How to Declutter Your Home for Long Term Success

Are you ready to change your cluttering ways? 

Have you just had ENOUGH of the mess, enough of the chaos? 

Enough of the disorder? 

Tired of being late? 

Fed up with not being able to find the thing you need when you need it? 

And not being able to find the thing you need when you KNOW you have it….somewhere?

Maybe you have already tried to work through the mess. Maybe you got serious and got a friend or your family to help, but didn’t get very far. Decluttering is a tough business, especially when it is your own stuff!

And maybe you convinced your spouse you need to hire someone to tackle this job and just be done with it. Again, that is a wonderful step in the right direction!

But what if I said that all of my hired work, the countless hours of getting rid of a life accumulation of crappola, will only be a temporary fix?

Decluttering is only skin deep if you don’t make some other changes with how you work within your home, how you shop, and how you put things away. 

Trust me when I say the heaping mess will come back. Even if I wipe out 25 years of too much buying and too much stuff, the overwhelming clutter will come back if you don’t fix your mindset.

Your mindset is a crucial key to changing harmful habits and breaking the cycle of clutter.

-If you don’t stop shopping impulsively for stuff you don’t need...

-If you don’t ever take the 3 extra seconds to put an item back in its cabinet...

-If you don’t go through and sort your mail the minute you get it...

-If you refuse to cancel the magazine and catalog subscriptions you don’t read...

-If you don’t purge your basement of things you don’t ever use...

-If you save a memento of every single possible event in your life...

...The mountain of stuff will make its way back into your life.  It may take years, but it will all come back unless you make some changes to the way you do what you do.

This is why I teach you how to discern and identify the habits that are creating your clutter. I teach you to recognize perceptions about yourself and your belongings that are causing the stuff to mount. Plus, I help you see what systems are not working for you, and why so that we can find a better way that WILL work for you.

Even beyond the initial work, I help keep the calm in your home with our monthly maintenance and quarterly maintenance programs. Change the way you live by trying 👉one of my many services that will fit your needs.

5 Ways a Professional Organizer Can Banish Overwhelm and Help You Declutter Your Home

Decluttering can feel defeating. 

Many of my clients admit to feeling defeated when they try to declutter their homes. By the time they call me, they have failed to successfully downsize their stuff by themselves, often several times. It is not an ideal starting point.  

But here’s the good news: 

Clutter is not a character flaw or a moral failing. Feeling overwhelmed by clutter, and not knowing where to start is not your fault, and you are not alone in that emotion. The most important thing is not to beat yourself up about it. That won’t solve anything. 

You are not broken! 

What you are is busy. 

Think about how much you have going on in your life on a daily basis. You have your job, taking care of your children, being a caring partner, trying to eke out some personal care for yourself, keeping your house and yard clean, grocery shopping and cooking.  As you know, the list is endless! 

All of that means little time to declutter and straighten your house. 

What’s more, you are a product of consumerism that has been forced on us for decades. The latest and greatest gadgets must be ours because in one way or another we all just want things that improve our lives.

And in our pursuit of having an easier and more glamorous life, we purchase gadgets and garments galore. Eventually most of it gets abandoned, but not completely discarded. They sit in closets and cupboards and drawers, long forgotten. 

Perhaps you are someone who hates to waste money. You hate to throw things out, especially if you paid a lot for it. You hang onto that sweater because you spent so much on it, but it is just not your color.  

Now, multiply that by every other person in your household because, of course, your spouse and kids all have stuff of their own scattered throughout the house. All of a sudden, you’ve got a clutter problem that is just too much for you to handle on your own. 

And let’s face it, no one wants to spend their precious weekends rifling through their stuff and doing drop-offs at Goodwill!

But really, when we get to the heart of it, what makes downsizing such a challenge for people?  

Here are 5 reasons why most people have a hard time successfully decluttering their own homes, saying goodbye to their own possessions, and how a professional organizer can help with each: 

∙ Overwhelm: Simply the sheer volume of stuff can be so daunting. It’s hard to know where to start.  

The years of our lives often pile up in very physical and tangible ways. If you do not purge these things frequently – and by frequently, I mean monthly in most cases --  they will all accumulate quickly, making the task of decluttering tremendously daunting.  

