Why Clutter is BAD for your Health

So you come home after a busy day at work and sit down on the couch in front of the TV and plop your feet on your antiquish coffee table. As you open your eyes after waking up from your 2-second nap, you realize the piles of stuff around you. Your mind has now become distressed and goes into overdrive to process your space. The Effects of Clutter and Stress.

STRESS, the 5-letter word that is seen as both positive and negative. We try to keep it out of our lives and at the same time we can’t live without it. Stress is how we deal with challenges or threats in our lives. When we feel threatened, our body responds by releasing stress hormones called cortisol. High levels of cortisol can:

• Lower immune function and bone density
• Increase weight gain
• Increase blood pressure, cholesterol and heart disease
• Increase risk of depression and mental illness
• Lower life expectancy

As mentioned before, in many cases stress is positive as it helps us concentrate, focus and stay alert, but an overload can be detrimental to our health.

Here are a few guidelines on how to stop clutter in its track and focus on living a more happy, stress-free and clutter-free life.

• Would I pay to move it? If this answer is No then it probably isn’t important enough to keep.
• Does it make me happy? After touching an item and there’s no sense of joy or good memory then it may be time to part ways.
• What is it about? What is the real reason you can’t let go of an item? Sometimes the items we hold on to bring back a memory whether it is good or bad.

At first it may seem overwhelming to know that you will need to get rid of your stuff to remove unnecessary stress in your life but with practice and persistence, it will come natural. By the time you know it, you’ll be able to slide down the hall without worrying about anything stopping you.

Resource and References

Cortisol: Why “The Stress Hormone” Is Public Enemy No.1 – Christopher Bergland five simple ways to lower your cortisol levels without drugs. (Psychologytoday.com)

Why everything that comes through your front door should have an exit strategy

Before you ask, “why in the world would I have an exit strategy for those beautiful heels I just bought yesterday” or “these towels were too expensive to ever get rid of," you first need to understand what an exit strategy is. My definition of an exit strategy is having a preplanned thought of detaching a tangible item (or intangible) from ones’ space or life. My philosophy is each item we own has a mission. Once that mission has been achieved, it is time to let it move on. This also goes for things that are intangible as a relationship. Every relationship we’ve ever been in or are currently in especially in its beginning stages before marriage has some sort of exit strategy. This is how. We enter a relationship thinking we would are either going to eventually marry our significant other or break up. Marriage or Breaking Up is the exit strategy. Marriage in that you left your courtship for a lifetime bond and breaking up; well I’m sure you understand that one. Rather then viewing “exit strategy” as being negative, it is positive occasion we need to embrace in our lives.

The reason for this post is to explain to you why everything that comes into your home must go. I’m not at all telling you to get rid of everything in home right now but I am hoping that after reading this you are able to understand how the items that we bring into our homes should have an end date. Let me explain.

You’ve just walk into your favorite shoe store at about 2:30 pm on a Friday. You know what store I’m talking about. The one that’s a couple of miles from your house but not too far to where you’d have to eat lunch afterwards. Okay so you’ve now tried on six pairs of shoes and finally found the pair that will go with that outfit you plan on wearing tonight. They’re not just beautiful, they’re comfortable and of course a “show stopper”. You purchase the shoes and head home. Twenty minutes later you are walking through the front door with those beautiful shoes swaying back and forth. You place the shoes on your shoe rack and let them seat, as you get ready for your event. Time has passed and you’ve worn them a handful of times if that and now they’re collecting dust. The love you’ve once had for them has loooong gone.

Those shoes that you purchased for that event and others after had served its purpose and is no longer needed. This is where everything needing an exit strategy comes into place. Instead of holding on to those shoes or other things that are sitting in your homes with no purpose, you should remove them from your possession.

Below are three tips on how to exit your items:

1. Donate them — give your items either to your local charity or to someone who needs them
2. Sell them — host a garage sale or sell your items on eBay
3. Trash them — if your items are unsalvageable throw them away

I’m not at all telling you to go into your homes and get rid of the things you don’t use. I’m also not saying if you haven’t used, touched or worn an item within the last year to throw it away. I am just trying to explain to you that everything we buy, are given, borrow or even make will always need an exit strategy. This exit strategy will not only prevent your home from being cluttered, most importantly keep your sanity.

Interesting fact: According to the LA Times, the average American household has 300,000 items in their home. That's mind blowing!!!

