Last June on the blog
Inspired by my friend, Margaret Lukens, I’ve decided to point out some of my favorite from this blog from Junes gone by. June is usually a pretty busy blogging month for me (though not so much this year). I had so many posts to choose from that I’m going to split the recap into two posts.
Filed under: || Tagged with: 15 minutes, accountability, clutter clearing, decluttering, email
Friends and families in the organizing process
Last night, after several months of repeats, A&E aired a new episode of its hit documentary TV series, Hoarders.
Filed under: || Tagged with: decluttering, geralin thomas, hoarders
Closet issues
Cleaning out the clothes closet is difficult for many people. Clothes can represent so much — like music, they can do a great job of capturing a feeling about an occasion or part of life. They also can represent hopes. You hope to wear that size again. Or you hope to have an occasion to wear that evening gown.
Filed under: || Tagged with: closets, decluttering, geralin thomas, oprah
Three quick projects: great advice from Unclutterer
One of the themes of Declutter Happy Hour, the e-course I offer with life coach Shannon Wilkinson, is to capture small blocks of time to work on decluttering.
Filed under: || Tagged with: 15 minutes, decluttering, erin doland, unclutterer
You don't have to do it alone
Having just spent four days with professional organizers, who are among the most supportive and helpful groups of people I can think of, I’m pausing to think about how important support is.
Filed under: || Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, felder rushing, napo, professional organizer, shannon wilkinson, support
When is clutter a problem?
I gave a decluttering talk the other day and of the audience members asked, “But what if I get comfort from having all my stuff around me?” I told her it’s not a problem to be surrounded by her stuff — unless it is a problem. I asked her whether being surrounded by her stuff was affecting her ability to function. She said yes. So we talked a little about what happens when the cost of keeping stuff is higher than the cost of letting go of it.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: clutter, declutter happy hour, decluttering, disorder, guest post, quick clutter fix, rubbermaid, shannon wilkinson
Spring decluttering
Spring has hit St. Louis. It’s been in the 80s this week. The fruit trees and redbuds are starting to flower. Daffodils are out. It’s fabulous.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: closets, declutter happy hour, decluttering, order
Taming the messy drawer (and a giveaway!)
In our kitchen we have lots of drawers. One of them is a drawer full of miscellaneous cooking utensils and gadgets that we don’t use much. The things we use with any regularity are usually on top, but that’s the extent of the organization of the drawer. And that’s not really organization at all. That’s just physics.
Filed under: Organizing || Tagged with: decluttering, giveaway, organizing products, rubbermaid
Get Rid of Clutter talk
I’ll be giving a free talk called Get Rid of Clutter on April 6 from ten to noon at the Thomas Dunn Memorials Adult Education Program in south St. Louis city.
Filed under: Speaking || Tagged with: decluttering, speaking
Peter Walsh's "It's All Too Much" DVD: A review and giveaway
I really like Peter Walsh. I love that he provides straight-forward, common-sense advice on decluttering and organizing. I also like his innovative storage solutions. You’ve had the opportunity to see him on Clean Sweep, and Oprah. You may have read his books, including It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: decluttering, giveaway, organizing principles, organizing products, peter walsh
My favorite blog posts of 2009
I wrote just over 150 blog posts in 2009. Last week, I clicked through them and picked out some of my favorites to share with you in this post. The first go-around, I selected 24. But I figure that’s more than you care to see in one post. So I’ve cut that number in half.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: blogging, declutter happy hour, decluttering, emotions, fear, hiring a po, nanowrimo
St. Louisans: A chance to turn your unwanted items into art!
This weekend is the Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show a big craft show in St. Louis being held at Mad Art Gallery on 2727 South 12th Street. It starts Friday evening and runs all day Saturday and ends Sunday at 3 pm. Personally, I love craft shows. I so admire the craftiness, artistry, and enterprise of the people who sell things there.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: crafts, creative people, decluttering, donations, recycling
New packages!
