You are not your stuff.

There is a distinction. You are not your stuff.  Although you may feel an attachment to your possessions do not let them own you.

Cull. Purge.  Clean out. Throw away.  And then containerize what you want.  Keep only what you like.  Things that spark joy in your life can stay. Everything else can go. Regift it. Give it a new home.  Only surround yourself with items that are useful and beautiful.  Remove all useless and ugly objects from around your space. Your home is your space.  Make the life that you want in your home.  Dream it.  Live it.

You won't miss your stuff!

Life will rapidly change as your cull excess stuff from your life. It's rare that you will miss your stuff.  After you have let it go from your life you may think about certain items you gave but you probably won't miss them.

The hardest thing for me to part with are baby clothes. My three children are so precious to me and their first year of life has been so wonderful.  Because I love my children so much it makes my attachment to their baby clothes quite strong

My first child's clothes I kept until she was five. And my son's clothes I parted with at four years old because a nephew was being born which made it much easier.  For my third child I parted with her cloth nappies (diapers) first.  I enjoyed feeling like a 'real Mum' by washing nappies this time. But I figure that if I do have a fourth child I won't have time to wash cloth nappies.  Right now I am doing 2-3 loads of washing so I can't see myself washing cloth nappies too.

Once I parted with the nappies I realized that the baby phase was well over. I am about to turn 39 and may not have anymore children.  And if I do what are the chances of giving birth to another girl? Only 50/50! From experience I know when you have a baby you are blessed with lots of brand new baby clothes. Plus,  I had ten people give me preloved clothes for my third child.  So, why do I need to keep these baby clothes?  I had many more reasons than memories to send them to a new home than to store them 'just incase' one day I might have another daughter.

Memories are best kept in our heart than cluttering up our homes with objects to remember them. Objects only hold us back from living in the now. To live a better now also means a brighter future.

Minimalist Shoe wardrobe. How many shoes do you really need?

From what I have seen on YouTube,  some women own lots of shoes.

Throughout my life I have preferred bags over shoes. If it wasn't a nice purple hand bag it was a fun back pack with lots of compartments and zippers.

After learning how to become more of a minimalist (as much as permits as a Mum of three children) and consolidating my wardrobe to be in line with my BiCapsule Wardrobe an unusual thing has happened.  Instead of having a fettish for bags I now have the time to realize my lack of shoes and my need for them. For the first time in my life I am focussing on building up my collection of shoes to complement my BiCapsule Wardrobe.

If you asked me yesterday morning how many pairs of pairs of shoes I owned I would have said five. But due to earning some money organising the cupboard of a local family I decided to use the funds i earned on myself!

I had done some research online the night before my purchase.  I checked out styles and colours of shoes and boots I thought might be suitable.  I was originally going to purchase two pairs of boots. One pair of gumboots and a fancier, dressier boot was my plan. However, the shop I went to only had one pair of colourful gumboots left that were way too small. The shop assistant sent me down the road to our local shoe store where I was introduced to Bogs. They are a wet-suit style boot great in the cold and the wet,  yet they are attractive and comfortable enough for everyday wear.

So, my shoe count is sitting on six. But I still have a few more purchases to make.  I want to replace my worn out joggers/sneakers/runners. I also need some black ballet flats for everyday wear and more formal occassions.

I think the ideal number of shoes for a woman is seven. There are a few options depending on your lifestyle. A true minimalist can live with one pair. I think I have always been a minimalist at heart because in my twenties when I was studying at university there was a point where I only owned a pair of leather clogs (similar to crocs).

