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Most of us keep more than we will ever need. This costs valuable storage space, makes retrieval of the items we actually need more difficult and adds to the stress of daily living. The famous Japanese organizer Marie Kondo tells you to ask if the object sparks joy for you. If it does keep it, if not donate it. Sometimes that question doesn’t solve the dilemma if you should keep something or donate it. The following questions might be more helpful when you ‘re making those decisions.
For Paper:
- Are there any tax or legal reasons for keeping this?
- Can I easily get a copy elsewhere?
- Does someone else have this information?
. - Can I identify a situation in which I would ever refer to this information?
- Is it still relevant to my life?
- What are the implications if I didn’t have this?
-
Shred papers that contain personal information.
For belongings:
- Is it out of style, the wrong size or colour or mismatched?
- Does it still work? Do I have all the parts?
- When was the last time I used this item and when would I need to use it in the foreseeable future?
- If it is something I use rarely, could I borrow one from someone else?
- Do I use it often enough to make it worth the cost to store it?
- Do I have more than one? Do I need more than one?
- Has the collection outgrown the space or the container originally allocated to storing it? Has the collector outgrown the collection?
- Is it the best of the best?
Swedish Death Cleaning
A third way to decide what to keep and what to donate is conveyed in the Swedish Death Cleaning method. Ask yourself:
- If you died tomorrow, your loved ones would have to deal with everything you left behind. What would they really want to see left?
- Start thinking about the cost of holding onto things, instead of thinking about the cost of needing it one day and not having it. Share on X
Give yourself permission to let go of things. Don’t let the fear of making a mistake cause you to keep things you don’t need, love or use.
Tell us how you decide what to keep and what to let go
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices,coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Harold Taylor is a time management expert. He produces a monthly newsletter. Here is one of his articles. I hope you enjoy it.
Harold Taylor of Taylor in Time
Managing E-mail
Do you respond to a lot more email messages than you originate? Are you deleting emails unanswered or unread? Are you spending so much time reacting to email that you don’t have time for creativity, relaxation and renewal? If so, calculate your “Reactive Ratio.”
Reactive Ratio
Count the total number of email messages you receive during the day. Include spam, egroup messages and newsletters whether you still read them or not. Divide the total number of incoming email messages by the number that you send during the day. The resulting ratio should be as low as possible.
You can easily calculate this ratio if you don’t delete or move anything until the end of the day – even those that you have answered. The next morning, quickly count the total number of emails received the previous day as well as those sent the same day.
If the ratio is high, take action by cancelling newsletters that you seldom read, getting off groups you don’t participate in, placing spam filters at higher levels, and getting off mailing lists. Consider using a different email address for purchases to avoid spam. Question whether all incoming messages require a reply. For instance, don’t thank people for thanking you. Consider adding “No reply necessary” to many of your outgoing messages. And investigate apps such as “unroll.me.”
Control Outgoing Email
Your outgoing messages also consume time and generate incoming messages. So question whether a quick phone call is better. Don’t copy people who have no need for the information.Decide whether a quick phone call is more productive than sending an email. Share on X
Reduce the Total Time Spent on Emailing
Even more important than your “Reactive Ratio” is the total time you spend on email each day. Keep messages brief. Use text replacement software for longer & repetitive replies such as instructions or directions. Allocate specific times to check and respond to email. This could be one hour late morning and one hour late afternoon. If you can get by with less time, so much the better. But don’t fragment your day by checking email every few minutes or every hour.
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Share a hack that helps you to control the amount of time you spend on email.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
10 Quick Tips to Get Organized
Remember to donate items to charity and not put them in the garbage.
1. Set aside a specific time and stick to your plan. Schedule blocks of time from 15 minutes to two hours until the project is done.
2. Set the mood to keep your spirits up.
3. Take care of your body by eating well and drinking and drinking lots of water.
4. Start small, one area at a time, “inch by inch things are a cinch”
5. Put items in their proper place, like with like.
6. Stay focused, work in one area at a time and don’t leave the room.
7. Open mail daily.
8. File papers weekly.
9. Put new things away the day you receive them.
10. Purchase things only if you know what you will use it for and where you are going to put it.
Schedule blocks of time from 15 minutes to two hours until your organizing project is done. Share on X
Need some more tips download the booklet Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms ( top right corner)and join my newsletter list.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Why don’t I want to do it now?
Is it boring?
