Are you a collector or a minimalist? Well, if your anything like me you will fluctuate between clutter chaos and being a super uber organized neatnik. Working as a professional organizer in the southern california area has indeed helped me tremendously, to not only get organized but remain organized. I found professional organizing while bumping into Marla Stone, owner of I-Deal-Lifestyle professional organizers www.i-deal-lifetyle.com. She explained the business in such simple terms that I was immediately intrigued and realized I am an ideal professional organizer. How do I help people? Well the first thing is to take inventory. How do we do that? We categorize everything you own, and then we have a criteria for what you keep around. Knowing what you have is key, and then making good decisions, and with my help is how it starts to evolve. 

Organizing has key elements. First identifying the stuff that you want to keep, second, good spatial design, and third, hard laborious work. The good thing is  I-Deal-Lifestyle does that all for you.

Growing up in San Marino, and also living in West Covina has been such a great experience. Being a Southern California girl gives me great perspective of beautifully designed homes. I love to create not only functional organization for each client, but also a home that you will be proud of. I love to move furniture around and re-purpose items, and consider where all your belongings will end up. The best thing about an organizer is that we consider how often you will use something, and know where to put it.

So whether you're looking for a great closet design, organizing a child's playroom, getting your kitchen dialed in, or a garage, we are here to help you with all your de-cluttering home organizing systems.

Call 949-709-7000 for a free 30 minute consultation and ask for Katrina for a 10% discount and get organized now!
Contact:
www.i-deal-lifestyle.com

 Any age person can start, run and make a success out of any product, information and or service.

The key  tips to successful businessing are listed below:

1. Know Thyself -  Recognize what your personal and professional values are.  Values go along with dreams, authentic abilities, direction, goals, ideas, thoughts, action ability, perception, astuteness, viable provisions, desire, hands on performance follow through.

2. Know your competition - Know who is out there with similar values, ideas, performance, their future goals, direction, products, services, employee culture, business savvy, philosophies, intricacies, what makes them stand out, what their gaps and weaknesses are, what the differences are and how they are perceived by the customer and public.

3. Know your business - Become an expert in your field and beyond.  Know your industry inside and out and any remote facets to your venue.  Be the number one expert in your products, services, teachings, profession and all the surrounding aspects of your business and its goals.  Be fool free with extra knowledge for customers,  employees, competitors, contractors, and community.  Know the answers to any questions while doing interventions, presentations and media interviews.  Don't be caught saying umm.

4. Know your customer - Understand customer care, gaps, desires, wishes, personalities, culture, adjunctive services that will be helpful, growth desires, direction.  Learn the customer language, and be one step ahead of their perception of success.

5. Know your employee - Keep track of employee behaviors, gaps, communication styles, personal and professional habits, dedication, long term goals, language skills, follow through, motivation, personality styles, mood challenges, attendance strategies, self care proponents while adhering to government rules and regulations in accordance with employee safety, support and respect.  Know the weakness and strengths of the employees and realize that their job is only part of their larger life.

6. Creating and implementing employee and customer service measurement tools, creative and workable intervention strategies to increase business health, wealth and longevity.  Implement training and seminars for continued recruitment of ideal employee types, customer individuals and groups and community connectivity.

7. On-going executive and business owner mentorship.   Don't be a ship onto yourself, or two ships passing in the night.  Be interactive in networking groups, coaching, continuing education and training and development, and constant camaraderie with peers is important.  The best businessing is businessing.  Businessing means all of the above.

8. Self Care - Taking care of yourself means brushing your teeth, bathing regularly, sleeping well and soundly, regularly, eating nutritious meals, plenty of healthy fluids, reading food  labels, understanding healthy restaurants, being addiction free, good family, personal and friend supports, plenty of leisure and activity time, hobbies, self growth opportunities and vacations.

www.i-deal-lifetyle.com is a business wellness support service for you, employees and loved ones.  Call 949-709-7000 for a free consult today.

​

Southern California's ever changing interior design trends are currently switching over to a more transitional approach for decorating a business and residence properties.  Incorporating modern elements and accessories with ornate antique pieces, painted in a matt finis,  is an up and coming trend in the retail store styles of home furnishings and decor.  With simple touches of the old and new combined it helps create a unified look for both old and new generations to enjoy. The goal when renovating or redecorating a home is to create an appealing space with a new and universal look.  Designers and stylist have found that there are plenty  of new ways to incorporate the past with the present, but doing it with a splash of innovative creativity is the key.   Renovated public malls, restaurants, hotels, and large chain home furnishing  retail stores are the best places to look for design inspiration.  Recently on a trip to Harrods Department store in London Marla Stone, owner of www.i-deal-lifestyle  was amazed at the unique and lovely designs room by room, floor by floor.  

Just know this, you know what you like and what you do not like.  Just stick with that kid!

Most people make the biggest mistake, in decorating, by saying that your furniture is completely out of date if you bought it 20+ years ago.   Looking around on ads on craigslist you will see that there is a lot of potential in the custom handcrafted furniture.  By adding a coat of new paint or creating a faux rustic finish to an antique heirloom can save you $1000's on the in-store retail prices of today.  With I-Deal-Lifestyle we provide you with the option to recreate a functional space with green design and the proper decor touches for an organized living space.  

