We Love Edmonton!

We have some exciting news to share... Room to Breathe is now operating in Edmonton, Alberta!

Shanna Miller is our amazing team lead in the capital city- bringing with her a talent for DIY, abundant energy, a great sense of humor, and a genuine love of organizing! She is the bright light leading our Edmonton team, and eager to meet and help our new clients create lasting change!

Check out our Edmonton website for more details or follow our new Edmonton Facebook Page! And if you have friends or family in Edmonton, please spread that word! 

Evolve your space to new levels of efficiency with Alberta's leading professional home organizers - Room to Breathe.

We align everything we do with your specific challenges to meet your unique lifestyle. From whole home overhauls to smaller troubled areas, we develop a sustainable system so you can maintain order effortlessly.

Contact us today to arrange a FREE one-hour in-home consultation, and begin your journey toward positive and lasting change in your home.

Call or email Indianna at 587-228-6359 | hello@roomtobreatheedmonton.com

www.roomtobreatheedmonton.com

Ask an Organizer || Where do I start?

What is one area of your home that you simply can't keep organized? What clutter, no matter how hard you try, can you never seem to curb? What is that one burning question you would ask a professional organizer if you had the chance?

Well, now is the time to ask away!! Today we are launching a a new feature on our blog, dedicated entirely to answering your most troublesome organizing questions! Ask an Organizer! 

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QUESTION:
I would love to get organized, but I don’t have the slightest idea where to begin. I’m paralyzed and completely overwhelmed when I look around my house, so I don't even start. Where would you say is the easiest or most motivating place to begin?

ANSWER:
First off- please know you are not alone! We hear this question ALL THE TIME! For some of us, when we look around a disorganized space, our brains aren't immediately able to break the mess down into individual pieces. We don’t see the parts that make up the whole, we just see EVERYTHING at ONCE. So of course that feels incapacitating.

The second part to this is that the things in our homes hold memories- good or bad, it's the sentimental attachment to stuff that makes letting go so challenging. Because of this, it's important to put extra thought into where we begin. Being strategic and picking a few easy win projects to tackle in the beginning allows you to practice and perfect your organizing skills, sharpens your decision making abilities as you go on, and floods your brain with feel-good endorphins to keep you motivated. In short - doing the easy lifting in the beginning readies you to tackle the heavy, more sentimental stuff later on.

Clothes and shoes are generally a pretty safe jumping off point.

A good rule of thumb to keep in mind with clothes is the three month rule - If you haven't worn it in the last three months, it's ready to be donated. We suggest taking your time - pulling EVERYTHING out of your close and drawers, trying on every single item, and ruthlessly asking yourself:

• Is the garment still your taste and style? Our preferences change and evolve over time. There is no sense holding on to items that no longer go with the esthetic we currently enjoy.
• Does it fit? We are giving you permission to release any piece of clothing that no longer fits. We are all guilty of this, but holding onto clothes for a body we no longer have only leaves us feeling disappointed.
• Is it in good repair? Check for holes, snags, piling, or stains, and discard accordingly.
• Is it something you want to continue wearing? Similar to point number one- there is no sense in keeping things you don't genuinely love or don't feel good wearing.

If the answer to any of the questions above is 'no', then let it go.

Another good place to hone your organizing skills is your bookshelf. Most of us have a lot of books- often they are scattered all over the house, so it's not until we consciously begin to gather them all that we see the sheer volume of what we have.

In Marie Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, there is a great section on organizing books. Kondo explains that we read for the experience of reading. The books we have read have already been experienced and their content is inside us whether we remember it or not. So when deciding which books to keep, forget about whether you think you will read it again or whether you’ve mastered what’s inside. Instead, keep only what truly, deeply moves you.

Similar to clothing, it is important to physically take ALL your books off the shelf before organizing them- spending a moment holding each one with the aim of creating a small, well curated collection of only your most treasured tales.

Finally, if you still feel like you don't know where to begin, you might benefit from the services of a professional organizer. We thrive working in difficult or complex organizing situations, so please don’t be afraid to reach out for help. We offer FREE in-home consultations to give you a clearer idea of how things work. Feel free to get in touch and book your time with us today!

*** Have a question about home organizing? Send us an email and will try our best to answer it in our “Ask an Organizer” feature here on our blog. ***

Spring into Simplicity

Despite its reluctant start, spring is indeed beginning to peek in on us here in Calgary. With it, shaking up our winter hibernation routine - begging us to clear space, recalibrate, and refresh – both mentally and physically.

