Heidi Yeadon

re you decide to place things in your office really depends on how often you will be using these things. making these things convenient to you so that all you have to do is either reach over, spin around in your chair or slide over a bit usually works best for me when i am trying to make the most of the time that I have. Making sure that your stapler, or your fax machine is within reach just might be a few choice items at the very top of your list!

You should be able to reach these items easily. Visually they should be right in front of you and readily avaiable. Attractive storage containers are nice too but, make sure that you can still access whatever is within them with a minimal amount of effort.

Make sure that your business finances are viewable from your seat and that you can keep them at hand for when they are to be watched over especially in the beginning of your new business adventure. You want to keep the cash flow circulating around and around to stimulate and make your business grow. If the cash flow is left to stagnate then the business cannot and will not thrive. A good friend once told me that I should spread money around like manure. Rather a disturbing thought to one degree or another but, still the sentiment really does ring true if you think about it.

Make sure that you have a "To Do" list because this helps you to stay organized and focused. It will also help you to stay on top of which things are at the top of the priority list and which ones are at the bottom. Each day the list will change to a certain degree.

I have also packed up a special leather briefcase that replicates many of the same documents that I might need so that when I am visiting clients or spending time with a vendor i have all that I need right htere with me. Obviously, I have my laptop and my blackberry but, I would rather be overly prepared than to have to run back to the office because I need to copy something.

When it comes to answering text messages, emails and phonecalls my day can be overun with both both personal and business related concerns. I'd like to say that i try and save all my answers to my emails, for example are all saved for 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. or something along those lines but, for me, in this business its a little unlikely. people want to reach me now and if theyknow that I am available in all these ways then its definately NOT in my best interest to ignore them too often.

I keep a "To Do' book, a day planner which allows me to separate each client and track everything that transpires over time with that particular job. It would be too hard to try and remember every phone number, address or detail of any clients home when I stage it.

I try to block my time as much as I can so that I get things done in a timely manner and without too much back and forth of anything.

When it comes to mail i like the one look over approach. I don't like to keep rifling through the same bills, or quotes or whatever over and over again. If its junk it goes right in the trash. If its something that I need to read then it goes into a bin for that for a time when i can sit down and read all my reading at once. Make sense? Bills are bills they have their own place too.

The key is to be organized. Repeat the same organised methods over and over. keep things in the proper containers so that they are easily accessible.

All of this will make your life so much easier!!

Please check out my new website.

My new website below shows photographs of staged homes in the greater Boston area and central MA It will give homesellers the chance to see homes that have been staged. The website for home staging will give realtors and home sellers the information that they need to stage their homes and get them sold for the most money!

http://towerhillhomestaging.com

Home staging to sell a home in Southborough Massachusetts - A professional home stager can dramatically change the look and feel of your home before it is listed for sale in today's real estate market. Staging can make your home appear like a model home - once it has been staged it will eliminate other homes you're competing with. Real estate trends have proven that staged homes sell within 13.9 days on average while unstaged homes take 30.9 on average.

If your home looks similar to this one, you want to do everything, that you can, to get it sold then staging your home is a must, NOT a luxury. Does your home look like this?

When a professional home stager stages your home it will put your homes best face forward the very first time before any potential buyers have seen it.

Quick checklist of important reasons for having home staging

• Your master bath, or any baths don't scream I've been to my local pharmacy....again!
• The scent of your home isn't overwhelmed by candles or worse, air fresheners.
• My home is really clean.
• The landscaping shows a mowed lawn, trimmed hedges and shrubs and its has mulch.
• The kids bikes and toys are put away and not strewn all over the lawn.
• All of the wall colors are appealing to most people.
• The appliances are up to date and clean.
• Kitchen cabinets and counter tops are cleared of all clutter and in newer condition.
• Your front door is enticing to visitors with new hardware and fresh paint.
• The master bedroom is peaceful, tidy, spacious and relaxing.
• All bedding is not outdated and it matches with the rest of the rooms colors.
• Make your bed the focal point of the room and purpose the room only as the master bedroom.
• Seating areas are conducive to conversation.
• Each room has some special quality that shines as the focal point of the room.
• The furniture aids in defining the room style and doesn't confuse the rooms given style.
• Personal photographs and collectibles have been packed away safely for use in your new home.
  
• You don't smell the litter box or last night's fish sticks.

