Please, hold onto plastic bags. Pick them up when you see them. Recycle appropriately. Stop using asap. Thank you!
Now for our main attraction… The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary (thank you YouTube!)
Autumn is almost upon us! Don’t let it fly by into winter and still not have your clutter decluttered and chosen joys organized!
Look around your house or office right now. Do you have clutter? Is any of it “in your way” in a “if I don’t walk carefully around it I’ll trip over it” kind of way? Or, how about all that paper stacked in your garage-is it safe to leave there for another year or ten?
It’s the human condition really, we’re genetically programmed to collect, accumulate and to save a variety of things. Generations of people before us had to seek out and collect anything that was materially useful. They had to be not only resourceful, but, because they didn’t have a store or all-you-can-buy-for-pennies-24/7-MART down the street, they had to make everything (EVERY THING) themselves, so that collecting, consuming and storing food and “stuff” was critical to survival in long winters and in times of famine. So, it’s really in our DNA.
But, we do now have 24/7 MARTS and shops and stores. We don’t need to collect and store and consume as much as we do. And, we’re really not that many generations away from “those” people in past generations. My parents grew up on farms in the Midwest where they didn’t have electricity when they were children, if they didn’t have “it,” they created it or did without. My grandparents didn’t have an inside toilet until I was about eight. They just didn’t see the need. A woman in my home town passed away last year, she was 87. She still didn’t have an indoor bathroom. She chose to use the outhouse as she was used to it, she didn’t need “bigger, better and more” to enjoy her life.
I’m not suggesting that you give it all up to live that simply, but to become more mindful and conscious of your choices on a daily basis. Technology, most markedly electricity, (what a blessing) makes us masters of the universe! Or at least the master of our own personal universe. But there are two sides to every coin. Technology and “more” can also be a curse. We can stay up all night long with the lights on, we can travel farther, plug in more stuff and buy the next gadget. As we “trance” out (unconscious consuming) and keep buying and collecting more of what we already have or don’t need and don’t use, we become overwhelmed with what we now call “clutter.”
CLUTTER AND STRESS
There is a direct correlation between clutter and stress. Clutter can lead to health problems including stress, weight gain and physical hazards from an unhealthy environment piled with “too much, too long.” It also affects our behaviors; clutter is a contributing factor to noncompliance to taking medications, keeping appointments, being able to exercise and eat well.
And to add to this growing list is the inability to be genuinely happy, at peace with oneself and limited social enjoyment due to not inviting people into ones home for embarrassment of the clutter. And, the big hazard, your house burning down due to mounds of paper too close to a flame, oil or gas soaked rags left in the garage or any number of ways that clutter can start or impede the rescue efforts when there is a disaster. (I have several real news reports pertaining to this in my ebook, Burn Your House Down.)
CLUTTER MESSES UP YOUR BRAIN
Messes on the outside create messes on the inside. Over time, subtle, constant, low-grade stress develop from living in a cluttered environment. Even though you may think it doesn’t bother you, your brain remembers and sees and catalogues it all. Anxiety over clutter literally messes with your brain’s alpha waves and interferes with your sleep, making you more fatigued, impacting your hormone levels (women and men) and increasing production of cortisol, leading to weight gain and other more serious medical issues. The more clutter you have the more you need to deal with it. The more you don’t deal with it the more you generate stress, overwhelm and depression.
Over 97% of doctors office visits are stress related. How many of these are related to clutter?
A little or a lot, clutter steals your time, energy, peace of mind, and productivity. Are you ready to change?
CLEAR THE CLUTTER, STAY WELL
Keep doing this same pattern of activity over and over around your home and office until it’s done. If you feel overwhelmed, hire a professional organizer or ask for help from a friend.
It’s “just start it” time!
You should own your possessions, they should not own you. Take time and take charge of your environment. Open it back up for joy and fun and friends. That’s what life’s about, not stuff.
It’s always something!
I use resusable totes all the time. I LOVE TOTE BAGS! My mom says, “You have too many tote bags!” I say, “Can you ever have too many tote bags?!” 
Now, the problem with tote bags is that they get dirty. Reusable grocery bags are great for the environment, but reusing them over and over, throwing them in a lump in the hot car and using them for many purposes is going to gather e coli and all kinds of bacteria. That’s not including just what you and others add to the bags when you touch them and put them on counters at the store, at home, on the floor, in the car, on a bus, at the bus stop . . . you get the picture.
Bags used for food can also gather Salmonella and Listeria creating the potential to make you sick. Or, if they don’t make you sick immediately, these little creatures can cause disease in people with weakened immune systems and weaken your immune system.
