 Hello, and good afternoon. We are here today with Nicole. Goodbye, and I'm Angela Brown and we are here And I've got a really interesting session for you today because Here we are at the holidays and as we approach the holidays some of us have relatives coming over and some of us are gonna Open that closet door. We're gonna show up whatever we can inside and we're gonna hope that everything kind of looks clean And tidy when the relatives get here but what we do know is Is that somewhere between now in the end of the year we got to open that closet door We got to go back through everything and maybe there's a better way than just shoving stuff in a closet Yeah, so today we're gonna have that discussion about what do you do and how do you organize your house and About those holiday decorations. What do you do with the holiday decorations before and after the holidays and all the things? So please help me welcome Nicole. Goodbye. Nicole. How are you today? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm very good. Thanks for being here today. Thanks for having me All right, so you wrote a book you wrote a book called the art of organizing Tell me about the book and then I want to jump in and I want to hear all the details I'll show you the book right here the art of organizing Yes, I Have been an organizer for 23 years and I am also an artist and I decided to put all of the Methods that I've been teaching not only doing classes and workshops But teaching all of my clients and many clients would call me again and again and say hey Can you teach our a group this you know? Can you show us that you know particular method that has worked so well? So I decided to put it in a book and I'm also an artist so the book is illustrated I did over 80 illustrations and it just came out in June. So yeah So when you say you're an artist you literally sat down and you drew all the illustrations and you you Explained how we organize instead of just telling us exactly I wanted it to be a very fun approachable Read you know, I I have been looking at organizing books you know for decades now and You know, it's very great information, but it's a bit dense You know, it's a bit intense and to me. This is such a visual medium It's such a visual career really and without showing examples I just felt like something was missing and when I would go to my clients homes I found myself always drawing something for that. I'd say oh, you need a magazine box for this It would be like what is that? Oh, okay. Let me draw a sketch for you. Here it is. Oh Then they say, oh, yeah I know exactly what you're talking about or I would say here's you need some shoe shelves And we can stack them up and again, they'd be like, what do you mean? So I found that once I gave a visual it was much easier for us to share this common language So what is it? What is a shoe shelf? well, ideally I recommend they're made of melamine and They usually they come flat in a box You put them together with a you know, a couple of screws here and there But basically it's two flat shelves Making the floor your bottom shelf So you end up with three levels of being able to stack your shoes and I recommend those way better than like the little curved wire or Something slanted that has a little lip on it I like the straight flat shelving because you can stack another set of shelves on top of it and you can end up basically with six or seven layers of shoe shelves and I also Recommend instead of it's funny a lot of people put their shoes into the closet Where the back is facing out And I recommend just flip it do one shoe one shoe front and one shoe to the back So you can see the front of your shoe That's really when you're getting dressed. That's the part you're gonna see or anyone's gonna see no one's really looking at your heel They're looking at the front of the shoe. So on a flat surface. I like that You can have both visuals and that also saves space. You can fit more pair of shoes usually across the shelf What a great tip. All right, so we're like four minutes in we've already got a really great tip about a stackable shoe shelf and Turning the shoe backwards and forward so that you've got one shoe back and one shoe front You can see the front of the shoe and it saves space and that way it will help you decide to use your shoes Instead of just letting them sit there in the closet exactly collecting dust, which we don't this was awesome Thank you so much for joining us today Many more tips I love questions. So please fire away. Well, that was awesome Okay, so so you wrote this book the art of organizing and it's illustrated so that somebody that wants to get organized for the new year For example can not only pick up a copy for the holidays and give it away as a gift Yeah, the person they love that they don't know how to tell here's how to get organized But so tell us you also in addition to this have just gone through a certification program Where you are one of I think only a hundred people in the country that are in the world in the world in the world. Yes Oh my goodness. Yeah, so so tell us about the virtual or a professional organizer certification. Sure. That's awesome Yes, thank you. So basically You know all the most people do hands-on organizing That's kind of the way we've been doing it and I've been doing it for a couple of decades And I started thinking about there's got to be a better way or a different way to reach more people and You know, I had that idea in mind with my book Like I thought it was very important for everyone to have access to Learn these skills because they really are just skills that somehow along the way we need to have been taught or shown these skills so I went to one of the organizing conventions and Sure enough someone told me about a teacher who was issuing certifications and She's you know an official guru in our industry and she's very highly respected very well known and I took the course and now I am a certified virtual organizing professional and It's very exciting because many organizers possibly Do something of that nature from time to time with a client and I had done that as well But I felt that I wanted a structure to it. So with this certification We've learned a lot of things about the virtual process It definitely is for people that are a little more high-functioning, but not necessarily It's just more for someone who perhaps they don't want somebody in their space perhaps they want to just manage their time and They want only to show me a certain portion of the house. Maybe they don't want me to see Everything they're gonna say I just want to look at this closet. So it gives the client more control as to their comfort level and It's a lot less expensive because you know, let's face it organizing Professionals they can get pricey because usually we worked in three to four hour blocks of time and that's very helpful, but it's also expensive and in virtual we only do sessions for one hour at a time one one and a half hours maximum and The benefits are you get myself the person who is guiding you professionally to give you the best insights and Information on how to organize your space But the client has more control of the decision-making not that an organizer ever comes in and says this is what you do No, you really it's a collaboration. You know, we work together. We talk about it and really explore what will work for that client So let's pretend for a second that I'm the client. Yes, so I call you up on the phone and I'm using my phone Do I look at my phone and not like are we doing FaceTime when we're having a conversation? Or do I need like