Category Archives: Productivity

Find Joy in Editing Your Holiday Decor

Downsizing and Organizing How to Organize Productivity Videos No Comments

Last year, one of our Move Makers team members realized that the holiday decorations she’d collected over the years were taking up more time and space than she wanted. What was once a fun activity had become a chore, due to the sheer volume of decorations she had accumulated. Dragging those boxes and totes out of storage was becoming exhausting.  

Those of us who have been in our homes for many years can face the same challenges.  Do I need to put out ALL of my decorations each year?  Will it still feel like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah or Christmas if I don’t?.. Read the rest

Painless Closet Organizing – The Liberating Feeling of LESS

Downsizing and Organizing How to Organize Productivity No Comments

I moved into my current petite home after seriously downsizing three times before. In the beginning, everything fit beautifully, with plenty of room to spare. Five years and one pandemic later, I began to feel the crunch. Somewhere along the way, my normal routine of editing my wardrobe seasonally had stopped working. Drawers were a little harder to close, I had even purchased additional hangers. Twice. I found myself laying clothes over a chair rather than wedging them into my closet. Does this sound familiar?

I decided it was time to do something about it. I borrowed a sturdy folding clothes rack, put a gardening podcast on speaker and got to work... Read the rest

Kitchen Chi – Feng Shui tips for Your Home’s Heart

Downsizing and Organizing How to Organize Productivity No Comments

Feng Shui, the ancient system of laws that practitioners follow to direct energy into a home, is often applied to areas like the living room and bedroom. While you can’t really move around the counters and appliances in your kitchen like you can a couch or chair, there are still several ways to bring in the peace and energy flow to your kitchen space.

In our blog “Energizing Your Home with Feng Shui”, we discussed the elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.  It’s easy to add these elements to the fixed nature of your kitchen through decor like lighting, paint, and decor. “The.. Read the rest

Is Your Home Ready for the Holidays?

Downsizing and Organizing How to Organize Productivity What are you Squirreling away? No Comments

If you’re gathering with extended family this holiday season, now is the time to take a good look at the entertaining spaces in your home, to organize and clear out the clutter to make way for a fresh start to the holiday season.  Let’s take a look at some of the clutter hotspots in the home.

Kitchen  

Pitch the scratched pots and pans –  throw out any scratched non-stick pots and pans, or donate any you’ve not used in a couple of years. Not only are scratched non-stick pans unsightly, they’re also unsafe to use.  Make sure your lids match the pots you’re keeping, and donate (or discard) the rest.  .. Read the rest

Energize Your Home With Feng Shui

Move Planning and Management Productivity No Comments

Employing the ancient practice of Feng Shui (“fung shway”)  is a perfect way to establish a fresh, vibrant energy in your new home or reset the energy in your current home.

The Move Makers Project Manager Paivi Panttila Vargas is a certified Feng Shui practitioner, and advises on the positive elements of the practice for those who have been in their home for some time, or wish to incorporate it into a new space..

“Creating a good energy for a new home makes it possible to get settled faster and unlock new opportunities for the new life phase,” said Paivi.  “Feng Shui and other methods like Vastu and Wabi Sabi are there to give you inspiration and guidance on how to look at your home in a new, deeper way... Read the rest

Quick and Dirty Tips to Keep Your Home Tidy and Organized

How to Organize Productivity No Comments

We’ve all been there on a sunny Saturday, faced with cleaning a messy house and having an opportunity to do fun things instead on a bright day.  Even if we choose to go out and have fun, sometimes knowing what’s facing us when we get back home can put a little tarnish on what should be a carefree moment.

There are a few quick tips that can keep the house in check if practiced throughout the week.  When practiced regularly, these small actions add up to a tidy house, and a place where you’d be happy to have friends stop by on a moment’s notice... Read the rest

Be Prepared for Emergencies

Home Safety Tip Productivity No Comments

That ice storm in February hit many of us by surprise, and with widespread power outages across the Portland metro region (including The Move Makers office in Lake Oswego), the idea of being prepared for the next emergency event is top of mind for us.  

We’ve compiled a short list of comprehensive websites that list the most important things to have on hand in advance should an emergency take place.  Since these are website links, it may be a good idea to print out the pertinent information and keep on hand in a handy file folder in case you lose power... Read the rest

They’ve Got Your Number- Robocallers and How to Avoid Them

Downsizing and Organizing How to Organize Productivity No Comments

If you own a phone, you’ve received an unwanted call from a telemarketer, or spam robocall trying to sell you a product.  You may have noticed that many of the calls are from phone numbers that seem to come from your own area or one of your phone contacts, with a familiar area code. This is a practice begun a few years ago called spoofing: that’s highjacking a local number to give the impression the call is local and perhaps from someone you know. 

But don’t be fooled – technology has advanced in this area often to the detriment of the innocent consumer who can get inundated with these calls multiple times a day... Read the rest

Do This, Not That When Preparing for A Move

Downsizing and Organizing Move Planning and Management Packing and Move Preparation Productivity Unpacking and New Home Set Up No Comments

Moving is one of life’s occurrences that can be time-consuming, expensive and stressful.  But there are few practices to consider that can ease the pain of moving as well as the expense.  Here is a look at things NOT to do, and things to DO instead:

tmm 183

DON’T wait until the last minute to get ready to move.  The longer you wait, the more stumbling blocks you may encounter, like running out of time, not enough boxes, no place to dispose of your items, and moving companies that are too busy to help you.

DO make a plan before you move.  Planning out an overall timeline to prepare all of the components of moving (including sorting, organizing, packing, and arranging for help), goes a long way in making move day go more smoothly.

.. Read the rest

Turning Idle Time into Productive Time – How The Move Makers are Spending their Days

Productivity No Comments

While we’re still busy behind the scenes at the Move Makers as we work remotely from our homes during this challenging time, some of us are taking the extra time at home to follow our creative pursuits or getting to things we’d been putting on the back burner. Here’s a sampling of what some of our team members are doing during the COVID-19 quarantine:

Jennifer

Operations Manager

Jennifer’s been with The Move Makers almost since its inception in 2013 and has a solid background in professional organizing.  But Jennifer also has a very artistic side. She is a mural painter as well as a jewelry artisan.

.. Read the rest