

This whole pandemic environment has thrown all of us for a loop. Whether you're new to working from home or have been doing it for years, you've probably felt the strain. Boundaries have gotten totally blurred, and sometimes it can feel like everything is just out of wack and a hot mess. We could all benefit from some professional organizer tips and tricks to help us find peace, promote productivity, and relieve stress. Take back your life and get your home all the way together by trying these 6 steps, with insights from professional organizers and the habits that keep them at peace:
1. Commit to becoming more organized and adjusting habits.
Kenika Williams, pro organizer and founder of Tidied by K in Atlanta, says organizing the home starts with making the commitment to incorporate daily tweaks to your habits. "There needs to be a mental shift or some point where you verbally and mentally commit to yourself that you're going to take your habits and embark on the journey of getting organized," she says. "Some of things you may have been used to doing previously are not going to fly. For example, if you're working from home, now is a good opportunity to adjust your habits or create new habits so that you can feel at peace in your space and up your productivity."
Being deliberate about taking care of basic household chores the night before, for example, can help you focus on keeping your home clean and free up time to organize in other ways. "If you know that you are used to leaving dishes in the sink and things like that, making small tangible changes in your habits is going to make a world of difference. Turn on a podcast for 20-30 minutes and get in your zone while tidying your kitchen before you go to bed so that when you wake up in the morning, you have created a new habit to counter what you're used to and you can continue with your day with that change in place."
2. Clear out the clutter, one space at a time.
Shutterstock
A key in actually organizing a space is to start with the clutter that currently exists before thinking about any organizational changes. "According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention study, 80% of our medical expenses are related to stress which clutter contributes to," says Dai Smith, founder of Simplicity By Day, a Houston-based organization solutions firm. "Therefore, tackling disorganization in your home can positively affect your mental health and help relieve stress."
Williams agrees. "Get rid of things that no longer have purpose in your home," she suggests. "[Maybe] you don't love something, you never liked it when someone gave it to you, or you've stuffed it somewhere in a closet. Try to purge as much as you can. What that can look like is every single day you get rid of five things."
Having a hard time getting rid of items you don't use or things with sentimental value? "I suggest repurposing the item," Smith says. "For example, snap a photo of the item, put it in a nice frame, and hang it on the wall. Cut a piece of the shirt or quilt from your deceased relative and put that in a shadow box to place on display. Many times those sentimental items are tucked away in a closet often forgotten about and this allows you to really honor their memory and minimize clutter as well."
And don't overwhelm yourself by starting large organizational projects first. "Find a small space—maybe that junk drawer or the linen closet," Williams adds. "Start with a space that is disorganized and small, and work through decluttering and finding a way to organize."
Sorting through items you'll keep, sell, or give away for charity is a good place to start, and setting a goal or incentive will help you with the motivation to truly clear out what's just unnecessary and hindering organization. If you know you'll be able to sell items to invest in something that will add to your home or donate to a worthy cause, you might be more apt to reach your organizing goals as well. (Check out a step-by-step guide here.)
3. Tailor systems for remaining organized, and adjust when needed.
"Working from home leads to many distractions so having a plan on what you need to focus on for the day or week is imperative," Smith says. "For my clients, I've suggested either a simple 'Want vs. Needs' to-do list or the more comprehensive decision matrix tool for creating to-do lists. I advise them to make daily, weekly, and monthly goals and then break them down based on priority. This will help you stay focused on what is the most important and urgent thing to do and dismiss or delegate the things that aren't as important or urgent."
Williams is a big fan of keeping things simple and recognizing what works best for you. "Don't create filing-cabinet systems with a hundred different categories if you don't have to because you want to be able to make sure it's long-lasting and you can manage it long-term."
Smith further recommends using a daily 15-minute rule to jump-start getting organized. "Spend 15 minutes before you start your day or 15 minutes at the end of the day organizing your space," she says. "That could look like clearing paperwork off your desk or filing items that you no longer need. You'd be surprised how much you can get done in 15 minutes. Set a timer on your phone and go in!"
Williams also leans on time management as a great way to remain organized, and incorporating time blocking or methods like the Pareto rule can help with getting tasks done and scheduling household chores.
