Are you the person tasked with managing all the family “stuff”? The antique rocker used by your great grandmother for your grandfather as a baby or the rare China that was handpicked by your great aunt for your parents as a surprise on their wedding day? Maybe you’re the keeper of the photos, framed and loose.

If you’re THAT person, you’ve got a lot of STUFF to manage.

Hidden within each piece are fantastic tales, stories of sacrifice, and maybe even great financial investment….it’s not like you can just give it away.

Right?

RIGHT?????

We’re ripping the bandaid off of a pretty touchy subject. Stick with us as we remove the cloud of confusion with this step-by-step guide for all those treasured (and no so treasured) things.

Decide What to Keep & Who Gets It

We know you’re the keeper, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep everything or that your home should act as a free storage unit for those who want stuff but have no intention of picking it up. If the heirloom isn’t desirable today, it most likely won’t be 20 years from now. Young children are the only ones who get a pass on making that decision. If the choice is theirs but they aren’t ready to make it, store the item with an expiration date; preferably no more than 20 years from now.

The family member (close, extended, or pseudo) that appreciates the item most, gets it.

Appreciation can be determined by how often the member will display, reflect on, or use a given piece. Saying that you care about an item but never sharing its unique story or using it, isn’t caring about anything; that’s just keeping or storing. The exception to this is when a legal request is set forth in a will. Legal always wins.

If the heirlooms are on display in your home (as the keeper), simply record the name of the next keeper on the back or bottom of the piece. My family LOVES masking tape! My sister has had her name on my grandparents’ candy dish since she was 10. No one is going to argue with appreciation on that one.

If the heirlooms are not on display because you personally don’t appreciate them all that much, deliver those items to the person who wants them ASAP. You’re wasting the memory when you keep the treasure hidden.

If the heirlooms are collections, don't be afraid to pare it down. Keep only the best baseball cards, not all 635. Reserve one tea cup instead of the set of twelve. Heirlooms can still maintain their sentimental value as a portion of the whole.

Decide What To Release & Where It Goes

No doubt that in your “keeping” stash you’ve got a few heirlooms that just look like plates, framed photos, and knickknacks. No one wants them and you honestly can’t remember why they were important.

In fact, the only reason they’ve remained in your stash is because of two (misguided) beliefs: guilt and presumed monetary value.

Am I right?

Go ahead and nod; no one’s watching you.

Let’s talk guilt first.

The problem with keeping things out of guilt is that this was NEVER the intention of the family member that passed the item on to you. Never. The item was passed on because the giver (or previous keeper) thought it would bring you joy.

But it’s okay if it doesn’t bring you joy. Their memory may not be your memory. Just because your mother remembered using the old leather reins for her horse doesn’t mean that her granddaughter will bat an eye at them; and she shouldn’t be expected to.

The beauty of heirlooms is the love and memories attached to them --- not necessarily the heirlooms themselves. In most cases, your heirlooms look like ordinary, old stuff to outsiders. If the item is truly just a “thing” that you think may have been special at one time, don’t feel guilty about letting it go.

To combat guilt, try these strategies:

• Repurpose the heirloom so that it becomes useful or beautiful to you. Resetting jewelry or converting old dress shirts into pillows are a few ways my clients have found renewed joy in the stuff that once felt burdensome.
• Photograph the item before releasing it and store the photo in a family album.
• Donate the item to a charity that is LOOKING for items like yours and take pleasure in the fact that you’re passing on the usefulness of the heirloom to those who need it.

Now the elephant in the room: presumed monetary value.

If you’ve been told that your grandparents’ antique furniture was worth hundreds of dollars or that the vase purchased overseas during an Asian war tour is priceless, you’ve been duped.

For many years, antiques were worth something. It was a generally accepted fact that anything old, particularly if it had been well-cared for, was valuable and could be sold if money was tight.