No matter where you start, those first few minutes of decision-making and sorting seem like they will never result in an entirely downsized and orderly home. You want to see big changes fast, and that is not often the way it is with decluttering . . .  Unless you have a system. 

👉As a professional organizer, I have an abundance of tips and tricks to make decluttering efforts immediately impactful. You’ll feel good about the work you are doing to declutter and reorganize your home, which will keep you on the right track throughout the whole project. 

∙ Emotional Attachment: Psychologists have discovered something called “the endowment effect,” where people place more value on something they own just because they own it. But otherwise the items would not be something they valued. In other words, they only love it because it is theirs to own. 

For instance, think about the punch bowl you received as a wedding gift from your aunt. You probably have never used it, and it sits collecting dust in the storage room in your basement. You feel you should keep it because your aunt, now passed on, put a lot of thought into that gift from the heart.  

But would you buy that today? Is it serving you by taking up room in the basement? How is it less offensive to your aunt to keep it, gathering dust, rather than giving it away to someone who might actually use it? 

👉Going through each of these items is a lot to process so having a professional organizer with you can help you move through all these questions and emotions. Moreover, a professional organizer can help you find solutions for preserving some of your precious memorabilia.

∙ Focus and dedication: If you have a lot of clutter, decluttering your whole home will take some serious dedication. The amount of attention it takes might really stretch your abilities. From my years of experience in decluttering homes, it takes about four hours for people to grow weary of decluttering. Even the first few minutes can be tiring, especially when the sheer volume of work appears monumental. 

👉A  professional organizer will keep you focused and dedicated to the task at hand. In particular, a professional organizer breaks up the job into manageable sessions, and keeps you in the loop about the next steps. 

∙ Energy: Sorting through your belongings is draining and exhausting because making decisions is taxing. Having a professional organizer there to ask you leading questions can alleviate a lot of that self-doubt in your decision-making process.

👉An organizer will give you tasks that you can manage and cheer you on throughout the process, which will keep you motivated. 

∙ Assistance: What do you do when others in your family are not helping? Whether they refuse to help, are contributing to the mess, want to keep too much, or distrust hiring someone to help,  family members often can make the job harder. Decluttering an entire home is difficult enough, and when others in the house are putting up roadblocks, it adds another layer of challenges. 

I have had many clients who were willing to get help decluttering, but couldn’t get the support from their spouse to help out themselves or hire someone. For a few clients it was important enough that they paid for my services in cash and we worked in the home while their spouse was at work so it appeared they did it all themselves.  

I have also had clients whose husbands were very worried an organizer would throw out all of his stuff. Sound familiar? Fortunately, those husbands were converted to believers after just one  session.

👉As such, hiring a professional organizer alleviates all of these issues. As your organizer, I will  break down the scope of the work into manageable tasks, walk you through decisions, reimagine customized systems and storage solutions that simplify your life, and be the emotional cheerleader for you until the job is finished.  

At the end of each session, you will see the massive progress we made each day as I haul away all the trash and donations.

If you resonate with any of these top 5 reasons and you are hopelessly fed up with the mess, check out my blog post 👉HERE on my proven methods to declutter your home, and give me a call. Let’s see what we can accomplish together!

How to Declutter Your Life with this Five Second Game Changer

Take a moment to look around the room you are in right now. How many things are almost in the spot where they belong?

Such as, that hairspray on the counter sitting right above the cabinet where you keep it. Or the makeup quietly laying just a hand-length away from the drawer you *ideally* store it in. Or the dirty pjs crumpled on the floor right next to the hamper.

Much of our clutter, especially things out on flat surfaces like counters, are the result of not taking the 5 seconds to put them where they belong. It is riding the wave of “I don’t feel like going that extra effort to open the door of the cabinet to put this away so  I’ll do it later” mentality.

Which is fine, really, occasionally. But when this happens with 90% of the things you use daily, it quickly adds up to quite a mess. Then, everywhere you look, your eye cannot focus with the chaos of stuff and your mind feels overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning it all up.

Honestly, there are many tasks I do daily that I hate. As a matter of fact, my first impulse is to say, “Nope. Not now. I’ll do it later.” But I know I won’t feel like emptying the dishwasher later, either. It is a boring and tedious task, but it must be done.

