Cherishly

While tidying with my grandma, we found this interesting item in her kitchen. It was still in original packaging from Deutsche Mark times, so more than 20 years ago!

It’s a Gourmet Sprayer to spray oil on the pan or balsamic on tomatoes etc. Since it looked brand new, we decided to ask if anyone in the family would like to have it, so it finally gets a new home and serves it’s purpose.

Luckily, it found a new owner.

I suggest to remove packaging or labels immediately after purchase, so they are ready to be used and don’t get forgotten.
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In other words: Surround yourself only with positivity and optimism that can lift you up whenever you need it. Your home is there to make you feel good. It should be your happy place to return to.

Happy Sunday! ☀️
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For most things that you use on a daily basis there is a time to let go.

After two years I recently had to let go of my beloved yoga mat. Hundreds of yoga sessions, the yoga teacher training, several yoga classes - it has fulfilled its purpose. I’m so grateful for the peace, happiness and homey feeling it provided me on my travels through more than 15 countries and various climates. 🙏🏻

A new mat in bright new colours has already been ordered. Looking forward to all new beginnings. ✨
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Life is like a curvy road. Sometimes it seems we go further away from the goal. Such divergence is usually necessary to overcome challenges like the steep altitude of a mountain.

When tidying, we start with adding up every item on a pile. It looks like a big mess and it seems it takes us away from the tidy home we are looking for.

However, it’s a necessary step in the process to not only organise our things, but also make sure we only keep what makes us happy and adds positivity to our life.
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Tidying up your life also includes tidying up your finances. 💰

One thing is particularly important here: to reduce recurring payments to a minimum.

This month, take the time to go through last year's account details and review each annual/monthly payment.

Am I really benefiting from the service I am paying for? Does it make me happy to pay for it? Are there cheaper alternatives or can I perhaps live without them altogether?

Any payment (no matter how small) you cancel can instead be transferred to a free savings account.

Good luck saving for what really brings you joy!
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If you reflect the year, you will realise that many things that happened to you make sense now. It’s always so surprising to me if I notice over time that even the smallest and lost puzzle piece fits after all into what I needed at that time.

If you are uncertain about some incidents, you need to be patient. They will become clear sooner or later and show how they will into your life painting.

Everything has a reason and purpose, but sometimes you have to use all your patience to wait instead of forcefully trying to find an explanation. In time you will understand.

Until then, let’s be grateful for every little thing that cleared up for us in 2022.

Have a great start into the New Year tonight! 🎆
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I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas time! 🎄

Now the after Christmas activities start: Did you receive any gifts that you don’t really like or need?

Don’t feel bad about returning a gift, selling or donating it. The purpose of the gift for you might just have been to receive it. Someone made the effort to choose the gift, wrap it and hand it to you. You can be grateful for the intention and the love someone put into it, but if it doesn’t spark any further joy for you, it is a good time to let go and give the item a new purpose.

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Old fashioned or traditional?

Personally, I love writing Christmas cards, sending them to friends all over the world and using the time to reflect on the year. This tradition brings me a lot of joy and gets me in the mood for the holidays. I love to formulate my wishes in handwriting and to give someone an unexpected feeling of joy.

But what are you supposed to do with all those Christmas cards that are sent to you? In the end, someone made the effort to write and send them.

The joyful warm feeling when you discover a Christmas card in the mailbox and reading it is what the sender wants to achieve and that often also serves the purpose, so that you can gratefully and without bad feeling recycle the card.

If there is no writing on the front of the card, you can cut off the written side and reuse it (if you enjoy writing cards). Sometimes only a written piece of paper is placed inside the card so that it can be reused completely.

For me, writing Christmas cards is a wonderful tradition that makes Christmas greetings extra personal. What do you think?

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas! 🎄
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Sentimental items are the hardest part of the tidying journey - there is a reason why this is the last category of the five.

Even though you are training your mind to let go more easily during the other categories, sentimental items are always connected to certain memories and event sun our life that we might not want to let go at this point in time.