I’ve changed the way I offer my pricing for my organizing services and I’m really excited about it. Starting today, I’m offering packages that are geared to different situations and include helpful additional products. In the past, I’ve charged a flat fee for my initial assessment and charged by the hour for everything else.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: decluttering, packages, pricing, products, services
Help for the holidays
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m really lucky because we never host Thanksgiving dinner, so Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday I have to get ready for. My husband even does the cooking for our contribution to dinner. But I know I’m unusual. Many people are looking around their houses this week, thinking of what they have to do to whip it into shape for guests.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, holidays, quick clutter fix, shannon wilkinson
Thumbs up for new book: Unclutter Your Life in One Week
Erin Doland, the editor-in-chief of the great blog Unclutterer has come out with a new book, Unclutter Your Life in One Week
Filed under: Ranting-and-Raving Organizing || Tagged with: decluttering, erin doland, unclutterer
The novel writing proceeds...
…which explains why the blog writing has dropped off a little. I’m very excited that I’ve been able to work on my novel-in-a-month piece of fiction each day since November 1.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: deadlines, declutter happy hour, decluttering, goals, nanowrimo, shannon wilkinson, writing
An easy way to sell books
In my life, books can be a big source of clutter. For a number of years, I was the book review columnist for Dog World magazine, and books would come pouring into my home on a regular basis. I’ve been decluttering my bookshelves for a couple of years now.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: books, decluttering, powell's books
Declutter Happy Hour Thanksgiving special!
I can’t believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I love Thanksgiving. And I’m really lucky because Thanksgiving doesn’t mean work for me. We’ve had turkey on the fourth Thursday of November every year since 1988 at the home of dear friends. My husband cooks our contribution. All I have to do is show up and eat. (And contribute to conversation.)
Filed under: Organizing || Tagged with: clutter, company, declutter happy hour, decluttering, holidays, shannon wilkinson
Stop the stashing
If clutter is an issue in your life, the prospect of having a dinner guest or houseguest can be panic-inducing. (Flylady calls it living in CHAOS, or Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome.)
Filed under: Organizing Resources || Tagged with: clutter, company, declutter happy hour, decluttering, quick clutter fix, shannon wilkinson
Baby Steps: The Best-Kept Secret to Accomplishing Anything
The true secret to getting anything done — particularly something that can feel overwhelming like decluttering — is to break it down into small bites and to keep working on it. When I received this article from performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane in my email yesterday, I knew I had to share it with you. It comes from her newsletter, Live Creative, and I’m reprinting it with permission.
Filed under: Living Organizing || Tagged with: christine kane, decluttering, productivity
New organizing resource: Videos from Organizing Connection
There are so many ways to learn. Personally, I’m an auditory learner so I love audio. To me, the perfect info product comes in the form of downloadable calls or teleclasses I can listen to on my iPod Touch.
But many people are visual learners and seeing what is being taught is very helpful to them. That’s why I’m so excited about the new video learning opportunities being offered by my friends at Organizing Connection.
Filed under: Organizing Resources || Tagged with: closets, decluttering, organizing connection, organizing products, organizing resources
Facing down the fears lurking in the clutter
As Shannon and I discuss in Declutter Happy Hour, sometimes people don’t want to work on clutter because it’s just plain scary.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: clutter, declutter happy hour, decluttering, emotions, empowerment, fear, procrastination, shannon wilkinson
We all have fear
Recently my husband and I went to a family reunion held at a ski resort in Pennsylvania (it was the end of June and there was no snow). He and I rode a chair lift up to the top of the mountain to enjoy the view. I don’t ski and I’ve only been on a ski lift a handful of times. Neither of us heard the mumbling attendant’s instructions to pull the restraining bar over our heads and lock it in place in front of us. So we were riding up the mountain with nothing preventing us from falling out of the moving chair.
Filed under: Living Sharing || Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, emotions, fear, self-care, shannon wilkinson, silvercreek glider club
Got any extra scrapbooking materials?
If the clutter in your home includes scrapbooking albums and other supplies that you no longer love or will use, I have a fabulous way for you to pass them on.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: camp sunrise, creative memories, decluttering, donations, scrapbooking
Got old trophies?
I’ve seen a lot of old trophies littering my clients’ basements. When they’re ready to let go of them, it’s hard to figure out what to do with them. It seems such a shame to throw them away.
