​​Disclaimer: This article includes affiliate links when you click through the links in this and I earn a small commission for my home organizing product recommendations.

I am all about using what you have already in the home to organize your stuff, but if you don't have items to elevate your space, then you can search for what to use to help your home function better. I wanted to share some of my home organization recommendations found on Amazon, and it makes it easier when you don't have to waste time looking for stuff in store.

The bathroom contains products that can expire and get bad, so it's best to check what is good and let go of what isn't so that you use what is healthy for your hair and body. Once you know what is staying in the bathroom, then you can use organizing items to contain your items with some of my recommended Amazon finds.

This under the sink two-tier storage bathroom cabinet organizer with a sliding basket is great for storing what you need in the bathroom. You can store cleaning products or all the toiletries from hair, skin care bottles and sprays to feminine products and anything you need stored away in the bathroom. You don't need to have everything at the bottom of the cabinet, things can be contained and the vertical space can be used even more.

If you have drawers in the bathroom for storage, but especially areas like the kitchen where the junk drawer exists or in your office desk drawers, these drawer inserts are perfect for all the little things that need a home. When organizing, be sure to remove everything from the drawer, then clean the bottom surface, then place the drawer inserts for your items. If you want to avoid them from shifting around, use this special museum gel or museum putty and place at the bottom of each insert. Then you are ready to organize things back and make sure you organize things into like items and create those categories.

Having your shower or makeup/skincare essentials in one place is easy with a caddy, where you can easily pick it all up and bring where you need it when getting ready. This shower caddy is stackable and modern looking it will look nice anywhere you decide to put it from the counter or under the sink, or even the shower. It comes with an adhesive if you plan to have on the wall.

The kitchen is a high frequent area used daily for preparing meals and storing food, drink and everything to cook and contain what we consume. It's important that we make it function well for everyone in the home so that you can spend less time searching or shopping for items you need, so you can prepare what to eat without wasting time, energy and money. Here are some of my favourite Amazon organizing items for the kitchen.

Do you need your spices out of the packages or in the same spice jars? It's so much more pleasing to the eye when they are all uniform and and you can open your drawers or cabinets with them displayed so beautifully. If you want to elevate the spice jars, my Amazon find includes 24 spice jars, 150 square labels and 150 round labels (white and minimalist looking), a funnel for filling spice jars with ease and a brush to clean the jars. It's easier to get everything you need in one package and this Amazon find definitely gives you what you need for that spice upgrade.

Water bottles topple and can get out of control when you have too many of them. There are bottles for cold drinks and hot drinks and sometimes every family member has more than one. It's good to go through all the bottles and make sure they are still what you want to use and working well. Then you can create a home for the bottles by using this cool bottle organizer to be placed in the cabinet and they are easy to get when they live in one spot. This set of 2 shelves can hold 3 containers in each shelf, and is designed to fit most pantry cabinets & refridgerators. Each shelf measures 11" ( 28cm ) × 7.9" ( 20cm ) × 3.8" ( 9.6cm ).

I use ziplock bags for my son's lunches and snacks, and I always clean and re-use them so that they are not ending up in landfill. I usually place all of the ziplock bags into one large freezer size ziplock bag and although that does work, when I found this on Amazon I thought wow it's a home just for the ziplock bags in all sizes. This lives in your drawer and you can lift the top and the bags go in easily. Just decant those ziplock boxes and recycle, and elevate those snack and sandwich bags with this special ziplock bag organizer.

Doing laundry should feel good when you have to do something tedious and that takes up a lot of time. Even though this area is not frequented by guests, you want to make it feel good for yourself so you don't mind doing laundry when you have to. 

Decant the laundry detergent, pods, and scent boosters and place them into large glass jars for the laundry detergent and use labels so they are visible and pleasing every time you have to re-fill and use. Use a wooden scooper for each jar to make it even more enjoyable to do your laundry. You can also place your fabric softner or liquid detergent into a nice large glass jar with a pump , which will match nicely with the other jars.

If you don't have a place in your laundry space to store the laundry jars either on secure shelving or anywhere stable, you can use these nice woven baskets to keep them contained. As you can see it is also great for storing toilet paper in the bathroom.