The ideal wardrobe of shoes for me would include :

1) Fancy thongs (flip flops) for a day at the beach and casual occassions
2) A good quality pair of sneakers (trainers) for every day wear and informal occasions and my daily walk and work.
3) A nice pair of sandals with a small heals for when I want to feel a little dressed up
4) A pair of all purpose boots
5) Cozy slippers for cold days and relaxing evenings
6) Ballet flats for weather when sandals
and thongs are too cold.
7) Beautiful heals for formal events like a wedding

As I don't have any formal events looming I am aiming for six pairs of shoes for now. As I mentioned, my boots are brand new. I have a red pair of sandles for Summer. When Summer roles around my thongs will need replacing. I bought my slippers a year ago and they are doing well.  All I need to buy are the ballet flats  and sneakers. I have tried coloured ones in the past. They were purple and didn't match anything except my purple shirt.  My BiCapsule Wardrobe is quite neutral so red, black or navy ballet flats would be suitable. And as for my sneakers; they have done so well but are due for retirement.  So, my next purchase will be some black or possibly red or navy sneakers.

And with all these I will have seven pairs of shoes as I currently have two pairs of sandles. So, next time you go shoe shopping think about which of these seven you need the most. For those who need dressier boots too you could do without the gumboots or just wear thongs instead of the slippers. Or have nice thongs that double as sandles. And ladies if you already have each of these or multiples find a new hobby to spend your money on or save up for a trip to Paris so you will have an excuse to wear what you already have.

Feedback from the people who need it!

I love my job as a Professional Organiser!  I love going in and working with the stuff that is irritating people!

For some people the most annoying place in their home is the chaos in their garage. This seems like such a huge, almost impossible, area to conquer.  It's a place where indecision abides. The garage is the place for those items that most people still have an attachment to but just can't bring themself to rid from their life.

The last garage I cleaned out was full!! Today, it holds the useful items that the family uses regularly.  Things a garage should hold. There are bikes and scooters. And four crates. Two hold Christmas items.  Another holds family photos and the last one is a Keepsake Box where sentimental items such as kids artwork,  Wedding cards, baby books and the like arekkept and annually looked at, appreciated and culled. And it only took 6 hours to clean out.  And the impact on the lady's life has been profound.

Yesterday I cleaned out a two door wardrobe.  It held clothes for one person plus an easel, gym weights, guitar and kids toys. I enjoyed spending my morning sorys through clothes and shoes and accessories. I removed the items that didn't belong and stored them elsewhere. I took out the tops, singlets, leggings, dresses, skirts and Pjs and laid them on the bed. The next two hours I spend sorting and replacing the said items. I used colour (this is how we spell it in Australia!) coded coat hangers and hung up the jumpers, jackets and other tops. I put the Winter scraves on hangers at one end. And the skirts and the beautiful dresses were hung at the other end.

Along the way I rolled up the singlets, leggings, pyjamas, light weight scarves, underwear, socks and shorts and placed them in cute, colourful containers at the top of the shelf above the hanging space. The hairdryer even got it's own pink material container.

Later that evening after I put my daughter to bed I glanced at my phone and was very excited to read this comment from the petson whose wardrobe I had transformed :

"You did an awesome job on my wardrobe today! You made me really happy. Thanl you so much. " Julia Frankson

My heart lept for joy. I was so happy that doing a task that I find so simple,  and very enjoyable - I love the 'after' result as it fills me with satisfaction - could impact someone else in such a positive way.  It made my day and my job worth while.

Screen Secret - How to Organise Your Kids Screen Time

So, what is the "Screen Secret" you ask? It is simple and effective and it will make your life less stressful.  You won't have to spend hours nagging your child to 'get off' their screen or give various threats  to "turn that thing off before I..."

I will teach you the steps to Organise Your Kids Screen Time. "

Anyway, relating to screen time the issue is boundaries that you as a parent control.  These are time boundaries. For some children if you do not set the time perimeters of the amount of minutes they can play on their device it could have very negative consequences ranging ffrom them learning negative behaviour from what they are watching,  to not knowing how to talk because of a lack of human interaction (sadly, I have seem this).

As a Mum whose only screens in her home as a young child were TVs (the small one in the kitchen was black and white - it was in the 1970's. Is that showing my age?) I now have multiple screens in my home.  These days, if you take a tour through most family homes you probably wouldn't be shocked to see 2-3 screens in every room. Children can walk in the front door and watch TV. As they walk through the kitchen for a snack they can check their social media on their Tablet/iPad. When it's time to go to their room they often have the opportunity to play a game on their personal Xbox, and if they haven't already checked their email on their phone or iPod it's probably not far away to do so.

