New Year, Fresh Start...

We tend to make unattainable New Year's Resolutions and in 3 weeks feel defeated and stop working toward our goals. I want to give a few tips on how to start a new year with easy to incorporate actions to make a huge difference in your household organization and decluttering. The main objection for a professional organizer is to create a functioning space that is organized and creates less stress in one's day to day living.

1.  In all your closets take the hangers and hang then backwards. When you wear something hang it back up the correct way. At the end of a season all the hangers that are still backwards are the clothes you do not wear; donate them to a local shelter or clothing bank. This will lighten your load of clothing and make packing up your out of season clothing easier as you have already sorted through them.

2.  At your front door area make a spot where you place or hang your keys, keep your sunglasses, mitts hats, gloves, sunscreen etc. so that you have everything you need at your finger tips for when you head out for the day. Make sure each family member has their own spot so they can do the same. This makes getting out of the house easier and fast as you are not rushing around looking for your keys or gloves.

3.  Make it a habit to take the mail to a designated paper area, meaning a place that you go through your mail and sort and file it. Try not to open your mail until you know you have the time to go through it all at once (this will stop the piles of papers you have all ove your house) and are able to take papers to correct areas of the house if needed; office, filing cabinet, kitchen etc. If you create a paper station even better. Use hanging files to create sections for specific papers; bills, coupons, taxes, receipts etc. Use this station daily and make it a weekly task to go through the folders and take the actions needed; such as pay a bill, make a phone call, file paper away.

4.  Every night before bedtime get into the habit of having a tidy up time for 10 minutes. Get all the family members involved, at any age, and put away items that are in the living room and take items to where they belong if not supposed to be in the living room. Take all toys and other items that are designated for bedrooms with you when heading up to bed.

5.  Make it a habit that everytime you leave a room you take something from it to return it to its home. We are human and we will always leave things laying around as we were in a hurry or got distracted by something else. This will lessen the amount of tidying up you will do in one given time throughout the day/week.

6.  If you have children make it an after school routine, you and the children go through their back packs, go through agenda, empty out the lunch bag/thermos, complete homework and then prepare their back pack with all the needed books and homework for the next day.  Make your child's lunch for the next day while they are doing homework and keep it in the fridge until the next day for them to take to school. This will make the morning go by easily and with less to do.

I hope you have found the above tips/actions helpful. Try one tip at a time, when you feel comfortable with it add another one and so forth. We need to do things step by step not all at once, we will set ourselves up to fail if we do.

As a professional organizer I am always looking for new ways to support my clients and to create easy and organized routines in their lives. If you have a helpful tip please share it with us.

Thanks for stopping by, from Serenity Organizing Solutions, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Healthy New Year.

Organize the kids toys.

For most of us the holidays are just around the corner and this means presents and what do most kids want and get? Toys! If you already feel like it is an never ending battle of trying to clean up toys and keep them tidy here are a few tips to help stay organized:

1.  Limit the amount of toys to all areas of the house. In the play room/area keep most of the toys in baskets/bins/boxes and on shelves. This area is a toys allowed zone and you know that this is where the majority of toy clutter will live. In the bedroom allow books and approx 10 toys/games.  This will give your child something to do while in their room and will limit how much you need space for. In the living room allow 5 toys per child, this again will limit the toy clutter and will make for tidy up to go quickly. I also suggest you keep small pieced toys in the toy area and not in the common areas, less to clean up and less likely to have pieces all over the house.

2.  Now is a good time to go through your children's toys and see what they do and don't play with. Donate toys they no longer use and are in good shape and throw out the rest. Local shelters and daycare centres will take in gently used, non-plush toys. When it comes to books local libraries and early year centres will take gently used books. If your child is old enough ask them to go through their toys with you and instill in them that it is appropriate to donate toys to those who are less fortunate and that having only a certain amount of toys is a reasonable thing. When one new toy comes in at least one goes out.

3.  If your children are still young get them into the habit of: you play with one or two toys at a time and if you want to play with something new you put what you were playing with away, then you get the next toy. This will help with keeping the toys tidy but also teach your children to focus on one thing at a time and to keep things organized.

4. Use the same style solutions to organize your childs toys; bins, baskets, shelving unit and so forth. Keep like toys with like and have solutions labelled where needed. There are many inexpensive solutions out there, look in; Canadian Tire, Home Depot, Walmart, IKEA and so forth.

I hope this has helped parents to tackle the toys issue. Keep in mind to declutter. downsize and purge toys on a regular basis. Most of the time young children will not even realize the toys they no longer play with are gone but include your older children in the process. Make clean up time a fun one and to teach your children that if they create a mess they are resposible to clean it up but you are willing to help them if they are meeting you half way.

Please share your helpful tips on toy management!

Clutter usually isn't about clutter.

Hi everyone. I think like most issues in ones life the symptom is but a reflection that something else is going on.  Clutter is not always about the clutter.
I have worked with folks who have so much clutter they cannot see their floors, tops of tables nor the back of the closet.  The clutter is just the result of something else at play; depression, shopaholic, ADHD, grief and many others. The main thing I hear from folks is; I don't know how it got this way and I do not know where to start. I like to start at why someone has so much stuff? Are they shopping as an escape, do they forget what they have at home when out shopping, do they think if they have a lot of things they will feel better? Each person has their own reasons and it is up to a professional organizer to find out the whys.  Once we know why we can address this issues.