Adding labels to your laundry jars will make it easy for all family members to know what lives where, especially when doing the laundry re-fills. This set of labels for the laundry and bathroom and are white and minimalist and comes with 144 pre-printed glossy labels and are water resistant. 

Did you ever think that your dryer sheets could use a home? If you still use dryer sheets, then you can upgrade their home by decanting the box and they can live in this modern acrylic tissue box holder which is converted to be a dryer sheet box and use the dryer sheets instead. 

These are just some of my Amazon finds for the home, and if you want to see more of my recommendations you can check out my storefront for what you need. The links above are Amazon Canada links, but in my Amazon Storefront for USA they have alternatives for the similar items.

Amazon Storefront Canada

Amazon Storefront USA

Thanks for reading and happy organizing.

Wardrobe Hack
With warmer weather we can finally put away the heavy layers and focus on lighter clothing. Don’t hold on to clothing that is no longer your style, we grow and evolve and it’s ok to let go of items that don’t show the best version of ourselves now.​

• If you need to organize light scarves and hats, use plastic shower hooks and hang them off a hanger like carabiners for your closet. Slide the scarves through and hang the ball caps for easy reach and view. 
• If you have a lot of purses and clutches, use a wire organizer to file them in your closet.
• Organize items with “like” items, and store your clothing vertically in drawers so you can save space. Use drawer inserts like Ikea skubb boxes to divide them. 

The next major travel season is this March break and with many issues of lost luggage when travelling lately and influx of travellers post pandemic, it’s much easier to travel with a carry-on luggage no matter the time or distance of travel. This is especially easier when travelling in warmer climates to those all-inclusive vacations, where all you need are light summer clothing and swimwear. If you are travelling to a colder climate, it's also possible as well with these organizing tips for travel!

This allows you to keep your items separated by categories like all tops, bottoms, undergarments and socks to have their own home. Then simply bring them out into the hotel dresser drawers and keep items clean and organized when you settle into your hotel room.
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​I started to use soap bars more and just bring my own containers and it’s also less waste.

Healthy eating and healthy living are rising trends for many these days. People may have different reasons for pursuing a healthy life, but a common thread is that changing our dietary habits and choices can be better and more beneficial for our minds and bodies.

As such, market research has found that the weight loss industry is expected to be worth $295.3 billion by 2027, a gradual growth associated with an increase in the incidences of health problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The bigger the threat of health problems, the more motivated we become to pursue good health. Today, we're discussing how organizing your pantry is one way you can achieve healthy eating.

Why is it essential to organize your pantry?

Clean and healthy eating is all about making choices. A cluttered pantry can look well-stocked at first, but it offers you too many choices at a time and increases the likelihood of you overlooking healthier options in favor of junk foods. If this has happened in the past, then you might have to embark on a weight loss program so that you start to prioritize more nutritious foods. This doesn't necessarily mean avoiding your favorite treats forever; nutritionists and behavioral scientists agree that restrictive diets rarely work long-term. Rather, a combination of consistent healthy habits such as getting adequate sleep and staying physically active on top of eating healthy is more likely to get you where you need to be.

Organizing your pantry may seem like a trivial chore at first, but you'll find it serves a functional purpose as much as it does an aesthetic purpose. A neat pantry can be the pillar of support you need to make little but significant behavioral changes regarding what you eat and when. Below are some tips for organizing your pantry:

Make use of a breakfast station

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, setting the tone for your following meals in the next few hours. However, breakfast can also be disorganized as everyone rushes to get something to eat before going to school or work. Part of our post on back-to-school organizational hacks is the importance of breakfast stations in making breakfast time quick and easy for everyone involved. Small changes such as keeping yogurts and juices at the bottom of the fridge or breakfast cart will make them easier to access. Clear canisters for cereals and having bowls nearby make breakfast feel like a self- serve area for hotel breakfasts. As much as this is about making healthy food options accessible to people in the house, it's also about making eating fun and non-stressful.

