Chaos in Nashville
Did you know we travel? Here are a few photos from our latest trip to Nashville.
Did you know that we travel?
Last week, we worked in a client’s home in Nashville, Tennessee getting them unpacked and ready to move in!
Here’s a few pictures of our time in Nashville:
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Thank You to Our Chaos Organizing Family
Do you find yourself thinking about all of the things you are grateful for this time of year? Here’s a few things we’re thankful for this year.
Dear Chaos Organizing Family,
Do you find yourself thinking about all of the things you are grateful for this time of year? It’s one of my favorite seasons for that reason alone but pair with it a break from the Louisiana heat, add a little football, holiday lights and music, and you can see why I love fall and all that comes with it. And the eggnog…there’s that too! As we head into our 9th year in business, I want you to know how thankful I am for each and every one of you who believe in our abilities to bring peace to your home. 9 years of clients becoming friends, less clutter, more family and fun, and so many people loving their homes! Chaos Organizing has far exceeded the small dream I had in 2013. We now are a team of 7 amazing women who know how to make your home function so you can enjoy it. I truly can’t wait to see what opportunities (and families) lie ahead! Thank you for joining us on this adventure. Don’t forget to get on the calendar for 2022 to help get your year started on the right foot. We have a few January spots left.
Kindly,
Your Chaos Organizing Team
Martha-Carol, Melanie, Junita, Lydia, Megan, Julianne and Mary Catherine
Vacation 2020: Road Trip Pandemic-Style
Travel expert, Karla C, is sharing her tips for an organized driving vacation!
Travel expert, Karla C, is sharing her tips for an organized driving vacation!
Oh 2020, what a year it's been!
If you're like me, vacations have been canceled, plans have been changed, and chaos has reigned supreme. But those circumstances are precisely why you need a break!
So how to vacation this year, when the world is mostly closed to Americans? When even in the U.S., states are are limiting access to visitors from other states? When cities are sometimes limiting access to citizens even from the same state?
ROAD TRIP!
2020 is the perfect year to plan your great American road trip! A road trip is the best way to maintain flexible travel plans, especially in these unusual times. If one state is on lock down, you can choose another. If one city is closed to nonessential travel, simply move on to the next one.
Life on the Road:
So how to make the most of your time on the road? Here are SEVEN tips that might help!
ONE: Think of masks as a fashion statement!
Acquire a few really cute, well-fitting masks that will complement your road trip attire. And bring more masks than you think you’ll need: the ear straps break, they get dirty, and you may lose one or two along the way.
Disposable masks are okay, but please dispose of them properly. Mask litter is becoming a huge issue around the world, and wildlife can be injured or killed when tangled in the straps.
Holiday masks are all the rage this year!
PRO TIP: Bring along a sewing kit in case your favorite mask needs an emergency repair!
PRO TIP: Even though you may live in a place without a mask mandate, you may travel through or visit places that require them. And it might be that a place without a mask mandate when you started your trip suddenly has one. Better to be prepared than scrambling to find masks on the road.
TWO: Gourmet on the Go
You won't be able to rely on restaurants along the way, like you normally do, so plan in advance for delicious and tasty meals away from home. Of course, you can bring gourmet shelf-stable foods like canned stuffed grape leaves, garlic-stuffed olives, candied walnuts, and yummy peanut butter to slather on crackers or presliced honey crisp apples. Or you can create a charcuterie board at a rest area with things from your ice chest, like cubed cheeses, precut veggies, and deli meats.
But you can also pack a slow cooker that plugs into your car so you can have hot meals along the way. This secret has long been known to truck drivers, but you now you're in on the game!
My favorite road trip meal is taco salad, using leftover chili from my home freezer (place in ice chest frozen, where it can sub for ice and thaw along the way), a bag of lettuce and grape tomatoes, toppings like cheese and sour cream, and a bag of tortilla chips. I heat the chili in my slow cooker while I'm driving, and I top my salad with steaming hot chili that perfectly melts the cheese. A slow cooker works for so many meals: leftover gumbo is my second fave meal on the road!
In addition to healthy snacks, like fruit & cheese, remember to pack salt and pepper!
PRO TIP: Pack an inexpensive, easily-cleaned plastic table cloth to cover rest area picnic tables. Or stock up on several inexpensive table cloths at a discount store like Dollar Tree so you can toss them in the trash after use.
