I live in a condo so I don’t have an expandable closet. I envy the people I work with that seem to believe their closet will expand as they add more clothes to it. Mine unfortunately stays the same size. Since it’s not made of rubber or whatever my clients’ closets are made of, I like to practice the rule of “One In, One Out”. If I bring an article of clothing into my non-expanding closet, then something else has to be donated to some poor woman that is dying for a 4 year old piece of clothing.
Ok, now this is going to turn into a rant and I’ll have to finish this original train of thought later.
The Rant: If it’s so ugly, stained, torn, or otherwise gross, why even bother to donate it? Poor people have their pride, too. Many of the articles of clothing I see clients donate are mildewed, stained, and just otherwise gross. It’s OK to throw away clothes! If you watch TV and see people in poor parts of Africa, they’re wearing the clothes that are donated in the US but they’re not wearing the mildewed ones! Give yourself permission to just throw away some things. Clothes, tablecloths, whatever doesn’t make a good rag!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Clothes Challenge Part I
Oh, have I seen tons of clothes as a Professional Organizer! I’ve seen big shouldered jackets still hanging in closets with 20 years of dust on them, I’ve seen men’s rayon shirts from the disco era, and a 50 year old woman with her prom dress still hanging in her closet. Why? Because all fashion eventually comes around and they spent so much on these clothes, they must be worth something!
Let’s talk about fashion. Yes, fashion constantly resurrects itself but when it comes back around after 20 years, it’s in a little bit different format than before. And you know what else? Twenty years later your body is probably just a wee bit different. Ok, so maybe you can sell it. Is it worth the closet space to be able to sell a $60 pair of pants for maybe $15? Didn’t you get your money’s worth out of it 20 years ago? If it was that fabulous, don’t you have photos of you in it?
If you don’t and you still have the piece of clothing, lay it out, take a picture, and donate it so someone else can have a great Halloween costume!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
Let’s talk about fashion. Yes, fashion constantly resurrects itself but when it comes back around after 20 years, it’s in a little bit different format than before. And you know what else? Twenty years later your body is probably just a wee bit different. Ok, so maybe you can sell it. Is it worth the closet space to be able to sell a $60 pair of pants for maybe $15? Didn’t you get your money’s worth out of it 20 years ago? If it was that fabulous, don’t you have photos of you in it?
If you don’t and you still have the piece of clothing, lay it out, take a picture, and donate it so someone else can have a great Halloween costume!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
Monday, August 18, 2008
Up a Lazy River with Me
Ahhh, laziness. Sloth. It’s soooo easy and an easy trap to fall in to. You set something down, followed by something else, followed by paper, followed by important things, and before you know it…. PILES. Piles that become so overwhelming that after a while become insurmountable. Where to begin? “I can’t deal with all of this so I won’t deal with it at all. I’m depressed. I can’t act.”
There’s a big difference between being lazy and truly having an inability to comprehend getting organized or just getting behind in your organizing that you used to do. I once had a client that said she had a problem with her laundry. “What’s the problem?” She responded that once she washed the clothes she didn’t like to put them away.
I’m giving you space to reflect on that. Am I a bad organizer because I responded, “Then you just have to put the clothes away.”? Do you have an idea for how else the laundry would get put away? I suggested a housekeeper but that wasn’t in her budget. Please, help me on this one. She lived alone by the way. Suggestions welcome!
Jan Davis
www.Clutterbye.com
There’s a big difference between being lazy and truly having an inability to comprehend getting organized or just getting behind in your organizing that you used to do. I once had a client that said she had a problem with her laundry. “What’s the problem?” She responded that once she washed the clothes she didn’t like to put them away.
I’m giving you space to reflect on that. Am I a bad organizer because I responded, “Then you just have to put the clothes away.”? Do you have an idea for how else the laundry would get put away? I suggested a housekeeper but that wasn’t in her budget. Please, help me on this one. She lived alone by the way. Suggestions welcome!
Jan Davis
www.Clutterbye.com
Saturday, August 16, 2008
No More Piling, No More Piling
Repeat that mantra. It’s tough to break the habit of just setting down a piece of paper. It’s so easy to do. But you make the choice whether you put it down or put it away.
Mull that over. Put it down or put it away. That works with not only paper, but anything you have in your hand.