Keep the healthy food where you can see them

Sometimes, it's not enough to make good food accessible and easy to reach. Cognitively, we tend to eat whatever is closest to us or whatever we come across first in the pantry or kitchen. In psychology, this is known as availability bias, which is a normal human tendency to evaluate situations and make decisions based on information that comes readily to mind. In the case of a pantry, this information is the food that you immediately or easily see. The term comes with a negative connotation in other fields, as relying on availability bias could lead to bad financial investments, for example. But that doesn't mean we can't use our human instinct to rely on readily available information (or food!) and use it to our advantage. When reorganizing, it would be wise to keep the healthier stuff where everyone can see them and hide the junk foods or make them harder to find — out of sight, out of mind. We make food decisions based on what's available, and seeing that healthy foods are more accessible is a good first step to eating healthy.

The school season is here and it’s that time to get prepared for another year of studies and more everyday routine for the students at home. Parents always need ways to make everyone’s life easier getting kids dressed, breakfast ready and backpacks packed with lunches, and snacks on time.

Kids also need a good declutter and re-organization of their clothing and shoes so that they can get ready quickly and easily. Here are my organizing hacks for back to school that will be sure to help you :

Kids clothing and shoe organization
Kids grow out of their clothing and shoes quickly, so this is a great time to make sure what they have in their wardrobe still fits. It’s time to take out all the items that no longer fit and have worn out or have holes. Then you can shop for any items that your child needs more of for their size now. Here’s how to make getting ready easier:

1. Plan ahead and choose the outfit to wear the night before and place the outfit on a labelled “Wear to School” on a shelf, basket or hanging rack for quick dress up the next day.

2. You can also plan ahead and do all the outfits for Monday to Friday on Sunday if you want to be really prepared. Then you can use a closet organizer that hangs or baskets for each day of the week and place the outfits inside.

​Lunch boxes, bottles and food storage
For easy food prep every day, you want to create a drawer that contains all the reusable water and juice bottles and food storage for easy lunch and snack packing.

1. Designate a zone for each child and label according to name and items, like bottles, lunch boxes, reusable snack bags and lunch bags.
2. Store bottles in a vertical storage like a magazine holder or a mini wine rack.
3. Make sure all the food storage like bento containers are stacked and easy to grab.

Work and artwork file folder
Kids always bring home so much paper from school from forms to artwork and worksheets.
Have an expandable file folder for each student, so you can easily drop in the items and store them for their memories. Files can be divided by their grades.

Hope these ideas help make your child's school year easier to manage! Hope you all enjoy this new school year to all students and parents.

Sponsored post by Busy Kid.

It’s easier to just let kids be kids and not bother them with household chores, but every parent knows that doing chores is an essential ingredient to raising capable, independent, and responsible children.

If you’ve been struggling to get your kids to do chores, you’re not alone. A lot of parents are going through the same thing, but know that it’s not an impossible feat.

You’ll have more success in making your kids do chores if you avoid these mistakes:
 
1. Failing to Assign Age-Appropriate Chores
 
Parents are aware of the role that chores play in teaching their kids about responsibility, but sometimes have a hard time convincing them. This is often because they overestimate or underestimate their children’s abilities.

Children tend to lose interest in things that are too hard or too easy for them. As parents, you need to know how to assess your kid’s capabilities and give them responsibilities appropriate for their ages. You can download a kids chore app to help you identify and assign age-appropriate chores for your children.
 
2. Not Having a Chore Routine
 
Many parents end up doing all the work themselves because they either don’t have time to remind their children to do their assigned tasks or teach them how to do them properly.

The easiest way to remedy this is to adopt a chore routine. Give your kids the same daily chores and then gradually add or move on to more difficult responsibilities as they get older. Remember that practice makes perfect. If they do the same things every day, they’ll master it in time.
 
3. Paying for Every Chore
 
While there’s nothing wrong with rewarding your children for their efforts, they should understand that they don’t get paid for every little thing they do. When you create a home culture where everything merits a reward, soon enough you won’t get them to do anything unless you give them something in return.

If your kids want to earn extra money, they can take on jobs that are over and above their daily tasks. You can transfer the payments to a kids debit card and take the opportunity to teach them how to save and invest.

4. Waiting Until They’re Older

Your kids are not too young to start doing chores. There are plenty of tasks that even toddlers are completely capable of doing like putting their toys away, throwing dirty clothes in the hamper, and helping fix their beds.

Small kids are actually more eager to help out around the house. The younger you start giving your children responsibilities, the easier it will be to develop the habit.
 