- Do it anyway and consider the consequence if you don’t do it.
Overwhelming?
- Break it into smaller parts and do one or several parts at a time
Do I only have small blocks of time available but want to do everything from start to finish?
- Change your mindset and make it a positive idea. Small blocks of time mean you only need to do a small amount of work
Am I tired?
- Be aware of your circadian rhythms. Each of us peaks at different hours of the day. Before and after lunch is usually a good time to catch up on mundane activities
Do I fear failure or that it won’t turn out perfectly?
- Fear of losing things,
- forgetting things
- not finishing things or
- doing the wrong thing can generate a lack of action.
How to be Successful
1. If you are easily distracted keep only one project on your desk at a time.
2. Give yourself a time span to complete a project and don’t let your mind wander from the task. Set a timer. When it goes off you change what you are doing or take a break and come back to the same task.
3. Try setting small goals and giving yourself rewards, a coffee, a walk, 15 minutes on Facebook, calling a friend etc
4. Think of how you will feel when the task is completed, pride, relief, satisfaction
There are more great ideas in a book titled “Don’t Agonize Organize Your Office” by Diane A Hatcher
Join Organizing Mind and Space to help you become intentional about getting things done.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
What are the causes of hoarding disorder?
Pile of misc items stored in an unorganized fashion in a room
Here is a good article on hoarding. Why do people like to live with so much stuff? There is no one easy answer. Some people feel it is part of a mental wellness issue and hoarding has been added to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Others feel it is a learned trait because they see it in families. Since people notice hoarding running in families they think it is a genetic trait. A person with a hoarding disorder once said to me, when the place was decluttered,” It feels like all my friends are gone.” Applying feelings of love and security to inanimate objects may also account for keeping stuff.
What is hoarding disorder?
Hoarding is not about being messy. Hoarding disorder is a persistent difficulty in discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. A person with hoarding disorder experiences distress at the thought of getting rid of the items regardless of the actual value of the items. Rooms and spaces become so cluttered that they cannot be used for their intended purpose. A person with a hoarding disorder won’t be able to sit at their table to eat, might not be able to sleep in their bed, may not be able to sit on their couch etc because they are filled with stuff. Hoarding disorder is a very complex issue. Seek out information and help to guide you through the process of letting go of things.
Hoarding disorder is not about being messy. Hoarding disorder is a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them Share on XWhere can I find some information?
You can download a Clutter Hoarding Scale from the Institute of Challenging Disorganization site (ICD). This association has many resources that the public can access. Go to https://www.challengingdisorganization.org/ Here is another link to the article http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/conditions/hoarding-living-with-the-overwhelming-need-for-stuff/article4395448
If you find yourself in this situation please contact me at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
I support continuing education for everyone in whatever field you are interested in. I know that you agree because you are reading blogs to learn more about organizing and to improve your skills. I continue to do that too.
I have attended some interesting conferences over the years .Conferences help you to expand your horizons, learn new information, meet new people, travel to new places and improve your skill set. Share on X
Association of Professional Declutterers and Organizers Conference
This is the professional organization in Britain. I attended a conference in London England. I had a chance to learn from and share ideas with Professional Organizers from Scotland, Wales, Dubai, the United States and the Netherlands. I enjoyed the sessions on Minimalism, Chronic Disorganization, learning about the brain- executive function system, making videos with your cellphone and becoming a better speaker. Not so enjoyable but very necessary was a session on the new information privacy policies in Europe which also affect us in Canada. At the conference, they were organizing their yearly Spring Clearing Week. I liked the idea of Spring Clearing instead of Spring Cleaning and started using this term in my information. We really don’t do a big spring cleaning anymore because our houses, furnaces, air quality and society are much cleaner. In the past, it was important to clean thoroughly after being shut inside with fireplaces burning, dirt floors, wooden walls, and unpaved streets. Now it is important to take control of the clutter that develops as we move from season to season changing clothing and activities. Clutter affects our well-being so remember to do spring and fall clearing. Lastly, the food was delicious and the networking fantastic.
Association of Russian Professional Organizer Conference
Association of Russian Professional Organizers
I was contacted to be a surprise North American speaker for their conference. We connected over Skype and they interviewed me about how I operate my business and how the industry of Professional Organizing runs in Canada. Russia is a big country. To give you a feel for the size, it has 10 time zones, Canada has 5 time zones. There were 84 participants from many parts of Russia and Japan. It was a fun experience and so rewarding to see their smiles and hear their gasps when I was introduced. The conference organizer would ask a question in Russian, the interpreter asked it to me in English, I answered in English, the interpreter translated to Russian and then the audience laughed. They run their businesses very similarly to the way most organizers in North American setup their businesses. They have the same difficulties as we do marketing effectively and getting clients. I was so excited to learn from their enthusiasm, joy and dedication.