Unfortunately, times have changed. With so many Baby Boomers downsizing, antiques and heirlooms have flooded the market. The previous value of an item was higher in large part because the supply was seemingly low. Now with Facebook, Craigslist, and other FREE and far-reaching forms of consignment, heirlooms and antiques JUST LIKE YOURS are everywhere. Less than 10 years ago, my husband and I purchased a dining room suite on consignment. It had scratches, but overall we got a steal. Of course, that’s when dining room chairs were worth around $100 a piece. Now I see sets like mine all the time selling for a quarter of what we paid.

The heirlooms you’re “keeping” to trade in for dough on a tight day won’t get you far. Read more here, here, and here about it if you’re not convinced.

There is the RARE exception of a truly valuable item. If you think you’ve got one, ask an Estate Sales Appraiser for a general opinion. They might be able to find a market for your item, but then again, they might not. Antiques Road Show used to be cool, until we all realized that to get that kind of money out of the one random thing you found, you’d have to find someone to buy it.

Here’s The Bottom Line

Keep what you enjoy. Part with the heirlooms that have no meaning, no stories, and no one to appreciate them. In fact, when you make the decisions NOW rather than waiting for someone else to decide AFTER you die (sorry, but it's going to happen), you spare your heirs a load of heartache and headache. Don't let the guilt of keeping stuff pass to the next generation --- if it's valuable to you, share the stories while you have the opportunity. 

Don’t hoard the stuff you aren’t using or loving. Let those things serve and bless those around you instead. Be encouraged that when you offer up the unwanted items, you bless others. Look for family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, or charities that NEED your things and give with abandon.

Your generosity will not return void.

In addition to partnering with Weebly (web hosting) and BecomingMinimalist.com author Joshua Becker (new book), I’ve teamed up with Profitable Organizer (now called Organizer.Club), a professional organizer training system. I did NOT start out with this system, so my review is from a trained outsider looking in --- the best view for an honest assessment.

I am thrilled to announce that this program rocks! I have always recommended it to people looking to begin their career as a professional organizer, but I myself was very, very skeptical of the cost. I'm not going to lie --- close to $1000 is a steep investment for a new business. However, this training is worth it. Every penny.  Let me tell you why...
 
I've spent the last half of the year working my tail off to locate, sift through, and drink up excellent trainings. My research has not been in vain, but it could have taken a fraction of the time had I started out with Profitable Organizer instead of Google and my local library. 
 
So here's the thing: I want you to make it a point to check out Profitable Organizer THIS WEEK. (EDIT: Organizer.Club only opens their 12 week training program a few times a year. Make sure to get on the wait list if you're interested!)

In conducting this review, I've seen how invaluable this training could have been seven months ago. Yes, it would have been a big investment, but it would have been worth it. I also love their money back guarantee!
 
Their program has every little detail you need to launch and market your business in addition to learning the art of organizing for different spaces and unique clients. Here's a quick breakdown:

• Over 16 hours of instructional videos broken down into 128 manageable chunks so that you can learn at your own pace.
• Weekly checklists enabling you to establish your business, create a website from scratch, and implement marketing strategies for YouTube, Facebook, and AdWords in a timely manner.
• Access to 31 past live training sessions for immediate review with 5 more being added each month in reverse order.
• Access to a community forum in which your questions about any of the training modules and your new business are answered ASAP.
• Money back guarantee if you aren't satisfied!

With all the fabulous support and new skills you'll develop, it's possible to recoup that BIG investment within a month.

When enrollment opens, you'll be given the chance to sign up. You'll see the fees and get to read the guarantee. I want you to contact me if you have any questions about the program. Since I'm on the inside now, I can give you the BEST answers. Additionally, Adam is super helpful and fast at answering ANY and ALL questions that come his way. I almost feel sorry for him, because I have an image in my head that his laptop must be attached to his hand with his rate of response! 
 
Even if you don't sign up for the actual program, we can still be friends :) I'm still here to answer any questions you might have and point you in the direction of others who have better knowledge than myself. 

In his book The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own, Joshua does not disappoint. This time, his words are more than satisfying one-liners you might find on social media or the motivating paragraphs on his blog. Joshua forces his readers to think deeper and ask the harder questions as he guides them to their individualized practices of minimalism.