5. Criticizing Your Children’s Efforts
 
In the grand scheme of things, making toddlers and preschoolers do chores can be more trouble than they’re worth. But it’s important to let them do it anyway. The same goes for older children who are starting to learn and take on new responsibilities.
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Even if you’re not satisfied with the quality of their work, don’t criticize your children’s efforts or show your disappointment. When they do something right, compliment them. And when they make mistakes, demonstrate the right way to do it.
 
6. Yelling at Them When They Resist or Complain
 
A lot of parents lose their cool when their children resist or complain about doing chores. No matter how frustrated you are, yelling at them will do you any good. Remember that chores will always be a battle of will.

On some days, it can be a challenge to get your kids to do anything. When this happens and you feel your pressure rising, take a step back and calm yourself down. The last thing you want is for your children to associate chores with anger and negativity.
 
7. Failing to Explain the Purpose
 
At some point, your kids will begin to question why they have to do chores when they could be doing something fun instead.

Make sure your children know why it’s important for them to work and contribute as members of the family. Understanding how the things they’re doing now can benefit them, especially when they’re older, might motivate them to help out more.
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Have you organized all of your papers and created a system that allows you to find what you need when you need it? How about your family members, have they all organized their papers as well? It's important that it is easy for people to search for documents in cases of emergency, but also when it comes to important life situations. If something were to happen to you, would your family be able to search for the necessary documents in order to help in times of distress? Usually people are not prepared and it can be an unnecessary burden for those you love.

Paper is not the most fun to organize, but its good to paper shred and recycle what is no longer useful and free up more space. When I did my paper organizing when I first did the KonMari Method, I really dreaded it and the experience did not spark joy. However, after I finished going through all my papers I was really happy to be able to let go of my filing cabinet and free up more space in my home. Let's first start with paper organizing:

Physical Paper Organizing
You can start paper organizing by dividing all your papers into three main categories:

• Act Now Papers
• Temporary Papers
• Keep Forever Papers

Act Now: Bills, Letters, Forms, and anything that needs immediate attention and to be dealt with soon.

Temporary Papers: Car Reminders, Warranties (with no life-time), Receipts (in case you plan to return or exchange),resumes, tax documents (only keep for a certain amount of years), memberships, and anything that you just need for a limited time (until you deal with it) and not forever.

Keep Forever Papers: Will, Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Life Insurance, Mortgage, Property documents, anything considered legal documents of importance.

Once you have divided everything into these three categories, you should use the following to organize them:

Act Now: Magazine file box or tray
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Once you have your papers in order, you can maintain the in-coming papers by inserting them into one of the three categories. Sometimes you may have more papers that will not fit into just one folder, so you can use multiple folders and keeping related papers together. Always label categories of papers and name of owner so that you can easily find what you need. Remember to deal with your papers right away so that the clutter is contained and you can find what you need when you need it.

Once you have your papers in order, you will want to move on to digital organizing of your files and documents. You can also create similar categories within your laptop/computer files, so you can easily create your three folders and use sub categories of folders within those main three. You also want to have digital files of your papers, mainly important documents, so that you can easily find them in case of a fire, water damage or any lost documents due to natural catastrophes. 

Once you have organized all of your digital files and documents, you can organize your important documents so that they are safe and easy to find, but not just for yourself for your entire family. Imagine being able to retrieve important documents easily virtually from anywhere you are in times of need. There are actually three categories to organize your important digital documents into, they are:

1. Legal Documents: Social Security Cards, Marriage Certificates, Wills, Birth Certificates, Passports, Power of Attorneys, Estate Plans and Trusts.
2. Medical Documents: Vaccination Records, Medication Records, Health Benefits, Doctors Info.
3. Financial Documents: Investments, Banking Info., Pay Stubs, Bills, Tax Documents, Loans, Retirement Plans

You can also check out this app called Addmin, its a Swiss made mobile application that simplifies the centralization of your administrative documents in digital format, organizes them automatically and allows you to process them where and when you want, in complete security. Click on this link to learn more: https://addmin.com/en/about

Are you ready to get all the paper organized now? Hopefully these tips can get you started for more paper clarity both physically and digitally. If you need support and guidance on getting this done, feel free to contact me and book an appointment for a virtual or in-person session to help you declutter and organize your papers.