4. Invest in organizational products, items, or practices that make sense.
Shutterstock
Williams encourages women to define what organized means based on their own needs, their home, and their lifestyle. This will help you decide on the best products and items for your home. "Being aware of the furniture you're buying is going to help determine the types of organizing products you need. My whole brand is about functionality and aesthetics—making a room functional and feel pretty. You want to enjoy being in that space, and your habits will start to adjust because you want to keep it up. If you don't really like being in the space, you're not going to keep it up as much as you should."
Smith has go-to "simplicity picks" she uses and recommends frequently for her clients. "The must-haves are bins—clear, wire, wicker, or whatever fits your style—shelf maximizers (lazy susans, tiered shelves, and shelf stackers, and drawer organizers—expandable or customizable."
Another great product-based hack is to further organize larger bins, drawers, or closet spaces with smaller bins. "Maybe you use one big bin that's decorative or a pretty basket that you put on the shelf, but you need to further compartmentalize. I'll use smaller dollar-store bins and label them to place inside the larger one. This way, you're adding more functionality. For the things that you know you are constantly misplacing or looking for, finding its own special home for you will help you always know where that item is. Even if it's just something that you come up with your own special way with keeping up with it, then you will."
5. Use tech to find organization solutions for automation and boosting efficiency.
"I work primarily with working parents, busy professionals, and entrepreneurs so they have less time than most to commit to organizing," Smith says. "I've created a simple four-step organizing process that works for organizing every space and uses a simple and efficient workflow via Dubsado to manage their organizing projects. This allows us to set realistic timelines and I provide tools to shorten the learning curve for them."
Use Web-based platforms or apps to help you keep up with deadlines, schedule household activities, get rid of paper waste, and remind you of key maintenance dates or appointments. Todoist, ProofHub, Wunderlist, Shoeboxed and Google Forms are all great for helping organize your to-do lists, sync calendars, track spending and bills, and provide notifications for upcoming deadlines.
Use Pinterest to create boards for organizing information on the latest hacks, products and unique ways to increase functionality of your space, and follow organization experts or platforms like Marie Kondo, Simplified, Apartment Therapy, or Simply Spaced. Automate payments by setting up via your service providers and use automation for household chores by investing gadgets like a robot vacuum or smart lawn mower. Also, incorporate smart tech wherever you can so that you can control appliances and gadgets by voice or phone from afar—saving you time, effort and money.
6. If all else fails, get some help.
Sometimes life just gets hectic, and organizing your home may not be something you can take on alone. It might also be something that's needed but not your favorite thing to do. Here's where getting help is your best bet. Professional organizers can guide you in coming up with solutions that are tailored to your home and lifestyle, and the National Association of Black Professional Organizers has a directory for finding one near you. You can also check out sites like Angie's List or Care.com for housekeeping, lawn maintenance, and professional organizer services if you'd like someone else to do the work of decluttering and organizing for you.
Retailers also offer services for professionals to visit your home (or conduct virtual consultations) for setting up your dream closet, kitchen system or other organizational improvements.
Whatever option you choose, it will more than serve as a lifesaver to getting your home in tip-top shape for you to live your best work-from-home life and find peace.
Are you a member of our insiders squad? Join us in the xoTribe Members Community today!
Featured image by Shutterstock
- Why Now Is The Perfect Time To Declutter - xoNecole: Women's ... ›
- Here’s What A Professional Organizer Recommends To Elevate Your Home Life - xoNecole: Women's Interest, Love, Wellness, Beauty ›
- Decluttering Tips, Marie Konda Netflix Organizing - xoNecole: Women's Interest, Love, Wellness, Beauty ›
- 7 Boundaries To Increase Productivity - xoNecole: Women's Interest, Love, Wellness, Beauty ›
- Organizing Tips from Professional Organizers - Neat Method ›
- 50 Best Organizing Tips from Professional Organizers & Champagne ›
- 25 Powerful Organization Tips From an NYC Professional Organizer ›
- 5 Tips From A Professional Organizer ›
- How to Organize Your Home - Organizing Hacks for the Home ›
- 5 No-Fail Professional Organizer Tips | Prevention ›
- 7 Organizing Tips I Learned in My First Week as a Professional ... ›
- 58 Best Organizing Tips From 24 Top Professional Organizers ›
Devale Ellis On Being A Provider, Marriage Growth & Redefining Fatherhood
In this candid episode of the xoMAN podcast, host Kiara Walker talked with Devale Ellis, actor, social media personality, and star of Zatima, about modern masculinity, learning to be a better husband, emotional presence in marriage, fatherhood for Black men, and leading by example.
