There appears to be a large majority of folks who view decluttering in terms of loss. They fear letting go because it will somehow cause them to lose a part of themselves (their memories, who they used to be, a loved one, etc.) When your midlife years have descended and the idea of decluttering makes you feel like you are losing your life, I have a re-frame for you. You aren’t losing, you’re pruning! You are cutting away the old growth that’s dead and making way for the new growth that’s coming. Pruning is good,in fact it’s necessary to encourage new growth. And your midlife should be a season of growth!

The Growing Season

The child rearing years seem far removed from your midlife, but let’s pause and remember that growing season.  I remember mine as crazy busy. Three children with needs and demands (and schedules, oh the crazy SCHEDULES!) A career I loved that required a lot of mindshare and travel. Cooking dinners for my family of 5 that could only work if I planned out the meals in advance and shopped on the weekends. And a marriage that mostly functioned as a tag-team for the kids. There was barely time to look up, let alone appreciate the growth that was happening. Thank goodness I took a lot of pictures!

The child rearing years are a whirlwind – a fun whirlwind, I grant you – but not a time where you are doing much pruning. Your family is too busy growing! The amount of time, money and space in your home consumed by sports equipment, craft supplies, birthday party gifts, holiday decorations and board games was vast. And don’t forget we were raising these kids in the pre-streaming era. So there were cabinets full of DVDs and CDs as well!

Now in your midlife, you have a moment to look up and notice just how much stuff mindlessly entered your home during those crazy busy growth years.

The Brain Connection

Let’s pause at the conclusion of child rearing and your home full of stuff. It will wait as we delve a little deeper into this concept of pruning. Want some validation for how decluttering your midlife is a gain vs. a loss? Let’s turn to the latest in brain science. I was recently exposed to the benefits of pruning through The Scientist In The Crib, a book about babies’ brains that I recently finished, as well as a podcast on the changes in the menopausal female brain. Both were fascinating and went into depth on this concept of pruning.

It turns out that through the course of our lives our brains don’t just make more and more connections. Instead, they grow many more than they need. Over time, deleting (pruning!) old connections is just as important as adding new ones. In fact, it’s necessary to be able to add new ones. Your brain is naturally decluttering all the time, you just don’t realize it! 

And there are certain biological times of life where there is more pruning happening, especially for women. The first is adolescence, when your body and mind are changing in anticipation of bearing children. The second is post-babies, when the changes are focused on raising children (and accumulating a ton of stuff!) The third is midlife, when the brain is shedding the deadwood and making room for a post-children future!

Cool, right? And logical? Now let’s go back to the house full of stuff you collected over the child rearing decades.

The Well-Pruned Midlife

If your brain has begun a major pruning effort as it prepares for the next season, can’t you follow suit and prune down the clutter in your home? I am not saying you have to get rid of everything. Only the things that aren’t relevant for your new-and-improved midlife.

Maybe a grown child’s old room gets pruned back and decorated as an AirBNB guest room, using your home to fund midlife travel! Or maybe the dumping-ground closet transforms into craft-studio storage space that inspires you to create. When all the old sports gear is cleared out of the garage you have room for the new E-Bikes that you can take out on your commitment-free weekends. The possibilities are endless and specific to you, but they won’t happen until you prune!

I have found that the pruning concept enables me to let go of any guilt I may harbor when donating things that were once important but no longer have relevance. It also gives clarity to my purpose, which helps with decision fatigue. My home now feels like a reflection of how my husband and I want to spend the new-found time we find ourselves with in this season. I’m so excited for the future that I spend less time mourning the past, and decluttering feels like gain instead of a loss.

I’m hoping this reframe helps people embrace the incredible opportunity that is our midlife years. Decluttering your midlife could be the pruning party that encourages a new season of growth you haven’t yet imagined!

The post Decluttering Your Midlife: When a Loss is a Gain appeared first on Method Seattle.

In the analogy of summer months as weekend days June is Friday. It doesn’t really get good until the back half but you can smell the proximity of persistently sunny skies, water activities and backyard barbecues. Everything is super green from all the spring rain and the flowers are showing off. And as school’s out for the bigs and the littles it’s wise to take a moment and properly transition your home spaces so you are ready for the full-bore summer-ness that’s coming in July. Here’s what I’ve been doing at my house that may apply for you too!

