Hi and welcome! I’m a professional organizer in San Antonio, Texas with some not so ordinary tips on getting your life a little more organized right now. I don’t know about you, but all those lists of life hacks, organizing hacks, things we should be eating, not eating, and cleaning, not cleaning, wear me out. They have great intentions, tend to be very specific, short and sweet, but it is overwhelming to think I need to add more things to my “To Do” list. While thinking of how to approach this blog post, I thought and thought about what advice a professional organizer had to share that would help you spark some joy in your mind and in your spaces. That’s when it hit me. I spend hours and hours with clients undoing what they have done. The messes they have are often a reflection of what they feel inside. This can be anxiety, depression, it can be a battle with ADHD that limits their ability to focus on cleaning up one area for more than a few minutes. Whatever the reason is, for our spaces to go from clutter to clarity again it sometimes takes a professional organizer to help sort it out. Professional organizers work hard, entirely packed dirty garages to tidy, functionable-garage hard. We earn a client’s hard-earned money to undo their messes and while I love what I do for them, I may be able to save you from ever needing one just by tweaking the way you think about a few things. I am challenging you to create your Undo List with the help of some undo items below. My message to you this week, this month, and this year, is to spend some time undoing for yourself, so you don’t have to hire someone like me when you are overwhelmed. Here’s how... Undo item #1 In your space right now, you likely have 5-10 one-minute tasks that will undo the tension that comes with the burden of too much stuff being around and being too busy. Look around, I’ll wait… Does the mail need sorting? Does that broken toy need to be tossed, batteries replaced? Start a donate bag and add to it daily for a month to undo the excess. Can you go through one drawer and pull out what you know can be tossed/donated and nothing else for 1 minute? Go ahead, set a timer! Answer that one email that’s nagging you. That top shelf in the hall closet, find 2-3 things that can be moved on. Your tasks may look totally different, but you get my drift. Everyday spend some time tackling those tasks that literally take one-minute and undo them, roll them back to when they were not on your mind, nagging your anxiety, and get them off of that dreaded “To Do” list. Be a rebel! Undo item #2 I like to shop, and Costco is truly my second home. Don’t @me with your Sam’s membership because then we can’t be friends. When I come across a new treasure at Costco or anywhere that I think I must have, I make myself imagine the exact spot it will go in our home. No place for it, no purchase. If it has a place, I ask myself, how many times will I actually use it this month? This year? For it to come home, it must have a place, and a purpose. If I don’t think I’ll use it monthly (I’m looking at you waffle iron, Vitamix, and Himalayan salt lamp) it’s not a purchase to be made. Undo your clutter right at the source. Talk yourself through a few things to be sure it has a place in your home, has a purpose, and will enhance your life. Otherwise you are looking at money wasted, and time spent later trying to find it a new home with someone else or worse, sending it to a landfill. Undo item #3 The most common thing I hear about cluttered spaces is, “I’m so overwhelmed I don’t know where to start.” I will tell you where to start… the bathroom and laundry room. These spaces rarely have anything that is sentimental to slow you down, they are small, therefore relatively quick, and you can use the momentum from those areas to carry into other more important areas. Group like items together, all the lotions, make up, hair accessories, etc. Keep them together in bins by category. Toss anything expired or unusable. Always make 4 piles, a trash pile, a keep in this room pile, move to another room pile, and donate pile. Shelters and foster families can often use unopened toiletries, laundry soaps, etc. or make Kind bags (example below) with those items and pass out to homeless. Use drawer organizers and bins to put things back nicely and maintain it! Undo your clutter in these two spaces and carry it on to a bigger project later. Undo item #4 I cannot stress enough how important it is to have the right tools to stay organized. Those junk drawers in your kitchen, nightstand, and desk, need drawer organizers. These are game changers worth their cost because they undo a whole lot of frustration, save you time, and money. When you clearly store and can see everything you won’t re-buy unnecessary items. A big rule of thumb, once something is full (shelf, drawer, cabinet) you cannot buy anything else for that category. Don’t even think about it! ![]() A Lazy Susan is a great addition to your medicine cabinets, under sink cabinets, refrigerator, office and pantry. Find one that can be tossed in the dishwasher when needed. Use a partitioned one to store kids’ snacks, medicines, office supplies, and toiletries. You likely spend a lot of time in your kitchen. Shelf risers in your cupboards can save you headaches with your dishes. Undershelf baskets are a dream to store those top-heavy water bottles laying down. Over the door systems by Elfa can work for anything from wrapping paper storage to entry way drop everything station, to pantry. They are very customizable and almost always on sale in January and February! Undo item #5 Paper clutter is my nemesis. File cabinets are my kryptonite. While I love doing paper clutter for clients, I am always shocked at what people keep. Families tend to have a lot of their kids’ artwork, school papers, report cards, and projects saved for way too long. There are apps like Keepy that store photos of all those wonderful creations in a timeline for you to look back at later. You can also comment and share with friends and family. ![]() For the love of baby Jesus, undo your adult paper clutter. There are many programs that work securely to scan and store documents online, so you only need to host the bare minimum in your home. Some great options are OneDrive, Google Docs, and Drop Box. Here’s some practical but tough love advice for your relationship with your file cabinet {insert side eye}… Keep forever:
If you made it this far, thank you for reading my blog post! I hope you found some useful information to help undo what stresses your spaces, your minds, and brings back that spark of JOY! Get that Undo List started and watch your mind go from clutter to clarity right along with your spaces in just a few minutes a day.
9 Comments
Kayla
2/9/2021 02:18:58 pm
Great Article!
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scanned-document
8/9/2021 05:01:09 am
Incredible posting this is from you. I am really and truly thrilled to read this marvelous post. You’ve really impressed me today. I hope you’ll continue to do so! Also check into our site
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2/24/2022 05:13:05 am
It's interesting when you shared that professional organizers are capable of making a messy garage look neat and functional. Our garage has been untouched for years, so it needs some attention. I better hire a professional organizer since I don't have the time and skills to do it myself.
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10/17/2022 12:59:26 am
This is really cool read! Learned a lot when it comes to decluttering. I didn't know about this undo list. Keep up the great content!
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12/7/2022 08:17:18 pm
I enjoyed reading this! Very helpful since I'm planning to declutter soon. Thank you so much for sharing!
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Terri jamieson
11/8/2023 01:33:00 am
I truly enjoyed reading your post I have several areas with just plain clutter. The thing that gets to me the most is 2+rooms of clutter not including the garage and attic and storage unit! I don't have funds to hire an Yuri Penney suggestions?
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S Newman
11/20/2023 08:42:49 pm
While writing another book, not a sequel to "Silver Dreams," all my attention has been on that and the house has gotten short shrift. Now, every drawer, cupboard, closet, and cabinet is stuffed full. Your "Undo List" spoke to me. The book is now in the hands of the publisher, and I'm going to try to return the house to civilized state...with your blog's advice. Many thanks in advance. Sandy
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mayvelyn tolentino
4/13/2024 04:06:32 pm
thanks very much, because it is hard a lot of times discarding stuff that you've been cherishing for a long time.
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