Minimalism is not a one-size-fits-all way of life, but it does share common characteristics with which every person on earth can relate. Joshua identifies the core motivations of consumerism and our attachment to things as security, acceptance, and contentment. Not sure how those three pieces play into your spending and collecting? Read through personal accounts of those just like you and me. The anecdotes are brief, but highly effective. You don't have to give away all of your stuff to become a minimalist. In fact, Joshua notes the dramatic differences resulting from stages of life and varying passions.  Minimalism is a frame of mind, not a number of things. 

The first half of the book is spent developing an understanding of why living with less creates a life of more – more freedom, more room to love, more time to enjoy, more lives to influence. What a different experience! What a different world! 

The second half focuses on how to execute the work involved – the letting-go-work that so many struggle with. Joshua’s encouragement is basic: start today, start with easy.  He presents DOZENS of strategies for letting go of the items that you no longer need, use, or love. (My personal favorite is the 29 Day Experiment!) After you've de-owned, Joshua shares  numerous methods for maintaining your edited lifestyle. These include dealing with gift giving, receiving, and passing on. 

Joshua's practical suggestions will enable even the most tight-fisted to release, because he brings that grasp on stuff back to its core motivations. When we address and meet our needs for security, acceptance, and contentment, the stuff no longer holds much value. Things will never satisfy. Relationships will. Live on purpose, with arms wide open, running headlong toward the things that matter most!
 
I would personally like to thank Mr. Becker for sending me (and a select group of professional organizers) an advance reading copy! It's been an honor to read and review his work, and I'm thrilled to be able to share it with you, my fabulous followers.

In the realm of professional organizing, you often hear the term “systems.” Systems for laundry, systems for mail, systems for decluttering. But what exactly is a system and why should it be so important to you?

Systems are processes and procedures.

​They are the established steps you follow when completing a task, no matter how big or small. Efficient systems function like auto-pilot and morph into habits that require very little thinking. Systems help you make the best use of your time and energy resources as you go about life. Everyone’s got ‘em. But not everybody has good ones.

A key strategy to ensure successful organized living is assessing, correcting, and setting good systems in place. Think of systems like bumpers in bowling --- they almost always ensure you’ll hit your target!

And you want to live successfully, right? You didn’t just have your home organized for the fun of it, did you? This is supposed to be a complete life change, right? Well in that case, let’s grab our magnifying glass, a pad of paper, your favorite pen, and get down to business.

During my initial consultations, I ask clients to tell me what systems are working really well for them in their home or office. Every client has a different answer, but most begin with a blank stare. Yes, I’m asking a question and no it’s not a hard one. But we hesitate to answer because sometimes when life is SO disorganized, it’s hard to see what’s working at all.

So, what's working well for you?

Nothing coming to mind? What about your morning routine or even just a sliver of it. Do you know where to find your underwear after the shower? Well, that’s working well! And what about your makeup --- do you know where it is and can you apply it without having to think much of it? Great! You’re on a roll. What about in the office --- are you able to successfully grab a cup of coffee from the kitchen area? Do you know how to send a fax? See, you do have SOME systems (even though they might only be a few steps) that are working well.

I want you to write down the systems that ARE working well for you. This boosts your confidence and will serve to remind you that your life isn’t completely a wreck, even if it might feel like you’re spinning out of control. We have to focus on facts; we have to get OBJECTIVE.

Now that you know what’s going well, I want you to write down the jobs/systems that aren’t going so well. In fact, maybe these tasks aren’t getting done at all. It’s okay, we all have a few…..in fact, most clients struggle with the same ones. Does that surprise you? You aren’t alone. Tasks that require more steps are harder to refine. They take more brain power than we typically want to allocate. They take more time to evaluate to identify the loose screws.
But we’re taking the time now.

