Based in San Mateo County and serving the San Francisco Bay Area.

I have always assumed that people who could benefit from organizing help know it, because they feel the stress and burden of being disorganized. But lately I'm becoming more aware that there are a lot of people who have no idea how stressed they really are, or how different life could be with a bit of organization. So I've come up with some questions you can ask yourself.

Most of the time…

• Do you feel like your home is a welcoming, safe haven when you walk in the door? 
• Are you able to fully relax in your home?
• Do you enjoy what you see in your home?
• Are you comfortable letting other people see your home?
• Are you comfortable letting co-workers see your workspace?
• Are you able to meet your commitments (or at least the ones that don't depend on other people)?
• Are you achieving your personal and professional goals?
• Are you able to pursue the hobbies and leisure activities you enjoy?
• Do you feel like you have enough free time?
• Are you spending the majority of your time doing activities you consider to be worthwhile?
• Can you find things when you need them?
• Are you able to keep up with the laundry so that you have clean clothes to wear?
• Do you eat a healthy diet?
• Do you pay your bills on time?
• Are you on time to work?
• Are you on time to appointments?
• Do you have time for exercise and regular health care?

How did you do? These are quality of life issues that I think a reasonably organized person can expect to enjoy, and everybody deserves to enjoy.

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After years of teaching kids how to take tests, I realized it's a perfect analogy for decluttering. We teach kids to do the easy questions first and finish as much as they can before coming back to tackle the more difficult ones. I encourage this approach with decluttering. I know this goes against a lot of conventional advice that says to "only handle it once" or "decide and be done," but I've seen too many people come to a decluttering standstill when faced with a difficult task or decision. I think it's much more productive to defer the hard stuff and plow through the easy stuff first. I tell my clients that if it makes your stomach churn, just set it aside for now.

With a multiple choice test, the process of answering the easy questions can facilitate your recollection of the more difficult material, making those questions easier on a second pass. It’s no different with clutter. Items that had you stumped initially may become no-brainers once you have dealt with the easy stuff. Dealing with the easy stuff first is like giving yourself extended time on the test. After whittling the clutter down to a few remaining items, you can box them up and store them out of the way for a while, until the right answer has time to emerge. In the meantime, you’ve made a visible improvement in your space!

But what if you can’t answer any of the questions on the test? There could be a few reasons for this. You may need some extra tutoring or help with your study skills. Maybe you have test anxiety and could use someone at your side to help you stay calm and focused. The same is true for clutter. Many people have no idea how to go about decluttering. Some have a hard time staying focused and are easily overwhelmed when facing the task alone. In both these situations, friends, family or professional organizers can teach the skills and provide the physical support to help you accomplish your goal. The key is to choose someone who will remain objective and non-judgmental. It should also be someone who will set aside his or her own needs and refrain from distracting you. As one client told me, “It’s really hard to focus on decluttering when my friend is telling me about her job search.”

Sometimes, people don’t do well on tests because they don’t care about the outcome. A good grade simply is not a priority. Similarly, people will defer decisions about clutter if they aren’t ready to make changes. This doesn’t indicate failure. Much like the young adult who flunks out of college, goes off to travel or work and then returns a few years later to get a degree, you might just need to wait until the time is right for you. My advice is to accept that and move on in other areas of your life. The clutter will wait.

But what if you aren’t moving on with your life? What if you feel the clutter is holding you back, and you desperately want it gone? This is when you need to get help! Call in your support team of friends and family. If they don’t help, call in a professional organizer. If you’re still not able to make any real improvement, or if you come to a plateau, you may want to consult a licensed therapist. These professionals can help you resolve any emotional obstacles or dysfunctional thought processes that are holding you back. This is your life, you deserve to pass the test!

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Getting organized is all about compromise. Nothing in life is perfect…not our homes, not our possessions, not our families and certainly not ourselves. It may seem counterintuitive, but after years of working with people struggling to be more organized, I believe the key is to let go of rigid standards and become more flexible. 

Being organized means successfully managing your possessions and the way you spend your time. It starts with a vision for how you want your life to be; and that’s usually the first place you'll need to make compromises. I’m not trying to talk you out of your dreams. I just want your goals to be realistic so that you can actually achieve them. For example, clients have told me, “I want a house that maintains itself,” or “I want a home that always looks like the magazine pictures.” Yes, these things would be nice, but they’re not realistic - at least not without a paid staff! It is possible, however, to develop systems and routines that allow you to spend significantly less time cleaning, or to store your belongings in more aesthetically pleasing ways. 

