March Vignettes

Big things are happening around the Horton household! 

So, I have chosen the last Sunday of the month to keep y’all updated on all of the new changes…

all while providing a “month in review”-ish style post!

If this is your first time here, just stick with me while I get a little self-centered. 

I promise, I usually talk about organizing something! :)

In the month of March…

We spent Spring Break really staging our home. 

I cannot even begin to describe all of the work that goes into doing this! But you know what? I have discovered that I absolutely LOVE the staging process! It is just all about cleaning, clearing, decluttering, eliminating, and simplifying. 

We had a “snow week”.

Yes, you read that right. The week before Spring Break, we received, like, 2 inches of snow (maybe) and were out of school for almost a whole week (some of the more rural schools did get the whole week out). Please ignore the horribleness of these photos. They were my pathetic attempt to capture the snow outside. I have to say that I was pretty thrilled since snow in Memphis almost never “sticks”!

My students were precious (as usual)!

My sweet Kindergarteners are starting to write and have used their newly-acquired skill to write me notes on notes on notes! Here is one of my favorites (ignore the fact that I placed it on my kitchen counter and got it wet). 

And let me just preface this by saying that they are all obsessed with Despicable Me and the Minions. 

(I mean, who isn’t?)

“There was a minion. Her name was Mrs. Horton, The Minion. She was happy."

“I love you. From Paolo"

Obviously, I spent too much money on pretty office supplies at Target. 

No further explanation required. 

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE! 

Which was my biggest goal for the beginning of the year! I was hoping it would happen in March… and it happened in March! The timing literally could not have been any better and we are just so thankful go God! This was a HUGE things for me to mark off of my to-do list!

 And here are some posts from March. 

In the comments of the Time Management System post, a reader requested that I write a post on procrastination and how to deal with it. Well, when I started researching the *causes* of procrastination… I found so much useful information that I just went ahead and wrote two posts! So, March kind of turned out to be an anti-procrastination month! 

I am always happy to write requested posts, so don’t be afraid to ask! 

We have also begun the official countdown to our moving day. 

The location is still top secret (mainly because there isn’t a specific location yet!). We are just so excited about this time in our lives and can’t wait to see where God opens up doors! Meanwhile, I am super excited about all of the new organization projects (and lists) that come along with moving!

As I do every year, I chose Memphis to win the National Championship. 

And as it does every year, my bracket has become irrelevant. Oh, well… maybe next year :)

So, that’s what happened in the oh-so-exciting life of Kirsten during March. 

Tell me about some of the things y’all did in March! 

Did you do an awesome job on your midterms? Have an awesome Spring Break? Or make some cool plans for the summer? 

I LOVE getting to know my readers, so let me know in the comments! :)

Do One Thing at a Time

{source}

Have you noticed that people have really been putting an emphasis on “work smarter not harder” lately? You may or may not have researched what the heck that means, but this is one of the primary focuses of that statement: Doing one thing at a time. 

It seems like I’ve read research on this everywhere lately. Long gone are the days when we celebrate people who were on the phone, while writing a report, while watching the news. Because, as we now know, someone who is doing all of those things at once is not doing any of them well. 

And you may think, I don’t do that. But… what about your phone? It has become the new face of multi-tasking and we don’t even realize it! Twitter notifications, Facebook notifications, Snap Chat notifications, Texts, E-Mails… and of course, the good ole’ phone call. It’s a little much. It’s multi-tasking. And most of the time, we don’t even realize we’re doing it!

But we need our phones so how do we stop? 

Tony Schwartz of the Harvard Business Review suggests 3 simple solutions to multi-tasking that we can all implement in our daily lives: 

1. Maintain Discipline.

Set a timer for 45 minutes (not a full hour), put your phone on silent (or in a different room), and spend that 45 minutes COMPLETELY FOCUSED on your task! Then spend 15 minutes reviewing what you completed, do a quick check of phone notifications, grab some water, etc. When the 15 minutes is up, start all over again!

2. Stop Demanding or Expecting Instant Responses.

Just because you received an e-mail or a text doesn’t mean that you have to drop whatever you’re in the middle of and respond immediately. And you know what? I think people who expect to receive immediate responses come across as pretty self-absorbed. Everyone is busy. Everyone is stressed. Everyone has deadlines. Don’t let others kill your productivity! 

3. Renew.

Have you ever noticed that sitting at a desk and “studying” for hours is one of the worst feelings in the world? That’s because it is. Not only that, it’s also one of the least productive things in the world! Most of our brains can only completely focus for less than an hour. However, when you take breaks, it fills up your focus to 100% again. 

Do something to refresh your brain! Stand outside, grab some water, do some yoga poses, lay down in the floor, draw a picture, do whatever will relax your body and brain for a few minutes! It may feel unproductive, but it’s actually one of the most productive things you could possibly do!

So this weekend, as you find yourself spending extra time writing lesson plans, finishing up school projects, or even hanging out with your friends (this is the one I’m the most guilty of), be ALL THERE. In that one thing. And just do it really well! :) 

Do you agree with this or has multi-tasking worked for you in the past? Also, I love to hear about study strategies, so let me know if you have a system that works well for you! 

Source:

Harvard Business Review

15 Best Home Staging Tips from Professionals

Living in a "staged" house is probably one of the most exhausting things I've ever experienced. Do you know about this? Oh, it's basically making a house look like some super freaky Stepford family (that never has dirty laundry or dishes) lives in it. And if you are ever living in a house that's for sale, you better get used to Stepford living real quick! 

I have literally been researching "staging" houses for over a year. From HGTV's website to various realtor and professional stagers’ websites... and I have found some really incredible information that made a huge difference! And guess what?! All of that research and hard work totally paid off because...

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!!

(well, as long as the buyer's loan goes through, we will have sold it!)