I want you to pick just ONE inefficient, broken system on your list to think about. On a clean page, I want you to break that job down into as many steps as you can. No, I’m not kidding. And, no, this isn’t busy work. This is the exact exercise I use for every broken system I encounter with my clients. I invest my time to find the fix, and you’re going to do that today too.  Some tasks like “arriving to work on time” have a specific start time that frames the job. Other jobs like laundry have varying start times. Just pick a starting place and go with it. The point is that these jobs, tasks, activities, whatever you want to call them, are cyclical. During this exercise, you’re going to be able to identify the broken steps that throw off your rhythm. As you’re writing down your steps, the first few will probably be really easy. These are the steps that are working well and are easy to complete. Here’s an example of dishwashing.

• Rinse dirty breakfast dishes and place them in the dishwasher.
• Rinse dirty lunch dishes and place them in the dishwasher.
• Rinse dirty dinner dishes and place them in the dishwasher.
• Start the full dishwasher after dinner.

….so far so good. This looks like a pretty great system…..until you SEE this.

• Rinse dirty breakfast dishes and place…..wait. I forgot to unload the dishwasher last night, and I don’t have time to unload it right now. I can’t put the next set of dishes in the dishwasher. I’ll just leave them in the sink.
• I don’t have any more clean dishes in the cabinets, so I’ll just grab what I need for lunch out of the clean ones in the dishwasher....and not unload the rest of it.
• Rinse dirty lunch dishes and leave them on the counter because the sink is full.

….now the dishwasher, sink, and counters are all full. Anxiety is high. Piles are getting tricky. No one in the house knows which step to complete next because the task is completely out of control. What was the missing step that could have PREVENTED this scenario? Easy. Unload the dishwasher after you run it. But you need to get more specific. When are you going to unload it? It takes about two hours to run and dry. And don’t forget about those plastic pieces that never dry as quickly as the glass.

Having a plan is crucial!

If you want to reduce the amount of resources you’re spending on broken systems, then you’ve got to make them so simple that they become automatic for you and everyone else that touches them. Of course, life will throw you curve balls and you’ll need to adjust, but 95% of the time, your system will be fool-proof and your habit will be easy to complete.

• Rinse dirty breakfast dishes and place them in the dishwasher.
• Rinse dirty lunch dishes and place them in the dishwasher.
• Rinse dirty dinner dishes and place them in the dishwasher.
• Start the full dishwasher after dinner.
• Empty the dishwasher before bed.
• If there are items that can’t yet be put in the cabinets because they are wet, either dry them or place them on a drying rack.
• In the morning, empty the drying rack before or after you take care of the dirty dishes from breakfast.

Now that you’ve assessed your system and made some corrective marks, give it a try. If you’re still having trouble, look at the other systems that interact with the system you’re refining. In the scenario above, maybe the problem in your system isn’t the dishwasher component at all. Maybe it’s the dish return. If you’ve got inefficient storage for your dishes, you’re less likely to put them back. Make returning objects easy. Keep your dishes in cabinets near the dishwasher.

Keep it simple and you'll find your systems are working like a charm.
​
For the skeptics, I know you are arguing with your computer screen right now. I can hear you. You’re coming up with all the reasons a system so simple just won’t work. You’re giving me excuses. But excuses don’t solve problems. Excuses simply delay solutions. If you’re ready to change your life and live in freedom, then you’ve got to stop coming up with excuses. You’ve got to get creative and really evaluate your schedule. You need to find a way to implement a system that closes the loop and gets you back to start with a fresh slate each time. You CAN do this! And I guarantee that when you give it a chance, when you tweak your system to help you rather than annoy you, life will get better. The tasks will get easier. You’ll forget the struggle you had once upon a time, and live like the person you were always meant to be.
​

Have you ever felt like you’re doing EVERYTHING around the house? Would you like your family to pitch in a bit? Wouldn’t it be nice to enjoy a break during the week so you can recharge?

The good news is that you can! You can experience freedom and reclaim joy at home simply by restructuring your schedule. Let me show you how!

The business world has this down to a science. They understand that in order to fit everything necessary into a standard work week, they’ve got to have systems and schedules in place. They’ve delegated company tasks to those who enjoy and excel in specific areas. When we apply the business model of work to the home model, life can change dramatically!

