Creatively Organized Spaces
Spring fever and the extra hour of daylight spur many of us onto spring cleaning. We are still in the height of Spring Cleaning frenzy so if you haven’t yet tackled the closets, there’s still plenty of time before the heat of the summer and seasonal vacations and kids summer breaks are upon us!
It is time to SPRING open those shutters, let the fresh air in and kick the winter blues out of the house. Spring is upon us, it’s time to welcome the wellness of connecting with nature, both indoors and out!
Spring is such a beautiful time of year, flowers are blooming, the weather is getting warmer and the animals are playful everywhere you turn. While Spring as a season might be beautiful, Spring cleaning is not as glamorous, and for many people can feel like a drag.
But, it’s a perfect time to de-clutter, organize your closets and leave your home with that clean and fresh smell. There are so many cleaners and cleaning products on the market but do you really know what’s in them?
Non-toxic cleaners should be used around your home year around – not only in the Spring, and especially if you have small children. The benefits of greener cleaners include; fewer toxins and chemicals being absorbed into the skin, less damaging to the environment and better air quality in your home and they are less expensive in some cases (DIY cleansers!). If you want to better understand the toxic chemicals to look out for in your cleaners, check out my previous wellness post on the subject.
GreenWorks Multi-Purpose Cleanser is a great cleanser to use for virtually any room in your house. It can be used for a variety of different tasks and is safe for your home and your children. Not only is it made with 97% organic materials, but it also works on those stubborn stains or hard to handle messes.
Method is another cleaner that has the environmental seal of approval. The method product line comes in a var
iety of different cleaners including hand soap, dish soap, laundry detergent, bathroom cleaners, all-purpose cleaners and even a body wash for men and women! They come in a variety of scents and uses all biodegradable materials. They’ve thought of everything!
Mrs. Myers is a wholesome midwest cleaning brand started by Mrs. Thema A. Meyer. She created Mrs. Meyers because of her penchant for keeping things neat and tidy and the scents were inspired by her garden. Her line of cleaning products which range from hand soap, body soap, laundry detergent and air fresheners are all made with natural sce
nts like mint, basil, and lavender. If you want your home smelling like a bouquet of roses this Spring, you better get cleaning with Mrs. Meyers!
For those who want to know EVERYTHING that is in their cleaners, DIY is the way to go! Many homemade cleaners are made with ingredients you probably already have around your home. Vinegar, essential oils, baking soda, olive oil, and water are the key players in most of your homemade cleaners.
Bathroom
Vinegar is a key ingredient to getting rid of bathroom dirt and grime! For tough toilet stains, add ½ baking soda along with 
a few drops of essential oils into your toilet bowl when you’re ready to tackle the toilet add ¼ cup of vinegar and scrub away the mess as it works its magic.
A spritz of pure vinegar can be used in your shower and sink on soap scum and hard water residue. Add it to a spray bottle and spritz it on, letting the vinegar soak for 20-30 minutes before wiping off. If that doesn’t work, add baking soda to the mix and try again in 15 minutes.
Most kitchen surfaces can also be treated with vinegar, but if your surfaces are made from marble, granite or stone stay away from the high acidity and use vodka or rubbing alcohol instead. Mixing equal parts water and vinegar will make a very effective multi-purpose cleaner that can be used on most surfaces including countertops, floors, and walls.
To tackle greasy frying pans just add salt – and give it a good scrub! If you need to clean a cast iron pan add olive oil and a teaspoon of course salt and rinse well with water. The best way to sanitize surfaces is with a lemon, simply cut it in half and run it over the surface you would like to disinfect.
Having the right ingredients is only half of the job, having the right cleaning tool is the other half. Sponges that have a harder edge are good for scrubbing stubborn pots and pans. Rags or microfibre clothes are excellent for disinfecting surfaces and the magic eraser is great for removing soap scum, scuff marks and any other war wounds your child puts into it!