However… food-safety expert Michael Hansen, senior staff scientist at Consumers Union says, “A person eating an average bag of salad greens gets more exposure to these bacteria than if they had licked the insides of the dirtiest bag. These bacteria can be found lots of places, so no need to go overboard.”
But Hansen notes that there are some reminders to good health. “It’s easy to spread bacteria from meat, fish, or poultry to other foods – in your kitchen or in your grocery bags. So we do think it’s wise to carry those items in disposable bags. Reusable bags are fine for most everything else, but it’s a good idea to wash them occasionally.”
So, do this:
1. Wash bags regularly in the wash machine or with soap by hand (no bleach necessary) reducing bacteria by 99.9 percent.
2. When bagging your goodies, make sure to separate raw foods from other food products.
3. Make sure to use plastic of some sort to bag raw meat to guard against leaking. Have a few plastic bags that are washed well after each use and reuse them in your bag collection.
4. If your bags are accumulating, go through them and decide which ones you really use, keep them in good repair and clean, store or let go of the others.
Happy reusable grocery bag bagging!
Check out my post from last fall on cleaning your purse for your health too!
Records of all the financial transactions you make—from retail purchases to home equity loans—are fed to credit bureaus, which digest the data and issue a credit report. The report grades your credit worthiness and is available to anyone with whom you wish to do business. Based on your rating, creditors will decide not only whether to grant you a loan or card but also what interest rate to charge you. The lower your rating, the higher your interest rate.
You’re legally entitled to review your report, and you should do so. Errors are frequently made and should be corrected. To order a copy of your report, contact any or all of these major credit bureaus:
Trans Union 1-800-888-4213 www.transunion.com
Experian 1-888-397-3742 www.experian.com
Equifax 1-800-685-1111 www.equifax.com
If you’re a homeowner and your report is excellent, find out whether you’re receiving the best possible mortgage rate. Nationwide, homeowners spend $100 million more than necessary each year because they don’t know they qualify for lower interest.
Get more helpful tips like this - to stay organized - in my new ebook, BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN!
I know, it’s still AUGUST! But . . . the stores have been advertising Christmas stuff since last month to get ahead on holiday sales.
Do you ever notice the music from “JAWS” in the background as the holidays draw closer?
It’ll be a while, but not that very long from now all joy is going to break loose! Are you ready?
I have created a Pre-Holiday Planning Tool Kit for you. It’s a must if you want to make this holiday season better, saner and filled with more of what you really want. Yes, starting now is the best time, especially if there is travel or family gatherings involved.
“For some, holiday time can bring visions of sugarplums,
parties, and visits with family and friends –
for others it can also bring a rash of stressful energy
and emotions, hours spent shopping for the “perfect gift”,
demands of travel, disappointment, loneliness,
unresolved grief and depression.”
From Holiday Stress Be Gone! ebook
If you’d like to have a better holiday experience this year, start now to create it!
Use simple and proven steps to find, keep and enjoy your “peaceful center,” feel calm again — or for the first time in a long time — and enjoy the upcoming months and slide into Christmas.
“Dear Kim, WOW! I love this book. The lists and assignments were a life saver
for me the past year. I now use your guidelines to plan ahead for everything.
I’m less stressed, happier and much calmer about everything.
Thank you so much!” ~ Anna, Dallas, TX
HERE’S THE PERFECT STOCKING STUFFER!!
Tired of hearing your family and friends gripe about the holidays? Here’s a great gift for them! Order it for “them!” They’ll thank you! (No shipping and handling either!)
Good all year long. No matter what time of year it is, pre-planning is a must in order to change your next holiday experience to a better one for yourself and your loved ones.
Buy and read it now and forever know your peace!
Like my presentations, this book is packed with immediate guides to help you redecide, let go and move on to where you really want to be.
You’ll get
· assignments and hands-on exercises,
· practical tips and methods for change,
· eye-opening factoids,
· true stories,
· inspirational quotes and stories,
· humor,
and for lots of fun pictures that are entertaining and poignant.
Ebook PDF file format. Only $12.00 — delivered to your computer screen upon order verification! Click here to find out more and order!
Don’t create one more holiday season of struggle when the solutions are right here, right now. Don’t lose another holiday season to past memories and anxiety. You and your family deserve better!
Happy Pre-Holiday Planning Season!
Kim
To reduce the clutter, you need a system to organize your records. After all, records kept but not found are useless.
