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Yes, you read it correctly, spring clearing, not spring cleaning. I first heard about it at an organizing conference in London, England. The idea made so much sense to me. We no longer have to do seasonal cleaning. Our homes are much cleaner because of high-efficiency furnaces, paved roads, washing machines, vacuum cleaners. Long gone are days of mud floors, dirt roads, open fires to heat your home and brooms for sweeping. Organizing and clearing your life on a seasonal basis will help you to maintain your home and lifestyle.
Activities
Clearing is a process that involves clearing out things you no longer need, use or want. It is also more than that. Clearing is about examining schedules, activities and commitments Activities change with the seasons and that affects your schedule. Some of those activities you may not be interested in anymore. Clear them from your life and try something new. Revise your schedule to suit your new interests.
Commitments
There might be a lot of commitments in your life. You might be volunteering, doing things out of guilt, or involved in things that are no longer a priority in your life. Look at all the commitments and clear the ones that no longer interest you, you have outgrown or can be shared or delegated to someone else. Use your time in a way that allows you to you feel, fulfilled, passionate about the cause and excited to contribute.
Spring clearing involves clearing out things you no longer need, use or want. Also clear out schedules, activities and commitments that no longer suit your life. Share on XPossessions
Clear items that you no longer need, use or want. When you’re decluttering decide how much is enough and start to let go of the excess. Make contributions to charities, sell items, and donate them to worthy causes. Don’t pass things on to other people unless they want them. Check first before you drop something off. Recycle broken, damaged or very old items. Keep as much as you can out of the landfill.
Download your Spring Clearing Guide
Here is a sheet to help you with your Spring or Fall Clearing, download it and use it as your guide.
Spring Clearing Tips
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. 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
Reading time – 7 minutes
Start by determining any special uses for the bedroom (e.g., home office, baby’s crib and supplies, etc.) Only have items in the bedroom that serve the purpose of the room. Remove all other items.
Closet
It is easy for bedrooms to become the collection spot for all sorts of items. Piles form. When you declutter the bedroom, start with your clothing. Hang up clothing in a closet or on a rack. Place other clothing in a dresser or on shelves. Keep the clothing you like wearing, you get compliments when you wear it and that suits your lifestyle. Have a place to put dirty laundry. Double your hanging space by installing a lower hanging bar. Add an extra shelf up high in the closet to store off-season items.
Neatfreak Hanging Expandable Bar
Under the bed
Under-bed storage containers are very helpful for oversized items or off-season clothing. You can raise your bed to create more storage by using bed risers to lift the bed up.
Raising the bed can make more storage space under the bed
Bedside stand
A nightside table with a drawer and shelf or cupboard will provide more storage than a table. The nightstands in a bedroom tend to collect clutter. Frequently clear off the surface and declutter the drawers. Decide what is important to have handy. Do you need a book, tissues, medication, a charging station or a water bottle?
Vertical space
Use vertical space to add more storage. An armoire or high-boy may suit your room better than a long, low dresser.
Doors
Use the inside of the bedroom and closet doors to hang items. Over-the-door rack and hook products accommodate shoes, jewellery, scarves, ties, etc. Try using a shoe organizer.
There are many organizing options for storing items on doors
Bedding
Reduce the amount of bedding to a minimum. Have 2 sets of sheets one on the bed and one extra set. If you need to store sheets in the bedroom try using the shelf in your closet. Fold the 2 sheets and pillowcase and slide them inside the other pillowcase. You have a nice contained set of sheets that are easy to store. Recycle sheets with stains and holes. Donate sheets you don’t use, that are the wrong size and mismatched. Have a lightweight blanket for warm weather and a heavy blanket for cooler seasons.
Cosmetics
Cosmetics can also pile up on bedroom surfaces. Use a container to store the cosmetics and make them look attractive. Try repurposing a silver chest. Check expiry dates, and remove expired items and products you no longer use. Try to relocate some of the cosmetics to the bathroom.
