Book Profile - Outer Order Inner Calm

“If there’s a mess in my house there’s a mess in my head,” was something we saw on Instagram recently.” We are sure it describes many people, especially professional organizers. Gretchen Rubin best- selling author of The Happiness Project, has written Outer Order Inner Calm. One of her first insights in the prologue states “When I’m surrounded by a mess I feel restless and unsettled.” Many people can relate, studies have shown that most people need organized spaces in their home or work in order to function well and be happy.

Ms. Rubin’s book is a quick read. Basically it shares short helpful tips on how to stay organized. Nothing is complicated and to be honest the tips are basic. However, reading it, light bulbs go off frequently in our heads, with thoughts of how true, doesn’t everyone do this? Well obviously not. The book is a great reminder that we all have different priorities, and sometimes we need helpful reminders on the best way to organize our lives. There are too many great tidbits of information to review them all. Here our are top 10 decluttering and organizing suggestions from the book that we stress to our clients at House to Home Organizing.

Three Big Questions of Clutter

-Do I need it?

-Do I love it?

-Do I use it?

According to Ms. Rubin “if you don’t need it, love it or use it, you should probably get rid of it.” If deciding this on your own is challenging, you may want to consider hiring a professional organizer to help make these decisions with you.

Donate Quickly

So you have de-cluttered and all your donates are sitting in the hallway or garage waiting for you to drop them off. The problem ? You get busy and they may stay there for months causing more clutter. Try to move the donates out on a timely basis.

Ask Yourself, Do I Need More Than One?

Of course you need more than one charger and one pen. But how about screwdrivers, coffee pots, and rulers. Keeping a reasonable amount of necessities is fine. Try not to have huge quantities of items in your home as they will create unnecessary clutter.

Clear Clutter Before You Move, Not After You Move

At House to Home many times during an unpack and organize job the client could have saved money if decluttering had happened before the move.

Clear Off Any Offsite Storage Units

You know the old saying “out of sight, out of mind.” Storage units are convenient but can be costly if your items are left indefinitely. If you need a temporary holding place for your belongings by all means get a unit, but try to only keep it temporarily.

In Active Areas, Strive to Keep Surfaces Bare

You want to keep your work area surfaces clear, especially in areas such as your desk and kitchen counters. You will be more productive if you have clear areas to work.

Beware the Siren Call of Inventive Storage Containers

So many times we go to clients homes and they have tried to be proactive by purchasing storage containers before we organize. We can’t stress how important it is NOT to purchase systems until after decluttering. Quantity of items being kept will determine the proper containers to purchase.

Reconsider Gift -Giving

Gifts are wonderful to receive. Yet, how many stuffed animals, LEGO sets, candles, kitchen gadgets can one family own? Ms.Rubin and House to Home Organizing suggests purchasing experiences vs. stuff. How about a gift card to a show? Going out to lunch or dinner together? A gift card to a spa or better yet, professional organizing?

Store Things At The Store

We all get caught up in the common trap of purchasing things because they are on sale. So often we have way more than we even have room to store in our homes. Remind yourself that things will always go on sale. Try not to clutter your living space with an over- abundance of items.

Spend Out

So many times we fall into the trap of holding on to things are opposed to using them. Candles, pretty soaps, china, good wine fall into this group. Life can be short. Light your candles, open the wine and break out the good dishes when family and friends come to visit. Ms. Rubin states, “put things to good use, spend out.”

In conclusion, as the book states, “outer order is a challenge to impose and it’s a chore to maintain. Nevertheless, for most of us, it’s worth the effort.” When you declutter, donate, and organize properly you will see how you can be more productive, and save money and time. Most important, your “inner calm” you will feel from your “outer order” will help you to feel happy and less stressed, a goal we all aspire to have.

Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter and Organize to Make More Room for Happiness

By Gretchen Rubin

Buy on Amazon

Guest Post - Tiny & Tidy: How to Make the Most of Your Small Space

We partnered with a home improvement company for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

Small space living is all the rage, and why not? By confining yourself to a small square footage, you’re forced to limit your consumption, which means you save money, live an eco-friendlier life, and have a lot less cleaning to do. But, whether you live in a compact urban apartment, a tightly packed camper van, or a charming tiny house off the grid, adjusting to life in tight quarters can be a challenge if you’re used to wide open spaces. The solution is three-fold: Optimize, Organize, and Omit. Here are the specifics.

Optimize: Making Small Spaces Feel Big

• Choose Double-Duty Furniture – A coffee table or bed with built-in storage, a stool that also serves as a plant stand, a desk slash dining room table slash console table. All of these are examples of double-duty furniture that helps you make the most out of your small space. Because, let’s face it: When you’re working with a tiny footprint, there’s simply no room for luxuries like guest seating or a table to eat dinner. Addressing that head-on can improve your quality of life without overwhelming your small space.