I want to take the next few minutes to share the concept of time blocking as it applies to your home life. Much like the business world, you’ll become more efficient when you group similar tasks together and spend dedicated time addressing each task.

For years, we’ve were told that it’s the bees’ knees to multitask. And it might be, but not ALL the time. Although women, in particular, are fantastic multi-taskers, we’re even better single-taskers!

Let me give you an example: meal planning. In total honesty, I HATE meal planning. Cooking isn’t a task I’m particularly excited about. Although I enjoy a good tasting meal, the prep work behind it just doesn’t get me excited. But, meal planning is a crucial part of running a home. If you don’t have a plan, you don’t know what to buy at the grocery store. If you don’t know what to buy at the grocery store, you’re just shopping for things that taste good. And if you’re just shopping for things that taste good, your dinner will consist of pie, hummus, and tortilla chips.  Not gonna cut it if there is more than one person living under the same roof.
 
When meal planning for the week, we must get 100% focused on the task in order to knock it out quickly and completely. If we can sustain our attention, we might even be able to plan an entire month using this free printable. High-fives all around!

If we multitasked meal planning, we'd be busy checking social media (which may have some good meal ideas on it….and the latest gossip….and the latest political argument…..), folding laundry, feeding the kids, and trying to remember where we put the elusive cup of coffee. The simple task of planning meals would take 4x longer than it needed to. Because, when we multitask, we stretch our minds thin. Sure, multitasking helps us GET THINGS DONE, but are we getting them done in the MOST efficient manner that uses the LEAST amount of energy in order to prevent overwhelm? Probably not.

One strategy is time blocking. The best way to understand why you’re exhausted is to visually observe what’s wearing you down --- on paper.

Step 1: Download this Time Map.

Step 2: Start by writing the first hour of the day when you TYPICALLY wake up. Time Maps are not exact. They are general reference points that help us better understand where our energies are going throughout a typical week. My map begins with 7am because that’s when I wake up.

Step 3: Write down the times every 30 minutes until the time you TYPICALLY go to bed (7:00am, 7:30am, 8:00am, etc). For me, bedtime looks like 12am. No, I’m not proud of that, it’s just life. Maybe one day bed time will look like 11pm on a regular basis. A girl can dream.

Step 4: Write in any long-standing and regular appointments or activities for each day. This includes your morning routine (Wake, Shower, etc), meals, school/work schedules, family time, and/or religious activities. (As a side note, if your “work” activities are occupying MOST of your week, you might consider time-blocking your individual work tasks to help you be more efficient in the workplace and spend less time in the office. This might look like only answering emails 4x a day or only working that specific proposal from 2-4pm.)

Step 5: In the spots you have left, pencil in the OTHER activities you need and would like to accomplish each week. These might include: laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping, carpool, dusting, mopping, taking out the trash, lawncare, hobbies, exercise, and plain old rest and relaxation. Be realistic about how much time each activity takes so that you can give it an appropriate amount of time on your map. Also, consider dividing up your cleaning tasks into specific days rather than cleaning specific areas. This will prevent you from trying to dust different rooms each day. Instead, just dust on Tuesdays and vacuum on Wednesdays. If you miss Tuesday dusting, at least you know Tuesday will come around again in 6 more days. Additionally, instead of getting out the Swiffer duster day after day, you’ll only be getting it out and putting it back ONCE a week.

Step 6: If your map is overflowing, you NEED to delegate. Delegating is hard for people. We like control. We like things done our way. But other people are just as capable as us. The end result might not be EXACTLY the same, but the differences are worth the ENERGY you were able to conserve by handing off that job to someone else. Case in point: cleaning baseboards. I’m not a stickler about this, but I like to make sure there isn’t a ton of dust left in clumps. My kids like to clean baseboards too. Their standard of “clean” is very different. But if I let them do it 3 out of 4 weeks a month, three magical things happen:

• I save myself the energy.
• They have a good old time with my Norwex cloths.
• The baseboards get cleaned more often. I know I’m not alone in this. If I demand on doing the task all on my own, I might not actually get to it at all for several weeks on end because I’m busy. But if I let others help me, at least SOMETHING is getting done and some is better than none.