The brushes nicely fit where cutlery used to be stored in this repurposed silver chest
Jewelry
Jewelry is another area to consider. There are nice trays that can fit in drawers, boxes to sit on a dresser and wall-mounted cabinets to store the jewelry you use frequently. Go through your jewelry and make sure you still love it, it is not broken and it is clean. Donate or sell jewelry that you no longer wear, fads that have come and gone and jewelry that doesn’t fit.
Custom Designed Closets
I always suggest that you first decide how you will store things in your room before having renovations done. Once you know what types of shelves and spaces you need to hold everything you might want to get a custom build closet. It can be a wardrobe specifically designed to your unique preferences and individual requirements. This could include walk-in spaces, lighting, and multiple interior features. You can find out more about this level of customization by speaking with a professional contractor.
In most cases, the bedroom is used for relaxing and sleeping. Find new places for all the items that don’t belong and create a tranquil space. I think I have considered all the areas in the bedroom. Did I miss anything?
Let me know which tip you liked best and add your own tip in the comment box.
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 to manage 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 – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading Time – 5 minutes
People ask me, “Do I have a disease?” and I usually say, “NO, you have a M.E.S.S”. When your life becomes disorganized it is usually caused by one of four situations. If you are feeling overwhelmed, try looking at your M.E.S.S. this way.
Shelves make storing items easier
M – Mechanical
Clutter can be caused because you don’t have the right type of storage. It is a mechanical problem.
- A drawer may be broken,
- There aren’t any shelves to put things on
- There aren’t any closets
- Your containers are too small or too big or you don’t have any
Solutions to a mechanical problem are simple. Look at what you want to store in the room. Decide if you are a visual person and would like things stored on shelves where you can see everything. Maybe being able to see everything bothers you, it is visual clutter to you. You would want to store things in cupboards or drawers.
The next step is to decide what type of containers you need to hold your stuff. Some people like to have clear containers other people like to use colour coded ones and still other people like them all to match. Whatever type you like make sure they will fit on the shelf or in the cupboard or drawer and hold the items you are storing. Buy the containers after you know what is going to be stored in the room. Make sure it fits into your budget.
Samsill Pop,n Store Container
E. Emotional
- Some people are very sentimental and find it difficult to let go of things. Try to remember that it is the relationship that you have with the person that is important not the item they gave you.
- Depression makes it hard to have enough energy to make decisions and organize your items
- Anxiety can clutter your mind so you find it difficult to make decisions
The solution to this situation is more complicated. You need to discover your relationship with your S.T.U.F.F. You need to recognize that you have Simply too much and take steps towards realizing that. Next, Take Time to set your goals concerning reducing what you have. The U is for Underlying causes. Examine what makes it difficult to let go of things. F is for how you Feel about having stuff. Do you feel comforted by having things around you or do you feel overwhelmed by too much? The last F is for how you Feel about having less. Does the thought of having less make you afraid or does it feel like you have space to breathe? I can help you with this process book a chat with me.
S. Situational
There are things that happen in your life that can put you into a state of chaos temporarily
- Having a baby
- Moving
- Divorce
- Seasonal Celebrations – Halloween, Christmas. Passover,
- The end of school or the beginning of a year
- Renovations
The solution to these situations is to remember it is a temporary situation. When things get busy ask for help.
S. Systems
If you have systems in place for getting things done then the work becomes easier because you don’t have to think about how to do it, who will do it, and when it gets done. Develop systems for
- laundry
- meal planning and grocery shopping
- collecting the garbage and getting to the curb or dumpster
- gift-giving
- feeding the pets
- doing homework
The solution for this situation is to spend some time planning. Setting up routines doesn’t make you a boring person. It is the opposite. You end up with more time to be creative and do things you enjoy.
You probably don’t have a disease that is causing you to be disorganized just a mechanical, emotional, situational or systematic problem that is contributing to your temporary disorganization. Determine which is the main cause of your disorganization and your problems can be solved so you have a great S.P.A.C.E.
