Healthy Happy Loving Life: 3 Top Tips for Closet and Cabinet Control

Tags

energy, fatigue, Feeling energized, happy, less stuff, Organizing, stuck, Stuff, unstuck

© 2020 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

What if you came home to a lovely, relaxing, energizing and refreshing space?  Wouldn’t your home life be more enjoyable?  Wouldn’t you relax, rest, and sleep better?  Wouldn’t you wake up faster in the morning?  What if your office looked clean, neat, modern, and airy?  What if all your closets and cabinets looked organized and sharp, and worked that well?  As part of getting control of your Stuff, here are easy tips for conquering crowded closets and cabinets.  Take it one step at a time, and you’ll be amazed at how good you feel at each stage.

First, decide what really belongs in your closets and cabinets.  Files go in file cabinets.  Office supplies need their own area.  Clothing goes in clothing closets and drawers.  And indoor home improvement tools go in hallway closets and usually one kitchen drawer.  If you are storing lawn tools or potting soil inside, move them to an outside storage space.  If you are storing paint, properly dispose of any paint more than 3 years old, or dried-up paints.  Donate old linens to an animal shelter.  Cluster all the lightbulbs together.  Donate duplicate tools and discard dry glue and old tape of all types.  Put batteries in a cool cabinet or in clear plastic bags in the refrigerator.  Get clear plastic boxes the same width as your closet shelves, and store and label everything that can fit into the boxes.   The clear boxes speed up finding anything.  Get a $20 office labelmaker that makes white labels; you’ll be surprised at how readable the labels are.  Now you have retrievability.

Second, for your file cabinets, keep it simple.  Remember that most of your bank account records and charge account records are now online.  You do not have to keep paper copies of many things you had to keep years ago!  Forget color coding and simply label each file.  Make a file for “Taxes 2020”, for any records that may bear on this year’s taxes.  Have a file for “to be filed”, and go through it every few days.  Shred anything you no longer need.  If you teach and have class notes printed out, scan them and store the pdf versions on your computer.  A $30 software program can turn pdf files back into Word files later, so don’t keep your class records in file cabinets.

Third, for your clothing closets, pause and  imagine you could quickly glance over your collection and select an outfit.  Wow!  Now imagine all the pieces and accessories were clean, in good repair, a great fit, and easy to retrieve.  You can get to that stage in about one afternoon!  Ready to play?  Good! Then pull out every item in the closet, one at a time.  Each piece has to go in one of 3 piles:  “Love it”, “would love it if cleaned/repaired”, or “don’t love it”.  All the “don’t love it” clothes, shoes, and accessories now go into bags and directly to your car for donating.  For the “would love if…” group, use your labeler or masking tape and marking pen to label each piece with what it needs.  If you can hand wash it or repair it, set it in an area of the laundry room to be done in the next two days.  If it needs dry cleaning or a tailor’s attention, bag it and take it directly to your car to go to the dry cleaner/tailor today.  If some shoes need repair, are they really too old now?  If not… straight to the car and to your shoe repair shop today.  The “love it” items can now go back in the closet, unless you want to quickly use some of that extra paint to do the inside of the closet.

Now decide if your hats need to be on hooks on the wall, or in hat boxes on the upper shelf.  Purse collections can go in larger clear plastic boxes (visibility of contents saves time) on an upper shelf, and shoes in clear plastic shoe boxes, stacked as high as you like.  If you only have a few pairs of shoes, you may want to keep the clear shoe boxes on the floor of the closet, or use a floor shoe rack big enough for all of the shoes.  Shoe lovers can find over-the-door hanging shoe caddies or vertical caddies that hang from the closet rod.  Scarf lovers, get a special hanger that has a dozen holes in it, and thread the scarves through it.  No more hunting for the right scarf, now.

At last, your closets and cabinets are much easier to navigate.  File access, home repairs or getting dressed should now be far easier and take less time.  You’ve just eliminated a lot of stress and given yourself some time and freedom, which means more energy!  How can you take these tips and techniques into your workplace?  Are you closer to the life you want?  Post your results and comments!