Be Wonderful

3 quick & easy tips on how to effectively clean up after the holidays

Okay so lets be honest, cleaning up after any event yet alone the holidays is probably the least fun thing to do. Oh the dreaded CLEAN UP . The worst part about all of this is you will probably end up doing it alone. DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!!! Well no need to worry any longer, Judi is here to help you combat this issue and end the New Year on a positive note.  

Below are 3 Tips that will help you master this process:

1. Rock your Body — Adding music (your favorite tune) while you clean up really helps with your mood. According to many studies music actually triggers the releases of the ‘pleasure chemical’ dopamine. This is the same chemical that gets released when you eat your favorite food like pasta, French fries, or my old favorite vanilla bean cheesecake. I’m hungry now. By the time you finish, you’d be in such a great mood you’ll probably end up cleaning up the whole house.
2. Ready set GOOO!!! — Using a timer to time yourself both keeps your attention and also makes the process fun. Yes the "F" word again. Here are three reasons why timers are beneficial to use.
   1. It helps you transition from an un-preferred activity to a preferred one. For example, put your timer at 30 minutes. Now you have 30 minutes to finish cleaning up. When those 30 minutes passes, you will be done and now you can move on to doing something you enjoy doing.
   2. It makes it easier to stay on task. When cleaning it’s easy to lose focus and get distracted but when a timer is included your likelihood of going off course is less likely.
   3. It helps make cleaning feel like a game. Who doesn’t like playing games? I do!
3. Give it a Home — If you didn’t listen to the previous suggestions this one is the most important. In order for your space to remain clean after cleaning up it is important to put everything back in its place. Put your faux tree back in its box, put the decorations (in 1 box) back where it goes and don’t forget to remove those holiday lights outside and put them back in their home.

P.S., a quick way to put away Christmas Light is to first unplug them, then fold them in a V-shape motion, next scrunch them together, then wrap the remaining wire around the center then you’re done! Click here for detailed instructions

Be Wonderful!

5 tips that will help you stick to your New Years resolutions

Tip #1 — Make one small change a day It’s much easier to make a small change then a big change. By the time you know it, all those small changes will turn into big changes. Always start small.

Tip #2 — Make them easy to stick to

Allow your resolutions to be realistic rather than wishes. For example, If you want to lose weight rather than saying you want to lose 50 lbs in three months make a goal of losing 10 lbs in your first month. This way you are more likely to reach your goal instead of getting frustrated and reverting to your old habits.

Tip#3 — Start today

The reason we put things off is because either we enjoy living in a fog of complacency or we fear failure. What we need to understand is the least resistance goals never makes an impact in our lives and that the greatest failure of all is not trying. So rather than starting your resolutions in the New Year start them today and see your accomplishments sooner than later.

Tip#4 — Make it FUN!!!!!

Making something “difficult” Fun instantaneously increases your motivation and decreases your boredom and also makes it require less effort, which results in less agony to handle. For example, if your resolution is to find a new job rather than doing so the standard way, make the process fun by taking entertaining personality tests. These tests will help you figure out what career matches your personality and it’s fun to do. It takes out the stress and boredom of job searching.

Tip#5 — New Years Resolutions/Self-improvement Goals

Because the term resolution is becoming a phenomenon and now a days its hardly ever kept, the efforts toward self-improvement changes your psyche therefore changing your habits. This method also allows you to be passionate about your resolution and committed to making the change in your life. Which sounds better to you resolution or self-improvement? I know my answer.

Be Wonderful!

Top 10 2016 New Years resolutions for the HOME

Lets get right to it ...  

1. Arrange your furniture to increase positive energy (Feng Shui) — It’s believed that everything and everyone possess a certain energy (chi), and how we arrange objects in our spaces can affect all aspects of our lives. The belief is that there’s a prime place for every object (bed, books, couch, desk even for small things like books) and by moving it to its proper location, we can benefit. Check out this article for further explanation on the benefits of arranging your furniture to gain a happier life. Click here

2. Schedule your Cleaning — Creating a weekly cleaning list allows you to clean your home faster, in a more effective way, and guarantees that all important areas and items that need to be cleaned are not overlooked. In my experience my cleaning list has helped me tackle every corner in my house in less time than without the list. Definitely a game changer! Check out this free printable

3. Appreciate your Home — it may sound funny but the best thing you can do for your home is to show your appreciation. What I mean by that is talking to your house more. For example, every time you walk through the front door say “Hi House” or when you leave tell it “Bye House and thank you for protecting me” If you are like me and believe that the things around us hold on to energy and that energy reflects on to us then this tip is for you.