We are all spending more and more time at home, and its important that we invest in ourselves and our space. If you're like me at all, this pandemic has been spent watching a lot of Netflix, so I rounded up a few home improvement tips based on my favourite Netflix shows. Check out these organization and design tips for a few of the most frequented spots in your home!

The Bedroom

Our bedrooms are our sanctuaries. Introduce calmness and happiness to your bedroom by decluttering and enhancing the design with these ideas. 

Organize: Follow the KonMari Method to tidy up your room! Ask yourself if every item has a place and discard if it does not spark joy. Take a moment to feel grateful for each item, and you will feel happier and lighter as a result.

Watch Marie Kondo on Netflix or contact me for a virtual KonMari coaching session.
Design: Natural light makes such a difference when it comes to your mood and health. Do not obstruct windows in your bedroom so you can enhance all the benefits of natural light. 

The homes on Grand Designs always take advantage of natural light. 

The Office
A lot of us have been working from home for quite some time now, and I find its helpful to give my work space a refresh every now and then. I like to utilize vertical space when organizing, and its also fun and easy to add new art to keep me in a good mood.

Organize: Hanging hooks, shelves, or pegboards expands your organization space and helps keep clutter off your desk. Less clutter will help you be more productive.

Watch Tiny House Nation for more vertical storage inspiration!

Design: Rotate out the art or decor around your work space. You can buy something new or just switch around the pieces you have in your house! Art in the home can help reduce stress and make you feel more positive. 

Get inspired by Bobby Berk and his home designs on Queer Eye.

The Bathroom
Lets be honest, everyone spends a good amount of time in the bathroom. Follow these tips inspired by The Home Edit and Selling Sunset for organizing and designing a bathroom you are happy to spend time in.

Organize: Streamline your everyday routine by creating systems in your bathroom. Group items by categories like makeup, dental hygiene, or showertime. Or if you share a bathroom, organize a station for you, your spouse, your kids, and any other family members like in my bathroom declutter!

Tune into Get Organized with The Home Edit to watch Clea and Joanna create organizing systems to your hearts content.

Design: Go for relaxation and spa-like qualities in your bathroom design. We are so often rushed in our everyday routines, our bathrooms should be a calm place to practice important self-care.

Aside from the drama, Selling Sunset features fabulous homes with luxurious bathrooms to inspire your own!

I hope you enjoyed these tips for improving and investing in a happier home! Throw on one of these Netflix shows for entertainment as you declutter or redesign. For more inspiration from these shows, see the visual courtesy of The Zebra below! 

4. Make time for self-care .
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This is especially important when it comes to taking care of our own personal well-being and mental health. After deep cleaning and switching things up, relax and do some meditation or yoga, take a warm bath, read a book, and disconnect from screens from time to time to avoid the latest news and anxiety. If you have family, spend time with each other and play board games, cook a meal or bake something together and do some diy or craft activities. This gift of time is really something we have all been blessed with despite the virus.
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I hope these ideas help you out with things you can do around the home. Remember to stay positive, stay at home and believe that this time will pass over and we will get through this. There is always a silver lining to everything negative that happens in life... and being able to stay home and have quality time with the ones we love but also for those who live alone, this will give you a chance to relax, reflect and connect with people you haven’t been able to in a long time.

​Take care everyone.

As a Certified KonMari and Home Organizing Consultant, I help people to simplify their homes and get organized, but also to learn to be mindful when doing the process with me. Even though I've done the KonMari Method in my own home last January 2017, I still need to let go of items in my home every year that have expired. As we all know, not everything we use lasts forever when it comes to products that we use in the bathroom. So I decided to start the new year by doing a good bathroom declutter, to make sure that what I still have is good to use for myself and my family.
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What I love about the KonMari Method is that it has taught me how to realize and be aware of everything that I am using in my life, if it’s serving me and sparking joy (of course). It has also made my life so much easier, as I am able to quickly tidy and clean every area of my home with no wasted time. So my counters including my bathroom counter is clear of things and clutter so I can easily wipe down the counter top after using. As you can see I don’t leave anything except for soap on my sink.

