Children, we have to love them but do we always have to pick up after them? They're great at making messes but sometimes they aren't the best at cleaning those messes up. In this article we will address the topic of helping your child learn organizing and cleaning, an important life skill to have for when they become a functioning adult..

Children begin to grasp concepts better between the ages of 3-5. Of course, they won't understand everything nor have the capability to do everything you do but kids admire their parents or guardians. They look up to you and want to be just like you, they want to do what you do. 

Are you having problems organizing a room in your home or your office? One of the most common questions is “Where do I start?” To be completely honest, it’s important to just start.

What is stopping you from starting? Maybe, you are overwhelmed with the amount of clutter that is in the area? The overwhelming feeling can also be about making too many choices.

That is why JLB Simplify created the 4-Step Organizing Process that will take all of the guesswork out organizing your home, office or possibly your life! I understand that you might be able to organize everything perfectly, but trust me, it will not stay that way. Especially, if you have kids but my 4-Step Organizing Process is something I encourage you to re-visit often!

Our 4-Step Organizing Process Booklet includes:

• The 4-Steps we have used to organize thousands of homes.
• Provide a visual map for how to organize.
• Tips on how to stay focused.
• Tips on how to make decisions on your belongings.
• Tips on how to deal with the anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed.
• And much more!
  

JLB Simplify’s 4-Step Organizing Process will help you focus on making sure the area you are organizing is functional and less overwhelming. Our goal is to help you achieve more floor and shelving space by removing any trash and donations. This will help reduce the number of visual stimulations that are in the room. 

Next, our process will direct you through the decision-making process while you sort through the items and decide whether or not you should keep the item, donate or if the item is trash. Taking the time to think about your belongings will help you figure out which category the items would best fit.

After that, we guide you through finding the best storage options for the items you have decided to keep. The goal here is to make sure we are storing the items according to how often you access them.

Last, JLB Simplify’s 4-Step Organizing Process will guide you through putting the final touches on everything. We offer suggestions like: creating labels and purchasing storage containers.

When organizing we tend to get caught up with every item, decision, and the desire for it all to be picture perfect. This is the exact expectation that makes the project more overwhelming than it already is.

If you can successfully organize 90% of the items in an area, you will at least feel back in control of that area and your life. Inevitably, the area you just organized is destined to become cluttered again, but with JLB Simplify’s 4-Step Organizing Process you will have a system in place and the mental tools you need to tackle the next organizing project that comes up.

If you’re ready to get serious about organizing your home and/or office JLB Simplify is offering our 4-Step Organizing Process for FREE until February 9th, 2018 to celebrate our DIY line of organizing products and systems.

Don't miss out on our newly developed Recommended Organizing Products page. Read what products we recommend to our clients and then order directly from Amazon through the JLB Simplify website to save time and money!

Thinking of organizing can be stressful. There are so many different things you need to do and only so much time in the day. Allow your mind to relax some by tackling easy tasks that will still leave you feeling accomplished and motivated. We understand that there are just some days you don't feel up to much but doing absolutely nothing will leave you feeling as if your day hasn't been complete. In this article, we will list you a few quick and easy tasks.

This is one that you should truly get yourself into the habit of, not just for the days you want to relax but for every morning. The first thing you should do when you wake up and climb out of bed is to make the bed. This will start your day off right, already giving you a sense of accomplishment. This is also a perfect quick task, taking less than five minutes. Plus, you just can't beat the feeling you get late at night as you head to your room and remember, "ah, a fresh bed to sleep in". Meanwhile, if you allow yourself slack on this, your night will end on a bad note once you become frustrated because all you want to do is climb on into bed but now you can't because you have to take those extra five minutes to fix it.

You visit the bathroom several times a day. When you walk in, you may notice the big tasks firsts but the small tasks that are often forgotten will still click in the back of your mind. Here are a couple small bathroom tasks you can accomplish; clean your mirror, wipe down your sink and counter, make sure your counter is free of clutter, find storage for your shampoos and body washes, close your shower curtain for a more appealing look, restock the toilet paper and towels.

This one I personally enjoy to do. I use my purse frequently and every time I reach into it, I am greeted with irritation and frustration. Purses can be a catch-all, as many women know. Luckily, this is one you can do with little movement -- you can even do so sitting down. If you don't have much time, that's okay. Dump your purse out and remove all of the things you know don't belong, such as receipts or Tacobell taco wrappers (yes, I'm guilty). The next time you're out at the store or a quick stop at a gas station, you will instead be greeted with relief at your now easily navigable purse. 

