Feng Shui and the Busy Family

So this is what my living room should look like. What great Feng Shui this room has. I have added the elements that are needed to balance the energy. I have added a mirror and lamp with a beautiful reflective mica stand to help add more light. There are coffee table trunks that double as storage for miscellaneous stuff. I love sitting in this room, when it looks like this. The problem is that it looks like this about 50% of the time.

You see I have 4 children. They are wonderful, beautiful and a blessing. But with 2 year old twins, a 6 year old daughter and a 7 year old son, below is what the room usually looks like. My husband has a great way of putting it. The kids are like walking through water, when you walk they fill the space behind you (whether it be with Lego's, or dolls or crayons). So I am in a constant battle with their stuff. I laugh when I meet a client that is concerned with managing clutter and is afraid that I will judge their messy house harshly.

Oh, I understand the battle too well. I have decided that the problem is that we have too much stuff. Too many toys, too many clothes and just too much stuff.My family specifically but our culture in general. I don't think they had problems with clutter 200 years ago.

So this year I am going to continue to battle the stuff with organizational systems as I always do, but I am also going to try and make a concerted effort to rid myself of the some of the stuff.

Remote Follow Ups

I just had a follow-up appointment with a client via phone. I do this from time to time to save them on travel fees. I usually like to have two appointments; the first to gather all my information and the second to go over the report with them to explain everything.

I have found having follow-ups over the phone is PAINFUL for both of us. It is difficult for them to know exactly where and what in their home I am referring to, especially when it comes to suggestions on furniture placement. In the end we do get through it all, but it usually takes two hours instead of one.

However, I will continue to do them as necessary to save my clients their hard-earned money and me the gas but I need to figure out a better way to explain everything. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Have to go...the natives are restless.

Entryway Clutter

So we spent this Labor day holiday weekend with my brother and his family in TN. What a great fun family weekend. My brother needed a little help with a household task today before we left. They live in a house where you usually enter through the garage into a mudroom/ laundry/ pantry. This is common in modern homes with garages. Rarely do people park their car in the garage and then walk around to the front door.

Anyway, they wanted to stack the washer and dryer so that my sister-in-law would have more room and put a small folding shelf in the room to help manage the laundry for a family of 5. So the question was do they stack them so they are closer to the door (or coat cubbies) or do they push them back further toward the utility sink which is at the back of the room. They had them stacked toward the front because she felt it would be more convenient to reach and open, but then after they were there something didn't seem right. I pointed out that having them toward the front of the room made the entryway feel more tight. In other words, bad feng shui. The energy flow into the house from the outside was being stifled because of all the stuff by the door.

It is important to keep your entryway uncluttered. Have you ever been in a great mood only to return home to a mess right inside the door that kills that good feeling. That's bad feng shui!