“I Wasn’t Present Emotionally”: Devale Ellis on Marriage Growth
Devale Ellis On Learning He Was a ‘Bad Husband’
Ellis grew up believing that a man should prioritize providing for his family. “I know this may come off as misogynistic, but I feel like it’s my responsibility as a man to pay for everything,” he said, emphasizing the wise guidance passed down by his father. However, five years into his marriage to long-time partner Khadeen Ellis, he realized provision wasn’t just financial.
“I was a bad husband because I wasn’t present emotionally… I wasn’t concerned about what she needed outside of the resources.”
Once he shifted his mindset, his marriage improved. “In me trying to be of service to her, I learned that me being of service created a woman who is now willing to be of service to me.”
On Redefining Masculinity and Fatherhood
For Ellis, “being a man is about being consistent.” As a father of four, he sees parenthood as a chance to reshape the future.
“Children give you another chance at life. I have four different opportunities right now to do my life all over again.”
He also works to uplift young Black men, reinforcing their worth in a world that often undermines them. His values extend to his career—Ellis refuses to play roles that involve domestic violence or sexual assault.
On Marriage, Family Planning, and Writing His Story
After his wife’s postpartum preeclampsia, Ellis chose a vasectomy over her taking hormonal birth control, further proving his commitment to their partnership. He and Khadeen share their journey in We Over Me, and his next book, Raising Kings: How Fatherhood Saved Me From Myself, is on the way.
Through honesty and growth, Devale Ellis challenges traditional ideas of masculinity, making his story one that resonates deeply with millennial women.
For the xoMAN podcast, host Kiara Walker peels back the layers of masculinity with candid conversations that challenge stereotypes and celebrate vulnerability. Real men. Real stories. Real talk.
Want more real talk from xoMAN? Catch the full audio episodes every Tuesday on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and don’t miss the full video drops every Wednesday on YouTube. Hit follow, subscribe, and stay tapped in.
Featured image by YouTube/xoNecole
My personal relationship with birth control pills is a bit of an odd one. Back when I first became sexually active (I started having sex with my first boyfriend a couple of months shy of 19), I took them for a couple of months, didn’t like how they made me feel, and so I quit using them altogether (and got pregnant almost immediately after). The rest of my adult life, I stayed off of the pill and pretty much only used condoms (and even then, not consistently — SMDH).
And yet here I am, now, all these years later, back on them again: surprise, surprise.
These days, it's for a completely different purpose, though. Now that I am in the hopefully latter stages of perimenopause (I’m not sure because my mother had a full hysterectomy at 29, her mother died at 53 and I don’t deal with my paternal grandmother because…chile… ) — although I have always had relatively easy cycles and I could definitely set my watch to them, about two years ago, my periods started to show up whenever they felt like it and it was damn near a crime scene once they did.
It was driving me crazy, and so, my nurse practitioner recommended that I take progestin-only pills to shorten, if not completely stop, my cycle: “After a year or so, we can wean off and see if you are entering into menopause on your own.” (Whew, perimenopause, chile.)
Although the first five months of being on this particular pill made me wonder if it was worth it to take this approach, I actually re-upped for another 12-month cycle because the extra progestin (a synthetic form of progesterone) has benefitted me in other areas as well because I am sleeping more soundly and my weight is more stabilized (by the way, when these things are “off,” they are signs of low progesterone levels). However, I did ask my nurse practitioner if, once I do decide to wean off of the pill, would there be any issues.
Her response is what inspired me to write this article because, until she said “post-birth control syndrome” to me, I had no idea there was such a thing. Anyway, if you give me a sec, I’ll explain to you what it is and why you should care if hormone-related birth control is currently a part of your life.
Yes, Post-Birth Control Syndrome Is a Very Real Thing
Okay, so it’s important to always remember that the way that birth control works is it “manipulates” your hormones so that you can significantly reduce your chances of conceiving. This means that taking them could result in some side effects including nausea; weight gain; headaches; irregular periods and/or spotting; increased stress; depression; blurry vision; breast tenderness, and/or a lowered libido.