Call Tower Hill Home Staging if you would like to have your Southborough home staged for top dollar

Your home is not just a thing...it either lives or dies depending on the chi that flows through your home. You can accept that or deny that that's OK by me but, we have all seen homes that cluttered, unclean and we just can't move through it without tripping over something somebody left behind.

Chi is the energy force that breathes life into your home or doesn't. It's up to you to decide whether that is important to you or not. I know that I have been in a home that has been overwhelmed by yard sale finds, pet cages and pet dishes strewn about the kitchen floor, not to mention the odor. I have seen piles of paper, magazines and unopened mail stacked on chairs and in corners to be dealt with someday. This is a hoard mentality, an emotional need to have and maintain "things" to comfort us or to perhaps make us feel that we truly have the material things that we want so badly. It is a sign of insecurity and a way to self protect ourselves.

It is homes like these that lack "chi". The homeowners are sad or sickly or both. They are tired and overweight and have little motivation to go about their daily tasks. The window treatments, (I use that term loosely here), keep the natural light outside from coming in. The t.v. is on non-stop. Furniture is in disrepair. Things are stored under the beds, in closets, in totes in the basement and the garage, anywhere so that the homeowners feel safe, protected and barricaded from the rest of the world.

Tackling spaces like this is a home stagers greatest challenge. I have found that it is important to not only inform my potential client ahead of time what I might do once I am hired to stage but, also to give the home owner the opportunity to attempt to cope emotionally with their home when it is in this condition. It is extremely challenging for both the client and the stager. Tact is crucial at this point and throughout the entire process until the home is sold and still sometimes after that time as well.

Eliminating this clutter will help cleanse the home and the spirits of the people who live in them. If you have ever done this yourself then perhaps you understand what my point is here. It can sometimes be a very difficult point to get across and keeping that point buried in the head of a non-believer can be extremely trying.

I suggest helping them to make choices. I have set four boxes in front of my client and asked them to start in one room, of their choosing. They will have to o0n ly do that one room and only that room for today. their "job" is too sort through each thing in that room and to decide which box that item will go in. i usually set up a box for donating items, a box for things to keep, a box for throw aways and the last one is for "I just can't decide right now". It might sound a little silly initially but, this process can take time. This process allows the homeowner the opportunity to ease into this transition period rather than someone else coming in and just scooping everything up and tossing all of it...as tempting as that might be! This process will get better as each room is tackled. The process will become easier and the emotional uplifting will gradually become more obvious and appreciated.

Remove clutter from under the beds. Clutter here will make your sleep time difficult.

Organize only the items that you really want to keep.

Items that are stored overhead are a sign that you are apprehensive about other issues that seem to hover over you and weigh you down.

If you have clutter near your doorways then remove items from them. Items here are preventing you from moving on and from going out into the world. These items wall up fear in side your home.

There are eight points that are crucial when relating feng shui and clutter.

• Clutter at the marriage point, in the bedroom, means that you are worried about your love life.
• Clutter where your children are indicates that you are worrying about your children and/or creative projects.
• Clutter near your friends point means that you are having trouble creating friendships.
• Clutter at your career point indicates worry about your job.
• Clutter at your knowledge point means you are stifled intellectually.
• Clutter in the family point indicates that you have ambivalent family relations.
• Clutter in your financial area means you are worried about money.
• Clutter at your reputation point means that you are worried about how you are perceived by others.

money - reputation - marriage

family - - children Use this rectangle to map your home and eliminate clutter

specific to these area.

know - career - friends

ledge

Some people think that your home is living breathing entity. That may be a stretch for me but, I do believe that your home has a personality and a certain charm that may or may not attract potential home buyers. My friend in the city loves her condo. She has no lawn to mow or snow to shovel and not even much trash to worry about. My friend in the country however built a custom home, in the woods, that took she and her husband over two years to complete. We fondly call it the M***** Mansion. It has been meticulously thought out in every sense of the word right down to the knobs on the bathroom sink, the matching fieldstone on the front, and the Green heating system. For myself I am always drawn to homes that have that extra detail whether its the great stone fireplace, the long front porch with the wide pillars and the wicker rockers set side by side. I love a long cobblestone driveway leading back to the barn with the cupola on top spinning in the breeze. We all like different things for different reasons...that makes life interesting. It can also make house hunting interesting. I think that folks who understand their needs before they start househunting and who can relay that to a realtor will be sure to find the house of their dreams that much faster. Know what you want and don't be shy about passing on what you really find important in your next home.