I think that most houses are guilty of this one little drawer that can drive us all insane sometimes... The Junk Drawer. Of course, it can come in handy by giving items a home that normally wouldn't have one without making other locations look messy. However, just like the purse, a junk drawer can become a catch-all. Things that do have homes can end up placed into this drawer during busy times when everyone is in a rush. This is a quick task you can accomplish, check the drawer and if anything stands out that you know belongs elsewhere, return it to it's home.

This is also a task some may consider mundane and dread it but it is certainly one that needs to be done. How many times a day do you visit your fridge? How many times a day do you mentally note, "I should probably clean this out soon"? This is another task that can be done quickly. Dispose of any out-dated food items, you'll thank yourself when you don't have to deal with odor later. No more running from your refrigerator! 

Do you have several things you know you have to do this month but you have a forgetful mind? Take a moment to sit down and fill out all of your to-do's for the month in your planner. This should be quick and fairly easy, you can always add on later if need be.

We hope that our blog has given you a few ideas on tasks that are close to effortless but very rewarding.

The Holidays are over! We hope that you all had a splendid Christmas -- time with family, the season of giving. How can anyone not love it? You've most likely given yourself a bit of a relaxer but now the pressure of decluttering and organizing after Christmas is setting in. 

The first step to decluttering after Christmas is accepting that you cannot keep everything. There are things in your home that you no longer need that should be disposed of, whether that disposal is the trash or finding use by someone else. 

The second step is finding out what you no longer need. Take into consideration what gifts you have received this Christmas. Can any of those gifts replace items you already have? For example, if you received a coffee pot, you must now decide between keeping the new one and the old one. Whichever one you decide, you must rid of the other. Other times to take into consideration; clothing, shoes, housing decor, etc.

If you have children, then they probably received an abundance of new toys that you're staring at thinking, "oh goodness, where am I going to find the room for all of this?". A good rule of thumb when it comes to your children receiving gifts is that getting new ones means tossing the old ones. Find the toys that no longer fit your child's age group, the clothes that they have outgrown, etc and find somewhere local to donate. Toys can add up fast, so the annual cleansing will show to be helpful.

Please keep in mind that you are not obligated to keep gifts that will get no use. If it's just going to take up space and gather dust, your best decision would be to go ahead and get rid of it. Don't allow yourself to feel pressured -- you can either silently remove it or let whoever got you the gift know that while you appreciate it, you have no use for it.

The third step is taking down and putting away all of your holiday decorations. This can be time consuming so your best option would be to dedicate one specific day entirely to reverting your house to normal. While you technically can leave these up for half a year, I wouldn't recommend it. Christmas decorations are beautiful, however it will put a damper on you leaving them. Every time you look at them, you'll remind yourself, "gosh, I should really take these down now". 

While taking down the decorations, make sure you're also deciding if there are any you need to get rid of. Find a broken one? Toss it, don't set it into the box telling yourself you'll get rid of it next year. If you're someone who buys new decorations every single year, make sure you're getting rid of enough to make room for next Christmas. 

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Make sure to check back with us soon for more articles on organizing your home. Also, if you have not already, follow us on facebook at the button below for neat but useful small tips around the house!

Visit our DIY Organizing page to learn the JLB Simplify 4-Step Organizing Process!

It's approaching that time of year again! The joyous month of December is nearly upon is. We all know what that means -- Christmas time! The holiday of giving and spending time with family. While Christmas is fun it can also be very stressful for many of us, especially the aspect of budgeting. Christmas is that time of the year where we spend quite a bit of money, sometimes more than we intended, on others. In this article, we will discuss a few budgeting tips for your holiday.

An important area to keep clean is the bathroom, including all of the contents held within this area. In this article we will be discussing a few tips to help with these bathroom accessories and necessities. Keeping a better hygiene will help you feel and look better. 

Sometimes we feel overly stressed from our home situation. Cleaning is exhausting, despite what some think. It's not some easy, mundane task. When people hear words like 'homemaker', they laugh and mention how they'd kill for a job like that. Little do they know, organizing and keeping up in the home can be extremely stressful. We totally get that!

There are some things people find themselves doing that make the burden of organizing harder than necessary. It's easy to get tired or stressed and tell yourself, "I'll do the dishes later", or "I'll pick that up in a few hours". How could you possibly clean when your emotions are running wild at the moment? We get it, and sure it feels nice not having to do anything for the moment. 

We need to try to avoid this. Those few tasks actually add up pretty quickly and before you know it, at the end of the day you have an entire list of things you'd said you'd do later. It's not a good feeling when you realize 'later' has become now. I'd like to point out that regardless of what is happening that day, in the end, the tasks have to be completed. It's better to do them as you go, rather than wait and let the list heap up.

