Worth repeating: The importance of a place for everything
Tagged with: disorder, kitchen, order, worth repeating
Tagged with: disorder, kitchen, order, worth repeating
I wrote this post three years ago, in the midst of our kitchen renovation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve implemented this since then. Five minutes on a timer and enough order can be created to restore sanity. I encourage you to give it a try!
Tagged with: decluttering, order, productivity, timer, worth repeating
I love doing whole-house transformations. That’s when my team and I come in and create order in every room of a client’s home. We’re working side by side with the client, decluttering and organizing in ways that work for them.
Tagged with: decluttering, order, team organizing, worth repeating
I see a lot of messy desks. And sometimes my own desk is messy. I’ve come to believe that the key to having a truly clear desk is to be really careful about what you actually store there. When you clean off your desk, you want to have plenty of clear space on which to work. For me, all that clear space gives me a sense of peace while simultaneously motivating me. When your desk is cleared off, how clear is it really?
Tagged with: clean desk, decluttering, order
This is the time of the year in the U.S. where the mail carrier starts bringing in tax-related documents, like W-2 and 1099 forms. To avoid that frantic feeling at tax time when you can’t easily put your hands on these important documents, I encourage you to do yourself a favor today.
Tagged with: order, productivity, taxes
When I get busy my natural messiness kicks in. Our kitchen is being renovated so disorder reigns in our house and has for the last six weeks. But even in small spaces that have nothing to do with the kitchen, like my desk, everything felt out of control this morning. I’m feeling pulled in a bunch of directions and just wasn’t taking the time to put away the stuff I could. And the clutter started getting tome.
Tagged with: decluttering, order, productivity, timer
My husband and I are in the midst of a kitchen renovation. If you’ve ever done that, you know how disruptive it can be. We’re lucky in that we actually have a spare kitchen to use. (We live in a two-family house, but no longer rent out the downstairs apartment.) Still, despite my best efforts to organize the downstairs kitchen for our temporary use, everything feels topsy turvy.
I love doing whole-house transformations. That’s when my team and I come in and create order in every room of a client’s home. We’re working side by side with the client, decluttering and organizing in ways that work for them.
Tagged with: decluttering, order, team organizing
I wrote this blog post four years ago and it remains true. Clutter is truly in the eye of the beholder, which can become a problem when people in the same household have different standards!
Since I specialize in working with chronically disorganized people, I’ve seen a lot of clutter. I’ve worked in homes so full of stuff they were uninhabitable (literally).
Tagged with: chronic disorganization, clutter, disorder, napo st. louis, order, perfectionism. worth repeating, unclutterer
I’m always amazed at what a big difference a little focused effort at decluttering, tidying, and organizing can make. I blogged about that last October.
Over the past week, I let my office get a little out of control. Getting ready to travel for a long weekend, I had stopped clearing my desk off each night. My early-morning pre-flight preparations made things worse. And when I got home from the trip on Monday afternoon, I worried about catching up with email, not cleaning things up.
Tagged with: 15 minutes, clean desk, disorder, order, worth repeating
On Wednesdays this summer, I’ll be re-running blog posts from the past. Each week, I’ll pick one that still rings true to me. Here’s this week’s selection.
I’m a messy person. And (clearly) I’m not ashamed of it. You might find it surprising that a professional organizer is messy. But that might be because you think that messy and disorganized are synonymous. Trust me, they’re not.
Tagged with: disorder, habits, order, organized, worth repeating
On Friday morning, I had a meeting with a bunch of professional organizers. The last time I met with this particular group, I was 15 minutes late. This time, I was bound and determined to be on time.
I was on my way out the door when I realized my car key wasn’t where it should be. Nor in the back up place. Nor anywhere else I could see. I stomped around the house looking for it, searched my voluminous purse, created chaos in the basket where we keep keys and finally threw in the towel and asked my husband if I could take his car.
I was 15 minutes late for my meeting. Not a great way to start the day.
Tagged with: butler bag, order, punctuality, purse, purse perfector
Cords. They have been the bane of my organizational existence for quite some time. They’re a necessary evil, but they can be so unsightly.
Tagged with: cords, home office, jennifer hofmann, order
I just spent some time as a houseguest of my friend, Shannon Wilkinson, who moved into her lovely home in Portland just six months ago.