Folks that have ADHD will need to make a commitment to changing how they do things; ie. use a timer when cleaning up and/or have someone with them when cleaning so when they get side tracked they can be reminded where they were working and why. Someone with depression needs to take on 20 minutes at a time and try their best each day. You will be surprised how much can get one in 20 minutes. If someone is grieving and wants to hold on to all their loved ones belongings yet have no space for them all we can work on how we can honour this person; make a picture collage, create a shadow box of treasured items that hold greater meaning and display it.

People tend to attach emotions and memories to items. I am here to say your memories will always be with you about your loved one, keeping their items in boxes stored in your attic/basement or garage is not honouring them. Without us realizing it, having boxes of items in our house causes stress; when will I get through those boxes and display some items, those boxes will be left for family to go through when I have passed I feel bad about this, I am not honouring my love one with boxes stored away I am a bad person etc.  These ideas are floating in our minds whether we are aware of them or not.
If you can relate to what has been written above, make a change today! It does not have to be all or nothing, just one small change: go through one box, de-clutter for 20 minutes a day, have someone you trust help you go through items you find it hard to part with, call a professional organizer to support you with your changes.

It is ok to have things, but when your things take over your life and space there is a problem. The clutter is a symptom not the real issue at hand.

It's Time for the Holidays...

For most of us the major Holidays are coming, Christmas and Hanukkah!!  It always seems to creep up on us doesn't it?  Let us change it this year.
To get ready for and organized for the holidays there are a few simple things we can do:

1.  Make a list and check it twice; Have a list of all the people you need to send a card to and another list for those you buy presents for.  Write down how much you plan on spending on each person and what you want to buy them.  Take this list with you when you go shopping, this will help from impulse buying and overspending your budget.






2.  Check to see that you have all the dishes/napkins/table decorations/candles for the season for when you are entertaining.  If not make a list of what you need and purchase them now, trust me most dollar stores have started adding their holiday item



3.  Make sure you have a calendar handy to plan when all your holiday get-together's are so you can keep track of them and to be sure not to double book yourself.

4.  I know you have all your wrapping paper all organized and easy to access, if not now is a good time to get all these items together and see what you need; tags, tape, wrapping paper, bows, ribbon etc.  Make a list and purchase what you need, sooner than later so you have a nice selection to choose from.




5.  If you are entertaining make a list of people you are inviting and invite them.  This way people can plan ahead for their get together's.  You can always create an e-invite to send to people, or actual cards in the mail or a simple phone call.  I know texts are the way most people communicate nowadays but they are also easily forgotten. Be different, make your invite memorable.

These are the small simple things you can do over the next 2 months to make the holidays more organized and less stressful for you and your families.

What do you do to get ready for the holidays??

20 minute Declutter

It is hard to find the time to de-clutter and well lets face it unless you are a professional organizer the chances are you are not a fan of de-cluttering!
If you take just 20 minutes per project you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish in such little time.
Try to schedule one project a week, write it into your agenda, on your wall calendar, in your phone where ever you will be reminded that this is important and needed.

Here are the top 5 areas that will make the most impact when you choose to de-clutter them:

1.  The Front Entrance Closet:  This closet is usually meant for guests coats, umbrellas and seasonal gear.  Use a couple of bins and a garbage bag when de-cluttering.  Throw out anything that is broken, take out anything that is not in the right season, fill a bin with items to donate.  To keep the closet de-cluttered have a basket for guests hats and gloves, add a couple of hooks to hang umbrellas and make sure you have a clear section where guests coats are hung.

2.   Under the sink:  So many things get tossed under the sink and not put away neatly.  Lets have our garbage bag ready. Throw out anything that is broken, return items to their correct home if not meant to be under the sink and check to see if your containers have product in them or not.  Use baskets to keep like items with like, such as; make-up with make-up, shampoo and conditioner together, cleaning supplies and so forth.  You can label each basket to keep order among them.

3.  Your Desk Drawers:  This is a place where "everything" ends up!  Empty your drawer and throw out anything that is broken, donate any items that you do not use and group items with like items. Once you have de-cluttered the drawer's items use small bins/boxes to keep like items together, such as; paper clips in one bin, pens and pencils in another, tape and liquid paper in another and so forth. This system with help keep your drawer neat and easy to find items.

4.  Garage:  Don't know where to keep something put it in the garage...Wrong! This area becomes a catch all for items without homes.  This area will most likely take a few 20 minute sessions.  To start take a garbage bag and throw out junk and broken items.  Have a box/bin for items to donate - ask yourself when was the last time I used this?  When do I plan on using this next?  On your next 20 minute de-cutter put all like items together; sporting equipment, tools, gardening items etc.  To keep your garage organized use hooks and clamps to hang bikes, folding chairs, rakes etc. Make use of shelves with bins of like items together and use larger bins on the floor for bigger items that won't fit on the shelves.

5.  Laundry Room: This is another space where people end up putting items they have no idea where to house.  Fill up that garbage bag with broken items or clothes you have not mended, unmatched socks (or use them as dusters) and empty containers.  Donate any clothes that you have not worn for the past 6 months but are still hanging in the laundry room. Consolidate all your laundry soap bottles together so you can minimize the space utilized.  Use baskets or bins to organize like items; such as; sewing in one, in need of mending, all your stain removers/dryer sheets/dryer balls in another and so forth.  Add an empty basket or bin for donations.  When you wash something your kids have outgrown or are doing a seasonal wash put aside the items you did not wear and donate them to a local charity.


I hope this gets you motivated to de-clutter your home one 20 minute project at a time!!  Share your before and after photos to help motivate others!!