If you work at the coffee table? – Many people have a favorite chair and while they have something to drink or watch  TV… while there they’ll open mail,  take calls or return them, make notes. Things inevitably gather and get left behind, for us ladies, that often includes earrings, hair clips and rings.   Instead of chastising yourself because you don’t automatically put them away. That’s ideal but life interrupts our best intentions.

So prepare in advance, put out a small container to hold  jewelry and small items, a small basket, in this case I used a flea market silver cup and dish.   I also used a napkin hold for the info papers and a notebook.

Mind Saving Tip – A single notebook has proven very helpful to me, no posits or back of an envelope jot. When I need to save some miscellaneous piece of information, a phone number I’ll only use in the moment, reminders and  ideas I want to remember or to do lists into the notebook they go. I always no where I took down some obscure piece of information.  It’s best when the notebooks are the same, and they type that are perforated in case you want to keep it attached to a file. One more thing remember to date your notebook when you start and then again when you fill it up.

I know it’s May still it’s rainy and cold (it’s May already for crying out loud! ).

Does it feel like the Winter Blahs have moved in to stay?

Some ideas to conquer the doldrums, yours and your home’s.

My first step to organizing, or interior design projects is to SURVEY. SO, look around the room  you’re in what do you see – what does the room say to you? (I need a red bull. When’s HGTV crew coming?). Is there anything that puts out a winter vibe? …

Let the light in, schedule a window wash.

Take out a note pad and brainstorm things you could do freshen the room.

Touch up the paint on the doors and trim full of  fingerprints.  lor.  Prune your indoor plants, think about what flowers you might put out on your patio. Rotate some things away for the spring/summer months, replace with  something white. Go thru those decorator magazines, tear out inspiration pages, toss the rest.Get some new pillow covers in a fresh lighter summer co

My Priorities are here somewhere!

It’s true I haven’t posted in awhile-life/work got overwhelming!

  Happens to everyone –  something’s got to give!

We have our priorities and somethings will move to the bottom of your list.

As much as I believe in systems, I don’t have or rather didn’t have a system for promotion and social media. Those I tried didn’t work For ME. That’s the secret of any organizational system – it’s got to be compatible with YOUR style or you just can’t keep it up!  So consider your own working style, personality and life in general. Don’t beat yourself up if the first system doesn’t work, start again. Remember K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Sensibly!  I will too.

Drop me a note anytime with questions: Katie movingonwithstyle@gmail.com

July 4th is a time we often get together for fun with family and friends, backyard BBQ’s and picnics abound. Those gatherings invite the telling of stories from times gone by.

I remember listening and laughing along with Mom and Dad, Aunts, and Uncles telling us stories of their past. Our loved ones may have to leave our lives, but their memories don’t. Stories told but not captured, don’t let them dissappear.

Consider: When your celebrants are gathered, pull out (or pull up) some pictures from other celebrations and “Pass the Story-Please”

Take the time to reminisce and share the stories and your family’s saga – it’s a rich a legacy. RECORD those stories, with the technology we have at our disposal you can easily catch Aunt Eda relating a piece of personal history and jotting even snippets down to go with your photos of family and friends makes them come alive.

Your descendants will be blessed!

The Answer : Start Now!

It’s time to stop making excuses, it’s time to take the mess,the clutter, and the stress that comes along with them OUT of your life.

Downsizing, getting-your-house-in-order, de-cluttering, clearing out. organizing – by any other name is just as wrought with confusion, regret, disappointment, and plain old anxiety. “Whew!” It had to said.

Want to make it more palatable? Start now. There is a weight to all that stuff, seems like the less necessary the clutter the heavier it is. If you find yourself really resistant (or have a spouse that is) start by reducing just a little “20 out in 10” The goal is to remove  20 items in 10 minutes, to the recycle bin, to the charity box, and yes, even to the trash.

Do it, it’s FREE-ing  AND can build momentum.  When? Now!

Chunk-it. (not chuck, that may come later). Focusing on one area at a time – let’s start small, first area will be your mind. You need to be in the mind set to make these life changes.

Katie Roberts: 303-956-7134 ~ movingonwithstyle@gmail.com

About Katie:

• Certified Interior ReDesigner,
  
• Real Estate Stager, Member I.R.I.S. -Interior Redesign Industry Specialist
• Professional Clear and Simple Organizing Specialist ™
• Mature-life Coach – Member Society Senior Advisors
  
• Senior Move Manager –
• Experienced Project Manager
• Experienced Life Coach
• A RightSizing specialist both by trade and experience. As a coach and trainer her skills will aid you in addressing your goals. With over twenty five years in the trenches in graphics,marketing and business, her coaching style is intuitive, creative, strong and fun. All originating from the premise that you are a unique and remarkable individual, and your show’s not over yet!

Katie Roberts: 303-956-7134 ~ movingonwithstyle@gmail.com

Katie Roberts: 303-956-7134 ~ movingonwithstyle@gmail.com

STORY-TELLER that is! We all are, because we all have a story to tell. That’s something I’ve believed for a long time. A good Business Narrative can do more good than walls & walls plastered with the latest marketing promises. This weekend I had the chance to experience some of best examples Colorado has to offer in wonderful, glorious, entrancing storytelling! I went the the Rocky Mountain Storytellers Conference from the Masks that came to Life to Harmonica Playing Rattlesnakes, it was a thoroughly inspiring event.

