting.
Take one step forward.

A little now, or a lot more later.

Two Minute Rule:
If you can do something in two minutes or less,
do it now.

Or,
You can quickly do a little now, 
or a lot more later.

You can deal with today's four pieces of mail now
or you can pile them on the desk 

and deal with a lot more later in the week.

You can hang up your coat now,
or you can fling it over the chair,
add a sweater tomorrow,
another jacket the next day,
and have a huge pile to deal with at the end of the week.

You could put your dirty cup into the dishwasher now,
or set it on the counter,
next to a bowl from breakfast
maybe the plate from a snack,
and slowly fill the counter.

Clutter has magnetic properties.
Stuff attracts stuff.
Piles grow.

By dealing with items in a timely manner,
habitually returning things to their homes,
and making habits of the mechanics of daily living;
clutter and disorganization don't have a chance
to establish themselves.

Do a little now,
and have a lot more time later
to do what you love
and spend time with people who matter to you.

Maybe you can, maybe you can't.

Letting go of some things takes little or no effort.
We realize we no longer need, use or value an item.
It doesn't fit, our taste and style has changed, we already have enough.
We recognize that was then, and this is now.

But then, we come across something that although logically we know it is not longer part of the life we are living
and it doesn't have a place in the life we are working to create; somehow we just can't let it go.
Our heart lurches a bit, we feel a twinge of guilt,
a tiny voice in our heads says "You'll be sorry."

Okay, pause. Take a breath.
Ask yourself why this item presents a challenge.
Ask yourself why you feel  so attached to this particular thing.
Did someone you care deeply about give you this?
Are you keeping it out of guilt or obligation?
Does this represent some activity you feel you 'should' be doing?
Does it reflect a conflict between who you are now 

and who you used to be?
Did you spend a lot of money for it?

Okay, take another breath.
First, it is just a thing.
The only reason it has meaning or importance is the story that you choose to tell about it.
Could you tell yourself a different story?
Could you let go of the shoulds?
Could you release yourself from the guilt or obligation?
Could you accept the person you are now, 

the life you're currently living?
Do you see that the money is gone, 

and holding on to the item doesn't get your money back?

Maybe you can change how you think about this item.
Maybe you can't.
If you can, and you're willing and able, let the item go.
If not, it's okay.
Keep it.

Perhaps in the future you'll revisit it 

and have different feelings and reactions.

They are your stories,
your things,
your decisions
and  your choices.
You get to decide what lives in your home,
which items you want surrounding you.

2016 Tax file

I’m a big fan and proponent of using a very broad and general filing system.

Why bother taking time to separate out individual categories of paid bills or medical claims or even important documents?

When and if (and most of the time that’s a pretty big if) you need to locate a specific paper, receipt, or form 

you can look through the broad category file and locate the needed paper.

One of the best uses of this system is for Taxes.
Create one folder at the beginning of the year.

(It’s okay if you do it today, it’s still early in the year)

Label it Taxes 2016, and

put it in the front of your file drawer.

As the year progresses any receipts, paperwork, forms, notes, or paperwork that you will need to prepare your taxes get slipped into that folder.

Come the following April, no searching through other files, or boxes, or the bottom of your purse, or some pile on the desk.

It is a simple and effective way to practice storing like with like.

Life and taxes are complicated enough, why not make it as easy for yourself as you can?