Could Organizing Be The 9th Limb Of Yoga?

This has been something I have been thinking about and wanting to write about for a long time. People often think of organized people (therefore organizers) as Type A, anal retentive...maybe even OCD?  Well....perhaps a little of all of them to some degree.......at least for me.  

For a very long time I was very high strung, a total over achiever...someone who recorded her school notes and then listened to them while she slept. (That works by the way!). I was driven, but all over the place and nothing much could slow me down......until I found yoga. 

It may sound cliche but yoga calmed me, grounded me and centered me. I became MORE productive. MORE focused and all around a happier person.  Because I am who I am, I couldn't just enjoy yoga, I had to learn yoga.  As I started to study, I learned that yoga is not all about stretchy pants and  pretzel postures.......it is so much more!  It is a life style. A way of being. It becomes a  part of who you are!  

Yoga became as much a part of me as the organized Type A qualities were.  And I started to compare them..........what I discovered is that the foundation of yoga and organizing have a lot in common.  It  struck me the most within the first 2 limbs of yoga: The Yamas and  the Niyamas:  Let me know what you think!

Yamas | Moral Precepts                              

1. Ahimsa: Non violence to self or others. The staring point to peaceful living.  Being Organized means less stress, taking care of yourself and peaceful living.                       

2.. Satya: Honesty commitment to the truth.  Being Organized is being honest about when you have reached your limits or when it is time to ask for help.                                                         

3. Asteya: Non stealing, not taking anything that is not freely given, not expressing feeling of lack. Being Organized usually means you have what you need and you know where to find it. You are not always searching for something.                                

4. Bramacharya: Sensual Moderation. Being Organized helps keep everything in moderation. Do not over book, over buy or keep to much stuff.  

5. Aparigraha: Non possessiveness.  Being Organized helps you let go of the things that no longer serve you, that don't fit or that you don't use. 

Niyamas | Personal Observances

1. Saucha: Purity, maintaining cleanliness in the mind. Being Organized keeps order in the mind which is then transferred into life. 

2. Santosha: Contentment, the ability to feel satisfied in ones immediate experience. Being Organized gives you the satisfaction of knowing you have what you need or that you have enough time to do what you need to.

3. Tapas: Austerity/discipline. Being Organized is knowing you can get things done. Knowing when to delegate and to avoid buying and keeping things we don't need. 

4. Svadhyaya: Spiritual and self study, self reflection. Being Organized helps you tap into your true self  to make decisions that are in alignment with your goals.

5. Ishvara Pranidana: Devotion to that which you call God. Being Organized is devotion to order.

I know, some of these may seem like a stretch....but not really. I live it, I feel it and it's a great place to live! What's the moral of this story you ask?  If YOU want to get organized....start doing yoga!

So That Was Weird.

I had a very weird encounter last night. I am still trying to process how I feel about it.

I was sitting in a restaurant with a friend of mine and the bartender introduced us to a young man she knew sitting next to us. After a little bit of small talk, I realized that I had met him before.  He is the son of one of my clients......that is not unusual in this small a town....but his reaction was.

When I reminded him of when me met he said "OMG! you're the woman that made my mother throw away all of my baby pictures!"  I felt like I was slapped in the face!  I did no such thing!

I think he saw the look of horror in my eyes because he quickly apologized and explained his exclamation.  When he saw his mother sorting through, and choosing her favorite photos so that she could keep the best of the best and edit out the ones of people whose names she had forgotten, or with eyes closed, or random scenery......he saw her discarding his life.

I don't remember him being rude, confrontational or even seem remotely upset, but he told me that he had often thought about what he would say to me if he saw me again.....and here was his opportunity.  What he said was "I get it. It has to get done but if it were up to me, I would have asked her to keep everything! It has nothing to do with you."  

I then pointed out the obvious: It would have to be sorted through some time and was he going to do it? He decided that he would box it all in storage and then pay someone to do it. I laughed out loud at that.......until he realized what he had said......that he had just come full circle.  If it was not me and his mom, and it was not going to be him.....someone was going to do it.

I deal with other people's things all the time.  It is so easy for someone else to tell you what to keep and what to part with.  This was a HUGE reminder that as an organizers it isn't just "stuff" I deal with, it's memories, baggage, family heirlooms, successes, creations, and as delicately as I handle these things.......it may still cause someone pain.

