Category Archives: Home Management

5 Steps to Clearing the Clutter from your Storage Space

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What is hiding behind those attic curtains?What is hiding behind those attic curtains?

It might be a functional, beautiful and organized space. More likely it’s a space that is crammed with old furniture and household items.

What is in your attic?

No attic? How about a basement or spare room; you have one of those right?

Of course you do. It’s that space in your home that contains bags and boxes of items that you use seasonally, along with more bags and boxes of items from long ago.

You know, those things that are still good, too good to throw away.  Let’s not forget the big stuff. The lamps, the furniture, the toddler toys and those home décor items from your last house.

When you open the door to this space you feel overwhelmed. Walking into the space is dangerous and nearly impossible.

Is this sounding familiar?

Congratulations. You’re normal. You have a storage space filled with mindless clutter. Continue reading →

The Habit that Creates Chaos and Overwhelm

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Box of sweepings from an officeWhat’s in the box? It’s Sweepings™.

We find it in closets, spare rooms and garages.  Sweeping is the act of quickly removing clutter from a surface or vehicle and sweeping it all into a bag or a box. This habit of sweeping, in my opinion, causes a lot of chaos and overwhelm in homes and offices.

An event usually triggers a quick clean sweep of surfaces

Nearly every time I work with a new client we uncover forgotten bags or boxes of sweepings. The discovered stash is the result of a clean sweep of surfaces in a home or office. A phone call announcing the impending arrival of guests or the excitement of a new project that requires a work surface can be common triggers for sweeping.

Have you swept away items on these lists?

Continue reading →

10 Powerful Ways to Defend Yourself Against Paper Clutter

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wicker file box containing green hanging files labeled in red and white with black printDon’t you think it’s time to tell your mail where to go? If you have worked with me on getting control of your paper clutter then you know that I am an advocate of Permanent Action Files.

These are physical file folders – usually hanging – that hold the papers necessary to complete routine actions. I urge clients to put these in an attractive box in the area where the mail enters the home or office. Continue reading →

For Now (a.k.a. forever)

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For now.  These two words cause more havoc in our lives than any others in the English language. They alone are responsible for most of the clutter in our homes and offices. We are a nation of mega-consumers. We are constantly bringing new items into our homes and because we are rushed or because we are unwilling to make a decision about where the items will be stored we just put them down on the table counter or floor for now.

We take items from where they belong, use them, and instead of returning them to their homes we just lay them down somewhere convenient for now. Most often in both examples for now becomes forever. Multiply these two examples by the number of average occurrence times the number of family members in the household and you get clutter, chaos and frustration. I called the two examples in this equation the For Now Factors.™ Continue reading →

How Breaking my Wrist Actually Taught me a Better Way to do Laundry

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I’ve worked with some families recently who are struggling with laundry issues.  What is the best method for taking control of laundry? It took me years and a broken wrist to figure it all out.  Read on to find out how breaking my wrist led me get control of the laundry. Continue reading →