The next place to make compromises is when determining how much stuff your home can actually hold. Very few of us have enough space to accommodate all the things it’s possible to accumulate in today’s busy, consumer oriented society. You can start by compromising with yourself when making purchases. A “one in/one out” rule will prevent the growth of new clutter. 

If your house is already overstuffed, you will have to let go of some items that you think you’d rather keep. Be honest about which items actually get used regularly. Consider which possessions will move you toward your goals, and how many of them you truly need. For example, if your goal is to make your kitchen more user-friendly, keeping a vegetable scraper and three wooden spoons is reasonable. Keeping the apple peeler that looks like a vise and twenty assorted stirring utensils clutters up the drawer and frustrates you. 

Memorabilia and sentimental items also require compromise. How likely is it that those scrapbooks will ever become a reality? A few key mementos, stored in an attractive archival storage box will allow you easy access and keep your items safe. A garage full of kids’ artwork that is disintegrating under piles of old clothes and camping equipment won’t provide the happy memories you intend. 

If you live with others, then compromise with them is critical. Chances are it has taken you several months, or even years, to get to the point that you are ready to make lifestyle changes and get organized. Your family members, most likely, have not yet come to that conclusion. They may feel as if you are unilaterally changing long-established house rules. You will have more luck bringing reluctant family members on board if you identify common goals and start there. This might require you to put some of your own priorities on hold and instead focus on areas where your family is most willing to go along with you. A bit of patience now will lead to more successful outcomes in the future. Treating others with respect and being willing to compromise will keep them open to your suggestions. Arguments, insults and nagging will only make them more resistant. 

Don’t push others to get rid of things they aren’t ready to let go of, no matter how useless the items may seem to you. Instead, bite your tongue, smile and show genuine appreciation for any efforts your family makes, no matter how small. If you are anxious to do more than your family is willing to do right now, then focus on your own personal spaces and possessions, such as your nightstand or your side of the bathroom. When family members see the positive effects, they will often decide to follow your lead. 

Finally, to get organized, you have to compromise with yourself. Most likely, you can’t accomplish your organizing goals in one frenzied weekend. Build manageable amounts of organizing time into your schedule over the next several weeks or months. Celebrate each small accomplishment. Work on one new habit at a time and allow it to take hold before you start another. When you backslide (and you will), accept it as part of the process and put yourself back on track. And yes, you will probably make a mistake or two. Accept that reality and don’t let it impede you. Forward progress with the occasional mistake is still forward progress. Doing nothing because you’re afraid of making a mistake will only leave you with a bigger mess in the long run.

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Such a familiar old cliche, "A place for everything and everything in its place." I think it scares a lot of people because it suggests a very rigid, no excuses standard. Personally, I have relaxed the rules in my own home. Most of the items in my home do have their own place, but occasionally there are those unique items that just don't seem to "fit" anywhere. My way of assigning a place for them is to create "homeless shelters." These are designated spaces where I put things that don't have a logical home. My shelters are a dresser drawer in my bedroom, a shelf in a family room cabinet, a cubby in the sideboard in the dining room and a shelf in the garage. 

In my family, the "everything in its place" standard has been relaxed to "it's okay to leave it out if you will be using it again soon and it's not in any body's way." In addition, I have created what I call "holding zones" for things that do need to be out of the way, but are too inconvenient to put away at the moment. A covered basket on the kitchen counter and a basket on top of my filing cabinet are some of my holding zones. 

When I tell others about my relaxed rules, people often comment that relaxed rules would never work in their homes because anything left out would get lost in a sea of clutter. Their homeless shelters and holding zones would soon overflow and just add to the chaos. They are right. Relaxed rules don't work so well if you aren't already decluttered or if you haven’t developed a routine for maintenance.

It definitely takes some effort to get to the state where you can implement relaxed rules, but I want to dispel the notion that being organized means slavishly conforming to strict rules. A little bit (or a lot) of decluttering and instituting simple maintenance routines will allow you to be flexible and find the approach that works for you.

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Recently, a client asked me how it was possible to live to retirement age without having learned how to organize her home. She had been waiting a long time for her organizing skills to emerge, but it just hadn't happened. I told her that was like me expecting to wake up one day with the ability to sing or draw.

