Smart Strategies for Storing Your Holiday Decorations

As the holiday season winds down, many of us face the challenge of organizing and storing our festive decorations. With January 6th (in my homeland of Germany)- often celebrated as the end of the Holiday season - just around the corner, it's time to think about packing away our holiday cheer. Here are some tips on how to efficiently organize and store your holiday decorations, ensuring they stay safe, clean and ready for the next season.

Planning and Decluttering: The first step in this post-holiday ritual is planning. Begin by assessing all your decorations. Lay them out and categorize them. This process helps you understand what you have, what needs repair, and what might not be worth keeping. The mantra here is decluttering. If you come across broken lights or an ornament that no longer brings joy, consider letting it go. This not only frees up storage space but also simplifies your decorating decisions next year. Remember, effective organization is as much about removing the unnecessary as it is about neatly storing the essential.

Organizing Decorations: Once you've streamlined your collection, it’s time to organize. Group your decorations by type – ornaments, lights, wreaths, figurines. If certain items are specific to rooms or certain display areas, group them accordingly. This categorization makes unpacking next year intuitive and quick. Labeling is your best friend here. Clearly mark each storage box with its contents. It’s a simple step that saves a lot of time and guesswork in the future.

Packing Tips: Packing decorations properly is crucial for their longevity. For delicate ornaments, use tissue paper or bubble wrap to prevent breakage. Specialized compartmentalized boxes can offer additional protection. String lights, notorious for tangling, can be neatly wound around a piece of cardboard. For your artificial tree, if the original box is no longer an option, a tree storage bag is a great investment. Compressing and securing branches minimizes space and protects the tree’s shape.

Choosing Storage Containers: The right storage containers can make a world of difference. Opt for durable, moisture-resistant options to protect your decorations from environmental factors, especially if they're stored in places like basements or attics. Space efficiency is another consideration. Stackable containers maximize storage space and keep your decorations organized and accessible.

Storing Your Decorations: Selecting the right spot to store your decorations is as important as the packing process. Choose a cool, dry area to prevent any damage from humidity or temperature fluctuations. If you’re using spaces like basements or attics, ensure they are free from potential water damage or extreme heat. Also, think about the order of storage. Place items that you’re likely to use first next season in more accessible spots. This thoughtful placement will save you time and effort.

Storing holiday decorations might seem like a daunting task, but with a bit of planning and organization, it can be managed efficiently. The effort you put in now not only preserves your treasured decorations but also sets the stage for a smoother, more enjoyable holiday season next year.

Copyright © 2024 by Tidy Closet, Professional Organizer in San Diego and surrounding areas.

Time Blocking for a Sparkling Home: One Monthly Mission at a Time

Do you ever find yourself gazing longingly at those immaculate, clutter-free homes on Instagram, wondering how on earth people maintain such cleanliness and order? Well, the secret isn't just magic; it's the art of time blocking. Imagine breaking down your cleaning tasks into bite-sized, manageable chunks, tackling one major mission per month. It's like a cleaning challenge, but without the overwhelm! So, grab your cleaning supplies, put on your superhero shirt, and let's dive into why time blocking for cleaning is your ticket to a sparkling home.

Fridge Fandango

Bid farewell to those forgotten, fuzzy leftovers and mystery condiments. Scrub those shelves and drawers till they gleam. Your fridge will thank you with fresher, longer-lasting groceries, and you'll thank yourself for a cleaner, more organized kitchen. Don’t forget to clean the outside of the fridge and recycle all the kid’s art, reminders and coupons that are probably hung up on a magnet. This is my go-to cleaner for stainless-steel.

Window Wonders

Time block a weekend to tackle those windows. Start with a warm, soapy water cleanse, followed by a vinegar-based solution to banish streaks. You'll be amazed at how much brighter your home feels, and you'll have a newfound appreciation for the world outside.

Pantry Party

Donate non-perishables you won't use, and toss expired items. Invest in clear containers for better visibility, and arrange your pantry like a grocery store shelf. Your culinary adventures will be more delightful when everything's easy to find.

Related: Conquering the Chaos: 10 Bathroom Organizing Products You’ll Totally Love

Closet Crusade

Bid adieu to old, ill-fitting clothes and accessories. Donate or sell items in good condition. You'll be left with a curated wardrobe full of pieces you love and actually wear. My extra tip to stay organized; use the “one in-one-out” rule; For every item you buy, get rid of one. That way your closet space never feels too overwhelming.

