Simplify
Room to Breathe Home Organizing & Staging 
e-Newsletter 

Simplifying Life.
In This Issue
Readers Share Their Love It, Use It or LOSE It Stories!
Love, Laughter and Mayhem
Becoming Her Own Boss-Altoona Mirror

Simplicity Seekers Discussion Group

Join the Simplicity Seekers to discuss your organizing dilemmas, learn ways to live more simply, and know that you are NOT alone in your clutter struggles!
 
When:   Monday 6/7, No Meeting 7/5, Monday 8/2
 
Time:    6:30p-7:30p at
Where: Schlow Library
Cost:    zilch, nada, zip 
 
Contact:
[email protected] or call 814.360.1063
 
Forward to a Friend 

Testimonial

"Hey, you need to understand I couldn't accomplish all this without your highly motivated & structured help. You'd be surprised to know how often I thank my lucky stars for you!!!  See you next Tuesday."

-Teri

Quick Links
  
 
Entrepreneurial Women's Expo (EWE)

Motivation

"Whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it.  Because you'll find that when you're free...your true self come out."

-Tina Turner
Join Our List
Join Our Mailing List
Simply. 
 
 
It's how we do things. 
 
Room to Breathe Home Organizing & Staging
Issue: #41June 2010

Greetings!

We are simply amazed and grateful at the number of responses we recieved after last months' newletter Love It, Use It, or Lose It.  Many of your shared your very personal struggles and triumphs with "stuff". 
 
We are truly touched that you not only took the time to write, but that you felt comfortable sharing your stories with us and our readers. 
 
Please read below for the stories written by our very own community members!
 
Simply,
 
-Jessica
Bringer of Order 
 
-Paige
Stagin' Paige
 
-Kelly
Bringer of Order II
 
 
 
P.S.  It would be wonderful if wanted to work with Kelly or Paige soon!  They can be reached at 814.360.1063.

Forward this issue to a Friend

Your Love It, Use It, or LOSE It Stories!
 
 

Hi Jessica,

 

I was reading your newsletter (May 2010) and had a thought that you could add to your list of things not to hang on to.

 

My daughter Kristin recently moved home from Chicago.  Kristin knows that I have always been extremely unorganized, cluttered and came from a Mom who was too.  Kristin is my most organized daughter and when she moved back in after years of living on her own, she couldn't function until she got the entire house organized.  We started from the bottom of the house (the basement) and moved up, hitting every closet, every drawer, every utility space, every cupboard, pantry and bathroom in the process.  We have a place in the garage for yard sale, for EBay, and we have carted bags and bags to Goodwill.  The garage will be the last space and we will be done.

 

Since I am sentimental and grew up in a house that has been in my  family since 1820!! we sort of hang on to things.  I realized just how much when Kristin was going through my kitchen drawers and pulling out old dishtowels.  I snatched one back and said, "you can't throw that out, it belonged to my mother."  Kristin reminded me that it was just a dishtowel and asked why I wanted to keep it as it was old, stained and thin.  I told her that every time I used it or just saw it in the drawer, it reminded me of my Mother.  There were things all over the house that my mom had painted, my sister had given me for my 16th birthday, I had made in the 3rd grade with clay and I was still hanging on to all that junk.  I even have antiques in my house that I don't even like because they belonged to my family and I couldn't possibly give them away or sell them.  All of the sudden I realized that I certainly didn't need to hang on to clutter and useless junk and collectables just because I loved the person that it belonged to or the one who gave it to me 30 years ago.  My mother did that, and although I love her, I'm not her.  I started to believe that maybe I could get rid of the things that I don't actually use, love or even like.

 

Now, I have added an antiques dealer into the picture.  Although my mother held on to her memories all her life, I don't have to do the same.  I can remember her just fine from the things she left me that I do love and will keep and use.  I don't need a dishtowel or an ugly bedroom suite to remember her.  I also don't need that ceramic cat that my sister painted to resemble my first every kitty (who died 40 year ago by the way!)  

 

After that, I was totally liberated.  I couldn't toss things into piles fast enough.  My house, although still in process, is getting better and better.  Plus I have discovered plastic bins for storage!  Who would have thought they would be useful when an old broken down box has always "worked" for me.   

 

Just had to take a minute to write. 

Jane

Your Love It, Use It, or LOSE It Stories!
girl in box 
Jessica,
The last month has been hectic as I sort and purge for my move to Illinois. You know that David and I don't have the "typical" volume that most our age, but we made a pact. David calls it, "movin' outside the mainstream". We have literally touched everything we own. We have found a strange freedom in what we kept...knowing that we have a real attachment to those things that remain.
In the process, I found a box full of "costume" jewelry. I took them to the jeweler who discovered that some of the pieces were actually 22 k gold! I have no emotional attachment to the pieces...but am VERY appreciative of the $2500.00 gold scrap! Woo Hoo!
We are now down to the final sorting of two tubs of papers, burning pounds of old documents that are no longer needed instead of moving them AGAIN!
 
I will be in Illinois this summer living in a little cottage on a lake. Though I'll be working very hard in my new role as creative director, my evenings will be devoted to finishing some things like.......
  • scan all the photos and the slides from my parents and put together a cd for my brother, nephews, and for my daughter
  • create a dvd of my Mother's photos to be used (someday) at her life celebration
  • I've sorted my fabrics into colorways, and will create a "sample" for my Mumu Art Quilt, which I'll take to market next fall
  • plan to swim each day with my Lab and lose the extra 15# I gained during the last two years of being a student
 
Let others know that this kind of purging CAN be done - it is not easy, but it is, as Martha Stewart says, "....a good thing...."!
 
Always my best,
Jenni 
Altoona Mirror Talks to Room to Breathe
 
Read the entire article here:
Dementia Awareness Book Written By Local Author
Cindy Keith 

Are you a caregiver who is struggling to care for a loved one with any type of dementia?

 
Cindy Keith, RN, BS, CDP has just published "Love, Laughter, & Mayhem - Caregiver Survival Manual For Living With A Person With Dementia" just for you. 
 
This is a collection of stories about people with dementia Cindy has known, loved, and worked with and every story has a lesson to teach caregivers.  Your life can change for the better, and at the same time, improve the life of your loved one. 
 
Order now at
www.mindinmemorycare.com but if you receive this message on or before June 10, 2010, you're in luck, you will receive a ton of bonus gifts along with it! 
 
Simply go to the website, and from there to amazon.com to get the book.  You may then return to the website, enter your amazon confirmation number and choose from any or all of the gifts that are being offered only on June 10th.  You and your family deserves less chaos in your life, and this book will help you achieve that. 
 
Purchase 2 hours (min.) and get a copy of Love, Laughter and Mayhem FREE!

 

 

  
Click Here to Buy
 
Side Effects of Purchase
:
  Feelings of Joy, Happiness, Ear to Ear Smiling, Inner Calm, Space on shelves and cabinets, ability to find items quickly and easily, and Energy to spare!


Offer Expires:  6/30/10-Minimum of 2 hour session required.