So, as parents we have some responsibilities!! For some the challenge will be greater than others. The ffollowing things will all have an impact on how easily you will be able to implement the time boundaries needed with your child (or even your teenager!)

The factors include :
1) your parenting style
2) how you were raised
3) the age of the child
4) the habits of the child
5) the temperament of the child.

To make my secret work you need to create a predictable routine.  You as the parent need to begin to set a schedule to say who does what,  and when they can do it. It needs to be reasonably consistent each day.

Your ultimate Secret goal is to slowly make
the length of the screen time shorter and most of all LATER. Making screen time the last part of the afternoon routine before dinner is your secret weapon to making the change.

I must say if you don't have a good night routine for putting your children to bed start with that. When it is going smoothly then create a written afternoon routine (I jot one down on paper every afternoon, as no two days are ever identical, and  read it to them after school).

My suggestion is to start by making the first thing on the routine having afternoon tea (snack). When they have enough patience to do that before screen time then make them have their afternoon tea AND a play outside a requirement before screen. At the start of a new term it's a great time to start a new routine for your children.

Your final step is to reach the point (you could go cold turkey or it may take a few months depending on the factors mentioned earlier ) where you have a routine that goes a little like the one below where the very last time slot in the day is allocated to screen time. To be honest it is working so well for me because my child gets so busy with the routine that sometimes they end up with as little as 5 minutes left before dinner (night meal) for time on a screen.

I should mention my children are all under 12.  And for a few years I have implemented a 'no screen time after dinner' rule. On a very rare occasion, like a friend staying over or a special Saturday night when Daddy is away, we have a real treat watching a movie together.  Otherwise, Screen Time in our home is at 530pm. It's only one half an hour slot out of the day when they can check Instagram, play Xbox or watch a favourite show etc.

An example of a typical afternoon (Homework is all done on one afternoon)

330pm Eat afternoon tea and chat
4pm Ride Bikes
430pm Play hand ball
5pm Do jobs (chores) like unpacking dishwasher (my kids start at age 3 unloading plastic items)
515pm Have a bath
530pm Screen Time
6pm Dinner
630pm Story, Teeth, Toilet, Prayers
715pm Lights Out

Your routine will vary. But as the parent you are the one who is responsible for the amount of time your child is spending of their children on a screen. Help your children create real life memories by organising their time for them with a schedule where screen is the last activity of the day before dinner.  You won't regret it. That is the secret and the hard work will be worth it.

One more thing I think is that like you put your children to bed, your children can put their screens to bed.  My children don't keep their screens in their rooms! No way. I am creating good habits.  In the day they can charge them as needed (in the Lounge Room). At night (and it actually works out they are hrte when not using them)  they put their screen to bed in a designated draw in our living area. This really impacts on the Secret of the routine because they are out of site!! And the TV remotes are kept in a draw, too. If you don't want too much screen it's best not to make it too easy to use.

One new habit to make you happier!

We all know it takes 28 to create a new habit.

But did you know that there is one new habit that you can start that will help you be a happier person? Studies have been done that prove that your Mum was right! You should be making your bed every morning.  Not only is your bed one of the biggest pieces of furniture in the house, whether you 'make' it every morning or not also impacts on your well being.

Tomorrow morning,  as soon as your feet hit the floor begin making your bed.  To get some excitement for this boring task change your sheets. Or better still, go shopping and deck out the place you spend 30% of your life with new sheets, pillows, doona (comforter/blanket) and matching throw cushions to give you the inspiration you need to tuck in your bed clothes (sheets/blanket) every morning.

There are even some wonderful YouTube clips by organised ladies like Alejandra and CleanMySpace who will make making your bed look like a really fun task. Well they did for me! Plus, they will teach you the best way to make your bed so it's an easy task.

To be honest I have created the habit of making my bed and it is now second nature. I make my bed easily every day because it is a habit I have built into my life. And, yes, my life is happier because making my bed kick starts my day.  It catapults me into the rest of my morning routine which in turn keeps my life from becoming chaotic.