So, here’s the game-changing trick. Before I even allow that impulse to take hold, I just start unloading it. And before I know it, it’s done. In effect, I did not allow myself time to think if I wanted to do it or not (because the answer will always be NO). 

For sure, unloading the dishwasher does take more than 5 seconds, but there are a multitude of tasks that take less than 5 seconds like walking an extra few steps to hang up your purse or sort through the mail.

Now, let’s dig into the mindset behind the behavior. These tasks, such as unloading the dishwasher or sorting the mail, are tasks you will never feel like doing. In your head, you are practicing what I like to call the “Should I or Shouldn’t I” debate. 

-Should I or shouldn’t I hang up my clothes right now? 

-Should I or shouldn’t I mow the lawn at this moment? 

-Should I or shouldn’t I get the laundry started? 

These are tasks you will never enjoy doing so the best way around this mentality is to just do it before the “Should I or Shouldn’t I” mind chatter starts.

In essence, just starting a task because you said you would makes for a lot less drama in your head. 

As a result, there are many fewer decisions, right? There will be no “should I or shouldn’t I” fold the laundry now. There will be no chatter and debate in your head because you will just do it without having the usual battle with your two brains. Mindsets can make or break the way you maintain the calm in your home.

If you’re curious to learn more about the four mindsets that lead to clutter, check out my series of mindset blog posts below:

👉Part I: Waste Not, Want Not 

👉PART II: An Item for Every Possible Occasion

👉Part III: The Memento Collector

👉PART IV: Stuffing Full Every Square Inch

Even better, to make longer tasks less painful or dull, pair the chore with some entertainment. By all means, add music, watch a video, listen to a podcast, chat on the phone to a friend, or listen to an audio book. 

So, before you leave that coffee cup out on the counter, stop yourself! Remember, this mini-task will take less than 5 seconds, so just DO IT. It doesn’t matter if you are in a hurry because the extra 2 seconds to put it away is not going to make a difference in getting to work.

If it takes less than 5 seconds to accomplish the action—DO IT without the mental chatter.

3 Proven Methods to Take Control of Your Life Again

You seem to have lost control of your life. Dishes are piling up and your dirty laundry and clean clothes are intermingling on the floor. You have simply no freaking idea what are in those 3 boxes in your closet, or where the heck the bread knife went.

-There are just too many distractions.

-Too many demands for your attention.

-Too much mail to be sorted.

-Too many emails and spam calls.

-Too many shoes by the door to the garage.

-Too many @#*! options to choose from at the Grocery Store!

What can you do to gain control of your life besides light a match, and run away under an assumed name, that is?

How can you SIMPLIFY your home, your stuff, your life, your brain so your shoulders aren’t up to your ears with stress and you can actually hear yourself think (AND finish a thought no less). How can you calm the chaos of life so you can submit that Permission Slip by the specified due date, have that lunch packed for the kiddo, and be on time to work?

The answer is get your space organized. Then get your systems created. And, last but not least, get your routines created. These are the 3 proven methods that I have helped numerous clients get their lives back in order and keep in order. I know, I know, I made a monumental task sound simple, but you and I both know it is not simple. But it IS possible. And luckily, it is something I ENJOY---Nay---LOVE doing for people.

While I FULLY believe ANYONE can LEARN to be more organized and even find joy in it, getting there is hard. First, you organize by purging, and through this process, you learn as you declutter.

How does purging items help with systems and routines? Because as you purge you are rehashing all the reasons you purchased, acquired, and kept things. You are examining what works and what totally does not work. You are evaluating what is meaningful to you and what you will never miss the second it is out the door. 

And from that, you will learn to shop a bit less, to think more thoughtfully, carefully, and more fully about an item before you buy it.

So how do you quiet the chaos and gain more control in your life? Declutter your home. Automate your routines, and find systems that make your life flow.

Organizing your home absolutely affects your daily living, and that is why I am here-- to help you do exactly this. From my years of experience as a professional organizer, I have seen so many client lives transformed from the simple, yet daunting task, of organizing their homes. I wrote a blog on how to get started with decluttering your home right 👉HERE.

11 Signs Your Clutter has Taken Over Your Life

“So, I might be a little disorganized. There are worse things.” (Like what?)