• Make Use of “Dead” Space – Scan your environment. Are there spaces throughout the room that could be turned into storage space or otherwise usable areas? One of the best examples of transforming dead space into functional space is the loft bed. By hoisting your sleep sanctuary up high into the air—space that would otherwise sit unused and ignored—you’re opening up a whole bunch of floor area for other applications. The same goes for the space beneath your bed, the back of doors, and the underside of shelving, which could be fitted with hooks.

• Stick to Modern and Minimalist Décor – Bad news for diehard fans of Victorian and rococo furniture: Small space living is probably not for you. The reality is that ornamental or highly decorative furniture needs more room to breathe and tends to make small spaces feel crammed. On the other hand, simple, uncomplicated furniture pieces from the Scandinavian or modern movements feel like they take up less space, even if they actually don’t. When it comes to furniture, keep it simple.

Organize: Keeping Everything in Its Right Place

• Keep the Floor Clear – Having a cluttered floor doesn’t just create clutter, it also creates a hazardous environment where slipping and tripping are inevitable. Get things off the floor by bundling your cables and creating purpose-built storage for everything you own. Having well-thought-out storage throughout your space will help prevent you from being tempted to toss things on the ground when you’re done. You’ll be quite surprised to see how a clear floor space transforms the look and feel of the room. Most likely, it’ll translate into a clearer head for you and a more enjoyable living space to boot.

• Enhance Your Wall Storage – One great way to keep your main living area neat, clean, and well-organized is by moving things to the walls. Wall shelving, over-the-door hooks, and hanging organizers can help you optimize your space while making it feel extra organized. In the kitchen or office area, consider creating a fabric wall organizer with hook-and-loop tape that lets you hang all sorts of items up and out of the way without the commitment of hooks or permanent shelving. Try to take an essentialist approach: Anything you don’t need must go, or it will create stressful clutter in your space.

Omit: Simplifying Life, Simplifying Your Space

• Purge Like There’s No Tomorrow – Whether your approach is gentle, loving, and KonMari through and through or more rifle through everything you own and violently purge things you no longer use, there’s no wrong way to get rid of excess stuff. An easy way to shake up your purging protocol is to get into the mindset of constant elimination. Don’t just get rid of stuff once or twice a year during spring cleaning. Instead, think of the getting-rid-of process as an ongoing one that needs perpetual maintenance for success.

• Work on Depersonalizing What You Own – If you’re a person who tends to have emotional connections to physical objects or who gets sentimental from time to time when getting rid of things, try to learn how to depersonalize objects and let go of the guilt you may have around letting it go. For example, you probably have several items in your home that you’re hanging onto purely because someone gave them to you, not necessarily because you like them. Get through this guilt by donating the items so you know that someone else will get plenty of love and enjoyment from them.

• Go for a “Capsule” Wardrobe – Adjusting to small space life takes some reconditioning. Sure, you have to be constantly purging, but you also have to reframe the way you think about consumption. When you’re space-limited, of course, less is more. One of the best examples of minimalism as it pertains to stuff is the capsule wardrobe. These small, cleverly considered wardrobes contain only a few versatile essentials that you can mix and match to create a multitude of different looks, all while lessening clutter and consumption.

Enjoying the Small Space Way of Life

Knowing these handy tips will help you create a space that you enjoy, no matter how compact, challenging, or limited it may be. Those who live in tidy spaces are known to make healthier choices, have better relationships, and even demonstrate lower levels of stress and depression. In the end, all spaces are enjoyable when they make you feel happy, proud, or relaxed, so keep those goals in mind as you’re coming up with your small space strategy.

Author Bio: Halle Summers is a Marketing Coordinator for FASTENation Inc., a premier global manufacturer, technical converter, distributor, and designer of adhesive based fasteners and tapes. She has extensive knowledge of adhesives and fastener solutions, vendors, industry trends, and how they are used across various verticals. When she isn’t writing articles, she enjoys spending time in downtown Charleston, South Carolina and all the amazing food her hometown has to offer.

Guest Post - How to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly

Making your home eco-friendly is something that all homeowners should strive for. Not only does it save you money in the long run, but it helps create a more healthful earthly environment for everyone around you. There are several ways that you can make your home eco-friendly — some you may not have even thought of. Here are some of those ways:

Get a home energy analysis

If you want to make your home more eco-friendly, one of the first things to do is to get a home energy audit from a licensed professional to determine what fixes, if any are needed to improve the energy use in your home.

Depending on the age of your home, you may have things that you aren’t even aware of that are causing you to use unnecessary amounts of energy. Things like leaks in the attic at the top of your home barrier or improperly sealed windows and doors. Perhaps your insulation inside walls and ceilings isn’t adequate, or your energy-related equipment isn’t up to date or functioning properly.

