Top Tips From Professional Organizers
Focus on Your Strengths for an Organized Space!
Identify your strengths and make them work for you. Some people experience frustration when they are unsure how to organize everything they own. Begin with categories you feel most comfortable with and gradually work towards items that cause you hesitation. By slowly progressing out of your comfort zone you are developing the skills required for a general organization. Call a professional organizer to help with the areas that remain a challenge to you.
Barbara Nowacki
Russ Tybus
3 Tips to Get Organized for the New Year
Let’s make your New Year’s resolution of getting organized a reality with these easy steps! Start with the room or space that is going to yield a high impact return once it’s been organized. In order to not get overwhelmed, divide the room into 4 sections and focus on one section at a time.
Purge each section of anything that you either no longer need or doesn’t belong. If you’re having a hard time parting with items find a local donation center that supports a cause close to your heart. Then looking at the room as a whole, a place like items with like items.
Only after these important steps should you decide on storage solutions (like bins, baskets, and containers). Make sure to take measurements (create a simple room map to take shopping with you) and take into consideration things like lids, materials, and construction. Don’t forget the labels that will serve as a gentle reminder to you and your family where things belong.
And lastly, enjoy your new space: you deserve it!
Lisa Harris
Professional Organizer at Organize with Lisa
www.organizewithlisa.com
Taking Away the Stress of Organizing
Being organized is not being perfect. You only need to be organized to the point where you are comfortable with the flow of your space, time, and responsibilities. If the process is consuming you then it is not working. Organizing is developing the decision muscle through practiced behaviors and the first step is simple – deciding to have a plan with a date on the calendar.
The plan begins at the ending and is broken down into the steps that will lead to the intended vision. Start small and build on the success; decision making becomes easier with practice. For example – the small junk drawer in the kitchen and then one cabinet at a time for 20 minutes a day every other day. Before you know it, everything in the kitchen will be where you use it and all the expired food will be purged!
Victoria Pearlman
Owner at Order Artisan
www.orderartisan.com
How to Get Started Organizing
Often, when clients look at their backlog of paperwork and clutter, they feel overwhelmed and paralyzed – it’s hard to know where to start. One of my best pieces of advice is to make the task more manageable by breaking it down into small, bite-size chunks. For example, rather than trying to organize your entire home office at once, start with just the items on the desktop. Then tackle what’s in the desk drawers; next, organize other surfaces such as a credenza or bookcase. Breaking the project down makes it less overwhelming and allows you to “cross things off your list” as you move sequentially around the room.
Deborah Gussoff
Certified Professional Organizer at In Order
www.inorder.com
Letting Go of Your Emotional Connection to Stuff
The scarcity mindset makes us acquire more of the things that we have and don’t have. It is sometimes a difficult task to really let go of things especially if there is sentimental value.
The key is to clear your clutter and organize what is left that you need, use or love. Why is it that some individuals can simply get rid of their clutter and others struggle with it? Unfortunately, many of us have emotions that, consciously or not, stop us from releasing our clutter. In my work with clients, I find that the following your emotions seem to be most common in this struggle… Read more here.
Elaine Fernando
Professional Organizer at Organized Transitions
www.organizedtransitionsllc.com
Getting Organized via Meal Prepping
Since it’s January, let’s talk New Year’s Resolutions. Here are some tips on how organization pertains to healthy food choices: Pick consistent times and days of the week to plan meals/lists, shop, and cook – and give yourself a break by planning for some of those meals to be leftovers. Is planning for a week too overwhelming? Plan just one day of the week first then add another every 3-4 weeks. GOOD LUCK!
Mary Bellofatto
Owner at Definitely Organized
Definitelyorganized.com
Makeover Your Mailbox
Choose this New Year to Makeover your Mailbox…
One of the most efficient ways to deal with an overwhelming amount of mail is to eliminate paper before it even comes into your home. This includes junk mail, catalogs, and financial solicitations.
To stop junk mail: www.dmachoice.org This mail preference service will stop up to 75% of national mailings.
To opt-out of pre-screened credit offers: www.optoutprescreen.com
Kathe Roberts
Professional Organizer at Top To Bottom Organization
www.TopToBottomOrganization.com
Your Closet: Less Is Not More, Less Is Enough
Do you know what is in your closet? Most of my clients’ closets are jam-packed with too many clothes, many with the tags still attached. The rule of thumb is that we wear 20% of our clothing 80% of the time. So why pay for the real estate to house the other 80%? Less is not more, Less Is Enough!
Eileen Bergman
Professional Organizer
https://www.eileenbergman.com/
Ways to Send Your Clutter Packing
I’d like to share with you my Decluttering Resources in case you’d like to perform a little decluttering yourself in 2019!
Digital Opportunities – Facebook groups, Craig’s List, eBay, decluttering apps etc. are all ways to dispose of excess home contents but can take time and energy. Be cautious about safety issues too.
Donate – You can donate to many charities from your driveway or front porch with a simple phone call. Items need to be in bags or small boxes because there is usually only one person who drives the charity truck so he must be able to carry your items to his vehicle for donation. One gets a tax donation receipt too… Read more here.
Jean Marie Herron