4. Get rid of unnecessary stuff — I know this tip may be a difficult one to stick to but it’s the most important of all the tips to date. The saying ” the less stuff we have, the better life is” is actually true. What this means to me is the less baggage/items we have to worry or thing about, the more we are able to focus on important things. The easiest way to get rid of your stuff is to use the 1-in-2-out method. This means if you bring home one item, you have to get rid of two items. Though this process works well, the most effective process is to in one day get rid of all items in your home that don’t ignite happiness. What I’m saying is when you put an item in your hand and it doesn’t spark joy then that item needs to go. Remember less is more.

5. Become a Minimalist — When transitioning to a minimalist lifestyle you will first need to remove all things you don’t need in order to focus on what you do need. Instead of indulging our lives with material possessions therefore creating stress, we should create spaces that fill up our lives with meaning rather than stuff.

Minimalistic Living Space

6. Fix all items that need repairing (annual inspections) — because our home is our sacred place, it is crucial we treat it that way. From fixing the A/C to the tiny hole on your bedroom wall, our homes deserve to be cared for at all times.

7. Downsize to one television in the home — this concept was a challenge for me in the beginning because the TV in my bedroom had always been comforting at night. I grew up with a TV in the bedroom yet alone all rooms and thought this was the norm. It wasn’t until one Monday morning I was brave enough to take the plunge and haven’t look back since. According to statistics, we are more likely to sleep longer hours and connect better when the TV is out of the bedroom. The reason I suggest downsizing to one TV in the house is because it just better to do so. The less TVs in the home the better everything else.

8. Change all air filters monthly — this unfortunately is a task many of us don’t do as often. It’s usually put on the back burner because we don’t see the dirt in the air so that means it doesn’t exist. Right? Well that’s wrong of course. Once you make the habit of changing your filters often at least once a month, you’ll reap the benefits.

9. Start Gardening and Grow your own produce — as we all know most of the produce bought in the stores are doused with pesticides which are bad for us. Sure you can buy organic which is a better alternative than conventional but can be very expensive. The best option is to grow them your self. You not only skip the middle man you get to monitor what happens to your produce and of course see it GROW.

10. Add beautiful things around your home — this goes hand in hand with appreciating your house. A great way is to add beautiful items, flowers and/or plants around it. For example, adding a bamboo plant to your home is used to achieve harmony in your home. The Areca Palm plant can remove all indoor air toxins, which if you didn’t know is a thing. Who knew! While the Snake Plant converts CO2 into oxygen at night. The great advantage of having these plants is that they are easy to maintain especially for those who lack a “green thumb”. Check out these plants! They're beautiful.

Be Wonderful!

3 ways cleaning out your refrigerator can save you MONEY$$$

Let me not waste your time talking about my experience and how cleaning out my fridge saved me money. In order for you to understand how, it’s best you read the below.

Step #1 – Clean it Out — This is the most important step out of all of them because a dirty and cluttered fridge will not only cause you to buy items you already have but also it is not good hygiene. With that said, empty out your entire fridge (freezer included) and place every single item on a flat service.

Next, only keep the items that you actually use and that have not expired. Finally, put the items back in the fridge but make sure all like items are together and that the most used items are in the front of the fridge. Great job, Step #1 is complete.

Step #2 – List it — Because writing things down allows us to focus on what’s at hand, creating a grocery list makes it much easier for us to remember what needs to be purchased.

Step #3 – Put them in the right place — The importance of putting items in its correct location makes a big difference when saving money. Removing these items from your fridge can also free up space and improve the taste and quality of your food. If you click here you will see what I mean. It really makes a difference.

The only challenging aspect of the three strategies is that you have to do it. The moment you create a process for yourself, in no time the money will be rolling in.

HAPPY SAVING $$$

Gifts for him — yes another one of these (organizing inspired)

So this is a topic most people search for when looking for a gift for their significant other especially during the Holidays. The truth is all you really have to do and see what he’s in to. at least at the moment. Is he an electronics guy who loves everything technological or is he a fashion guy who is on top of the new trends. Whatever type of man you are with, the most important part is that you care enough about him to give. Who are we kiddin’ give him what he wants!

Here are 11 gift ideas to give that special man in your life:

Front Pocket Wallet

From the words of a man’s mouth” This wallet is a lifesaver. My pockets are no longer fat and protruding out and my buns are sore no more. I’m also able to find my credit cards faster and due to its small size I don’t have to worry about junk in my wallet”.