4 Ways To Bring Out The "Girly" In Your Closet

I am in No Way a "girly girl".  I am not into make up, jewelry or high heeled shoes but I do love my clothes.  I am such a  true believer that your closet should be a showcase for your clothes, that I created my whole career around it!  Your beautiful clothes should have a beautiful space to live!    

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Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people love clean simple lines. Others love bolder statements of style but none of that matters as long as the person loves their space.  I have seen it all.  I have had clients with library ladders in their closets, pull-out sleeper sofas, a bar, television and work out equipment......but my favorite spaces have always been the ones I would call "girly".  Pretty, sweet, warm, cozy, all of those adjectives can apply. I have only day dreamed of having a closet big enough to "girlify" but have thought a lot about what elements I would include.  Here they are. The 4 ways to bring out the "girly" in your closet:

COLOUR:  Colour can add so much character to a space.  Add color in the units you use, a chair or pouffe or in art on any spare wall space. Choose colours that you love, That make you feel warm and fuzzy and that make you happy.  Matching is optional as far as I am concerned! The more fun you have with it the better! 

LIGHTING: Lighting can mean a beautiful ceiling fixture, a crazy table lamp or a multitude of candles.  You can create an ambiance that reflects your mood just by playing with the lighting. If you have a plain lampshade...though a scarf over it and add even more colour to the space!

FLOWERS:  Real or fake, flowers just add warmth to a room. If you can invest in real flowers you will have the added bonus of a wonderful scent! Flowers make people happy (especially girls/women). 

BLING: Now Bling can take you anywhere.......from crystals, to statuettes, to jewelry on the wall, antique dolls, vintage bags....the imagination can go wild. Experiement with bling to bring out the dreamiest part of yourself and create a space that is joyful.

PLAY...PLEASE PLAY with your spaces.  Organizing can be fun!  Enjoy! 

NO is an O.K. Answer!

As I sat in my third (what seems like forever) meeting, my mind started to wander.......WHY am I here?  This meeting actually does not have much to do with me. I can't even understand most of the "lingo" being used.  How did I get here?

THE REASON:  I have a very hard time saying:

Why is NO so hard to say?  Two little letters come together to form a four letter word!  One syllable that can bring fear to people's hearts and cramps to their stomachs!

Is it  guilt - for standing up for what we want (or don;t want)? 

Is it a sense of "I should's"?   

Is it not wanting to disappoint other people?

CHECK!  All of the above for me!  But I realize that this is not helping me.  Saying YES when you mean NO can only lead to unhappiness and resentment!  Who needs that in their lives! NOT ME! 

So I challenge you (and myself) to start saying NO:

1. To things that don't serve you.  
2. When you feel taken advantage of
3. To things that waste your time or aren't productive
4. To things that work against you

And start saying YES

1. To things that enrich your life
2. To things that benefit you and your family
3. To things that genuinely help others
4. To things that bring you JOY

What does this have to do with organizing you may ask?  Well, think about buying things you don't need, keeping things "just because" and living with disorder......you can start saying NO to these things as well ....... you're life WILL become more organized!

It's may be difficult......I know so here's a little video to get you on your way!

Let me know how you are doing!

i

5 Tips for Easy Closet Management

I have spent 20 years designing beautiful and functional custom closets for people. It never fails that when closing a sale many clients will ask me "do you come and put our clothes away too?"   Of course I will if they want me to, but for those who prefer to do it on their own, I  share my 5 Tips for Easy Closet Management.

These tips will not only help you maintain an organized closet (whether custom designed or not) but they will help you keep track of, and make the most of your wardrobe!  It is so easy to forget what we own and then spend money on items we don't really need!

1-  Put out of season clothes away:  Away can mean in a bin under your bed, on the top shelf, in an extra closet or even just towards the back of the closet you are using.  The purpose of this is to keep what you are currently wearing more visible.  

2- Keep "Like with Like":  This goes for items (ie: shirts and pants) and colors.  You want to keep the same colors together so that you can see what you own and avoid buying duplicates. How many of us have at least one too many plain black t-shirts. By keeping "like" items together you can create new and different outfits with the clothing you have.  If you hang things as "outfits" they tend to be worn the same way, with the same pieces all the time.  That is not using your wardrobe to it's full potential.

