shorter designs

Most people have trouble getting organized because there is always a fear that they will need those items cluttering their home. To battle this fear, people need to gain commitment to live simply. More stuff does not equate better living; it is only more stuff. It is more stuff to keep up with, more stuff to move, more stuff to trip on. Freedom from anxiety to simplicity is found in three steps.

image courtesy of hessnatur

Oh how the holiday treats were so tempting! Now as we all come off their sugary daze, many of us think about how to get the weight off. Here are four quick ways to reduce the costs of the new gym membership.

1. Negotiate

There is fierce competition among gyms therefore they usually are willing to work with you. Think of it like buying a car or house and assume that the listed price is not their final offer. Don’t forget the add-ons. You may get some of those extras for free. You don’t know if you don’t ask.

It is the best time of the year to buy artificial Christmas trees that is. Everywhere has deep discounts to unload the Christmas merchandise. I usually get all my Christmas lights this time of year, but the real savings are in the artificial trees. They have come a long way since when we were young. They still don’t have the smell of a real tree, but if you have a place to store them, they are much more economical in the long run.

Here are the links to several retailers.

• Lowe’s Artificial Christmas Trees

Work Smarter-Not Harder

Establishing systems to simplify your life only work if they’re easy to adopt and truly make a difference in your daily life. Here are some tips to make your kitchen easier–and more enjoyable–to use.

• By taking a few extra minutes each time you come home from the grocery store, you will save yourself a lot of time later in the week. Organize your food in the pantry and fridge by groupings. For example, put your canned veggies in one spot, group soups together, store all dessert ingredients near each other, etc.

Excuse vs. Truth

Excuse: “My kitchen is just such a mess. It would take days to clean it out!”

Truth: This sounds like an unhealthy statement! Your kitchen should be one of the most organized and clean rooms in your house! It’s where you gather with family and friends to cook, eat, and spend quality time together. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a Tupperware container and its matching lid in under 10 minutes? How would your kids feel if they knew nothing in the fridge was moldy and they could eat anything without worrying about its freshness? With a little time and organization, we can transform your kitchen. And with just five minutes a day of maintenance, you will be able to keep it spotless!

A Little Planning Goes a Long Way

The first thing you need to do is commit yourself to having the closet you really want. Think about what it’s like now, then dream about what it could be. Think about how your life would be simplified, how much time and money you would save, and how good you will feel once the job is complete.

Next think about the closets you want organized. When you determine which one makes you most stressed, start with that one.

Few things in life come without compromise. You may have to give up a few items in order to make your closet the best it can be.

Excuse vs. Truth

Excuse: “I need more space and bigger closets before I can get organized.”

Truth: By organizing your existing space, you automatically gain the extra room you need. It’s not how much space you have, but how you use it.

Excuse: “I just did my spring cleaning, so I don’t need to get organized right now.”

Truth: Organizing is not the same as spring cleaning or straitening up. If you organize properly, it’s a one-time activity. Organizing systems are fairly maintenance-free when you use them as part of your daily routine.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! When you open your bathroom cabinets, do things fall out? When you open a bathroom drawer, do makeup, Q-Tips, and toothpaste roll around together? Are there unsightly bottles on your bathroom countertop? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, read on.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! This month I am celebrating 10 years of marriage to my wonderful husband with a cruise to Alaska. Together we agreed that we wanted to take our two year old daughter along with us. As many of you know, and we are soon to figure out, traveling with a child is difficult. Because our daughter is not quite two yet, we are saving money by not buying her an airline ticket. Airlines allow you to designate a child under two as riding with you. You can save money this way, but you are gambling that you will have an empty seat near you.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! I hope you are each enjoying the nice Spring weather we have been having. My daughter is old enough now to really like playgrounds, so we have been having fun playing outside.

One thing we all have in common, no matter how organized we are, is what to do with our mail. We all get lots of it, and if we don’t stay on top of it, it will cover our countertop space, baskets, and wall organizers before we know it. Here are some ideas to help you process mail efficiently.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! February is the month of love in many ways. Every store you go in has heart decorations and cupids floating from the ceiling. If you are blessed to have a romantic love in your life at this time, as well as if you have kids, here are some ideas on how to communicate your love for them… without buying stuff that turns into clutter!

Greetings from Shorter Designs! Like so many things in life, it is easy to overdo the holidays. You buy turkey platters, Thanksgiving serving dishes, Christmas plates and over-the-top decorations. These things are fun and festive, but too much is difficult to manage with the cleaning, packing, and storing. Here are a few things to consider before you buy a lot of things you don’t really need.