The laundry room is where most people run into trouble with the homemade detergents because if you throw a cup of vinegar in with your 
clothes, they wouldn’t come out smelling very nice. Laundry detergent is a bit tougher to make, only in the sense that you have to add more ingredients. Combine bar soap (chopped and processed), baking soda, essential oils, vinegar and washing soda and you will have created a very effective and pleasant-smelling laundry detergent.
Instead of using dryer sheets that lose their scent after one use, try using laundry ‘scenters’ that will stay fresh for up to 30 loads of laundry, or more! Add your favorite herbs or loose tea to a sachet (one that has holes that the herbs can aerate is best).
Every room in your house has one and floors can be tricky to keep clean. Anyone with hardwood floors can keep it simple by washing (or steam cleaning) with warm water, just be sure not to over soak your mop when washing the floors.
If your floors still aren’t looking as clean as they should, add a bit of dish soap in to bring out the dirt and let those floors shine.
Laminate floors are very delicate and steam mops shouldn’t be used on them. When cleaning a laminate floor clean with a light mop and spray the cleaner onto the mop, not directly onto the floor. Using a mixture of three parts water, one part vinegar and a squirt of dish soap should do the trick.
Most other floors are easy enough to care for and don’t require any special precautions. A typical all-purpose floor cleaner is a cup of water, ½ cup of vinegar and a tbsp of vegetable oil to bring out the floors natural glow.
There are hundreds of different homemade cleaner recipes out there, all have different purposes and work differently for all homeowners and their grime, but the one thing we can all agree on is that they are made from natural ingredients and have a positive impact on your home and the environment. If you have any recipes you’d like to share, please leave them in the comments below!
These areas can be great place to start with when your doing your annual deep cleaning (Spring/Fall). These areas take very little time (a couple hours each) and can be a low or zero cost space to organize and clean when using existing containers and supplies.
In the bathroom, minimize what was on the counter…have you noticed the trend of builders to no longer install medicine cabinets, towel rods, rings and toilet paper holders? It’s not only annoying, it adds to the bathroom clutter by forcing us to put things on the counter! Instead of keeping everything out, go through and kept out the only items used daily and contained the rest. Less frequently used items can be moved to drawer, cabinets or a bathroom closet if available. Toss expired and old toiletries and makeup, if your not sure what to keep, this post has a more in depth guide to your Toiletry Toss!
Again, take everything in your pantry (or pantry cupboards) out, sort and toss expired foods. Donate food you don’t want to someone else in need. Think about how you use the space before you pu In the pantry, put items that are less frequently used towards the deep inside corners and “adult only” stuff on the top shelves. Use containers including boxes and baskets (nothing fancy) to gather kids snacks and lunch making items and beverages that are “mom approved” within easy reach for the kids on lower shelves. We moved most items off the floor but kept more utility items like paper towels, bulk drinks and pet food there due to space constraints. 
In the laundry room, we created zones on separate shelves to separate laundry, cleaning and other household supplies and made sure to keep hazardous items up high out of kids reach. If you don’t already have categories in your laundry area, pull everything out, sort, purge and give the space a good deep clean before you return items to their new zones, using baskets labels and easy to access storage.
Bathrooms, laundry, and pantries are frequently used and therefore need constant maintenance. Schedule regular maintenance that’s easy to remember like 2x/yr in spring and fall and get rid of expired food, toiletries, and medications…for your health and overall wellness!
Wellness means more than keeping myself from getting sick or burnt out, overwhelmed or just getting by, it means feeling good about myself, finding balance, nourishing the spirit and soul and being a good steward of the earth.
12 ways to BE WELL, in body and spirit.
1. Get 8 hours of sound sleep (give or take what feels right to you). See last week’s sleep post here.
2. Exercise regularly (3-5 times a week for at least 30 minutes), some of my favorite forms of exercise are Yoga, walking and Dancing (Nia)
3. Eat lots of organic and local produce. Same goes for meat and dairy if you are not vegetarian (which I am not but was for quite a few years).
4. Take time to do something that gives you Joy each day. This might mean quality time with loved ones (pets, family or friends) or taking time for a personal hobby you love doing.