The Kids Are Home

I am in the middle of a lovely 2 weeks of having all three of our kids home. Thanks to the convenience of remote work, our son arrived for a visit shortly after our girls were finishing their semesters. Kids arriving home when school’s out reads like a pros and cons list. On the plus side there is hang out time, the ease of running into each other in the kitchen and having several extra pairs of hands for party prep. On the down side I notice daily how much more work is required with extra bodies in the house. More shopping, more cooking, and filling the dishwasher within hours. And my least-favorite task – reminding everyone repeatedly that the cleaners are coming tomorrow and could you please pick up your room!

Obviously the good outweighs the bad but I’ve learned that laying a few key ground-rules with the kids is effective. Mine are: clean up after yourself in the kitchen, no meals in your room, and be available to pitch in and stop at the store. They are way more amenable now than when they lived here full time! They haven’t yet graduated to unloading the dishwasher (that’s a lie, Brooks did it once) without being asked, but we have been able to mostly maintain the clean and tranquil empty nest feeling. That’s a BIG win!

Drop Zone Defense

If there is one area in the home that helps avoid wasted time when school’s out it’s the Drop Zone. The Drop Zone is the place you put things that you need when you leave the house. Keys, sunglasses, handbags, wallets should have  a home in the Drop Zone. You should locate your drop zone close to your most used entry/exit. In our case it’s near the door to the garage (also a great place to keep caps!) It should be somewhere you can toss keys and glasses when you arrive home. And easily grab them again when you leave.

If you make it really obvious and easy your family will be more likely to follow suit. Drop zones are equally important whether your kids are small (because there is so much involved in leaving the house) or teen + (and sharing cars.) We waste so much time looking for things. ; a drop zone minimizes that waste. The bottom line is a designated, easy to see spot where the things you need to leave the house live. So if you don’t have a good one, get on that!

Party Prep

Since school’s out the party season is revving up! We just had a party to celebrate my husband Jay completing his Master’s Degree and I was reminded of how easy it is to host a crowd when you have your house set up for it. I like to put a lot of effort into my menu. That’s where I spent my energy; planning and cooking in the busy week leading up to the party. I didn’t spend any time planning the serving or cleanup even though we haven’t entertained in a while. That’s due to the systems I set up years ago that are still serving me today.

System is just a fancy word for a group of processes that work in harmony (check out this post for why they make your life easier.) In the case of entertaining you’ll want simple systems for paper products, table linens and serving ware. I’m realizing as I write that this topic deserves it’s own post so consider this a teaser and tune in next week for the full scoop!

The post June Mixed Bag: School’s Out appeared first on Method Seattle.

Hi All – I took last week off in anticipation of a week of holiday craziness and party prep. Then Omicron busted through our household and we had to cancel all of our plans with friends and family, it was a huge gut punch to say the least. Brooks was the only one of the 5 of us to test positive at first but subsequently our youngest Abby has been symptomatic and likely has it as well, though her second test result hasn’t come back yet. So this week I am supposed to be writing about life transitions but instead you get to read about the Omicron Grinch who stole Christmas. Sorry not sorry.

I am a planner who has a really hard time letting go of plans. Our Christmas Eve tradition is a Fondue Party at our house with our closest friends, it’s usually about 20ish people and we have 5 fondue pots going. It’s merry and boisterous with Christmas cocktails and punch, Secret Santa exchange and a Bûche de Nôel complete with merengue mushrooms for dessert. Christmas dinner brings my dad and my Aunt and Uncle over for Beef Tenderloin and Yorkshire Pudding, a much quieter affair but full of warm holiday yumminess. I’m always tired from the cooking and partying the night before but I love taking down the party set and re-scaping the table for the Family Christmas Dinner. I love the double celebration and we had been doing it for 7 years running until 2020 when COVID broke our streak. The thing about last year was that we knew way ahead of time that the holidays were going to suck. When cases started spiking again in the early fall there was time to make an alternative plan. Which I did. Facing a Christmas without our friends and family I used all of my accumulated miles and points and booked a trip to Hawaii, which was perhaps a risky move but I’d do it again in a heartbeat and it all worked out in the end. Was it a perfect Christmas? No. Was it a perfect Hawaiian vacation? Also no. It was a great distraction from the depressing monotony of home, which was what we needed and it enabled me to plan something, which was what I needed. So this year I was really excited to resume our Fondue Party tradition and Christmas dinner with our fully vaccinated friends and family. And as we had sailed through Thanksgiving with no mishaps and the first three weeks of December felt Business As Usual it felt like the rug was pulled out from under us when that test result came back positive on 12/21. It was worse than 2020 in a way. I think it’s hard for anyone to pivot at the the last minute, but it is especially hard on my psyche. It makes me feel like I’m grasping at straws that are slipping past my fingers as they swirl above me, getting farther and farther away. I have since heard from hundreds of friends across the country who had situations similar to mine, with vaccinated (and in some cases boosted) folks testing positive, holiday travel canceled and Quarantine Christmas prevailing in this latest battle of The Great War of COVID.