Project 333 Review. Designing the new BiCapsule Wardrobe

Day Care Capsule Wardrobe.  Office Capsule. Student Capsule Wardrobe
Great for sahm or any mum (mom). Australian idea! Capsule Wardrobe for Men
 Capsule Wardrobe for Teenagers.    Baby Capsule Wardrobe
 Capsule Wardrobe for Children         Kid's Capsule Wardrobe


There is nothing more powerful when organising your life than simplyIing your wardrobe.

In search of the ultimate wardrobe of clothing I gave Project 333 a try. My review leads me to my own development of a new,  unique Capsule Wardrobe. When I attempted to only have 33 items in my wardrobe I struggled!  And as someone who loves change and becomea bored quickly the idea of having to wear the same clothes for 3 whole months was torturous to say the least.

My unique BiCapsule Wardrobe will work well for you.  All you need are hundreds of black garbage bags (lol); 3-4 crates and 3-4 hours. Sets of 5-10 coloured coat hangers in 5 different colours are also beneficial.

To start the process remove every item of clothing you own that is anywhere in the house and put them on your bed. Include socks, pants, hats and all other items of clothing that belong to you.

Now go through every garment. Examine it and if it's great for wearing today (not that you need to try it on necessarily) then put it away.  If it makes you smile it can stay.

However,  if you haven't worn it for a while then try it on. If it doesn't fit but you really love it and know there is a realistic chance that it can fit again within 2 years then it can stay (crate).  However,  if the garment is damaged beyond repair,  way out of style; never suited you anyway; or is only in your wardrobe because you 'might' need it one day, or even more challenging a garment you only have because of who gave it to you, then put it in a black garbage bag. You will be amazed how many you fill!!

At the end of the whole process put the bags straight into your car boot (trunk) and drive to your closest charity donation centre. Now give them away.  You need them to be gone from your life.

As you put the items that can stay back choose between their usual storage place and the crate. If you have lots of jumpers and it's Summer then store them in the crate with jackets, long sleeve slivvys (turtle necks) tights/stockings. Store the crates as close as possible to your wardrobe if not in it. This could be under your bed or in a high cupboard.  Keep them in another bedroom if necessary.

Make use of the coat hangers as you hang up various items. Use one colour for shorts; oneffor long pants; one for jumpers, one for skirys and one for dresses. This way it will be easier to see where one type of clothing starts and another ends.

For a classy looking wardrobe hang the dark items on the far left and then move along so at the other end of the section are the lighter clothes.

Optional Extra :  To turn your new wardrobe of clothing into a BiCapsule it's easy. You will need another crate or two.  Go through your wardrobe and choose your ten favourite tops. Take the rest out and place them in a crate. Now choose up to 10 bottoms. This could be long pants, shorts or skirts.  Keep these ten Iitems in your wardrobe with 2 dresses and 2-3 jackets/jumpers, and put everything else into the crates.

The good news is that the  BiCapsule Wardrobe only needs to last biweekly (a fortnight). Wear the clothes in your wardrobe for only 14 days! At the end of 14 days don't be as strict with the number of clothes you choose to wear for the next 14 days. Simply put away the items you haven't worn or a bored of wearing and choose some new items from any of your crates, keeping in mind whatever you choose only has to last you another 14 days. As you choose the items think about the engagements and activities you will be attending and what will be appropriate to wear. If you are going skiing every day you can keep all your dresses and Summer items in the crates.

Every 6-12 months repeat the whole process and as you go jot down a shopping list and wish list.  If all your socks are being thrown out then write it on your shopping list.  If you would love some new Winter boots that are outside of your current budget write it down on your wish list.

And when I come to your home or am interviewed on TV I will let all the ladies in on one more top for their BiCapsule Wardrobe.

You won't regret creating your BiCapsule Wardrobe.  Your life will feel so ultra organised. And the overflow into other areas of your life will be exponential!  I challenge you to Get
Organised today!