3- Keep items that can be nicely folded on shelves: First of all, folding anything that is knit will avoid stretching the garment  and prevent hanger marks in the shoulders. I hate it when I look in the mirror and I have these 2 little bumps on my shoulders and I have to  throw that piece in the wash again to re-set it.  Second, what you don't see you won't wear.  This is fact. No one has the time to go searching for a piece of clothing when they are rushing to get dressed in the morning!.

4- Contain things that can't be nicely folded in drawers or baskets:  Drawers are for dumping! That is not to say that a drawer can't be nicely organized - it can.  Drawers should hold underwear, socks, P.J's, bathing suits, workout clothes etc. What you don't want happening in drawers are piles where you wear the first piece, wash it, put it away on top and continue that cycle, thereby not wearing any of the pieces underneath.

5- Once you have worn something turn the hanger backwards in your closet:  I am not sure who first came up with this idea but now it is seen all over social media.  I am adding it here because I am a big fan!  This is a simple way to keep track of what you are actually wearing and at the end of a season you will know what should be given away! If you are not wearing it....someone else will!

I hope that you will at least TRY to implement these tips into your closet organization.  Let me know how it goes...I love a good success story!

  

Budget 4!

I will admit that this whole blog post is a little embarrassing for me........it came about in two ways. The first, is that one of my friends had asked me to write about creating a budget - twice....  (apparently I had some kind of aversion since I didn't do it the first time).  The second is that someone recently asked me what my budget is to live where I do (Sedona,AZ)  which BTW is known by some as "poverty with a view". 

OH THE SHAME!!  I had to answer "I have no idea".

That wasn't totally true of course......... I know what all my bills are (approximately)  but I have never actually figured out how much money I NEED to survive.  I have just been going with the flow.  Thankfully that has been working.  But I did get a bit of a wake up call.

So, I sat down and did my budget (quite quickly and easily I may add) and I would like to share the 4 basic steps with you.  

The most accurate way to begin is with what you know:  Last years amounts  

STEP 1 - Pull out and add up ALL your sources of Income from the past full year (include salary, rental income, dividends etc).  ADD THESE UP

STEP 2 - Go through your bank statements and credit cards (from last calendar year) to list and total  your Fixed Expenses (the ones that remain the same amount every month). These would include things like mortgage payment/rent, car payment, memberships, some utilities and insurance. Anything that you pay once yearly should be added to this list as well. 

STEP 3 - Go through your bank statements and credit cards (from last calendar year) to categorize, list and total your Variable Expenses (the ones that are inconsistent all the time). The reason I suggest categorizing this list is that it can be VERY long if you leave it all separate. This list would include things like gas, car repairs, personal items/care, clothing and entertainment. Don't forget to add a MISC category - this is where you should put all the random cash withdrawals that you have no other record of.        

STEP 4 - DO THE MATH: 

a) Add your fixed and variable expenses together. This number will give you the amount you spent last year and therefore tell you how much money you needed to make to cover it. Check it against your Income amount.... If you earned a lot more then you spent it's time to start thinking about investing!!

b) Divide your total expenses amount by 12 and this will give you the amount that you need to cover per month.

Now, the big question I am sure is how do I track this as I go to keep myself on budget?......Well, you're not going to like the answer: TRACK YOUR DAILY SPENDING!   

Start a Spreadsheet for every month.  At the top add in your Fixed Expenses and then make it a habit to total what you spend and record it every day.

This is something that I am going to start to do to keep an eye on where, when and how much money I am actually spending!  

I hope this was helpful and stay in the positives!       

Tax Prep Can Be Simple......I Swear!

You know, every time I meet someone and I tell them what I do..... "I'm a Professional Organizer" I say. They say "BOY could I use your help" or " I know some clients for you". Whatever it is, there are people out there who tell me to my face they need to get organized.

I get so excited!  I want to share!  I want to help.

So this year I asked people directly WHAT they would like help with most when it comes to organization.  And, you guessed it (I am sure based on the title)  TAXES!

The dreaded tax season....... doesn't have to be as difficult as some people think!  If you start at the beginning of the year and keep your stuff in order, it can really be a breeze! 

Well, if you know me at all, you know I aim to please.........so take a look what I did:

It's as easy as 1, 2 , 3........and 4 (in this case!)   Don't wait until the last minute!

Share the love.

Spread the word and help take the stress out of someone's life! 

Until next time........

The Best Laid Plans.........