PRO TIP: Remember to bring seasonings, like salt, pepper, Tabasco, and Tony Cachere's!
PRO TIP: Pack the Pantry: if your lodging offers to prestock your kitchen with food and necessities, this is definitely the year to sign up for that service.
THREE: Stopping for Snacks
What to do between meals, when you're bored and looking for something to snack on, but your ice chest is all the way in the back? Keep a small cooler or lunch box with small amounts of presliced fruit, veggies, cheese, and crackers in the passenger compartment with you. And remember to drink lots of water!
Each time you stop for gas or to stretch your legs (which experts recommend you do at least every two hours), refill your small cooler with a new set of snacks and beverages from your ice chest or nonperishables container, which are stored elsewhere in your vehicle. Sure, I guess it could be fun to pretend you're a contortionist to get that Diet Coke from the ice chest stored under the suitcase behind your seat, but it's a lot more sensible to simply restock your in-car snacks along the way.
Pack snacks in small packages for easy transfer to your small cooler.
PRO TIP: Freeze water bottles at home and use them instead of ice to keep your ice chest cool. As they thaw along the way, you have nice cold water to drink, and you save all that space that would normally be dedicated to ice that you simply pour out. Plus it's more environmentally friendly to reuse water bottles and minimize water usage!
PRO TIP: Be sure to keep tissues and a few paper napkins in the car in case you need them for sneezes or spills!
FOUR: Plan to be Fully Self-Contained
Normally when we travel by car ... wait - scratch that - it's 2020, and there's nothing normal about it. So this year, and until the pandemic subsides, plan to be fully self-contained. Not just with food and water, as suggested above, but with everything. Pack a full first-aid kit. Bring a compressor in case your tires are low. Remember sunscreen and bug spray, if necessary. Throw in a few trash bags to contain your disposables along the way. Plan in-car and at-location entertainment, like books, cards, and electronics. Remember paper towels, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and - yes - toilet paper.
PRO TIP: Save the disposable utensils and napkins from take-out dining to use on your road trip. Use up your mismatched paper party plates and cups for dining on the go!
PRO TIP: Download any e-books or videos before you leave home. You may find yourself unable to access your vacation favorites if internet is spotty or the WiFi goes out.
FIVE: Condense Your Clothing
We typically throw in lots of extra clothes and shoes when we travel by car, much more so than when we travel by plane. But rethink that habit! Travel should be as stress-free as possible, and the more options you have, the more decisions you have to make, and the more stressful your days intended for relaxing will be. Instead, pack around a color scheme. Or plan a capsule wardrobe for your vacation. Bring accessories to snazzy up your look! Minimizing options on the road will leave you more time for what's really important: relaxing and having fun.
In addition, think about the size of your clothing. No, I don't mean the size you wear. I mean, how small do your items pack down? It's easy to minimize packing space by intentionally choosing items that pack smaller. Fewer bags, less to haul around, easier to manage as you stop along the way.
Packing Small: This is our entire luggage for four days in NYC!
PRO TIP: If you will be staying one night in one or two nights in one place, pack a smaller bag that you will bring inside for only those nights. It's much easier than unpacking all your luggage for a quick stop!
PRO TIP: Plan to do laundry along the way. Pack enough powdered detergent in a small container to hand wash in a hotel sink or in a laundry facility. And remember dryer sheets, if you use them.
SIX: Itemize Your Itinerary
One of the joys of road trips is jumping in the car without a care in the world. And that frequently means without a plan. But during this pandemic, a plan is critical. Many places have capacity restrictions, so advance reservations are recommended - at restaurants, at hotels, at museums, and even at places like some state and national parks.
But at the same time, you have to be prepared to change those plans. Having a Plan B is critical in case the place you've been planning to go is suddenly on lockdown. As you're planning your trip, keep alternate locations, restaurants, hotels, and experiences in the back of your mind - or on a list on your phone - so you're prepared to move on as necessary without too much strife.
PRO TIP: Make reservations that can be canceled at no charge or, if advance payment is required, that are completely refundable.
PRO TIP: If traveling with pets, be sure to check that necessary facilities will be available along the way. And remember to check requirements before bringing your furry friends across state lines.
Pets: please remember to keep your humans on a leash.
SEVEN: Organizing Essentials
Just like a well-designed closet makes life easier at home, a well-designed packing plan will make life easier on the road.
