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I hope September has been wonderful for you! Welcome new readers and new members!

I wanted to check in with you now that the new season is about to begin. It’s also about to be the last quarter of the year.

How are things going in your home?

Just because the year is about to start wrapping up with the holidays around the corner, it doesn’t mean there isn’t time to make 2017 your most organized year yet!

It’s amazing what we can accomplish in one hour, one day, one week, OR one month! And there are still 108 days left this year!!!

With that said, through the end of the year (on Thursdays) I’ll be sending helpful advice on decluttering and getting organized with the goal to help you end 2017 on a wonderful note (organizationally speaking!). If you’re reading this via email right now, you’ll continue to receive my emails. If you don’t yet receive our emails, you can sign up at the top or bottom of this page.

This first email is a personal update. I must start by saying that I feel totally self-absorbed talking about myself when YOU are here to LEARN about getting organized! However, I think it’s important that I share a quick update with you since I know many of you have questions. So please allow me to cover a few things about myself briefly!

Before I begin, I want to send my thoughts to anyone who has been affected by the hurricanes. We are thinking of you over here, hoping you and your family are staying safe, and that the worst is behind you. To anyone that has been affected but is still reading this, I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, or what you might still be going through. Know that you are stronger and more resilient than you think. You will always be YOU with or without your physical belongings. They don’t define you and never will. Ed & I are sending lots of love your way. ❤

To the updates… I have good news to share, not-so-great news to share, and news that I have no idea what you’ll think!

Let’s start with the good news first…

In the beginning of this year I started studying to become a life coach. Not to replace my professional organizing. But instead, to add to my skillset with the goal of helping you on a deeper level, specifically in the areas of emotions and relationships. These are two HUGE areas that affect everyday organization. I am SUPER DUPER excited about this!

I’m still learning (and will be learning for a lifetime) but I am ecstatic to receive my first certification this month (I take the test next week! SO EXCITED!) and cannot wait to begin sharing new concepts with you. This week I’m traveling to California for a coaching seminar. I’ll continue my education after I pass the first test.

While I’m not “officially” offering coaching sessions on our website yet (though I am doing some private coaching one-on-one), we have a lot in the works that I believe will be helpful if you have a strong desire to get organized. Click here if you’d like to be notified of future coaching opportunities.

We are also currently working on new training that combines both life coaching and organizing. It’ll be free and will be similar to my 3-day video series that’s on our homepage. That’s to come!

Now to the not-so-great news…

If you’ve been to my YouTube channel lately, you probably noticed it’s been a while since I posted a video. The not-so-great news is that I don’t have an answer on when I’ll return to posting videos again. I know that isn’t the answer you want to hear since what probably attracted you to our community was our videos.

Now, I could tell you what my “video goal” is, but I don’t want to disappoint you if I don’t meet my goal! So, to err on the safe side and to set the expectation right now, I don’t have a plan for filming more videos at this time. I know that may disappoint you, but I am not stopping. I just don’t know when I’ll share the next video.

What I can say is that I have tried to film videos for you several times this year and have failed miserably. I, too, fail at plenty of things just like any other human! It’s just not always visible. But I am trying in the background and am doing the best I can over here! Please be patient with me.

If I could wave a magic wand, would I share more videos with you? Absolutely! I would share as many videos as you need to get you to take action and GET ORGANIZED!

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the emails and messages asking for more videos. Your comments remind me to keep serving. Thank you for that! ❤

And now to the last update!

We moved. AGAIN!

This may be a surprise to you if you’ve been in our community for a while and were with me through the last move in 2015. I’m still a bit surprised myself that we recently moved!

But Ed and I had been talking for months about how if we had the option to sell our house and start over, we would. Don’t get me wrong, we loved our house so very much and were extremely grateful to call it our home. The home served us well while we were there. I have zero regrets and wouldn’t change a thing looking back.

But as we both know, a home isn’t everything. I recently came across a quote from Stephanie Perkins that said “Is it possible for a home to be a person and not a place?” It stopped and made me think. Home can be anywhere. It’s the people that make a house a home.

But that’s not why we moved.

Something was calling us to simplify more. It’s wasn’t in the context of being overwhelmed or decluttering (we’ve already decluttered a TON in the past two years and are at a great point in terms of managing the amount of stuff we own. Although, before we moved, we got rid of even more stuff!).

