Neat-a-Holic Solutions
  • Home
  • About
    • FAQ
    • Testimonials
  • Services
    • Online Organizing Assistance
  • Before & After
  • Contact
Professional Organizer Serving Washington DC Metropolitan Area - 240-544-7575

Welcome to my Neat-a-Holic 'Words'!

3 Important Things You Should Know About Your Makeup

10/28/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Most women {and perhaps some guys} use makeup often or even every day.
Some are just addicted to it, and can't leave without it.
An article from The New York Times (2011), says that it "increases
people's perceptions of woman's likability, her competence, and her
trustworthiness, according to a new study, which also confirmed what
is obvious: that cosmetics boost a woman's attractiveness."
Another article from InStyle (2013), says that "Women spend an average
of $15.000 on makeup in their lifetimes".
Picture
So I get it: we are into makeup. But how do you take care of it and
keep it safe and organized? Here are the 3 basics you should know:
  • Expiration Date
First, do you know the expiration date of your makeup? Me neither.
Usually, this information does not come on the packaging, I figured
for two reasons: they will last from 3 to 12 months, depending on the
product we are talking about. But the way we store them may influence
it too... I got this good tip from Allure:​
"The sniff test is the best way to know if something is past its
prime: If you get a hint of anything funky in a lipstick or creamy
product, throw it out. The same goes for nail polish and foundation
that remain separated after you've shaken them. Don't stockpile
mascara—use it right after you buy it and replace it every three
months."

FIY a list I got from Micheleng.com {there are free
printables on the link} to stop using expired makeup:
Picture
  • How to take care of your makeup
Sticking with Allure - The Beauty Expert, this is pretty good
information:
"- Store it right. Keep all makeup in a cool, dry environment, not on a
bathroom shelf where the warm, damp air will destroy it. Never let
makeup melt in a beach bag or freeze in a car, since the
emulsification will break down, and the product won't have that
smooth, luscious consistency.
- Come clean. Even the best tools don't perform well if they're dirty.
Ideally, synthetic brushes should be cleaned every couple days. I
apply a gentle eye-makeup remover—almost any one will do—to the
bristles, wipe them clean with a paper towel, and wash them with a
basic facial soap and water. In a pinch, an antibacterial wipe works
too. (These are also great for quick cleaning when you want to switch
shades.) Natural-bristle brushes hold on to grime and bacteria
differently, so you only have to wash them once a month. Swish the
head of the brush around in a dollop of baby shampoo and water, rinse
it under a warm tap, and then dip the brush in diluted rubbing
alcohol. Blot the bristles, and lay the brush on its side to air-dry.
- Revive your favorites. A really good sharpener (Sue Devitt's has the
finest blade I've found) will save pencils from looking gnawed. If the
tip is really soft, chill it in the refrigerator for a half hour
before sharpening."
Picture
  • Organizing
To organize your makeup {don't forget to sort and check for expired
ones to toss first}, there are many products that can help you. There
are conventional ones {such as handbags, drawers storage units,
boxes}, and some different - and unexpected- items and ways to help
you keep your beauty friends safe and with easy access.
Here are three articles that will blow your mind!
  1. 24 Life-Changing Ways to Store Your Beauty Products
  2. 14 Genius Ways To Store Your Beauty Products
  3. 14 Incredibly Simple Ways To Organize Your Makeup

These value tips will help you to keep track of when you should toss
your makeup; keep them lasting as long as possible; and last, but not
least, organize your makeup using the principals of organization {make
your life easier}.
There are soooo many good things I wanna share with you here! Sign up
so you won't miss it!

For daily tips about organizing, home decor and more, join me here:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Did you know I'm on Periscope and Snapchat? You can find me as iamaneataholic

To contact me drop a line to neataholic@gmail.com
I am Izabelle Azevedo, the Professional Organizer behind Neat-a-Holic Solutions
0 Comments

DIY - Housewarming Party On a Budget

10/25/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
From now on, every last Sunday of the month, I will write about a DIY project I did myself. I hope to inspire you all somehow. Today, it will be about our housewarming party.

We moved to our house in late June, and we had our housewarming party about 6 weeks later. I am a party planner by nature {just like I am an organizer}, and it doesn't matter the size of the budget: it ain't about food and drinks only, a party needs decoration!

So I met up with my friend Pinterest, because I love how the ideas I get from there lead my creativity to another level! #PinterestRules
I made a board just for pinning the HWP ideas. You can check it out here - and join me to always see my pins if you would like!
Picture

Picture
 I found the idea to use swatches to make a "Welcome" sign to put on the front door. After this, I decided to use them everywhere!
​

​I literally used the swatches for everything! Signs, Menus, party favors, even coasters. The exception was the guestbook, where I used post-its.

