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The 2021 Ultimate Productivity Bundle is Here! Get More Done

Be Productive, Planning, Productivity Processes, Productivity Tools, Time Management

The 2021 Ultimate Productivity Bundle sale has ended. The good news is that the Ultimate Bundles Group continues to offer different bundles throughout the year (and occasional flash sales on previously offered bundles). If you don’t want to miss out on future bundles, click here to become a VIP subscriber, and I’ll make sure you’re the first to hear when future bundle sales go live!

Ready to get MORE done in LESS time? The 2021 Ultimate Productivity Bundle is your productivity BFF.

Can you feel it?? That fire in your belly that resurfaces when spring is just around the corner? That surge of motivation that makes you want to kick your productivity level into high gear as the weather breaks?

I’m feeling it for sure!

I have a deep yearning to begin crossing off some of the items on my crazy-long To-Do list (you know, the things that you just couldn’t get motivated to do during the doldrums of winter?)

If you’re feeling it too, it’s time to capitalize on that motivation, my friend. Get ready to ROCK your To-Do list with this resource designed to help you do MORE in LESS time:

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

The Ultimate Productivity Bundle is a collection of e-books, courses, and other resources designed to skyrocket your ability to get things D.O.N.E. (both at work and at home).

It’s a unique opportunity to grab a ton of helpful resources for a crazy low price. When you purchase the bundle, you gain access to a library of 29 hand-selected digital products (eCourses, planners, printables & workbooks) that can help you:

Evaluate your life to identify the areas where you want to improve
Set clear goals and priorities so you can live more intentionally
Organize your home, schedule, and routines for a more streamlined life
Get more done in less time by creating smarter systems
Develop a motivating mindset so you can be more positive and consistent
Overcome challenges and setbacks so you can achieve the goals that really matter

After you purchase the Ultimate Productivity Bundle, you have six months to download the resources and sign up for the online eCourses. Everything you download is yours to keep forever, so you refer back to it whenever you need it.

WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THE 2021 ULTIMATE PRODUCTIVITY BUNDLE?

When you buy the Ultimate Productivity Bundle you’ll get access to:

16 eCourses
10 Planners
3 Printables & Workbooks

These resources are organized into five main categories:

TIME MANAGEMENT

A collection of 4 resources valued at $135.00:

Learn how to make the most of your minutes so you can get things done and make time for the people and things that you love:

GOAL-SETTING

A collection of 3 resources valued at $70.00:

Learn how to set actionable goals and develop effective strategies for achieving them with this group of resources:

ORGANIZATION

A collection of 12 resources valued at $260.98:

The resources in this category will help you to organize and manage your entire home, master #momlife, and rock household routines like a boss:

HOME & FAMILY

A collection of 6 resources valued at $196.00:

These products walk you through how to develop awesome systems that enable you to do more in less time at home:

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

A collection of 4 resources valued at $630.00:

There are universal obstacles that we all face on the journey to productivity nirvana — procrastination tops the list. This Bundle includes several resources specifically designed to help you overcome this common obstacle to getting things done:

I know how much you all heart printables (I do too!). As you can see above, the Ultimate Productivity Bundle is a printable lovers’ dream!

Your goal, however, should NOT be to use ALL the printables, planners and workbooks.

Instead, having access to this “library” of planner/printable options allows you to test out various worksheets, planner page layouts to customize a system that works best for you (with a minimal investment).

Maybe you’ll end up mixing and matching various parts of several planners and printables, or you may discover that you absolutely fall in love with one planner (even though it was the fifth one you tried).

Getting the bundle gives you the freedom to experiment and find the best planner for you without worrying about forking over beaucoup bucks in the process.

HOW TO AVOID INFORMATION OVERLOAD

A word of advice from a raging Ultimate Bundles fan — don’t try to use every single resource in the bundle all at once. You’ll experience information overload for sure! Instead, I strongly encourage you to pick out just a handful of resources from the Bundle to explore.

Here’s the group of products that I chose to start with:

Procrastinator to Action Taker by Emma Norris ($299.00 value). In this ecourse, you’ll learn a proven, 5-step method to stop putting things off and start getting things done today!
Master Your Gmail by Niki Robinson ($49.00 value). Overwhelmed by your inbox? This eCourse promises Gmail FREEDOM in less than 30 minutes.
Creating Your Yearly Goals with Trello by Cara Harvey ($29.00 value). During this 90 minute workshop, you’ll learn how you can use Trello to map out your year goals and create your own personal board goal board for each quarter.
Deluxe Home Binder by Abby Lawson ($30.00 value). Helps create order in the midst of a busy life, giving users one central place to keep all of their important information.

Even if you only use this handful of resources and never even look at the rest of the books, courses, and printables, you’ll have gotten more than your money’s worth. This group of four resources is valued at over $407!

ULTIMATE PRODUCTIVITY BUNDLE: AN AMAZING VALUE!

The total value of the Bundle is $1291.98 but you can get it for just $37! That’s 95% off what it would cost to purchase all of the resources individually #CRAZYTOWN

Need more information?