My advice is not to worry about time in this category. There is no need to rush. There might be a few things you can let go of easily, but others just need time. And it is also okay too keep them as long as they bring you joy.

If an item doesn’t bring you a lot of joy but you still cannot let go of it, take your time. Gather all your sentimental items in a box and go through it once a year and reflecting on your life right now and if it might be a good time to let go of the items that you feel you should be attached to less as they don’t really spark joy. You will be surprised how certain events in the Now facilitate to let go of events from the past.
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A small caterpillar eats to transform into a beautiful and proud butterfly. 🦋

We also have the chance to transform ourselves at any time. Life gives us the opportunity to grow and learn to become the best version of ourselves.

Tidying can be a way to start such a transformation journey. It helps us to identify what’s important to us and what makes us happy. We can learn a lot about ourselves and identify passions that make us shine from the in- and outside.

The journey of turning into a butterfly is never ending though. There is a way to improve ourselves every day.
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Travelling I meet many people that made a big edit to their life at one point in time. A woman I just met in Brazil recently quit her stressful job at a law firm and decided to travel the world by herself for 6 months. There are so many inspiring personal stories!

Decluttering your home can also be a big change in your life. Focussing only on what sparks joy can be transformational.

Not only the big edits in life are important, also the small continuous ones make sure that your live your best life! 😊
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Throwing food into the garbage is something I dislike completely. That’s why I try to only purchase what I really need. Obviously, that’s not always possible due to the packaging and standard amounts. However, I try to eat everything in my fridge before going to the supermarket again.

With this method, you can get very creative! I already came across new recipes with only very few things left in my fridge and ingredients that turned old too fast. The result sparked so much joy!

In the post I am sharing two of my favourite recipes. I hope you enjoy them! 🤤

What are your ideas for simple recipes to avoid food waste?
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Letting go with gratitude helps to accept that everything that seems to be negative had a purpose in our life - it’s part of our story. This can be very hard in some cases, which is why appreciation is a skill that needs practice. During the Yoga class we will work on noticing and appreciating small things, forgiving and letting go of negative emotions we hold on to.

As a tidying consultant, I help my clients to let go of things that do not bring joy into their life. As a Yoga teacher, I guide my students to let go of thoughts that distract from being in the present moment.

The series consists of 8 live online Yoga classes based on slow flow Vinyasa. Each lesson covers a different part of the body and how to align it correctly to build up the support you need to move through the Asanas (poses) in a healthy and mindful way. Furthermore, you will learn several breathing and meditation techniques to help you to become an observer of your mind.

The classes take place on Tuesdays, 7pm CET (1pm ET) and you will receive access to the recorded session afterwards.

Price: 40€

The classes are suitable for all levels!

PM if you have any questions or want to sign up!
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Last week, I was at my favorite yoga place. There was an elderly man sitting on the floor patiently using a stick to take ci******es out of the gap between the wooden panels. He collected them in a garbage bag. Inspired by that, I sat down and helped. We collected about 250 cigarette butts and there was so much more.

The garbage is emptied regularly in this place, but not many take care of the little things like this man.

I have now integrated this new ritual into my yoga time at this place and I can say that it is kind of addictive and also a meditative! In addition, it creates mindfulness and gratitude among the other people around you.

Do you also have a ritual and a project how you contribute to tidying up the world? I look forward to hearing about your experiences. 😊
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Perfect imperfections

The media, society and people around us tell us what they define as “perfect”. This impacts the way we see things in life and what we aim for.

In our tidying process we might find a few items that make us feel happy and excited, but at the same time we feel that we are supposed to discard them, because they might not be “perfect”. It’s very challenging, but let’s try to only focus on ourselves and blind out any judgments others might have.

There is beauty in so many things that seem to be imperfect at first. It just depends on the way we look at them and our openness to the world. Things that are “different” are not imperfect, but rather unique and “perfect” in their own way.
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I’m excited to announce the launch of my live online course Mastering the Art of Letting Go. 🦋

It’s a challenge to let go of things and thoughts to be able to make time for what you love. This is why, we combine the tidying process by Marie Kondo with Yoga sessions including meditation exercises (All beginners are welcome!).