1. Decorate with only what is important and meaningful.
2. Once all your decorations and ornaments are out, use the ones you enjoy and donate the rest.
3. If it’s broken, trash it.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! It’s hard to believe November is already here! Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner… where has the year gone? It seems like the older my daughter gets, the more time flies. If I don’t slow down to enjoy life, it really does pass me by.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! Please accept my apologies for not writing a newsletter last month. We had a curve ball thrown our way regarding our move, and we had to live in Charlotte last month. We closed on our old house the middle of August and had to move, but our new house wasn’t going to be ready until the middle of September. So we stayed four weeks in a two bedroom apartment in Charlotte so my husband could be closer to his office.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! My husband and I are in the midst of packing to move in three weeks. Oh, what fun… especially with a 13 month old daughter! Our new house is in Advance, so we will remain in the area for those of you who are wondering if I will still be able to help you organize.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! If you are like most people, you will be taking a vacation at some point this summer and toting your kids all around town while they are not in school. This means you will be spending lots of extra time in your car. Here are some ideas to get your car organized and ready to go!

Greetings from Shorter Designs! This month my daughter, Rachel, turns one year old. I can’t believe it! It truly seems like it was just a few weeks ago I looked into her eyes for the first time. Thinking back on this past year has caused me to want to write a newsletter on organizing for a baby. Sorry to those of you who don’t have or plan on having a baby. (Maybe you could forward this to a friend who does!)

Greetings from Shorter Designs! How many of you have at least one area in your home where papers are out of control? I would venture to say each one of my clients has that one hot spot, whether it is daily mail or papers to be filed that never seems to quite go away. You may clean it off once in a while, but mysteriously it always reappears. I even have that in my house, and it’s mostly due to incoming mail. We have a good system that works; but even so, we almost always have some paper on our kitchen table. (I hope that makes you feel better!)

Greetings from Shorter Designs! Spring is here and if you are like many people, you see this as a good time of year to do a little spring cleaning, get a fresh start, and do some purging. Yard sales are a wonderful way to make some cash and at the same time give you a deadline to have all of your belonging sorted.

If you are planning to have a yard sale this spring or summer, here are some useful tips:

• Schedule the date far enough in advance so you can list it in the newspaper and free websites posting community events.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! As some of you know, I am from Winston-Salem
originally. My husband and I moved back about 2 years ago after being gone for
11 years. One thing I have noticed since being back is how it does not snow as
much as it used to when I was a kid growing up. I used to enjoy throwing
snowballs, eating snow cream, and hearing the crunch of snow under my feet. The
last two winters there hasn’t been a chance to do this with the little dustings
we have had. It’s been really disappointing!

Greetings from Shorter Designs! February is a wonderful time to stay inside and keep warm. While you are cooped up take advantage of organizing items on your computer. We often forget that email, desk icons, and digital pictures can be a source of major clutter. There are a lot of ideas to consider. Listed below are just a few:

Greetings from Shorter Designs! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending time with family and friends. This year was fun for us as it was our first Christmas as parents. Rachel is now 6 months old, and so much fun!

As you may recall from last year, January is “Get Organized” month. We all know resolutions abound to get organized during this time of year. Sometimes you can keep that resolution yourself, and sometime you need a little help.

Thanks everyone for thinking about how to help each other this holiday season with your tips! Here are the wonderful ideas you came up with. Merry Christmas!!

Greetings from Shorter Designs! This month I wanted to try something different. Every month, you get to hear from me, so this month I want to hear from you!

I know many of you personally from helping you get organized in your homes. You all have wonderful ideas and suggestions, and I know that people who read this monthly newsletter could really benefit from things you have found that works for your busy lives.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! The other day I was thinking back over several of my clients, and one common theme they all shared was not being able to keep a handle on laundry. There were piles of dirty clothes all over the house, clothes piled up by the washing machine, a few baskets full of clean clothes that needed to be folded, and folded clothes not yet put away. Perhaps you can relate.

There are a few ways to tackle laundry problems. The first is just to start. Go put a load in the washer right now! Now that you are back, read on!

Greetings from Shorter Designs! I hope you are doing well and that your kids are enjoying being back in school. Normally I try to write about something helpful to you for the season of the year, and this month isn’t much different.

We all know about the Katrina disaster, climbing gas prices, and many stations running low on gas. It’s amazing how one event so far from home can have such a huge impact on the entire nation. As Americans, we are all in the same boat – our pocketbooks are getting pulled tighter each day, and it seems like no relief is in sight. With this in mind, I wanted to mention a few things we could all do to combine errands, save money and time, and help do our part after this terrible event.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! As you may have noticed from the brief newsletter in July, my husband and I had a beautiful baby girl, Rachel Leah Shorter, on June 13. She and I are doing well, and my maternity leave is over now. I am back doing one of the things I enjoy most… helping people get and stay organized!

The summer can be a relaxing time, but it can also be stressful. We have vacations to plan, the kids are out of school, and things can quickly seem to spiral out of control if we are not careful.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! With flowers blooming all around bursting with color, I was inspired to write this month about how color-coding just about anything can help you get, and stay, organized. Read the below list, and try out what works best for you!

Linens and Clothes

• If towels end up on floor frequently but you don’t know who the culprit is, assign one color towel per person in your household. The next time you see a misplaced towel, you will know who it belongs to. Also, no more mix-ups when getting out of the tub!

Greetings from Shorter Designs! I strive in my newsletters to hit a wide range of topics, and this month I want to write about an issue that has come up a lot with my clients recently. It is in the area of finances. “What does that have to do with organizing?” you may be wondering. Plenty!

