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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

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

Have you ever looked at your clutter and thought (or yelled): "I feel so overwhelmed!" "I don't know where to start!" "This is too hard! I can't do this!" I hear at least one of these from nearly everyone who comes to me for help with decluttering and organizing help. I have a confession: when I first look at a room (or whole house) full of clutter, I get overwhelmed...and I've been a professional organizer for years! But it only lasts for a moment - it really is true when I

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

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

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