This is an opportunity for you to tidy your home and practice Yoga for 8 weeks guided by Tidying Consultant and Yoga instructor .

There are 10 slots available, so secure yours now via the link in the bio!

Schedule (can vary depending on participants)
▫️Tidying: Saturdays, 3pm - 4:30pm CET
▫️Yoga: Tuesday, 7pm-8pm CET

Language: 🇩🇪 or 🇬🇧

PM if you want to learn more or you are interested in joining!
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Decluttering is so much more than just going through items. It’s really to focus on what you love and what’s important to you in all parts of your life. We can have the biggest impact if we follow our passion.

In our course Mastering the Art of Letting go we start the first session with creating a vision board of your ideal lifestyle. This board will be your continuous reminder how you want to live your life when struggling to decide to keep or let go of an item.

Find the link to the next course starting in October in the bio. 😊
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This May we prelaunched the live online course Mastering the Art of Letting Go. 🦋

Here are a few impressions of the course including vision board creation, meditation, folding exercises, worksheets to structure your tidying journey, Yoga etc.

If you also want to work on letting go of things and thoughts to be able to make time for what you love, sign up for the next course starting on the 8th of October!

This is an opportunity for you to tidy your home and practice Yoga for 8 weeks guided by Tidying Consultant and Yoga instructor .

Click on the link in bio if you want to learn more or you are interested in joining!
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People have the tendency to collect medicine. While we usually buy new medicine when needed, we don’t take the time to go through what we already have. I had clients that still had medicines with expiry dates from more than 10 years ago. Here are some tips how to keep your medicine in order:

▫️Collect all your medicines in one place
▫️Go through all expiry dates and discard everything where it has passed
▫️ Discard everything that has been opened and should be used within a short time frame
▫️Cut out the used parts from the pills packages
▫️Store the medicines in one place with easy access for emergencies
▫️Organise them by cremes, pills, bandages, other or by illness
▫️Go through them once per year

This way you know where to find what kind of medicine in an emergency! Especially important in times of a pandemic. 😷
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As a tidying consultant, I help my clients to let go of things that do not bring joy into their life. As a Yoga teacher, I guide my students to let go of thoughts that distract from being in the present moment.

The Yoga classes are based on slow flow Vinyasa. Each lesson covers a different part of the body and how to align it correctly to build up the support you need to move through the Asanas (poses) in a healthy and mindful way. Furthermore, you will learn several breathing and meditation techniques to help you to become an observer of your mind.

The classes take place this summer on Sundays, 7pm-8pm .

PM if you have any questions!
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The tidying method suggested by Marie Kondo is about finding out what really brings you joy. The goal is that we only want to be surrounded by objects that represent that joy. We probably knew beforehand that some of these things make us happy, but many have certainly gotten lost in all the things that distract us that actually have no place in our lives anymore.

When we've managed to create space for the things that bring us joy, then we really have the opportunity to give those objects the proper care and respect that we feel.

For example, simply opening a drawer can be a source of joy, as all the objects in it have a purpose and can be presented beautifully without being surrounded by many undefined objects that no longer fit into our lives and therefore hide what is really important to us.

The beauty is that everything you learn from tidying up can be applied to other aspects of life as well. Tidying up the home is just the first step to learning more about yourself, to then also start rethinking and sorting out hobbies, work, relationships, friendships, etc., so that we can focus on what is really important to us and give it our time and attention.
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Almost every person changes their mobile phone every 2-5 years. Reasons can be an upgrade, bad Akku or slow operating system. Here are options to discard your old mobile phones and give them a new purpose instead of taking space in your drawers:
 
▫️Gift or sell: The longer the life cycle of a phone, the more environmentally friendly its production gets. If you need to upgrade your phone, but it’s still usable, you can gift it to someone or sell it via platforms like Rebuy, Ebay etc.

▫️Donate: Charities might be able to reuse the phone or they can make money from the raw materials like copper, gold, silver etc.

▫️Recycling: Do not place mobile phones in the residual waste. There are professional recycling centers for electronics.
 