Filed under: Organizing Resources || Tagged with: awardex, decluttering, recycling, trophies
Another 30-minute miracle
Okay, “miracle” is completely overstating it. But I was amazed at my office’s transformation the other day when I set my timer and got to work for 30 minutes
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, productivity
Music to declutter by
In my newsletter, which goes out today, I mention the power of focus and how by setting a timer for a short period of time, I can get a lot done. (This is a refrain here on the blog too). I also mentioned that sometimes instead of (or in addition to) a timer, I’ll play a playlist of songs that ends after a set period of time.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: 15 minutes, declutter happy hour, decluttering, motivation, music
My adventure with a professional organizer
As I blogged about the other day, I hired professional organizer Karel Worley, of Clearing Your Path, to come to my house and help my husband, Barry, and me declutter our basement.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: decluttering, emotions, encouragement, karel worley, professional organizer
Have a Declutter Happy Hour any time you want
At the end of March, life coach Shannon Wilkinson and I started offering a four-week telecourse called Declutter Happy Hour.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: clutter, declutter happy hour, decluttering, emotions, empowerment, encouragement, shannon wilkinson, telephone coaching
Why does decluttering feel so hard?
When it comes decluttering, which is usually the the first step of getting organized, getting started is often the hardest part.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: chronically disorganized, decluttering, emotions, karel worley, professional organizer
Email liberation
Two months and a week ago, I blogged about how I was experimenting with inbox zero, that is keeping my email inbox pared down to just a few messages that required action. This represented a major changing in thinking for me. For more than a decade I typically had thousands of uncategorized emails in my inbox (and many more thousand filed in folders). I never found that to be a problem.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: aby garvey, accountability, decluttering, email
Seven ways to get organized while staying green
So much of decluttering is about letting go. Disposing of things. Getting rid of excess.
But when you care about the environment, it can be difficult to let stuff go if it’s going to clutter up the environment. Sure, it’s easy to rent a dumpster and fill it up. Okay, not easy, but easier than caring where the stuff ends up. But if you’re committed to being kind to Mother Earth, then decluttering often involves extra steps.
Filed under: Organizing Speaking || Tagged with: charles peper, craigslist, decluttering, environment, gazelle, recycling, repurposing, speaking, workshops
It's amazing what you can do in a half hour (or less)
As part of the preparations for Declutter Happy Hour, the four-week teleclass I started offering with Shannon Wilkinson last month, I’ve been doing a lot of small decluttering projects around the house.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: 15 minutes, clutter, declutter happy hour, decluttering, shannon wilkinson
Why not lighten the load?
Over at the wonderful blog, Unclutterer last week, guest blogger Gregory Go offered up a guest post on the Seven Benefits of Decluttering. If you had any doubt of the benefits of lightening the load and letting go of excess (and they include financial benefits!), hurry on over there and check it out.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, shannon wilkinson, unclutterer, zen habits
Can decluttering lead to happiness?
Gretchen Rubin who writes the blog (and upcoming book) The Happiness Project also blogs for Real Simple (and for Slate).
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, gretchen rubin, happiness
Declutter Happy Hour starts tomorrow!
Our first “Declutter Happy Hour” session begins tomorrow, March 31, at 2 p.m. central. If you haven’t signed up yet but are intrigued, head on over to the Declutter Happy Hour website and check it out.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: clutter, declutter happy hour, decluttering, emotions, empowerment, encouragement, shannon wilkinson
Cash for your unwanted gadgets
What’s that old saying? One person’s trash is another person’s treasure? That’s how those of us who are decluttering our lives can actually make some money. Your old digital camera may not be valuable to you after you upgrade to a snazzier one, but someone else may find it perfect.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: decluttering, gazelle, websites
Facing down my email inbox
I freely admit that I’m an email packrat. Since my hard drive is large, I have no problem hanging on to emails I think might come in handy some day. This is a habit I’ve had since I started with email in the 90s. And I don’t intend to change.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: aby garvey, decluttering, email
The power of 15 minutes
A decade ago, Flylady told me to set my timer for 15 minutes and declutter. She told all of her followers, “You can do anything for 15 minutes.” I’ve put that into use over and over again through the years. And I blog about it a lot because it’s so true.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: 15 minutes, clutter, declutter happy hour, decluttering, flylady, shannon wilkinson, time timer
Announcing Declutter Happy Hour!