I got some frames from the Dollar Store to put some information and the menus. I also turned the coffee station into a "Drinks Station", where the guests could help themselves. I kept the beverages in the fridge, but everything else was there - cups, glasses, straws, and the menus for drinks {in red} and food {in blue}.
For the party favors, I got those little storage containers {10 for $1} at the Dollar Store, I added some skittles and the message written on swatches.
Picture
I also used Pinterest to decide the food I was going to serve {besides some Brazilian dishes}, and the amount I should have by the number of guests coming {yes, you can find it there too!}. We got some Tequila, Rum, Wines and Beer - and alcohol took half of our budget. By the way, the budget we used for this party was $250, counting on a number of 22 people. It included all the food, dishes and silverware, alcohol, and some decorating items.
I had a lot of fun planning this party, and we didn't spend too much money at all. The guests were amazed by the decoration, and how thoughtful it was {and also how fast we set up the house after moving}.
There are soooo many good things I wanna share with you here! Sign up
so you won't miss it!

For daily tips about organizing, home decor and more, join me here:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Did you know I'm on Periscope and Snapchat? You can find me as iamaneataholic

To contact me drop a line to neataholic@gmail.com
I am Izabelle Azevedo, the Professional Organizer behind Neat-a-Holic Solutions
0 Comments

Putting Up My Home Office - The Last Chapter

10/21/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Yes! It is finally ready! The best thing is: it didn't take too much
of my time {and money}, and now I have a space to work and organize my
belongings! {even got some extra space in my closet!}.
After trying the crayons {you missed it? Click here}, I decided to get
some help on Pinterest {self note: why didn't I do it before?}. For
sure the best "place" to find ideas and get inspired, and these just
blew my mind!
Picture
One better than the other, right?

I picked the swatches mural, especially because I was having trouble
to pick a color - Why pick one when you can have them all? ;)

I also decorated a part of a wall with pictures, using some cord and
little clothe pins. Those two different and charming ideas cost me less than $10!

Picture
My furniture I got for cheap on Craigslist. The exception is the
bookshelf from Walmart that I got for as cheap as $15 ($21 with the
storage cubes). I would say I spent about $150 for this project {it
includes furniture, decoration, office items, and the paint}.
Picture

$150 to turn a storage room into a home office isn't bad - at all!
I am just in love with my new space! So nice to have a quite place to
lock myself to think, and do some work! Setting this up myself felt
just great! Thought of every detail. 
Picture
Picture

There are soooo many good things I wanna share with you here! Sign up
so you won't miss a thing!

For daily tips about organizing, home decor and more, join me here:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Did you know I'm on Periscope and Snapchat? You can find me as iamaneataholic
To contact me drop a line to neataholic@gmail.com
I am Izabelle Azevedo, the Professional Organizer behind Neat-a-Holic Solutions
0 Comments

Tag – Meeting New Blogs

10/4/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Today I am bringing something different. I’ve been tagged by Fátima Teixeira {a very nice Portuguese lady who lives in Canada, and writes at Musica Com Cafe} to answer a few questions. This way, we get to know a little about each other {and you get to know a little about me}, while sharing blogs!

I never introduced myself {besides my name and what I do}, but if you go on my About page, you can get some information about me, and why I became a Professional Organizer. Well, these little things I am sharing here today, you won’t find there though… :)

  • Questions from Fátima to ME:

1. What makes you happy?

Having a reason to wake up every morning and do something that I am really passionate about. Dessert also makes me really happy!

2. What person you admire the most and why?

My mom. She’s a strong person who has been through a lot, but is still strong and kind.

3. In what sense do you make “less is more” true in your life?

In everything, except joy! Less makeup, less stuff, less overthinking (still working on this one). I heard this one day, and I have carried it in my mind since then: “Simplicity and sophistication”, and you can make the best from simplicity! The only thing you need more is joy!

4. From your options to get new things or toss them, which one was the most important?

Wow! Ok… Well, I had to get rid of many things in order to move from one country to another (yes, I came from Brazil). Since I’ve done this 3 times now (yes, I moved to the US 3 times – and back to Brazil twice), the last one wasn’t that difficult anymore. Getting rid of things is important, because you get attached to things somehow.

5. How do you evaluate yourself between who you are and who you would like to be?

Though I am already proud of what and where I’ve got so far, I think I have a lot to improve. It will be a long journey of learning and mistakes, but recognizing what we’ve done wrong, and doing something to change it, is already a big step.

