Tag: #declutterblogger

20160801_111942    When is the last time you were asked that question?  How often have you really thought about “support” and the meaning, let alone who is your support.  By definition, support is a network of people who provide an individual with practical and/or medical support.  A good support system helps you achieve a better experience especially if you are going through a transition or a tough time.  A good support system lets you know you are not alone, and helps you to cope in a time of change.

“Getting your ducks in a row” is funny, but can lead the way for effective planning.  There are people all around who can help.  You may have answered this question easily, but the second part of the question is who is qualified to help.  It is important to consider the people in your life and the role they play, and what specific types of support they can offer, including practical planning and preparation.

Changes are part of life and can be challenging and require a lot of “knowing what to do” and the next steps for well-informed and right actions.  When things get difficult toughing it alone can be an uphill battle full of stress and quick decisions that result in answers you may have to live with vs. the time to make wiser and more informed decisions through the help, wisdom, experience and insight of others.  There are a lot of things to consider when dealing with the changes of life that need to be considered.  The guidance for these considerations will help with making the process easier and more pleasurable for you and your family.  This is where your support team can help.

With the right help and support your next life change can be done thoughtfully and easily.  Identifying and establishing a list of reliable people is the first step to building a support system that helps make informed decisions, guides, keeps you safe with ease.

So, who can you turn to?

How many do you really need? (Amasses your space, deflates your wallet)

Which comes first, your shopping habits that contribute to the clutter surrounding your home, or does the clutter exist because you have become immune to your daily surroundings and suffer from the blindness of your possessions?  Either way, both topics are worthy of mentioning and provide understanding when conquering the baggage of clutter.  Just like the long-standing examination “which came first, the chicken or the egg”, (truly, this question has been resolved), there is an answer to the origination of clutter in your home.

Clutter confuses your mind, amasses your physical space, and it attacks your wallet.  Tackling the clutter in your home requires acknowledgement of the monumental mess, by laying your eyes on the mountains of stuff piled so high you cannot see what you have including any broken or damaged items.  When you are taking the necessary steps to conquer the clutter in your space, you will most likely feel the pinch and question “where does this stuff come from?”  It can come from your shopping habits.

“Clutter blindness” can take a toll on your emotions resulting in impulse buys and over spending, or buying items that you already own.  You may be shopping to fill a void in your life.  Or perhaps the how, what, and who you buy for no longer meets your immediate needs.  If your life has evolved out of a family of 6 to just you and your spouse, your shopping habits need to evolve, too.  You will no longer need the value packs of 24 count of paper towels, or the 48 count of toilet paper, or the “buy 1 get 1 for free”, unless you make a conscious commitment to replace these value packs when you actually need them, and not keep them for accumulation.  If your family has reduced in size, has the size of your space changed?  Can your space accommodate these purchases?  The bottom line is what you buy and how you buy affects your living space.

The habit of shopping is not fun when it becomes a whirlwind of frenetic behavior and extreme indulgence.  It brings to you the accumulation of stuff that occupies valuable space in your home, and depletion of your wallet.  That’s a hefty price tag!  The money spent on impulse items would be better spent on a vacation that would enrich your well-being, or save for planning towards future life events.

 

As you live in the regular routine of your daily life you can become immune to your surroundings and the accumulation of stuff.  As the piles build you lose sight of things you already own.  Then add the layer of conditioning to buy more than you actually need, you are on the path to accumulation and clutter.  As you declutter and before you buy another thing, identify and list all that you own.  This may sound daunting, but will help with reprogramming your shopping habits.

Making a list of what you own shows you what you have, any duplicates, what you don’t need to buy again, and impulsive purchases.  Based on this list prepare to discard of the extras.  This is the first step of support for changing your mindset, and preparing you for the next time you need to shop.  Implementing a budget will help deter you from unnecessary spending.  Shopping with a prepared list of items to purchase that are absolutely necessary will aid in preventing a shopping frenzy.

When you identify your shopping habits and how they contribute to the chaos and clutter in your life, you can make better decisions that will support a more organized home and life.

What Do I Do with Expired Meds?

(Expiration Dates on Meds / Out of Sight, Out of Mind)

The smallest room in your home needs attention…

Even in design, the bathroom is too often neglected.  It’s the smallest room in your home, and contains so many and important things.  For sure, there’s most likely the medicine cabinet, and the average person spends 30 minutes a day in the bathroom.  If this statistic is true, then what’s behind the closed door of the medicine cabinet is ever-present and inevitably neglected until the moment calls to use something hidden from every day view.  Medications have a way of accumulating and are contributory to the “unseen clutter”.  And by taking the steps to declutter your medicine cabinet it is also a best way to prevent misuse or accidental use of medications.

When you open up the medicine cabinet, what do you see?  Assuredly, what you see isn’t comforting.  Besides the half-empty bottles of aspirin, bits and pieces of first aid solutions and personal care products, there is a collection of old prescription bottles from a previous illness.  And those prescription bottles contain meds that are long past the expiration dates.  There may even be medications that are not in the original container.

