We each have our own set of memories that bring us joy, peace, a feeling of love or sadness. Memorabilia are tangible objects that have memories associated with them. My memorabilia might look like junk to you, but the memories associated with each item brings me back to my childhood, my family or a special moment in time. Memorabilia can be photographs, letters, clothing, souvenirs, or any object that holds a memory for you.

If you’re overwhelmed by trying to find space to store every birthday card, concert ticket stub and newspaper clipping, it’s time to ask yourself what is really worth keeping and how can you best store and preserve your memories.

October is Energy Awareness Month, so let’s keep this short & sweet so we can all turn off our devices and reduce our footprint.

We live in a digital world and it’s about time that our organizational systems reflect that. We’re not saying the transition from paper to screen is always easy, but it is life changing! Here are some of our favorite digital organizing tools.

September is Emergency Preparedness Month and we want to highlight some important ways to stay organized in the event of an emergency. It’s all about planning ahead. Every article and website dedicated to emergency preparedness highlights planning ahead and practicing with your family.

The sun is setting earlier each day. The days are getting a little cooler. The stores are advertising Back-To-School outfits and you’ll start seeing school supplies pop up everywhere very shortly (if not already). 

With these back-to-school tips and ideas, we hope everyone can have an enjoyable transition from the less structured days of summer to the beginning of the school year.

Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of taking useless and unwanted products and repurposing them. The process of upcycling can be found in art, music and design. In the organizing world, we love upcycling because it allows clients to save on buying all new organizing supplies and products. It teaches us to use what we have and use it differently and it’s also great for the environment!

Does your To Do list fit on a post-it note or take up an entire notebook or maybe even a few notebooks? We tend to put too much on our lists and end up frustrated with ourselves when we can’t check them all off at the end of the day. Truthfully, we’re setting ourselves up for failure from the start. Our To Do lists can be extremely helpful to keep us on track, however, the problem often lies in what and how much we’re actually putting on the list. Unreasonable expectations of how long it actually takes to complete a task can lead to a feeling of failure when we don’t make enough time to get everything done. And that’s just not fair because you’re awesome!

DID YOU KNOW?
Each U.S. household receives about 850 pieces of unwanted mail per year. This adds up to more than 100 BILLION pieces of mail per year for the US, about 44% of which goes into landfills without even being opened! The damage to the environment, carbon footprint, wasted energy, etc. are considerable. And let’s not forget about the frustration and wasted time – you’ll spend about 8 months of your life dealing with unsolicited mail (PaperKarma).

At the beginning of Stress Awareness Month we talked about how poor time management can add unwanted stress to your life, but another major source of stress can come from the way our space is organized. A stack of unopened mail, a pile of laundry, or the messy dishes left around the house can all cause stress, so can a space that isn’t designed to realistically suit your daily life. Disorganization leads to stress and every time you walk past that pile of clothes on the floor or see those bills on the counter, you’ll be reminded of your chaotic life. Stress can follow you around your own home and often we become numb to it over time.