Avoid holiday clutter! Black Friday is HERE!

With holiday products now available in most stores, and a major sales weekend coming up, it can be hard to refuse the allure of buying and accumulating more. This is especially true when many of us have the excuse of buying gifts, hosting parties, and feeling stressed. However, there is a way for people to prevent themselves from overbuying and adding more clutter into their lives over the holidays.

Take stock of what you already have

Before you even step into the grocery store or shopping centre, make sure you take a look around your home to see what you already have. This can save you from buying duplicates of anything or buying unnecessary items. For example, if you are doing holiday baking, check your pantry or the back of your cupboards for any leftover ingredients from the year before, or anything else that you can still use. This will keep you from buying another bag of sprinkles or more icing when you don’t need it.

In terms of holiday gifts, this is also a good idea, especially if you have been buying for people throughout the year. Sometimes it can be easy to forget a small item you may have purchased for someone back in March, so check all your usual storage areas and take a look at what you have already purchased for the people on your list.

Stick to the list

Now that you know what you have, make a list of what you need. This will help you stay on track while doing any shopping and curb any temptations to buy impulsively. Start by making a separate list of what food and drink items you  need for entertaining. Go through each dish you have on your menu, and what ingredients, condiments, serving dishes, and utensils you might need. To stay even more organized, group your ingredients into different categories based on the aisles and sections of your grocery store. This way, you can go through the store and get exactly what you need and prevent you from doing any unnecessary browsing through aisles where you don’t need anything.

For your gifts, make a list of everyone you need to buy for, and what they all need. For example, is it a small Secret Santa gift with a specific price limit? Is it a stocking stuffer, or a major gift? Is it for a co-worker, or a close relative? When you’re putting together their list, keep in mind what your relationship is and what kind of gift you want to give them. This will help you formulate gift ideas or know what to choose when you’re doing your shopping.

Know your limits

Holiday shopping can be expensive, so make sure you know what your budget is! Having your budget in mind can help keep you from overspending. Knowing what money you have to spend on gifts can also help when formulating your gift-giving list, and keep you from overbuying your gifts. When you’re shopping, keep in mind that you also want to reduce the clutter in other peoples’ lives, not just your own. So try and think of gift ideas that are not only cost-effective for you and within your budget, but also something useful and practical that your friends and family can actually appreciate.

The holiday season can be a big shopping holiday – but this year, try to avoid the temptation to add clutter to your home and spend more than you have. Consider your shopping needs carefully before you head to the store, know what you actually need and what you already have, and make sure you follow your budget. This way, you can enjoy the holidays without any shopping or financial regrets when the season ends.

Has your family looked at you sideways when you enthusiastically brought up the idea of getting organized?

Imagine being able to find everything once and for all.

Has your family looked at you sideways when you enthusiastically brought up the idea of getting organized? To them it might sound like another cleaning expedition. Have you tried to show them the Marie Kondo fold, or the vertical fold as Calm Order has always called it? Maybe you think your family will laugh or roll their eyes at your attempt to organize, but Allbright doesn't think so. "I find introducing new organizing systems is most often met with a sense of relief because the family often feels over-burdened by their stuff. The want help" says Karen. "But you want the family to USE the organizing system so it needs to reflect how they move through their day naturally."

Calm Order was moving an executive and his partner to their new home in Calgary. They were moving from their family home of 25-years and in the interest of time, did not plan to purge or pre-sort their belongings until moving into their new place. They brought everything with them. When Calm Order conducted a pre-move inventory of their belongings, they quickly saw a challenge with the volume of clothes compared to the closet and drawer space in the new home.

One of the partners was an avid runner and kept every race t-shirt he had earned over his lifetime. And, after 40+ years, that is a lot of t-shirts! He was adamant he would wear his race t-shirts regularly so did not want any placed in storage or out of daily reach. As Professional Organizers helping the partners move into their new home, it meant acknowledging his appreciation for the t-shirts. The Calm Order team needed to develop an organizing system considering the closet and drawer space available. HIs partner called him a collector, we consider him an achiever. A collector does not make regular use of their treasures, they display or store them. And that requires a completely different organizing solution.

The runner laughed out loud as we vertically folded and colour sorted all of his t-shirts and put them away in his drawers. "How am I going to keep that up?" he sighed. The vertical fold organizing approach increases storage capacity significantly and more importantly, makes it much easier to see (and of course wear) each individual shirt. After seeing the drawers completed, he was on board and eager to keep the organizing system in place. A Calm Order organizer showed him how to do the vertical fold, and to help him maintain the organizing system, installed fabric drawer dividers.

Calm Order views organizing as a puzzle to be solved. Karen gently cautions clients not to be too hard on themselves. "There is an organizing solution that can respond to and support almost any behavior. Flat-out laziness excluded of course", Allbright adds with a smile. "It is important to take a step back and try to understand why an organizing system isn't working. If you are starting fresh with a move or just because the time is right, before implementing a new organizing system, ask yourself how you and your family are going to live in the space. Look closely at each member's daily routine and implement an organizing system to support it. That is the key to maintaining organization and minimizing battles within the family."

Moving is the Best Time to Introduce Organizing Systems

Moving into a new home is the best time to introduce organizing systems. "I absolutely love working with clients at this exciting yet stressful time in their lives,” Allbright admits. "When you move, you have the opportunity to start fresh, with organizing systems designed and implemented based on how the family wants to live NOW. When you move, you are bringing most of your belongings but you don't have to bring your Junk Drawer." What Allbright means is you have an opportunity to set up your home from day one in a purposeful manner, that makes the junk drawer (and other typical dropping zones) obsolete. The key is to set up organization systems before you move in, ultimately giving every item a resting place or home that matches the way your people move through their daily routine.

Calm Order was hired to do a complete Moving Service for a family of five. This family was running on all cylinders. Mom owned and managed a marketing company, dad is a professional with travel demands, they have two daughters in elementary school and a son just starting junior high. Seriously busy! To keep the family operating effectively, mom mastered online shopping. Every season demanded new clothing, sporting equipment, dance shoes, technology, and so on. When Calm Order met this family, the mom "confessed" to Karen (Allbright), "I am a hoarder." She described her shopping behavior and how it resulted in over-stuffed closets and dressers, a mudroom overflowing with equipment, shoes and clothing; and a garage they could no longer park their cars in.

After examining the households’ way of life and conducting an inventory of their belongings Karen respectfully told her new client, "you are not a hoarder, you are a shopper." The items purchased were most definitely needed. Calm Order implemented an organizing system that helped the family bring in new items, move out outgrown items, and effectively transition between seasons “There is a very big difference in behavior when old items are willingly and purposefully purged. Hoarders can't get rid of things"", reminded Allbright. "There is an effective organizing system for "shoppers."

An interesting UCLA study identified that a new child in a household increased average possessions by 30% in the preschool years alone. 'At least 30%, maybe even more!", exclaims Allbright. "You need an organizing system that is flexible and effective at managing family growth and change."