Basement Blitz

Time blocking for basement cleaning will help you reclaim this space for practical use or hobbies. Say goodbye to forgotten clutter or have a garage sale if you have many large items that can be sold. I recommend storage shelving for vertical storage and clear bins.

Fantastic Floors

Sweep, mop, and, if necessary, wax or polish. Pay attention to corners, baseboards, and edges where dirt tends to accumulate. Avoid using excessive water, especially on hardwood floors, as it can cause damage. For stubborn spots or stains, use a microfiber cloth or mop with a bit of extra cleaner. Be gentle on delicate floor surfaces. If your floors have grout, use a grout brush to scrub the lines between tiles. Remember that the frequency of floor cleaning can vary depending on factors like household traffic and the type of flooring you have.

Related: Use this, not that for organizing your home

Copyright © 2022 by Tidy Closet, Professional Organizer and Virtual Assistant in San Diego and surrounding areas.

What is toxic productivity

There's a difference between being productive and being toxic in the workplace. While we all want to be more productive, it can often come at the price of our health or relationships. Toxic productivity is when you're working so hard, you start to negatively impact your health or your work environment. In this post, we'll explore what exactly toxic productivity is, how it affects you long-term and what causes it in the first place.

What is toxic productivity?

What exactly is toxic productivity, and how can you tell if it's a problem?

• Working too hard. Working long hours, taking work home with you on the weekends and generally feeling that no task is ever done—toxic productivity comes from being obsessed with work.

• Not taking time off. Giving into the temptation of working all weekend because there's something left to do can lead to a lack of balance in your life and stress overload as well as burnout over time.

• Not getting enough sleep. It may seem obvious that getting enough rest will help us be more productive at work, but many people fail to realize that proper sleep habits are just as important for health as eating well or exercising regularly (and maybe even more so). Lack of sleep can lead to feelings of malaise during the day and will make it harder for your brain to focus on complex tasks like analyzing data or writing code or designing an app prototype. In fact, studies have shown that people who get seven hours of sleep each night perform better than those who don't get any shut-eye at all!

Is toxic productivity only about working too hard?

You might have heard of toxic productivity, but you're probably not sure what it is. It's the idea that you can work hard, but if your working style isn't sustainable or healthy, then it's not really productive at all.

Let's start with the basics: toxic productivity is about working too hard in a way that doesn't help you achieve your goals. But let's go a little deeper and look at some examples of how this happens and why it matters.

What are the signs of being overly productive?

• You work long hours, even on weekends.

• You’re working through your lunch break.

• Your relationships with colleagues, friends and family are strained and you have no time for collaboration, relaxation or team meetings.

• Your personal life is a mess, and you don’t know how to fix it because you are always working on something at work.

• Your work life is also a mess, because you've never had time for organization or planning ahead of time (or even later in the day).

  Related: 10 Ways to become more organized and efficient

You find that it's hard to get anything done without feeling like there isn't enough time in the day to do it all—and this makes you feel guilty and stressed out constantly!

How does toxic productivity affect you long-term?

If you're experiencing signs of toxic productivity, it's time to take action. It can lead to burnout and other negative health effects, including:

• Poor sleep quality. If you're working long hours but not taking time for yourself, you may be skipping out on quality sleep. Instead of sleeping for eight hours at night, your body will become exhausted and start shutting down in the middle of the day when it realizes there's no way that it can get enough rest if it goes straight into another workday. This leads to a vicious cycle where fatigue causes poor health habits throughout the day that then lead to more fatigue the next day—and so on.

• Low energy levels and bad nutrition habits. When we don't get enough sleep or eat well during the day due to our busy schedule, we feel tired and lethargic during work hours because our bodies are too sluggish from stressors like lack of sleep/nutrition balance (which is why so many people turn towards caffeine). But once we’ve had our fill of caffeine through coffee or energy drinks throughout the shift—and maybe even some sugary snacks later on—we'll crash later that afternoon instead of being able to enjoy a healthy dinner with family members after work! In fact, some workers skip meals altogether but that can lead to hunger cravings, especially for sugars and carbs.

Toxic productivity can lead to burnout and other negative health effects.

According to WebMD “Burnout is a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped. It's a result of excessive and prolonged emotional, physical, and mental stress. In many cases, burnout is related to one's job. Burnout happens when you're overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to keep up with life's incessant demands”.

It can also cause stress because you're constantly running around trying to get things done in order to meet deadlines before they occur or complete tasks so they'll be done faster than if you took your time doing them. This leads us back into our first point about accomplishing things simply for the sake of accomplishing them - that's not always necessary!

