Archive for the ‘How To Declutter’ Category

Actual Experience On How To Declutter

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 by admin

“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad”.

I say: “Knowledge is knowing how to declutter; wisdom is getting to it”.

I was visiting with a friend who has a lovely large home. She was telling me that they are blessed with an abundance of storage. Even though they have storage areas and she is ultra organized she said all of the boxes stored away had become an emotional liability to her. They weighed on her mind just having so much stuff. A lot of it was inherited things that she needed to decide what to do with.

She is an expert on organizing but until she came up with a plan on how to declutter she was stuck. She shared that she has taken one container at a time and the letters from her mother (who is deceased) she has placed in plastic sleeves and put them in a notebook she labeled and put on a bookshelf. She is writing her mother’s personal history and when she is through with the letters she will again declutter as she won’t need to keep all of them.

Do you have a secret on how to declutter?

Posted in How To Declutter, Memorabilia, Office/Paper Work | 4 Comments »

White-Hot Resolutions For Clearing Clutter

Monday, January 31st, 2011 by admin

The question I have been asking myself is: do I make New Year’s Resolutions? Here it is the last day of January and I have read this and that about making them and the percentage of those that break them. I am still wishy-washy on the subject. To do or not to do, that is the question.

Then I realized I did set two goals for this New Year, I just don’t call them resolutions. The first one is to keep writing articles, blogs, producing my web show and top quality visual workshops on clutter clearing , clutter control, how to declutter your home, and getting organized.  So far, so good, I have done all of these things this month. Hurrah!

The second one is to finish one project a month from the stacks (over 30 I am sure) in my closet and drawers that I have started in my quilting “career”. You probably know my passions are to organize (no surprise there) and to quilt. This month I did 10 projects. Four of these were “old” projects. Hurrah! It sure feels good.

And of course along the way I have done a lot of clutter clearing in my own home and in several other women’s homes this month.

So….have you decided to make some goals for the New Year? Have they included clearing clutter or getting organized? If so, make my site your organizing destination for tips and ideas and fun times for getting organized.

Posted in Clearing Clutter, Clutter Clearing, Clutter Control, Getting Organized, How To Declutter | 3 Comments »

How To Declutter—3 Effortless Tips

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 by admin

Show ‘N Share Tuesday……

How to declutter? One story at a time. It took me 2 ½ weeks but I did it! I had two boxes of Christmas stories and books. I used to have four boxes and a few years ago I paired it down to two boxes. I got a bee in my bonnet a few years ago to collect 25 really good Christmas stories. It got out of hand and I kept just any story—not just the really good ones.

This year I decided to only keep one box. How to declutter the stories and books?

  • First of all I read every story to see if I wanted it—what a concept. Can you believe I hadn’t read them before storing them? (Me neither) And I did the same with the books.
  • I did it a little at a time, every night I would read a bunch.
  • I kept going until I was done—I didn’t throw in the towel after a few days.

I am so happy I now have only one box to store which was my goal.

This is a good formula when you are asking yourself, “how to declutter my kitchen, my bathroom, my desk or other space”.

Posted in How To Declutter | 3 Comments »

Show ‘N Share Tuesday–How To Declutter Ribbons

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 by admin

BEFORE

I love wrapping presents. I used to want to work in a big department store at Christmas and wrap presents. This is before I grew up and saw how grumpy so many people are and impatient when having their gifts wrapped. I would be one of the fast wrappers and you would love me to wrap your gifts.

AFTER

But to the point—how to declutter your wrapping ribbons; it is as easy as containing them in plastic bags.

How do you declutter ribbons or other “things” in your home? Do you use plastic bags?

Posted in Crafts, Declutter Your Home, How To Declutter | 2 Comments »

How To Declutter The Painless Way

Thursday, November 11th, 2010 by admin

Thank you veterans for serving me, my family and our country! One of my very favorite parts of any parade is seeing the veterans carrying our country’s flag as we stand and put our heart over our hearts in respect to them, the flag and our country.

Today we have been shopping in second hand stores (between Atlanta and Asheville N.C.) looking for 100% wool skirts to take apart and use in our rug hooking craft. I tell you there are some nice, clean and well organized shops and then there are others who need to learn how to declutter.

On a more personal level, just because we have been given something from someone does it mean we have to keep it forever and ever? If we buy an article of clothing and we come to a point it doesn’t fit or we don’t like it do we have to keep it? If we just have too much stuff for whatever reason do we have to keep it in our closets, drawers or storage areas when it has just become the burden of clutter?

How to declutter drawers, shelves, kitchens or whatever is easier after evaluating what isn’t working for you and then setting goals to declutter so you can feel free and at peace with yourself and your home.

Posted in Declutter Your Home, How To Declutter | 2 Comments »

A "Humble" Idea to Declutter Your Home

Friday, June 18th, 2010 by admin

Happy Father’s Day Everyone!