I live at home with a family of four (including myself) and that’s made up of my husband, 9 yrs. old son and my mom who is retired. Everything you see in the bathroom is what we all use, my mom has products in her bedroom but the rest of us only have what you see in my bathroom. The photo above shows how the underneath of my sink looks like. Under the sink I have bathroom cleaning products on the right side, and personal bathroom products on the left side.

Here’s where the rest of my family’s bathroom products are in a standing cabinet unit. My products for taking a bath and shower are placed outside of my shower, so that I can remove water and can clean the inside of the shower easily. I know this is not always possible for every bathroom space (or necessary) but this helps us to avoid mildew from growing inside. Even though we have already simplified our things, we will discover what is still good to use with the declutter and KonMari process.

Basically when you start doing your bathroom komono (miscellaneous) declutter, you need to remove everything out so you can see how much you have, and then you can start going through all of the items. Be sure to check for expiry dates on the back of bottles or boxes and most things even though they spark joy, are no longer good to use. Sometimes you will see a small image of a container on the back of a product with the amount of months it will last after opening it. If you can’t remember when you opened the product or purchased it, most likely it’s already old. Products that expire are not good to use after the due date, as they won’t be of good to your skin, body or health. Our skin can absorb things very easily, and we don’t want to use products that will be harmful to our well-being. Also, remember that the money spent for these products should not stop you from letting go...they have already served you when you purchased it. Once you go through all of your items, you will return and organize them back according to the following: face care, skin care, hair care, hair tools, dental care, first aid, medical, feminine products and cleaning supplies.

Here is how our cabinets look after the declutter and I have grouped similar items together and created homes so that we can find things easily. My husband has the top shelf with just a few items to the left, the right side is our first-aid and medical supplies. The second shelf is all of my stuff which includes daily skin care, hair care and body care. The third shelf contains our cotton pads, q-tips, and hairbrushes. The fourth shelf has our tooth brushes, tooth paste and our family face wash that my husband, son and mom use. The fifth shelf has hair tools, my mom’s hair and body care. Finally the last shelf has extra bath sponges, containers for travel, bars of soap and feminine products.

The image above shows everything that has expired or is practically empty and all of this filled one shopping bag. I will dispose of the items properly emptying out ingredients and recycling the containers that can be placed in the blue bin. Then you should take inventory of what you need to replace so you can purchase what you need. The KonMari Method helps you to be a conscious consumer and then you become smarter at shopping and no more mindless purchases or wasting money. After this process, I discovered I needed to replace my skincare for my daily use including face wash, moisturizer and toner. I want to invest in good quality products that are good for my skin and my health.

I decided to invest in a minimalist luxury skincare brand that is locally made in Toronto, Canada and it’s called Graydon. As I get older, I also want to take better care of my aging skin and I think it’s so important to use products made of good for you ingredients. Graydon Skin Care products are all made of plant based ingredients of superfoods and extracts which I love. I will be trying this out for the first time to see if it will make a difference to my skin. I have suffered from acne growing up, and even as an adult in my thirties I still have some breakouts on my neck and chin especially in the winter. I’m going to show you all a before and after of my skin as well to show you the benefits of investing in your skin and yourself.

Here’s a photo of myself with no makeup and cleansed with Graydon’s Blue Majik® foam face wash and Konjac sponge. The Blue Majik® ingredient is actually blue-green algae, which is rich in minerals and protein building amino acids, and vitamins to slow down signs of aging, and will improve skin texture and firmness. After, I sprayed some Face Food Mineral Mist, which hydrates and locks in moisture while also protecting my skin from free radicals and environmental pollution. Then I used Graydon’s Full Moon serum (combats signs of aging) and Super Food serum (brightens, hydrates and nourishes skin) mixed together like a skin care smoothie and applied gently on my face. Followed by Berry Rich probiotic face and eye cream, and then finally Green Cream phyto-retinol clarifying complex cream on my chin and neck area only. Stay tuned in a month as I share my results after one month of using Graydon plant powered skin care.

You can check out my videos for my bathroom declutter
​below, and also my new daily regimen using my new Graydon skincare.

Will you be starting your bathroom declutter for this year? If you haven't done it in a long time perhaps the time is now. Then you can start to invest in yourself and start using good products that will both benefit your face, body and well-being.

​After my bathroom declutter, I noticed that I needed a new skincare line and take care of my skin with the right products. Invest in yourself and your well-being!