In these strange times, just do your best to stay in your best, in Healthy Happy Loving Life^sm!  Are you in?

---

Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She also has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Got Junk Stress? Take the Quiz!

Tags

Dealing with stress, Feeling energized, Junk Stress, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, Stress Management, Stuff, The life you want, UpBeat Living

© 2016  Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

Ever wonder if you have Junk Stress?  You have Junk Stress if you have extra Stuff and wish you didn’t.  Especially if you are aware that your extra Stuff is slowing you down in any way.  And let’s be honest, since no one is looking at your answers right now:  if you let people into your office or home, they will instantly and effortlessly see your Junk Stress.

So how deep is your case of Junk Stress? Take this quick quiz:

1. Have you been having trouble finding something important, because it’s deep in a cabinet full of Stuff?
2. Are you unable to find your favorite muffin tin in under 2 minutes?
3. Have you recently tried to file something, but your files are too full, or you can’t find your 2 boxes of file folders?  So the Important Item goes into a pile of similar Filing Orphans?
4. Have you recently had to step around something that’s stored on the floor?
5. Have you recently tripped over something you’re trying to step around, which is stored on the floor?
6. Do you have no idea where your college and grad school diplomas, or professional certificates, are?
7. Do you still have dishes or mugs you never use or display, but they remind you of fun or dear times past?
8. Do you have any stacks of publications that can now be found free online?
9. Are you allergic to dust but cannot clean around the stacks in your office fast enough to eliminate this month’s dust before next month?
10. Are you, to any degree, feeling crowded by the volume of Stuff in your home or office?

If you answered, “yes!”, “right!”, or “how does she know me so well?” to any of these questions, you definitely have Junk Stress.  And here is my challenge to you:  if you can put in 10 hours per week, you can clear these issues in about 1 week per “yes”.  Will you consider the challenge?  To help you decide, since I live to help you reduce your stress, next time, we’ll talk about the two secret causes of Junk Stress and how to actually beat it!

If you are considering letting go of any Stuff at all, congratulations!  You are now stepping into Upbeat Living!

_________________________________________________________

Energy – Peace – Meditation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You, plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine. All the books are available through her office.  Just email books@kebba.com. 
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .

Upbeat Living: Is Your Stuff Causing You Stress? How to Beat Closet Clutter!

Tags

clutter, Organizing, stress, Stuff, stuff stress

© 2014 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

 

© Verandah – Fotolia

For a moment, imagine coming home from work and reaching for your front door knob.  When you open the door, what kind of space would you ideally like to see before you?  What if you came home to a lovely, relaxing, energizing and refreshing space?  If that is what you have already, then A-plus to you, and stop reading now.  You are already in Upbeat Living!  However, if your place is disorganized or overflowing, and the closets are stuffed, read on!

 

With a clean and clear space, where everything has a place to go, wouldn’t your home life be more enjoyable?  Yes, it would!  Plus, you would feel more pleasant, relate more pleasantly, have more energy, and actually sleep better at night. To manage your stuff-stress, you must get control of your Stuff!  Let’s start with exactly how you can conquer your crowded closets.  You may want an energetic friend standing by as a cheerleader.

Out of clutter, find simplicity.

~Albert Einstein

First, decide what really belongs in your closets.  If you are storing lawn tools or potting soil inside, move them to an outside storage space.  If you are storing paint, properly dispose of any paint more than 3 years old.  Donate old linens to a shelter.  Those Christmas ornaments go in the attic or garage, well-labeled.  Cluster all the stored light bulbs together.  Donate duplicate tools and discard dry glue and old tape of all types.  Get clear plastic boxes (from Walgreens, Target, Walmart, and many other places) the same width as your closet shelves, and store and label everything that can fit into the boxes.  Try a $20 office label maker that makes white labels; you’ll be surprised at how readable the labels are.  Now you know what’s in those storage closets, and you can see and retrieve what you need, with the labels and the clear boxes.

