It may sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes the cure for clutter is having multiples of certain things. Take, for example, a pair of scissors. How often have you gone into another room to get the scissors, brought them back to where you needed them, used them, and then neglected to return them to their usual place? Days later, you go to get the scissors and they are aren’t where you expect them to be, resulting in lost time to search for them,…
Read more →I’ve written in the past about New Year’s Resolutions and how they are destined to fail without proper planning. (See Say “No” to New Year’s Resolutions and Setting Monthly Goals Instead Of New Year’s Resolutions). This year, I’m trying something different. I’ve chosen a “Word of the Year” using Christine Kane’s Word of the Year Discovery Tool. (Thanks to my organizing colleague Janine Adams of St. Louis for bringing this to my attention). My word of the year is Balance. It encompasses the business and…
Read more →It always surprises me when someone asks me for my address even though this person has been to my house before. Everyone has a way of capturing contact information, don’t they? It may be in electronic form, or it may be in a physical address book. So why would someone have to ask me for my address again? I think it’s because it is just not a habit for most people to retain contact information beyond its initial usefulness. But it’s…
Read more →With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I imagine many of you are in a bit of a panic, looking at your “lived in” home and wondering how you will ever get it into shape in time for next week’s onslaught of guests. (I certainly am!) At a talk I gave earlier this year, a woman asked me how to ensure that she and her husband regularly keep their apartment free of clutter. I advised her to give a dinner party once…
Read more →Long-time readers of my organizing tips may recall an earlier rant of mine on the tyranny of coupons (Coupons: To Clip or Not To Clip?) Coupons induce us to behave in irrational ways that waste our time and create clutter. Similarly, sales are likely to have the same effect. When we are shopping for something specific, it’s quite delightful to find that the item we planned to buy is on sale and we can purchase it for less than expected. However,…
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