Feng Shui Joy Notes
E-zine #21— May 2004

In this issue:

Declutter your way to a life you love
Feng Shui Parade home
Joy Notes Question and Answer
Upcoming talks

Declutter your way to a life you love

Springtime! I always feel energized to do decluttering at this time of year. Clutter can hold us in the past, disorient our thoughts, and leave us feeling like our lives are out of control. Clutter starts as stuck energy. Stuck energy attracts clutter, which in turn atracts even more clutter. And it grows and grows. It may start out as a small pile of papers that eventually takes over our entire kitchen counter. It's a vicious cycle and only the act of decluttering can put a stop to it. The big reward: By taking the time to declutter our homes, we are opening ourselves up to new opportunities and experiences that we do want in our lives. Good things start happening.

According to Karen Kingston in her book "Clear your clutter with Feng Shui", people can have clutter in their homes for numerous reasons. Some of these reasons include: just in case I might need it someday, it's still useful, I grew up during the Great Depression when everything was saved and used, or even subconsciously trying to keep up with the Joneses. Some clutter is not so obvious:

• sentimental items,
• unwanted gifts,
• photographs (duplicates, bad shots, photos of unhappy times),
• computer hard drives,
• magazines,
• audio tapes, CDs or movies that you'll never use again even though they're organized,
• extras of anything (i.e., inherited extras of items you already own),
• books,
• empty boxes,
• items you're saving for someone to possibly use in the future, and
• items that belong to someone else that you are storing for them.

Do you see anything in this list that may be cluttering up your home and life?

In order to give yourself encouragement in your decluttering projects, plan to start small. Choose areas that will only take a few minutes to complete: a drawer, the area by the telephone, or the bathroom counter. Choose an area that disturbs you the most in your daily life and you'll be even more encouraged when you see the fantastic results. It will create a ripple effect in which you'll be so delighted with the results of that small project that you'll be inspired to declutter another area. Thus another cycle begins -- the "I'm decluttering and taking my life back" one.

How to declutter

One method to sort through physical clutter is to use the box method. Four boxes labeled:

1. Trash - Make sure that this box is large.
2. Recycling - This could further be broken down into additional boxes if you choose:
   1. Trash recycling
   2. Gift
   3. Sell
   4. Give away
3. Repair - Only put something in this box, if you can also put a date on it as to when you will repair it. Otherwise it belongs in box #1 "trash".
4. Transit - This box is for things that are just in the wrong location. Don't return them while you are sorting. This is too big a distraction from what you are trying to do. Put them in the box and return all items at the end.

Organizing the area

Do you have the right containers to make sure that what's left stays organized? Drawer organizers work well for drawers, especially junk drawers. (It's ok to have a junk drawer to catch all those loose necessary items.) There are wonderful closet organizers, garage organizers, etc. Check out organizing sections of discount stores or online at sites like containerstore.com.

Use duplicate items wisely: Are there certain items here that always seem to be carried off to other parts of the house? i.e. Do the scissors next to the kitchen phone always end up in your son's room? A simple remedy for this would be to purchase another pair of scissors for his room.

One of the best ways to keep areas neat and organized is to make sure that objects are near where they're going to used and that they have a home there. This is where the right container to hold the items is so beneficial. This will make your daily life easier and relieve a lot of tension.

Key: Maintenance

The final part to decluttering is maintenance. A daily pickup at the end of each day will result in a home where the energy is always flowing smoothly. Get all family members to help with this one. If you don't want to be stuck in the past and want your life to move forward, a clean, organized home and office can help you achieve those goals.

Karen Kingston's book "Clear your clutter with Feng Shui" is a great book to give you encouragement and insight into any clutter issues you may have. I highly recommend it. If you can't seem to get started on your decluttering and need help with it, consider hiring a professional organizer.

Have an energizing, organized week,

Joy

Feng Shui Consultations

A good time to have a personal Feng Shui consultation is whenever you are:

1. Buying or selling your home or business
2. Experiencing major changes in your life
3. Looking to remodel or update your interior
4. Wanting to create a change in your life

A Feng Shui consultation is geared to your particular home and circumstances. In addition to helping you attain your goals in life, other services I offer in a consultation include helping with furniture placement choices, giving ideas to help with furniture/furnishing purchases, choosing the most beneficial wall colors, and assisting in your building project. For a quick jumpstart on creating the life that you desire, contact me to find out about a personal Feng Shui consultation.

Joy

Feng Shui 2004 Parade Home

The 2004 Madison Area Builders Association Parade of Homes is just around the corner. I hope you are making plans to come out to view the Feng Shui parade home that Michael F. Simon Builders has built in the Bergamont subdivision. Directions to this home from Madison: Take Hwy 12-18 to Fish Hatchery Road (County Hwy D). Go south on Fish Hatchery until it ends at Lincoln Road (approximately 8 miles). Turn left on Lincoln Road and go approximately 2 miles. Follow the signs to the Parade.

Hours for the parade will be Monday - Thursday 3-8 p.m., Friday 3-10 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday 12-6 p.m. June 12-27. The sites in this year'sparade are Bergamont in Oregon, Blackhawk in Madison, Middleton Hills in Middleton, and Montondon Addition to Savannah Village in Waunakee.

I will be at the Parade of Homes to answer questions on the following dates and times. (These times are subject to change.) We will try to have at least one Feng Shui representative there during Parade hours to answer questions.

Sunday June 13-- 3-6 p.m.
Tuesday, June 15 -- 5-8 p.m.
Sunday June 20 -- 4-6 p.m.
Monday June 21 -- 5-8 p.m.
Wednesday June 23 -- 3-8 p.m.
Thursday, June 24 -- 3-5 p.m.

If you want to hear about building a Feng Shui parade home, be sure to attend the talk that I'm doing at Invest in Yourself Bookstore on Tuesday, June 1. See details below.

Joy Notes Q&A

Joy,

I have a ranch-style home that's longer looking from the street than from the side. When you approach my home from the street, you step up one step to a landing and then turn left to see my front door. How would I orient the bagua on my home.

Sandy, Minneapolis, MN

Sandy,

I know the temptation is to use the approach to the front door as the entrance putting the wealth, fame and love guas in your backyard, but we need to rotate the bagua 90 degrees counter-clockwise instead. The bagua map is always aligned with your front door as it is set on your home. This will probably put your front door in the Knowledge/Self-Cultivation or Health/Family gua, depending on its location on the front of your home. As you are looking from the street at your house, then the far left side of your home will be your Wealth gua and the far right side will be Knowledge/Self-Cultivation.

Joy

If you have a question you'd like to see answered in an upcoming issue of Feng Shui Joy Notes, send your question to Joy.

Pass on the Ch’i

Please share this enewsletter with interested friends by forwarding the complete enewsletter to them. Subscribing information is included at the end.

Upcoming Talks

Only one talk left from the busy spring schedule of talks that I've done. If you're interested in finding out about the process that went into building a Feng Shui parade home, you won't want to miss this one. Space is limited though. Please call for your reservation.

June 1, 2004 - 6:30 p.m.
Building a Parade Home with Feng Shui
“Invest in Yourself” bookstore
6661 University Avenue, Middleton
Open to the public. Space is limited. Please call 836-1706 to reserve your place.

The talks at the Invest in Yourself Bookstore are part of the Energize Your Life by Making Choices series. There is only one left on June 8 on organizing. To learn more about this talk, visit www.investinyourselfbooks.com.