Is it a goal of yours this summer to organize and clean out your garage? 

Maybe you went in to pull out the lawnmower last week and wanted to run away screaming as you looked around at a disorganized mess that’s gotten completely out of control. 

Maybe you set out to do it last year only to find that come that first snowfall, your car still didn’t have a spot to live… 

An organized garage provides a home for your cars (think less scraping ice off windows come winter), easy access to lawn tools you need, and a safer way to store things that could potentially be flammable or hazardous. 

Getting the garage organized, however, can be a daunting task. Garages can often be a collecting ground for years of stuff. Some of it, you may not even know what it all is or why you have it. 

Cleaning it out can take an entire weekend if you decide to do it all in one go. If that’s your style, plan ahead to ensure you have a weekend and good...

Stock photos with perfectly positioned succulents, a delicate array of paperclips strewn just so, and a pristine computer desktop don’t tell the whole story. Neither does an office or workspace that has stacks of papers, projects, and to-do lists strewn about. (BTW that is my own linen closet above: Before messy and organized, After neat and organized)

Think about someone you know whose office is a disaster but when they need to find something, they know exactly where it is and can find it in a matter of minutes! Conversely, someone who has a clean desk and a neat and tidy office, which looks beautiful on the outside could be the very same person missing deadlines, searching for what they need last minute, and wasting time because they can’t ever find where they stashed anything! 

We want to believe that the before and after pictures of disorganized spaces that magically become organized are the answer. We think that just cleaning up our workspaces...

Efficiency and Productivity often get used interchangeably, but while they go hand-in-hand, they’re not one and the same. 

What’s the difference between being efficient and being productive? And which one should we be striving for? 

Efficiency is producing something without excess waste in time, materials, or energy. Productivity on the other hand is simply the amount generated.

Productivity is doing the right things, while efficiency is doing those things right.  

I use the word productivity often in my marketing and with my clients, and it’s a big buzzword amongst entrepreneurs, organizations, and business owners. But efficiency is what we’re really all after. 

Truly fulfilling productivity comes when we are efficient and doing LESS to accomplish MORE. In order to be efficient though, you need to be productive first. 

It’s confusing, I know. Bear with me here. 

Once you have...

 One question I get asked often is how to get other family members to declutter… 

“My wife has too much stuff”

“My husband is a packrat” 

“My kid is a hoarder” 

“Can you come help, JoAnn?”  

I’d love to say I can just show up, wave a magic wand and fix it all for you or that you can just toss it all when they’re not looking but this is not the key to lasting change and it’s not kind nor appropriate to take matters into your own hands when it comes to someone else’s belongings. 

What to do with their stuff is not your decision to make. 

So, what CAN you do? 

Start by Being Honest with Yourself

I’ve shown up to many consults and heard someone blaming another member in the household for the clutter, disorganization, and overall stuff. Be honest and ask yourself how much is actually yours. How much are you contributing to the clutter? So...

You’ve tried, and tried, and tried. Maybe you feel like you’re on an endless cycle of motivating yourself to get organized, getting everything “just so”, and then watching it all go to shambles as the clutter and overwhelm build right back up in just a few short weeks. 

You’re not alone. I hear this a lot from my clients and I’m going to share with you the three most common culprits I see holding people back from staying organized, in my work as a Professional Organizer. 

You’re Just Organizing Clutter 

Good organization is all about giving you back your productivity, efficiency, and peace of mind. I don’t want you wasting your time, so I’m going to share with you my number one principle of organization:

You cannot get organized until you simplify and declutter. 

Otherwise, you’re just organizing clutter. You need to begin by getting rid of things first. All of the...

Whether you own a business, are an employee, do your own taxes, or have a CPA, this blog is for you! 

The holidays have long since melted away, the forms are starting to roll in, and the taxman cometh soon! What I find with many of the clients I work with is that they are disorganized in general when it comes to their paperwork and when their tax stuff does start to show up… it just ends up in the flurry! 

Don’t worry, I’m here to help. 

Here’s a system you can use this year and stay consistent with throughout the year to ensure that next year is a breeze, stress-free… and maybe even FUN come tax time!

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for obtaining accounting, tax, or financial advice from a professional accountant. 

Designate Space for Taxes

Don’t mix in the tax paperwork with the daycare form you need to fill out for your kids!...

If you experienced what I did during the last two weeks of 2021, you probably had a social media feed full of friends showing off their plans to declutter, get organized, be healthier, and everything they were setting out to do in the New Year. 

Well, here it is February, and I bet a lot of those same friends have fallen off their wagons and are right back to where they started. 

It can feel overwhelming when we’re faced with a New Year - we’re marketed to in a way that makes us believe that if we’re not overhauling our lives in some way, we’re not fully taking advantage of this fresh clean slate that the date change brings us. 

While it’s exciting to think about making change, decluttering, and getting organized, it can also be stress-inducing to feel like you have to do it all at once. 

In this blog, I want to share how to create more lasting change by developing routines that add in new things in a manageable way. 

I...

Ahhhh… A New Year. It feels good, doesn’t it? That seems to be the consensus I hear in the entrepreneurial world, at least! 

People are feeling energized, excited, renewed, and hopeful about the year ahead. 

I also am hearing a lot of people who have the goal or resolution of simplifying this year. If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know I talk about simplifying a lot. It’s one of my three principles of getting organized: 

1. Simplify
2. Let Go of Perfectionism
3. Find Systems that Work for You 

A lot of people charge full speed ahead into the New Year with gusto, ready to get organized once and for all but they miss step number one which is… simplify. 

Most of the people I’ve helped want to skip straight to step number three and get those systems in place. But we need to begin with simplifying - removing what we no longer need and what no longer serves us PRIOR to...

Imagine for a moment that all your information is organized...

You can find everything you need easily and effortlessly. You pay bills on time, have systems in place to remind you when they're due, and as a result, you're more productive, peaceful, and prosperous.

An accumulation of paper and digital information can be the cause of a lot of stress and affect your financial health. If that's the case for you, read on as I share my seven steps to organize your paper and digital world and get you closer to living the calm, organized life you dream of.

You can easily remember these seven steps with the acronym CHANGES: Collect, Harmonize, Assign, Narrow, Group, Evaluate, and Systems

Step One: Collect

Collecting is very straightforward and very important.

Grab a box or bin and gather all the loose papers from all over your home into one spot. Make sure to include the papers in your junk drawer, office, kitchen, bedroom, living room, and yes, even your...

I recently came across an ad from a fellow Professional Organizer in which someone had made a comment, "Why would anyone need this program? All you have to do is take the things that cause clutter and throw them away!"

In this particular instance, I couldn't let the comment go because I wanted anyone who saw this post and comment to realize it's NOT always just that simple AND there is no need to experience shame if being organized doesn't come naturally to them.

Not Everyone Can Easily Let Go of Clutter

There's a lot of emotion tied to the stuff we have. Sometimes there's fear that you won't be able to replace something if you toss it. Sometimes there's a hesitancy to let it go for sentimental reasons, or because you worry it will upset someone else.

There are many different reasons, each of them unique and personal to us as individuals, that we might have clutter or be disorganized.

One of the first reactions people have when they start working with me and...