Click here to view a complete list of the resources, get your questions answered, browse through Frequently Asked Questions, and learn about the 30-Day 100% satisfaction guarantee.

The bundle sale is on for just four days. That’s why the Ultimate Bundles team can offer so much because they only have permission to sell it for such a short period of time. The 2021 Ultimate Productivity Bundle is only available until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, February 25th.

We ALL want to make the most of our minutes (and hours, and days). This bundle serves as a huge resource for helping you make that happen. Snag these 29 tools to help you crush your productivity level.

How to Complete a Password Audit with LastPass Password Manager

Be Productive, Digital Life, Habits & Routines, Productivity Tools

Completing a yearly password audit is a great habit to adopt in order to keep your digital life organized and secure. Join me as I complete my audit using the LastPass app!

Over the years, I’ve incorporated a series of routines into my days/weeks/months to keep my physical spaces organized.

When it comes to organizing my digital life (and maintaining that organized system), I’ve found that the same principle holds true.

Routines are your BFF.

In previous posts, I’ve honed in on key routines for maintaining various parts of your digital world, including your:

Today, I wanted to share the basic process I go through at the beginning of each year to keep my passwords organized AND secure — I call it my annual password audit.

As I reviewed in a previous post, there are basically three main methods for organizing passwords. My personal method of choice is an online password organizer – the LastPass app. The truth is I really don’t have a choice. Between my personal and business-related passwords, I have almost 400 that need managing 🤯.

Even if I did have a choice, I would still choose LastPass (you can read all the reasons I’m obsessed with LastPass in my password organization post).

I’m not going to offer up a lengthy LastPass review in this post (you can find a helpful LastPass app review here). This post also will not cover the basics of how to use LastPass for storing your passwords. Instead, I’m going to outline the steps involved in my annual password audit process.

My Yearly Password Audit Process With LastPass Password Manager

Step 1 – Organize Passwords into Category Folders

One of the really useful features of LastPass is that it enables you to organize your collection of passwords by category into various folders. You can customize your folder system structure in any way that’s most helpful for you. In my case, I have two main folder categories:

Personal
Business

I have many subfolders within those two main folders. Here’s a snapshot of what the subcategories look like within my Personal folder:

As you can see in the above screenshot, LastPass has a default Uncategorized folder for new passwords that you add but don’t initially file into a new or existing category folder. I usually try to file away newly added passwords into existing folders as they are added into my password vault. But sometimes I’m in a hurry (or just plain lazy) and bypass this step.

So the first order of business during my annual password audit is to file any passwords in that Uncategorized folder into the proper folder within my existing category/folder structure. My goal is for that Uncategorized folder to be empty.

Step 2 – Declutter Passwords – Delete Obsolete Accounts

In step 2 of the audit process, I drill down into each of the organized password folders with the mission of decluttering passwords associated with obsolete accounts (i.e., accounts that no longer exist or I don’t need to access anymore).

Here’s what the inside of my Personal Services folder looked like after I completed step one:

I noticed right away that there were passwords for several services that I no longer use (Hallmark eCards and the home warranty account). Those password entries were deleted.

Step 3 – Identify At-Risk Passwords Using the LastPass Security Dashboard

During the next step of the password audit, I utilize LastPass’s Security Dashboard to identify and fix any at-risk passwords.

Even though I try to be vigilant about password security, LastPass makes me humble by letting me know that I still have a ways to go. My overall password vault health was classified as “Somewhat Safe”, and 257 of my approximately 400 passwords were at risk.

Yikes!

What constitutes an at-risk password in the LastPass Security Dashboard?

Weak passwords (think “mypassword123”)
Old passwords (i.e. over a year since it’s been changed)
Reused passwords (ones that you’ve used repeatedly or merely more than once)

Passwords that LastPass has given a “thumbs up” to are identified with. a green checkmark. You can breeze right past these:

The at-risk passwords are flagged with a red button that indicates the specific password issue to be fixed:

Step 4 – Change At-Risk Passwords Using the LastPass Generate Secure Password Tool

In my particular situation, weak passwords were not an issue. But I did have quite a list of old and reused passwords to contend with.

In step 4 of the process, I rolled up my sleeves and generated a new password for each at-risk password. I used the Generate Secure Password tool that’s built into the LastPass Chrome extension:

You can specify the desired password length and character type (numbers, letters, symbols) in order to tailor the password to the website’s password specifications. It’s a super-handy tool that makes swapping out passwords as easy as possible.

This process can be really tedious, especially if you have a large volume of at-risk passwords to work through. I’ve found that it’s the perfect mindless task to work through in chunks while watching t.v. at night!

Step 5 – Export and Print the Password Vault

Once all of my passwords are current, organized, and secure, I like to create a printout of the contents of my LastPass password vault. I tuck this print version of my password vault away in a secure place in our home as a backup (you know, in case anything catastrophic should happen to LastPass’s servers). This is similar to my practice of printing digital photos as a form of backup.

I should mention that LastPass gives the option of granting emergency access to your password vault to a designated person, should the need arise.