5. Drink water as much as possible every day.
6. Use natural and non-toxic cleaning and beauty products in your home and on your body (that are not tested on animals and that do not contain parabens and other carcinogens)..
7. Keep houseplants and get out and garden if you can.
8. Volunteer and help others out when/however you can. Online is great but in person is even better!
9. Breath. Stop, notice your breath through your day and just bring your breath back to you.
10. Have FUN and Play more!
11. Be KIND, and I mean to everyone. This certainly takes practice but it’s worthwhile and will lead you to…
12. Don’t forget to Smile! Smiling can change our attitude and thoughs, give it a try regularly.
These may all seem like really basic practices and I commend you if you already do all of these (they are all a part of my regular routine at this stage in life). If you feel like some or many of these goals are not attainable please stick with it, you can change habits but it takes time. Find the ones that seem the most EASY or the most REWARDING or the most FUN and start with them!
I will be share more ideas about wellness and self care throughout February and I’d love to open this up for discussion. If you would like to join me, please connect on my Facebook page.
How do you define Wellness?
Being honest and facing our own fears can be one of the highest acts of kindness towards ourselves. What other actions define self-kindness for you? Lately, I’ve been cultivating the art of boredom and this is an act of self kindness for me because I don’t usually allow myself time to “be lazy” or JUST BE. It is freeing, to sit in a chair or lay on the ground and daydream, just watch the birds, observing the world as it “passes by”! But it’s not really passing, I’m just playing an observer role, which removes me from having to judge, think, solve problems, or change anything…I just get to be and that is one of the greatest acts of self-kindness
Kindness is loving people more than they deserve.-Joseph Joubert
When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.- Dalai Lama
The point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on.– Julia Alvarez
You’ve probably noticed that I love quotes, I collect them and I’ve found so many great quotes about KINDNESS. Makes you wonder what so many great writers, philosophers and spiritual leaders know, it must be something important this thing called kindness.
Many a movie and catch phrase have been coined around the idea that Kindness counts, and Paying It Forward and I think people sometimes become jaded and just think these phrases are cliche. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what kindness and happiness mean to the world and how they are different from culture to culture.
Perhaps some feel pursuing happiness or random acts of kindness don’t really mean anything or make any difference to world. Our definitions of kindness don’t have to be in lock step for us to agree that kindness counts, however you define it. If you question your own honest definition of kindness, I love how Brooke Castillo breaks it down and asks us to be courageous in our kindness, not to take it lightly or sugar coat it!
Haven’t you ever had a really crappy day and someone just gave you the most genuine smile, held a door for you or gave you a small compliment that really changed your attitude for a moment or even for the rest of the day?
We have all experienced the power of kindness to uplift us and make us feel happier.
I hope you will consider how your kind actions effects your overall wellness and that of others.
Take a little time to know what’s going on your skin and your whole body will thank you (our skin is our largest organ)! Follow these guidelines for an easy and quick bathroom tidy! By getting rid of what’s unhealthy, funky, old or expired.
Estimated organizing time: 30-45 min’s.
Go ahead and dump it all out!
Bathroom Drawer-Before
Bathroom Drawer-After
Doesn’t your bathroom feel better now! Help your kids and your spouse do their own toiletry toss once you complete your own.Need more? Email me and I promise to help you through it. One way doesn’t work, for everyone. I offer virtual and in person organizing, more info here.
What areas of Clutter overwhelm you? It’s important to identify where you get stuck and understand why. This clutter action plan will help you establish order and bring clutter under control. If you’re not clear on this, check out my post on the muddy water metaphor to help you identify with the feelings behind your clutter…then hop back over here or jump in now!
Start with the least cluttered category. Whatever category on your list above feels easiest – small stuff or big stuff (clear a big space)-start easy! By starting with easier items we gain compelling momentum! You will move on to bigger challenges once you’ve made progress in easier areas.
Decide before you begin. Start with a category of items (my preference), ex. all books, all kids clothes, all papers, all kitchen stuff or work by location (one closet at a time etc). There are advantages to each. When working by category you need to gather everything in one place and when working by location you may have to go back to locate things that belong in other categories. Decide before you begin.