Recently, I’ve been blogging quite a bit about how hard it can be to get rid of clutter, not just because it’s hard work that’s difficult to find the time to do, but because of emotional barriers to the work, or unhelpful beliefs that get in the way.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: clutter, declutter happy hour, decluttering, emotions, empowerment, shannon wilkinson, telephone coaching
Take the poll: Emotional barriers to decluttering
On Friday, I posted about emotional barriers to getting organized. Jim Dietzel from Rubbermaid’s blog suggested in a comment that I do a poll on the various emotional blocks folks have when it comes to decluttering.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: chronic disorganization, clutter, decluttering, emotions, fear, obstacles
Emotional barriers to getting organized
Earlier this week, I wrote about unhelpful beliefs that can stop you from being able to let go of stuff. Today I want to talk about emotional barriers that can come up when you’re trying to get organized (or even just thinking about it).
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: chronic disorganization, clutter, decluttering, emotions, fear, obstacles
Question your beliefs
Most of the people I work with are dealing with clutter. As we work through the stuff and I help the client make decisions about whether to keep items, I’m often amazed at the different ways people feel about letting stuff go.
Filed under: Organizing Resources || Tagged with: chronic disorganization, clutter, david tolin, decluttering, disorganization resources, hoarders, hoarding, obstacles, perfectionism
Hello, computer-related clutter!
The other day I decided to sell my Palm T|X handheld on Gazelle. It’s a website that buys used electronics. (I’ll write a post after the transaction is complete to let you know how the experience is.) I’d replaced the Palm with my beloved iPod Touch, so thought I’d divest myself of it.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: clutter, computer, decluttering, disorder, gazelle
The impact of touch
A study from Ohio State University suggests that the longer people touch something they’re considering purchasing, the more money they’re willing to spend on it. Researchers asked study participants to hold an ordinary coffee mug for either 10 or 30 seconds. Then the participants were allowed to bid on the mug in either an open or closed auction. The folks who had held the mug for 30 seconds bid more for it. Four out of seven even bid more than the retail value (which they were aware of).
Filed under: Organizing Speaking || Tagged with: chronically disorganized, decluttering, shopping, speaking
Come to my free organizing workshop!
I’ll be giving a workshop here in St. Louis on decluttering. It’s free and open to the public. If you’re in St. Louis, I’d love to see you there!
Filed under: Organizing Speaking || Tagged with: decluttering, speaking, workshops
Spa Day report: Simultaneously calming and energizing
As I mentioned on Friday, I eagerly anticipated the Extra Special Holiday Spa Day at Inspired Home Office, which I participated in on Saturday. I thought I’d report on this very cool experience.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: decluttering, havi brooks, jennifer hofmann, motivation, spa day
Spa Day in my home
Tomorrow, I’m participating in an intriguing activity. I’ve signed up for the Extra Special Holiday Spa Day offered through Inspired Home Office.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: decluttering, havi brooks, jennifer hofmann, spa day
Oprah to the rescue
In case you missed it, yesterday’s Oprah show was the debut of Oprah’s Clean Up Your Messy House Tour. Oprah is sending organizer Peter Walsh, of whom I’m an unabashed fan, around the country with a “clutter crew” of helpers (in VW Bugs) to help people get rid of clutter. (In this first episode, they were in New York City, knocking on doors of unsuspecting people.) Designer Candice Olson of Divine Design is also on hand to help with beautiful storage and design solutions.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: clutter, container store, decluttering, oprah, order, peter walsh, snapfish
Powerful decluttering
This morning I received the e-newsletter of Christine Kane, the blogger, musician, and creativity consultant whose blog was my Blog of the Week a few months ago.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: christine kane, decluttering, encouragement, gratitude, self-care, workspace
A pocket of order
This week, as part of my Level III certification program through the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, I analyzed the book Making Peace with the Things in Your Life, by Cindy Glovinsky (link at right).
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: cindy glovinsky, clutter, decluttering, disorder, motivation
I'm quoted in a national magazine
The current issue of Arthritis Today, the consumer health publication (available on newsstands) that’s published by the Arthritis Foundation, includes an article by Sharon Ann Waldrop, on six tips to control clutter. In addition to two from me, it features tips by several professional organizers, including Jill Graham of Operation Organize! in Arizona and Rosemary Chieppo of Born to Organize in Connecticut.