Spring is hands-down the busiest time of year for Room to Breathe. As soon as the snow begins to melt, our schedule is filled to the brim with eager clients looking for guidance to indulge their spring cleaning fever.

LET ROOM TO BREATHE HELP YOU...

• Clean out your garage - rotating out snow shovels, hockey equipment, and SO MUCH gravel, bringing back bicycles, skateboards, and camping gear.
• Purge your closets - and in the process, create a sustainable capsule system for rotating bulky knits and winter layers for lighter, warm weather staples.
• Tackle your kitchen - clearing your pantry and cupboards of clutter, making space for all that is needed for upcoming picnics, BBQ’s, and sun-soaked days spent living outdoors.
• Ready your yard and patio - get your shed prepped, gardening tools and supplies sorted, and patio tidied for the influx of summer days and nights enjoyed with family and friends.

Whatever your project, we are here itching to get our hands dirty!

If you have been thinking about hiring a professional organizer, consider this a sign! Get in touch today to schedule a FREE in-home consultation to go over ideas and begin your spring journey toward simplicity. We book up fast, so call today to secure your spot!

And if you are looking for a little more spring cleaning inspiration, check out some of our previous blog posts filled with helpful spring organizing tips.

A Peek at our Organizing Portfolio

What are some of the trickiest places in your home to keep organized? Closets? The kitchen pantry? The garage? The play room? We have literally seen it all! But the good news is, we are really good at our jobs and love creating organizational systems to help tame even the most hectic of spaces.  

We were recently updating our Houzz profile (feel free to have a peek at that here) and compiled a small collection of photos from some of our favourite past projects. We figured why not share some of these photos here in the hope that they might spark an idea or two and get the cogs turning on organizing solutions for your own home.

And if you are still feeling overwhelmed by it all- give us a call - we love to help.

We Can Help Make Your Next Move a Breeze!

Most people will agree - moving is the WORST! Even if the move is an exciting or welcome one, the disruption to our regular routine is something felt by every member of our household. The stress of moving has even landed it on the list of top 5 most stressful life events - right up there with losing a job or divorce. Yikes!

But there is some good news if moving is on your horizon - Room to Breathe LOVES to help people move! One of our favourite projects is helping clients unpack after moving into a new home. We can set up functioning organizational systems right from the start, and you can breathe easier knowing that by the time we are done, everything in your home will have a place and the stress and time it takes to unpack will be dramatically reduced with our helping, expert hands.

If you would like to explore more about what this service could look like for your next move, please get in touch! We offer a FREE in home consultation to go over your needs and give you a better idea of how we can help. If you are looking for even more reasons to hire a professional organizer for your next move, check out this blog post detailing the benefits of what the Room to Breathe team can do to help you prepare.

And if you aren't moving any time soon, but still want to give your home a little love to make it feel like new again, we can help you with that too! Have a peek at our 'Tips for Downsizing' post or give us a shout - we would love to connect and see how we can simplify your everyday life.
 

Call Indianna at 587-228-6359
Email: indianna@roomtobreathecalgary.com

What NOT to do When Decluttering the Clutter - 5 Great Tips!

For many of us, it seems to happen at least a few times throughout the year- we get bitten by the organizing bug! Whether you crave a deep spring clean or a full-on minimalist get-rid-of-everything-purge, today, we have some tips on what NOT to do when that bug bite itches.

DON'T BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW. Do not set aside an entire day to organize your whole house. Very few people have the energy or stamina to spend 8 straight hours organizing. You'll likely become frustrated and less efficient as the day progresses, and it's much better to spend a few hours — 2 or 3 — on one project or space. In the end, you'll feel motivated to do more, not burned out or overwhelmed by the process.

DON'T PROLONG THE INEVITABLE. There are no shortage of gimmicky 'get organized one bag at a time' tricks floating around the internet - the 40 bag challenge (committing to getting rid of a single bag of 'stuff' every day for 40 days), the 12x12x12 challenge (locating 12 items to throw away, 12 items to donate, and 12 items to be returned to their proper home), the 365 Less things challenge (giving away 1 item every day for an entire year)...

Although these challenges sounds simple and even a little fun in theory, the reality is they draw out a process that is best handled quickly. No one wants to be thinking about organizing or dealing with their clutter for an entire year, and seeing the amazing transformation of an entire room over the span of a few hours is much more impactful (and thus, more motivating) than watching items slowly disappear 1 at a time. So do the hard work and commit to powering through - the end result will be much more enjoyable.