Let go of the pride, share the responsibility with others, and quit complaining about how much you have to do all by yourself. Sure there are things only you can do, but those are few and far between. LET GO and don’t look back. Simply enjoy the extra 15 minutes you found today because you released control of a task that really wasn’t life and death.

Some other tasks you can delegate are:

• Laundry (collecting, sorting, loading, running, swapping, folding, returning)
• Meals (meal planning, list prep, grocery shopping, putting groceries away, getting out ingredients, meal prep)
• Vacation Planning (identifying available dates, scouting hotels/restaurants/activities, packing, driving/flying schedules)
• Bill Paying (collecting the mail, sorting mail, identifying bills to pay, paying, filing/discarding)

If you've got preschool or school-age children in the house and are curious as to what tasks would be age-appropriate delegated activities, check out these lists by CleanMama.net. In order to hand off some of these chores to children, I recommend Norwex cleaning products that are safe for children. 
​
As you delegate, be mindful of the systems in place. Your spouse, partner, roommate, or child may use a different system than you to accomplish the same task. That’s OK. If you want to curb overwhelm, you’re going to have to be teachable and gracious.
​
For more information on Time Blocking in the office, check out this short video and this blog post.

 What if the solution to your debt problem is right under your nose? Literally.
 
Over the past decade, we’ve seen the rise of Craigslist joining the ranks of consignment stores without having to worry about the fees. Facebook yardsale groups and ThredUp online consigning have followed suit, offering an opportunity to reclaim a bit of your initial investment without spending hours setting up and managing an unsuccessful garage sale.
 
People are beginning to realize that part of the debt solution is saying goodbye to the things that pack a financial punch without sacrificing sentiment or use.

I want you to watch this news clip. It’s just over six minutes long, but it’s the tip of the iceberg when it comes to climbing out of the debt hole simply by decluttering your home.
​

 
Take a look around your room. What do you see right now that you paid over $100 when you purchased it but aren’t getting that value out of it now? Can you identify just 5 items within your home/office that are unnecessary to routine living? I know you can, because we live in the age of accumulation. You’ve got stuff that you bought believing the promises that it would add value to your life, when all it did was add financial burden. Prepare to let it go, and put some cash back in your pocket!

My friend Andrea over at RichMamaLife is endeavoring to swap life in the corporate world to stay at home with her first baby. It’s a pretty big shift that calls for crafty income generating ideas. She shares her experience with Facebook groups here!

The point is, your stuff has value. Make it work for you!
​

I am often asked by my clients where to begin. Whether we’re discussing the entire house or just a pain point in the entryway, my answer is always the same. Start simple.
​
The greatest obstacle to tackling clutter is getting started. Sometimes the start is what stops us dead in our tracks.

For some clients, they’ve tried to start on one room (i.e., the home office/clutter catching room), but believe they need the staging area of another room (i.e., the garage) to hold all the clutter coming out of the first room. The excitement of reclaiming the space in the first room (i.e., office) is extinguished by the impossible task of the other space (i.e., garage), so the first room never happens. In fact, instead of getting started, the client is now doubly discouraged by the realization that two rooms need help, not just one.

The good news is, our clients don’t need that special staging area organized and beautiful before dealing with the pain point at hand. We don’t allow the start to stop them.

Instead, we hone in on that first space, identify the tasks needed to get clutter-free, and take the first real step to starting.

Do the easiest task first.

I’ve learned through the years that Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball principle holds true for ANY obstacle, not just clearing debt. He suggests that we begin with the smallest debt first, the easiest to pay off. The same holds true for decluttering and organizing. As we continue to work through the easy, our momentum increases. Our abilities are sharpened and we learn new ways to tackle the problems. The small snowball of completed tasks gets bigger and bigger as we progress down the hill, gaining speed and confidence!

