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Does Your Home Have a Good Flow?

10/26/2011 By Nancy Borg With no comments yet

Do you ever feel that your house sometimes seems like one big traffic jam?  Too much incoming and not enough outgoing? Is there bottle-necking in the highly congested areas? Are some hallways hard to maneuver without stepping over things? Consider this.  If your house is clogged up, you can probably ease up the congestion with just a little more organization. 

Creating definitive zones in your home will help manage the way you and your family use your spaces.  If your mail lands on a counter that is in a very active hub in your home, chances are it will be knocked over, mislaid, or even disappear.  If sweaters, jackets and coats, and scarves are not put away, chances are they will get mixed in with a pile of other unattended clutter. This is a perfect storm for misplacing or losing important items. Too often, items like keys, glasses and cell phones are notoriously misplaced or buried because we put them somewhere or anywhere without a conscious effort to put them in a consistent place. And if your household is a particular hectic one with multiple activities, children, etc. the mess could get ugly. General family clutter creates chaos for everybody in the home. For adults, it could mean a missing magazine or an important bill; for the kids, it’s a missing piece to a favorite toy, board game or puzzle.  Assess the damage.  Time to organize.  Separate the  clutter, and organize specific places for each individual family member’s stuff.  Too many people sharing the same spaces with little or no regard for organization can only lead to trouble.  More importantly, homeless things and unattended clutter can become serious hazards for everybody living in the home.

Find your busy intersection in your home and control it.  Imagine a natural flow when entering your home at the end of a typical day; hanging up the jacket in the coat closet, then placing the keys in a bowl or on a hook, onto dropping the mail in a designated basket or tray, and thereafter returning your phone, glasses, briefcase or handbag back to its consistent resting place.  Now you’re ready to move through your home without a trail.  Pretty easy, huh?  As a result, you won’t need to put anything away later, and you also know where to find them when you need them. You’ve just cut your losses, literally.

If the kitchen is the most popular hub in your home, design the space so it can accommodate the heavy traffic.  Be creative and make your spaces work for you.  Avoid clogging the areas near the fridge with frequently used appliances.  Keep counter tops clear so that more than one person can utilize an adjacent area without vying for the same spot.  Encourage traffic to flow away from the crowded areas, creating more of a one-way traffic pattern into the more open spaces.

If you find yourself walking in circles to look for something, maybe you should rethink its location and accessibility.  A simple change can alter the flow of your home.  Leave the traffic jams for the road , prevent them from invading your own home.

Does your home have a good flow?  Can you identify any hazard signs in your home?

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What Kind of Shopper Are You?

10/19/2011 By Nancy Borg With no comments yet

Can you shop without actually buying? Do you buy the first thing you see?  Do you merely shop, just to shop?

Despite the compromised economy and reported decreases in retail sales, people are still shopping.  The levels may vary and there are notably all different kinds of shopping going on.  Sometimes we shop with purpose and motive, and so our purchases are intentional and satisfying.  Other times, shopping can mean merely browsing with no specific expectation at all.  Ya know that kind of day… when we meander into a store looking for absolutely nothing in particular. That’s the day when we are badgered by the pushy salesperson, grit our teeth and politely respond with a “just looking, thank you.” The “shop & return-er” is a victim of indecisive shopping and can frequent the stores on a daily basis.  And then there’s the shopper that loves to “shop around ” which suggests we’re being smart consumers who educate and research, prior to the purchase.

No doubt about it, shopping is a favorite pastime.  People love to shop.  It’s a validation that we’re doing OK, and it gives us pleasure to indulge ourselves. It feels good to buy something new.  But there must be limits set or addiction can easily ensue.  Make no mistake about it, compulsive shopping differs from impulsive shopping.  Can you make the distinction?  A compulsive shopper is engaged in obsessive addictive behaviors. It is costly and dangerous and likely to place one in severe debt. For those who spend more than they can afford, and struggle with compulsive acquiring, seeking professional help can be very effective.

If you are an impulsive shopper, your purchases may apt to be rash, and decisions often made with little or no thought.   How many times have you veered off track and purchased something for yourself, while shopping for another person? As for me?….too many times to count, really.  Guilty as charged.  Generally speaking, a healthy impulsive shopper can usually afford their indulgences.  And if regret weighs too heavy in hindsight, the item is returned without issue.  Oops… change of heart, no biggie.

So what kind of shopper are you?

If you’re up for the challenge, here’s the ultimate test in self-control.   Try strolling through the mall,  spritz a new fragrance on your wrist and take pleasure in it for the rest of the day, without buying it.  Walk into Brookstone and sit yourself on every massage chair and test all the latest gadgets, and walk away.  Try on a piece of clothing because you admire it, not because you have to own it. Browse the stores for great gift ideas for a future occasion and avoid the crunch time of finding the perfect gift when you need it.  Walk away from bargains.  When tempted with sale items, don’t be lured into buying more just because they’re on sale.  Be mindful of over- acquiring perishable products at stores like Costco.  It can easily defeat the purpose of the sale because the expiration dates often beat out the inventory.