Think about it. If you have a lack of order in your house, it stands to reason that there may be other areas of your life lacking some order as well. Finances are easy to lose track of if we don’t stay on top of it. It is easy to go to a store intending to pick up one or two items, and before we know it, the cart is full! (By the way, all of this stuff ends up in your house, resulting in clutter.)

Greetings from Shorter Designs! As we all know, spring is nearly here. I am really excited for the warmer weather and the opportunity to get outside after being trapped in the house over the winter months. One of the things I enjoy doing outside is working in the yard. But sometimes finding motivation is difficult for certain tasks when we can’t find the right tools we need. So this month, we are going to look briefly at getting your outdoor equipment organized for the coming months.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! March is a wonderful time to finish up projects in the house before the weather gets nice and you want to spend more time outside. With this in mind, let’s cut the clutter in our homes and do a little Spring Cleaning! Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Items you don’t use get in the way of items you really would like to enjoy and use. Get rid of things that you do not use regularly so that you can easily see and reach what you do use frequently.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! Since most of you who subscribe to this newsletter are young mothers, this month, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we are going to focus on your romantic relationship and how organization can help strengthen it. I have heard people say before that organization does not sound “romantic,” but let’s look at how being organized can ignite that flame! Imagine with me if you will…

Greetings from Shorter Designs! As we all know, New Year’s is a popular time to make resolutions. Many people resolve to “get organized” in the coming year. How many times have you made that resolution? How many times have you stuck with it?

One of the ideas I teach clients is that of not biting off more than you can chew. In the case of New Year’s resolutions, if you know that a year-long commitment to get organized is more than you can handle, why not try a “Get Organized Month” instead?

Greetings from Shorter Designs! This is the second part of a two-part holiday newsletter.

After doing the ideas from November’s newsletter, consider what type of ambiance you would like to have at your gathering. For instance, do you prefer childlike fun or adult elegance? Once you have decided what feel you would like your home to have, flip through holiday magazines to get ideas for centerpieces and other decorations. Make a list of the items you need to buy for your decorations.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! This is the first part of a two-part newsletter. The rest of it will appear in December.

I was talking with a friend the other day, and she stated, “The conversation I dread all year happened yesterday. My husband said to me, ‘My parents want to have Thanksgiving at our house. What do you think?’”

For most of us, Thanksgiving is the beginning of the most stressful time of year. There are parties to attend, gifts to buy, company coming over, and seasonal traditions to observe. With a little preparation, the holidays won’t be so overwhelming. Here are some helpful ideas to get you started on your plans.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! I am so excited that October is here because I love the changes that autumn brings. I enjoy the colorful trees and the crispness in the air, the fall flowers and pumpkins that adorn homes. These are things I used to take for granted.

I grew up in North Carolina and lived here 24 years. After spending the last four years in Florida, I am now back “home” where the weather actually changes and the seasons are pronounced. It is amazing to me the difference living here now as opposed to when it was all I knew.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! Over the last two weeks I have watched countless hours of the Olympics. What a joy to watch so many athletes from around the world compete! I continued to be amazed at their strength, flexibility, endurance, and determination. It seemed like during every sport I asked myself, “How do these people do it?”

I enjoyed listening to the athletes’ interviews after each event, and most of them mentioned how extensively they trained. The majority of these Olympians spent years training for one event! That is how they do it. They are great athletes because they practice.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! Later this month, my husband will be the best man in a wedding. So many people get married in the summer; this time of year is perfect for reflecting on marriage and my own commitment to my husband. He is the most wonderful and kind man I know, so he is quite easy to love. I have been very blessed.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! What are your plans for the Fourth of July? I hope that you are going to celebrate with some of our time-honored Independence Day traditions: fireworks, family and friends, and hot dogs and hamburgers. My closest friend, Jill, says that the Fourth of July is her favorite holiday. She especially enjoys eating watermelon and watching fireworks.

Friendship is an important part of life, but many people find it difficult to find, make, or keep friends. Life events, such as moving to another neighborhood, starting a job, or having a baby, can isolate us from our former support group and make forging new friendships more important than ever. Be sure to let your friends know how much you care.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! As you know, summer is here which for most people means—vacation! I always loved vacations growing up and looked forward to them for months in advance. My family would get free tickets to Disney World every year, so that is where we normally ended up going. I never got tired of it; but as I have gotten older, my idea of a fun vacation has changed.

Now that I am married, one of the hobbies I share with my husband is traveling to new places. We’ve been to 43 states, lived overseas, and traveled on five continents. There is just nothing we enjoy more than experiencing new places, new sounds, new food, and new people.

Greetings from Shorter Designs! My husband and I just moved, which is nothing new for us. We have moved nine times in our seven years of marriage, so we have it down to a science. Relocating is a great way for us to keep the clutter to a minimum and only hold on to the bare essentials.

The reasons surrounding our moves are always good, but at the same time, moving is never easy. Each time we changed cities, we had to find new friends, a new church, adjust to a new job, and learn our way around a new place. Moving is stressful, but we’re always surprised how quickly a new town and new house can become “home.”