Method Mixed Bag: July

Welcome to this month’s Mixed Bag, a collection of mini posts on various topics that are relevant to me right now. This year the holiday weekend was kind of emotional; I’m balancing the macro-downers of recent Supreme Court rulings and skyrocketing inflation with the personal joys of having all of my kids home and spending quality time with really good friends. As the pageant of summer socializing continues into July I find my days dusted with sentiment, which helps bring into sharp relief some areas where sentiment does not serve. Anyway, here are some nuggets that play on that theme!

family farewell

Coco was our first family pet, a beautiful chocolate lab who loved unconditionally, provided endless entertainment and played the role of glue for our family during some potentially rough teenage years. She died last September at only 9 1/2 and we were all devastated but grateful that we were able to be together to say goodbye to her. If you have never been through the circle of life with a pet I highly recommend at home euthanasia, we used Lap of Love and they were amazing. Anyway that was back in September but we waited for warm weather and aligning schedules to sprinkle her ashes at the dog park she loved. The five of us (plus Gus) had a lovely time together, sharing stories and laughs about Coco, without the burden of initial grief we felt at her passing. This is what compelled me to share this here; we waited to spread her ashes for practical reasons but in the end the passage of time enhanced the experience. I know this is kind of a downer topic but if you have pets you will eventually go through it so I’m passing my learnings on!

I don’t know who needs to hear this but…

Well actually I know a lot of people who need to hear this! In my work with clients I have noticed a few examples of things that people have a hard time getting rid of that they absolutely do not need to keep. These things turn up in almost every single home I have decluttered, for some reason it’s like petting a cat backwards to throw them away. Here they are:

• Apple Product Packaging I know Apple does a really beautiful job with their packaging and it seems a shame to just chuck it in the recycle but here I am, telling you it is okay to just chuck it in the recycle. And in fact you should immediately chuck it in the recycle. You are never going to use those boxes. Ever. Just do it.

• Extra Holiday Cards, Wedding/Birth Announcements, etc. Why are you keeping the supply of leftover cards? I know why, because they have sentimental value, which I concede. So you should absolutely keep one. But you don’t need the whole stack. Maybe you keep the envelopes if you can find another use for them. I know you probably paid a lot for them and it feels wasteful but you will never use them so go ahead, chuck them in the recycle!

• Appliance Manuals Any info that you need about how your appliance works, how to troubleshoot, etc. can be found online. You don’t need binders/files/boxes full of manuals taking up space in your house. It would be a miracle if you could even find the manual when you needed it but you can always find your phone.

slideshow videos

I am coming out of graduation season and a run of milestone birthdays in my group of friends. For every High School graduation or big milestone birthday I make a video of pictures that tells a relevant story about the honoree, all set to a perfect soundtrack. They are fun to share within the family or for a bigger audience at a party and everybody loves them! My youngest just graduated from high school (and is leaving me next month, ack!) and I’m sharing her video here but also wanted to highlight it as a service because it’s part of my Photo Organizing offering. It is, of course not very difficult to make a slideshow but to make a really good slide show there is some effort involved. Let me know if you are interested, you can book a phone consult here!

Wedding season

I am dying to go to a wedding and have been listening enviously to recaps of various nuptials that my friends have been attending, there are so many postponed events happening this summer! Through all of this wedding chat I have noticed a theme around gifting; modern couples are ditching traditional registries as most people are getting married later and don’t need to ‘set up housekeeping’ or place the same value on traditional wedding gifts like china. Instead people are focusing on experiential gifts to celebrate the forming of a new union, and a gift of Home Organizing is thoughtful and personal, especially if 2 households are merging! Organizing a home that is optimized for your lifestyle and customized to your needs is what I love to do. If you are pondering gift ideas for a soon-to-be-married couple you know check out my Home Organization Services, Gift Certificates available!

Signing off for now, I hope you enjoyed your Fourth! Looking forward to breaking down the organizing process in later posts this month – stay tuned!