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Week 1 of 4 

Transform Your Spaces/Transform Your Life

The Clear Your Clutter Challenge: 
Week 1 Cleaning up YOUR act.

Congratulations!  You are on the way to living your best life.  Before you make ANY feng shui adjustments, it is imperative that you clear your clutter and remove the stagnant energy.  If not, you will be activating and getting more of what you already have...we want new and fresh!

After completing this challenge, you will be ready to activate the spaces in your home so that you can begin to use the reservoir of free life force energy that is right now being blocked by your clutter.

It is very important that you start with you…not your spouse, not your children, not your co-workers…they’ll come along once you focus on you.   We’ll start gently and your momentum will build.  

We are results-focused, so there won't be a lot of time spent on reading:  just doing!  

TAKE PHOTOS!           
**This is very good feng shui.  It gives you a great sense of accomplishment.   You will be so proud of yourself.

Set a timer or give yourself only 15 minutes (except for Day 6).  
    Setting a timer will: 
     ·    help you make your decisions faster
     ·    keep you moving on  
     ·    get your body used to making decisions
     ·    stay with your decisions so you will have rivers of time available for having fun!

Later on, we’ll take a look at the areas of your home that influence the areas of your life.  In this way, you’ll have even more incentive (and skills) to get going and keep going.

Clutter Facts:  

·      The average person moves approximately 300 pieces of paper A DAY!  That comes out to about 660 pounds of paper per year; unfortunately there’s no aerobic value to this one!  

·      If you spend 30 minutes per day just LOOKING for things, which you probably do, after you have cleared your clutter and organized, you will have saved yourself over 3½ hours per week…that’s 182.5 hours per year.  That is equivalent to 4.5 work weeks.  Could you use that time somewhere else?  Increase your health? Learn a language? Pamper yourself?  Let’s get started.

Small things make a big difference:

Start from the inside out and we’ll build YOUR system and YOUR new habits so it’s easy to keep your life fresh and alive.  

Read on for this week's Clutter Challenge Assignments…you’ll learn how to get started and make the biggest impact on your health and home.    

Clutter Free Living: 
Good Habit Building:

Clutter collects...just like the leaves in the eddy of a stream, it's life.  

We have clutter because we have the habit or body motions that support clutter.  Just like the time/motion studies developed in the late 19th century to increase efficiency of assembly-line work and repetitive tasks, we are going to ask you to just notice your body motion and what you actually do:

NOTICE:
    ·     Do you duplicate motions?  when you are putting things in the fridge, do you do make two trips when you could have made one? How do you do the repetitive tasks? Can you do it more efficiently?

   ·     Where do you walk?  Over or around what? Can you easily move it?  How many trips do you make to the laundry room, etc.? 

Some things can't be changed, some things are the way they are for good reason.  Track what you actually do;  it will tell you a lot about HOW you spend your energy.  Trick:  Narrate your motions ("I am putting away this pair of pants; I am throwing away this drawer clutter; I am walking to my closet to hang up this shirt..." Sounds and feels silly at first but it really helps to keep you "on task" and eliminate distraction.)  

As you Track Your Motions, you will be taking the first step to building new habits which will make your life so much easier.  Try any or all of these this week.  

Do these things every day:

                  ·      Give yourself 10 extra minutes before you leave your home each day to clear the counters, load the dishwasher, fill or empty the trash, etc.  When you come home it will make a great difference.  You may find this a real challenge at first, but as you move through this month, you’ll find you HAVE even more time than that! 

            ·      Put your phone, keys and purse in the same place every day...hang a hook for your keys or shelf for your charger.

            ·      Open your mail, even bills, the same day; do this over the trash can to immediately discard junk.  (place the rest in your desk’s inbox)

Living Green: 
Did You Know?   

How to Stop your junk mail Besides being a time, energy and ch'i waster, junk mail produced in one year requires that we use 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water.”  Here’s a link to stop your junk mail :   GreenDimes:  Restore your sanity and our planet! 