Step 6 – Change Master Password and Review Account Settings

In this final step of the password audit, I take a moment to review the general settings in my LastPass account to confirm that they still make sense to me. If not, I tweak them accordingly.

This is also the time when I change my master password (that really important one that I need to remember in order to access my vault). It probably goes without saying, but your master password MUST be super-duper secure (like 30 characters of gobbledygook secure).

And that’s my annual password audit process in a nutshell!

LastPass Password Manager

If I’ve piqued your interest in digital password management, why not give LastPass a try?

It really is one of the core tools in my digital organization tool belt. You can check it out using the links below:

Prefer a paper password management system?

Fill out the form below to download a free printable password tracker. The password audit process will be a bit more cumbersome using a paper system, but it’s no less important to incorporate this annual routine into your schedule.

Blank Monthly Calendar Printable & Daily Planner Printable Set {Free Printables}

Be Productive, Planning, Printables, Productivity Tools

We’re kicking off the new year with some fresh new planning printables! Download your blank monthly calendar printable and daily planner printable sets and start the new year off right!

I love the month of January.

It’s when high school swim season really kicks into high gear for my freshman and junior swimmers (competitive swimming is our jam here in the Gallagher household).

It’s also when everyone’s desire to plan, simplify, declutter and organize kicks into high gear — and this is definitely MY jam!

So I thought that it would be appropriate to kick off the new year with some pretty new planning printables — introducing the daily planner printable and coordinating blank monthly calendar printable set!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

The Daily Planner Printable Set

Although I’m a digital planning girl at heart, paper planning tools still have a place in my planning routine.

I use Trello as my master life planning dashboard, but I still love the feeling of slaying my daily To-Do list on paper. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of checking all of those tasks off as they’re completed. Don’t you agree?

I created this pretty printable daily planner with a bit of modern flair.

In addition to a daily to-do list, the daily planner provides a central place to keep track of:

daily errands
phone calls and emails you need to complete
appointments

When you download the daily planner set, you’ll get a half-size planner printable as well as a full-size planner printable.

I plan to print off a double-sided version of the half-size planner so that I only need to use one piece of paper to cover four-days worth of planning.

[Click here to download the free Daily Planner Printable Set]

The Blank Monthly Calendar Printable Set

As with planner tools, my personal preference is to use a digital calendar for most purposes (I’d be lost without Google calendar). BUT, there are occasions where a pretty printable monthly calendar serves as the perfect planning and tracking tool.

Printable calendars can be used to organize, plan, and track so many different things. The possibilities are endless!

During the past year, I’ve used printable calendars in a few unique ways around our home:

Documenting all of the places each family member has been on a daily basis (in case we were required to contact trace)
Keeping track of which days each kiddo was scheduled to attend school in-person vs. virtual during hybrid learning
Mapping out the ever-changing swim practice calendar & high school block schedule (which seemed to change on a daily basis!)

Wondering how you could use a printable monthly calendar? Let’s brainstorm, shall we?

Ways to Use a Printable Monthly Calendar

Tracking a daily habit you’re trying to establish (exercise, water intake, etc.)
Keeping a sleep log
Documenting medications taken during a course of illness
Creating a meal plan
Creating a cleaning or decluttering calendar
Keeping track of scheduled appointments
Planning a carpool
Counting down the days until an exciting event (vacation, last day of school, wedding)

Printable calendars are such a useful tool for getting things out of your head and on paper — a vital strategy for reducing mental clutter.

[Click here to download the Monthly Calendar Printable Set]

When you download this blank monthly calendar printable set, you’ll get 12 pages of undated monthly calendars (January through December). The calendar is in portrait orientation with a Sunday start. I prefer calendars in portrait orientation since they provide more space to write.

I hope you’ll find these new planning tools to be useful as you set up your planning and organizing systems for the new year (and hopefully, you love them as much as I do)!

If you are a printable lover, be sure to check out my Organizing Printables Vault (containing more than 100 pages of free organizing printables) for even more ways to get organized!

What is your favorite way to use a blank monthly calendar printable? Let me know in the comments below!

The 2021 Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle is HERE!

Clutter, Decluttering, Digital Life, Finances, Habits & Routines, Information, Kids and Families, Organize, Organizing Products & Tools, Paper, Photos, Planning, Time Management

The 2021 Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle sale has ended. The good news is that the Ultimate Bundles Group continues to offer different bundles throughout the year (and occasional flash sales on previously offered bundles). If you don’t want to miss out on future bundles, click here to join my newsletter list, and I’ll make sure you’re the first to hear when future bundle sales go live!

So it’s January and you’re super energized & motivated to tackle that organizing or decluttering project that’s been on your To-Do list FOREVER.

But despite your high motivation level, you just can’t seem to make headway on your project. Sound familiar?

Awhile back, I talked about all the different ways that you can get help with your organizing or decluttering project in order to move the needle forward. Today, I’m introducing another tool to add to your decluttering help arsenal — a super helpful resource that’s available only for the next five days.

The Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle

What if I told you you could have access to a comprehensive library of practical resources to help you overcome your home organization and decluttering obstacles for a crazy small price tag?