a little stand to put my phone on and I'm gonna face it now towards my closet? Like what what is the process? Yes? So both, you know in the beginning we will face each other and the wonderful thing about The process which I'll get to in a second, but yes, you're right It's very helpful to have a stand and you'll do, you know reverse camera so that I can see what you are seeing So if we're going to work on this dresser in your closet that has shelves it has drawers But there's like, you know tons of things in front of it you threw in the Duvets you threw in boxes of old clothes and shoot you can't even get to that dresser I need to see that then we break it down into small parts But the whole session on a FaceTime format the also the really helpful thing is between sessions a client has Total access to me. They can text me. They can show me their progress. They can ask questions I want to buy this product. Do you think it will work? You know am I ready for this yet? That's one helpful thing. The other thing is I keep a journal with the client in every session I write the synopsis of what our goal was what we worked on what the feedback has been And then where we go to them on the next session and the client and I share this journal so they are constantly seeing their progress to and That's another great thing. We've learned about the virtual process is that The learning that is shared has been Exponential because it has been thought, you know in science for up to now saying once You know you turn eight years old your brain's like a sponge And then you just you don't have that sponginess and you don't remember things anymore You can't learn new things but now the science has proven to us that that isn't true and we in fact are Constantly learning and creating new synopsis if we have new skills. So in this Virtual process I am imparting knowledge to the client so that they can reduce Bad habits so those synopsis will quietly and slowly disappear and then New synopsis and new habits are being learned. So with the repetition, you know, we meet once a week or twice a week They are learning these skills. So there is science behind it It's not just you know, just oh, let's make it convenient because there is there's a lot that the client gets out of it That's really helpful. I want to stop for just a second speaking of helpful I don't want to say thanks to everybody that showed up today You've got a whole bunch of friends that showed up today. We've got Nick. Hey Nick How you doing today? Glad that you're here. We've got charity charity. I'm glad that you're here. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas We've got electro magic Electro magic. I don't know what that is, but I want to know more that sounds like fun. Hello and welcome We've got Rachel Rose from England. So good to be here. Guess what? It's so good to have you and thank you for your support I appreciate you showing up. We've got commander alpha turkey. I don't know what that is either, but oh my goodness I'm so glad this is fun. Yeah, this is fun you guys and thank you so much for being here Okay, I really appreciate this is a holiday weekend. You guys could be doing anything under the sun and you chose to hang out with us Yes, very much. Yes All right, so I got a question. We're talking about hiring you virtually. All right. This is really scary You said that you're taking pictures and there's a journal So what does this mean? Does this mean that there's a shared google drive or a shared dropbox? Does this mean that there's an app somewhere that I have my before and after pictures in? How do we stay on task with the same information so that I can see my progress visit to visit That I know as I'm learning the new things that I I can track my progress as as to what I've learned Yes, so that's a great question You know, it depends on the level of technology that a client is comfortable with but all of the above we can use google We can use dropbox It just depends and then I've worked with clients who really don't want to do any of that And so we just I just keep a word document going and then we send it back and forth They get to read the progress and they said, oh, well, you know They wanted to change the narrative a little I actually did learn this and in addition to that or maybe You know, I don't know if I like that idea. Can we revisit it next week or something? So we can send it back and forth. That's very easy So you're flexible based on the learning style of the person you're working Oh, I love that percent a hundred percent and that to me is the beauty of having experience This particular certification you can't just go and say, hey, I want to get certified You have to have around five or ten years already hands-on experience To understand how to impart my knowledge our knowledge to the client So it's it's kind of like taking this Uh organizing Career path and bringing it to another level Well, and I'm glad that you brought that up because there are a lot of people that jump into the industry And they say, okay, well, I got a camera So I'm a virtual coach or what have you and they don't have the know-how to get from point A to point B Through someone else's belongings So that is a really sticky subject and I want to uncover it today because you are the expert You've written the book you've got the certifications. I love it But here we are at the holidays. Yeah And many of us have families that are coming in and many of us Have that one relative that walks in and they kind of got their nose up in the air And they wander around and they start like running their leaves Their fingers across the leaves of your plants to see if you dust it and what have you and you're like, oh I know you didn't right, but we know those people are coming They're going to be running their hands across the top of the fridge and they're going to be looking for dust So they can shame us and what have you So All right, where do we start if we're just like normal everyday average people and we just have like normal everyday average clutter in our homes Relatives are coming and we've got like two days. What do we do? Okay? Well, you just have those two days I mean the thing is, you know, there is a difference between clean and decluttering So that in and of itself is a little different, you know If dust is there dust is there. I don't think any level of organizing changes that But in so far as the visual, how do we handle that? You know the our eyes need a rest when we see a room that has stuff every single square inch That is what's dizzying. You know, that's what it makes us a little unsettled actually and the you know, a couple of quick tips is Remove things that maybe don't pertain to the holiday Maybe you have things that are from summertime or you've got stuff in there from the fall We'll now we're winter and holiday. So, you know, eliminate things that are kind of the obvious And then I I always like to say for the holidays just do little Like um Accents, you know, you don't have to fill the entire table of the back of the sofa with all the holiday decor And same with any surface just do little vignettes, you know, I've seen it where I always recommend like Do one little story, you know, you have maybe you have a tree with a small tree decor Little lights and maybe you do a little bit of something sparkly Maybe you do fairy lights or you do like bold color pine cones or Just as just enough that we feel festive. There's no need to I mean, yes Some people love to bring out the train set and the cotton batting and they want the whole winter scene And that's beautiful, but that is also