Professional Organizers in Canada Conference
This conference was in Kelowna, British Columbia. The theme was Renew and Recharge. Many of the presentations built on each other. We started with a session about dealing with fears that hold you back from taking the next step. Write down your fears, determine how to overcome them and what steps you will take. This theme continued in a marketing session and a session on Minimalism about taking steps to change your lifestyle. In a session on bullet journaling one of the things that was touched on was about how to reflect on successes and failures. It was an interesting thread that carried through a number of sessions, accidentally. That year I went to conference as a presenter for the first time. It was nerve racking but rewarding and fun. I talked about how to make your office more productive, creative, inspired and healthy by making small changes to the workplace environment. Make conscious decisions about the type of lighting, paint colour, room temperature, drinking water, having plants in your office. Stop multitasking, use music to help you focus on tasks, identify productivity pit-stops, things that draw your attention away from the task you are doing. Apply good ergonomic design concepts in your office, get enough sleep, change your working position every 30 minutes from standing to sitting, change the type of task you are doing to avoid repetitive strain injuries and change the location of where you are working because your posture will change and that causes you to use different muscle groups. The food was fantastic and it was fun to start each morning with a yoga class.
Take a fresh approach to conferences
A common thread in my conference experience is great people, food and information. But going to conferences in your professional field may start to feel unproductive after a number of years. I took a fresh approach this year. Focus on the participants and share ideas and learn from each other. Watch how other people network and improve your networking skills. Look at presentations with a new eye and learn how to improve your presentations and speaking style. Conquer a fear, become one of the presenters at your national conference. It will help you grow in knowledge and expertise. Combine your conference experience with travel. I enjoyed traveling on the tube and exploring London, England and seeing the Harry Potter movie set. Kelowna is a lovely town to walk around, hike up a local mountain or go on a wine tour. Expand your horizons learn new information, meet new people, travel to new places and improve your skill set.
Tell me about your conference experience.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Looking for a Gift of Time to give this Holiday Season?
MindoverClutter.ca has 3 hour packages designed to help with any number of tasks in the home and office. Considering purchasing an:
Gift a gift of time to someone who is busy
- Income Tax Receipt Organizing Package
- Holiday Cleanup Package
- Streamlining Your Office Package.
- Organizing for the New Year
Packages can be designed to fit the individual needs of the person receiving the gift. Purchase your introductory gift package in 2024 for $160.00. Contact julie@mindoverclutter.ca to purchase your clutter free gift of time.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Join my Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading time – 5 minutes
Photo Credit: Bruce Mars on Pexels
My guest blogger is Haley Kieser of Zog Digital. She always shares an inspiring fresh approach to solving problems in your home.
Our homes are supposed to be the place we go and feel relaxed and inspired. Unfortunately, there are times when it feels very cluttered and closed in. After so much time, we can end up feeling sick of it. It’s time to get you to fall in love with your house again! You deserve an inspirational sanctuary that takes your stress away. Here are 5 ways to get there.
Decluttering
One of the biggest reasons why we feel that we’re getting sick and tired of our place is because we get buried in the clutter. Our home can be a representation of our minds. Therefore, we must professionally take care of both! We can start with professional organizing. The first step is assessing your clutter and really considering what you can let go of. This can be trash or receipts that are unnecessary. Once you identify the trash and trouble spots, you can move on to creating a functional environment that will work for you. Take note of how you feel once you take care of the decluttering. It’s like a brand-new home to obsess with, followed by a brand new you!
[Need help? Let us lend a hand. Read more about our organizing services.]
Painting
Photo Credit: Rawpixel on Pexels
After you’ve decluttered your home, you might be inspired to take things further. What better thing to pursue next than repainting your interior? Assess what colours give you the feeling that you desire and find the complementary interior colours as well. If you’re having a hard time trying to find the right colours on your walls, use your smartphone to visualize what different colours can do for your home. It might not be perfect, but you can get a sense of what it may look like after it’s painted.