Cleaning as you go really does make things so much easier on your part. Sometimes you let your emotions dampen your mood for cleaning. Don't let that happen! Here's a list of things that are easy to do as you go, but will truly leave you feeling much more lifted through out the day!

By starting these new habits you will greatly reduce the amount of time spend cleaning. Every time we "walk away" from a task we are wasting the seconds we used to walk away. It is a hard habit to start but give it a try for a week or two and you will notice the difference. It is also a good way to set "House Rules" and have the whole family pitch in.

Christmas is approaching and fast! The countdown says there are 14 more days until Chistmas! In honor of this holiday, we have created a post for you with fun Christmas diy crafts for the family! All of which are made inexpensively.

Doing crafts is a fun way to simplify the holidays. Stay inside on a cold night, use some of the itmes you have laying around your house, and make some fun Christmas memories and crafts!

Staring at a room thinking, "what's the point, there is no way I'll get this done" is a normal feeling and nothing to be ashamed of. While it is a normal feeling, it is also an inaccurate statement. Your home is not too far gone to be fixed. If you feel that it is too much for you personally to handle, reach out to a professional organizer, friend, or family member! Clutter is very visually overwhelming but once you get started, it truly does become much easier than you'd have expected. One way to help this feeling is to categorize and take care of small sections at a time. Giving yourself some easy wins will help you stay motivated. For example, if you're starting in the closet, don't look at the closet as a whole. Look at the floor and assess your situation. Sort through the floor first, find out what you want to get rid of and what you want to keep. Go ahead and do this. After that, you can move onto the racks, and so forth. This will make it so much easier as well as making it feel like it went by faster.

The bells are ringing, the carolers are caroling. We all know the signs of Christmas approaching, an annual Holiday that can bring an equal amount of stress as it does joy for a homemaker. Let us help you make this year a little different!

​There are plenty of ways to lift at least ​some ​of your burden for this year. Christmas is one of the hardest holidays, everyone is rushing to have everything perfect. The relatives are coming and you want to make sure your home is just right for your loved ones. For some, the relatives may even be staying a few days to enjoy the season with you. The tree is put up, decorations are hung, feasts are prepared.

First, let's start ​before ​that time even hits. That's right, a head start in stress relief! Start off your holiday by creating a few lists in preparation. Some of the things you may want to make lists for are things such as;

• What gifts you're going to get and for who.
• What your budget is for the presents, food, etc.
• What supplies you need for present wrapping.
• What you need to prepare your meal of choice.
• What sweets (if any) you would like to have set out.
• Who will sleep where and what all they need.

With your lists in place, you can begin check marking your boxes as you go along. Having everything right there in front of you will make things feel so much less chaotic once it comes to shopping time.

​Once you have all of the necessities down, move onto the smaller but still important things. If you enjoy holiday photos, figure out where in your home or outside of your home will have the best lighting and the appropriate space for the amount of people who will be involved in this photo. If you want photos with the tree, also take into consideration where you choose to set it up.

​Next, move onto decluttering the main room. Make sure the spot you want your tree is completely available to avoid the stress of rushing to move things around in order to set up your decorations. You may want to vacuum and dust around the area as well. You may also want to make sure that there are plenty of sitting spaces for visiting relatives. Everyone wants a good view of the little ones faces of pure joy as they open their gifts. This way you also aren't panicking in a rush to find more sitting spots on the day of.

​The kitchen is also a room you will not want to miss preparing early on. You'll need to make sure there is plenty of space at the table for anyone who will be attending your dinner. Move onto the dishes, have any bowls, pans, pots, etc, you need for cooking clean and ready for use. It can be very stressful searching last minute for that bowl you use once a year for your famous pudding. Check if you have all of the necessities; napkins, condiments, enough plates, enough glasses, beverages, etc. Once you have all of this ready, the day of cooking and feasting will be a breeze!

​Moving back onto a slightly touched subject up above, gifts. There are plenty ways to assure you get the best out of your experience. Try to have your ideas all listed out ahead of time. It'll be best to organize by immediate to least immediate family and friends. Do a little searching online to find the best prices for the presents you want to buy, as well as checking to make sure the stores have what you need in stock before wasting a trip in the chaotic mess of Christmas.

​Stop and take a breath if need be. Do not over exert yourself and bring more stress than necessary to your experience. Don't let yourself forget that Christmas is about you, too. There is no shame in asking for a helping hand. Perhaps a few relatives can help with meal preparation or with decorating. Not all of the stress is yours to hold.

​Keep in mind that the holiday season is the perfect time to help a loved one out with a gift certificate for JLB Simplify's organizing services. It is the season of giving, and I assure you that one of the most welcomed gifts is someone there to help you beforehand or even with the aftermath.