a specialty. It's you know, it's not for every household every day So I would say definitely keep them into small little vignettes And does the company Determine how much stuff you have And the reason I say that is if you have people that are coming for a two hour window Yeah, are you only decorating the room that they're going to be in and is that the room we want to declutter or do we feel like we have to Declutter the whole entire house in case they take themselves on a tour well, that is that's a really good question and I wonder about that sometimes because It's cultural culturally based if I am almost also from france and I have french family in france You never show people your house You come to the dining room or the living room and that's all you see you don't get the tour They don't do that. It's like here. Let me show you my bathroom and all my guest rooms and it's not like that So I guess it depends on your company if they in fact Want to see the house because it's something you've done new that you want to show them Then yeah to tidy it up is always helpful. Now depending on what level you're starting with now if you're just saying Today is day one and now you've got tomorrow and sunday is the day. Yeah, it is. Yeah, and then what? Right. So there are other ways to make things appear less clutter. For example Get some pretty trays and you can put some of your whatever is floating around your kitchen. You know, you've got envelopes You've got scotch tape. You don't have room in the drawer. Just put it all on a tray So now you can move the stuff to a corner and it's out of the way But it still looks Corraled and together it has, you know a little bit more of a pretty You know accent Worses all over the tabletop. So that would be my quick fix. Um one of the Very important principles that I do teach and I think is really important to understand it's called back to one And what that would do is you would need a little more than the two days, you know between now and christmas But let's say you have the time and you were going to do this after christmas for future I recommend something called back to one and that is from my tv production days Where basically what that means is you establish how you want that room to look and that's your baseline So we call that back to one and then of course you live your life and you have family and you have kids And you have pets and you have all kinds of things happen But you know where back to one is and that's the key to achieve your one Your baseline and always know you can return to it easily So maybe it won't happen for this christmas, but Definitely for after the holidays Establishing your back to one in every room is very helpful All right, so in my house I have uh about 10 employees at any given time that work out of my house And so I have a great big conservatory It's a great big room of nothing but windows and it is wall to wall Big tables and then there are rolly chairs that are like office chairs with wheels on them And so during the holidays we had a party and this is like last week And so my back to one is that room wall to wall with tables and then the chairs are there But since we had a party I knew that I wanted everybody near the kitchen with all the food So they're not tracking food all through the house to that room where they would sit I see so I rolled up the great big oriental rug that's in my living room And I brought in those big tables or great big eight foot tables I brought in a couple of those and put them back to back and then went over to the side And I brought in all the rolly chairs and then we had tablecloths over the top So we had this great big eating area that was next to all the food And then after the party was over we went back to one and everything was returned back to its original place Is that what you're talking about? It's exactly right. It's exactly right now in your Case it sounds like there's a lot more simplicity to what's on the table tops in general for your back to one, right? I don't know. I'm guessing but at home we tend to have a lot more things We have our vases and we have our books and we have you know pretty decor and memorabilia from a trip So we tend to have a little more stuff But if you can establish that back to one and that is your happy place That's your peaceful place Then once you know it you go right back to it like you did at your office for sure Well, and then the the holiday decorating becomes the issue because if you are are going to in this particular case I kind of upset the whole house in order to have a party Where before it was actually tidied up and now i'm going to upset it from its Business like version to it's more like home party like version Exactly tell us tell us about When you upset everything and now you're decorating for the holidays and you said keep it minimal and have hints of the holiday Yes, share with us how you would upset the you know getting getting a whole room ready for a guest or a family to come stay with you That's not your back to one Scenario so basically you're saying the guest room area or just the Kitchen living room where you're going to be with your guest. Let's get down and dirty with it Let's pretend like a family of five is going to come stay with you over the holidays And your whole entire house is going to be upturned and renovated moved around and stuff's going to get shuffled Yeah, okay, we got to make room for five people and all their stuff Okay, and then what's the question on that part? How do you get it back to one when they leave? How do we make it manageable and make them feel at home and it's not it's not so cluttered Well, that does come down to A quantity, you know, we collect things we have beauty things. We love our stuff. Everyone's got stuff Well, it becomes a matter of quantity. Do you need five vases out? You're going to have a family of five Maybe one vases enough put the rest away And that goes for every little seating area. Do you need 12 art books out? Maybe not. Let's move those to another shelving area So you kind of start by section by section That's another one of my principles is sectional organizing where You really look at each room and say this is going to be the reading section So now I'm going to put all the books over there So they're out of my way and this is going to be maybe where the little kids This is the kids section all their coloring books their art books their toys They're maybe you put a blanket out for them and that's the kids section So we kind of create these sections and clear away anything that doesn't need to be in that section for that particular You know five guest weekends and you can Really get rid of a lot of clutter because in in terms of What those five guests need? You know, you simplify it. You say, okay, if we're going to play games We've got a few games in this section and when we're going to have dinner We're going to be at this table And you know if you need to move the coffee table because you need to open the bed As long as you can clear away You know your favorites and just put the necessities for that group. I think you clear a lot of clutter out of the way Um, I think that's probably a good a good tip what happens when you are feeling desperate And you are feeling paralyzed like I don't know where to start and I know that I need to create the game section and I got to create a Kids kids book and coloring section or what have you and then still an eating area that That can be moved maybe during the the evening so that we can pull out the height of bed or whatever Or where do you start? Um, if you are just