Of course, the first step is to throw out all that has expired.  It’s a telltale sign if you can’t remember when you bought it or if the medicines have changed color – it needs to be disposed of properly.  (Doubly telltale if you can’t remember what color the original medicine should be).  But there is a protocol for the proper disposal of unused and expired medications that is important for health and safety reasons.

There are precautions, environmental, and safety concerns for proper disposal of drugs and inhalers.  When disposing of medications it is important to remember that the illegal use of prescription medications is a concern as well.  Medicines are classified into categories because not all medicines can be immediately disposed into regular house-hold trash. Community take-back programs provide options for disposal, and require preparation for the expired meds for disposal or call your local Police Department, they might be part of a federal program that allows you to drop bagged medication into a receptacle at any time.  Recycle the plastic bottles or boil and take to your local Humane Society or Pet Adoption Center.

Cleaning out your medicine cabinet and exposing of expired medications should be done two times a year.  Assigning this task to an important date like daylight savings time and changing the battery in your smoke detector, or New Year’s Day and July 4th can serve as an important reminder and keep your medicine cabinet free and clear of the accumulation of expired medications.

DeClutter By Deirdre is committed to assisting people & their families who struggle with where to start and complete de-cluttering their homes so they can de-stress and enjoy a full life without extra burdens they could not previously tackle on their own. People who are ready to take control of all they can in their lives and develop solid systems that allow them to step away from items and stresses that no longer serve them and to enjoy the company of others and have the leisure time to pursue family time, interests and hobbies. Remodeled/organized spaces reduce the mental burden of clutter, allow easier movement about the house when physical challenges present themselves or changes to the home have to be made to allow those individuals who will be aging in place to stay in their own home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How accurate is this meme?  People keep plastic tubs without thinking.  The tub gets emptied, washed and stacked with the other 99 tubs in the cabinet. These tubs are great for storage but as the meme points out, you never know what is in them and the stored food tends to get forgotten and is then thrown away instead of consumed.  Take a hard look at your piles of tubs, how many do you really need?  One for the protein course, one for the green vegetables, one for the orange/yellow vegetables, one for the starch, one for the gravy/salsa/sauce and one for salad.  That’s about 6, only 6.  Get rid of the other tubs, this will keep your organization on track, no more tubs?  Eat what’s in them, no waste, no guilt throwing out spoiled food.http://www.memes.com/img/762317

I find a LOT of DVD’s collecting dust in homes, we just don’t know what to do with these collections since the advent of online/on demand movies.  What Kid Flicks found out was when kids are sick they want to watch a movie so it’s their mission to create movie libraries in children’s hospitals.      http://www.kidflicks.org/

People ask me what I do, I used to answer I help people declutter their homes and/or project manage their move but lately feedback from my clients has been slapping me in the face that it is so much MORE than that. In response, I’ve been saying I destress people and their adult children, I help them put their shoulders back where they should be instead of next to their ears, I actually help them start moving forward in their lives…and I love it!

Many times clients have an obsession with touching their face and scalp.  This behavior can be upsetting for caregivers who cannot figure out what is going on when it actually is a response to not really knowing what to do with their hands.  These Twiddlemuffs are a brilliant solution!  http://www.upworthy.com/twiddlemuffs-the-biggest-holiday-gift-trend-youve-never-heard-of?utm_content=buffer0676d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

“I waited too long, I should have moved while I was still healthy.”

My client (let’s call her Carol) and her husband (Mike) lived in their colonial for 30 years. Suddenly, both needed medical care in separate facilities. They had full time non-medical care at home and their aides directed us as to what would go to their new, shared home in a care facility.

It took Mike and Carol a couple of tries for them to decide exactly what they would need at their new home in an assisted living facility. It was hard for them to recall from memory, in a stressful and medical situation, exactly what was in their colonial home and what would be essential in their new assisted living home. Our first trip was to retrieve from their colonial, the few items they would need to get settled but when we got to their new home at the assisted living facility we were told my client had decided they would need more items and larger items to make them feel more comfortable. We measured the items they were requesting then, went back to the assisted living center and measured their new rooms to ensure they would fit with enough space in between for a wheelchair to maneuver. The following day their last items were delivered and they were able to move in. Neither client ever returned to that colonial before it was sold.

Mike and Carol would tell everyone considering moving to start making a plan long before you think you need to move, that way if you have an emergency situation you will have some direction that will satisfy you, at the very least in the short term.

As a senior, how do you avoid this type of stressful situation? Create a list of essentials you would take with you if your life was suddenly turned upside down. Leave it out where someone walking into your home could easily find it or with a trusted friend, family member or helper.  Planning for a crisis can create stress initially but not as much stress as loss of control over your possessions and decisions. Decide what you want while you are in charge!

declutter by deirdre senior move specialistDeirdre Dolan Nesline, a Senior Move Planning Specialist and Owner of DeClutter By Deirdre, A Senior Move Management Company.
Member: National Association of Senior Move Managers,
Coalition of Agencies Relating to Elderly Services, Senior Care Resources of Western Connecticut
Email: DeClutterByDeirdre@gmail.com
Phone: 203-733-1073
www.declutterbydeirdre.com
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