And not only did we sell our house (after it had been on the market for what felt like forever) but we sold it at our FULL ASKING PRICE! That’s right! The buyers didn’t even want to negotiate!

So today, I thought I'd share some of my favorite staging tips that I've learned along the way. I truly believe that, if I had known *these* things from the beginning, we would have sold it a LONG time ago)! And best of all? Your house doesn’t have to be "for sale" to try them!

 In fact (despite the stress of worrying about someone opening the dishwasher and actually finding dirty dishes) we have thoroughly enjoyed our house SO much more since it’s been “staged"!

So here are 15 professional secrets to making your home look and feel a little more like a model home! 

1. Mix 1/2 bleach 1/2 water into a spray bottle and spray in bathtubs/showers!

I started spraying this after every shower. After a couple of days, it completely got rid of that dark stuff around the corners. Also, start leaving the shower door open after you get out allows it to dry out more quickly... keeping that black stuff from coming back!
{HGTV}

2. Pack a "weekender" bag of everyday toiletries and keep it under your sink.

Having items already put away makes it SO simple to stage the bathroom quickly... Just throw the whole bag in a closet or your car before the showing!
{ok, I made this one up... But don't worry, I'll add a bonus pro tip at the end}

3. These 6 scents make people want to buy: basil, cedar, green tea, pine, lemon, vanilla. 

Buy room must or candles in these scents and burn them all day (or as long as you can) before showings!
{Proud Home Staging}

4. Open windows, turn on ceiling fans and vents for at LEAST 10 minutes before showings! 

You know when you walk into someone else's house and it just smells like... Someone else's house? You don't want that to happen to your potential buyers! You want your house to smell as airy and fresh as possible! Do as much as you can to make your house seem fresh and clean: On showing days, burn candles, Febreeze, open windows, turn on fans and vents, wash sheets...
{Home Staging Brisbane}

5. Include these items in every room: Candles, lamps, mirrors, and soft textures. 

{every single staging website, ever}

6. Spray appliances and surfaces with Windex. 

To make your appliances, counters, and sinks look super shiny after you clean them, go back and spray them again with Windex. This is actually a “secret” cleaning tip that luxury hotels use!
{Right at Home}

7. Take the screens out of your windows to make them look more clear and beautiful! 
{The Nester}

8. Remove some furniture. 

Only have 3 pieces of furniture in smaller rooms. Only have 6 pieces of furniture in larger rooms. In addition to that, float furniture away from walls and group it together. A room feels bigger when buyers can see all corners and walls of it.
{HGTV}

9. Only leave 20% of stuff in closets. 

Yes, you read that right, get rid of 80% of the stuff in them! At first, this seemed impossible but here is how I eventually did it: I focused on one closet at a time. I took everything out of the closet. For everything I put back into it, I got rid of 4 things. It sounds tragic, I know. But it worked. Closets are the deepest, darkest, secretest part of our homes. They are the holders of all kinds of useless junk and when you take everything out, you see how much of it you can really do without!
{Dream Works Realty}

10. Depersonalize 
Hide your personal photographs, your mail, your kids’ names, your friends’ wedding announcements, memorabilia with your favorite team on it, things that reflect your career, your faith, etc. Everything that might remind the buyer that someone they might like (or not like) lives there now. Don’t leave out anything that could distract potential buyers!
{every staging website, ever}

11. “You’re not selling your house; you’re selling your kitchen. That’s how important it is”.
{HGTV}

12. Buyers make up their minds within the first 15 seconds on your property.
FIFTEEN SECONDS! Practice walking up to the front door and into your property and make everything seen within those first seconds look absolutely irresistible!
{Ed Benning}

13. Get more familiar with Feng Shui.
Whether you believe in “energy flow” or not, Feng Shui is still a great way to balance out the colors/textures inside the house. Think about how you feel when you go to a spa or yoga studio. You get the feeling that it’s a calm, clean, peaceful, relaxing place, right? Knowing a little about the practice of Feng Shui will make your house feel that way, too!
{HG Front Door}

14. Paint everything neutral. 
Professional stagers/realtors call this painting everything “contract khaki”. And while it’s not an actual color, it means to paint the walls colors that don’t steal the show: beige, light blue, light green, subtle tan, and white are all examples. We went with Allen + Roth's Bubbly, Morning Jog, and Sunday Times. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s a light color so that the natural sunlight can bounce off the walls!
{every staging website, ever}

15. Organize the pantry.
We bought the OXO system at Williams-Sonoma for $100 (Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Target had it for the same price). I think it came with 10 containers and they look absolutely amazing! No more distracting, randomly-sized, randomly-colored boxes in our pantry! Plus, keeping all of the containers well-stocked is good Feng Shui!

If you want more uniformity in your pantry but don’t want to spend that much on new containers, Target also sells mason jars with lids in its kitchenware area for about $20-30 (depending on the size). It would give the same organized feel but cost a lot less!
{Home Staging Expert}

*BONUS*
The one thing that we did differently the day that we sold it was go get a twin air mattress, sheet, comforter, and pillows from Wal-Mart and create a faux-bed in a bed-less bedroom. We put it up on some storage bins and covered them with a bedskirt. I am 99% sure this is what finally made the difference.
{Realtor Mag}

"Do we really need to do all these things to prove that our house is great?"
YES! NEVER EXPECT BUYERS TO USE THEIR IMAGINATIONS!
(because they won’t)

Do you have a house for sale? Or did you recently buy/sell one? What kind of advice could you add to this (there is still a ton!)? Don’t you think some of these tricks are just great for your own home? I know we’ll certainly use some of them forever!

Staging is a topic that has endless information! If you are looking for cleaning systems, curb appeal inspiration, furniture arrangements, or paint color ideas, check out my Staging Pinterest board.