Blog

Advice from someone who's floated in the boat of overflowing photos. I've been a professional organizer for about 8 years and almost every woman I've worked with has a goal of organizing photos so they can be shared. With closets and garages and cupboards and rooms full of "stuff," having space and time for this can seem like a distant dream, but my Mum and I are living proof that photo organizing dreams can come true! Yes, it takes diligence and persistence. Yes, it can take

How to avoid making more clutter every time we walk in the door. There's a seemingly small but very powerful thought shift that can change the future of clutter in our homes and other spaces. How many times do we walk into a room with something in our hand, our minds going in a thousand directions, then set that something down in a random place? Mail, keys, pens, receipts, bags, books, wrappers, notes... "I'll just put this here for now" is often a background thought when we

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

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

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! Clearing the kitchen table is a big deal for health! If you can't comfortably sit at your table to eat, where are you eating instead? Do you get a zap of stress every time you look at your dining room table? What do you think this does to you on a cellular level when you get that zap stress zap over and over? If your kitchen table is a certified Scary Zone, you're not alone! It's often an easy place to catch all those "I'll just put this here

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

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! A client friend of mine recently cleared and organized her bra and underwear drawer and said, "It looks like a Victoria Secret catalog!" It may seem like a lot of time to spend on undergarments, but these clothes are the foundation of your clothing day and I believe we can start our days in a better way than digging through a jumble. If you're a bra and underwear wearer (the pandemic wasn't all bad - many boobs were freed!), I recommend tryin

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Socks may seem like such a small thing - why bother organizing them?! I said the same thing until I did it as part of my KonMari training. I finally made myself take time to match them all up and let go of holey ones, single ones I've been shifting around for ages, and ones I really never wear or like. Now I LOVE opening my sock drawer! I even have room between the containers holding different types to put a little sticky note that says, "Be

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Day 21 of the Spring Cleaning Challenge: Perk up Pants... If you have an overabundance of pants, today is for you! Gather a category of pants (jeans, stretch, black, pjs...). Choose your favorites - maybe try them on. Then, if you haven't already tried storing them upright and you use a dresser for storage, fold them and store them vertically like in the video. If the image above doesn't work, here's the link: https://vimeo.com/47121819

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Choose one hair care category to freshen up today in whatever way feels best to you! xo Spring Ready to make this real? Reading about it is one thing.   Actually transforming your home and life? That takes support, guidance, and someone who believes in you completely. I'm here.   Let's do this together. ➜ See How I Can Help ➜   Join the Declutter Club

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today's One Thing all things dental: toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, those little plastic flossing things...anything the dentist would be glad you use. If you don't have many dental-related items, maybe give their homes a good cleaning and make sure you're up on your teeth cleaning (Covid did a number on regular scheduling!). If you have a lot of dental items, gather all things dental in one place, put them into piles in categories (d

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today's One Thing is Makeup and Self Care Items. It's a great day to look through what you have and set your Future Self up for a pleasant get-ready experience. Choose the category you're going to focus on (Lipstick? Makeup brushes? All makeup?) and gather it alllll together. Put on your Honesty Pants and choose what you truly love and wear. Toss or put in a donate box what you're not going to keep. Choose happy homes for what you're going to

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! How do you store and use your candles? Are they ready to support your in an emergency? Are they ready to help you rest and restore, refresh and re-light? I used to save candles and old wax for the some day when I might make my own candles, and I used to have candles and candle holders tucked on and around all over the place throughout my home without much rhyme or reason. I was always amazed at how often I couldn't find ANY of the gazillion m

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today's One Thing is shower and bath supplies - any or all of them (this is your challenge after all!). Choose a category - maybe shampoo, maybe all cleansers, maybe soap...something manageable. There's also razors, lotions...anything bath or shower related you want. You can always do another category when you finish the first one - the important thing is to finish what you begin. Collect EVERYTHING in that category Choose the ones you love/u

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today's One Thing is first aid supplies... I did logistics for Outward Bound and have been an outdoor guide for 25 years, so I'm a bit of a first aid nut (just ask my husband...he's an EMT and he still laughs at me!). The most important thing with first aid isn't necessarily what you have, but that what you have is accessible. For true emergencies you're going to call 9-1-1 (or whatever your emergency number is for your country), so it's more

How to manage paper clutter one pile at a time... Raise your hand if you feel like papers are breeding when you're not looking! You're not alone - thousands of papers come into our hands each year, so it's easy for them to take over if we're not diligent about managing them. Add in backlogs that build up when we deal with disease, depression or a loved one passing, and it can feel like we're drowning (I know, I've been there!) To clear all the papers can seem like a huge, ove

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today is the day to free the shoes and turn boots into stand up citizens! Gather aaaallll of your shoes together for a little shoe party (or maybe it's a big party!) and put your Honesty Pants on to look through them. If you have a lot of shoes, put categories or colors together (dress shoes, boots, etc.), then ask your Self: do I love these? Do I wear these? Do I want these? Try them on with outfits if needed, walk around the house in them,

30 Day Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today is the day to go through mystery containers in the refrigerator and either lose them or label them. April's TidyWild Member organizing lesson is Life Begins in the Kitchen, with aaaallll my tips on kitchen organizing in connection with setting health and life goals, but today we'll keep it simple and focus on leftovers! Here's what I recommend: Take all mystery and unmarked leftover containers out of the fridge and freezer. Put on your