CONTAINERS: Use stackable, hard-sided plastic containers with lids for packing food, paper products, and cleaning supplies. Pack these containers and your large ice chest in an out-of-the way but accessible-at-stops place in your car, like the in the trunk or in rear of your SUV or van. (Remember: you'll have a small cooler for on-the-go snacks in the passenger compartment of your vehicle.)
SUITCASES: Place your suitcases (which you won't need during your travel time) in a place that is less accessible, perhaps under your plastic containers or behind your ice chest. Keep available only those things you will need in the car or for an overnight stop.
A roomy ice chest and hard plastic containers make road trips so much better!
PRO TIP: Label your containers ... and make sure the labels are facing the right direction when packed in the car.
Thanks to CHAOS Organizing for my new cute container labels!!
PRO TIP: Pack your food items in a container that is separate from your other items to avoid any cross-contamination.
CONCLUSION:
Yes, vacation this year is different, and like everything else in 2020, a road trip may be a little unusual, as well. But you can take a road trip and have fun along the way, especially if you take a little extra time to plan in advance.
Have a great trip!
(And feel free to tag me in your pictures so I can live vicariously! @voodoogardener on Instagram)
To view the original post and see more from Karla
To hear more from Karla on travel, check out our Facebook Live with her from this week!
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7 Essential Tools For Interior Designers
As an interior designer, I frequently make “house calls” to meet with clients to assess their spaces, offer suggestions, and talk to them about how we can transform their space for the better. One of the questions I received from an up-and-coming designer was related to the tools I use to stay on top of my projects while I’m on the go. So today, I’m sharing with you “what’s in my bag!”
Featured in GoodHousekeeping, inRegister Magazine, 225 Magazine, and many more, we are beyond excited to welcome our guest blogger for this week, Arianne Bellizaire! She is a well established Interior Designer in the Baton Rouge area and today she is sharing with us “what’s in my bag!”
Hi friends!
As you may know, I pop into Instagram once a week on Tuesday afternoons to do a Q&A session.
During those sessions, I invite people to post any questions they may have about decorating, design, entrepreneurship, and marketing.
Most times, the questions are simple and easy enough to answer during those LIVE sessions, but every now and then someone will send me a question that I feel like I need more than just a few seconds to answer.
Today’s post was inspired by one of those questions!
As an interior designer, I frequently make “house calls” to meet with clients to assess their spaces, offer suggestions, and talk to them about how we can transform their space for the better.
One of the questions I received from an up-and-coming designer was related to the tools I use to stay on top of my projects while I’m on the go.
I loved this question so much that I decided, “Hey! Let’s make a video about this!”
So today, I’m sharing with you “what’s in my bag!”
These are the tools I use to seamlessly transition from my office to site visits without missing a beat!
① The most critical tool in my bag is my laptop. This is my mobile design studio, so to speak. I can easily pull up floor plans, show clients inspiration photos on Pinterest, and send them a summary of all of the things we discussed during the meeting before I even leave their home.
② The next “essential” is of course my cellphone. And not just to connect with team members and installers, but I also use my phone to provide a hotspot for internet access on construction sites. As an added bonus, my phone is my camera so I use it to take before and after photos and videos to document the progress of my projects. This is by far the most versatile piece in my arsenal!
③ Next up is my retractable tape measure. To be honest, I always have one of these within reach, whether it’s the one in my bag, the one in the glove compartment in my car, or the one in my desk drawer. Being able to capture room dimensions and gauging the scale of things is essential to effective space planning. In my bag, I have a 12ft and a 25ft measure
④ This next tool, the digital tape measure, allows me to measure vertical spaces, room lengths, and hard to reach spaces with ease!
⑤ The next essential is painters tape! I use this to block out furniture and art placement if the client is having a difficult time visualizing how much space a piece of furniture or art display will take up in the room.
⑥ One of the newest but no less critical additions to my toolkit is my Remarkable! This powerful device has replaced my spiral-bound notebook. I use it to jot down notes, stretch ideas, and dictate summary briefs for each meeting. Then I press a button to transform my handwritten notes into text and email a pdf copy to my client, trade, or team member with the press of a button!
⑦ My final tool is my paint color fan deck! Like my retractable tape measure, I’m never far away from one of these, and here’s why. Despite what you might think, this baby can be used for more than picking out paint colors!
