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 →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 →I was recently reminded of a favorite organizing expression: “Don’t put it down — put it away”. I love that saying because it is so simple, yet so rich a description of human behavior. Take a look around your home or office. Do you see things lying around simply because you placed them somewhere, meaning to get to them later, but never did?
Read more →It’s hard to ask for help, especially if it’s something that you feel you should be able to do on your own. “Why can’t I do this?” you ask yourself. “Everybody else can. What’s wrong with me?” This feeling often prevents individuals from contacting a Professional Organizer, even when clutter is bringing down the quality of their lives. So I’d like to share with you my experience with two professionals that I hired to do something that “everyone else” can seemingly do…
Read more →Did you ever have in your hand an invitation to an event, or a schedule of upcoming lectures, performances, or exhibits that sounded interesting but which you weren’t ready to commit to? Chances are you added the invitation or schedule to a pile of paper on your desk, or put it somewhere in your file cabinet. Months later, you came across it and said, “Oh, I’m really sorry I missed that”, and threw it out. So what really happened here?
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