Which situation causes you the most problems?
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 – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Every year you set yourself resolutions, some you keep some you might not but if there is one resolution that should be attainable for everyone is the January de-clutter. In fact, there really is no better time to sort through, organize, and de-clutter than the post-Christmas holidays. You and your family have no doubt accumulated an awful lot of new stuff and you need to make room for it. Don’t let your new belongings sit on top of the old ones, use this time to donate the stuff you no longer use or need and make room for your appreciatively received new goodies.
How to start your New Year declutter
To successfully undertake a declutter you need to be organized with a plan and agenda, and you need to stick to it. Here are some ways to help you organize your decluttering.
- List your areas for decluttering; do not just wander aimlessly around your house opening random cupboard doors looking for inspiration. List where you want to declutter and start with the easiest area first or the area that bothers you the most.
- Have a deadline; decide on a time that you want each area decluttered by and give yourself sufficient time to do the work. It could be an hour, 10 minutes a day, or a full afternoon dedicated to one space. Whatever works for you.
- Develop a system; when it comes to going through all of your stuff put in place a system of what you are going to do with your items. A good place to start is by having four stations, donate/recycle, sell, trash, keep. Everything should go into one of these piles but your keep pile should be dramatically reduced. Remember if you haven’t used it in a year – donate it.
- Make sure everything has a place; if you are keeping it make sure it has a place to live and it stays there without causing mess or clutter. If it doesn’t have a place then make a place that is easily accessible and close to where you use it or don’t keep it.
Benefits of decluttering
If you still are not tempted to declutter, consider some of these benefits to help persuade you.
- Reduce stress and anxiety. Mess, clutter, and chaos in your home can have a negative impact on your stress and comfort levels. It can cause a sensory overload, you might feel embarrassed or stressed at the prospect of not knowing where things are.
- Easier to clean and tidy. With so much less stuff in the way, it will be easier to keep your home in order and keep things clean and tidy, which will inevitably make life easier when hosting and entertaining.
- Positive impact on selling your home. Having a clean, tidy, decluttered home will make selling your home easier. If listing your home is something you are considering doing a declutter is essential as all top realtors such as https://jenjewell.ca/ will conclude.
- Help to remove allergens. Dust, pet hair, and pollen can gather in all kinds of places and there is no better place than on tops of items sitting around taking up space and gathering dust. Getting rid of clutter should help to improve the airflow of your home and remove gathering dust and allergens.
If you need help with decluttering and organizing your home, purchase my online course, Create an organized home.
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 – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Start wearing outfits for the last time this season
Which clothing should I keep?
Find a decluttering style
- category, one category at a time eg. look at all your pants, then shirts etc
- as they wear them – you put it on, don’t like it, donate it
- spending a little time every day and removing a few pieces of clothing
- having a box in their closet and when they find something they don’t like put it in the donation box
- spending an afternoon or evening and going through all their clothes at one time
- one room at a time – you may have clothes in a number of places
Consolidate: only clothing in your closet.
Organize based on your activities
Organize a colour palette.
Decide what percentage of clothing to declutter.
Capsule Wardrobe
What do I do with the things I don’t need?
Did I miss anything? Now I’d like to hear from you.
Need help?
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 – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Reading Tim: 5 minutes
We no longer call it hoarding or call a person a hoarder. Now we refer to it as hoarding disorder and a person with a hoarding disorder. There is much more respect for the journey being travelled by the person with a hoarding disorder.
Much is still not completely understood about hoarding disorder. Is it genetic, is it learned behaviour, is it caused by a mental wellness issue that triggers it? Is it a combination of all of these?
Making Peace with the Things in Your Life
In Making Peace with the Things in Your by Cindy Glovinsky, she writes about the internal battles of guilt and shame and by making peace with those a person can make peace with their things. She talks about figuring out what is going on in the person’s life so they can figure out why they are doing what they are doing. Part I talks about assumptions, Part II looks at habits and feelings, Part III describes possible causes of dealing with things and solutions and Part IV looks at ways to detach oneself from automatic emotional responses that perpetuate cycles of clutter.