There are many ways to get organized. Do it anyway that works for you.
A computer outfitted with the latest financial-planning program won’t do you any good if you’d prefer making entries in a wide-ruled tablet with a pencil. If your system is user-friendly, you’ll use it.
The 2 Rules for Records Management:
1. Use your chosen system routinely and
2. Be able to find it when you need it!
Consider creating a file for each type of financial record. You can group related records in one file—for instance, all receipts for home improvements. No matter how your system’s arranged, it’s usually best to slip receipts and updated statements into a file as soon as you receive them.
Ali Brown always shares the right stuff! “Run Your Business From Home? Here’s 10 Ways to Be More Productive” http://tinyurl.com/33ku4o6
If you can make it, don’t miss this great event coming soon in September by Jill Vegas!
She says, “Have you ever wished you could simply close your eyes, then open them again to find a glamorous room decorated in your favorite style? Or go on vacation for a week and return to a fabulous house that is revived and sparkling?
Well, join the club! As wonderful as it would be to have a personal, decorating fairy godmother, most of us know that it takes hard work to accomplish changes like these. The question is, how hard? How long must it take? My book, Speed Decorating, has inspired many make-overs.
If you’re ready to tackle a project this fall, sign up for this hands-on Speed Decorating course!”
This is an intense course that will change the way you look at your home, space and future. Visit http://www.jillvegas.com/events.htm to find out how you can attend!
Do you love mice? Maybe you have a pet mouse? Cool!
Do you love wild mice building nests in your house, eating stuff, chewing through walls and your belongings, leaving droppings and odors and running around spreading germs? EW! Probably not.
Okay, I know you won’t like this post, but you also don’t like mice in your house, right?
I haven’t had a mouse in my apartment for the 9 years I’ve lived here. It’s never been a concern. So, having them this week has not been enjoyable. I thought it was just me, but with 290 units here I just found out from management that my building, of 14 buildings, is mouse-targeted this week for some reason.
How to get rid of them?
1. Rent a Cat. Free lunch, exercise for the cat and it’s part of the cycle of nature.
2. Live Traps. Get the traps that capture but don’t kill, and let out to run free again!
3. Old faithful wood and wire Snap Mouse Traps. If you’re going to kill them, this is the best of course. “Should be” instant and over with. At least their spirit will run free. However, if you live in an apartment complex, this is not a good idea. They will run right back into the buildings.
4. Mouse Glue Traps and Pads. The big bad one.
A conversation here about glue traps: Many people are against these, including me, before I had mice this week! Glue traps are considered, and rightly so, inhumane. There is supposed to be a chemical on them to anesthetize the mouse so that they don’t suffer, but that rarely happens.
So, is there a humane use of mouse glue traps? I know, it sounds like an oxymoron.
Here are two answers after 5 captures in 3 days (before maintanence comes over to seal up any drywall - behind stove and dryer where electrical wires are where they must be coming in.)
First, check your traps often enough that if the mouse is still alive you can do one of the following quickly.
1. If the mouse is caught just slightly in the glue trap and he would be alright if he was not in it, take it outdoors, pour vegetable oil on the trap by his body until it loosens the glue and he can run free.
2. If he’s hurt enough that he wouldn’t live, take the trap to the toilet and yes, dunk the little creature in and drown the little guy for his own good. Then, off to the trash (where, if you don’t finish him off, he’ll be suffering for a long time).
Finally, as soon as I see one in a trap, dead or alive, I add a blessing on them and to them and an apology. I don’t like killing anything, but sometimes . . . .
P.S. My mom (farm girl that she is) says that, “mice coming in now is a sign that colder weather will be sooner this fall/winter, they’re already are coming in to nest inside.” That actually might be valid too as it’s been sporatic weather this week, cooler here already the past few days. I don’t know if that’s true, but it is true that animals and mother nature communicate in awesome ways that we humans have long forgotten.
So, bless you mice, and please stay out of my apartment. Amen.
The One Minute Effectiveness Rule states that, “Whatever you can do in less than one minute, do it!”
There are lots of little nagging things that accumulate over time that can be decluttered, moved, put away, closed, fixed, tossed or some action that will give movement to otherwise stagnated stuff and energy. Doing what you can do in that precious one minute on the way by the stairs or kitchen counter, dining room table or through the mud room will also keep things from accumulating more.
I know it doesn’t seem like much, but doing just a one minute declutter at a time will bring peace of mind, more energy and cut down on frustrations and stress.
Plus, outer order contributes to inner calm. We can all appreciate having more of that!
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