This is my humility story (one of many). When I was in College I decided I would take a knitting class because it would be an easy A and it would be fun. I knew everything there was about knitting—I had even won a blue ribbon when I was in high school for a sweater I had knit.

Talk about teaching me a lesson in humility really fast! I knew next to nothing. I still remember that class and what I learned. To this day I have the notebook of samples and directions I made.

Do you ever get in a rut and think you know it all about how to declutter your home? I know I have fallen into this trap (as with my know-it-all attitude about knitting). There are always new ideas on how to declutter your home.
Declutter Your Home with Professional Organizer Marilyn Bohn

Posted in How To Declutter | 2 Comments »

Declutter Your Home Without Delay

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 by admin

My car broke down and a friend towed it to my mechanics. On the way back to my home I was riding in his truck and I put my sunglasses in the side pocket and then I forgot about them.

The next day I searched every place in my house looking for them and I concluded I had left them in his truck. I called his wife and asked her to ask her husband to look for them as I was sure I had left them in their truck. No matter how organized I am I lose my share of things and it is so frustrating to search for them. Anyway he said my glasses weren’t in his truck. Two week later he brought my glasses to me as they were right where I had left them. Now I have two pair of sunglasses.
Are there days you want to declutter your home because you are tired of looking for things? Do you have certain things you are always “losing”? For me it is my glasses. To solve the problem I bought a pair of reading glasses for every room in our home (even the utility room). And sometimes I still can’t find a pair. What is up with that?

Declutter your home by having more than one item that you always use. This helps to simplify your home and does cause less stress in your life.

Declutter your home with professional organizer Marilyn Bohn

Posted in How To Declutter | 3 Comments »

Show 'N Share How To Declutter A Kitchen Drawer

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 by admin

How to declutter a kitchen drawer with professional organizer Marilyn BohnShow ‘N Share Tuesday shows how to declutter a tiny drawer that was a jumbled mess and (we’ll call her Debbie) hated it. It is so small and there were too many things for the space.

How to declutter drawers of any kind:
•First take everything out

How to declutter a kitchen drawer with professional organizer Marilyn Bohn
•Evaluate what has to stay in the drawer
•Get rid of the things that won’t ever be used in a zillion years. (This was the 73 twist ties that came with plastic bags. Give or take a few.) Just because they come with the bags doesn’t mean they have to all be kept.
•In this drawer we removed all the knives and put them in their new home by buying a knife holder that fit all of her knives instead of just a few.

How long has it been since you declutter-ed a drawer?

How to declutter drawers with professional organizer Marilyn Bohn

Posted in How To Declutter, Kitchen | 3 Comments »

#1 Popular Tip To Clear Book Clutter

Monday, February 8th, 2010 by admin

Clear clutter with Professional Organizer Marilyn Bohn I love to read. (My favorite books are murder mysteries) I have to read every night before I go to bed no matter how tired I am. However the other night I couldn’t even get through one paragraph without dozing off. So I turned off my light and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was wide awake—what was up with that? I was irritated.

As a professional organizer I have recently worked with several families who also love books. They have books stacked all over their homes (and they don’t like it as these wonderful books create clutter).

At my book signing in Colorado Friday night half the people who stopped to chat about my book had the same problem—books everywhere that were creating clutter.

Here is an organizing tip on how to clear clutter books can create:

·Instead of a traditional night stand use an attractive book case that has cupboard doors to hide the books and yet has space on top for a lamp, radio, a book, glasses etc.

What do you do to clear clutter when you have books everywhere?

Get rid of clutter with professional organizer Marilyn Bohn

Posted in Get Rid Of Clutter, How To Declutter, Office/Paper Work, Professional Organizer | 1 Comment »

3 Tips To Happily Declutter Your Calendars

Thursday, January 7th, 2010 by admin

How to declutter your home, office and lifeAlready 6 days have passed in the New Year and you know what that means—we all have our new calendars.

My question is—what did you do with your old calendar? If you say you put it in a drawer because the pictures were so pretty and you couldn’t part with it—well, that just isn’t true! You CAN part with it.

If you don’t have a specific use for it this is how to declutter:

•Recycle it and you won’t even remember what the pictures were by tonight.
•Don’t get caught looking back through the months and getting all nostalgic about certain pictures and then keeping it “because you might use it someday”. That is another trick on how to declutter—don’t set yourself up for failure.

This photo shows the 4 calendars I recycled this year. I had two that are 2010 ones that I bought for $1.00. Since then I got two beautiful ones as gifts for Christmas. One was from my friend in England and the other one from my sister-in-law. So I recycled the ones I had purchased. The other two I used and enjoyed last year, I have no use for them so I am moving on.

•IF you have a specific use for a picture or two tear them out and file them where you can find them when you are ready to work on your project.

Learning How to declutter can be so simple…So, tell us—did you save or recycle your old calendars this year?

How to declutter your home, office and life

Posted in How To Declutter | No Comments »