Cluttered Pearls The Stigma of Hoarding
This 2013 article takes a close look at the many different types of behaviours involved in hoarding. The information is still true today. I hope you enjoy this perspective written by Jean Oliver http://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2013/01/24/cluttered-pearls-the-stigma-of-hoarding/
Hoarding Scale
The Institute of Challenging Disorganization is a resource for many different types of organizational problems including hoarding disorder. They developed the ICD® Clutter-Hoarding Scale® that is based on five levels of clutter. 
Clutter Image Rating
The Clutter Image Rating scale (with 9 levels/photos) was created by Dr. Randy Frost and Dr. Gail Steketee. They are experts in the field of hoarding. Their books are a good resource.
Offering Help
A lot of times a friend or family member will offer help. Too often the person thinks it would be better for the friend with a hoarding disorder to have a less cluttered space. The help is usually offered in a well-meaning manner. If the person with the hoarding disorder is not ready to change, progress will not be made or if some is made it will not be a lasting change. Talk to them about what they want and need. It may be to join a group for peer support in conquering their hoarding habits, working with a therapist or working with a Professional Organizer. The journey of changing habits and conquering shame is long but worth the time, energy and support you can give them.
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments about your hoarding disorder journey.
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 physical activity 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. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Just because something brought you joy in the past doesn’t mean you should carry it forever. The possessions you keep should represent the person you are trying to become, not the person you were. Keep this in mind when you start your decluttering journey. As you start to let go of things it will become easier and easier. Here are steps to help you on your path to finding your treasures.
Planning the space
1. Decide what the goal is for the room. Is it to have a:
- Beautiful compact space
- Functional workshop
- Sense of freedom and control
- the Joy of financially exchanging stuff for new experiences and pleasures.
- Clear out a parent’s home
- Make things easier for the next generation
- Streamline your lifestyle
2. Decide what you want the room to look like and be used for. Draw a floor plan and make a list of activities that happen in that space. It will help you to know what to keep.
3. Decision criteria
Set up some questions to help you with your decision making. Here are some examples:
- How many of these do I have? How many is enough?
- Does the item fit in with my values?
- Is this item current?
- Is this item really valuable?
- Will owning this help to resolve my clutter?
- What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t have it?
- Can I borrow it from somewhere?
- Does it bring me joy?
- Do you need it?
4. How much is enough?
Look around the room and decide what percentage of stuff you need to give away so everything will fit into the room. 25% 50% 75%?
5. If you don’t schedule it, it won’t get done.
Schedule time and do it when you are not rushed. Do one area, room, box or even corner of a room depending on how much stuff you have to go through and your deadline.
6. Prepare the room for working.
You will need a series of boxes, bins, bags or containers. for garbage, recycling, donations, items to go to other rooms, and items to return to people.
5 Methods for decluttering the room
I’m going to go through a number of ways to sort through your items and you can decide what method works best for you. At first, decluttering is easy because you find items that you know you don’t want and just haven’t given them away yet. Then it becomes more challenging. You must chip away at identifying which items are true treasures versus those you feel guilty about giving away. Remember to reduce by the percentage you choose in your planning.
1. Have a box
The simplest way to start is to keep a box in your closet and whenever you find something you don’t need put it into the box and you can start decluttering right away.
2. Skimming
- Go to a closet/cupboard and select the best items in each category.
- Most cupboards/closets will have more than one category.
- For example, in a kitchen, the cupboard might have baking dishes, casserole dishes, muffin tins, and loaf pans. Pick the best 1 or 2 of each of these 4 categories and donate the rest.
- Continue to open each cupboard and drawer skimming the contents and selecting 1 or 2 items from each category.