Related: What does living sustainably mean?

It's important to be productive, but it's also important to take care of yourself. If you feel like you're taking on too much or getting burned out, look for ways to reduce your workload and take breaks throughout the day. Remember that there is no way to be super productive without being healthy—and vice versa!

Copyright © 2022 by Janine Morales, Professional Organizer, Educator, and Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas.

Marie Kondo is sparking joy again on Netflix

Are you ready for more Marie Kondo and her magic of changing lives? Marie Kondo’s new Netflix series promises to inspire you to get started for yourself. This show goes beyond organizing and teaches the life-changing magic of the KonMari Method to achieve your ideal lifestyle. The road to happiness is not linear, it gets a little messy and emotional in between and it is a lot of hard work, but no one else is going to do it for you. If you loved Marie’s “Tidying up with Marie Kondo” on Netflix, this is a must-see!

Related: Weekly, monthly, and annual cleaning checklist

Wanting to get organized is often the first in making changes in your home, routine, habits, and life. Once you have envisioned your ideal lifestyle it is easier to decide what you want to keep and let go of, this is applicable to household items, hobbies, habits, and relationships as well. When we love something we should take good care of it and this includes self-care. Being mindful of one’s own needs and wants will help make better choices and can also make you a happier person.

Related: Tips for a happy and productive home office

Gratitude is one of important the tools in the KonMari Method™. Oxford dictionary defines Gratitude as “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness”. In tidying, we exercise this practice with our belongings and comes naturally to carry it over to other aspects of life.

I am super excited to see what her new show is all about including her home and office organization tips, wisdom on life, and the change the participants experience in their life when following the Method. The new season will air on August 31st. 2021 on Netflix.

Copyright © 2021 by Janine Morales, Professional Home and Business Organizer and Certified KonMari™ Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas

Weekly, monthly and annual cleaning check list

Hi Tidy Friends,

Remembering when to clean and what to clean, can be a daunting task when you don’t have a routine schedule for home management. The biggest lie I tell myself every day is that “I will remember that”. If this reminds you of yourself you might find the lists I created below helpful in scheduling home cleaning tasks. They are suggestions on when to clean what, but of course, they can be personalized to your own needs. Let me know what you think, I hope they will help you stay on top of things!

Happy cleaning,

Janine

“All time management begins with planning ”

— Brian Tracy

Copyright © 2021 by Janine Morales, Professional Home and Business Organizer and Certified KonMari™ Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas

How to organize your clothes

Before you start organizing you must ask yourself why. What is the goal of organization? Do you want to minimize your distractions, have more time for playing with the kids or maybe you just want to be able to find your keys in the morning. I got you! But I invite you to look further down the road and imagine your ideal life! If you want to stay organized for the long run you need a long term goal to be able to create everyday tidy habits. Some of my clients envision their ideal lifestyles such as traveling more, working less (or changing careers), going back to school or spending more time (really being present) with loved ones. Once you have figured out your long term goals and ideal lifestyle then you are ready to get started.

We start by organizing our clothes because we want to learn to make easy decisions before we make hard ones (It is easier to decide about a stained shirt than it is about grandmas old china). Making good decisions about your belongings will train your brain to make good decisions about your life.

Step 1: Gather all your clothes in one place (the bed or bedroom floor are great)

The reason we want to do this is to see how much we really own. For many of my clients surprise it’s often much more than they anticipated.

Step 2: Touch every single Item and ask if it sparks joy!

Yes I know it sounds cheesy, but we have been trained to make decisions based on other peoples opinion all the time. We have to re-learn to make decisions based on our own well being and happiness. So, if you touch your favorite shirt you will feel happy and warm and you will have an emotional reaction to it. Make your decisions based on how your clothes make you feel and if these items are something you would want to wear in your ideal life.

Related: Minimalist Closet: Practice Minimalism with Your Wardrobe

Step 3: Sort you items into a keep, donate or discard pile

If the answer to the question “does it spark joy” is yes, keep it. If the answer is no, make sure you thank the item (yes gratitude is important to let go and to appreciate what the item has done for and meant to you in the past). Then either donate it if it is in good shape or discard it if it is stained or ripped or too old to be reused.