Instead we wanted to “simplify” in the context of less concrete, more trees. Less square-footage, more acreage. Less noise, more peace & tranquility. Less man-made structures, more nature.

I can’t fully put it into words. I’ve been focusing on a lot of personal growth and have been doing a lot of deep contemplation in the past year in addition to me studying to be a life coach, both of which affected our decision to sell our home.

We put our home up for sale at the end of March (when the spring real estate market started) “just to see” if there was any interest. We hired a real estate photographer to take some photos and we listed our home For Sale by Owner.

We really didn’t think we’d find a buyer since it had only been 1.5 years since we purchased and we were still competing with all of the new construction homes in the neighborhood.

However, we had a lot of interest and ended up finding a wonderful family who now calls the house their home!

It was bittersweet packing and moving. We questioned (well, mostly me!) if it was the right decision to move since so much time and energy went into making that house our home. Plus, the idea of house hunting again sounded daunting. Especially after our last home search that lasted way too long!!!

But, Ed and I have always been the type of people who aren’t afraid of change and will do what it takes when we believe something so strongly in our hearts.

We continued with the sale of our home.

I’m incredibly grateful for family and friends for helping us pack boxes and move once again! And for all of the love & support in our SimpLESSity Facebook group the week before we moved! Love and support can definitely help you progress forward when you find yourself operating slower than usual.

We moved out of our home at end of June and are currently living with family. Our stuff is in a storage unit (again!).

While it may seem like Ed & I LOVE moving (since we’ve moved a lot in the past 9 years together), we really don’t! I used to LOOOOVE moving when I was in college and through my early 20s when I could fit all of my belongings in the car and nearly do it all myself! That kind of moving is fun (at least to me!).

But once you start buying “real” furniture and odd-shaped items like lamps, artwork, & other bulky decorations, it becomes much more complicated to dissemble, wrap, pack, move, assemble, etc. every time you move! I’m sure most of you reading this can definitely relate 🙂 Reminding yourself what’s on the other side of moving is a great way to keep yourself going.

The “change” part of moving is always fun though – the new neighborhood, new places to discover, new people to meet, the new setup, new routines, etc. Nothing like starting fresh!

Anyway, the timing of our move worked out well. Two days after we sold, my mom had surgery which was excellent timing for her to have my help during her recovery while also helping around the home. We are grateful she is healing quickly and coming back stronger than before!

We did find a new home which we are super excited about! There is a wild story behind the house that I will share sometime!

But the house is also in Virginia, just west of our old home, closer to family. It’s in the country. It’s a 1960s split-level ranch that use to be the farm house on a cattle farm. It’s smaller and less expensive than our last home (goodbye walk-in closet and hello cozy!) with the bedrooms on the main level and a basement below. The home is surrounded with tall mature trees. We are excited about gardening, deep conversations over a bonfire & s’mores, lawn games, and of course unpacking & getting organized! The thought of having a tiny house in the backyard some day to rent or for anyone who wants to visit us in Virginia’s wine country and talk organizing also excites us!!

But right now we are just focused on moving in! It’ll be a little while before we move in as the home needs some fixing up to do. But we are very excited about it (including Mojo, who loves frolicking in her new backyard!).

While the home seems like a forever home right now, we are taking it one day at a time. As we all know, life changes fast. But in this moment, all is good.

Other than working, studying, moving, and my mom’s surgery, Ed & I had a great summer. The closest thing we had for vacation was a day trip to Rehobeth Beach, Delaware (we had to drop off a water test sample from the well which was near the beach so we made a day trip out of it). Even though it was just a day, it was lovely!

I appreciate your time in reading this. And I’m sorry to rant about me the whole time. I just wanted to send along an update from over here. Next Thursday it’s all about YOU!

I hope you have a great rest of the week!

Sending my love,
Alejandra

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About Alejandra

About Alejandra

Since 2008, organizing expert & certified life coach, Alejandra Costello has taught thousands of students in 132 countries how to get organized through her video-based training programs. Her YouTube videos have been viewed 100+ million times. Named 1 of the 5 most organized people in America by HGTV and “The Decluttering Queen” by Good Morning America, Alejandra’s expertise has been featured in The New York Times, Oprah.com, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, Woman’s Day, Parents Magazine, and CBS. 

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