3. Sort then declutter
- Go clockwise around the room sorting items into groups by function
- Do the surfaces first and then the drawers and cupboards next
- When you are done, the garbage and recycling will be collected and removed from the room
- All the items in the room will be in groups
- Each room will have different categories/groups of items. Here are some examples, books, electronics, tools, dishes, home decor, games, clothing, photos etc
Look at one category/group and apply the questions and percentage you determined in the planning stage. Start removing items.
If that method doesn’t work for you and you are keeping everything, try a different method.
4. Grouping
Keep the Best of the Best. Instead of thinking about giving things away, it might be easier to think about keeping the best.
- After you have sorted the room make sure you are keeping the best one. You need to see all of the items in one group together and keep only as many as you need or the percentage you set in the planning stage, keep the best ones.
5. Triage
- Gather all your items from one category
- Pick up the first three and remove the one you like the least.
- Pick up 3 more and remove one again
- After you have gone through the category/group you will have decluttered by 1/3
If you are sentimental
- Try taking a picture of the items so you have the memory and let go of the item go.
- Find a good home for the thing you are letting go of, they are still useful just not to you anymore.
- “Shrink it”, only keep one item from a collection instead of the entire collection, you will still have the memory
- Ask yourself, what would be best, having a number of boxes with large quantities of unsorted keepsakes or a carefully assembled box of very precious treasures?
Decluttering is about having a mindset of letting go and having less. Once you experience the joy of being unburdened from cleaning, organizing, buying, and repairing stuff you don’t need, want, use or like you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner. Enjoy the journey. Set your goals, develop your decision criteria and then begin decluttering your space. Share on X
Did I miss anything?
If you need help to start your decluttering project work with me virtually on zoom.
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
My guest blogger this month is Bryan Styles. Bryan is a life coach and a freelance writer with a focus on improving the quality of peoples’ lives. He puts all of his efforts and energy into educating people about how to overcome hardships and live a happier life.
We all live different lives, surrounded by different people, and interacting with different things. Everything in our environment leaves a mark in the long run. While we can choose who we spend time with, not many people pay attention to the space they live in. It often becomes something we all just get used to, be it due to a lack of finances, or simply a lack of options. The importance of our living environment is immense, and even a few small changes can make a difference in our lives. With that in mind, I would like to give an answer to one question – can organizing your space impact your mental health?
How confined spaces affect our mental health?
I have had a lot of experience living in a cramped-up apartment. Just my girlfriend and me in a single room that was at the same time the living room, the bedroom, the kitchen, and a small bathroom. At first, everything was fine. I always thought about how there are people who don’t have a roof over their heads or live in much worse conditions. I went with it.
However, after some time, I noticed that I was becoming more and more nervous. The apartment had to be cleaned and organized every day, which always took a lot of time, even though it was such a small space. If you skipped one day, things would start to pile up and soon we would be in a mess that caused even more tension. Living in that apartment felt more like work.
As soon as you start decluttering your space, you will feel how the tension and stress leave your body, piece by piece.
Nevertheless, once we cleaned it up and organized our stuff, I felt like I was a free man. There was this rush of energy and good feelings of having some free space around you.
It is a fact that our environment sets our mood. Organizing your space will impact your mental health, in many good ways. However, the road from clutter to freedom is a difficult one, and it does require a bit of planning and effort.
A few tips on how to get rid of clutter
While I don’t want to turn this article into a “How to clean your apartment” guide, there are a few problems that must be addressed:
- how to deal with a lack of space
- what to do with all the stuff you need, but don’t have enough room for
- how to not go crazy while decluttering your apartment
I want to give you a couple of productive tips and best practices I used a lot.
A small apartment will always be a small apartment
Living in a small apartment is not something you can fix by decluttering. Sure, you will get more space, but the apartment will still be small. It is important to understand this because you will have to make radical changes in order to avoid decluttering your place every few weeks.
The most crucial step in this process is to do extensive research on organizing small apartments or homes. Read articles, follow interior design blogs and vlogs, browse photos online, read interior design and staging magazines, and look for tips about handling the lack of space in your home.
