Peace of Mind Organizing

Yoga with Adriene's 7-Day yoga journey

17 December 2024

For the last five years or so, I’ve eagerly anticipated Yoga with Adriene’s 30-day yoga journey, which was presented every January for ten years. Last year, Adriene announced that 2024’s 30-day journey would be the last. She certainly deserved a break.

This month, I was thrilled with her announcement that it just didn’t feel right to her to do nothing special in January. So she’s created a seven-day practice, starting January 1. It’s called Prana and, I believe, it’s focused around breath and meditation.

Here’s the video she posted about it.

Unlike other years, there is no sign up required and there won’t be daily emails. Just go to Yoga with Adriene’s You Tube channel each day and click on the new video. (She’s letting it be easy!) I am looking forward to practicing every day with thousands of people at the same time. As always, it’s completely free.

Let me know in the comments if you’ll be participating. I can’t wait; it feels like a wonderful way to start the new year!

Worth repeating: Storage solutions hiding in your house

9 December 2024

I wrote this post a couple of years ago and when I stumbled on it today, it made me smile. All the pictures were taken in the house we sold this fall, but looking around my current office, I see that those storage solutions almost are still in place. That’s a real endorsement!

Next time you’re inclined to go to Target or the Container Store to buy some bins or other storage solutions, I encourage you to take a look around your house and see what you might already have on hand that you can use.

I started noticing all the containers I use to organize my things that initially came into my house for another reason. Here are some ideas:

Vases. If you’re like many people, you have a collection have vases that have come into your life over the years. The sheer variety of sizes and shapes make them an excellent first stop if you’re looking store something. Here’s an example from my home: I ordered some pens from Amazon that (to my surprise) came individually packaged. I couldn’t just put them in a jar as is my custom (see below), so I pulled out a vase. It’s working beautifully!

Jars. I love jars so much. (Especially yogurt jars!) I use them for a variety of things (including to hold eyeglasses), but my main use for them is to hold pens. Here’s a snap of one of the shelves in my office that holds pens in jars and drinking glasses.

I also use canning jars to hold paper clips and binder clips.

Pretty boxes that came with other things. Back when I used to buy makeup, I loved these boxes that (if I remember correctly) Bare Minerals sets used to come in. Now I store card-making supplies in them in my office.

Now that I’m a bullet journaler, I go through journals pretty quickly. Some of them come packaged in nice boxes. I used one of them to store overflow Mildliner pens. The two boxes on top in this photo are awaiting their purposes.

Dip bowls. Years ago I bought a bunch of dip bowls from West Elm that I love. I use them for dips, for decoration, and to hold stuff in my medicine cabinet. I also use them to store my Scrabble tiles. I don’t play Scrabble, but I bought a set of tiles to make blog headers. I have divided them into three bowls for easier access, divided into the beginning, middle and end of the alphabet.

The list goes on. These were just repurposed storage solutions I found without leaving my office! Serving bowls, food-storage containers and cups are all possibilities. I encourage you to look in your kitchen cabinets for items you could repurpose. I hope you’ll be inspired!

Take some time for gratitude

25 November 2024

I love Thanksgiving. It’s a holiday that reminds me to be grateful.

While it’s a blissfully stress-free day for me (I don’t have to do anything but eat and enjoy the company of my friends-who-are-family), I know Thanksgiving can be stressful for some. And it’s the launch day for a potentially stressful holiday season.

Here’s what I want to suggest: Take some quiet time this week and make a list of things you’re thankful for. Like me, you may have been through a lot this year. But even amidst challenges and sorrows, you can always find silver linings when you look for them. Can you write down a few this week?

Reflecting on your blessings can help you reduce stress. Science shows that it makes you happier. “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships,” according to a Harvard health newsletter article on happiness research. And science also shows an inverse relationship between gratitude and loneliness, according to this Washington Post article that details simple ways to create a gratitude practice and reap its benefits.

There’s no better time than now to take a quiet moment and reflect on all you have to be grateful for. I hope you’ll take a few moments this Thanksgiving and do just that.

Happy Thanksgiving. I’m grateful for you.

Photo by Megan Watson on Unsplash

18 years of blogging

18 November 2024

This month marks the 18th blogiversary for this blog. On November 10, 2006 I posted my first blog post. Today, I’m publishing my 1679th post. (That includes the posts I’ve deemed worthy of repeating.)

Eighteen years of blogging—I can’t even believe it. I’m very proud that I’ve been able to blog consistently. I’m very grateful to my web designer, Nora Brown for encouraging me to start a blog. It’s possible I had never even have read a blog when she suggested it.

Blogging has required discipline, creativity, and effort, but all that has been paid back in spades. My blog has allowed me to connect with folks I would not otherwise have known (and vice versa), from all over the world. It has helped Peace of Mind Organizing be in the top of the search engine rankings for folks looking to hire a professional organizer in St. Louis. It allows my clients to get to know me before they hire me. It establishes my expertise. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

This blog has paid huge dividends. I do think it has served its original purpose of allowing prospective clients to get to know me (and continues to do so), but it has been useful in so many other ways:

• It helps keep my website high in search rankings
• It establishes my expertise
• It allows me to view the world through the eyes of a blogger—I’m constantly looking at situations and wondering how I can turn them into something helpful for my blog readers.
• It’s made me more reflective
• It’s put me in front of reporters who then interview me (check out my Press Room for links to some of those articles)
• It’s helped record my personal history so I don’t have to rely on my memory (in a way, it’s a very public journal)

These are just some of the reasons I blog. And I obviously enjoy it. In 2012, I added a second blog, Organize Your Family History and in 2023 I started a third one at my budget coaching website, Peace of Mind Budgeting. I try to blog once a week at each of them.