I’ve got even MORE tips on how you can get the most out a paint deck coming up in a future video, so be on the lookout for that!
For now, I want to know from you, are you surprised by any of the tools I keep in my bag? Which one was most unexpected and what did you THINK you would see in my bag that you didn’t?
Let me know in the comments!
To view the original post and see more from Arianne Bellizaire
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Routine: The Key to Survival and Success
If I had to pick one thing I could share that would make the biggest difference in your life, it would be routines.
As a teacher, there were no excuses for being late. I had to be on time to receive the children or the parents would then be late themselves! Not only did I have to be on time, but also I really needed to be there early to attend to a few things before the students were walking through the door. Oh, and I had to get 2 small children dressed and ready for school as well. I conquered this challenge with this beautiful thing called a routine.
If I had to pick one thing I could share that would make the biggest difference in your life, it would be routines.
As a teacher, there were no excuses for being late. I had to be on time to receive the children or the parents would then be late themselves! Not only did I have to be on time, but also I really needed to be there early to attend to a few things before the students were walking through the door. Oh, and I had to get 2 small children dressed and ready for school as well. I conquered this challenge with this beautiful thing called a routine.
Routine = sequence of actions that you do repeatedly.
Simple. You repeat these few things every day. It takes discipline at first but you can do it!
There are 3 times that routines should be in place to make your life less chaotic.
Morning-as easy and as simple as you can make it.
Afterschool or work-do the things necessary to start tomorrow strong.
Evening-reset your home, check for last minute to-do’s and put things in place.
Here are some examples of daily routines for kids and adults:
Morning:
Get dressed
Brush teeth/hair
Eat breakfast
Get lunchbox, backpack, purse, wallet, etc. (items that have a “take with me” home) and walk out the door.
After-school (young kids):
Snack (in a designated spot so the children can grab without your assistance)
Homework
Repack backpacks
Make lunches(this can be part of the evening routine if needed.)
Play
After-work (Routines aren’t just for kids):
Hang up work clothes
Start laundry
Pay bills/answer emails/take care of “home business”
Start dinner (check weekly meal plan)
Pack lunch (unless it’s dinner leftovers)
Homework help/sign any paperwork that the kids have and have child put back in the appropriate space.
Re-boot laundry
Kids evening Routine:
Mary Poppins called it, “Tidy up the Nursery” time. Aka: Clean up your mess! Setting a timer (2-3 minutes per child’s age. A 5 year old should get 15 minutes of time. If it takes longer, you will need to reassess the amount of toys they are allowed to pull out) and turning on music makes this task more fun with smaller children. Supervision is best with this step because kids love to hide their messes in their closets, under beds, in hampers and anywhere they think they can get away with it. No, your kid’s not a jerk, this is normal.
Get out school clothes. If this is a nightly struggle, try getting out a weeks worth on Sundays. (I used a 5-tier hanging shelf that hooks to the closet rod.)
Baths
Books (quiet time)
Bed-as in lights out because Mom and Dad need some grown up time.
Evening routine:
Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. This step is huge because so much time is wasted in the AM on this one step!
Put your purse, keys, wallet, mail, backpacks and everything else that goes with you in the AM in one place. This place should be it’s designated home every single evening. (No more searching for things in the morning!) Having a phone charger in that place would be smart so it’s all there together.
Check the weather. Do you need to leave a little early due to fog, rain, snow? (Well, not so much snow in south Louisiana, just hurricanes.)
Check the calendar. Do you need anything besides the usual items? Valentines Card? Mardi Gras beads? LSU shirt?
Reset the house in 15-30 minutes. For me, this is making sure the dirty dishes are in the dishwasher, sofa cushions and sofa pillows are straight, extra blankets are folded and in the basket, toys (dog toys for me) are put in their home. I usually throw the dirty kitchen towels into the dirty clothes basket as well and wipe counters. This is also the time to put away all the items that are not in their home. Remember to be a good example and put away things when you use them so this is not a daunting task.
Make a list of your routines and post it until it’s memory. You can hang them in sheet protectors and have the kids check them off with dry erase markers as the job is done. You are there to supervise the children, not do the job for them.
Not sure where to start when making routines? Give us a call and let’s set up a consultation to get you on the right path. How much time will you gain by implementing these routines?
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