You can!

The Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle is a library of 31 hand-selected digital products (eBooks, eCourses, planners, and printable packs) that cultivate the critical skills you need to minimize clutter and simplify your home life.

This library of digital products is designed to help you:

Organize every room in your house
Sell stuff you don’t want for cash
Declutter closets and cabinets
Keep your home clean & tidy without frustration
Get your family involved in housework
Organize your digital life
And so much more!

Once you purchase the Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle, You have six months to download the eBooks and printables and sign up for the online eCourses. Everything that you download becomes part of your permanent library, so you can refer back to it whenever the time is right for you.

What’s Included in This Edition of The Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle?

The Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle includes:

9 eBooks
9 eCourses
7 planners
6 printable sets.

These resources are organized into three main categories:

HOME MANAGEMENT

A collection of 15 resources valued at $289.92:

PERSONAL ORGANIZATION

A collection of nine resources valued at $266.96:

PLANNERS

A collection of seven resources valued at $108.46:

BUNDLE BONUSES

Your bundle comes with these FREE bonus offers from some great companies. Some are 100% free; others are yours for the cost of shipping only:

Early Bird* Store Credit from Whimsical Paperie ($20 value)
$25 Credit from SaneBox ($25 value)
FREE 3 months membership from Paper Me Pretty ($45 value)
FREE Kids + Pantry Labels Value Pack from Lil’ Labels ($16.99 value)
FREE Laundry Machine Cleaner from MyGreenFills ($18 value)
Defender Multi-Surface Cleaner Concentrate from Plant Therapy ($10.95 value)

A PROVEN STRATEGY FOR AVOIDING BUNDLE OVERWHELM

A word of advice from a veteran Bundle product consumer — don’t try to use every single resource in the bundle all at once. You’ll experience information overload, which is the last thing I want to happen.

Your goal should NOT be to use ALL the printables, planners, and workbooks.

Think of it this way. The Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle gives you access to a “library” of planner/printable options, which makes it easy to test out various worksheets and planner page layouts and then customize a system that works best for you (without having to make a huge financial investment).

Maybe you’ll end up mixing and matching the components of different planners and printables. Alternatively, you may fall in love with one planner (even though it was the fifth one you tried). Purchasing these resources via The Bundle gives you the freedom to experiment and find the best tools for you without forking over beaucoup bucks in the process.

Start by downloading the Trello Board to Organize Your CYCSB. This super helpful tool will help you to track all of your bundle resources digitally.

You can use this Bundle “dashboard” to easily keep track of which resources you’ve completed, which ones are “in the queue”, etc. It’s also a great tool for organizing all of your course log in information.

Next, select just a handful of resources from the Bundle to explore (purchasing the Cheat Sheet upgrade helps you to quickly prioritize which resources to focus on first — I highly recommend the Cheat Sheets).

For example, here are the four resources I decided to explore in my first pass through The Bundle:

Weekend Decluttering Sprint by Emily Counts ($15.00 value)
A step-by-step plan for tackling a huge amount of household clutter in one focused weekend.
Digital Decluttering (eCourse) by Gael Wood ($27.00 value)
Teaches you how to organize your digital life so you can thrive
Decluttering Your Home Office by Stacy Zant ($47.00 value)
Get the system you need to begin creating a space you love step by step with your own personal radiant guide.
How to Declutter Closets & Cabinets by Melissa George ($14.99 value)
Creating a tidy home without becoming a minimalist.

Even if you only use this handful of resources and never even look at the rest of the books, courses, and printables, you’ll have gotten more than your money’s worth. My group of just four resources is valued at over $104!

The 2021 Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle sale has ended. The good news is that the Ultimate Bundles Group continues to offer different bundles throughout the year (and occasional flash sales on previously offered bundles). If you don’t want to miss out on future bundles, click here to join my newsletter list, and I’ll make sure you’re the first to hear when future bundle sales go live!

CONQUER YOUR CLUTTER SUPER BUNDLE: AMAZING VALUE!

The total value of the Bundle is $670.34, but you can get it for just $29.97. That’s 95% off what it would cost to purchase everything individually.

This bundle sale is on for just five days. That’s why the Ultimate Bundles team can offer so much because they only have permission to sell it for such a short period of time. The 2021 Conquer Your Clutter Super Bundle is only available until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, January 15th.

Want more details? Click here to see a complete list of books and resources, browse through Frequently Asked Questions, and learn about the 30-Day 100% satisfaction guarantee.

So if you believe (like I do) that getting your hands on this valuable resource library for less than $30 is a steal, then don’t miss your opportunity to snag this set of 31 home organization and decluttering tools to help you on your journey to organized and simplified.

Mental Clutter: 4 Ways to Minimize It (Yes, It’s a Thing!)

Be Productive, Information, Organize, Organizing Foundations, Productivity Processes, Productivity Tools, Psychology of Organizing

Mental clutter – the struggle is REAL! I swear by these 4 tried & true strategies for decluttering your brain to boost productivity, decrease stress and improve your mental clarity.