Internet marketing for small businesses has changed so much since I started Peace of Mind Organizing back in 2005. Blogging has taken a back seat to social media and video marketing. People don’t get as much information from blogs as they did when I started this blog. But I keep blogging and I keep benefitting.

It may sound weird, but my blogs feel like friends to me. I love giving them the attention they deserve and they give so much back to me in return.

Please VOTE!

4 November 2024

I took a look at the blog post I published four years on the day before Election Day and was struck by how my message hasn’t changed. Four years ago, I wrote “This is my eleventh presidential election as a voter. And I think it’s the most important.” I wasn’t wrong. And this year’s election feels just as consequential. I’ve edited that important post and am running an updated version. I think it’s the most important thing I could write about today.

Election Day here in the U.S. is tomorrow, November 5. The world is watching.The results will change the course of our country’s history. (I write that without hyperbole.) And the suspense is killing me.

If you haven’t voted already, please vote tomorrow. Or vote early today, if that is available to you. If you have a mail-in ballot, don’t risk sending it in through the postal service at this late date. Drop it off, if possible. You might be able to take it to the polls, have it spoiled, and vote in person. (Check with your local election office to see what the rules are.)

If you’ve just now decided that you want to vote, it’s not too late, assuming you’re a registered voter. (If you live in Washington, D.C. or one of the 23 states that allow same-day registration, you can register to vote on election day.) Go to vote.org to check your registration status and find or confirm your polling place.

If you live in Florida, Georgia or North Carolina and have been impacted by a natural disaster or major weather event, you may have additional options to vote. Click on the link for your state to see your state’s notice.

If you’re voting in person tomorrow, please allow plenty of time. You may need to stand in line for awhile. But it’s worth waiting to make your voice heard. Bring along some water, maybe some snacks and a great attitude. And of course bring your mask if you’re concerned about infectious disease.

The early voting turnout this year has been huge. It’s important to remember that all the early votes may mean a delay in results. So we will all need to be patient while waiting for the presidential election results to be determined. It’s going to be an interesting week!

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Don't let the holidays sneak up on you!

30 October 2024

Our 2023 card

Here in St. Louis, we’re enjoying some unseasonably warm weather. It’s been in the low 80s for a few days. And tomorrow is Halloween!

It just hit me that it’s almost November and I need to get my holiday cards ordered. But I haven’t even started the process. I’m fond of telling people that they shouldn’t feel obligated to send out holiday cards. But I always do it because I actually enjoy the process. And this year, since we’ve moved for the first time in 23 years, it’s particularly important, since our holiday cards will double as change-of-address cards. So I’ll want to try to get cards out early.

Here are the steps I need to take:

• Decide what photo I want to use for this year’s holiday card

• Go to site where I created last year’s holiday card, Paper Culture and choose a card. I typically send non-folded cards with a photo on the front. (By the way, that’s an affiliate link. If you click on it and place an order, I get a small cut.)

• Decide on the text for the back of the card, since it will include a change of address

• Come up with a ballpark figure for number of cards so I can place an order

• Order stamps

• Finalize my card list, so I can get started writing the cards as soon as they arrive

In years past, I have uploaded my address list and had the envelopes addressed for me, but I’ve come to enjoy addressing the envelopes by hand.

This is the process I’ll use our personal holiday cards. I also send company holiday cards to clients and colleagues, so I need to repeat the process for my Peace of Mind Organizing cards.

For both cards, I use a Happy New Year message because I like its inclusiveness.

How about you? Have you been contemplating the tasks you need to do around the holidays? It might be time to start a list so that you can get started soon and make December an easier month.

Do you have a plan to vote?

23 October 2024

Here in the U.S. a very important election is happening on November 5. I am thrilled to say I voted today!

We now have early in-person voting in Missouri (called “no-excuse absentee voting”) at a few designated polling places. I’m lucky because there’s a polling place, the Schlafly Branch of the St. Louis Public Library, just two blocks from my home. This makes voting for president so much easier than it was in 2016 when I stood in a line that went outside the door on Election Day and in 2020 when, in the height of the pandemic, I opted to vote absentee by mail but had to get my ballot notarized. (As an aside, that’s why I became a Notary Public. If you live in St. Louis and need an absentee ballot notarized, I’m happy to help. Just email me.)

Early voting in Missouri started yesterday. I’ve been anxious to vote but when I took a close look at the sample ballot that was mailed to me, I realized I needed to spend some time doing research. The meaty ballot included 13 offices, 19 judges, five constitutional amendments, one statewide proposition, and four city propositions. The judges have no party affiliation so I went to Your Missouri Judges to check out the ones who were on my sample ballot. The whole process took a little while.

It also took longer than usual to vote, with so many little boxes to fill in. (At my polling place voting on paper ballot was the only option.)

This is why I encourage you to have a plan to vote. Depending on where you live you might need to do some research in advance like I did. If you can, I suggest voting early. You might avoid lines. (I was pleasantly surprised to have to stand in line for ten minutes or so…the polling place was hopping!) And if there were some sort of problem with your registration, this would give you time to work it out. For more information on voting in your state, check out Vote411.

Voting is a privilege. It’s not always easy. But it’s up to us to make sure we can exercise our privilege. Please make a plan to vote!