I have always had a passion for making collage art. The way that images can be cut out and reconfigured to create a completely new picture and meaning, is quite alluring. I started collaging in my 20s, and the playful and creative freedom of putting together a collage has remained one of my most enduring art forms of choice.

Do you, like me, ever feel intimidated expressing your creativity? Do you wrestle with negative voices inside your head that make it difficult to start? I wonder if our upbringing or conditioning have taught some of us to compare ourselves to others, rather than enjoying making art for personal fulfillment? One of my favourite ways I’ve found to enjoy art in my life again, is creating Mandalas. 

Many of us have embarked on the journey of clearing clutter out of our lives. Not just in our homes, but our offices, garages and vehicles. It feels good to come up with a plan of action and then seeing the results as we tackle this arduous task. The rewards will make all the work worthwhile.

A hidden benefit of facing clutter head on, is it frees us from accumulating more in the future. We now have awareness and choice, born from experiencing the freedom that comes from living with less, and the ease of life that follows suit. We have found that balance point of how much we want to live with, and maintaining that sense of place, will be our duty moving forward.

How do we keep clutter from creeping back in again?

As an organizer, I’ve noticed that when my clients wish to make transformations in their lives, it is important to help them set up their homes to support those changes. I also see the reverse as true. If they alter their living environment, their life will also shift in response. This back and forth dynamic is always at play, whether we are conscious of it or not.  

Making intentional modifications to your living environments will have a positive ripple effect, and one of my biggest joys, is witnessing these results first hand. Here are 10 of my favourite benefits I’ve seen gifted to my clients from doing this work. 

As an organizer, I often help families with teens who are struggling to tidy and organize their rooms. It is a very common theme, and I have brought this issue to Heather Ferguson, my favourite developmental counsellor in the valley. Here are her answers to some the common questions I get asked.

Is Minimalism For You?

As a professional organizer, I am often asked if I am a minimalist. Traditional definitions portray a bare bones aesthetic, careful frugality or editing possessions down to a very few. I don’t resonate with those meanings, yet I would still consider myself a minimalist. Newer hybrid versions resonate more: Gradual Minimalist or my favourite, Cozy Minimalist, feel more inline and doable. Think Hygge aesthetic, while consuming less and reducing belongings over time.

I feel the biggest takeaway that Minimalism offers, is allowing us to focus on what really matters. Living more with less.

Intrigued? Here are my 10 favourite principles to explore further.

There are some recent studies showing that too much clutter in our spaces affects us negatively. Women in particular are susceptible to feeling stress due to disorganization. These studies uncovered that cortisol levels in our bodies increases when we are immersed in environments that are chaotic and disheveled. At work, mess and junk can make it difficult to concentrate, stay on task and enjoy our work life. Everyone has a different tolerance to clutter and untidiness, but I have yet to meet someone who didn’t feel it negatively in some way.

“A good spring cleaning” for most of us, means taking extra steps to deeply scrub out our homes after spending so much time indoors during the winter. As we prepare for spring, it just feels right to clean the house from top to bottom. For many of us though, clutter build up gets in the way of doing a good thorough cleanse, leaving us feeling overwhelmed and defeated before we’ve even started. Often, clutter needs to be addressed before we can clean properly.

I often say to my organizing clients with a chuckle, that I spent the first half of my life accumulating stuff, and the second half trying to get rid of it. And let me tell you, it’s much more effort getting rid of something as opposed to acquiring it. Why do many of us seem to have so much stuff?