feeling like there's there's too much to do and I'm I'm stuck Well, I think you kind of prioritize, you know, you say what's the most important thing? Well, the most important for the Guests coming is where they're going to eat, you know, that's kind of like let's do the kitchen We're cooking. We're eating. Let's work on the kitchen. So if it's overwhelming, which a lot of times I know it is You start, you know, if you can start weeks in advance put in one hour a day Just do the table tops or the counter tops the next day You move over to the dining area or maybe to a week for the kitchen a week for the dining area And the dining area tends to be very central It tends to be a place where everything gets placed mail book bags, you know Bills everything you're working on it ends up at the dining table. So you have to establish you're back to one really and One, you know, if there's absolutely no system Then you containerize even though I always recommend containerizing is the last thing we do um, but if you're in a pinch and you really need to start somewhere I would get large containers and then Um designate each container as a section. So then you're going to feel okay This entire box is going to be just my work stuff. This entire box is going to be just the You know backpacks and things everyone needs to get their day going when vacations over now You know, that is if you're really stuck and you're in a pinch But that is not ever the first thing I would recommend because then it's too convenient Then you move the box to the side and you say, well, I know what's in there. That's my work stuff So that is just at a last resort if you are, you know, people are coming and you're scrambling But other than that you want to always have your back to one system in place Okay, so if I hear you correctly the relatives are coming in two days We've got a family of five just in this made-up scenario and if you guys do have a family of five I'm not knocking yet. You know good luck. I I wish you the best all fun. Yeah But if that's the case, um We are going to start with the areas that the the holiday company is going to be in for the majority of the time Which is going to be the kitchen and the eating area So if we unclutter that area first, we've created a centralized hub that makes everyone feel welcome Like this is where the conversations will be there will be tea on the times when there's no Food and so there will be like hot tea or hot chocolate or something like that where everybody can sit and hang out And during the day when there's no food and the tables are clean Kids can sit at the tables and they can do the puzzles and the games and the coloring and everything So let's keep that sort of close so that we can just open that box and pull out the games and the coloring books And what have you and they can still sit at the table after the tables have been cleared from the food Exactly. So the dishwasher can be running while the kids are playing games and we can still hang out in this area So I'm guessing the next natural area would be the bathrooms Yes, very important. Of course if you're eating and drinking. Yes Okay, so the bathrooms that the company is going to use are those the priority bathrooms first Like if you have a chance to really double down and clean like the master bathroom or the guest bathroom The guest bathroom is probably going to come first, right? Yeah, I really would discourage guests to Come into my bedroom and my bathroom not that because it's a mess, but because that's like private um, and you know, no matter who your guests are it could be siblings. It could be your children, but You know, I think that there's areas that are A little more private and then there's areas that you want to share with everybody So the guest bathroom would be that In the united states not france, but in the united states, there is this thing I don't know why it is but people are like, oh, I want to see the house Little what have you done with the house since we were here last, right? There are a lot of families that will let go snooping about and they go look about But you want to share one secret with you. This is from the house cleaning perspective Okay, let's say and this goes back to what nicole said about cleaning is different from decluttering So let's say for example that your house is tidy, but it's not really clean And you didn't really have a chance yet to clean it. All right, here's the secret When it gets dark and the lights go out If you will find a light that's on the far end of the room And you'll turn it on like a small lamp that has a dimmer on it But put them enough light that you can see in the room without turning on the bright lights Okay, what happens is when the people go about snooping they're going to pop their head in the room and they're going to look around and go Oh, wow, this is an awesome room But they're not going to see all the dust and they're not going to see all the things You didn't get a chance to clean like they won't see cobwebs and all that stuff There's a dim light in the far corner of the room and they'll look at it go Oh, this is so cozy and so nice and then they'll leave without turning on the bright lights going You didn't get a chance to clean, right? That's a great idea So in the primary bath and this happened the other night when we had we had company as well in the primary bath Right above there's one of those great big monster tubs that nobody ever uses. It's just a big tub And right above that is a great big light. Okay, that kind of dims this makes this ambient light in the bathroom But it also casts this huge shadow across where the shower is And then the shower is where like all the shampoos and the razor and all the stuff is there And instead of like cleaning everything out like oh company is coming over. I got to make it look like it's showcase ready No, no, no leave your soap and your shampoo and all the stuff in the shower But turn on that light because it's a distraction light And like I say it casts the shadow into the closet And across the shower and it makes the whole room look nice and clean and what you see is this big tub Below that's all nice and clean. You're like, whoa, check it out. It's a huge tub Then your eyes see what you want people to see and it kind of distracts from the rest Okay, so that's your quick tip. I mean, I think that's a great quick tip right there The lighting lighting does change everything and you have the ambient lighting you have ambiance You know, you change it up exactly what you just said where you want people to focus Now I wanted to add one more thing. Excuse me. All right. Go ahead Um that you bring up a good point that you mentioned earlier you said That cleaning is quite different from decluttering and I would also like to add that Organizing is different from decluttering. So, you know, there's there's three kind of steps involved and my Favorite topic is the organizing although decluttering does usually need to come first Well, let's try and talk about the organizing for a second because a lot of people are not ready Or they're not able with different family members that are like, no, that's my stuff. Don't don't declutter. Don't get rid of it Yeah, and so we find ourselves in a situation of just organizing Let's talk about the organizing for a minute and how we deal with some of this stuff We have to organize that we can't get rid of and we just have too much of it Well, that's the key is too much of it. It's all really a matter of quantity Um, you know, the bigger the house the more stuff we put in it It's like ladies with their purse, you