Unfortunately, not being gifted at organizing carries a lot of negative baggage that doesn't exist with not being gifted at singing or drawing. I can go through life never being bothered by my lack of singing and drawing skills. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'm terrible at both. But people who aren't naturally organized struggle with that reality on a daily basis. They have to work a lot harder to accomplish routine tasks and fulfill their basic obligations, and if they don't succeed, they experience a sense of failure. They compare themselves to their naturally organized friends and feel ashamed and inadequate. This unwarranted sense of shame prevents them from asking for help. As the situation gets worse, it becomes even more difficult to ask for help, and a vicious cycle is created.

So although I think it's sad, I'm not really surprised that some people never get to experience the peace of mind of feeling organized and in control. I hope that changes as more people become aware that it's not a character flaw to be disorganized, and there is specialized help available for those who wish to become more organized.

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New habits are easier to establish one at a time. Here is a list of fifty ways to lose your clutter. Choose the one that seems easiest, and start there. You can implement more when you feel you're ready. 

1. "Erase the Evidence" of your daily activities, or in other words, clean up after yourself!
2. Cancel any magazine subscriptions if you are more than 3 issues behind in your reading.
3. Never buy something the first time you see it. Give yourself a 3 day waiting period.
4. Set a limit for how much you will spend on non-essentials each month.
5. Keep a donation bag in your closet and in your laundry area. Feed it regularly.
6. Take all the stuff out of your kitchen, and put it in boxes in an adjacent room. Put things back in the kitchen as you use them. Seriously consider donating things that are still in the boxes after a month, or at least store them elsewhere.
7. Clear off one small area that you use often (bathroom counter, desktop, kitchen table, etc.) and make sure it is clear before you go to bed every night. Clear off a new spot each week.
8. Call the toll free number listed inside your catalogs to take yourself off their mailing lists.
9. Put a trash can and recycling receptacle in every room where trash and recycling are generated, preferably located along the exit path out of the room.
10. Always take something with you to put away when you leave a room.
11. Put a hamper wherever dirty laundry accumulates.
12. Spend at least 5 minutes a day creating and then maintaining a mail management center.
13. Take yourself off junk mail lists. A few clicks from this site and you'll be well on your way: http://www.recycleworks.org/junkmail/residential.html
14. When you get the urge to go shopping, go for a walk instead.
15. Clear a space of honor with a prominent location in your home and display some sentimental items that are currently stored away.
16. Spend an hour a week (at least) using and enjoying your craft supplies. See how long you can go before you run out.
17. Make your bed everyday.
18. Take all the stuff out of your bathroom, and put it in boxes in an adjacent room. Put things back in the bathroom as you use them. Seriously consider discarding or donating things that are still in the boxes after a month.
19. Spend 5 minutes every day putting things away.
20. Spend 5 minutes every day gathering things to donate.
21. Spend 5 minutes every day envisioning how you would like your home to look. Write descriptions and draw pictures. Include as many descriptive details as possible.
22. Develop an awareness of how you spend your time. Use a timer and keep a log to record how long it takes you to complete any task.
23. Spend the first 15 minutes of your day doing the task you dread the most or working on the project you've been avoiding, then revel in the fact that the worst part of your day is over!
24. Remove one knick-knack per week from each display area. Put them away to rotate with the seasons or donate them. Don't stop until you can't get used to how bare things look, even after a full week.
25. Fill a bag with trash every day as soon as you come home. Tell yourself that you're not "home" until the trash is out the door.
26. Establish a one in/one out rule. Make sure that you donate or discard one item for every new item you bring into your home.
27. Raise your standards: If you don't love something or use it regularly, don't keep it in your home.
28. Use an attractive container such as a wicker basket or linen-covered box to corral clutter that collects on your horizontal surfaces. Empty it when it gets full.
29. Pack up 75% of your kids' toys, and do an exchange every month or so. Notice how much better your kids play when they aren't so overwhelmed by too many choices!
30. Spend 5 minutes a day to choose 3 things you will accomplish the next day. Write them down wherever you will remember to look at them and then do them!
31. Clean out your car while you pump gas. Most gas stations have trash bins right next to the pump.
32. Create a launch pad/landing strip where you can place things that you need to take with you when you leave or put down when you come in.
33. Choose one item of clothing or one pair of shoes to donate each week.
34. Every time you're tempted to purchase an item that you don't really need, instead put the money into a fund to save for a pleasurable activity such as travel, tickets to the theater, a massage, etc.
35. Put things away during the commercials.
36. Take all the stuff out of your desk drawers, and put it in boxes in an adjacent room. Put things back in the drawers as you use them. Seriously consider discarding or donating things that are still in the boxes after a month.
37. Spend 5 minutes a day, or 30 minutes a week purging old files.
38. Find a clutter buddy and take turns spending an hour a week keeping each other company, either in person or on the phone, while you declutter.
39. Choose one book per week to donate.
40. Sign up for online bill pay.
41. Discard expired medications. Check your local community resources for safe disposal guidelines.
42. Create a household notebook to hold take-out menus, frequently called phone numbers, kids' sports schedules, team rosters, invitations and tickets for upcoming events, etc.
43. Host a monthly swap meet to exchange donation items with friends. Left-overs go to a local charity.
44. Talk to at least one person each week about your efforts to reduce clutter.
45. Take weekly pictures of your "clutter spots."
46. Gather all the items you are keeping that need repairs or work (such as shoes that need to be resoled or pictures waiting to be framed). Use masking tape and a marker to put an expiration date on each item. Schedule time to do the needed repairs, and if you haven't followed through by the expiration date, donate the items.
47. Spend 10 minutes a day to catch up on your reading.
48. Forgive yourself for unwise purchases and don't hold the items hostage, hoping they will make sense after another 5 years in your garage. Let them go and get on with your life.
49. Establish a daily 10 minute family ritual during which everybody picks up after themselves at the same time every day.
50. Choose one receptacle for your magazines, and purge when it gets full.