It’s cloudy Monday morning during mid-December, which means I’m scrambling to dig out from a crazy weekend of multiple out-of-town swim meets, as well as finishing all of the last-minute holiday-related tasks. Oh, let’s not forget tying up all of those loose ends at work before I step away for a much-needed break.

The level of hustle and bustle definitely gets kicked up a notch for this month for most of us. When this happens, I tend to cling on for dear life to my tried and true methods for minimizing mental clutter. This helps me to keep my sanity in check, while making sure nothing slips through the cracks.

A clutter-free mind is beneficial in so many ways. Reducing mental clutter results in:

decreased stress
increased productivity
improved mental clarity.

Since mental clutter is such a universal challenge (especially in 2020), I thought it might be helpful to share the strategies I use to declutter my brain.

4 Ways to Banish Mental Clutter

Mental Clutter Buster #1: Create a Master Task List (AKA Brain Dump)

At this point in my life, I’ve pretty much perfected the art of list-making. For me, it’s the number one way to lessen the anxiety that I feel when my plate begins to overflow with tasks.

I used a ton of task management tools over the years, both paper and electronic solutions. I discovered Trello a few years ago and started to use it to manage work-related tasks. I ended up loving it so much that I’ve since adopted it for managing all my personal To-Dos as well.

This Trello board is where all of my personal tasks get recorded during a brain dump session (which happens on a weekly basis…sometimes more frequently if I’m juggling a ton of things). It’s my master To-Do list for everything that I want to accomplish.

As you can see in the screenshot, I organize my tasks into meaningful categories that work for my brain.

When I’m feeling overwhelmed and stressed, I pull up my Trello board and conduct a brain dump, making sure to record each and every task that is floating around in my head.

As productivity guru David Allen says,

Your Mind is for having ideas, not holding them.

No matter how busy my weekend is, I always end it by creating a weekly paper To-Do list, pulling information from my Master To-Do List on Trello and my Google Calendar. This piece of paper becomes the primary planning blueprint for the upcoming week.

Mental Clutter Buster #2: Create a System to Capture Ideas and General Information

In keeping with the mantra of moving things out of your head, it’s so important to designate one central place that you will use to capture ideas and general information. It can be a simple paper solution like a notebook or a digital tool.

I’ve already written about how I use Evernote for managing work-related information and resources. It’s also the main storage area for my paperless life.

What I didn’t mention is that I also use it to manage many aspects of my personal life.

It comes in so handy for a place to store interesting articles I stumble upon online that I’d like to reference at a later point (here’s a great summary of all the ways you can use Evernote to organize your personal life).

Take a moment to decide what system is best for you when it comes to capturing this type of information and getting it out of your head to free up your brain space.

Mental Clutter Buster #3: Identify Your Reflective Place

We all have a favorite place where we can attempt to sort out our jumbled thoughts.

I have a friend who always goes for hikes in the woods to sort out her thoughts. For me, it’s in the shower!

I’m not sure why, but I tend to do my best thinking, come up with great ideas, and work out vexing problems during shower time. Perhaps it’s a consequence of that soothing hot water…OR perhaps it’s because the shower is the one place that I can go without interruption for any length of time in my home!

Have something nearby to capture those sparks of genius when you exit the shower, some ideas include:

a whiteboard
your phone (use the Notes app)
paper and pen

Mental Clutter Buster #4: Keep on Top of Your Email Inbox

Although I’m not an Inbox Zero purist, I do strive to keep a minimal number of emails in my Inbox. Having a zillion messages smack me in the face when I open my email really freaks me out. It can get especially crazy with all of the holiday advertising that retailers bombard us with this time of year.

As a result, I’m hyper-vigilant about managing email on a regular (daily) basis. A tool that I’ve found to be incredibly useful for managing email is Unroll.me. This free service organizes your emails to create a single daily summary email. It also enables you to easily unsubscribe from emails that you no longer wish to receive.

Pure awesomeness!

If you worked through the Paper Declutter Challenge, you’re now familiar with the distinction between action and reference papers. I make the same distinction with email messages.

My rule is to only keep action emails in my Inbox. The reference emails that I decide to keep are either filed within an appropriate email folder or are sent to Evernote for storage (you can learn more about email organization here).

There you have it. Those are my BIG 4 ways to keep mental clutter at bay. I’m excited to hear about the ways that YOU keep the mental clutter in check, especially during the holiday season…please share my friends!

The Best Time to Sell a House: Tips for Selling a House in Winter

Home Staging, Tips & Tricks

How can I possibly claim that winter is the best time to sell a house? I’ll share my experience plus my best tips for selling a house in the winter!

Was the title of this blog post shocking to you? Are you firmly in the “I must sell my house during spring” camp?

If so, I’m not surprised, since this is such a common misconception. In fact, I held firmly to this belief as well before the circumstances of our last move dictated that we list our home in January here in Northeast Ohio (where the temps are frigid and the snow is plentiful that time of year).

Although we had some trepidation about selling a house in winter, the experience was nothing short of fantastic. After one open house and a crazy number of house showings over the course of three days, we received multiple offers and went under contract immediately.