The more research you do, you will start noticing a specific pattern. Living in a small apartment means getting rid of bulky items, and organizing your space in a minimalistic style.
That’s all fine, but I cannot throw my wardrobe to make more space!
Well, yes and no. When I talk about getting rid of bulky items, I understand that some things like closets, the bed, and the table have to stay inside. However, there is one thing you must realize.
You are storing everything in your apartment. Clothes for summer and winter, all of your electronic equipment, everything. While that is normal for a large home, it is virtually impossible to keep a small place organized while keeping everything.
My suggestion is to rent extra storage for bulky items outside of your home. You won’t pay much, but the space you will get will make a huge difference.
People are often overburdened with everything that happens in their lives. Having an organized living space will help remedy that issue.
Keep only the essential furniture and electronics, and move everything else to the unit. When it comes to clothes, you just need to have clean clothes for seven days. Move everything else to a storage unit, and you can pay a visit every week if you want to get new clothes.
Furthermore, if you have a rug, get rid of it. Sell it, donate it, throw it away, just move it out of the house. Cleaning the floor is much easier when there is nothing on it.
It is a bit of an odd strategy, but it works really well if you organize it properly. After some time, you will start enjoying the extra space, and you will start to notice the positive impact it has on both your physical and mental health.
Do everything with a positive attitude
Making these radical changes will be a difficult decision for some people. We all have a tendency to like patterns in our lives, and making changes often disturbs us.
Nevertheless, there are ways to turn this decluttering process into a fun activity.
Having a positive attitude is the most important part of living our lives.
First of all, you must start with a positive attitude. Keep in mind that, once you are done, you will feel a lot better. Second, listen to some music while you work. Music is important for our bodies and our minds. Third, get some help. Ask a friend, a member of the family, or your significant other to help you.
Finally, if you don’t want to do the heavy lifting yourself, you can always hire a professional to help you get organized.
Can organizing your space impact your mental health – YES!
Once you get rid of all the clutter in your apartment, you will feel an instant change. You will have more energy and motivation for anything you want to do. Remember, things are what you make of them. It is all about a positive attitude. And once you have enough space for yourself, you will feel as if you can do anything you set your mind to!Our environment sets our mood. Organizing your space will impact your mental health, in many good ways. Share on X
Virtual organizing allows me to support your organizing projects by providing planning, coaching and mentoring while both remaining safely at home. https://mindoverclutter.ca/virtual-organizing-services/
Book a 30-minute complimentary virtual organizing assessment.
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
For children of parents who hoard, the mess remains after their parents pass away.
Newsweek by Hannah R Buchdahl
“Greg Martin wasn’t sure what to expect when his mother died last May, forcing him to return to his childhood home for the first time in nearly 18 years. The house, located on a pleasant block in San Diego, had always been cluttered, but now it was virtually uninhabitable. “There were piles as tall as me, six feet or so,” Greg said. “Where there used to be floor, there were trails—a foot and a half high, so you’d be walking on stuff.” Greg was forced to navigate through piles of magazines, papers, and books, plastic bags filled with thrift-store purchases, expired medicine bottles and literally tons of clothes. The only “living space” was a small pocket by the front door, where his mother, a colorful and fiercely independent woman, had collapsed shortly before her death at the age of 83. Greg, who has taken a leave of absence from his job, expected that cleaning out the house would take six months. It’s now been eight—and counting.”
Relatives are forced to put grief on the back burner and the emotions that surface are usually anger, frustration, guilt and depression.
Books
This book can help you to better understand hoarding even if you are not a professional organizer.
Everything A Professional Organizer Needs to Know About Hoarding by Judith Kolberg
Clutter Scale
It can help to get information so you better understand the situation. You can download a clutter scale at https://www.challengingdisorganization.org/clutter-hoarding-scale-
ICD
ICDThe Institute of Challenging Disorganization also has resources available and a directory of Professional Organizers that can help a family member who hoards.
Share your stories with us in the comments.
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
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?
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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