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Paper management is a scary topic for lots of people. Different types of paper need to be stored differently, depending on how long you'll need to keep them and how often you'll need to access them. Mail is just one of the various avenues that paper comes to us, and for the purpose of this article, it also includes papers that we bring home from events or that our neighbors, friends and family members bring to us. 

I think of mail as something that often comes in large quantities but should move quickly through the home, with most of it eventually being discarded. Managing it starts with  minimizing how much comes into the home in the first place. Click here to remove yourself from multiple junk mail sources. Think twice about bringing home flyers and programs from events you attend. Cancel subscriptions to magazines, newspapers and newsletters you don't read. Consider using online sources or your local library for some periodicals. 

Now, for the mail that still makes it into the house, you'll need a designated place to hold the important stuff and an easy way to get rid of the unimportant stuff. Once you get used to having a place to put things and you start to trust your system, you won't be tempted to just put it back down on the kitchen counter and shuffle piles around or stuff them into any available hiding place. 

I recommend the mail management center go as close as possible to wherever you like to sit or stand when you go through the mail. A small basket or in-box can hold the mail until you get a chance to go through it. Keep a trash bin or recycling receptacle at your feet, so it's easy to get rid of junk mail, bill inserts, extra envelopes and all those other extraneous pieces of paper that clutter up your view of the important items. For the papers you need to keep, it's helpful to separate them into categories according to what you need to do with them. I personally use a small desktop file with hanging file folders. Here are several options from The Container Store. Other options could be binders with pocket dividers, expanding folders (make sure to get one that can stand on its own), or a literature sorter. 

The goal of the mail center is to act as a filter and temporary holding zone for all papers that come into your home. It is not intended for long-term storage of important documents like birth certificates, medical records, past tax returns, etc. Long-term storage is a whole other topic.

Here are the categories I have in my mail management center:

• Phone Numbers: Rosters for schools, sports teams, etc.
• Events and Activities: Invitations, tickets, flyers for upcoming events, schedules for things I'd like to attend, etc.
• To Pay: Bills.
• To Do: Things I have to do or I will incur a negative consequence.
• Maybe Someday: Projects that I might do or purchases I am considering.
• Don't Lose This in the Meantime: Things I have to hold onto until someone else takes action or until something else happens. This is where I might keep paperwork regarding a credit card dispute if I am awaiting a call from the credit card company. I also keep papers here that I know are important and don't seem to fit anywhere else.
• Toss It Once It's Done: Things that I only need to keep for a short time, such as receipts for relatively inexpensive items during the return period; or copies of rebate forms, which I can toss once I get the rebate check.
• To File: Things that need to be filed away in my archival or working files. (Archival are things I rarely need to access, working files are those that I access several times throughout the year, but I don't need them to be at my fingertips.)
• To Shred: Things that need to be shred.