The view from my car as I spied on our Open House activity

Compared to our experience with selling prior homes during the spring and summer seasons, we are now firm believers that winter is the best time of year to sell a house.

Why Winter May Be The Best Time to Sell a House

Planning a move in the new year?

Since winter is fast approaching, it’s the perfect opportunity to chat about why I believe that the winter months are the best time to list a house and the best months to sell a home.

Here are my top 3 reasons to sell your home in the winter.

1. Fewer Sellers (aka Less Competition)

Since everyone else is waiting until the spring to list their home, you’ll find that the competition you face as a home seller is significantly less compared to other months. We definitely found this to be the case.

And compared to all of the other homes in our area selling in our price range, our home was the most appealing to buyers. This was the direct consequence of all of the hard work we put in on the front end with getting our house ready to sell during the prior fall and staging it properly.

2. More Serious Buyers

Although there are far fewer active home buyers during the winter months, the ones who are looking are serious buyers. As a consequence, you won’t find yourself wasting time courting people who really have no intention of purchasing a home anytime soon.

Unlike the casual buyers of spring and summer who frequent open houses for fun (or to just be nosy), the winter buyer means business. There’s usually a compelling reason that’s fueling their house hunt during these frigid months. More times than not, it involves some form of hard deadline (a relocation, the end of a lease, etc.).

The people who attended our open house definitely fell into the category of serious buyers. Many of them scheduled a second showing within 12 hours of the open house. Of those who completed a second showing, most of them put in an offer within the following 24 hours.

3. More Attention from Your Real Estate Agent

Since home buyers and sellers are more scarce during the winter months, real estate agents tend to be less busy. This can benefit you as a seller in many ways. If an agent is hungry for your business, they may offer you a reduced commission in order to win your business.

Since their client load is light, your agent is likely able to spend more time creating an effective marketing plan for your home. As winter sellers, we definitely benefitted in the form of increased personalized attention from our Realtor during the selling process.

It’s simple math. You’ll get more attention when your home is one of a handful the agency is marketing in the winter vs. one of several hundred they are marketing in the spring.

Selling a House in Winter? Follow These Tips

Winter Home Selling Basics

Eliminate Winter Hazards

With all of the benefits of listing a house to sell during the winter months, there are a few drawbacks to selling a house in winter if you live in a cold climate. The weather can create a series of winter hazards that can be dangerous.

You’ll need to make eliminating winter hazards a priority. Clear dangerous icicles from your property and always maintain a clear walkway from the driveway to the front door. The last thing you need is to have a potential homebuyer or agent get injured while viewing your home.

Protect Your Floors

If you live in a cold climate, you’ll need to take some precautions to prevent home buyers from tracking snow, slush onto your floors (especially if you had your carpets professionally cleaned as part of your pre-home sale prep).

When preparing for an open house or a home showing, set up a shoe removal station in the entryway. Not only will it protect your floors, but it will also send a message to potential home buyers that you take care of your home.

Grab a free Open House Checklist here

Highlight Key Exterior Features Using Seasonal Photos

One of the pros of selling a house in winter is that the labor-intensive task of keeping the lawn and landscaping pristinely manicured is eliminated. On the other hand, a blanket of snow prevents you from showing off your home’s exterior. And that can be a huge bummer if some of your home’s greatest selling features are exterior ones.

For example, it was difficult for buyers who visited our home during January to envision themselves enjoying the large vinyl deck and pergola during the summer months.

In order to make sure buyers didn’t look past this awesome selling feature, I displayed a photo book during home showings that contained photos of our awesome entertaining spaces — the deck and the stamped concrete patio — in their summer glory.

Your Winter Home Selling Decorating Plan

Make Warm and Cozy Your Winter Home Selling Mantra

Creating a warm and cozy atmosphere for buyers helps them to envision themselves enjoying the home during wintertime and future holidays.

Simple ways to evoke that warm and cozy feeling include:

making sure the thermostat is set to a comfortable temperature
accentuating a fireplace if you have one
using soft throw blankets and winter pillows in your home decor
displaying candles (high quality LED candles are a great addition)
having comfort foods such as mulled cider or freshly baked cookies available.

Say YES to Seasonal and Holiday Decor

Many people wonder if you should decorate your home for the holiday season if your home is on the market during this time. I say absolutely!

The key to holiday decorating during the home selling process is to keep it simple, avoid decorations with a religious connotation, and use decor that spans that work for the holiday and across the winter season (get more specific holiday home staging tips here).

Let’s take a peek at specific examples of appropriate seasonal decor.

The front entryway is a key area to focus on when it comes to setting the winter scene. You can never go wrong with a tasteful wreath and porch pots full of seasonal greenery (you can easily DIY a winter porch pot with this tutorial).

Stepping inside…

I used more neutral winter decor items to highlight the built-in shelving in my office space:

This simple vignette adds a touch of winter flair without screaming “Christmas”:

Need more inspiration? Check out this collection of winter decorating ideas you can keep up all season long.