It would be so nice to just literally drop whatever you are doing and someone would put it away for you. Will that happen in your house without someone else getting really ticked off? I doubt it. That’s the height of laziness. If you live alone and you think, why bother, think again. Have some respect for your living environment and the way it affects you. Can you imagine never hanging an item of clothing? I see it all the time. That’s not disorganization…that’s laziness.
Jan Davis
www.Clutterbye.com
Mull that over. Put it down or put it away. That works with not only paper, but anything you have in your hand.
It would be so nice to just literally drop whatever you are doing and someone would put it away for you. Will that happen in your house without someone else getting really ticked off? I doubt it. That’s the height of laziness. If you live alone and you think, why bother, think again. Have some respect for your living environment and the way it affects you. Can you imagine never hanging an item of clothing? I see it all the time. That’s not disorganization…that’s laziness.
Jan Davis
www.Clutterbye.com
Thursday, August 14, 2008
I Can See for Piles and Piles
I Can See for Piles and Piles and Piles
Everyone piles. Even we Professional Organizers pile sometimes. You’re in a hurry, short on time, you pile. Yes, even if you’re organized you pile occasionally. The difference between being organized and piling and just piling without a plan is that when you’re organized, you can quickly file and dispatch the piles. When you just pile, you just keep piling until:
▫ You can’t take it anymore once you’ve lost something truly valuable
▫ Your Significant Other threatens to leave you
▫ Your boss threatens to fire you
▫ Your children threaten to report you to Oprah!
You don’t want to go on Oprah do you? With a proper filing system that suits the way you think, it should be easy, enjoyable, and a no-brainer to file away all those papers that you’ll probably never even look at again!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
Everyone piles. Even we Professional Organizers pile sometimes. You’re in a hurry, short on time, you pile. Yes, even if you’re organized you pile occasionally. The difference between being organized and piling and just piling without a plan is that when you’re organized, you can quickly file and dispatch the piles. When you just pile, you just keep piling until:
▫ You can’t take it anymore once you’ve lost something truly valuable
▫ Your Significant Other threatens to leave you
▫ Your boss threatens to fire you
▫ Your children threaten to report you to Oprah!
You don’t want to go on Oprah do you? With a proper filing system that suits the way you think, it should be easy, enjoyable, and a no-brainer to file away all those papers that you’ll probably never even look at again!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
You Can't Freak Me out!
You’re So Vain, You Probably Think This Article’s About You
Sorry Carly Simon. Most of my clients think they must be the worst I’ve ever seen. Au contraire! I’m going to share with you the worst I’ve ever seen so you know you won’t shock or surprise me. Picture this:
▫ Spiders and webs in all the kitchen cabinets because they haven’t been used in years.
▫ Cockroaches nesting in the coffee maker and in every cabinet happily co-existing with the spiders.
▫ Mice feces all over the bedroom floor under the papers, food, plates, and clothes.
▫ The only bathub/shower being inaccessible to anyone, much less the woman in a wheelchair.
▫ Medication all over the bedroom floor accessible to the many small dogs that “lived” there.
▫ Collecting 17 large yard bags of trash from the living room and dining room.
▫ Finding mouse bones in the bedroom closet that hadn’t been opened in years due to the pile of clothes in front of it.
Get the picture? Now you know that your stacks of paper in your home office can’t freak me out!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
Sorry Carly Simon. Most of my clients think they must be the worst I’ve ever seen. Au contraire! I’m going to share with you the worst I’ve ever seen so you know you won’t shock or surprise me. Picture this:
▫ Spiders and webs in all the kitchen cabinets because they haven’t been used in years.
▫ Cockroaches nesting in the coffee maker and in every cabinet happily co-existing with the spiders.
▫ Mice feces all over the bedroom floor under the papers, food, plates, and clothes.
▫ The only bathub/shower being inaccessible to anyone, much less the woman in a wheelchair.
▫ Medication all over the bedroom floor accessible to the many small dogs that “lived” there.
▫ Collecting 17 large yard bags of trash from the living room and dining room.
▫ Finding mouse bones in the bedroom closet that hadn’t been opened in years due to the pile of clothes in front of it.
Get the picture? Now you know that your stacks of paper in your home office can’t freak me out!
Jan Davis
www.ClutterBye.com
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