Family Message Centre

What is the key to any good relationship? Communication. I believe every home should have a family message centre. This is a place where family members can communicate to one another about their busy schedules and to stay connected on those sometimes non-stop weeks.
Every family is different when it comes to the style and look of a message centre. I encourage you to look on pinterest for ideas and inspiration. I am including some of my favorite looks here as well.

1.  You need to have a calender, large enough to hold all of the family's appointments and events on it. You can always make a calendar from an old picture frame. The glass will act as a dry erase board. See pictures for ideas. You can also have a "look at the week" calendar that is larger and on a white board so it can easily be changed, added to and erased for the next week to be entered.

2.  You need a cork board, magnet board or a bulletin board (one with ribbon to hold paper) to hold messages. I also think it is a great place to display family photos from recent events to keep the message centre up to date with what the family has been up to lately.

3.  You will also need a place to hold important papers like permission slips, information on upcoming events and other documents you need to have on hand. You can have a spot for every family member if that works for you.

Every message centre will look unique for each family, use your own decorative touches to personalize it. Here are some examples of message centres, as you can see no way is the right way, do what works for your family and your space.

Share pictures of your message centre we would love to see them! Thanks for stopping by we appreciate it :)

Downsizing

I am going to be part of an expo on Downsizing this Saturday at Heatherdale Senior Living,
11 Lakeside Terrace unit #104 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. This subject is a very popular one as so many people are at the age where they need to downsize, have parents ready to downsize. Downsize either from a family home to a smaller home, to a retirement condo, a nursing home etc. There are a few things that need to be thought about before the move:

1,  What can we declutter and purge before moving. It is best to go through all areas of the home and see what can be donated, tossed and handed down to the next generations. It is sometimes very hard to get rid of items that have special meaning to us but we really cannot keep everything we have. I have a few suggestions to still keep the memories alive; make a collage of all the special pictures so that your loved one can see those memories daily, use a shadow box to make a collection of special items that can be on display in the new space, take pictures of items that have sentimental value and use them as a screen saver slide show or purchase a large digital picture frame to showcase all these memories.

2.  When deciding on what clothing to take think about what clothes are easiest to launder, it will make your life easier and if you are downsizing to a facility where they do your laundry makes for your clothing to last longer.

3.  Get specific measurments of the new space, this will help you decide which furniture will fit and where. Think about bringing multi-functional pieces; like an ottoman that has space in it for storage, and/or a table that collapses on both sides. This will allow for more space when needed.

4.  When choosing home decor items only bring the ones that bring you the most joy, makes you smile when you look at it. This will minimize how much you bring and allow for that homey feel to be reflected in the new space.

5.  It is best to think that you will need room to grow in your new space, as we all buy new things as time goes on, so try and keep 15% of the storage empty. This will allow for a decluttered space and keep the new space open to new items.

I hope this gets you thinking about the next steps in getting ready to downsize. Let us know what tips you have or what worked for you when you downsized. Thanks for stopping by!!

Back up lists...

Many things in life we need to back up on our hard drives to store for safe keeping. What we do not think about it making lists of items we use on a daily basis, just in case we lose them or they get stolen: our wallets content and glove box content.

If our wallet was lost or stolen we could easily look back on old bills to see what our credit card numbers are and what our debit card numbers are but would it not be more effective to have a list already made up, just in case.

Take your wallet, heck while we are there lets declutter too! Take everything out and put like with like. Do you need to hold onto old receipts, file them away or toss them. Do you use all those points cards? if not toss them.

Now you can make a written list or one on your computer. Record each card, its number, exp. date and cv number on the back (3 digits by signature). Do the same with points cards and your health card. Most of these cards have the number to call right on them, add these too. Get all of your other important pieces of identification that you do not, should not, keep in your wallet; SIN card, Passport, birth certificate and so forth and do the same.












Let's not forget what we keep in our glove boxes; insurance cards, a copy of our ownership and other vechicle documents. Add these to your list.

Title the document so it is easy to find and keep it in a folder you will remember to find it again.
If you are making a physical list keep it in a filing cabinet in a file labeled important numbers.

