This is the third in what will, hopefully,
become a regular, helpful set of ideas from me to you. I can't tell
you how much I appreciate all the wonderful feedback from the first
couple of issues.
In this issue:
=>Spring is coming
=>How much stuff?
=>Simple Tips
=>Organizing tip
=>Just for fun
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As many of you know, I started talking about sending out a newsletter
in July and now we are in February and here is the third issue.
Spring is coming, the snow will melt and summer will be here all
too soon.
My business is going great, and I am having a lot of fun doing
what I love to do! While you are spending lots of indoor time,
organizing is a wonderful pastime.
Happy Lovers Month!
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In every issue I hope to bring you interesting facts about organizing,
redesigning and staging homes for sale.
I also will be linking to some wonderful resources to help you
solve some of your organizing and design problems.
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Spring is coming
I keep thinking "Wow! How can it be February already?"
Does it seem like time is moving faster?
Staging your home for sale, redesigning a room--both of these
have one thing in common-CLUTTER. You cannot stage or redesign
if you have too much clutter.
January was a very busy month for me-many people staging their
homes to get ready to put them on the market and January was Get
Organized month! Oprah had a show that got a lot of people thinking.
Many people called me and made appointments to get organized because
of an Oprah show about cleaning. Remember that dirt and clutter
are not necessarily the same thing, but one can lead to the other.
It is never too soon to take control of your life.
I have been very busy helping people take control of their “stuff”.
Here are some common questions:
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How much stuff can you have?
Too much stuff leads to clutter, but how much is too much? Ask
yourself the following question: How big is your house? If you
have 6,000 square feet, you can have a lot more stuff without
clutter than if you have 1200 square feet.
Collections are wonderful when they can be displayed and appreciated,
but stuffed into a cardboard box in the crawl space is not a good
solution. If you really treasure it-show it off!
Do you spend 55 minutes a day or more searching for things? That
is equal to more than 65 eight hour days per year!! That would
be all day every Saturday, and several of your Sundays. That is
the national average! Some people spend that amount of time just
looking for kid’s school papers that need to be returned
to the school. What about the bills, the car keys, the remote
control? I have suggestions--read on.
Some simple tips to get you organized:
Are you getting the idea? This also applies to the KIDS stuff!
Put like toys together. Look around at the number of toys your
kids have. If you put like things together, you can ask you children
to make some organizing decisions. It’s never too early
to teach kids about organizing.
By putting like things together, you are then able to decide
what kind of storage you need. First look at what you have and
decide if it’s too much. Too often people buy containers
or put up shelves, without knowing how much “stuff”
is going in or on them.
You can get organized. Just start small. Pick one corner of one
room and dig in! Set a timer for even 10 minutes and concentrate
on one drawer or box or pile.
Do a quick sort:
Who does this belong to?
What room does it go in?
Donate
Toss
Save
Think about-this is important in the quick sort phase because
you want to get through the pile as quickly as you can. Save the
“pondering” for later.
You can do it! Call a friend to help, start small and remember
it’s only “stuff” when it’s all said and
done, things should not have that much control over you. Need
serious help? Let Patty Do It!
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Staging
The house buying season is upon us. Many folks take down the
holiday decorations and decide it's time to move! Staging is more
important now than ever. With many houses on the market, the seller
needs to be sure that they have done everything possible to make
those first prospective buyers really want that house.
I’ve had several questions and several stories about carpet
recently. Unless it’s worn, torn or olive green shag, I
seldom recommend new carpeting. In the "old days" of
real estate, we put flooring samples in a conspicuous place so
buyers understood that we knew the carpet wasn't the best and
had suggestions. I think it's still a good practice to have samples
there. With a good professional cleaning, any carpet looks better.
If there are a few stains that won’t come out, consider
patching the carpet with leftover carpet or if that’s not
available, remove a piece from a closet. Spending thousands of
dollars on new carpet when the buyer may want wood floors is truly
a waste of your money. Clean and fresh sells best.
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Remember you can’t stage, organize or redesign if you don’t
clear the clutter.
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Do you have an interesting story or a comment to share?
Please send it to me and I would love to share it.
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Just for fun.
"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."
-- Immanuel Kant
"A clever man should organize his self-interests in the order
of their worth. Greediness often defeats its own end, by making
us scratch for every trifle when we should dig for gold alone."
-- Duc de La Rochefoucauld
"However, one cannot put a quart in a pint cup." --
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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This is an opt-in newsletter only. It is never sent to anyone
except by request and the list will not be sold or shared with
anyone. Should you wish to be removed from the email list, simply
send an email to remove@letpattydoit.com and the email address
you wish removed.
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The holidays are over! Instead of just packing away those winter
things why not donate those worn out clothes, lawn chairs etc.
Someone will love those things
Less is better!
