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Tag: clutter

Simplifying Life — Why We Never Blog

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Book Cover: The Truth About Clutter

As I’ve told people for years, all clutter represents delayed decisions. If you want to know all of the fascinating details about why we tend to hold onto our stuff and delay making decisions, you’ll definitely want to get a copy of our book, The Truth About Clutter: Why Am I Holding on to This? I can tell you that I’ve held on to having a blog on our website for many years even though I seldom get around to blogging. That’s because I know the importance of having blog posts for website SEO. It also makes our site seem… read more »

That’s so trashy

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Trashy Lunch

I’ve always felt frustrated with the amount of unnecessary waste in the world. Whenever I buy one item from a store, or restaurant, and there is an extra 5-10 inches of paper on the receipt besides showing my purchase, it just sends me through the roof. That’s why my lunch experience yesterday inspired me to take a picture of the waste and post it here. This picture is from my lunch that I had delivered from Imo’s. When I unwrapped my sandwich, salad and soda, I stood back in amazement at the amount of waste there was just from that.… read more »

I love panini’s!

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There’s a great little place here in St Louis where I love to stop and grab lunch. I always order their roast beef panini, which comes with a bag of chips and their delicious salsa. It is one of my favorite things to eat. Because the restaurant is a distance from my home and it is rather expensive, I finally resolved to buy a panini maker so I could make myself a panini whenever my little heart desired. However, because I really make myself think about everything I bring into my home, I left the panini maker on the counter,… read more »

Dealing with unwanted gifts

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As much as you don’t want to admit it, many of you probably received gifts you do not want. It’s probably just as likely that you would feel guilty if you didn’t keep those gifts because you don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. As I tell my clients, most people will never ask or check to see if you still have a gift they bought you. I’m also confident that they never meant for the gift they gave you to be a burden. I am extremely proactive about getting unwanted stuff out of my house. I think you have to… read more »

Facebook was key in decluttering efforts

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If you want to declutter but you don’t want to see everything end up in the trash, or if you lack the resources to hire a professional organizer, rent a truck to move the big stuff or invest in a dumpster, I’ve got a great solution for you. I actually have to give all of the credit to one of my clients. She was sick and tired of all of the stuff in her house, cramping her style and she finally decided to take matters into her own hands. What she did next was absolutely brilliant. She began posting pictures… read more »

A gift doesn’t have to be stuff

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Don’t be sucked in by the great holiday sales you see this year. Sales can be a great thing, but not if they cause you to buy something you (or your family and friends) don’t need. Why not give gifts this year that won’t add clutter to your family and friends home or office? Think of some creative ways you can celebrate the season together instead. Make a decision as a group to combine the money you would have spent on each other and: Adopt a needy family. Shop for donations for your local food pantry. Buy gifts for women… read more »

Why is it so hard to let go?

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You’ve probably heard me say a hundred times that all clutter is delayed decisions. Well if we know that, why don’t we just make the decisions? We don’t make the decisions because we’re so busy that we don’t have time to slow down and think through why we are keeping things. Here are just a couple of common reasons that people hold on to things. (**In July 2016, I finished my book about this very subject which goes into even more in depth details and insight. Get your copy of The Truth About Clutter: Why Am I Holding on to… read more »

Did you just call me Fatso?

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About 7-8 years ago I found myself knee deep in depression. At that time, I didn’t realize that I had turned to food for comfort and happiness. By the time I realized it, I had put on 50 lbs! Needless to say, none of my clothes fit me anymore. I held on to those clothes though because I knew I was going to lose the weight and fit into all of the clothes again SOMEDAY. Since I had spent a lot of money on the clothes and some of them were relatively new, I wondered how I could just give… read more »

Ask yourself the hard questions

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If you’re like most people, you probably struggle with what you should and shouldn’t keep. Part of what professional organizers do is help our clients think through whether or not they should keep something by asking them a series of questions. If you jot down this partial list of questions and start going through your home or office asking yourself these questions for every item you have, I guarantee you’ll see that you don’t need, or even want most of them. What is this? What do I use this for? Do I really even use this? How many of these… read more »

Weed constantly

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A very big part of getting, and staying organized, is weeding constantly – everywhere. Rather than looking at your entire house or entire office and thinking how you have to weed all of it, break it down into manageable pieces. This way you can tackle it in little bits rather than thinking you have to give up an entire day to weed out unwanted stuff. Here are some simple ways of breaking down the weeding: Closets – Do just the linen closet. Do bedroom closets by doing just the shoes, just the shelf, 1/2 of the hanging clothes, etc. Bookshelves… read more »

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