So did I convince you that winter is the best time to sell a house? Have you listed a house in the winter? How did the selling process unfold for you?

I truly hope that these tips for selling a house in winter will be super helpful as you embark on your winter home selling adventure. Once you have that signed contract, be sure to check out this comprehensive guide to organizing your move!

More Valuable Tips for Home Sellers:

Holiday Planner Printables: My Early Christmas Gift to You!

Holidays, Planning, Printables

Use this free printable holiday planner to organize ALL THE THINGS this holiday season!

This little elf has been working on something to help make navigating the holiday season just a wee bit easier.

I’m SUPER excited to put a virtual bow on it and gift it to you!

Introducing the Refined Rooms Holiday Planner!

This printable holiday planner will help you to:

• Set holiday priorities as a family so that you can simplify and be intentional about your time this season.
• Make a gift-giving holiday budget to prevent overspending and surprise expenses.
• Make a plan to build in self-care activities to prevent holiday burnout.
• Take that monster holiday To-Do list and break it down into bite-size chunks of weekly tasks.
• Plan all the details for those holiday parties you’ll host (in non-pandemic years to come) so that no detail is overlooked.
• Keep track of every online gift purchase you’ll be making throughout the upcoming Black-Friday/Cyber Monday shopping craziness.

Printables Included in The Holiday Planner:

The 12-page holiday planning printable includes the following:

• monthly calendars for November and December (undated)
• a Holiday Priorities worksheet
• a Holiday Self Care Plan worksheet
• a Holiday Task List
• a Holiday Party Plan worksheet
• a Holiday Shopping Budget worksheet
• gift trackers for in-store and online purchases
• a set of holiday decor storage labels

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, which helps keep my blog up and running but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

The Holiday Planner is the newest addition to my Organizing Printables Vault (a free resource for my VIP subscribers). Become a VIP subscriber by completing the form at the end of this post and your planner will be delivered instantly to your inbox.

Tips for Using Your Holiday Planner

1. Print It

You can use your personal printer or the printing service at your local Office Depot or Staples. Looking for an awesome printer that can handle heavy-duty printable printing but won’t break the bank? Here’s the printer I recommend.

Here are a few options for printing the holiday decor storage labels that are included in the Planner:

Print labels on heavy cardstock, cut to size, and insert them into Identa-Label pouches
Print labels on heavy cardstock, cut to size, and adhere to storage bins with packing tape
Print labels on 3 1/3″ x 4″ shipping labels

{See how I use the holiday storage labels for my holiday decoration stash}.

2. Create a Holiday Binder

Y’all know that I’m a HUGE FAN of using binders for organizing household papers and projects. This holiday planner will fit beautifully in a one-inch binder.

I like to use a binder with pockets so that I can keep extra papers in it. Here’s my favorite binder. You can use a 3-hole punch to make the planner pages binder-ready OR slip them into page protectors (the 3-hole design-type).

PRO TIP: Be sure to only print the pages you will use. There’s no need to print everything out unless you think you will use every page (inky is pricey!).

For example, if you won’t be hosting a party this year (I’m sure most of us will be skipping it this year), there’s no need to print out the Holiday Party Plan page.

3. Take Action

Organizing experts all agree – the key to less stress and more joy in the holiday season is to complete some serious holiday planning upfront and to aim to complete tasks on your holiday to-do list EARLY (like today!).

Once you download your planner, the first thing I urge you to do is to complete a brain dump of all your tasks using the 2-page Holiday Task List. Next, use your November and December calendars to map out when you will complete each of those tasks. Then, it’s simply a matter of working your plan.

4. Join The Organize Your Holiday Challenge

With your holiday binder in hand, sign up for the 4-week holiday organizing challenge and we’ll tackle holiday planning, shopping, and decorating together. No need to stress about Christmas every again!

Ho Ho Ho and Happy Planning! Wishing you a stress-free and joy-filled holiday season!

Coastal Bathroom Makeover Reveal: Modern, Minimal and Marvelous

Decorate, Decorating Project Gallery, Room Reveals

In our coastal bathroom makeover, we banished the boring builder-grade features of this half bathroom. It now features a striking blue and white wallpaper that serves as the perfect backdrop for this modern minimalist space.

Needless to say, 2020 has NOT been my favorite year. But some good things have come from all of these months of being hunkered down at home. One of them is the list of home update projects we’ve been able to tackle.

At the top of the list is the budget-friendly makeover of our half bathroom.

I’m so glad we put this makeover on the DIY Home Improvement Project List because it completely updated and transformed this room. It’s a space we use regularly. And every time I’m in the space, it makes me happy!

The Half Bathroom: Before

Here’s what the half bath looked like when we purchased our home (this photo is from the actual MLS listing):

Like the rest of the house, it was boring and bland. I knew immediately when I laid eyes on that pedestal sink that we would need to replace it with a vanity that can provide storage space for some of the basics (toilet paper, etc.).