This will save you much time when having to call and report all these items stolen or lost.

Spring is in the Air...

Now that the nice weather is on its way we need to be thinking about what we need to get ready for use. Here are some helpful suggestions to get ready for spring:

1.  It is time to organize and declutter your gardening supplies. Gather all supplies and have them in one space, the shed or garage. Organize by putting like items with like. See what items are worn or broken, you can toss these. See what you have multiplies of, do you need so many? Donate what you do not need. Garden centres will be open by months end so you will be able to stock up on what you need, make a list and keep it with your supplies. You will then know where the list is when you are able to go shopping for needed supplies.

2.  The garage can end up being a space that is a catch all area. It is best to pick a weekend to tackle it. Move all items out onto the driveway. Put like items with like, ie. sports with sports, gardening with gardening, car seats with car seats etc. If you do not have shelving in your garage it may be best to invest in metal shelving you can get at any Canadian Tire, Home Depot and so on. You can also use plastic bins to contain items together in a neat manner. Put all your sports into one or two bins and label them. You do not need to keep the lid on as you want easy access to items. Most garages are made for 2 cars, use one side for storage on metal shelves and the other side for one vechicle. use all the space you can along the walls, hang bicycles, yardwork tools, tools and so forth.

3.  Tools tend to take over spaces all over the home. It is easiest to gather all your tools together and go through them. Put like with like and see how many multiplies you have, donate them as tools are an essential need for all. It is common for those who have many tools to have one tool box with day to day needed tools; pliers, hammer, screwdrivers etc. You can keep this in the garage, kitchen or basement. A household with several tools used for more specialty projects need to find a place to call home. An easy way to store them is on a pegboard. This will make all the tools easy to see and acess and will only take up wall space.

Spring is in the air and now is the time to get all those essential tools and items ready for the season. Hope you found this inspirational and informative. If you did feel free to comment below.

Happy Spring!!

Walking the Walk...

I had recently put my house on the market and therefore had to declutter to have it ready for showings. I realized I need to take my own advice..."Do you really need that? Can you take pictures of all your knick knacks and then make a collage or nice photo album with them? When will you use this next? How long has it been since you wore that?

I have emotional attachment to items just like the majority of us. I found it hard to let go of several items and know I will repurge when I unpack. One thing that helped me was reading a book - The life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo who has a style of decluttering; the KonMari Method. She is very extreme in her method and believes one should be rid of everything that does not spark joy or does not have a purpose. This helped me to unload, so far, 5 bags of garbage, 6 boxes of donations and this was just to get ready for staging. I have a lot more to go through as I am downsizing too. I like the question, "Does this spark joy?" it made me think about what am I realy getting from this item? Do I use/wear it? Do I feel happy looking at it? I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be inspired to lessen their items in their household.

I realized that I too will tell myself, I will use that someday so I better hold onto it. You see I am a crafter aka craft supply hoarder. Most crafters have an abundance of supplies since we are always creating new projects in our mind and hold onto items we will use one day soon. But life gets in the way and only a few projects can get done so our supplies sit and wait in anticipation of being used. I have put together, so far, one bankers box of supplies to give to a fellow crafter. She will then choose what she will keep and throw out or give the rest to another crafter. We tend to do this in our crafters community. What I cannot use another creative mind will see how to create something with it.

I was able to stage my house for showings. I ended up with 8 offers in less than 30 hours! I don't think people understand the importance of staging ones home for selling. You need to create a neutral, decluttered; almost bare space to help buyers see their own furniture/art work/photos and knick knacks in your space. People cannot see past another person's style. I am not sure why but people pay attention to small details and not the large picture. So it is worth investing a few dollars to paint your home in neutral colours, have a professional help declutter and stage your home. It will optimize your selling price and bring in more offers. You will also save on moving costs as you will have less to move after you purge and declutter your space.

Here are the final result of my house, I love how it turned out. It was very hard to clear it of all my style but knew I needed that blank slate to show it off better.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my latest blog. If you found it helpful or inspirational please comment below.