Many a client has called me after their own attempt(s) to declutter and organize their home or office has failed. Why does this happen? Why do our efforts seem to only last for a day, a week or maybe a month, if we're lucky? Do you feel like you're constantly making mistakes, but you don't realize it until later? Here are a few of the most common mistakes we make when trying to get organized. (Don’t worry…over the course of the month, we’ll address ways to remediate these iss

Organizing products, organizing books, organizing speakers…the industry is exploding with tips and tricks promising you a slick, new, neat look in your currently chaotic space. Do not be fooled: organizing takes work, though it doesn’t have to be difficult. Get your weekend warrior on and tackle a project, but avoid these pitfalls along the way: The Perfect System Don’t worry about coming up with the perfect organizing system for bills or filing. Done is good enough. Grab you

Why The Client Called Me A recent empty-nester, my client called me because she was overwhelmed at the thought of pulling our her 12 boxes of Christmas decorations. Not only was it physically difficult to bring the boxes out from her garage, but there were years and years of memories and nostalgia associated with all the decorations. Since the decorating season is here, she wanted to downsize her decorations, but she needed support staying focused. Solution We pulled out all

It's nearly November. On the first of the month, thousands, if not tens of thousands of people worldwide will try and churn out a novel --an entire novel!-- in just 30 days. Any time you tackle a big project, whether it's cleaning your house or writing a book, it's usually best to go into it as prepared as possible. When it comes to writing... the rules are a little different. Decide if You'll Plot or if You'll Pants There's something to be said for spontaneity. Many times wh

My daughter came home from middle school earlier this month freaked out about creepy clowns. Rumors were flying full-tilt about some people who dressed up as clowns and came to scare kids (and worse) at schools in our town. We looked it up on the news and in fact, there were rumors and gossip going around about these clowns nationwide. But to allay her fears, there was nothing specific happening in our town. I’m not sure if you heard about this incident or not, but it just r

Keeping physical copies of paperwork organized can be overwhelming. Heaps of files can build up in no time, especially if your business operates using physical copies. (I’m a huge fan of scanning and shredding some documents, as I’ve written about before. You can read tips for scanning here.) But, if you can keep your filing system structured and organized, all of this paperwork can be dealt with using little time and effort. Here are some tips for making your filing system o

Let’s face it. We are on the slippery slope to the entire Holiday Season. Without raising your blood pressure at the thought of the holidays approaching, let’s do some simple planning. Here are my top 7 tricks for Halloween! Start with a List Make a checklist of everything you'd like to do for the Halloween season, such as making/getting costumes, having a party, attending a festival or pumpkin patch, carving a pumpkin, getting some scary books or videos at the library, and t

Even as a professional organizer, I still walk across the living room floor and step on Legos or a plastic dinosaur. I look forward to the day - in about 10 years maybe - when I’ll be able to cross the floor without the landmines. Meanwhile, I’ve found 4 simple techniques that provide an oasis of adult sanity on my Mac. On a recent cross-country flight, I took control of my laptop. It feels as good as it sounds to have your computer cleaned up. Here you go: Clear the Desktop

If you know me, you know I’m a huge Evernote fan. I start and end my day in my Evernote workspace. But there is also a time and place when I use other cloud tools, such as Dropbox and Google Drive - depending on who I am collaborating with. Last month, Dropbox made some major enhancements. And quite frankly, I’m impressed. Many of them are reminiscent of features already available in Evernote, but if you are a Dropbox user, check these out. Create New Documents, Upload Photos

A disorganized, overflowing email inbox can be a daunting obstacle to overcome. Not to mention the silent-but-still-screaming-at-you little red numbers sitting on the icon of your preferred mail app. Spam and junk email also quickly adds up to a constant stream of distracting correspondence. This clutter can make you less productive, and overwhelmed, especially if email is a major part of your job. Not only that, important messages can end up getting lost among all of the oth