I thought this perspective would be useful in my work, as Seth Godin says, “Marketers are just good storytellers!” When I work with a client, whether business consulting or coaching, it begins with listening for “their story” It’s always the story that brings their situation to life. We can talk about strategy and goals, but it’s the story that tells me what tactics are really in play. I digress. So, I went to take some classes, and I picked some great ones:
Interviewing & Oral History Techniques in Gathering Stories
The Use of Movement, Gestures, & Humor In Storytelling
Use Storytelling to Calm Fears, and Overcome Everyday Obstacles

I know the ideas and examples that were shared will benefit my clients and audiences. If you ever have to make a point memorable or demonstrate values then storytelling is the best way to draw a picture that will have lasting meaning and inspiration in it.

I have to say that the best parts of the weekend were listening to exceptional Tellers share their stories! Pam Faro, was one of my favorites! If you get the chance to hear her, don’t miss it! In a world that too often overwhelms us with media that invades our space, listening to a well-crafted, well-told story, exercises the imagination muscles and we can all use that. And if that story tells of our past, or reminds us of a beloved person, that’s something to be counted as a real treasure!
Pam says, “Do you want to create a better world? — It starts with imagination…
When stories are shared—relationship is born, empathy is nurtured, community is possible.”
Thank you Pam and all the Conference Tellers!

Yes, there is an “UPside to downsizing your home & possessions!©”

RightSizing Tips help Baby Boomers and Seniors Wade Through Years of Possessions

Downsizing focuses on the physical aspects of relocation – de-cluttering, letting-go and dealing with less. Moving-On with Style brings you the “UPside to downsizing – Rightsizing!™

RightSizing accepts the past and its fond memories, and when you use the “UPside to downsizing©” we’ll keep the good things that can be gained in mind, (yes there are – dreams you’d could revive, hobbies you haven’t had time for, energy that can be spent on grandchildren & friends). The process will be less painful and move more quickly. Seniors and Baby Boomers moving from the home, where they raised children and the focus was on family, to a smaller space, will need to downsize considerably and that’s disagreeable at best.

So, the method we use whether we are working with –

Boomers moving, making a condo their retirement residence, OR
A Senior moving to an assisted living facility, OR
A mature newly married couple, combining households is RightSizing.

“RightSizing is the Up-side to downsizing!©” and our company, Moving-On With Style offers the following tips for baby-boomers and their elder relatives faced with downsizing, by taking the RightSizing approach you will:

1) Start with a Vision of the life you want to embrace. What could you gain? What will there be room to do now? Let your mind imagine the possibilities, dream be positive, then write down. Refer to your vision often, especially when the going gets rough!

2) Start Early. Plan ahead for the move – You’ll need time to decide. The shorter the notice, the more stressful & difficult. Begin with a notebook, with pockets, collect your information, thoughts and ideas, for easy reference.

3) Start Small. Pick one-two-hour project, a paper-stacked desk, a giant pile of stuffed animals, the ever-present “junk drawer.” You’ll get a quick win and become familiar with the process of sorting and tossing. Don’t spend a lot of time deciding, if you get stuck? Put those items aside, labeled Undecided, for now.

4)Strategize the larger projects. Map them out, on paper. In the “old place” the desk was in the office – now, what will you do at the desk. What files will you really need now. Hobbies may take up more space now than it did, so what will the trade off be?

5) Score your stuff. On a scale of 1 to 10 ask these questions for each item. Love it? Use it? Space it takes? Condition/$$Value, Sentimental value? For example, consider collections,(say angels) and it’s Love it?/10, but you plan to store except at Christmas – that’s a 2 for use it and so forth.

6) Slice it. As you begin, think in terms of percentages. What percentage of your clothes can you keep? 3000 square feet has less closet space than 1100. Do you still have to have 10 business suits or 20 pairs of pumps? Using masking tape, mark out the size of the new closet or consider the size of the living room you may be going to and mark that off. Now, you’ll have a clearer idea of what will fit in THAT space.

7) Sort it. Putting like items with Like. Put colorful dots or different colored sticky notes on items, denoting where the items will go (i.e., blue to son, red to keep, yellow to charity). Don’t move things that are cracked, worn or don’t work (i.e. that chair you’ve been meaning to fix/paint for 7 years). Remember, whatever you keep you will sort TO an assigned in a specific Clearly label, the room it will live in & what’s in it.

8) Showcase or Sow it. REMEMBER with some items, it’s the memory that’s precious not the thing itself. Creating a showcase that honors the memory, or the person who gave it, instead of keeping the vase itself, that Aunt Jane gave you for your wedding, will mean more and take up less space.

9) Share the Process, Share the Stories. Even can be ripe with stress, “a burden shared is lessened and joy shared is doubled” is especially true now, Respecting the emotional need to share stories that will come to mind in this process, is good for everyone — that item that you think trivial, can have immense meaning to your children, just as telling the story attached to old statue can make it more dear to them.

Finally, It’s not about how much stuff you keep, but about the Those special objects, from critical periods of the past, imbued with the values that will help you make the most of the new life you’re about to begin – that’s “UPside to downsizing – Rightsizing!™

Life’s Third Act.