 

For your clothing closets, pause and  imagine you could quickly glance over your collection and select an outfit.  Imagine all the pieces and accessories were clean, in good repair, a great fit, and easy to retrieve.  You can get to that stage in one afternoon!  Ready to play?  Then pull out every item in the closet, one at a time.  Each piece has to go in one of 3 piles:  “Love it”, “would love it if cleaned/repaired”, or “don’t love it”.  All the “don’t love it” clothes, shoes, and accessories now go into bags and directly to your car for donating.

Don’t own so much clutter that you would be relieved if your house caught fire.

~ Wendell Berry 

For the “would love if…” group, use your labeler or masking tape and marking pen to label each piece with what it needs.  Seriously.  If you can hand wash it or repair it, set it in an area of the laundry room to be done in the next two days.  If it needs dry cleaning or a tailor’s attention, bag it and take it directly to your car to go to the dry cleaner/tailor today.  If some shoes need repair, are they really too old now?  If not… straight to the car and to your shoe repair shop today.  The “love it” items can now go back in the closet, unless you want to quickly use some of that extra paint to quickly brighten up the inside of the closet.

 

Now decide if your hats need to be on hooks on the wall, or in hat boxes on the upper shelf.  Purse collections can go in larger clear plastic boxes on an upper shelf, and shoes in clear plastic shoe boxes, stacked as high as you like.  Label everything!  If you only have a few pairs of shoes, you may want to keep the clear shoe boxes on the floor of the closet, or use a floor shoe rack big enough for all of the shoes.  Shoe lovers can find over-the-door hanging shoe caddies or vertical caddies that hang from the closet rod.  Scarf lovers, get a special hanger that has a dozen holes in it, and thread the scarves through it (from Current if not a local store).  No more hunting for the right scarf, now.

 

Now, your closets have much more effective space and are much easier to navigate.  Home repairs or getting dressed should now be far easier and take less time.  You’ve just eliminated a lot of stress and given yourself some time and freedom.  Are you closer to the life you want?  Now that’s Upbeat Living!

_____________________________________________________________

 

● Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc).  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Liked this article?  You can buy Kebba’s books:  just click the links!

• Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). 
• Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition) (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc)             

● Enjoyed this post?  Please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column!  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma.

● Please comment!

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column.

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

 

 

 

 

 

 

UpBeat Living: Tips on Closet and Cabinet Control

Tags

energy, fatigue, Feeling energized, happy, less stuff, Organizing, stuck, Stuff, unstuck

© 2011 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

What if you came home to a lovely, relaxing, energizing and refreshing space?  Wouldn’t your home life be more enjoyable?  What if your office looked clean, neat, modern, and airy?  What if all your closets and cabinets looked organized and sharp, and worked that well?  As part of getting control of your Stuff, here are easy tips for conquering crowded closets and cabinets.

First, decide what really belongs in your closets/cabinets.  Files go in file cabinets.  Office supplies need their own area.  Clothing goes in clothing closets and drawers.  And indoor home improvement tools go in hallway closets and usually one kitchen drawer.  If you are storing lawn tools or potting soil inside, move them to an outside storage space.  If you are storing paint, properly dispose of any paint more than 3 years old, or dried-up paints.  Donate old linens to a shelter.  Cluster all the lightbulbs together.  Donate duplicate tools and discard dry glue and old tape of all types.  Put batteries in a cool cabinet or in clear plastic bags in the refrigerator.  Get clear plastic boxes the same width as your closet shelves, and store and label everything that can fit into the boxes.   The clear boxes speed up finding anything.  Get a $20 office labelmaker that makes white labels; you’ll be surprised at how readable the labels are.  Now you have retrievability.

For your file cabinets, keep it simple.  Remember that most of your bank account records and charge account records are now online.  You do not have to keep paper copies of many things you had to keep years ago.  Forget color coding and simply label each file.  Make a file for “Tax”, for any records that may bear on this year’s taxes.  Have a file for “to be filed”, and go through it every 2 days.  Shred anything you no longer need.

