Category Archives: Household Solutions

10 Reasons Being Organized is Good for You

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It actually is. I hear all the naysayers right now: it’s a waste of time! You’re over-complicating things! Organizing makes you anal!
Here’s my favourite (it’s something an ex once said to me): “What’s the point? You’re just organizing for the sake of organizing!”
Well…yeah. That’s kind of the point. Because (say it with me now) organizing is good for you.
Don’t believe me? Here’s some of the reasons why you should:
  • Being organized saves you time and stress getting out the door in the morning.
  • Being organized makes it easier to tidy up, which means you can have guests over without feeling embarrassed or apologizing for the mess
  • Being organized means you can let the dog-sitter/baby-sitter/housekeeper/assistant/house guest know where everything is (and they don’t have to call you in a panic!).
  • Being organized gives you more space to fill your home with the things you really like and want.
  • Being organized means you’ll finally find that thing you’ve been looking for (and saves you from looking for things in the future)
  • Being organized may be the key to finding motivation for that project that you’ve been meaning to take on for awhile.
  • Being organized means you can sail through the holidays with less stress.
  • Being organized saves you money because you’re not constantly replacing lost items, paying for quick fixes, or shopping in a panic.
  • Being organized means being more productive and getting your work done faster.
  • Being organized means you have more time for the people and things that you love.

I’ve found from experience that staying organized is one of the keys to maintain a balanced, more productive lifestyle. I’m trying to figure out the best way to organize my life here, or click here for some of the best methods for managing your time. For more ways to keep it all together, click here.

How do you organize your life? Inquiring minds want to know. Tell us below or send pics of your beautifully organized stuff to keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

The Spring Cleaning Challenge

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March is a funny time of year up here in Canada. (Is it like that in your part of the world too?) We spend most of the month in the weather limbo. Some days it feels like warm weather is just around the corner; other days it feels like winter will never end. No wonder we turn our thoughts to spring and start feeling the urge to clean out our houses. It’s this longing for warmer weather that I think drives our need to perform a spring cleaning ritual every year.

Springtime is a great opportunity to get cleaned and organized for the warmer season ahead. It’s also a great opportunity, however, to start from ground zero and give your home a refresh. For some of you this just might mean going through your basic spring cleaning routine. For others it’s the time to get all those little annoying tasks that always seem to get away from you while you’re cleaning. And for those of you who have trouble sticking to a regular cleaning routine, this might the time of year to put one into action.

A spring cleaning ritual doesn’t even have to be confined to the act of cleaning. Going through your things, organizing and purging are also all great ways to refresh your home.

If you’re feeling listless, bored or stuck then it could be time for a spring clean. During the month of March I’ll be posting some helpful tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way to get you and your home cleaned up and feeling restored. (Plus I’ve got a back catalogue of blog posts that you can refer to when you’re embarking on your own projects: I’ve got even more ways to get organized, be more productive, care for your home and manage your lifestyle.)

But for now, my best advice for you is this: take the time to look out the window and daydream about the weather getting warmer. Imagine yourself living comfortably in your clean, organized home. Imagine spending more time on your hobbies and with loved ones instead of constantly trying to catch up on your cleaning. Imagine yourself enjoying the outdoors and leaving your home worry-free, knowing that when you come back to it you’ll feel just as refreshed and relaxed as you did when you left.

This is your spring cleaning motivation. Use it and tag along with me on my journey this month. I hope you’re all in for the ride.

It may seem old-fashioned, but I believe that your home is a reflection of who you are. Having a clean and functional household is one of the best ways to cultivate self-expression and a sense of fun in your spare time. Here’s my best practices on achieving that in your own home, as well as during the holidays and in your personal life.

What are some of your secrets to a clean and organized house? Comment below or send your pictures to keepingbusyb@gmail.com.

Porch 5.0

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Time flies pretty fast. One day you’re moving into your new apartment, and the next thing you know it’s been five years and you’re still in the same apartment!

Ok, so for some people this doesn’t seem like much cause for celebration but when you’ve moved as often as I have in the past fifteen years or so, staying in one place for five years feels like a real accomplishment.