When we first moved in, I painted the room a beautiful shade of blue (Sherwin Williams Tempe Star — paying homage to the paint color palette from our last home) as an interim fix until we were able to carve out time to complete a full makeover. This room also initially benefitted from:

our floor refinishing project that took place prior to our move-in day;
our whole-home door hinge and handle replacement project.

As the decorating vibe of our home has evolved over the short time we’ve been in our new home, I’ve found myself incorporating more and more coastal elements. So when it came time to completely overhaul this bathroom, I decided to go ALL IN on a modern, coastal bathroom makeover.

Coastal Bathroom Makeover: Design Plan & To-Do List

Let’s start by taking a look at my vision for this space:

You may recognize some of the same elements of our former powder room creeping into this new design. That’s because I LOVE them and they served us well in our old house (the faucet, the decorative grass, and the light fixture).

Here’s the project to-do list we tackled for this DIY bathroom makeover project:

1. Install Wallpaper

If you’re a long-time reader, then you’ll likely remember me uttering the phrase NEVER AGAIN when it comes to installing wallpaper in our home (even though I found a fairly easy DIY wallpaper removal method since our first wallpaper removal fiasco).

Well, never say never!

Not only did we install wallpaper as part of this makeover, we actually centered the design around this stunning blue and white patterned wallpaper.

2. Replace the Light Fixture

We swapped out the existing unattractive builder-grade light fixture with this modern beauty:

Yes, it’s the same fixture that we used in our last powder room. I thought about going with something that’s a bit more in keeping with a strong coastal theme. But when it comes to the more expensive fixed elements of a space, I like to avoid trendy and opt for more timeless choices.

That way, if the mood strikes, we can change things up in a few years without the need to swap out the light fixture again. This one is really versatile and would work with many decorating styles.

3. Swap Out Existing Pedestal Sink with New Sink/Vanity

This task was by far the most challenging one on the list (even more than wallpaper installation). First, it took an inordinate amount of time to source a vanity/sink combo that I liked and that did not break the bank.

When I initially embarked on my vanity search, I was dead set on selecting a navy blue vanity. But once I decided on the wallpaper, a white vanity suddenly made more sense. After months of searching, I landed on this amazing little number:

One of the reasons I chose this vanity/sink combo was because it would camouflage the existing patch of unfinished flooring that was exposed by the removal of the pedestal sink.

BUT, I soon realized that this positive feature also posed a bit of a challenge when it came to the installation:

Seriously?!?

THAT’s weird. Water pipes coming out of the FLOOR instead of out of the WALL. We’ve discovered over the months that weird things like this are par for the course in the new Chez Gallagher.

I was crushed at the thought of having to go back to the drawing board to find an alternative vanity. We decided to hire a plumber to handle this headache in order to move the project forward faster. He came up with this solution:

Nothing a basket can’t hide!

I’m forever thankful for this creative solution because I could not bear to part with this super affordable + super high-quality vanity/sink combo.

Just look at the solid wood dovetail construction and marvel at the soft-close drawers:

And I absolutely love the rectangular angled sink bowl:

4. Replace Faucet

I couldn’t wait to replace the outdated double handle faucet with this stunning modern chrome faucet:

This faucet serves as the jewelry in the room for sure. I thought about selecting something different since we used this faucet in our previous home. But then I asked myself,

Why mess with perfection?

5. Remove and Replace Existing Mirror

Naturally, the mirror that was in place at the time we moved in was affixed to the wall with construction adhesive and framed out with difficult-to-remove trim.

PSA to homeowners: please please PLEASE do not glue plate glass mirrors to bathroom walls. It makes it REALLY difficult (and dangerous) to remove them and causes lots o’ wall damage. You can purchase simple hardware to safely attach that mirrors to walls.

The time it took to remove the mirror and patch up the wall was well worth it, given how it turned out. This wooden octagon mirror is truly a statement piece, don’t you think?

6. Remove and Replace the Towel & Toilet Paper Holder

When we ripped out the plate glass mirror and frame, we also seized the opportunity to remove the generic towel and toilet paper holders from the wall.

We chose to replace them with a freestanding chrome toilet paper holder (you’ll see it in the Accessories section below), and this lovely modern square chrome towel holder:

7. Accessorize with Coastal Bathroom Accents

The last step in any room makeover is accessorizing. I went light on the accessories as I wanted to keep it simple and minimal. After all, with that wallpaper, there’s really no need for a ton of accessories.

First, I pulled in that familiar concrete planter filled with faux grass from our former powder room.

Next, I broke up the pattern on the walls with a few pieces of coastal-inspired blue and white art:

Finally, I added a woven hyacinth storage bin for magazines, a chrome toilet paper holder, a new hand towel, and cute soap and lotion dispenser set:

So that’s it!!!! What do you think?

We got a lot of bang for our buck with this project. With the exception of the plumber bill, this coastal bathroom makeover came in under $1,000. Not too shabby!

You can find the info for all the sources below.

Modern Coastal Bathroom Makeover Source List:

Room makeovers are always gratifying, but this coastal bathroom makeover will hold a special place in my heart because it’s the first major room redesign project we completed in our new home.

Love a good room reveal? Check out more room makeover transformations here!