Watch Organizer with brand new watch inside

Other than a brand new watch being the front-runner, a watch station is an added bonus because it allows him to see his beautiful watches each time he passes by them. It reminds him how much thought his significant other put into his gift.

Leather Camera Bag #1

Leather Camera Bag #2

For photography lovers both options are amazing gifts. Whether you are a top photographer at an event or just an amateur photographer stepping into the industry, these bags will set him apart from the others.

All Expense paid NIGHT OUT

First of all I will like to THANK all men who always pick up the check and never let their woman pay, this gift is especially for you. This gift lets him know how appreciated he is and that we can be spontaneous. They wont see it coming!!!!

New Shoes on a Shoe Storage Rack

You may be thinking why would I give my man a shoe rack but you should be thinking why wouldn’t I give my man shoe rack. Giving him shoes along with a shoe rack keeps all of his shoes in one place so you can claim back the space that was once yours.

New Video Games on a Game Center Storage Rack 

Gaming is probably my least favorite thing to participate in but he loves it. So in order to create a happy median, pairing games with a game storage makes him excited while giving him a place to put all his games and stuff when he’s done (And it looks pretty).

A Storage Shed for his Lawn Equipment

If you’re like me and consider the garage as being a place that needs to be organized and clutter free as the rest of the house then a storage shed is ideal. It not only hides the unsightly equipment your man loves, it plays the role as an additional storage for other items that don’t necessarily have a place in the garage or in the house. He wouldn’t even know that you secretly bought it for yourself.

Robe with house slippers

This gift is usually the norm when it comes to gifts for men but it never fails. It’s a gift that lasts for many years plus it’s a good reminder for him each time he gets out of the shower;)

Sport Tickets

No brainer. Should I say more? Just make sure you wrap it up in a box so he doesn’t see it coming. No need to spoil the surprise!

Noise Cancelling Headphones

This is ideal for the times you want him in the same room with you even though you are making noise in the kitchen or talking to that best friend of yours. He can just pop these on and watch his favorite show or game on his phone or laptop without hearing a single thing.

Groupon Package of Different Adventures

Because there are so many choices to choose on Groupon from the possibilities are endless. You can pick from 3 to 10 different adventures you and him can do together. He will love it because all of the choices will be things he loves to do and not to mention it is thoughtful. Just be sure you are aware of when they expire.

Be Wonderful!

5 Unrecognizable Gift Ideas for those loved ones that aren’t so Organized

Have you ever gone to one of your family member’s home and noticed that their humble abode was not so humble. Sure it’s not polite to tell someone that their place is unorganized or that you’re uncomfortable at their home but it is polite to help them improve their home by giving them a gift. An Unrecognizable One!!! hahaha

Below you will find five gift ideas to give to someone who may need some organizing help but they don’t need to know that.

Leather+Jewelry+Box

Jewelry Box

If you like luxury items like I do then this item is a great one to give to someone. It not only functions as a jewelry box, it is beautiful to look at.

Muirfield+Jar

A Crystal Jar

Though jars seem basic and underwhelming, a crystal jar is different. It looks elegant and expensive and most importantly can be used for many things. Great ways to use clear jars are to use them for your receipts. This helps keep them all in one place and is an easy way to never forget where they are.

Hadley+Boxes

Decorative Storage

To the normal person these are just décor pieces that help enhance a home but they also serve more functions. They are hollow inside which creates storage making the possibilities endless. This gift is great for those who tend to have disorder on their floors.

Royce-Leather-Personalized-Kemp-Geniune-Leather-Toiletry-Case-in-Tan-265-TAN-6

Personalized Toiletry Bag

Other than this being beautiful on its own it functions as a toiletry bag for the times you travel. The true icing on the cake for me is personalizing it for that special person.

wall organizer (target)

Wall Organizer

From experience wall organizers usually get a bad wrap due to their appearance but they are hidden gems. The great things about wall organizers are they are multifunctional and inexpensive. After I purchased mine three years ago my life has drastically changed. Not only am I always on top of my bills and no longer have piles of letters sitting on my kitchen countertops, which for me is a Win Win!

Obviously there are many other unrecognizable gifts to give to our loved ones, I just thought I’d share the ones I love to give out. I hope this helps your holiday shopping become easier. If it doesn’t then blame me: I don’t mind ;) Happy shopping!

Be Wonderful!