How have you been? It's been awhile... I've missed you :)
You may have noticed I haven't posted in awhile... OK in over a month. Yep... 5 weeks. My last post was my top 10 posts of 2014!
Why? Well, I was sick for a good chunk of January. I got a bronchial infection just before New Years, and it just kept kicking around. And my body does this annoying thing sometimes when I get sick... it kind of shuts down and I have no energy. For weeks. It's so frustrating. Even after the infection cleared, I was still on the couch most days, unable to do much of anything.
Where I've been the last while
Remember this image?
Yep... that's me curled up under my Christmas blanket on the couch.
And by the time my energy level increased again, I had SO much to catch up on around my house. We didn't get Christmas put away until late in January. And there was the usual build-up of clutter that happens when I don't stay on top of it. And the cleaning. It was another example of doing the bare minimum when life happens.
Plus, as a professional organizer, January is a REALLY busy month. Lots of people want to get organized in the new year.
I got a ton of new visitors to the blog who were looking for organizing and decluttering tips. I really wanted to be writing some new posts, but I just couldn't do it. I shared lots of old blog posts on Facebook, so new fans could read some tips I've shared previously.
I did stay pretty active in the 365 Items in 365 Days group. We had over 100 new people join in January! They were eager to jump in and declutter their homes. And people who'd been part of the challenge last year were reigniting their efforts to purge, as well as encouraging new members.
Once my energy returned, I jumped back into working with organizing clients, several of whom I'd been putting off for weeks. I love helping my clients declutter and organize their homes!
All this, added up, meant no new posts on the blog. I did start lots of posts though. I had a ton of ideas I wanted to share with you. But I wasn't able to finish them in January or early February. Some of them no longer apply (like how to get organized for Valentine's Day!). But many of them I'll work on some more, and tweak them so they are applicable at any time of year.
What's Ahead for 2015
It's a little late to be sharing goals for 2015, and the post I started writing last month seems kind of irrelevant now. But during my unplanned blogging break I did some reflecting and thinking ahead and I want to share some of what you can expect for 2015... even if it is a month and half belated :)
One of the things I thought a lot about in the last month is how I can juggle both my blog and my organizing business, along with my family and home responsibilities. Truth is, I don't do this very well. I have so many ideas of things I want to do, but I can't do them all. At least not well.
And then I get overwhelmed. Yep... I blog about how to NOT be overwhelmed, but I actually get that way myself sometimes. Which ends up making me feel guilty and hypocritical. Which overwhelms me more. It's a vicious cycle. And I want it to stop!
So, I've decided to change things a bit. You probably won't even notice. But I will :)
Mainly, I'm not going to put pressure on myself to blog as often. This one thing will make a huge difference in my ability to give my best to everything I do.
I blogged a lot last fall. I wrote 66 posts from October to December, which is an average of 5 posts per week.
Remember these series?
Those 2 series alone were a lot of posts! Not to mention the individual posts I wrote in the fall.
I'm always proud of my posts when they're done.
I love SHARING organizing and decluttering tips and ideas with you.
I love HEARING what a difference my blog posts are making in your lives.
I love HELPING you!
I'm NOT going to stop doing any of that! But, blogging draws my time and energy away from other things, like taking care of my family, my home, or you know, things like sleeping :)
So this year, I'm going to blog an average of 2-3 times per week. And I'll try to be more consistent and not miss weeks. So you'll eventually see all the parts of my house that I haven't shared on the blog yet. But not on the month-by-month schedule I had all planned out in December!
You can still expect to see the following types of posts:
- 365 Items in 365 Days - lots of decluttering tips and inspiration, what I've been decluttering, what participants in the 365 Items in 365 Days challenge have been learning and decluttering, and some mini challenges or monthly decluttering themes that I'll be incorporating throughout the year (as requested by members of the 365 in 365 Facebook group)
- My organizing projects around my home - some areas I've never shared are our entry way, our bathrooms, our master bedroom, and my son's room so you can expect some posts about how I organize those areas, as well as tweaks I've made to rooms I've already shared. I may share some photos from my clients' homes too.
- Organizing resources that I think will help you - I'll continue reviewing (and occasionally giving away) some organizing books, products, and printable bundles that I believe will really help you declutter and organize your home and life. There are so many options out there, so I want to recommend organizing resources that I've personally found helpful so you can know they are worth your money. I'm also an affiliate for some of the products, bundles, or books that I believe in, both to help you become aware of them, and to help cover some of the expenses of running a blog (when you order through a link on my blog, I get a small commission at no extra charge to you).
- Tips for organizing for different seasons and holidays - the 12 Days of Being Organized for the Holidays series was a big hit in November and December and I'd like to extend that to the other holidays during the year too, as well as organizing tips for each season since our needs change as the seasons do
- General organizing tips - one of my most popular series is the Organizing Ideas For the Weekend series so I'll definitely keep writing those posts, as well as other organizing tips
- Another 31 Days series in October - I'm thinking this year's topic will be another decluttering series since there are plenty of areas to declutter that weren't included in the original 31 Days of Easy Decluttering series - I know 31 posts in 1 month goes against my 2-3 posts per week goal, but I'll work on writing some of them in advance and maybe write a bit less in September and November to average it out.
- Possibly a Healthy Living Series - I'm still debating about writing the healthy living series and starting the Healthy Living Facebook group that I'd planned to do this year. I could REALLY use the accountability and I know many of you could too. I'm sure I'd apply organizing principles to my healthy living efforts and I would share those organizing tips with you in this series. But I also really want this blog to be about organizing topics that apply to anyone and everyone, and I don't want you feel like I'm taking this blog in a different direction. It would probably only be 1-2 posts per month and the rest would be shared in a new Healthy Living Facebook group I'd create. So please help me decide... leave me a comment below, or on social media, or feel free to email me (organizerhilda at gmail dot com). If there are enough positive responses, and not too many negative ones, then I'll share my goals and progress as I live healthier, as well as some healthy living tips, and ways that I apply organizing principles to my journey to healthy living. Otherwise I'll do this on my own and leave it off the blog :)
So other than possibly adding a healthy living series, really this is still the same blog and the same topics you've come to know and love! Just some posts won't be as frequent as they have been in previous years.
To give you even more of a taste for what's coming, here are a few posts you can look forward to over the next few weeks:
- My January/February decluttering update for the 365 in 365 challenge
- A Spring Cleaning Printable Bundle sale that starts on Friday (as well as posts about how I'm using the printables to help me get a jump start on spring cleaning and decluttering so I can enjoy the spring weather when it gets here)
- Tips for decluttering and organizing toys
- Tips on transitioning out of winter and getting organized for spring
Sound good?! I'm excited about 2015! {Even if it did get off to a slow start.} And I look forward to continuing to help you go from overwhelmed to organized... as I do that myself :)
What have you been up to the last while? Have you been decluttering and organizing with the start of the new year? How are your 2015 goals coming along? What are you most looking forward to in 2015? Do you think I should do a healthy living series on the blog?
Happy organizing!
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