Tagged with: clutter, clutter clearing, declutter, decluttering, order, shannon wilkinson
Over the past week, I let my office get a little out of control. Getting ready to travel for a long weekend, I had stopped clearing my desk off each night. My early-morning pre-flight preparations made things worse. And when I got home from the trip on Monday afternoon, I worried about catching up with email, not cleaning things up.
Tagged with: 15 minutes, clean desk, disorder, order
I’m writing this from my room at a Comfort Suites. It’s not exactly a luxurious room. But as I was sitting here on the little couch that makes this room a “suite” (that and the half wall that separates the couch from the bed), I started thinking about why I love hotel rooms.
Tagged with: decluttering, order
Today is the Fourth of July where in the U.S. we celebrate the signing of our nation’s Declaration of Independence from England. I’m currently reading An Echo in the Bone, the seventh in Diana Galbadon’s wonderful Outlander series, which is set during the Revolutionary War. Maybe that’s why this year Independence Day really has me thinking about independence, and freedom, and what it means to me and my clients.
Tagged with: disorder, freedom, independence, order
I love the blog Unclutterer. Erin Doland, who writes most of the posts, is so smart and such a great writer. I love her perspective on striving to live a clutter-free life.
Tagged with: clutter, disorder, erin doland, order, routines, unclutterer
There’s an interesting conversation going on over at Unclutterer, one of my favorite blogs at organizing and clutter. Unclutterer editor, Erin Dolan, wrote a fascinating post about societal pressures women face to keep house.
Tagged with: clutter, order, society, unclutterer
I’m a messy person. And (clearly) I’m not ashamed of it. You might find it surprising that a professional organizer is messy. But that might be because you think that messy and disorganized are synonymous. Trust me, they’re not.
The past couple of weeks have been very busy for me and I haven’t been home a whole lot. I did take one glorious at-home day off a week ago Saturday, where I caught up on my TV and did some knitting. (Boy that day went by fast!) I did nothing but relax, which I sorely needed.
Tagged with: disorder, habits, order, pockets of time, routines
In my office I’m cord challenged. Like most people I have loads of electronic devices and their cables snake all over the place. I keep promising myself that one of these days I’m going to focus on the problem and come up with a great solution.
Tagged with: cords, home office, order
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.
Tagged with: closets, declutter happy hour, decluttering, order
Since I specialize in working with chronically disorganized people, I’ve seen a lot of clutter. I’ve worked in homes so full of stuff they were inhabitable (literally).
But I’ve also been hired to do consultations for people for whom there was no visible clutter, at least at first glance. Yet those folks made the effort to schedule an appointment and paid me to advise them on how to deal with stuff that was bothering them. To my eye, it was small, easily addressable stuff. But to them it was a problem. (I always have to remind myself never to trivialize someone’s problem.)
Tagged with: chronic disorganization, clutter, disorder, napo st. louis, order, perfectionism, unclutterer
I have a friend visiting this weekend and I’m very excited. I met Patti back in 1983, when I was a college intern at her office. She was in her early 30s, a real grown up. After graduation, I went to work for that organization (the Population Reference Bureau) and our friendship grew. Though we haven’t worked together in over 20 years, we’ve remained friends.
Tagged with: company, friendship, order
This fabulous blog post from Unclutterer really resonated with me. Its writer, Unclutterer Editor-in-Chief Erin Doland, is one of those folks who really seems to have it together. It shines through in her writing. And it feels very apparent when you spend time with her in person.
Tagged with: control, erin doland, order, productivity
This morning, I read this wonderful Unclutterer blog post, in which Erin Doland wrote about how she didn’t freak out when she learned her in-laws were coming for an overnight stay that day. Since she’s embraced an uncluttered lifestyle, the unexpected visit didn’t mean any scrambling.
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.
Tagged with: clutter, container store, decluttering, oprah, order, peter walsh, snapfish
Some days I look around my home or office and say to myself, “I really need to xxxxx” and it’s a general task like, “get organized” or “reorganize my closet.” Sometimes it’s just “create some order around here” when things have gotten out of hand.
Tagged with: 15 minutes, order, procrastination, productivity, time management, unclutterer
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.
Tagged with: balance, decluttering, empowerment, order, organized, priorities
Before I sat down to write in my journal on January 1, 2008, I decided to read the entry I wrote on January 1, 1998
Tagged with: clutter, journal writing, new year, order