know, the bigger your purse the more you put in it And it to some degree it is a bit of a discipline, you know, you have to really ask yourself Do I need 10 vases? Well, actually seven of those I never use because they're really not my favorites And I actually don't even like them So you kind of need to take that moment to focus on each of those things to declutter um Because just just to have too much stuff, you know, I always say There's somebody else in the world that needs it way more than you do So I'm a big fan of donations repurposing upcycle reusing in other ways and You know, once you get started with it I think you it takes momentum and it and it encourages you to look at other rooms all the other spaces that You've been storing things for probably way too long So you just mentioned donations and one of the things I know about donations is I know In my town where the donation drop-offs are Yes, and so I have set up like if I'm going out to lunch and I'm going to a particular restaurant that is near the drop-off center I will have a box that every time I go to that restaurant. I will go to the drop-off on my way So there's a trigger that lets me know that hey, I'm going to that You know that restaurant near that is the the Salvation Army drop-off Therefore What stuff am I taking today and I just run around the house and go I haven't used this in a while I'm not using that. Uh, that's been around for way too long. I forgot about that And if there's something I think I might want but not using it. I'll put it in a closet It's like kind of like a holding closet And so I always open the holding closet and go okay, I haven't used anything in here for 90 days What am I okay getting rid of let me take that on the way to the restaurant Yeah, that way it's kind of a trigger to just reduce the stuff that we have Yes, I think that's an excellent idea. I always I also uh to add to that I like to always have a big shopping bag some kind of large bag in my closet at all times And I try something on and I go no never gonna wear it again I don't like it put it in the bag so that that bag is ready to go And then I have one in the garage which is a box and that one is for household goods So if I look at my lamp and I say, you know, I can't this lamp I looked at it for 30 years No need put the lamp in the box. So my box is now ready. So I consistently I'm looking around It's it's like any self-care, you know, we don't just do it once we have to continuously do that And you know constantly walk around the house and say now do I really like those placements? Because I've been using those for like 20 years. I think I can upgrade now or whatever So little things like that they they do add to your um quality of life, you know, just It does help when you get rid of things that you don't need or don't like It does help your um peace of mind and clarity So it all sort of is interconnected Well, as we talk about the holidays, I'm I'm really hoping that nobody gets new placements for Christmas That's like not a great gift or anything like that's not the coolest gift on earth But um, if you did get some new placements for Christmas, for example Getting rid of the old ones and you just brought this up There's a really great point just because you had something for 20 years does not mean you need to have it for another 20 Correct If you do nothing but change out the placements It could give your every meal setting a whole new feel or a whole new vibe And something as simple as getting rid of the old placements by making room for new ones can up upgrade or update Your meal setting Yeah, and so it's a little tiny thing just because we we took really good care of something and we hung on to it forever Doesn't mean we have to keep hanging on to it Exactly somebody out there needs those more than you do anymore You know right now you can you can maybe upgrade or change it out another thing I love along those lines is I love to set the table with pretty napkins, but I don't do cloth because it's just too high maintenance So I buy those larger napkins that usually people put as a hand towel in the bathroom I use those as a dinner napkin. So there's millions of patterns out there and for you know, maybe $10 I have enough To change out and add a whole new look to my entire dining table dining experience You know, it's those little things that really add to your quality of life Well, and I think when we become really crystal clear about what our Tell me the term again back to one back to one. Yeah back to one When we become really clear about what our back to one setup is It makes everything else really easy because for example, what I just heard Nicole say and I love this idea Is if you're back to one is like and let's let's walk through this logically for a second If you have a clear glass plate And your clear glass plate is your back to one And that is your setting you can dress that up with a different holiday napkin Whether it's valentine's day or it's christmas or thanksgiving or whatever And you can have the same set of dishes with something small Like a little stack of dinner napkins that you can change out and wash so they're reusable But that way you can dress something up without having gobs of extra sets of dishes for every single holiday So your back to one is something simple with what I heard Nicole say earlier And we kind of skipped by it. So i'm going to go back to it for just a second with a hint of She didn't say deck the halls with all the the griswold goodness She said a hint of glitter or tinsel or something that when your eyes are looking at this area of the room There's a hint of the holiday there. You're like, oh, yes, there's the holidays in this room, right without going all crazy We don't need to all this space. Yeah. Yeah And it's you know, also proportions, you know, depending on how big your space is is how big your little vignette's going to be and You know, maybe it doesn't need to be in every room. It depends on the size of your home the size of your apartment, whatever And your lifestyle and your lifestyle and as long as yeah as long as we're on the topic of organizing and decluttering we kind of know that We're all in tune to how do we simplify? Well, and I know um, I know I said lifestyle because this year I did not have time to decorate for the holidays I chose not to and I chose not to check this out. I chose not to in september So in september I said i'm not going to decorate for the holidays this year meaning We're not going to have outdoor lights and i'm not going to have uh 12 christmas trees in the house and all the things I'm not going to do that I don't have time number one We're hiring like crazy right now and going into the holidays I've got a bunch of projects that I need to work on and i'm going to be training new hires So i'm not going to decorate this year. And so I told everybody on our team I'm not going to decorate this year. And they're like, okay, so I got a verbal from my husband I got a verbal from everybody that comes to the house no decorating this year So what I did was I bought five plants and they were little plants I had like the red tinsel around the bottom like the red foil and they're like little christmas cactuses So they're red tin red tinsel red foil and green green things so red and green Okay, now we got the colors and I put them around the house so that when you look you're like Oh, there's a there's a hint a hint of the holiday Then we had a couple of holiday parties now. I'm going to tell you a trick I did I did a trick this year. It's the first year that I've ever done it and it was