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An organizing book for everyone by KC Davis. I recommend reading or listening to it, and watching her Ted Talk (link is below) (In a hurry? You can order the book here . I'll get a small commission - thank you!) I have to start by saying... THANK YOU KC DAVIS! This book is amazing! Listening to this book was a fantastic, mind-altering distraction as I prepped my cabinets for my kitchen remodel (and also reignited my tennis elbow). I feel like I've been waiting for her words

If the number of e-mails in your inbox stresses you out, here's what experts from Digital Helpmates, the Harvard Business Review and TidyWild Organizing recommend... This was the number of e-mails in my email inbox while I was taking care of my Mum until she passed away. I would open my e-mail and feel that number like a physical weight. I know I'm not alone - friends and client-friends often mention how frustrating and overwhelming it can be to have so many messages piling u

Persist in whatever is calling to your deepest self. And rest deeply. This poster hangs in my office/art room where I see it every day. Overwhelm and self doubt may walk into the room with me, but so does a persistent, consistent belief in myself, my beloved clients, the work we're all doing, and you (yes you). This week I realized it takes a village not only to raise a child, but to raise our Selves to their highest possible level. Amidst some deep exhaustion, I took time to

13 ways to stay sane and overcome sleep challenges Nearly every woman I talk over age 35 has sleep frustrations. I've had sleep challenges since I was about 35 - I often wake up 1-2 times a night. This used to make me freak out in all kinds of ways - some nights I'd have intense anxiety, some nights I'd be angry, some nights I cried with frustration. No longer! I tried just about everything to sleep through the night - here's what I found helps me. If you struggle with sleep

How to finish decluttering projects you start... After experiencing a fast and seriously gratifying entryway clearing with a client, I reflected on what helped us finish so quickly. Here's what I do for my own clearing and organizing and what I teach all my clients... 1 CHOOSE A DOABLE TASK Feelings of overwhelm often come from looking at a room or area and thinking, "This is too much, I can't do this!" Instead of looking at the whole room, choose ONE small task to do. Those

Once we organize a space, how do we keep it from getting cluttered again? 1 Stop buying unnecessary things It's not cheaper if it costs us our peace of mind. It's not a good deal if it adds clutter and stress. When shopping we can take an extra moment to think about our future selves and ask, "Do I really need this? Do I have a place for this? Does this serve the life I want to be living?" If this sounds overwhelming, doesn't all that stuff add up to be overwhelming later?

Let's all uninvite shame from the party of our lives, shall we? I have two of the neatest, cleanest people I know coming to my house today. I told myself I wasn't going to care, but this morning I found myself running around cleaning, tidying, tucking things away... And yesterday I went to a neighbor's house to talk about watching their pets and they kept apologizing for the mess, which I honestly did not see, promising to have it clean before I came to pet sit. Why would I c

How to use the word should as fuel instead of as a boxing glove to our brain. As an organizing coach I regularly hear people shoulding on themselves: "I should do that, I shouldn't do that, I should've done that years ago..." Here's what I think: This is my favorite quote - I keep it next to my desk in clear view Do. Or Do Not. There is no Should. Should is a word to hide behind, to procrastinate with, to show we see the problem but aren't willing to do anything about it. Sho

Is there a voice in your mind keeping you from being happy? Around the time I began working with life coaches and practicing meditation, a cruel voice jumped out from the noise in my mind. When I paid attention, I realized it was a nearly constant nattering, like a mosquito in my ear. Even when I thought I was doing my best, she'd say, "It's not good enough!" Even when I was giving it my all, she'd tell me "You can give more!" She'd tell me I don't do enough, have enough or l

Does your brain say, "This is too hard"? Here's a way to break through... Every day I coach people who at one time thought, "This is too hard!" and I see their homes (and thoughts) being transformed. And I coach myself on "this is too hard" allll the time... What actually is too hard is to do it ALL at once. When we look at our messes like a big puzzle, then pick ONE section to focus on, it's not so hard. Our brains have likely been figuring out the puzzle all along, we just

How to declutter cleaning supplies and move to simple, non-toxic options. Do you have more cleaning supplies than you could possibly use in the next 5 years? Do you get irritated every time to go to grab a cleaning supply because it's crammed in with a gajillion other things? Do you think about all the toxic ingredients in all those cleaning supplies but haven't taken the time to replace them? Do you wonder what to do with all those toxic cleaning supplies if you let them go?

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! This is in cahoots with my April TidyWild kitchen organizing lesson that I just released (SO excited! It's Life Begins in the Kitchen: organizing your kitchen to support health and life goals). The visual clutter of magnets can add to the overall feeling of clutter and overwhelm in a kitchen, and anywhere the fridge is visible. If your fridge is looking cluttered, I invite you to take everything off and wipe everything down with a damp clot

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! One option for storing sweaters (from knitter/blogger Kristen Rittig) In the Pacific Northwest we're experiencing our first warm, sunny days, so it's a good time to go through sweaters, pluck out what we didn't wear this last winter and make some space for the clothes we DO wear and love! This winter a client-friend asked me to share how I recommend folding bulky sweaters - this blog post by knitter Kristen Rettig explains and shows it beaut

A simple tip to get unwanted items out of our living spaces. The Donation Station is one of my absolute favorite simple clutter solutions! A Donation Station is a consistent, designated, easy-to-access but out-of-the way place to put things we come across on a daily basis that we don't want-use-need-love. How many times do we walk by, move, touch or look at things we don't want in our homes, garages, cupboards and closets? These items can clutter our physical and mental space

A few minutes decluttering can bring hours of relaxation I invite you to take time today (or schedule a time) to clear around your favorite place to rest - maybe it's a couch, a bed, the dining room table, the bathtub - anywhere you want to say "aaahhh." First, stand back and look at the space as objectively as possible, as if you were in someone else's shoes. Maybe take a photo - this is a great way to literally see through a different lens. The top two things I suggest ar

The One Thing Happy Life Recipe To walk into a room, step past feeling overwhelmed and choose ONE THING to do RIGHT NOW can be absolutely transformative. And it's not as scary as it might sound. When people reach out to me for help with decluttering and organizing, they often begin with, "I feel so overwhelmed!" and "I don't know where to start!" And when I'm with a client-friend and we walk into a room full of who-knows-what, or we open a closet door and a mish-mash pops out