clutter Archives

Dec 05

Organizing Gift Wrap Supplies in 10 Minutes Blocks of Time

By Jonda Beattie How Long Will it Take to Organize X

I love prettily wrapped packages, but I so often find myself without as much time as I want to make that happen. So, when it is time to wrap gifts the last thing I want to pull out is messy gift wrap supplies consisting of wrapping paper, tissue, gift bags, boxes, and ribbons. It is almost time to wrap gifts that must be mailed. It seems like the deadline to mail gets earlier and earlier. If you are like me, you want to allow some extra time because that time is not guaranteed. Before starting my wrapping process, I took…

Oct 03

Decorating for the Holidays. Why or Why Not?

By Jonda Beattie What is Your Reason to Get Organized?

The holiday season is upon us. October has Halloween. November has Thanksgiving. December has Hanukkah and Christmas. Decorations start popping up everywhere – in stores, along downtown streets, in the Botanical Gardens, and in yards. How much decorating for the holidays, if any, do you plan to do? When my children were young, I decorated for every season and holiday. Macramé skeleton anyone? Now, not so much. Why do people decorate for the holidays? 1. Family Tradition They’ve always done it. Every year a family that I know gathers at Thanksgiving and makes an ornament that expresses something they are thankful for in the past year. Then this ornament goes back…

Aug 01

How to Shift Your Focus from Yourself to Your Stuff

By Diane Quintana It's All About You: A Personalized Approach to Achieving Your Organizing Goals

As a professional organizer, I often am on the receiving end of comments like: I’m so stupid, why did I let this happen? Or some people say: I’m a slob, I’m a packrat, I’m a collector just like my parents and things like: I’m so lazy, if I were not so lazy my house wouldn’t look this way. Can you relate? Do you call yourself out? What are the names you call yourself or the things you say to yourself? Are these things on repeat? Do these nasty phrases cycle through your mind over and over again? Shift your focus…

Jun 20

Why Clutter Hotspots Occur & How to Control Them

By Jonda Beattie What is Your Reason to Get Organized?

You have hotspots of clutter throughout your house, and it is beginning to really annoy you. There are three common clutter hotspots in most people’s homes: the laundry, kitchen and office desk. If you are like many people, the first thing you will do is to go out and buy some more containers to hold or sort all the stuff. Perhaps you get out one of your organizing books and decide your first step is to sort and purge. Maybe you call in an organizer with the hopes that they will make it all go away for you. Since you…

May 04

Clutter Support Groups: The 411

By Diane Quintana It's All About You: A Personalized Approach to Achieving Your Organizing Goals

Does clutter bother or overwhelm you and you don’t know what to do about it? Have you ever thought about joining a clutter support group? I am here to reassure you that almost everyone has some form of clutter in their lives from time to time. I am a professional organizer and even I have times during the year when one part or another of my home is full of clutter. Take the holidays, for instance. My family room, leading up to the holidays, can get cluttered with gifts, wrapping paper, ribbon, cards and holiday decorations. But I know where…

Mar 09

3 Reasons to Turn Away from Your Screens

By Diane Quintana Blog, It's All About You: A Personalized Approach to Achieving Your Organizing Goals

Screens call for our attention all day long. There is your phone screen, computer screen and the television all offering information and entertainment. We are so attached to our screens it can be hard to turn away from them. Our bodies tell us when we have spent too much time hunched over a screen. Our backs, wrists, shoulders all call out for us to take a break. I know it can be hard to turn away from your screen but here are some reasons to make it worth your while. Sleep better This article from the Sleep Foundation recommends removing…

Feb 16

Organizing in 10 Minute Blocks: Chest of Drawers

By Jonda Beattie How Long Will it Take to Organize X

You can accomplish more than you think in just ten minutes. In fact, Diane Quintana and I recommend using ten-minute blocks of time to take care of many routine household tasks. Today my 10-minute task is the top of my chest of drawers. The chest of drawers in the picture is in my spare bedroom. The door to this room is always open so as I walk down the hall, I see this chest of drawers every day. The “stuff” that has gathered here has appeared within the last month. There’s no question where it came from and now it…

Feb 02

Simple Strategies Need Simple Rules

By Diane Quintana How to Declutter: Use Simple Strategies

My mother used to like to say, ‘keep it simple, stupid – KISS’. She was right. The simpler the strategy the easier it is to follow. This is why the primary rule I follow in organizing with my clients is to ask the questions: do you love it? Are you using it? Is it beautiful – to you? When a client answers ‘yes’ to one or more of these questions then the object in question is something to keep. Sometimes people over-complicate the strategies they use to get organized by creating impossible rules to accompany the strategies. This can cause…

Jan 26

Organizing experts, Diane and Jonda ready for work

The Unvarnished Truth About What Organizing Experts Do

By Diane Quintana It's All About You: A Personalized Approach to Achieving Your Organizing Goals

Jonda Beattie and I are organizing experts. We approach organizing differently than some of our organizing colleagues. We are not the ones to call if you want your home to look like a magazine photo shoot. In all honesty, no ones’ home looks like a magazine photo shoot for more than an hour or so because people live in their homes. Naturally, pillows will fall on the floor, a cushion will be de-fluffed, and things will be left on kitchen counters. Life happens. We are the organizers to call when you are overwhelmed by life events, too much clutter, and…

Jan 19

Organizing in 10 Minute Blocks: Desk

By Jonda Beattie How Long Will it Take to Organize X

Keeping my office desk clear is a constant challenge. Ideally it should be cleared every evening when I shut down. Sometimes, I feel so used up that I just walk away from it. I do make a real effort to clear it on Friday before I leave the office but even then, once in a great while I am just too exhausted. Where does the clutter come from? It is important for me to understand how I let this happen. When I look at the desk, I see a lot of items that were taken out of my rolling work…

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