beautiful I scheduled all the holiday parties in the same week So that when I rolled up the rug and I brought the tables in they just stayed there night after night after night We did one party and then the next party and so on So that all the parties were at once and then I did bulk bulk cooking shopping and cooking and yes Yes, so what I did was and I everything's out on the countertop I made one deli tray and one deli tray and one deli tray and then I made one relish tray and one relish tray and one relish tray So I had every brilliant wrap them up and then put them in different refrigerators that I have so that You know this this refrigerator is one party pull everything out. We eat it I got take home boxes so everybody could take home the leftovers the next party came out the new crop pots came out I just Really repeat rinse and repeat party number two Brilliant. It was seamless. Yeah, the cool thing was for decorating. Yeah, where is my company coming? And my company is coming through the front entry door They're going to walk around the stairway and they're going to come into the great big main room That has all the tables and chairs and the food with which is right there by the kitchen That's the area that I'm decorating. That's it So I put a little Christmas tree in the the main area between the kitchen and the the eating area So that no matter where you are you can see the tree Right nice then I took as you walk into the house I took some tinsel and I wrapped it around the banister and I wrapped around Christmas lights around the banister So you walk in you're like, oh, it's Christmas and then you walk in and you have red table claws with the little plants And then there's a little hint of a tree in the corner done Okay, and that's that's what you're we're offering festive And it was a hint like oh, we didn't forget about the holiday Right There's a hint of the holiday without going all crazy because I don't have time I don't have time to do it Right But we were able to get all the parties in and we were able to do it in a timely manner So that everything happened kind of in synchronicity Mm-hmm And then it wasn't it wasn't overwhelm where there was so much holiday like look look like the holiday puked on itself You know what I mean? Right And I'm sure it's still all your guests still felt warm and welcome and festive and Really the little vignettes that you just mentioned is kind of what I was saying too It's like you have a little hint of this here and there and that's really what the season's about I mean, you know for some people. Yes, they can go all out, but I think it's a lot of this is for us to really go You know soul searching like how much is enough and and really kind of go on that theme of It's usually doesn't take much for it to be enough One thing one other thing that I did is on the island where all the food was I put one string Of colored christmas lights and I kind of strung up between all of the plates of food So that they all kind of lit up in a weird cool place and there was like the lights and festiveness All right. The the cool part about that is Um because Going into the holiday there was so much stress with all the other back stuff going on in the back of our lives That it was permission and and I have to preface this we lost my husband's father about six weeks ago And so him being ill in the funeral and a bunch of other things going on Didn't really allow me to To be present for the holiday the way that I would have lights to so i'm not trying to be a scrooge But I gave myself permission to say i'm not going to go all out this year and that's okay And that is okay because life happens and we all have to deal with stuff at different different levels, you know And that's a really heightened You know example of where life gets you and we have to be honest with ourselves And forget about the ant that's going to run her finger over the fridge We all have one of those don't we? Or a mother-in-law or you know one of those relatives Um, but but I do want to focus on There are things we can do that are going to get us back to What did you call it back to one? Uh, And I want us to start thinking in terms of what is our back to one What is our back to one in a simple term at the dinner table? What is what is back to one? And can I get back to one at the end of every meal? So that becomes the new norm Instead of us just saying well, I'll throw today's mail on the dinner table and then hope by dinner time What it's going to mysteriously disappear because it never does And it piles up day after day after day and then it becomes a big stack of stuff And then it becomes overwhelming and then it looks like you gave permission to everything end up there Now packages are there and now bags and Maybe your jacket gets thrown there and an old pair of socks and you know, it just adds up So definitely you don't want that to be your back to one Um, so are you asking me what that would look like then what would a back to one be? Well, if you will give us a quick overview in a home What are the back to ones like there's a back to one at the dinner table What it's going to look like when it gets back to one? Yes, and then there's a back to one after we brush our teeth at the at the bathroom vanity There's a back to one where we reset everything for the next time we come in Share with us what some of the back to ones are so we can start focusing on those tiny little areas of the home Maybe it doesn't all happen between now and christmas But it can be as we reboot the new year. You can start thinking in terms of what is this area That is a back to one. What does that look like? Yeah, so I think a lot of that Like you said, there's definitely each room of the house needs to have it's back to one And a lot of it is decision making, you know when I go to a client's home and I see stacks and piles of things I know a lot of decisions haven't been made So it is, you know getting real with yourself and saying, okay, I'm going to make the My office back to one. What do I really want this to look like when I end every day? Because ideally you spend 15 minutes at the end of a day getting that space back to one So when you walk in the next day, you're ready. You're inspired. You're ready to go You're not bogged down again because Let's face it when you see all the clutter it is Not very inspiring So I would really look at every room of your house including like you said the bathroom What's your vanity going to look like back to one? And there may be two days that you just can't get it all back to one that day or the next day Well, then you spend another you know the third day spend maybe 20 minutes Putting everything back where you're back to one is and that even goes so far as to look at every drawer and so that Because each step of the way Your things need a place to go. So what I call the bottleneck you have to identify Where's the bottleneck if the drawer is so full of stuff and Whatever has accumulated Then clearly your vanity can't get back to one because there's nowhere for those things to go So I I do recommend, you know, look for that bottleneck. What's holding up the space? Um, you know, like the pattern of where you're going to put stuff So ultimately everything every piece of paper needs a home and that's really what back to one is about is Making those decisions. What do I want this space to look like where I feel I am clear headed. I'm peaceful. This room looks serene to me I like where it is and that's your back to one So even at that dining table, it may not be a cleared off dining table. Maybe you keep a centerpiece maybe