“This weekend, I’m going to straighten this place up!” (And then you find something a lot more fun to do.)

“I’m saving this bag of clothes for my cousin Sara . . .the next time I see her.” (You haven’t seen Sara in five years.)

“Those boxes that have been in my trunk for months are on their way to Goodwill!” (They’re just taking the scenic route. The one that takes six weeks.)

You have all the reasons for the piles of unorganized clutter on your dining table. And stacked in the guest room. And forgotten about in the garage.

But when is all this stuff really a problem? When is it clear that it’s not just a minor inconvenience or a personality quirk, but that it’s hampering your life, as well as your sanity?

Here are 11 signs that your belongings are now officially clutter and that an intervention is required.

1. You can’t close drawers. Whether it’s a bathroom drawer or one in the kitchen, if you have to push things down or rearrange items inside just to get it to close, it’s time to purge that drawer! Messy drawers in themselves are a minor annoyance, but when added to the other frustrations in your home, they pile on the chaos.

2. You buy things you know you already own, but can’t find them when you need them. If this is a repeated pattern in your home, you’re not only wasting money, you’re also adding to the clutter by buying duplicates. The simplest way to stop this from occurring is to have one dedicated space for everything so you ALWAYS know where to find something.

3. Your wardrobe expands to additional bedroom closets. Whether your closet is enormous or tiny, I promise you, you have far more clothes than you wear, need or even like!

4. You can’t answer with 100% certainty where the following items are in your home OR they have more than one likely location:

-  Batteries

-  A flashlight

-  Your kid’s bathing suit

-  Ponytail bands

Some items just tend to wander the house. If something lives in multiple locations, you probably end up rebuying things you already have. If something doesn’t have a clearly defined home or numerous homes within your house, you won’t know where to find them, you’ll spend more time and energy than is necessary looking for them, causing you to buy them again. You’re wasting money and time, and you’re adding to the clutter.

5. You’re paying for storage. Whether it’s renting an outside storage unit or paying to air-condition rooms in your home that are filled with junk, you are paying dearly for not being able to cut back to determine what you truly need and want.

6. You’re embarrassed to have people over to your house. If the main floor of your home cannot be straightened up enough to have guests over within an hour or two, you have a clutter problem that may require an intervention.

7. You have lots of items you should have returned but haven’t. Clothing with tags still on, Amazon purchases still in boxes, things sitting in bags next to the door -- This is all wasted money AND now additional clutter.

8. You keep things with good intentions, but fail to follow through. That treadmill that became a not-clean-not-dirty clothes hanger, those diet shakes that taste terrible but were supposed to help you lose 20 pounds, that book on knitting – You had the best of intentions for each of those purchases, but the reality is that it didn’t work out longer term. That’s OK; it happens to us all! But hanging onto something you aren’t using isn’t serving you either. In fact, it is probably adding guilt and feelings of failure to your life, and NOBODY needs that!

9. You can’t use spaces in your home for their designated purpose. Can’t park your car in your garage? Or host a holiday dinner because of the books piled on your dining table? Or have guests stay overnight due to a mountain of clothes on the bed? You have a clutter problem.

10. You don’t know where to start when attempting to tackle the task of decluttering. You immediately feel defeated because you don’t know where to start. The more clutter you have, the more impossible the task will feel.

11. And finally, the mess is making you feel bad about yourself. You feel frustrated before you even leave the house in the morning. Drawers that don’t close, seeing piles and boxes daily for months, not being able to find things you need -- These all add stress to your life.

Dealing with these things daily wears on your patience, self-esteem and mental fortitude. Some of these may seem like no big deal, but all of these minor frustrations add up over the course of the day.

Each time you notice one of these problems, an emotion arises tied to a negative thought about yourself that really takes a toll on your psyche. And when people feel bad about themselves, they often make bad decisions in an attempt to alleviate the discomfort, like eating a cupcake in the breakroom or having wine instead of water with dinner. The negativity can really steamroll your attitude about yourself, which then can have real world consequences on how you handle the day ahead.

If you are ready to rid your life of clutter once and for all, let me help you tackle your home organization problems – big and small – and get you on a path to a clear, uncluttered home and life. Shoot us a message HERE!