For your clothing closets, pause and  imagine you could quickly glance over your collection and select an outfit.  Imagine all the pieces and accessories were clean, in good repair, a great fit, and easy to retrieve.  You can get to that stage in about one afternoon!  Ready to play?  Then pull out every item in the closet, one at a time.  Each piece has to go in one of 3 piles:  “Love it”, “would love it if cleaned/repaired”, or “don’t love it”.  All the “don’t love it” clothes, shoes, and accessories now go into bags and directly to your car for donating.  For the “would love if…” group, use your labeler or masking tape and marking pen to label each piece with what it needs.  If you can hand wash it or repair it, set it in an area of the laundry room to be done in the next two days.  If it needs dry cleaning or a tailor’s attention, bag it and take it directly to your car to go to the dry cleaner/tailor today.  If some shoes need repair, are they really too old now?  If not… straight to the car and to your shoe repair shop today.  The “love it” items can now go back in the closet, unless you want to quickly use some of that extra paint to do the inside of the closet.  Now decide if your hats need to be on hooks on the wall, or in hat boxes on the upper shelf.  Purse collections can go in larger clear plastic boxes (visibility of contents saves time) on an upper shelf, and shoes in clear plastic shoe boxes, stacked as high as you like.  If you only have a few pairs of shoes, you may want to keep the clear shoe boxes on the floor of the closet, or use a floor shoe rack big enough for all of the shoes.  Shoe lovers can find over-the-door hanging shoe caddies or vertical caddies that hang from the closet rod.  Scarf lovers, get a special hanger that has a dozen holes in it, and thread the scarves through it.  No more hunting for the right scarf, now.

Now, your closets and cabinets are much easier to navigate.  File access, home repairs or getting dressed should now be far easier and take less time.  You’ve just eliminated a lot of stress and given yourself some time and freedom, which means more energy!  How can you take these tips and techniques into your workplace?  Are you closer to the life you want?  Post your results and comments!

UpBeat Living: Less Stuff

Tags

energy, fatigue, Feeling energized, fulfilled, happy, less stuff, Organizing, stress, Stress Management, stuck, Stuff

© 2011  Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Do you crave to feel lighter?  Do you think of fresh air, blooming plants, new life, new starts?  Do you think of feeling carefree and lighthearted?  So, what if you felt that great in your home or office environment all the time?

Get a piece of paper and pen, or your favorite electronic list maker, and start a list of the areas you love or don’t love in your environment.  Make 2 columns and record what you notice in the Love and Don‘t Love areas.  Are the areas you love airy, clean, lovely, organized?  Is it easy to find what you need, quickly?  Now what about the areas you don’t love?  Might these include the back room with the boxes and other odd storage?  Or the closet in which it’s hard to find your favorite pants?  Or the backed-up filing system with nearby unfiled stacks?  Note how you would like the don’t-love areas to be different.

Many people have too much Stuff, in their closets, in their filing system, and on their flat surfaces.  If you feel crowded, you have too much Stuff.  If your rooms feel small, short of relocating, you have too much Stuff.  If you can’t find the files you want, you are trying to keep too many files.  Do you ever think of a document you would like to have in hand, and you know you own it somewhere, but you don’t even know what box it’s in?  Then you have too much Stuff.  The fact is that, if you can’t retrieve it, it’s the same as not having it!  So what’s the difference between having 20 boxes in storage or in your closet, from which you can retrieve nothing, and just not having those boxes?  Right now, those boxes are just sucking up your space and your energy, as well as possibly looking embarrassing.  It’s shocking to face this bit of reality, isn’t it?  So resolve now to reduce your Stuff.

Now stop whining.  You know you’ll feel better as the outdated and useless Stuff leaves.  Your job is to take a box, file, or area at a time, and divide everything into 4 piles: trash, recycle, donate, and keep.  Keep a high-speed shredder in your work area, and shred private material without stacking it.  Start with the idea of reducing the Stuff in each area by half.  Use the Magic Motivator to eliminate procrastination:  Set a timer for 45 minutes at a time and force yourself to stop for 15 minutes– break time and reward time!  Not being allowed to do more than 45 minutes of sorting at a time reverses the usual resistance to choosing to work on this project.  For papers to keep, scan what you can and file them in the computer.  Your bills and bank records are all online, so you need to keep almost none of these.  Try for one or two 45-minute spurts a day, or more, for one month.  Notice how free you begin to feel!

Next time: Closet and Clothing Control.