When you have cleared all of your clutter, you can be of greater service to those around you.
-Michael B. Kitson
Welcome to 2019! I’m excited about what this year is inviting us to discover! I’d like to share a bit more about my Intuitive Planning process and Word for the year!
There’s always in exciting sense of possibility at the beginning of a new year. I think a lot of it has to do with our collective conscience. So many people with big ideas, plans, resolutions and goals to do new things, accomplish BIG dreams and it all seems do-able with so many days ahead, Right? I also know there can be a bit of a mind trap here because we often bite off more than we can chew. I’ve learned to dial it back over the years and break my goals down further before I decide WHEN I think they need to happen. My planning process now allows me to meander a bit more along the way, leaving room for surprises, changes in direction, spontaneity and failures. None of us want to fail but if we are going to fail, do it quickly my friend and move forward.
What good is a destination without the Journey?
We never begin something with the INTENTION of failure, but if we don’t plan for our journey, then failure might be inevitable…or maybe we will discover something entirely different on the path and that is certainly a different way of living than many of us are taught. We are taught that we need to control, set goals, budgets, plan our days, years, months and before we know it our lifetime is spent in the GRIP of what we think we need to do to be happy!
What if there was another way we could trust and let go just a little bit? For those of us who have a deep need to maintain control (raises hand:), color inside the lines and do the “Right Thing” it can be terrifying to begin to let go. Having a word of the year is a practice I started about 6 years ago and I alway discover that you can’t PLAN for what that word will teach you on the journey.
Last year my word was Fearless and I learned a lot about what it really means to live fearlessly…I embarked on the year thinking it would lead me to grand adventurous gestures. That was not the case. I discovered that being fearless means getting out of my head, into my heart, trusting myself, trusting my body, trusting my Intuition! Which is exactly what I PLAN to do for 2019. I arrived at the word Intuition for this year because of my journey last year and my the discoveries along the way.
ENOUGH about me…Do you choose a word for the year or have any resolutions? How do you Plan for the year? Do you start with a vision, an Intention or resolutions? I also use the process of creating a Vision Board and am offering a workshop to Envision Your Year on January 28th, click here to learn more and register!
Do you break your planning down into bite size pieces by area of your life? Do you plan your year out on your calendar? I’d love to hear more about your planning process…leave a comment below and tell me more!
What are clutter magnets? They are those spots that tend to accumulate clutter no matter what you seem to do to change them! Maybe they look something like this?
WHERE::Let’s identify some possible areas that might be clutter magnets in your home.
WHAT::This is the stuff that tends to accumulate in the Clutter Magnet zones. Could be just about anything but here are some commonly “magnetic” items.
WHY::Can we be honest about why these zones are like this?
HOW::Can we change this behavior?
I”m not going to lie, this may not be easy but you can change this habit by paying attention to where, what and why. Then implement a plan and practice, practice, practice until it becomes a new habit.
As much as we all might like to live a totally clutter free life it may not be entirely possible. If your is Clutter Overwhelming you, taking a look at what clutter categories are in our lives can help us understand what triggers our overwhelm.
There are many kinds of clutter in our lives. Take a moment to evaluate each category and decide where you can reduce clutter. Know that it might get worse before it gets better...all that dirt that may emerge by way of emotions and literal mess might not be pretty! Hang in there and you will be rewarded if you are can be open to the process. As your thinking about each of these categories, imagine them as you want them to be-intentions are powerful!
As much as we all might like to live a totally clutter free that’s probably not realistic. Understanding our limitations and having realistic expectations can help us decide where to start. Once you’ve evaluated the clutter areas in your life, prioritize them from worst to best and get ready for action.
Once you’ve evaluated the cluttered areas of your life, prioritize them in order of worst to best join me this month for the Clutter Purge Challenge! On day one we will release 1 item, on day 31, we will releas 31 things! That’s almost 500 physical manifestations that are holding us back! Click here to join the challenge, you can join in at any time!
“When you have cleared all of your clutter, you can be of greater service to those around you.”~Michael B. Kitson