Refurnish
Sometimes the furniture can be old and can drag you down. This can be a sign that it’s time to reassess some of your furniture. A new couch or table can reignite the passion for your home and have you looking forward to inviting guests or going home every day! Maybe try sprucing up your media center while you are at it. After all, the living room is where most households spend the majority of their time.
Kitchen
Photo Credit: Sarah Jane on Pexels
One way to get back into the groove of your home is by making it a place where you are excited to invite company. This can begin with the kitchen! The kitchen tends to be a place where most guests start their evening in your home. Whether it’s eating or sharing a glass of wine, you want conversations to be able to flow here. Creating an open environment with an island where you can sit with guests is where most would start. You can even start by changing up the cabinets entirely. The cabinets breathe a lot of life into a home.Small changes in your home, decluttering, painting or updating furniture can give you and your home a new vibrant feeling. Share on X
Smart home
The times are flying by – maybe it’s time to try to keep up! Getting a smart home is easier than you think and can be less expensive than renovation. Just start by picking up a smart assistant and placing it in your home. You can then ask the assistant questions and get instant answers. If you find yourself liking it, you can then dive deeper by getting smart lights, smart thermostats, and smart TVs. All of which will be commanded by your voice! Imagine turning on your television to your favourite Netflix show without having to grab the remote across the room. Pretty awesome, right?
There is a whole assortment of ways to tackle the stale image one has of their home. The most important thing is just trying. In no time the love for your home will be reignited!
Virtual Reality Apps
If you’re wondering what the changes will look like there are apps available so you no longer need to use your imagination. Technology is at your fingertips and is ready to assist. Augmented reality allows you to overlay computer-generated graphics (such as that sofa you’ve been eyeing) onto real-life viewpoints.
Here are 6 virtual ways to turn your decore dreams into reality. Rachel Cook of mymove says “These mobile apps will help you virtually outline your vision before you hit the ground aimlessly running-and most of them are free. Download away, then dare to dream. ”
Share one way you make a change in your home to it feels fresh and new again.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free from the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Clean your windows without leaving the ground
Need to wash your windows but you don’t want to spend the time doing it because the next rain will wash away the time you spent shining those windows. Try using a window cleaning product that attaches to your garden hose. First, you rinse the window with water then switch the setting to soap continuing to spray the window and then switch it back to rinse. You can clean your windows without your feet leaving the ground. One such product is Windex Outdoor Spray.
For cleaning the inside or outside of your windows try using Norwex cloths. You use water and the cloth, no chemicals. They do a fantastic streak free job. Norwex has many chemical free cleaning solutions. I have been using them since 1995.
Share the method you use for cleaning your windows.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Let go of the anxiety over missing information
Are you a digital hoarder?
Some people feel very anxious about missing some important news or information. They will save all kinds of articles, websites, reviews, newspapers etc. With digitizing information becoming so quick and easy now, many people are putting everything into their laptops, Dropbox, and cloud storage. Before you continue to save everything sort through it and keep what you need and love so you will be able to find it again on your device. If you have 11000 photos will you be able to share the one you want to find without becoming overwhelmed and frustrated? If you keep everything you will not be able to locate the information you want. Once again you will feel anxious. It started well worrying about missing out on information and it ends up with so much information it is useless. The anxiety is still there.
Read it and delete it
It is ok to forget things, in the past, you only remembered a few things that were important to you. Most things were forgotten.
File it so you can find it.
Make folders, files or date tabs so you can find things that you store. Delete duplicate and out of focus photos and file the best photos with a name on the picture. Use meaningful file names to help you set limits on the types of material you will store. Avoid file names like, to read, someday, when I have time, next month.
When it becomes obsolete delete it.
Your interests change, jobs change, where you live changes and the information you have collected is no longer relevant or of interest to you. You can search your files to find that type of information but that may take too much time, when you come across files that no longer interest you, delete them. It is ok. You are changing and growing and you are moving away from past interests. There are a lot more interesting things in your current life, you can let go of the 10 year old information holding you in the past and taking up your time. Look to the present and keep moving forward.
Avoid the temptation to save
Melinda Beck writes in the Wall Street Journal, “Nobody knows how many Americans have digital-hoarding issues … but the proliferation of devices, the explosion of information and the abundance of cheap storage have made it all too tempting for some people to amass emails, text messages, Word documents, Web pages, digital photos, computer games, music files, movies, home videos and entire TV seasons than they can ever use or keep track of.”
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