Taking time to check these areas and get them fixed is a fantastic first step toward an eco-friendly home.

Use eco-friendly lighting

LED light bulbs have been around a long time, and are a simple way to save money in the long run and be eco-friendly. According to Energy Star, LED lights are “directional” light sources, that emit light in a specific direction rather than incandescent and CFL lights that emit light and heat in all directions. This allows LED lights to use light and energy more efficiently.

LED lights, however, are not the only way to get light in an eco-friendly way. Skylights are a great way to bring natural light into your home throughout the day. If you are a fan of natural light, open up your curtains and blinds during the daylight hours, while keeping the lights in the house turned off.

Check the plumbing

It isn’t just making sure you are using electricity wisely that can make your home eco-friendly. Wasting unnecessary amounts of water is damaging to the environment as well. That leaky faucet or toilet may seem like a small nuisance to you, but over time, the amount of water it is wasting, adds up to a lot of water that could be used for necessary things.

It could also be possible that you aren’t even aware that you have pipes in your home that are leaking. Have a licensed plumber come to your home to fix leaks and find any that need fixing, so you can rest assured you are not wasting our most valuable resource: water.

Buy eco-friendly furniture

Unlike cracks in your doors or leaks in your faucet that are causing unnecessary energy to leave your home, buying eco-friendly furniture brings in products that were made with the environment in mind.

In order for furniture to be considered eco-friendly, it needs to be made with materials harvested from sustainable resources and recycled goods.

When purchasing wood furniture, you may even want to look for pieces that have been crafted from sustainably harvested forests, tree farms, and even reclaimed wood. Look into how the furniture was made, and if it was done so with responsible production practices in mind and with a focus on fair trade.

Not only is it your home that you are living in, but a home within a world we all live in. By taking the time to make your home eco-friendly, you can rest assured that you are doing your part to make this world a more healthful place to live in for many years to come.

Author Bio: Arianne Brown loves hearing and sharing stories. As a mother of eight, she knows the importance of keeping the house organized and in order to create a home for her family. See her writings about home, family, and more at "A Mother's Write" on Facebook.

Guest Post - 4 Ways to Increase Indoor Storage Space on Your Property

Storage space is always a key factor to consider when you're in the process of organizing your home. However, most people have their belongings scattered about in an inefficient manner and aren't fully utilizing the storage capabilities of their property. When you consider the overall acreage that you have with the interior and exterior space combined, there are usually plenty of ways to further optimize your storage configuration. With that said, here are four ways to increase the indoor storage space on your property:

Construct an External Storage Building

If you have a significant amount of stuff that needs to be stowed away, it may be best to free up some of your indoor storage capacity by moving some items to an external structure. If you don't already have a shed, you could construct a steel building using one of the kits from Armstrong Steel. Their kits make it easy to assemble a large storage building in the same way you'd put together a piece of the furniture, with all the parts and instructions included.

Add a Storage Compartment Under the Stairs

If you have a staircase in your home, you could consider building an under stairs storage compartment to hold some items. There are plenty of DIY tutorials that will show you how to convert the space under your stairs into a storage closet. This also provides the additional benefit of increasing the amount of closely accessible storage within your home, as the stairs are probably frequently used and centrally located.

Organize and Compartmentalize Your Garage

If you have a garage, you're already one step ahead in the battle to free up more storage space inside your home. Assess the available square footage and consider building wall-mounted cabinets or closets in your garage to add organized storage space without sacrificing the space where your vehicle would normally be parked. If you're like most homeowners, chances are your garage may already be packed with stuff, so organizing the existing clutter might be your first challenge in making room for other items while practicing optimal space-efficiency.

Use Stackable Storage Containers

Just like cities are having to build upwards to accommodate population growth, you may also have to do some vertical stacking to get a better grip on your indoor storage situation. If you're struggling to find spots in your cabinets and closets, it might be time to get some stackable containers. This will not only keep everything neatly contained, it will also help you find what you're looking for faster because each stacked drawer can be labelled to indicate its contents.  

Consider the Use of Packing Cubes

Finally, as an extra tip, if you have an abundance of clothing and small items that can be compressed, you might want to look into compression packing cubes for stowing away some of your out-of-season clothes. For example, if it’s summer time you could compress all of your winter clothes into packing cubes so they're not taking up rack space in your closet. Ultimately, with the simple techniques in this guide, you should be able to get a handle on your indoor storage predicament within the course of a single weekend.

Author Bio: Emily Roberts is a young aspirational writer who spends as much of her free time as possible on the web. When she's not writing, she's reading. She's always trying to learn and digest new information so that she can stay on top of whatever stories she wishes to write about.