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: arthritis today, decluttering, press
A must-listen interview with Julie Morgenstern
Organizing guru Julie Morgenstern is all over the place promoting her new book When Organizing Isn’t Enough: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life . I haven’t read it yet, though I’ve read some interviews, including one here at Unclutterer . After I read the Unclutterer interview, I went to my library’s website and asked for the book to be sent to my branch when it’s available, so I can check it out
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: aby garvey, books, decluttering, julie morgenstern, unclutterer
Lace knitting: Not unlike organizing
Last night, as I worked on the Estonian Garden Wrap, a seemingly complicated and sort of overwhelming (for this novice lace knitter) knitting pattern, I realized that broken down to its simplest elements, it’s really pretty easy. And that’s not unlike any overwhelming project, like getting organized. Let me explain.
Filed under: Organizing Knitting || Tagged with: decluttering, empowerment, knitting, lace, motivation, perfectionism, productivity
Flylady: Blog of the Week
This week’s Blog of the Week is an oldie but goodie. I first became aware of Flylady back in the late nineties, before I ever dreamt of becoming a professional organizer. Technically, it’s not a blog. (It predates blogs.) But it’s frequently updated and full of treasures.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: 15 minutes, blog of the week, decluttering, flylady, routines
The uncluttered car
I have to admit that my car usually looks pretty messy. That’s not surprising, since I’m a messy person, in general. But I did clean it out prior to my big trip to IKEA and it was very nice to have the clutter removed. Unfortunately, it’s encroaching again.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: car, decluttering, unclutterer
Crazy Aunt Purl: Blog of the Week
One of my favorite knitting blogs, Crazy Aunt Purl, justified its permanent status on the Links section of this organizing blog (where it’s been since Day One), with yesterday’s post.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: blog of the week, blogs, crazy aunt purl, decluttering, knitting, laurie perry
The Clutter Diet Blog: Blog of the Week
This week’s BOTW is Lorie Marrero’s The Clutter Diet Blog.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: blog of the week, blogs, clutter, clutter diet, decluttering, lori marrero
Self-care
I’m always struck how clutter gets in the way of life. I have many clients who constantly feel an obligation to deal with their clutter. They plan to devote a weekend to decluttering, then they start to feel overwhelmed, so they don’t actually deal with it. (Until they call me.)
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: 15 minutes, decluttering, empowerment, self-care, shannon wilkinson
Creating a vision
Whenever I start working with a client, we talk about the vision they have for the space. I’m not talking about specifics like furniture placement. I want to know what the client is hoping to experience in the room, the feeling that she wants to get from the space. I ask the client to close her eyes and really feel it.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: decluttering, focus, motivation, productivity
Decisions
Many of my clients have a difficult time making decisions. That’s not too surprising, since most of my clients are dealing with clutter issues and clutter is all about delayed decisions.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: decisions, decluttering, ikea, sally brown
You know it's time to focus on organizing...
...when you can’t find stuff. The universe is putting me squarely in the shoes of my clients today. I’ve spend much of the day trying to find things. And so far, I’m having no luck!
Filed under: Living Organizing || Tagged with: clutter, decluttering, productivity
Weekend update
On Friday I blogged about how I hoped to focus on decluttering in the coming weekend and that I was experiencing the rare and delightful confluence of having time for this kind of work and feeling motivated to do it.
I have to say, it went well. In Friday’s post, I listed the projects I hoped to accomplish:
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: accountability, decluttering, disorder, storage
Focus
If you’ve ever worked with a professional organizer, you know that one of the things we bring to the table is focus. When you make the financial and time commitment to have a professional help you get organized, you tend to stay focused on the job during your session. And if your attention strays, the organizer draws it back to the project at hand.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: accountability, decluttering, disorder, storage
Great publicity for the organizing profession!
Last night on the St. Louis NBC affiliate’s news broadcast there was a “cover story” called Decluttering Your Surroundings Could Help You Live a Better Life.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: decluttering, napo st. louis, peter walsh, press
How do you eat an elephant?
I’m going through one of those periods again where I completely empathize with my clients. I had a very busy March and April (I was out of town half the month of April) and now that I have a little time to breathe, I look around my house and think, “I need a professional organizer!” There are no shortage of wonderful organizers here in St. Louis I could hire for help, but I’m going to try to economize and do the work myself.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: 15 minutes, accountability, backsliding, decluttering, productivity, time management
When good things happen to great clients
I mentioned last week that I was leaving for Hawaii to help a client get settled in there. We’re working hard, having some fun, and accomplishing a lot.