Step 4: File fold your clothes to save space

When you are finished sorting, my advice is to fold as much as you can. Most modern fabrics don’t wrinkle anymore and folding will safe you tons of space. The neat thing with file folding is, that you can see every single item and are able to pull them out from the dresser, without making a mess. Here is a tutorial on how to fold your clothes vertically:

Step 5: Store items back in the closet

Folded Items should be stored in a dresser, from light to heavy. Lighter items such as bras, panties or socks should be stored in the top drawer and heavier items like jeans should be stored on the bottom. When hanging up items make sure o hang them up in an angle from long to short or sort them by color.

Step 6: Discard your trash and drop off your clothes donations at your favorite non-profit or second hand store

I recommend to make a donations drop of the same day you finished organizing your clothes, or the bags might be laying around in your home and becoming a nuisance for weeks. Also do not leave them in the garage or they might be forgotten forever. The sooner you can take the responsibility to donate/ discard them is when you have finished the clothes category of organization.

Copyright © 2020 by Janine Morales, Professional Home and Business Organizer and Certified KonMari™ Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas.

Organizing a schedule while being confined at home

With many San Diego schools, businesses and events being cancelled, we are now getting the gift of time. Time at home with our kids, time to finish the one or two projects we have started or maybe even to organize and deep clean our homes.

Here are some tips from a local San Diego professional organizer and KonMari Consultant on how to handle scheduling and hire help during the social distancing period.

1. Set yourself (and your kids) some goals for the day:

   Clean out the fridge or getting your daily steps in by taking a walk, make sure you give yourself a goal to accomplish to feel productive. Your kids should have their goals too; finishing homework, doing their chores and maybe work on a project together (maybe learning how to prepare a meal?)

2. Make sure to get some sun:

   One hour per day should be set aside for outside time. Play some soccer with the kids or take your bike out for a ride. Research shows that going outside is good for your health, lowers depression and it gives us a break from these overwhelmingly negative news on TV.

3. Time out for screens:

   Make sure to turn off the screens and read a book that you have been wanting to read or play a board game with your family. Puzzles can be a great alternative for activating your memory and increasing focus.

4. Support small business:

   Especially in times like these it is more important than ever to keep supporting small business. Even though we can’t physically go into crowded places and attend events, we can still order a to go meal from a local restaurant, buy a gift card from a local store online or take advantage of online classes/ virtual sessions offered.

Copyright © 2020 by Janine Morales, Professional Home and Business Organizer and Certified KonMari™ Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas.

3 Ideas on how to make de-cluttering fun

Getting organized when you feel overwhelmed can be hard. Finding time to start, when you are busy is challenging. An organizing marathon is not for everybody. If you are like me, challenges make it fun. Get together with a friend or join an online community like the KonMari+Dave Ramsey Facebook Group to find motivation, inspiration and accountability. Here are some ideas and fun challenges to help you enjoy the process.

1. Make a vision Board of your perfect lifestyle and hang it up in your closet to remind you of the why.

   When you have a visual of the things that you value and desire, you are more likely to think about them. Make sure you create your vision board around how you want to feel in all areas of your life such as home, career, relationships, money, travel or personal growth. Once you know what’s important to you, you can delegate your time into achieving your goals. Visualization can be one of the most powerful exercises you can do and there is research to prove t too. Psychology Today reported that a study looking at brain patterns in weightlifters found that the patterns activated when a weightlifter lifted hundreds of pounds were similarly activated when they only imagined lifting.  In some cases, research has revealed that mental practices are almost effective as true physical practice, and that doing both is more effective than either alone.

2. Play the Min-Game Challenge!

   The rules are easy. You have 30 days to de-clutter and it starts with one item on day 1, then two items on day 2, three items on day 3 and so on. The further you get into the moth the more challenging it gets. At the end of the Month you have gotten rid of about 465 items! The great thing about this challenge is that it does not take a lot of time and once you get into it, it is hard to stop. There is also a whole community playing this game online and sharing their progress, you can find them on Instagram with the hashtag #minsgame to join.

3. Make Money!

   It does not matter if you are moving, just moved in or have lived in your home for a couple of decades, making money is always helpful. Many of my clients plan to hold a yard sale at the end of their organizing journey. Make sure you set yourself a date and advertise it to hold yourself accountable. Through the process of de-cluttering your home you might even come across some unused gift cards, gift certificates or even checks that have not been deposited. The thing to remember is to price your items that they will sell. The money is already gone and you have decided that all these items are going, so remembering that all of it is going to donations afterward anyways, should give you a realistic outlook on money goals. Any money you make is going to be a profit.

Copyright © 2020 by Janine Morales, Professional Home and Business Organizer and Certified KonMari™ Consultant in San Diego and surrounding areas.