One of my favorite things about where I live is my little patch of green in the city, my porch. It’s my number-one hangout from May-September (weather-permitting) and is the best place to read, write, draw, drink coffee or eating a meal. (Food has this way of tasting better in fresh air, doesn’t it?)

Even before I start getting my outdoors ready for spring, I started planning ahead of time the kind of plantings I want to do, and I go over last year’s notes to remind myself which plants were winners and which ones not to invest in again.

I get lots of inspiration, too, from browsing gardening books, and snooping other people’s gardens on Pinterest. I’ve got a couple of green-thumbed friends on Instagram that I like to steal ideas from as well.

Space, time and financial constraints mean that sometimes my plans aren’t always that elaborate, but I’m always trying to find a way to make things cozy. Thoughtful lighting, seating, plus special handmade gifts from artistic friends always seem to make an environment more inviting.

Here are some highlights from last year’s porch:

One of the many joys of last year’s garden was the amount of herbs that I was able to grow, and I’m excited to try more varieties this year, and start them earlier so they have more time to become healthy and strong. A lot of my planters need to be replaced after a damp, rainy winter so I’m excited to see how the landscape will change with some new additions.

The garden bug has spread to some of the other porches and balconies in my building, and we’ve already been in talks about making a more coordinated effort this year. After all, it is Canada’s bicentennial, and it’s always nice to have an excuse to do something special.

I may just have to break out a flag or two.

KBwB-BFlower-50How did your green space turn out last year? What did you learn? What are you looking forward to in your garden this season? Comment below or email me at keepingbusyb@gmail.com. And send your pics please!

If you’re looking for more outdoor and household projects, click here to see what I get up to around my home. I’m also usually on Pinterest hunting around for great decor ideas, both inside and out.

How Do I Choose the Right Paint Color?

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KBB_paint_deck

It’s amazing how something so simple as painting a room can change the feel of a space completely. It’s easy to see how paint can make such an important impact on the place you’re decorating. Unfortunately, we all too often fumble with this important decision. So if you find yourself in the paint aisle going cross-eyed from staring at paint chips for so long, here are a couple of rules I try to follow to make the best decision.

First, the color has to work with the rest of the room. It’s nice to want to pick a color because it’s your favorite or because you grew up with the same color in your living room, but if it doesn’t end up working with your textiles and furniture than it’s better off somewhere else- otherwise you’re going to end up hating it!

Keep in mind though when we’re talking about a paint color “going” with the rest of the room, we don’t mean matching. Making sure that everything is a room was the same color blue would make you feel as if you were living a giant blueberry. So unless your name is James and your last residence was a giant peach, stay away from matching everything.

Here’s the secret to why it’s frustrating: because not all colors are made the same.

This is your mini science lesson for the day: we all know that the human eye sees color based on a light spectrum. And that light spectrum is created when light bounces off of things. Unfortunately, that means depending on what the light is bouncing off of, the color will appear differently to our eyes. Smooth surfaces, textured surfaces, even different types of cloth are very rarely going to appear the exact same shade. Paint is never going to match a cushion, or a rug, or a smudge in a painting exactly.

So how do you incorporate color into a room that’s already filled with colorful stuff? Do what designers do and “pull” a color.

When in doubt, go for a neutral color. It’s hard to go wrong and it’s the safest bet for pulling everything in the room together, especially if you’re still recovering from blueberry syndrome.

Throw those paint chips up on the wall of the room you wish to paint and live with them a little bit. Move the paint chips around the room occasionally and see how the light bounces of of them. How do they look in the morning compared to the evening? In the night? With the lights on? Off?

Last but not least, if wavering between two shades of paint is making you go cross-eyed, go for the lighter one. Paint usually dries slightly on the darker side, and once you’ve painted the room you might find the impact of the darker shade harder to absorb at first.

The good news about choosing a paint color is that it doesn’t have to be that stressful. If you rally can’t stand the shade you picked, paint in again! It’s an effective and cheap way to makeover a room to suit whatever your style and needs dictate.

KBwB-BFlower-50Feeling inspired to make your space feel like your own? Visit my busy page for more ideas on projects that I’ve been working on around the house.