My husband, Barry, and I decided last week to sell our house and move into an apartment. We have rented an apartment starting in July, which gives me a couple of months to go through our accumulated belongings and figure out what we want to move and what to do with the rest of the stuff. I love managing clients’ moves, but it definitely feels more overwhelming when it’s my own move I’m managing! We have lived in this home 23 years and we’re cutting our living space in about half, so I have my work cut out for me. I really want to avoid procrastinating on the decluttering. So I’ve set up a litt ..read more

I was delighted to be asked to be part of an article on GQ’s website titled, 6 Ways to Create a Healthier Home Routine This Spring. The article details six different ways you can introduce new, healthier habits into your life. I was interviewed along with four other experts in various arenas. I especially love item #4, with advice from Michael Easter, to remove barriers to getting exercise so that you make it easy to integrate exercise into your life. It’s a great, short read with some terrific advice. Check it out ..read more

This is the third in a three-part series of posts debunking the three excuses we hear most frequently from clients for wanting to keep items they no longer use or love. The series originally ran in January and February 2017 and I rerun it periodically. Part 1 (I might need it some day ) was published on March 18 and Part 2 (I paid a lot for that) appeared March 25. The third common excuse we hear for keeping an unloved or unused item is that it was a gift. This is a tough one. People tend to have a difficult time parting with items that were given to them. (As an aside, this has completely ch ..read more

This is the second in a three-part series of posts debunking the three excuses we hear most frequently from clients for wanting to keep items they no longer use or love. The series originally ran in January and February 2017 and I periodically run it again. Part 1 (I might need it some day) appeared last week. Stay tuned for part 3 next week. The second most common excuse we hear from clients who want to keep something they don’t use of love is that they paid a lot for that item. I get it. It feels terrible to let go of an expensive item that turned out to be a foolhardy purchase. But you kno ..read more

This is the first in a three-part series of posts debunking the three excuses we hear most frequently from clients for wanting to keep items they no longer use or love. The series originally ran in January and February 2017 and I rerun it periodically. Stay tuned for parts 2 & 3 in the coming weeks. When we work with clients on decluttering, we discuss their goals and motivations for letting go of excess. They understand that it makes most sense to hang on to meaningful items, not those that are sitting idle. Yet it’s not unusual for a client to want to keep an unused item that’s perfectl ..read more

I have been using a Bullet Journal to keep track of everything in my life since December 2021. I’m on my 13th handwritten journal. (I love B5 size dot grid journals. My current favorite is from Scribbles That Matter 120 GSM Dotted Journal – Pro.) I like making my Bullet Journals pretty without going overboard. I tend to write with a black pen but use a lot of Zebra Mildliner highlighters (I use both brush and chisel points) and Sharpie S-Note Duo for color when I need it. (Check out this October 2022 post about my bullet journals for more details on how I journal.) After careful trial and err ..read more

I’m tickled pink to congratulate my employee of four years, Beth Hunyar, on becoming a Certified Professional Organizer®. She passed the rigorous exam yesterday. This is a big achievement. In order to qualify to sit for the exam, an organizer must have 1500 paid client hours or 1250 paid client hours + 250 substitute education hours in the past five years. This is a solid credential that recognizes knowledge and experience. The CPO® credential was established in 2007. At that time I didn’t have the hours to qualify for the exam, but I took it the following year and became St. Louis’s first CP ..read more

If you’re like me, you have plenty of little organizing projects around your house. You look at them and say to yourself, “I have to organize that [fill in the blank].” I do this regularly and sometimes I’ll let the same little project go undone for months on end. And then when I complete it, it ends up taking very little time. That happened this weekend when I finally reorganized my underwear-and-sock drawer. The sock situation in my drawer had gotten out of hand and it had become a bit of a struggle to grab a pair of socks in the morning. All my socks were stored together, which worked toge ..read more

I’m in my 19th year in business. I consider my anniversary to be the day I joined NAPO, which was June 30, 2005. I am so fortunate to have chosen such a fulfilling career. I just reread this post, originally written in 2013, about why I became an organizer and why I continue being one. A decade later, all the reasons in this post are still valid and I’ll add another: It feels so great to have helped so many organizers get their start in their own businesses by working on my teams. (I now have employees, as well as independent contractors, and I’m thrilled they enjoy their jobs so much.) Peace ..read more

Over the years, I’ve been quoted several times in organizing-focused editions of Real Simple magazine and it’s always a thrill. I’ve loved Real Simple ever since it debuted in 2000. So I’m delighted to let you know that I’m included in the new issue of Real Simple Organizing Basics magazine. I’m part of a roundup of experts in an article called The First-Timers Club in which five experts “share their secrets for organizing success.” The other experts are Julie Bestry of Best Results Organizing in Chattanooga, Wendy Buglio of Wendy Buglio Consulting in Arlington, Mass., Schae Lewis of Mission ..read more