I’ve been working with this client since September 2006 and she serves as a fabulous example of the benefits of getting organized.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: balance, decluttering, empowerment, order, organized, priorities
Update on my email taming
Just a few days ago, I wrote a blog post about taming my email box. I vowed to use the trusted-three method, which I read about on Lifehacker, to empty my email inbox. I said I’d try it out and report back.
Filed under: Organizing Resources || Tagged with: decluttering, email
Taming the email inbox
I have to admit that I’m a bit of an email packrat. It seems fairly harmless to me, as long as my hard drive is large enough, and somehow having the history of many of my email interactions gives me comfort.
Filed under: Organizing Resources || Tagged with: decluttering, email
Things Flylady has taught me
Chances are you’re familiar with Flylady. Flylady, who’s real name is Marla Cilley, has a wildly popular website which helps readers dig out from clutter, establish routines, and stay organized.
Filed under: Organizing Ranting-and-Raving || Tagged with: 15 minutes, decluttering, flylady, habits, routines
A peek inside the client's mind
When I visit the home of a client for the first time, I’m often struck by the trust that’s been placed in me. For some of my clients, I’m the first visitor they’ve welcomed into their homes in some time.
Filed under: Sharing Organizing || Tagged with: clutter, control, decluttering, kitchen, trust
Ready to declutter your stash?
I’ve somehow ended up with some yarn that I can’t imagine I’ll ever knit with. Some acrylic, some fun fur, some other novelty yarns. On a larger scale, I ended up with an embarrassingly large collection of straight and circular needles I’ll never use. Those were purchased on ebay and didn’t turn out to be to my liking.
Filed under: Knitting Sharing || Tagged with: decluttering, donations, stash
The amazing power of a clean desktop
The habit I’ve been trying to instill with the Don’t Break the Chain method that I wrote about in a recent post is clearing my desktop at the end of the workday.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: accountability, clean desk, decluttering, desk, don't break the chain, goals, habits, motivation, productivity, time management, workspace
Workspace order
I was interviewed recently for an article at AuditNet, a website for auditors, about clearing your workspace and keeping it in order. Check out my tips at the Q&A here: Taming Office Clutter
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: decluttering, desk, press, workspace
Happy new year!
But here it is the first day of the year and I find myself wanting to write down goals, figure out systems for making life easier, and (still) cleaning out/cleaning up.
Filed under: Living Organizing || Tagged with: balance, decluttering, new year, ravelry, time management
Clean desktop challenge results
Ten days and two posts ago (on a Monday), I wrote this: I hope and trust that on Friday I’ll post that I had a clean desk-top every day for five days running. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
Filed under: || Tagged with: clutter, decluttering, desk
A little Internet press
I’m quoted in a couple of articles published on the Internet recently.
Today’s edition of Gimundo.com has an article by Kathy Hawkins entitled, “How to Kick the Clutter Habit.” I’m the main source for the article.
Filed under: Sharing Organizing || Tagged with: clutter, decluttering, press
Clutter and stress
I just discovered something about myself. I’ve always known that, for me, clutter causes stress. And stress tends to cause clutter. Typically, my stress starts because I’m too busy. When I’m busy I have no time to put anything away. The clutter grows and grows and looking at it stresses me out. It’s a vicious cycle.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: clutter, decluttering, desk, stress
Clutter can be such a barrier
It’s amazing to me what a barrier to productivity, to progress, to peace of mind clutter can be. I see it in my clients all the time. And I know from personal experience.
Filed under: Organizing Living || Tagged with: clutter, decluttering, empowerment, feng shui, focus, priorities, procrastination, productivity
For me, this is what it is all about
I just got back from an intense five days working with a client in another state. I know from her feedback and from what we accomplished that I really made a difference in her life. That’s what I love about this work!
Filed under: Organizing Sharing || Tagged with: clutter, coaching, decluttering, hoarding, synergy
Snow day!
A winter storm hit St. Louis yesterday. It wasn’t as big as the media hype warned us it would be, naturally. There’s maybe an inch or two of snow at my house. But under that snow is freezing rain and beneath that is sleet. So it’s slick. And pretty:
Filed under: Living Organizing || Tagged with: decluttering, nesting, weather
