Early in my organizing career, I was quoted in Cosmopolitan Magazine. I was tickled pink to be in a national publication. In that article, I was quoted as saying, “If you can’t see it, you won’t wear it”. I have restated that advice several times in my blog posts since then, most notably in See It and Use It and Remove Dry Cleaning Plastic. Of course I use it frequently with my clients. And now I have had the opportunity to experience it myself. As you know, I’m having renovations done in my apartment. For five months, my husband and I were living in our spare bedroom (formerly known as our da ..read more

Yesterday, there was a solar eclipse. It wasn’t a total eclipse where we live, but it was still pretty spectacular to watch. We were also fortunate enough to watch the eclipse back in 2017. And we were able to watch yesterday’s eclipse safely because I saved the eclipse glasses from 2017, and I knew exactly where I had stored them! Seven years ago, I knew that there would be another eclipse in 2024, and I didn’t want to face the uncertainty of not being able to find eclipse glasses. So I tucked each one into a Ziploc snack bag and put all three in an empty sunglasses case. I labeled it “ECLIPS ..read more

I recently wrote about mystery cables, which most of my clients have boxes of. But there’s another mystery item that seems to afflict most people, and that’s keys. Mystery keys collect in desk drawers, kitchen drawers, and receptacles of random stuff. There are a lot of possibilities as to what those mystery keys might open: Your old apartment or your old car. Your mom or dad’s home — but they are no longer living. Your best friend’s keys — but do they still live in that apartment? Your work keys from your last job – or was it the job before that? So many keys look alike. When we place a set ..read more

One of my favorite organizing products is the helper shelf. You may not be familiar with the term, but I bet you have seen helper shelves in action. Do you have different size dishes piled on top of each other in the cabinet but you’re tired of moving the smaller dishes every time you want to get to the larger ones? Then you need a helper shelf. It provides a higher surface for the smaller dishes but still gives you access to the larger ones. Here’s an example of a helper shelf: Helper shelves work in spaces that are much taller than the items you want to store. In addition to dishes, they ar ..read more

Last time, I talked about how much I love to use stuff up. This time, I’d like to address a related topic: stuff that never gets used up. When I work with clients, here are some of the most common places where I see this happen. In the kitchen: food that gets opened but doesn’t ever get finished. Or food that gets purchased and never even gets opened. In the bathroom: products that are used for a while but then get displaced by a different product. If the number of bottles of shampoo in your shower exceeds the number of people using that shower, then you know what I’m talking about. Space is ..read more

I love to use stuff up. It’s a great feeling to finish the contents of a container and then recycle or toss it, as appropriate. Now there’s one less thing cluttering up my cabinets! The things I love to use up fall into two categories: Things I use frequently. Things I use rarely. For things I use frequently, I generally notice that I am running low and have already purchased a replacement. So when I use up the old one, the new one is ready. Things that fall into this category are stuff like toothpaste, Tylenol, everyday makeup, and a box of 5,000 staples that I thought would outlive me. Fo ..read more

Last time, I wrote about how to identify different types of cables so that you can get rid of any cables you don’t need and downsize what you have too much of. (See You Have Too Many Cables.) This time, I want to write about how to prevent the madness so that you don’t have too many cables in the future. When you get a new device, take a few minutes to label the cables. If the plug is large enough, you can put the label on the plug. If the plug is too small, then put the label around the cable itself just before it runs into the plug. If the cable and plug are detachable, then I recommend labe ..read more

The type of work I do with clients tends to come in waves. Recently, I’ve helped several clients organize their drawers full of cables that were not in use. I’ve written about cables before, most notably in No More Mystery Cables and Got New Electronics? The cable situation has gotten even more complicated with the emergence of the USB-C connector. There were already too many cable options; now there is a dizzying array. Let’s cut to the bottom line. You have too many cables. The cables that you use all the time are already plugged in and either attached to a device or waiting to recharge ..read more

In my recent post entitled “When Decor Becomes Clutter“, I explained that I had removed the framed photographs from my living room to keep them safe and to prevent them from getting covered in construction dust while we are undergoing remodeling. One of the benefits of that exercise is that I can now see all of the books. As a result, I’ve been noticing a particular book that I’ve owned for a long time and that has been bringing tears to my eyes every time I see it. Let me give you some background. In 1979, the summer after I graduated college, I went into the hospital for some routine surgery ..read more

Ten years have gone by since I wrote my post entitled “Three Idiots“. It explains how surprised I was to put away a new CD on my shelf, only to discover that I already owned it. (If you want to know the meaning of “three idiots”, you will have to read it!) The CD in question was Ultimate Manilow, a compilation of Barry Manilow’s greatest hits. Barry Manilow was a huge favorite of mine back in my college days, but I probably haven’t listened to his CD since I bought it (the second time) ten years ago. Barry was back in the news recently because he has co-written a musical that made it to Broadw ..read more