you have a couple candles or Whatever fits that room or that ambiance you want to create that's your back to one Um, so my question is how useful is it to take a picture of back to one and say, okay This is what my bathroom vanity looks like when it's back to one Yeah, and then before you leave for the night like, okay, I just brushed my teeth And I'm really tired like this is the night that I fall asleep with my makeup on I forgot to put my retainers in Before you leave you're like, whoa, where's that picture and you're like, whoa, that's back to one And I'm looking around you're like, whoa, wait a second. This is out of place That's out of place and you match it up with what you've decided is back to one How useful would a picture be so that you can remind yourself until it becomes the new norm That's a great idea and and and the thing is to remember it does change, you know, life is not static We don't live in that photo moment Um, you may add a new product. You may change up the blow dryer You might add, you know, you don't like those Whatever hair products now you want to try the new products So it it does have a fluid, you know way about it But definitely taking a picture is a great idea and it's funny but having a tray Having all the little bits and things that are just sort of floaty putting them in a tray Not a giant tray, but just a small like any kind it could be made out of wood or or ceramic or whatever Just putting it in a tray Just kind of corrals the things that are just sitting around until you have that time to put them where they belong So it's not only about what back to one looks like it's also about What the drawers and the cabinets look like how did you divide up those spaces to receive the things that are on the countertop? Does that make sense? Yes, and you talked about containerizing As a quick as a quick pass by and said it wasn't your favorite thing Oh, no, I love it, but it's not the first thing we do It's it's a go-to for me for problem areas So for example, I I'm one of these people that when I get dressed in the morning I can scatter stuff like from here all the way across the vanity and just spread it out like look at everything that I have And like what am I going to use today and just make a big mess? I can do that every day But at the end of that session whatever that looks like it goes back inside a little travel case And it goes inside my gym bag because I'm going to put my makeup on again the next morning when I go to the gym Right, and so it doesn't matter where where I am putting makeup on whether it's late in the night for a party Whether it's before I jump on a youtube show or something or whether I'm coming from the gym I'm going to scatter everything out because that's just how I do and then when I'm done Everything gets put back inside the little travel bag and it goes back in the gym bag And then I wipe the counter down and my goal is my back to one is I'm going to wipe the counter down As if I was never here And I'm going to wipe it down to remove all the hair and any toothpaste Anything because whoever comes by after me. I want them to feel like oh wow check it out I'm the first one here at this space. Yes to me. It's like a little game I play with myself back to one is like it's going to look like I was never here Wow, but then it's not left strewn out and about because it would be really easy for me to get in that trap Yes, and I see what you're saying and how that relates to the containers. No, I love the container conversation. However You first want to declutter Decide what you're keeping Organize where it will go. So you have your sections You know, you decide this is going to be where I do all my hair products This is going to be all the face products Then you buy the containers because now you know what you're keeping. That's my point Not because I often I've gone to people's homes and they'll say I went to container store And I bought all these pretty things and I have boxes and bags and how can I can't get organized? And I'll be like well because do you know what you're keeping? Do you know what you needed to store? Did you realize that you think about how you need to retrieve those items in your case? That's a great solution is you have the makeup bag because the next time you go You're using that makeup, you know, you're going to grab it and put it in your gym bag So things like that Makes it so that you've already thought through what kind of container needs to be used for those items So that's what I mean where it's the last thing we think about, you know, you have to really designate Where the things are going to go and how they can be stored Depending on what it is. Yeah It is it is a real issue because I too just being inside people's homes for 32 years I have walked in and people are like, hey, can you help me unclutter this? And they got all the containers and I'm a big fan of clear plastic bins because I could see with my eyes What's inside and they'll open a dresser or a drawer and it will have a whole bunch of clear containers That are just packed with things like, you know, band-aids Makeup or whatever and it's just like gobs of different kinds and I'm like Okay, now that it's in a container. That's awesome But what of these are used and they're like none of them Pitch it pitch donate. I mean depends on what it is. There's you know, there's a lot of Service centers that really need toiletries and you know, depending as long as it's not old or expired or whatever, but You know, I think a lot of people maybe just don't want to sit down and make the decisions because it is a lot of decision making Yeah, yes. No. Yes. No. I'm keeping this. I'm tossing it. I don't use it whatever And and it has that you have to also be okay sometimes saying All right, the date says the cream is expired. I'm gonna throw it out not there's so much cream left Can't throw it out, but then you don't use it for two more years So, you know, you have to give yourself that permission that hey, you didn't use that product Okay, it didn't work for you. So you got to get rid of it. It's expired Maybe the product is separating you have to be okay with letting that go All right. So before we leave the holiday conversation because there's there's still some holiday left and it's still upon us What is your suggestion or ideas? Or things that we're going to receive as gifts for Christmas this year That are things that people that don't know us very well They bought us a gift out of the goodness of their heart and we take one look at it. We're like yikes Cool. Thank you. And you know, you're never gonna use it. Yeah, you know that it's the wrong size I don't know why I'm not I'm not a Extra small size person and yet there's a relative that every year will buy me a shirt or something That's like extra extra small. It's like this big. I'm like Thank you. I'm flattered and so can't wear it What do we do with all that stuff? Well, so yes once you kind of put the sections where those are the returns And look again, you got to be honest with yourself. Is it worth the return? maybe something isn't That expensive and really to go ahead of your way to go return that thing You might as well put it in your donation bag because it's probably brand new So that's thing one thing two is I have a little gift drawer And things that I love that I maybe aren't gonna I'm not going to use but they're great Someone else might like it and I could give it as a gift. So I have my gift drawer So you kind of evaluate, you know, what what is the item? And can somebody else use it or do you know someone that can use it? So those