Lose Pounds and Inches Fast!

We all know what it's like struggling with our weight. Whether you're trying to lose 20 or 30 pounds, or you're on those pesky last five around your belly, it takes time and effort, and often great sacrifice -  essentially - a change in lifestyle.

But lifestyle doesn't end when the microwave bell goes off. It encompasses the elements of your entire being, especially your surroundings. Losing unwanted pounds is fundamental in bettering your lifestyle, improving your health, and raising self-esteem. The same applies to your surroundings, your home. De-cluttering, cleaning, and finding everything that you own its own home-within-your-home, can increase your personal sense of well-being, decrease stress related to your living area, and vastly improve the look of your home room-by-room.

A typical bathroom BEFORE and AFTER losing 41 lbs. and 8,367 inches!

Look at what I've done with a typical bathroom. Other than closets, utility rooms, pantries, or laundry, bathrooms are the smallest rooms in the house. But very often, home owners make them feel even smaller by cluttering them up with messy piles of towels or clothes, cosmetics, creams and facial cleansers on surface areas, or even cleaning products left "on display" rather than stored away. So what little space was available is gone, much  like wearing a t-shirt that is three sizes too small.

By removing the clutter, this room physically lost 41 lbs. and 8,367 inches! That gives you plenty of room to move and makes that room feel as large, comfortable, and useful as originally intended.

In my book, "Is Your House Overweight? Recipes for Low-Fat Rooms," I take you through every room in the house and guide you along the way on how to de-clutter, clean, and lose those pounds and inches instantly!

SK

Curbing Emotional Shopping Can Make You Happy!

It's like eating chocolate, or sipping wine, getting a surprising compliment, or even feeling fresh, warm sunlight on your face in the middle of a long work day. Buying something for yourself when you're feeling stressed, down, bored or tired can boost your adrenaline and produce positive endorphins that ward off sad feelings or thoughts. There's nothing wrong with giving yourself an occasional gift as a reward for hard work, an accomplishment at home, or even just making it through a rough patch. But emotional shopping, just like any of the sweet things I listed above, won't make the stressful situations go away and can even worsen them by increasing credit card debt, risking bounced checks, and, perhaps worst of all, increasing clutter.

Emotional shopping is impulse buying gone mad. Grabbing a candy bar at the grocery store checkout aisle is one thing, but a $300 cocktail dress and a $250 pair of shoes, which you may wear on maybe one or two occasions in upcoming years, is quite another. That dress and those heels will sit in your closet (as well as on your credit card statement) taking up space, gathering dust, and making you feel remorseful and guilty.

Controlling clutter is empowering.

Do your best to avoid emotional shopping by considering how much happier you can be in an uncluttered home. When you feel down and find yourself thinking about shopping, picture yourself in your clean home with lots of organized, useful closet space. Imagine yourself opening your credit card statement and it saying zero balance. Give yourself the opportunity to live the lifestyle you truly crave, rather than giving into momentary cravings that can lead to worse feeling down the road. If you must spend, then consider taking that impulse money and putting it into a vacation savings account, or a Christmas club, or make a donation to your favorite charity. Then smile to yourself and be proud that you chose to better your life, rather than to bring it more clutter!

SK

That's a "Collection" of Clutter!

Oh, collections... They're so near and dear to our hearts! Everything from cherished childhood memories to crafts and hobbies in our adult years can be right there in our homes on display. What a wonderful conversation piece, right? Your various displays help people to get to know you better, showing your interests and character. But what if people are getting to know you in another, unspoken way at the same time - as a clutterer -  someone who can't let go, someone whose home always feels cramped, messy, and even dusty or unclean?

Too much of a good thing.

There's a fine line between tasteful display of collections and clutter. Too many of anything can be difficult for the eye to take in and appreciate. And cleaning a large collection can become such a daunting task that it often gets pushed off to seasonal cleaning rather than kept in the regular routine. A good idea is to display a select few peices of any collection and then rotate out new ones every once in a while. That also helps to keep the conversation going when guests arrive time and again at your home.

If your collections are random or disorganized, they are not ready for display. Keep with themes that people can comprehend and enjoy.

If you're drawn to garage sale items "just because," or you collect things for undefined "later" use, then you may be leaning towards hoarding, and you've got to try to control that in the interest of fighting clutter. Is it "OPJ"- other people's junk? If so, let them handle it by donating or disposing of it before you take ownership just to drop it on a pile in your garage or basement.

Finally, to your friends who give you cat-themed items because at one time or another you mentioned that you like cats, it's perfectly fine between gift-giving seasons to say (as sweetly as possible) that you've changed, and that cat items aren't your thing anymore. And, when you think about it, you have changed! --You're not into clutter any more! Congratulations!

SK