·  How to select your mail preferences:
select your mailing list preferences at The Mail Preference Service at www.dmaconsumer.org

          ·      Begin to set boundaries.  A great place to start: rather than answer the phone during dinner, let callers leave a message.  Set aside 30 minutes that you and your family won’t answer the phone…it actually becomes fun to take back control of your time.  

Living Green: 
Did You Know? 
·  How to eliminate unwanted telemarketing calls:  register for the Pennsylvania Do Not Call List  at www.nocallsplease.com or call 1-888-777-3406.  

Let's get started!       

Day 1:  Your handbag, briefcase, wallet.

This week, as you are moving through your day, notice your thoughts.  Just notice them.  Be gentle with yourself. 

As you are cleaning, remember that clutter is a sign of a life being lived and richly (or you wouldn’t have been able to accumulate so much stuff!)  Saying ‘Thank you’ as you touch, clean, sort  and move on your items, will begin to clean the energy of your spaces too, which is another vitally important Feng Shui issue!

      1.  Clean out your handbag, wallet and/or briefcase.  Wipe the bottom or any pockets or decide if you need to just get a new one. If it is in disrepair in any way, decide how quickly you can move it on…  

        2.  Begin to look around your home to determine where you could use as a ‘staging’ area.  This is an area that will hold the stuff that you are moving on.  This could be the garage or a part of your basement.   This will only stay in organized disarray for a limited time but it is a necessary area.  

        3.  Plan to gather items to help make this clutter clearing easy:         
            Boxes or baskets
                ·      You’ll need at least 4 and add one for each member of your family.  As you are clearing, you’ll save time when you place their items in here and later you’ll teach them the system you developed for keeping your home organized.
                    ·      Mark them clearly  

1.  “Donate”  These you will either give away or have someone take away

2.  “Trash”  This will go to the trash collection

3.  “Decide Later”  ~ this is to keep you ‘on task’ which is  vital for your success

4.   “Return”  either to give back or take back.  

   TIP: When you are cleaning, be as happy and thankful as you can possibly muster.  This is the energy you are coloring your world with...make it beautiful.

Day 2: Foundations, your personal drawers          

Getting personal:  Clear out your undergarment drawer.  Discard everything that isn’t beautiful;  keep only what is fresh, not worn or damaged.  You won’t believe how good this makes you feel!  Socks: only put back matched and comfortable socks.  Discard the rest as well as the growing bin of unmatched socks…anyone know how we can turn it into insulation?   

Living Green: 
Did You Know?
Forever in Blue Jeans:  
Natural Home Insulation...
Here’s a company that re-cycles blue-jeans (pre-consumer) into safe, environmentally friendly and soft, all-cotton insulation.    

     Donation Blue Jean Drop Off Centers Coming Soon!

Day 3:  Your car

         Clean out your car…your glove compartment, under the seats, the door cubbies, cup holders.  If you can have your car detailed and the oil changed:  do it!  You will feel so much better!      

Day 4:  Shower/Tub  

 Empty your shower/tub area of everything but one bottle of shampoo, one conditioner, one body soap, one razor…one of everything you need…not two, one.  Throw away the rest (empty and recycle if possible).       

Day 5:  Necessary Items 

Clear out your medicine cabinet and toiletries.  Discard expired medications and anything that you haven’t used in the past 3 months.  Wipe out the cabinet and the bottles, jars that you put back.  Keep going:  clear out the hair care items.  I regularly put brushes and combs in the dishwasher…toothbrushes too.  It keeps them clean! Replace your toothbrush every 2 months at most.

Day 6:  Your Bedroom

        Your Bedroom!  This area most affects your ability to be a success in your life.  It also dramatically influences your relationships.  Before we Feng Shui, you’ll need to clear the clutter and clean it up.

Remember:  “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”  When you are half-way through it is the messiest.  Refer to the tips to help you stay motivated and moving on.

         1.  The BEST thing to do is to remove everything from the room, the dressers and the closet that is not 'furniture'.  Remove it all to the bins, sort it and trust yourself that you are making GREAT decisions for your life.