Of course, categories need to be customized for the individual. If you're having trouble coming up with categories, go through your mail and consider what you will do next with each piece of paper, when you will need that paper again, why you should keep it or who it should go to. You will probably start to see categories emerge. It's also appropriate to create separate categories for an individual project such as research for an upcoming vacation or home remodel. 

If all of this still seems too overwhelming and categories just aren't your thing, you can do something as simple as three bins labeled, "Needs Action Soon," "Needs Action Eventually," and "Maybe Someday;" or whatever makes sense to you as a way to separate the very important, time-sensitive papers from the not so important, not time-sensitive papers. If the bins aren't too full, you can stack them inside each other until it's time to sort, so they take up less surface area.

Notice that I haven't mentioned anything about "only handle it once." Once you have acted on a piece of paper, you may be able to toss it, but often additional steps are required. You may need to keep it handy for further action, file it for long-term safe-keeping, pass it on to someone else or shred it for security. These can all be done as individual steps and you can handle each paper as many times as necessary to get the job done. Your mail management center will keep your papers where you can find them until it's time for the next step. 

Regular maintenance is essential for keeping your mail center from becoming overstuffed and unusable. Schedule time for taking care of To Do items, purging papers that have become obsolete, and filing papers that will go to long-term storage. If you don't have a system in place for long-term storage, cardboard boxes labeled by year will do for now. Once things are in good working order, maintenance often takes less than 10 minutes a week - a small price to pay for living without piles and the fear of unopened mail!

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Contrary to popular belief, there are no paper police out there, waiting to swoop in and fine you for discarding paper. Much of it can be discarded immediately or within a few months of its entrance into our homes. There are numerous document retention guidelines out there, and I'll leave it to you to do a search and find them. Instead, I'm going to discuss why you would keep the paper.  Legal disclaimer - These are general guidelines and you should always check with your attorney or accountant to determine what is appropriate in your situation. Don't have either of those? How about your HR representative, insurance agent, real estate broker, banker? If all else fails, almost all paper has a phone number on it, so call and ask to be directed to someone who can answer your question. 

Okay, here are the four reasons you might need to keep a piece of paper:  

1.  Taxes - If it documents any form of income (wages, interest, dividends, capital gains, etc.) or a claim (charitable contribution, capital losses, deductions, etc.) declared on your taxes. Speak to your tax preparer to figure out exactly what documents are important for you, and how long you need to keep them for your particular situation.

2.  Proof - If you need to prove something. Often, just one piece of paper can settle major disputes and establish our rights in a given situation. Here are some of the things you might need to prove:

• your identity
• that you are married or divorced
• that you have custody or visitation rights
• that you paid the bill
• that you are insured
• that you were insured at the time the incident occurred (keep old insurance policies for as long as it's still possible to file a claim against them - check with your insurance company to see how long this might be in your situation).
• that you are a citizen or legal resident
• the terms of an agreement
• that you are employed
• that you have access to the funds
• that you graduated
• that you own your home
• that you own your car
• that you paid for the merchandise
• the value of the contents of your home

Keep the proof only as long as you might need to show it. Once the need to establish proof is gone, so is the paper! Also, you only need to keep the most recent and up-to-date document that provides the proof you need, so unless there are outstanding disputes or tax consequences, then the most recent bill that shows the current balance is the only one you need. 

3.  Convenience - Consider how difficult it would be to access the information if you were to throw away the paper, and how important the information is in the first place. Medical records are examples of important information that could be inconvenient or impossible to replace. Instruction manuals are often handy to keep, but many, such as those for a simple blow dryer, won't ever be missed. Some papers may not be that difficult to replace, but they are referred to often, and it's very convenient to keep them handy. Phone rosters with commonly called numbers are a good example. 

Many other types of paper that we tell ourselves we are keeping for convenience end up causing us lots of inconvenience. Be honest. Would a half hour trip to the library or a five minute internet search really be less convenient than wrestling with drawers overflowing with outdated maps and travel brochures? Than shredding your cuticles as you rifle through files stuffed tight with magazine clippings? Than hurting your back moving bulging boxes of old college notes? Think carefully when you weigh the convenience factor against the amount of space and maintenance the papers will require.

4.  Sentiment - By all means, keep those sentimental papers that make you feel good and that you will actually look at and enjoy. But limit how many of these you keep. A few representative pieces are much more manageable and will allow you to enjoy your home and life now, as well as enjoy looking back at your past.

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