Make sure to completely reset your phone so that no personal data is left! 📱
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When we started the paper category, my client recently asked me what to do with all the receipts she collected. I hope my answer is also helpful for some of you:

▫️Most retailers will accept a photo of the receipt as many stores maintain a full record of each sale in a database. It is therefore not necessary to keep the original for each item purchased.
▫️For items over EUR 500, I recommend keeping the originals in addition to a digital version. These are usually the items that could have a warranty of more than a year.
▫️Any other receipt can be digitized (a cell phone photo is sufficient) and the physical version discarded. The picture can automatically be uploaded onto a Cloud solution (e.g. Google, OneDrive). They are then automatically organised by time stamp so you can delete most once per month if you need storage space.

If you are not sure about buying something (after checking if it makes you happy, it should actually be clear 😉), it is best to try it out as soon as possible. Normally you have a maximum of two to four weeks to return it anyway.

How open are you to the digital version of receipts? Or does the paper form feel more secure? Both are fine as long as you have a good system for your papers so that everyone can see through them quickly. 🧾
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In today’s tidying session of the online course “Mastering the Art of letting go” we talked about how passions we had in the past can turn into burdens we put upon ourselves in the Now.

We need to accept that we constantly evolve and that life circumstances change. Past habits might not create the same joy anymore. Then it is time to stop clinging onto them by putting pressure on ourselves to keep following them.

We can create new habits that create joy for the person we are right now by potentially reinventing our past passion in a new way that fits for us at this time. 💜
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"Capsule wardrobe" is a concept that minimizes the number of pieces of clothing you own by selecting a few that can be combined with each other. This minimalistic approach does not only help to save time when it you decide on the outfit of the day, but also puts less strain on the wallet by reducing impulse purchases.

It takes three steps to define a basic framework for your own capsule wardrobe:

1. Choose a color palette. This should go well with your skin tone and your "type" (hair color, eye color). 🌈

2. Choose timeless patterns and shapes. These should especially flatter your body shape. ⏳

3. Choose quality fabrics and materials. If you only have a few items, it is best to choose very good quality so that they still look nice after being worn several times. 👗

Can you get by with just 37 pieces of clothing?

This includes tops, bottoms, outerwear and shoes. I am confident that I don’t carry more than 37 in my suitcase, but I will make an exact count and share the result in a picture. Stay tuned!
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The Clothing category can sometimes be a little overwhelming as it is the first category to start your tidying journey.

If you have a lot of clothes or only limited time per day, feel free to tackle the category by going through subcategories.

Here is a checklist for you. With this you should be able to finalise the first category in a maximum of 20 days. Focus on one subcategory per day and investing 20 min to max 2 hours per day depending on the subcategory.

If you need support by a professional tidying consultant, feel free to reach out for 1-1 sessions or sign up for the online course Mastering the Art of Letting Go starting in September.
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✔️

Shoes are usually a very difficult subcategory to declutter, especially for women. There are just an infinite number of models, shapes, colours, heels, occasions,… The participants of my course “Mastering the Art of Letting go” asked me last week how I can just live with a few pairs as I’m living out of a suitcase most part of the year.

Believe me - shoes are also a difficult category for me! However, now I have 7 pairs in total that don’t cause blisters or pain.

The ones that are circled are the pairs I usually travel with:

▫️ The blue ones: I usually stay at the beach so these are the ones I wear most of the time.
▫️Sandals: For any kind of evening event at the beach or going to a restaurant. They go well with any dress / skirt.
▫️Sneakers: I use them for travelling, running, casually with shorts / jeans, hiking - truly multi purpose.
▫️Water shoes: In case of rocks etc. at the beach. But I’m thinking of removing them from my luggage.

The other 3 pairs, I only take on my journey occasionally.

▫️Winter Boots: Only if I go to a destination where it snows or it can be very cold.
▫️Boots with heel: When I have business meetings in person or stay in a city.
▫️ High heels: I only really wear them when I’m invited to a wedding or similar occasions.

I hope this gives you some inspiration to make sure you really only keep the shoes that spark joy for you and that you love to wear! 👟
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