I-deal-lifestyle's design approach to Feng Shui principles helps you with the furniture placement aspect of designing a room by creating a proper circulation pattern.  Meaning that if the room "just doesn't feel right"  or your find yourself constantly walking around a table or couch on a daily basis it probably means that your room is not setup properly.  The scale of home furnishings is another dilemma that most new home owners find when they are either downsizing their home or simply buying a house that is too large for their recent small scale furnishings.  Knowing what items you own and the condition of each piece of furniture are vital to the decision making process for planning a design in a new or old space.   It is also an investment when you are planning on refurbishing a specific piece that may or may not have been kept in the greatest condition.  Simple things like "Do the drawers open?", "Is the fabric stained?", "Are the cushions still comfortable?" are the three basic questions that will cover the basis of knowing what to keep if any functional piece of furniture you own.  

When determining the use of a piece of decor that simply serves the aesthetic purpose of sitting on a table or hanging on a wall it tends to be the more sentimental items that homeowners often have a more difficult time making decisions whether to donate or keep.   All you have to do to figure out if it is truly an item worth keeping is first "DO YOU LOVE IT?"   If yes it is an accessory that will play a vital role in determining the colors scheme and style that you want your new space to be designed around.   Finding that one piece that you love can tell any designer or decorator a lot about your personal interest in what you can see yourself looking at and living around everyday of your life. The biggest misconception in design, for people who are not in creative field,  and are more functional and practical based people,  is that they say they have no objectivity when it comes to design. This is completely NOT TRUE!  By keeping the above basic concepts in mind, for determining your taste, in what items your should keep and donate, you will be able to find your ideal style today. 

Interior Designer, Stylist, Organizer for www.i-deal-lifestyle.com and www.orangecountydecorators.com
​Call for a free 30 minute phone consult at 949-709-7000

Having a system created for a more linear and organized way of doing business is essential for increased health and wealth of your business.  Haphazard ways of doing business, going off the cuff, and bumbling through a business plan is a sure fire way to create anxiety and chaos.  Don't get me wrong I love the creative "off the wall", spontenaity of the "Ted Turner" type executive, but I think it may impact one from having a smooth sailing lifestyle.  The invention of calendars, notebooks, computer programs like excel and going paperless are all good things.  Using them may feel mundane and old school yet, they are also what I call target practice.  You are doing the tedious to have more time relaxing.  You are aiming for your goals with purpose and practicality. 

Here are 12 tips to become more linear.  Linear Organization is an organized step by step way of doing things.

1. Keep a Calendar in two places.  Your smart phone is the best and most accessible calendar.  You have access to it at any time, and the calendar also shows up on your desk top.  

2. Check the Calendar first thing in the morning, afternoon and then again in the evening.  Putting items in a Calendar is the first step, and checking in, regularly, is the essential step for follow through with personal, client and professional events.

3. Email confirmations every day to people and or companies you made appointments with.  Include the date, address, time and purpose of meeting.  This is a third way to keep track of calendar events.

3. Go as Paperless as Possible.  Creating mounds of paper mess slows you down.  Only keep paper that is NOT on-line, and that you want to refer to regularly.  Newsletter, banking, financial, events are generally on-line, either by going into a website and or in your email.

4. Create Notes in your phone, not on paper.  Your notes will always stay in your phone and then transfer to your desktop.  No more scrambling for notes.

5. Take pictures, from your smart phone,  of important notes, business cards, phone numbers, signs, pictures or any information you want to remember.  Then just look at your phone instead of hunting around, frustrated.

6. Keep your desk ordered and neat while you are working.  Having a messy desk creates anxiety and then it becomes difficult to focus on your tasks.  Even if you pile all the papers into a bin, until you take time to sort through it, in order to have a clear desk.

7. Always schedule your down or play time into your calendar.  Just seeing fun events gives you a feeling of reprise and delight.

8. As a business owner go to bank regularly to deposit income.  It gives you a sense of achievement.  If you are an employee and have automatic deposit still stop by your bank and talk to an expert about investing.

9. Use a timer for projects.  Do projects in 25 minute increments with NO interruption and take 5-10 minute breaks in-between the focused 25 minutes.  Projects will go faster and faster as you practice this time management technique.

10. Eat Healthy food. Eating a lot of sugar especially around holidays creates a sluggish, irritable worker.  Eat vegetables, fruit, protein, and starchy veggies too.  Balanced meals with little snacks in-between is great for high energy and focused thoughts.

11. Take walks every 25 minutes of your focused work day, even if it is to the bathroom and or to get water.

12. Drink plenty of water, and more water and more water.

Marla Stone, MSW is a Corporate Professional Organizer and Business Consultant in Orange County, California.  She works in the United States and Europe helping Businesses grow more Linear.

​Corporate Office in Irvine, CA.  949-709-7000
​