Since that test we’ve all been holed up in the house, mostly in our rooms coming out for gift exchange and a brief Christmas Dinner. This extrovert has had a really hard time the whole week. It’s hard to let go of a plan that I put the effort into planning. It’s hard to let go of celebrating with people I love. It’s hard to think about the older people in my life alone at home for the holiday. All of it is just so hard. I have had to call on some time-tested sanity practices that I’ve employed at other stressful times in my life. Most are likely not new to you as they are routinely touted by multiple experts but a couple of them may be because they are either personal to me or specifically not recommended by said experts. So here are the things that have kept me from drifting toward the cliff in my mind.

1. Get outside

   When you are shut up in the house it really starts to mess with you. Getting outside (and preferably seeing something green) does wonders, especially if you are consistent. And it has the added benefit of being a relatively safe activity to engage in while quarantining. Our dog Gus has been getting multiple walks a day since multiple peeps in my family recognize the benefits of getting out and walking. I know it’s cold in a lot of places but bundle up and get out there, it’s worth the extra effort.

2. Do something productive

   Doing something productive means at the end you will feel a sense of accomplishment, which is good. You will also feel a sense of control, really good if Omicron has wrested it from you. I tackled three projects this week, one small, one medium and one large. I cleaned out a drawer in my closet to make space for my now quite large collection of cozy sweats. I identified and listed some clothes and shoes that I no longer wear to be sold in the re-sell marketplace. And I began the process of shifting my digital photo collection to a new, improved system that more closely mirrors what I do for my Photo Organization clients. All of these things can be accomplished by myself in the house and it helps my psyche to use my time productively vs. watching endless Netflix offerings on the couch.

3. Exercise

   Exercise has been my savior throughout this pandemic. I will save my missive on the benefits and joys of Peloton for another post but moving your body and specifically increasing your heart rate is a great outlet for the bugaboos bouncing around in your brain, whatever your choice of exercise. When I’m finished with a workout I always feel better than I did when I started and it’s important to evoke that feeling before I start because starting is the hardest part. This next rec may be specific to me but it really works: I pick out my workout ‘outfit’ the night before and it helps motivate me to get up and get going in the early AM when I like to exercise. Did I mention that I ride on a Peloton and no one sees this outfit except me? Somehow picking out and putting on something cute is a motivator. Weird, I know. But it works. For me.

4. COmfort Food

   Here’s the one every expert says not to do. But extreme times call for extreme measures. I am allowing myself to eat all of my favorite things during this Quarantine Holiday. There will be plenty of time to cleanse it all out of my system when life returns to normal but until then food is very comforting to me. Bread, pasta and sweets are all favorites and things I should be avoiding but as of press time I’ve polished off half of the delicious sourdough my friend Kelsey dropped off, am making Macaroni & Cheese for dinner tonight and allowing myself ice cream and cookies every night after dinner. This will eventually catch up with me I know but it really does help while I’m getting through this rough patch. So maybe skip this recommendation but I had to include it for my account to remain authentic!

5. ReWatch Ted Lasso

Not a lot of extra to add here except to say that it’s worth the re-watch and I caught a lot that I missed the first time. I really needed the positive messaging and humor this week. The only downside is that it left me longing for Season 3 which won’t be here for a long, long time. Thank Goodness for Ted, Coach Beard, Rebecca, Roy, Keely and the whole gang. I really needed them this week!

Well that’s it. I’m going to keep at it and hopefully come out the other side with my mental health intact, ready to tackle whatever 2022 has in store. If Omicron wreaked havoc with your holiday I hope you will too! Have a Healthy and Happy New Year from Method Seattle Professional Organizing! See you in 2022!

The post Omicron Madness appeared first on Method Seattle.