The Snowball Effect is empowering for our clients. It provides confirmation that they aren’t lazy or slobs, but that life has happened more quickly than they have been able to keep up with. Seasons of life (i.e., moving, new babies, new jobs) and traumatic experiences (i.e., loss of loved ones, health and employment changes) can dramatically impact homes and offices. The once organized, tidy, and efficient person can temporarily become disorganized because of the situation at hand. Lack of time, energy, and focus all contribute to loss of tidiness.

But all of this can be reclaimed.

Whether you’re in a pretty calm season of life or just surviving, we can help you conquer the clutter. We have a 100% No Judgement Guarantee because we KNOW there is more to the mess than the piles. 
​
Your clutter does not define you.

January holds so many promises.

The goals seem so attainable. The new outfits we buy for our resolutions are fun to wear. And the best part is, we’re actually DOING IT! We’re working the plan, living the dream, making those resolutions a reality while looking like a rock star in that new Armani suit or snazzy Lululemon tank.

Then April rolls in.

The temperature is rising and the grass is growing like crazy. We really should be working on that resolution from January, but we’ve got to mow the lawn instead. Then there’s the kids’ soccer games, deadlines, and all that cleaning…

Spring! With all its demands, the season takes priority as those post-holiday resolutions are left to die in the sun.
And where do we end up? Stuck. Frustrated. Disappointed. (And we’re gonna blame it ALL on Spring because she’s an easy scapegoat.)

The fact is, we lost our momentum. Our goals seemed to disappear among the clouds, making them impossible to reach. Eventually, we will give up and simply make-do until next winter; when January comes around and reminds us of how “stuck” we’ve felt the last eight months.

Is it possible to avoid this annual paradox of deeply desiring to move forward but stalling out every time? Is it possible to do things differently this time around and win?

Absolutely! We can find success with EVERY SINGLE RESOLUTION with just TWO easy steps.

• Step 1 – Find a Vision. Clear, measurable goals will help us SEE success over time. Understanding our goals and breaking them down into manageable, bite-sized pieces will keep us focused throughout the process, even when Spring comes knocking. Our success will ratchet up as the months pass, encouraging us to move forward.
• Step 2 – Find a Friend. Accountability is one of the greatest forces for change. Whether our resolutions are something we want to do on our own (like building a website or cleaning out the garage) OR with others (like joining a gym or learning to paint), we need to find someone (like a colleague, coach, or community) that will consistently support and remind us of our goals and the small steps it takes to reach them. It’s impossible to go back to the way we were if we’re persistently moving ahead.​

Most people smirk when they hear about the professional organizing industry. Immediately following the smirk is the rhetorical thought, “Only hoarders need professional organizers, and hoarders will just go right back to hoarding, so who really needs them anyway?” But the smirks stop when they reflect on this fact: Hoarders need professional organizers, but so do the highly successful, highly motivated skeptics sharing that thought. Professional organizers aren’t just the people you call when you’re wading through shoulder-high piles of whatnots; they’re the people you call when you’ve got better things to do than…
​

• Researching practical methods for dealing with your clutter. Every person is different, and everyone processes their piles (no matter how big or small) differently. A professional organizer is schooled in a variety of methods so that you don’t have to try a thousand ways before you find the one that works best for you. Professional organizers also network with others in their field. They know exactly who to call when they’ve got question, while protecting confidentiality.

• ​Brainstorming creative ways to effectively and efficiently store the items you use and love. Almost anyone can find a “spot” for “anything.” A professional organizer will take the time to assess the frequency and location of use so that the item(s) are stored accessibly and intuitively. There’s a reason most everyone stores hot pads next to the oven; professional organizers can transfer that same concept to EVERY item in your home or office, with consideration to your personality, background, and current stage of life.

• Productively paring down and organizing your belongings without the distractions of Memory Lane. Sure, the average person could find a post about how to declutter their home in two weeks, but would they be able to stick with it from start to finish? Would you? A professional organizer has one main goal: to help YOU reach YOUR GOALS. Their focus is entirely on YOU. They are not distracted by the yearbooks, family schedules, or the other commitments you’ve got on your calendar. They’ll work to get the job completed.