DON'T BUY STORAGE CONTAINERS BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY ORGANIZE. We get it. Buying cute storage baskets and containers to house your things is definitely the most exciting part of organizing, but containerizing is one of the LAST step on your organizing journey.

The Room to Breathe team organizes using the Julie Morgensten's SPACE method:

• Sort || Going through everything and grouping like with like according to categories that make sense to you.
• Purge || Get rid of items that are broken, useless, superseded or otherwise irrelevant. Morgenstern and RTB are a firm advocates of the notion "if you haven't used recently, ditch it!"
• Assign || Assign a permanent home. Think outside the box (or room you are in) and pick a location that makes use of your own preferences and existing habits. Doing this ensures you always know exactly where everything is at any given moment, and saves you from searching endlessly for items you tucked away somewhere.
• Containerize || Now (and only now) is the time to evaluate whether you need to bring in any containers- whether that's a new bookshelf or a little box to keep toiletries in, evaluate what you already have and can repurpose, and what might be most useful to keep your belongings neatly secured in their new home.
• Equalize || The final key step is dedicating time every day (or every week for less frequently used rooms) to equalize: returning every item to its proper home. If you've been diligent with the previous steps, this shouldn't be time consuming.

Ultimately, you can't buy storage containers without knowing what and where you are storing things, so resist the urge to shop for pretty containers and only purchase items after you have sorted, purged, and assigned a home to your belongings.

DON'T LEAVE THE JOB UNFINISHED. This is the most important part: Once you have decided to part with something, take it there! Never keep bags for donation or boxes for friends in your home to deliver later, or you will absolutely start to second guess your decisions. Finish the process- take the bags and boxes out immediately. You've done so much work getting to this point, seal the deal!

DON'T DO IT ALONE IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED HELP. We all have different strengths in life, and for some us, organizing may not one of them. So if you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, burdened, or nervous about tackling a project on your own, give Room to Breathe a shout. We will guide you through the process step by step, teaching you along the way, and leaving you with an individualized organizational system that actually works! And in less time than you probably thought. 


Blog post written by Jessica Thorburn - Our Vancouver-based Marketing and Administration Superstar.

Get Geared Up and Gone!

(Source: ticket2climb, via thegreatnorthwest)

As we kick off summer my husband and I get out to the mountains more and more. As a professional organizer I sometimes wish we only liked one hobby so we only have to buy gear for one hobby and always know what we were doing on the weekends…

Nahhh that would make things too simple! Instead in the winter we downhill ski, back country ski, cross country ski, snowshoe, winter back country camp and my husband occasionally ice climbs. In the summer we hike, backpack, canoe, rock climb, mountaineer, scramble, mountain bike, road bike and car camp.

This leads to a lot of gear! And that leads me to our “Gear Closet”. We live in a condo without storage in the garage, so the closet in our spare room/ office is our gear closet. As a professional organizer I take pride organizing and setting it up so we can grab and go. It took a bit of switching around and containerizing but we have it now! (At least until we decide to start another hobby!).

Room to Breathe organizes using Julie Morgenstern’s S.P.A.C.E. method.

Sort: Sort all your gear by activity first and then by season.

Purge: If there is gear that you no longer use or that needs to be thrown out for safety reasons, now is the time to do so.

Assign a Home: Maybe you have a whole garage of space to custom set up for your gear and activities or maybe you’re like us and have a closet of space, either way you should set up zones for each activity and each item should have a home in the correct zone. If every item has a home then it should be easy to maintain and you will be able to find what you need every time, speeding up the time it takes to get geared up and gone!

Containerize: Snag some bins as required, peg boards, hooks, etc to give each item an easy to access home. For very little used items place them in a bin with a label and stick them in the harder to reach areas.

Equalize: As an organizer I love this part as it is the final touches on the job. Equalizing essentially means making it easy to maintain. Labels are key here so you and everyone who uses the area know where things belong. As well, my husband and I have placed a few lists in our gear closet. In our daytrip bin we have a list of other items that we need to bring. For example we need to bring our headlamps that are in our personal bins. Also you can include some activity gear lists. Hang a canoe trip gear list on the door so you can do a final check through on your way out.

Organizing can feel overwhelming at times but encourage yourself in knowing that once your set up properly it will be easily maintainable. This will help save you lots of time, stress and energy. You will then be able to be out doing what you enjoy more!

Check out our Gear Closet Board on Pinterest for a few ideas.