I have just become very curious about how people do their planning.  Last week I did a 2 day workshop called Planapalooza (love the name!) which was all about planning for the upcoming year. What do you think I discovered?  As crazy, anal and organized that I am......I still didn't plan enough (or what I think is enough)!

Don't get me wrong, I PLAN EVERYTHING!  If someone wants to get something done they bring it to me.....so how did I let this lapse?  How did I let my own yearly plan get sidetracked?  The only answer I can come up with is not one that I like......... so now to get back to it.  And to get back to my curiosity HOW DO YOU DO YOUR PLANNING? 

I learned so much in those 2 days that my mind started racing. Ideas started brewing. $$ signs started dancing behind my eyes and then a headache started to set in.  It's so much!  It's so much to think about. So much to do.  There was a whole portion on delegating and all I could think of was "To Who"?  I am in this alone...for the most part.  

Of course, that was just a lot of fear and a little panic creeping in and I decided to sit down and make my own list of how to plan things:

Does that seem too simplified? I hope you weren't expecting something long and detailed. Think about it (In EASY WORLD) this is all we need. Money for survival and Joy to feed our souls! It may not be as realistic, and is definitely not as productive as proper planning....but I just needed that simplicity to get me through........now tell me how do you do it?    

O.K. So I Have a Closet Design Course.....Now What?

I have to give myself a pat on the back...I kicked ass!  It is amazing how easy it was to write the content of my closet design course!  I am so excited and I want to share it with everyone right now.....but that would be bad business wouldn't it?

And I was right, writing it was the easy part. Now what? Apparently there are certain steps I am supposed to take. An actual LAUNCH I am supposed to do.....that thought totally overwhelms me! I am just so excited that I will be helping others grow their business! SO WHAT DO I DO NEXT?

Thankfully as I have already mentioned I have a wonderful Marketing Coach Cena Block at Sanes Spaces and a group of other coachees that I can turn to for help, advice and guidance. Boy do I pick their brains because when I started hearing words like: Landing Pages, Lead Pages, Canva, Infusionsoft, Any Time Meetings, Google Hangout....I nearly crawled under my covers for an extensive nap.  I know they will help me sort through it all and get down to the nitty gritty. But O.M.G...all of this can drive me to drink!

So, now, I need to concentrate on marketing: through my blog, Facebook, NAPO, and any other venues that I can come up with (Feel free to offer ideas!)  I know that I am a Closet Design Expert but how can I prove that to you? How will you know that what I have to teach you is valuable? How can I reassure you that you CAN do it and you WILL increase your revenue?

One thing I can assure is that my class will be worth every penny! As quoted by my beta tester Amy Rehkemper from Simplify Organizing in The Closet Design Experts Facebook Group:

" Worth every penny, ladies! If any of you have interest in building this skill, you will love Tracey's class. I had the honor of being one of the first to try out her MAGIC Formula and I learned soo much... and had fun in the process. At first, I wasn't sure if I had what it took to do closet designing, but it turns out I do! I credit much of that to Tracey because she did a beautiful job of breaking everything down to the simplest form. 
I am such a fan that I just registered three of my employees to take her class too!"

I am fighting to overcome my fear and procrastination and do the LAUNCH that is expected of me A.S.A.P. but I am in search of new and creative ways to get word out as well!  ANY AND ALL suggestions would be appreciated!    I am so excited to get it to you!

To Cram or to Relax

Do you ever have those times when you are so deep into something you just can't stop? I have been living, eating and breathing this closet design course I am creating. I wake up in the middle of the night asking myself questions and solving problems. I am excited. I am obsessed! I am terrified! And I am almost done!

I can see the finish line and am at the point that I just can't get away from my computer! I am asking my friends and colleagues to read through the modules and edit my sales page. I am shooting videos and having photos edited. I am bombarding the tech support team with questions and generally making everyone nuts! (Although they are too kind to admit it).

So it's holiday time....what do I do? As a workaholic and perfectionist I keep plugging along. Getting the work done.  Cramming in as much computer time as possible each day.  

As a yogi I tell myself to slow down, relax, have some fun.....go away!!  YES! Take a vacation, time off.....you know what that is!!  A change of scenery will do you some good. Get away from all of this.  Don't even bring the computer!

The yogi side has won this battle and it's about time!. I am putting the course away for 2 weeks and going fishing!  I know great things will happen upon my return!

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Back at you in 2016.