That said, even though birth control pills are basically 99 percent effective (when taken correctly and consistently), if the side effects that you are experiencing are making you close to miserable, you should absolutely share that with your healthcare provider because…what’s the sense in preventing pregnancy when you don’t even feel up to having sex because you don’t feel good or your sex drive is shot? More times than not, your provider can find you another pill brand or option that will help you to feel more like yourself.
With that out of the way, think about it — if going on the pill can produce side effects, why would going off of it…not? And this is where post-birth control syndrome comes in.
For the most part, it’s what can happen to your body once you decide to come off of birth control. Typically, the symptoms will last anywhere between 4-6 months and, although the symptoms seem to present themselves most intensely as it relates to going off of the pill, any hormone-related birth control (like IUDs, injections, patches, the ring or implants) could produce similar outcomes.
Outcomes like what?
- Irregular cycles
- Breakouts
- Excessive gas and/or bloating
- Weight gain
- Anxiety and/or depression
- Fertility issues
- Migraines and/or headaches
- Shifts in your libido
- Sleeplessness/restlessness
- Hair loss
Whoa, right? And if a part of you is wondering, “Okay, if this is indeed the case, why have I not heard of this syndrome before?” It’s because it’s not a term that conventional method uses nearly as much as alternative medicine does. Still, it makes all of the sense in the world that if your body has to adjust to an uptick in hormonal intake, it would also need to adjust to removing those extra doses of hormones from your system as well. COMMON. DAMN. SENSE.
Anyway, if you were thinking about taking a break from birth control and taking all of this in has you feeling a bit…let’s go with the word “trepidatious” about doing so, I totally get it. There are some things that you can do to make experiencing post-birth control syndrome either a non-issue or a far more bearable one, though.
7 Home Remedies That Can Make Coping with Post-Birth Control Syndrome Easier
1. Take a multivitamin.Something that’s fascinating about what going off of birth control can do is it sometimes has the ability to lower your nutrition levels as it relates to certain vitamins and minerals; this is especially the case when it comes to vitamins B, C, E and minerals like magnesium, selenium and zinc. So, if you don’t currently take a multivitamin, now would be the time to start (along with consuming foods that are particularly high in those nutrients as well).
2. Up your vitamin D intake. Speaking of nutrient levels, a vitamin level that commonly drops after going off of birth control isvitamin D. This is hella critical to keep in mind as a Black woman since many of us tend to be naturally deficient in the vitamin as-is and vitamin D is important when it comes to fighting off diseases, regulating weight and keeping your moods stabilized (for starters). So, make sure that your multivitamin has vitamin D in it. Also make sure to consume vitamin D-enriched foods like fatty fish, eggs, mushrooms, yogurt and fortified orange juice.
3. Drink herbal teas. Since going off of birth control will cause your hormones to be all over the place for a season, consider drinking some herbal teas that will help to stabilize them. Black cohosh contains phytoestrogen properties, Chasteberry can help to level out your prolactin levels and green tea can help your hormones out by helping to balance out your insulin (which can sometimes directly affect them).
4. Keep some ibuprofen nearby. The headaches and migraines? Until those subside, you and ibuprofen are probably going to become really good friends; although I will add that ginger tea and inhaling essential oils like chamomile and lavender can help to ease migraine-related symptoms too.
5. Do some meditating. Waiting for your hormones to get back on track can be stressful as all get out. That said, something that can get your cortisol (stress hormone) levels to chill out is to meditate. If meditation is new for you, check out “7 Meditation Hacks (For People Who Can't Seem To Do It).”
6. Get massages. As if you needed an excuse to get a massage, right (check out “12 Different Massage Types. How To Know Which Is Right For You.”)? However, there is some evidence to back the fact that regular massages (somewhere around once a month) can help to lower your stress, boost your dopamine, increase blood flow and drain your lymphatic system so that you will have more energy.
7. Sleep/rest more. There is plenty of scientific research out here which says that sleep deprivation can throw your hormones out of whack — and since your hormones are already trying to stabilize themselves, you definitely need to get 6-8 hours of sleep and not feel the least bit guilty about taking naps sometimes too.
____
Post-birth control syndrome may not be the most pleasant thing about getting off of birth control yet it is manageable. So, now that you know all about it, you can feel more confident about taking a birth control break (or getting off altogether) — without the surprises that can come with doing it. Give thanks.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by Unsplash