How to keep jewelry organized.

Most of us have a lot of pieces of expensive to costume jewelry. How to keep track of it all and be able to see what pieces you have. There are several solutions out there to store your jewelry it all depends on the look you are going for and budget.

1.  A velvet lined jewelry box is great for your expensive pieces as they will have their own compartment and will not get damaged. This type of storage is nice and neat when closed up and can sit on a dresser without looking cluttered.

2. An easy and inexpensive way it to keep ice cube trays in a drawer, they are easy to stack. Each cube can hold one piece of jewelry. It keeps pieces neat and tidy with no worry of getting tangled.

3.  Another inexpensive way to store necklaces is to buy a regular hook rack, a small sized one, and hang your costime jewery necklaces from them. If you do not want this to be seen you can hang them behind your door or on the inside of a closet door to use up the dead space.

4.  If you want to see your jewelry displayed there are so many fun and unique holders out there. They have ones to hang pieces from, stacking rings on and laying pieces flat on silver/glass trays or you can always use rice in a one inch deep tray to place pieces on top and stick rings into.

5.  There are several DIY jewelry storage ideas, my favorite is one for earrings. Use an old wooden frame you like; approximately 8 x 10 inches in size. Attach mesh material or lace or a fine crocheted piece to the back. This will allow you to hang your earrings from whichever material you choose. It can easliy be hung on a wall, inside a closet door or behind a door.

Remember when storing your jewelry keep in mind the value of the piece, this will let you know what surface to use to store it (velvet, plastic, wood etc.). Use what makes sense to your budget and how you like to see your jewelry to choose what pieces to wear.

Share your jewelry storage ideas here to help others and to encourage them.
Thanks for stopping in today :)

How to Simplify your Life...

I think most of us talk about finding the balance in life. I come from the belief of there is no balance, just living life on lifes terms and therefore feeling balanced. There is no magical way to balance work, life, love, family, friendship, volunteering, housework etc. as we will always have a feeling of guilt in one or two areas of our lives since we are doing too much. We can look at simplifying our lives to make it less hectic. Here are some tips on how to do this;

1.  Cut down on the amount of paper coming into your house/life; reduce subscriptions, paper bills (set up automatic payments online), flyers and other adverts.

2.  Go through your mail once a week. Make a specific time to go through it, pay any bills and file any papers that need to be filed. This will stop you from piling papers all over and will allow you to finish the task at hand, not trying to go through mail daily and multitasking, ike most of us do.

3.  Start donating more things as opposed to buying more things. Have a donation box somewhere in your house, the garage, front closet or in your bedroom closet. Make it a habit to add things to this box daily. Do you have multiples of a certain item? Do you have 3 items that technically do the same thing? donate 2 of them. Once your box is full bring it to your local shelter or Salvation Army.

 

4.  Take a look at your schedule, how many commitments do you have? Can you reduce them? Is there a committee you belong to that is not what you thought the group was going to be about? Start to say no to new commitments until you finalize other deadlines. The groups that you are committed to be sure you are passionate about them still, if not move on your time can be used elsewhere as you are most likely resentful at having to attend and are not producing your best work.

5.  Make time for you, some quiet time, no electronics. Either reading, meditating, doing yoga or breathing exercises. The main pint is to decompress and slow down.

6.  Take on a weekend decluttering project; your attic, garage or basement. Going through everything and donating and tossing items you no longer use. Ask yourself: Do I use this? Does this make me happy? When will I use this? Do I need this? If you can answer yes find a home for the item.

7.  Use up all that is in your freezer and pantry before you buy more groceries. This will cut down on your time of shopping that week, use up what may be going bad, Keep things in perspective; we do not need to store so much food we will not go hungry. This is a time where hoarding canned goods and toilet paper is rewarded. Most items go on sale every 6 - 8 weeks so we do not need a years worth of items when they go on sale. If you buy what you need when you need it you will actually end up spending less, since you won't be buying up 2 - 6 of one item on sale, and will not have a cluttered home.

I hope these tips have helped you to start new rituals in your day to day living. Simlplify what you have to do so it does not become such a lage task at hand. Share your tips to help others and to motivate change!!

Serenity Organizing Solutions first video check it out!!!

10 ways to keep your bedroom closet organized...

We use our bedroom closets everyday and they have a chance to get cluttered regularly. If you start from a solid base, set-up your closet in an organized fashion, then you can keep your closet neat and tidy on an ongoing basis. Here are helpful tips on how to organize your bedroom closet:

1.  Use the same style hangers throughout your closet, this will keep a uniformed look.

2.  Hang like with like; all tank tops together, all skirts together etc. This will make it easy to find what you are looking for and to simply create outfits
3.  Colour co-ordinate your clothes, from lightest to darkest.

 4.  Keep only seasonal clothing in your closet. Use bins, old trunk or old suit cases as storage for off season items.
5.  Use hooks on your closet walls for extra storage, for belts, scarves, etc.
6.  You can add shelf dividers to create spaces for your folded sweaters and other items above your hanging clothes.
7.  Use the space below your hanging clothes for shoes, clothes hampers, stacked bins/boxes for storage of accessories and off season items.

8.  Use an umbrella stand to hold off shaped items, such as; a yoga mat.
9.  When storing items in your closet keep the most worn items to the front/or at eye level, keep the least used items up top or way down and in the back.
10.  If in a small space replace your closet doors with curtains. This will create more space in your closet and less space being used from an open closet door.

If you use the above ten suggestions your bedroom closet will have a basis to start fresh and organized. This will keep the space uncluttered and easy to find items when needed. We use this space daily so keep it neat on a daily basis; it is your choice whether to hang your item back up where you got it or just cram it in where ever. I hope you are inspired to get control of your bedroom closet, it is not as hard as we think it will be.

Share your photos of before and afters!!

How to spruce up a room with minimal cost.

I like to share any knowledge I have about organizing, decluttering and decorating. I find we always think big when it comes to making a change, when we really only need to make small changes for a big impact. Here are a few ways you can spruce up a room and make it feel new again.



Colour: It is affordable and easy to repaint a space. I encourage folks to use a neutral colour so it will not look dated in a year or two. Crisp clean newly painted walls can make a room feel like you have changed everything about it. Fall in love with your space again through paint.



A dash of boldness: use accessories to reinvent a room. Use pillows, throw blankets, rugs and window coverings. There are places to purchase pillow covers of all sizes. Pick a colour palette that will compliment your wall and furniture colours. Use up to two new colours in the space, too many colours and it is too distracting to the eye and overwhelming. Use a colour wheel to pick out the accent colours. The trick to the colour wheel is stay with colours right beside each other or use the colour that is completely opposite your base colour as it is the complimentary colour. When using accents use different textiles for juxtaposition of fabrics and shades of colours.

A pop of freshness: You can use fresh flowers, faux flowers, a plant and or fruit/vegatables to add colour to a space. This freshness will create a new and clean feeling in the space you choose. If you use flowers and fruit they will need to be changed out when they start to die and over ripen. Most popular fruits/vegetables are lemons, limes, granny smith apples, gourds, tomatoes and red apples.

Art: Use art work that you love. This can be pricey if you are choosing to display original works but there are many places to purchase reproductions, copies and photography. Another great idea is to showcase your child's art. You can purchase picture frames that have a cork background so you can tack any size of art work to it or buy the frames that you can open and change out art pieces quickly and easily. 

I hope this has inspired you to spruce up a room or two in your home and to fall in love with it again. Share any of your results with us to keep people inspired.