Creatively Organized Spaces
This August, I shifted modes from Back to School to Burning Man! What do these two things have in common?
If you are gearing up for back to school, you’re preparing with your kids. From kindergarten to college, heading back to school always requires something. If you want tips and resources to help you prepare, look no further than the following posts.
Using a household binder is a great way to keep lots of miscellaneous and commonly referenced loose papers in one place. It can be used anywhere you need, taken with you from room to room (or when you leave home), and is an easy way to share information with babysitters, family members, etc. It can be digital or physical, and can include as much or as little information as you find helpful.
How to Set up your household binder
This image is from the Table of Contents for my “Creatively Organized Everything” binder, which is more comprehensive and in-depth than a household binder. If you are a client and need access to this file, I have created a Comprehensive 50 page template for you to use for all your household and legacy planning needs. Contact me to learn more.
A household binder is a great system for households that don’t’ have a lot of space for a command center. It can also be used along with a more “Visual” command center.
We are all born unique and with different personalities. Are you curious to know more about your personality and how it can affect your day-to-day life? If so, the benefits of Personality testing include giving insight into how we think, handle stress, how we process information and make decisions.
Personality tests are very popular, with many employers requesting a candidate take a personality assessment during the job application process. If you were to Google ‘Personality Test’ you would be flooded with many claiming to be the best. I will showcase a few here that I believe are the most accurate and helpful when we want to learn more about ourselves. No personality test is the same, just as no person is the same.
The most popular and well-known Personality Test is Myers Briggs. It gives you insight into many different personality traits and identifies the 16 most distinctive personality types. It is a 15-20 minute assessment that asks you about the way that you 
think, how you process information, how you make decisions, how extroverted (or introverted) you are, and how you perceive information.
Once you have taken the assessment and receive your result you will also be given information on your personality type and how understandings your type can benefit you in your daily life. You can further research your personality type to help you connect you with like-minded individuals or understand those with strikingly different personalities.
You may have heard people toss around their enneagram ‘type’ as a number, similar to how people talk about their MB above as a series of letters. The test for your enneagram personality type is
done by a simple multiple choice quiz (which some might describe as pseudoscientific), which takes about 10 minutes.
There are nine types of enneagram personalities. Like many other personality typing systems, there are overlaps between types, and you will see/recognize characteristics of yourself in each. The premise behind the enneagram is that you are ‘born’ with a specific dominant personality type, which predisposes you to learning styles and relationship orientations. This premise helps us understand how to apply aspects of the enneagram to both learning and interpersonal skills. There is much more to say and learn about this personality type tool, and the institute (linked above), as well as many books, can help you understand how to use this as a tool to refine your understanding of your personality and how you interact with others with different personality types.
The Predictive Index, better known as the PI Learning Indicator is the go-to personality test for employers. It gives a fairly accurate insight into your personality and working style focusing on four main elements; dominance, extraversion, patience, and formality.
The PI takes anywhere from 5-25 minutes depending on how thorough you are with the test. The results might look a bit confusing at first 
but there are always professionals for you to speak with and a detailed breakdown on their website.
While the PI is very accurate, it is also important to take it every 6 months to a year, depending on the personal changes you are experiencing in your life. Everyone’s personality changes throughout their lifetime and it is good to recognize these changes and adapt to them.
Kolbe offers a variety of different tests for their users including a youth test, finance test, and a relationship test. It is unique as they don’t measure your intelligence or your personality but how you naturally do things in your life.
Kolbe focuses on your motive, goals and what drives you to achieve your goals. It is a great test to help you recognize what motivates you, and how to achieve your goals.
This test is also very beneficial for business owner’s or managers who have lost motivation, direction or are looking for ways to keep their success going. The test dives into your creative instincts and showcases how best to utilize your personality.
This tests take 20 minutes and it gives you an in-depth look at your personality and driving factors to your success. Kolbe offers a lot of information and a clear breakdown of their methods and results on their website.
There are often misconceptions among people that take personality tests. On the surface, it may seem that if we don’t have the correct personality for a job, relationship or friendship that it will never work. On the contrary, personality tests can be taken to learn more about yourself, your strengths and challenges and how to better relate to others in work and personal life. They should never be considered negative. After all, it’s better to know best to have these helpful insights into future challenges before you begin new relationships or ventures!
There are many criteria that personality tests don’t measure specifically including; work ethic, kindness, interests, and ability to learning style (more on this soon!).
I recommend that everyone take at least one personality test in their lifetime. The Benefits of Personality Testing include not only knowing more about your personality but to learning how you can use it to create success in your life. It takes so little time, less time than a favorite TV show, yet can supply both new and reinforced information about yourself. Please share what personality tests you have tried over in our Facebook group.
Summer is perfect for getting a handle on all those sentimental school objects, papers, and artwork you and your kids are keeping. Perhaps you have a designated spot where you dump things throughout the year? Before you sit down to sort through the sentimental savings, it helps to understand how sentimental you are. Do you want to keep everything, are you detached, or somewhere in between?
Reflect on your childhood and how your parents handled your memorabilia. Sometimes, how our family “taught” us is how we respond, and other times, we want to do the direct opposite. Did your parents keep everything and then hand it over to you after college or when you moved out? Or did they dump it in the trash? What did you do with your sentimental treasures from childhood? Do you still have those things? When was the last time you looked through your memory albums, boxes, etc.? Be aware that what you do today will impact your kids’ behavior tomorrow, and they may already have a strong opinion about what they want to keep or discard (which might differ from yours).
Kitchen organizing is a dream job for me. Here are quick tips to Curb Kitchen Chaos. I love to cook, so creating functional and easy-to-use storage systems is a joy!
Here’s an excellent example of a kitchen with ample storage but lacks organizing and storage systems. This family didn’t see the potential for re-arranging items to maximize better the drawers, cabinets, and pullout storage they had.
We first tackled the family “command center,” a corner nook that seemed to capture everything from flower vases to cereal, kids’ medicine to keys. This area had become a “dumping ground” and looked and felt very cluttered. 
We discussed how this space could best serve the family’s needs and started by moving the items that didn’t belong out. Many kitchens are part of an open floor plan or open to a great room (this example was), so keeping things orderly is vital since food prep is no longer out of sight. Kitchens often double as office spaces, family planning hubs, and play areas. It can be frustrating to have toys and paperwork strewn everywhere. This process will usually create a bigger mess than you have. The chaos of pulling things out and not yet having room to put them away can turn people off …but hang in there!
We transformed what remained by corralling small:
If your kitchen needs a bit of order, try rethinking where you store items and creating zones for more efficient use of space. We tackled strategic zones, working our way from one end of the kitchen to the other, finishing with the fridge (no photo’s-sorry). We created specific zones for breakfast, baking, spices, kids, command center, and cooking.
In summary, create a system based on zones. This kitchen took two three-hour sessions (average for a mid-large kitchen). Consider what you like or have to do most (baking but not much cooking, making lunches, etc). In the end, the kitchen will function much more smoothly. Everyone knows where things belong, thanks to labels on all the shelves and drawers. Your time in the kitchen will be so much more enjoyable and efficient!
I love how this space turned out; it’s both beautiful and functional, and it gives the kids the freedom to have fun in their space but makes it super easy to clean up when needed.
Do you have a space that serves multiple functions? If you find these spaces challenging or need help with setup, I’d love to help you! Visit my contact page, and we can schedule a time for a free”get to know your organizing needs” call.