Category

Control Clutter

Oct 02
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Situational Disorganization

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

What is situational disorganization? It is disorganization resulting from a new and different, sometimes temporary situation. This type of disorganization can be overwhelming, stressful and lead to feelings of anxiety. Some examples of situational disorganization are: Moving Divorce Death of a loved one Remodeling your home New baby Newly diagnosed illness I’m experiencing situational disorganization first hand because my kitchen is being remodeled. I moved everything out of my kitchen and the sitting area adjacent to the kitchen. I piled everything into my dining room so that I could still use my living room. The entry into the living and…

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Apr 11
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De-cluttering and Marie Kondo

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

Earlier this year I read the life-changing manga of tidying up by Marie Kondo. This is a wonderful story written as a comic book. Just in case you don’t know anything about Marie Kondo, she is a professional organizer from Japan. Her first book: The Magic Art of Tidying Up is one of the bestselling organizing books of all time. I had not previously read any of Marie Kondo’s books and just loved this comic book. The primary character is a young woman, Chiaki, who has a very cluttered apartment. Marie teaches Chiaki, through a series of lessons, how to…

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Apr 04
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De-Cluttering Method

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

I’ve been talking about and thinking about decluttering methods. I want to tell you about a decluttering method called the pomodoro -technique This technique asks you to set a timer for 25 minutes and then get to work. The idea is that you focus on one task for that length of time. When the times goes off, you take a 5-minute break. Get something to drink, stretch, do whatever you want for 5 minutes to refresh yourself. Then set the timer for another 25 minutes. If you haven’t completed the original task, go back to it and pick up where…

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Mar 11
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De-Cluttering

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

Messy Table with Blank Note and Tools at workplace, Top view There is an awful lot of talk going on about de-cluttering these days. We talk about freeing space, having less, doing more. Strangely enough advertisers use these buzz words to sell us more stuff. What do we really mean? De-cluttering is simply removing that which doesn’t belong in a space and either putting it where it does belong in your home, mind, life or removing it. Everyone, and I do mean everyone (even the most organized person) can use some de-cluttering from time to time. I have several places…

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Sep 20
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Clutter Tolerance

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

I was having a discussion with an organizing colleague and friend last week about our organizing businesses. This friend of mine, in addition to being a great organizing professional, is also an artist. She sees things with an artist’s eye. She has a wonderful way of placing furniture, objects, and pictures and making them enhance the room. It’s a real talent. Our discussion revolved around clutter, of course. We were talking about how some clients have lots and lots of clutter around them. These clients want to be organized. They know they have too much and need help figuring out…

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Aug 15
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Trash! Really?

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog
Miles on our morning walk     As many of you know, I love to walk my dog, Miles. He and I go out early every weekday morning for a 30-minute walk. Saturdays and Sundays, we usually go for a really long walk. This past Sunday, he and I were out for our normal lovely long walk. This walk takes us up into a National Forest. It is absolutely gorgeous. We’ve seen lots of deer, which Miles would just love to chase, and every now and then a fox! As we walked along the road, I felt my temper rising....
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Apr 05
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Do I Already Have It?

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

I read a blog post this morning from Joshua Becker, becoming minimalist, about shopping. He suggested that most of us have more than enough in our homes already. Joshua asks the reader to ask themselves ‘what if I don’t?’. What will happen if you don’t buy another pair of jeans? Think about how many you already have. How many pairs of jeans are enough? That is another question for another day. Today my question is: Do I already have it?  Sometimes we overlook things that we already have that can be repurposed to fill a different need. I was watching…

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Mar 23
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The Clutter Cost of Buying in Bulk

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

Shopping for groceries and other household supplies is expensive. There’s no denying that. The stores entice us with sale notices and the BOGO (Buy One Get One) stickers on certain items. I’m all for getting something for free but is it really free? When we buy in bulk, buy more than what we can realistically use, there is a cost to us beyond the actual monetary one. It is the cost of clutter. It’s so tempting to go to a big box store and buy lots of the things we use at a lower price point. It’s a great way…

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Mar 09
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Open Your Eyes!

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

Have you started your spring cleaning? Whether or not you have started this process I recommend that when you do you take the opportunity to really look at the things you are moving around. I think sometimes we are so used to our surroundings that we don’t really see what’s there. I know that I can walk through a room in my house and not really notice the space. Before you begin your spring cleaning spend some time in the room you’re tackling. Open your eyes and take a look as if you were seeing the room or area for…

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Feb 10
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Action Files

By Control Clutter, How to Organize Your Life Blog

Last week I started a series talking about the paper. Even though it’s possible to receive notices and statements via email paper is still a problem. Many of my clients complain about paper. Organizing paper, finding the documents they need quickly and efficiently, and eliminating paper piles are on the top of the ‘to-do’ list. While this is a problem for many it comes front and center around this time of the year when taxes are looming on the horizon. I suggested, last week, that you gather the paper from around the house and bring it to a central location….

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