2.   Now you can clean it.  Clean each surface, lamps, overheads, windows, sills, light switches, phone cords...this is a NEW start for you, make it your best.

3.  Now:  what to return to the room?  

   TIP: Ask This Question:  "Does it empower me?  or dis-empower me?"  Does my energy rise or fall? What are the feelings and memories associated with an item you are sorting?  If you LOVE it, or if you WANT it, be sure to keep it; if you store it, store it lovingly, honor it, label it and when you revisit it, you'll feel wonderful.  Make sure you can give it loving energy and it will return the favor.    

4.  Make the bed with freshly laundered linens (mattress pad and pillows if you can).   (Feng Shui recommends a new mattress and box springs if you want a fresh new relationship or just a good night's sleep free from the past!  We'll visit other feng shui tips for bedrooms a little later...we're staying focused now.)

5.  Night tables:  only what you need.  Do not fill the drawers, leave 25% of the space empty...this will allow the life force to flow and revitalize your life.

6.  Books:  only 1 or 2 books per person.  You'll sleep or connect better where there are less "people" in the room with you.  This leads to the next BIG feng shui issue:

7.  TV/Electronics:  a feng shui bedroom "don't".  But if you MUST, cover it when you sleep and keep it as far from the bed as possible.

8.  Clothing and Shoes  ISSUE 1:  only what you wear.  If you have 4 different sizes, box and label or purchase a hanging wardrobe and remove the extras to  'storage' elsewhere. 

   TIP: If you have GREAT clothes but never wear them because they don't form a great ensemble, make a bin of those items you try on over and over but never wear.  There'll be shoes like this too.

Many of us have pieces and parts that we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.  For instance a blouse that really doesn't go with anything you currently have and you put it on and take it off every time.  What do you do?  Set them aside in their own bin or box.  Just for today, put all the things you LOVE and WEAR back in your closet.  Organize them by blouses, skirts, trousers, pants, jackets, etc. or by color, but you choose.  

To deal with those beloved items that don't fit or don't fit an 'outfit', we'll deal with them a bit later.  Here is a brief idea of how to approach it if you just CAN'T wait.  Click here.

9.  Clothing  ISSUE 2:  how much do you need?  we don't need 15 pairs of hose, 450 pairs of unmatched socks, 12 pairs of size 6 jeans and the Pepto-Bismal Pink suit (I had one of these).  Be BRAVE:  move it on:  the local theatre group, the GoodWill or AmVets, local Church Yard Sale.  You'll ultimately be better put together!

10:  Photos and Artwork:  a feng shui issue.  Artwork: display only what is beautiful, sensuous, loving and restful.  As for photos, only a few: we don't want a party in the room every night.  

   TIP: Successful people make decisions and move on them.  If you hear yourself say, "Just in Case" you are affirming lack and coming from fear that you won't have what you need when the time comes.  Let it go and Trust that you will have what you need when you need it, or the inspiration to be creative with whatever else you have! 

Day 7: Rest, rejuvenate, have a cup of tea!

REST!  You have earned it!  

Treat yourself to something tangible...take a candle-lit bubble bath, read a book, pet your dog, show off your room to your kids or just sprawl on the bed and rest.  Take an AFTER! photo to be eligible to be the one who receives all the wonderful Clear Your Clutter Gifts!

This evening, plan your week, and get ramped up for MORE life affirming clearing next week!

Email me with ANY questions or concerns!  
fawn@designandfengshui.com

All my best,

Fawn

Join the Challenge

Challenge Yourself to Enjoy Your Life.
 

Together with KDKA, Pittsburgh Today Live, we offered a 4-week Challenge. Brenda Waters, KDKA Anchor & Reporter, chose the winner of the "Most Improved" Award:  
Joyce Ross of Sewickley, PA  


See Fawn & Clear Your Clutter
on KDKA 
Pittsburgh Today Live with 
Brenda Waters
(search: Feng Shui)