6. About those who you want to give attention, do you feel like you are able to do so?

Right now, yes. :)

7. How do you react when someone you like messes up with your stuff?

This is my weakness! I hate when someone gets into my belongings without asking, even more when they leave them a mess. Even if it’s the kitchen! :P

8. What song identifies you at this moment?

Good question! I don’t have one right now… How did it happen? Haha

9. What instrument would you choose if you could learn it today?

Just one? I can’t do just one… The keyboard, the violin, the guitar.

10. If you could do something good today, with a great amount of money, what would you do?

I would help children who suffer from starvation and/or abuse, taking them to a safe place where they could get education, food and a play area to do what children are supposed to do: play, grow, and be children!

  • Instructions: 
Answer all of the questions from the person who tagged you;
Create 10 new different questions for the bloggers you chose to tag;
Tag 3-10 blogs to answer those questions and; of course, let them know about it.

  • My questions:
1. Do you have pet peeves? What is/are it/them?

2. What is a strong quality you can say you have?

3. What is a personal flaw that you have?

4. Are you an organized person?

5. Do you think an organized environment can bring good things to you? How?

6. Are you good at managing your time?

7. Are you a consumer? What are your favorite things to buy?

8. Would you share 2 personal goals?

9. Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

10. If you could change something in your life today, what would it be?

  • Today I am tagging
| Organized By Nicole | Simply Organized| By George Organizing | Amber Tackles |

I hope you had some fun reading my answers and getting to know a little more about me!

Sign up to get a heads up about the posts directly in your inbox! My home office is almost ready, and I’ll be sharing it and more this week!

My Neat-a-Holic world is now on Periscope and Snapchat – iamaneataholic

Join me for tips about home decor, DIY and organizing and + on
------------------------   Facebook | Instagram | Twitter  ---------------------------

I am Izabelle Azevedo – Professional Organizer and founder at Neat-a-Holic Soltutions

0 Comments

Putting Up My Home Office – Week 02

10/2/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
This week was to clean, make some decisions and take some action…

( X ) Cleaning 

( ? ) Walls

( X ) Furniture

(  ) Decoration

(  ) Ready, Set, Go

I started cleaning and, although it is a small space, it’s the basement, and it was barely being used, even as a storage room. The walls and ceiling were getting naturally prepared for Halloween! It wasn’t that bad and the deep cleaning took me less than two hours.
I am trying to save money on this, so I’ve been looking for furniture on Craigslist. And after getting no answer from some ads, and giving up a few other, I finally got a desk, a chair and even a side table {all in great condition} for $55! I also got a 6 cube storage shelf + 2 cube bins for $22 from Walmart.
The walls definitely needed some treatment, and my first thought was to use gift wrap as wallpaper. I’ve seen people done this before, and I actually found a very nice guide guide for that. It would be very cool, but it would also go over my budget. Plus, the humidity {from a sort of unfinished basement} would probably mess it up pretty soon… I gave up. {But you can still do it using the guide I am sharing with you!}

Painting the walls the regular way sounded to predictable to me, but that was my option now. And when I was trying to decide the color… a light!

{Oooooohhhhhhh} 

The idea just popped when I was doing the cleaning… “What if I use crayons???” I did not see this online {and when I looked up for a tutorial, I found just one, not helpful video – and many to get the crayon OFF the wall}. It doesn’t hurt to try, not even in my pocket {and now I even know how to remove it! Lol}.
So I went to target, got some boxes of crayons, came home, and got started. Just like that.

Do you want to check the results + how I did it? {And IF it worked out} Click here. {Don’t forget to subscribe}

I am very excited to share the week 03 already! I’m planning on having everything set by then! Fingers crossed!

Do you want to get our posts first hand? Sign up to get heads up right on your inbox!

For more hot trendy everyday tips about organizing, DIY projects, home decor and + Join me on FACEBOOK | Twitter | Instagram

My Neat-a-Holic world is also on Periscope and Snapchat as @iamaneataholic 

I am Izabelle Azevedo and I am a Professional Organizer and founder at Neat-a-Holic Solutions

neataholic@gmail.com

0 Comments

    About the author

    Izabelle is an entrepreneur, Professional Organizer, Coach, and Marketing / Small Businesses Consultant.
    She lives in the DC area, and is addicted to music, home decor, photography, and blogging.

    Posts

    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All
    Christmas
    Declutter
    DIY
    Dollar Store
    Dollar Tree
    On A Budget
    Organize
    Organizing Tips
    Quick Organizing Tips
    Shopping On A Budget

      SUBSCRIBE

    Send
Home
About
Contact
Neat-a-Holic Solutions 2018
​ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
  • Home
  • About
    • FAQ
    • Testimonials
  • Services
    • Online Organizing Assistance
  • Before & After
  • Contact