• Maintaining your organization systems so that clutter stays off your radar. Hoarders AND non-hoarders, chronically disorganized AND temporarily disorganized, ALL PEOPLE need to work to maintain their environments. The law of decay says that everything on earth, every organizing system in place, will move toward disorder. Some people will have to work harder than others to maintain a clutter-free environment, but professional organizers can provide the steps needed to achieve success for every situation.

​So what are those “better things” you’ve got going on, instead of doing all that stuff above? How about…

• Having your friends over for dinner, instead of stressing out over how you’d never be able to disguise the mess.
• Going to your child’s soccer game, instead of worrying about the stack of overflowing bills.
• Completing your work assignments, instead of wasting time searching for missing supplies.
• Enjoying a relaxing evening with your spouse, instead of arguing over who needs to straighten what.
• Finding the insurance papers, instead of wallowing about the house damage.

Professional organizers, simply stated, impart freedom in a quick, easy, and discreet manner. They support your lifestyle through sorting, discarding, organizing, and maintaining your belongings. Whether it’s the jam-packed closet, littered toy room, hidden desk, congested hallway, mountainous laundry, flooded email, or sea of paperwork, professional organizers are poised for the challenge.

One of the best things you can do for yourself is exercise your imagination. Stretch it daily. Take it for walks. Don’t forget to give it lots of good food to eat. A few of my favorite foods for thought come from Pinterest and Instagram! Those apps are chock full of inspiring designs and helpful tidbits to positively influence a vision for your space, regardless of whether it’s home or work.

You’ve come to our blog (and continue to read these words) because there is at least one space in your life that just isn’t the way you want it to be. You know you want something different, but you’re not sure exactly what. All you know is that you want something fresh, light, efficient, etc. You can determine what you want and hone your vision by asking yourself these three questions:

1. What is the function of this space right now? If we’re talking about a spare bedroom, your answer may be “Storage Room”; if it’s a kitchen, your answer may be “Food Prep.”
2. What do you want the function of this space to be? Your answers may alter slightly to “Home Office” or “Food Prep and Entertaining Areas.”
3. How do I want the room to look when it’s functioning exactly the way I want it to? “Clean lines; uniform colors; clear desk with easy to access filing system; a place for every supply and document” or “Bright white upper cabinets with dark grey lower cabinets; large island with seating for 5 that branches out to the living room” will surely get you on your way with image searches!

Be specific. Write your answers down. Imagine how your space will feel when it’s exactly like you want it. Bask in the awesomeness. You’ve just found your vision for that space.

The statement I most commonly hear from clients when asked what they want for their space is for it to look “put together like a normal office/house/bedroom/______.” This is a GREAT place to start! Developing your vision for a particular area will guide your decision making process as you evaluate each item currently in the space. If an item doesn’t HELP the space move toward your vision, then ultimately, it’s holding you back. The item could be relocated to another place in your home that might make more sense (like putting the extra toilet paper under your bathroom sink instead of in the corner of your dining room), or it could be removed (donated to a friend or mission, returned to its original owner, or tossed). If the item is holding you back, but it carries deep sentimental value, use your imagination to brainstorm ways to display or honor the object somewhere in your home or office. Don’t simply hide the item in your attic; doing that will add to clutter. If you truly love it, then you’ll want to display it. If you don’t want to display it, then you don’t love it as much as you say you do, in which case, it’s time to let  it go. 

​So what happens when you give your vision the green light? This week, I had the privilege of working with a highly motivated apartment dweller. She knew what she wanted, but she wasn’t sure where to start. We began with the easy categories and it wasn’t long before she was firing decisions left and right for every item in her living room. Her vision motivated her work. It was tiring, but the result after just a few hours was amazing. The space she’d been dreaming about was starting to take shape! 

Is there a space that just isn’t what you want it to be? Do you know what purpose you want that space to serve? Are you using your imagination to envision a changed space?