Shopping, nonetheless, can still be a fun activity without breaking the bank or even taking out your wallet. You can still appreciate, admire and find joy sans the need to acquire it.  Affordability is not the real issue.  Just because you can afford it, doesn’t mean you should buy it.  Contemplate, prior to purchasing and ask yourself:

  • Do I really need it?
  • Can I afford it?
  • Do I have something just like it at home already?
  • Do I have room for it? /where is it going to live in my house?

 

With holiday spending on all of our minds and the challenging economy still impacting our daily lives, now is a great opportunity to evaluate how we spend, and what we buy.  Buy better, not more.

Happy shopping!

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Who Rules Your Home? You? or Your Stuff?

10/15/2011 By Nancy Borg With no comments yet

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with the amount of stuff in your home?  Most of us have obviously have more things living in our homes than people, but when does it become too much?

For starters, it could be when you’re continually tripping over your things; kid’s toys, shoes, neglected clothing, magazine piles, or unopened delivery boxes.  Or maybe it’s when you can no longer sit down on the comfy couch because of all the random stuff strewn all over it?

Now that’s an interesting rethink; if your stuff has a place but YOU don’t, ask yourself, who’s really the boss?”

How about the stuff that you no longer use and never got around to tossing or giving away? Many of us continue to accumulate new stuff without discarding the old. If this sounds like you, no need to be embarrassed, it’s more common than you think.

So many of us are still living with a historical trail of our outdated technology. Old printers, TV’s, computers, cameras and cell phones find their way more readily to basements, attics, and garages than they do out the door.  We invite new pieces of furniture, lamps, and bedding into our homes, but we have trouble letting go of the old things we don’t even like anymore.  We tend to hang onto things.  Just in case.

So it begs the question. is your home for living or for storing?  Make your home your sanctuary by surrounding yourself with the things you use and enjoy.  Above all, acknowledge the changes in your habits and  lifestyles through the years and make your home a reflection of who you are today.

If you’re feeling crowded in your own home, something’s gotta go, no? (hopefully, it’s a thing and not a person, lol)  Take control.  Step up and conquer the clutter.  Do not be overthrown, it’s time to reclaim your spaces.  It’s your home, after all.

Set limits on the incoming and create an outgoing. If you can donate your unwantables to charities, or recycle conscientiously, everyone benefits. The change will be noticeable and you will bring new meaning to “there’s no place like home.”  

Don’t let the stuff take over any longer.  Take charge today.  After all, YOU do rule the roost, don’t you?

 

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Are Your Kids’s Organized? Is it Nature vs.Nurture?

10/05/2011 By Nancy Borg With 1 comment

I think I was born organized. I am certainly wired that way, but is it really innate?  My mother is extremely organized and so maybe I just inherited this behavior. She taught me and I learned.  But my kids did not.  What went wrong?

One theory is that while I attempted to show them, in their early childhood, I did it for them. Yes admittedly, I was the human vacuum and was famous for clearing a room or a dinner table, and taking out the trash before they even had a chance to whine about it.  I enabled them.  Looking back, shame on me.

School mornings were a nightmare; the rejected clothing that never made it onto their bodies were strewn all over the floor like a battle field.  And what did I do?  I picked up all the clothing, re-folded and rehung before they could wrinkle, and before they got home from school.  I couldn’t help myself.  Ditto for the playroom; I cleaned each night and they made a new mess each day. The mess was intolerable until one day I realized that I could merely shut their doors.  Begrudgingly, my kids eventually followed my instructions but only with multiple reminders,  an inevitable raised voice, harsh threats and stern warnings. They rarely did it on their own.

Now grown and independent, I notice that there is an inkling of my organizational nature buried in their respective apartments somewhere. The chaos and disorder rear their ugly head less and less as they mature.  They have learned to be accountable for their own organization because it’s their space now. No-one else is there to clean up their mess.  But has this been instinctual all along, or have I just drummed into their heads relentlessly? Honestly, they are still a far cry away from being super organized and often still clutter their spaces with little or no concern at all.

It’s clear that the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” theory is not necessarily a universal one.  Studies reveal that children of hoarders don’t necessarily bear the same compulsion, and in fact some are inclined to live an opposite lifestyle.  As with alcoholism, sometimes the patterns skip a generation.   Unfortunately, there are those that do fall prey to stronger repeated patterns of disorder and addiction. Environment can be a powerful instigator.

So if being organized is a behavior that can be taught, then I take my chances that my future grandchildren will learn to manage their own  stuff, because their parents still won’t want to clean up.  And if it ends up that being organized is a natural and inherent behavior, and being messy skips a generation, it’s still a win-win.

Have you taught your children the fundamentals of organization?  Is being organized a natural or nurtured behavior? Do messy parents breed messy kids? I’d love to know what you think.

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