are kind of the three categories But then I also have a little bit of a wild card where I have a cousin that loves to crochet And she crocheted me this beautiful Um like scarf wrap It just wasn't going to work for me and it's beautiful And it's so much hand work and I appreciate it. So I keep it in my closet And when she comes over, I'll just you know, have it out. I'll look attending near my coat You know, I'll I'll just kind of keep that as a Keepsake now if she gave me one every year and I had 10 of them would I keep them all? No, I would donate them, you know, I there's there's it's a matter of quantity, you know It's about decision making and um, sometimes we have to make the hard decisions, you know, but With the gifts of re-gifting. I think that's a wonderful opportunity to Maintain your own gift drawer Well, and I like the idea that you have, uh, a specific place where it is designated for re-gifting Yeah, and um, I might add to that that you put a post-it note or something on it that says that Cheryl gave me this so that we don't re-gift it in Cheryl's circles. So the Cheryl's very Feel like oh, I just gave that to Angela and look at this three days later And she's already re-gifted it to someone else that I'm related. Yes. Yes. You do have to keep that in mind for sure That's a good point And I would I would suggest if there's no gift return because sometimes you don't get a gift receipt as a return To return it. Like you said, sometimes it's not worth the time and energy to do that Yeah, and so I love the fact that you have a designated place for that And so I'm going to recommend in order to prevent just buying random things Yes, and overstocking and just buying online because shopping is easy online But to shop first from your shelf or your drawer of re-gifts It's going to a house and for example, I don't drink alcohol But I don't know why every single time every single time someone comes to my house They bring me a bottle of wine like hey, here's your wine. I'm like, oh, thanks And I have this wine shelf and I put it in there It looks like we got a lot of wine so like hey and if people come over they can have some wine But I don't really drink wine but there I have wine. I can also re-gift Yes, right? So if I go to someone else's house, I can take one of those bottles of wine without me going to buy a bottle of wine And say hey, there's a bottle of wine. Welcome, you know, I can re-gift that So what can you re-gift and I love that I love the question This holiday season, what do you have that you can re-gift that's in new or like new condition? Yeah, someone has given you that you are gracious for but you know, you're never going to use it And you are available to then Pass it along its way to someone who either who needs it or wants it or you feel obligated to give them a gift as well Exactly and that's a really nice thing. I mean, you know, I think the joy In the gift giving is really in the giving so once the gift has been given to us that I don't think that person is really They don't they're not, you know, kind of keeping tabs on what happens to that gift It's the joy of the gift giving has been done and the gracious accepting of the gift So I grew up with a grandmother that always had she had a gift closet And it was so much fun to go in her gift closet. I don't know if she had all brand new things Maybe they were re-gifted. I don't know But there was always great stuff in there and it would be like she'd be like, okay Go pick something today from the gift closet. Wow really? So it's kind of a fun thing to just collect those. I think that's a wonderful Way to keep on giving All right, so we have back to one. Yeah, we have a re-gift drawer shelf closet room I mean depends on who you are and who your grandma is. So I love that Yeah Um, we have minimizing our decorations so that it's going to reduce the frustration when it comes time to declutter and put it all the way and Store it for the holidays. Yeah Any tips for taking down the ornaments and taking down the the decorations and trying to organize all of that stuff to make it Either easier next year when we decorate again or the storing process between now and next year so that we can access our other stuff That we do need easier Yeah, definitely. I love these, uh ornament storage boxes Um, they're all over online. You can buy them anywhere and they're clear sides So that you mentioned you want to know what's in it because ornaments come in so many different varieties They're either breakable or they're fabric made or their Family heirlooms or whatever and it's really nice to keep them separate and these, you know organizing Storage containers have each one a little compartment So I would highly recommend that And then for the lights to get a reel our eel, you know, they're real that you can wrap the whole lighting system on and You know, you always want to store things for retrieval. That's a key concept. You know, it's not like make it go away it's So that next year when you go to it it's ready and I do Uh recommend wherever people have storage shelving. It could be a closet an attic basement Where your shelving units are you have all of these different storage boxes and they're clearly labeled So Christmas is going to be on one shelf and you've got everything you need for christmas time And then you have another shelf. Maybe it's fall decor And maybe another one is holiday decor for your little vignettes And now each of those clear boxes. They might be a little bit Frosted plastic, you know, I'm not saying it has to be clear like glass But each of those has a label on it so that next year when you go to pull it out, you know, exactly which boxes to take So I'm a big fan of that Well, this has been so incredibly helpful We've learned just a series of tips here that we can use to get us from today through christmas And then from christmas to the new year and then from new year to spring cleaning time So I love love love this conversation. Oh, thank you so much for joining us today Tell our listeners where they can go to find you and also hire you for your virtual coaching. Yes So I have my instagram page. It's at nicole debate my full name and I see ol e g a b a i And I have a website my company is called be organized. So the website is just the letter b hyphen organized with zed at the end dot net And um, you have all kinds of information on there with types of services You can email me from there and I do offer a free consultation in general But especially now with the virtual because people have questions of how it works and I'm happy to Set up a consult with you Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us And thanks to everybody that jumped in and said hi and your comments in the in the notes in the side here I'm going to drop back by and I'm going to answer as many of those as I can after this is over And for those of you that are watching the replay feel free to leave your comments in the notes below I want you guys to also pick up a copy of uh nicole's book which is called the art of organizing And I will leave links in the notes to that as well Because this is one of those things that I I really think this is going to be a game changer for you with the pictures So thank you so much nicole for joining us today. This is so much fun. Well, you're welcome. It was great Thanks for having me. Oh by the way, the book is available on amazon or any bookstore It's distributed through ingram books. So it's um, you know worldwide distribution Awesome. Thank you guys so much. If I don't see you before have a very very merry christmas and a happy new year