Cleaning Your Home and Where to Donate Lightly Used Items in Colorado

It seems the weather has finally taken a turn for the better and I am sure many of you, like me, are letting out a sigh of relief knowing the snowy weather is behind us. As the days get warmer and the sunlight stays around a bit longer, now is the perfect time to clean out your house from its hibernation state. Every spring/summer, I make an effort to have one big clean to start the season off. There is something about giving my house a big head to toe cleaning that makes me feel like I am ready to take on the warm weather and my house is too. Below are a few cleaning tips I have picked up and continue to gather over the years to help me with the scrub down:

 

·      Windows – It may be easiest to just wipe down the inside, but you really should try to wipe down the outside as well and if you have some high up windows, look for a good window cleaner. Tip: wash your windows on a cloudy day so the sun won’t dry the cleaner in streaks before you are done.

·      Window Screens – Take a scrape of carpeting and use it to wipe down your screens. This method picks up all the dirt and dust that has gathered.

·      Patio Furniture – Your furniture has been sitting out in the cold weather and probably needs a little tlc before you put your cushions back on it. Take warm water with a squirt of dish detergent and wipe everything down with a sponge. Rinse everything off with your garden hose when done and let those pieces air dry.

·      Your closet – It really is true, organizing your closet is the first step in organizing the rest of your home so start there! Help your significant other and your kids go through their closets as well and compile a box full of clothes that can be donated to one of the many great local charities in Colorado. Some of my personal favorites are:

o   Precious Child, Broomfield CO – This is where we take my daughter’s lightly used clothes and toys.

o   Dress for Success, Denver CO – This is a great place to give your old professional clothes and it is for a good cause, the name is exactly that, it is a place women can go get clothes appropriate for work.

o   Goodwill/Denver Rescue Mission, Denver CO – Both of these are great organizations to donate everything from clothes to appliances to furniture.

o   Every Creature Counts & Dumb Friends League, Denver CO – Let’s not forget our furry friends! I also clean out our dog’s things in the spring and anything she has outgrown we like to donate to one of these organizations. Pets need good supplies too!

 

There are many wonderful organizations to donate to in Colorado so make sure to check those out before you get rid of any clothes, appliances, etc. Happy cleaning!

 

Why Your Relationships Should Always Be A Priority

 

Someone once told me that I was a ‘relationship first’ kind of person. At first, I didn’t know how to take that statement, was it a compliment? Was it a jive at how I took on both my personal and professional life? I realized quite quickly that the person was just stating the truth about what they had seen in me when observing me in my every day life, the one fact was clear, I led every encounter in my life with a relationship first approach.

 

For my personal life this means that I think it is important to have close and meaningful relationship with the important loved ones in my life. I take the time every other week to have time with just my husband.  We have date nights and make sure to take time with just us. With my family I make an effort to keep building and growing my relationships with each of them and work on growing together as a family. My beautiful daughter is someone I work really hard to have a healthy, loving and encouraging mother-daughter bond with because I know that as her mother what I do now and will continue to play a large role as who she looks up to and who she takes after. Our actions, how we deal with other people, the way we take on the world, all of these things our children watch with close eyes so I think it is imperative that we develop and nurture healthy relationships with them from the time they are born long into adult hood.

 

For my professional life saying I lead with relationships means that when I meet a client, my first thought goes to how to find a way to connect with them so we can start the foundation for a good relationship. My clients always start off as my clients but as we continue to work closely together and as one project turns to multiple projects or house deals, I work on making those relationships turn from client only to friend and mentor relationships. It is imperative as you continue to build your business that you take every relationship you have ever had and nurture them. One thing that is easy to do in real estate is to have one encounter with a client and once the deal has been done, many agents never follow up with their clients after that. I can tell you right now, the effort you put in to keeping contact with your client will only do good things for you in regards to referrals and later business of your client down the road. You want your client to know they are not just another client on your list, that you do care about the deal you did and you will continue to care as the years pass about their wellbeing and lives.

 

If you want to listen to a great talk about the importance of continuously building and nurturing your personal and business relationships, listen to Randi Zuckerburg with Dot Complicated on Sirius Business; she has great insight into the matter.

 

Just remember, it takes time to build and grow every relationship in your life so it is up to you to make time for each of those relationships. The personal and the professional are both important to your personal and professional success, give them each the love and care they deserve and need. 

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The Importance of a Good Team

 

We all remember hearing that phrase come out of our coaches’ mouth when we were little and were learning about teamwork, “There is no “I” in team”. And as we grow up we realize that little phrase carries on into the rest of your adult life in almost everything you do.

 

When I first started off working as a real estate agent, I tried to do a lot of things myself or with the help of my husband Jay. When you get started in any business funds can always be a little tight and so you go into it that you are saving money by doing all the work yourself. But then you start to see just how much work all that work really is! As I have grown as a business-woman, between my real estate career and my entrepreneurial career, I have really gained the knowledge that having a good team of people to surround yourself with who can help with all the work is the greatest benefit any business person can have. Below are a few suggestions I have for people ready to expand their business and know it is time to find people to be part of their dream team:

 

1. Get someone on the team who can handle all of your marketing and social media. I recommend hiring a social media manager who can help you build your followers, work together to come up with authentic genuine content and just manage your social media accounts so that you can get all your content across all platforms. I feel like the next wave in business is that you must have social media as that is how you get found and can express yourself and what you do in business

 

2. Blogging: Make sure to blog weekly and if you don’t have the time, hire a freelance writer to blog for you! Again this is how you get found and how you can tell people what you do.  This becomes your business journal about what you are doing.  This can also help you find people who want to help you grow in your business 

 

3. Join a team who supports you and all you are doing.  I would like to touch on my experience so far with Kentwood City Properties and how it is going. I joined April 1st and have been there a little over a month. They are like my second family and I have already met so many great people who are so successful in this business and who want to help grow as well and teach you their secrets.  They speak from experience, have made mistakes and know how to overcome them and know what works and what does not work. I recently chatted with a top producing Kentwood City Agent and realized the next step for me is to hire a real estate assistant. This will help give me the time I need to really focus on my clients, grow as a business and I look forward to the chance to help mentor someone in the industry I love.

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Never Forget Columbine

Yesterday was the 17 year anniversary of the shooting at Columbine.  Please do not forget this day and always remember what happened on this day even though it is something we would like to forget.  

I remember this day well as I was working at an apartment community right around the corner from Columbine HS and all of a sudden there were police cars and ambulances driving by where I was working.  The staff and I kept hearing them drive by what it seemed like for an hour or more and then we finally turned on the news and discovered what happened.

I was getting ready to meet my fiance at the time JayModglin to go out to lunch and when we turned the corner the school was blocked off and there were police cars and ambulances everywhere. 

That entire day all I heard were police cars and ambulances driving by. I will never forget this day and I ask that you don't forget it either.

I recently went a toured several high schools with a family who is relocating to Colorado this summer and every time I entered a high school we made sure to research their security as this memory of columbine will never be forgotten.

Life if precious so please don't take it for granted and make sure to hug and kiss your family every day and don't let the little things make you mad.  

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