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If you're sitting in a home filled with clutter, how can you help?

I think the most important first step is to sit down and do some soul searching. Is your clutter the result of compulsive shopping? If so, try cutting back on your shopping trips and donating the money you would have spent in the stores.

Is your home filled with useless gifts you've received from family and friends? Ask your loved ones to stop the gift giving and write a check to a charitable organization.

Is your kitchen filled with cans and boxes of food you're not using? Collect all that food and get it to a collection site (see www.njfoodbank.org). Last week a food pantry in Paterson hung a sign that read" Closed Today-No Food" as hungry people, including children and the elderly, waited in line.

Overall, think about the waste in your life. Wasted money. Wasted time. Wasted space. Wasted energy. We all have it. Then think about how you can redirect yourself. In the end, maybe helping someone else is the motivation you need.

NOTE: The FoodBank also has a "wish list" of items for their facility and clients, including children's new winter clothing, coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and school supplies. Call Donna at 908-355-3663, ext. 222 for more information.





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If you observe a child in a very cluttered playroom, you'll often see them wandering and unfocused. They're not sure what to pick up and play with. The environment is just too stimulating. But if you remove the excess, and arrange the toys in an appealing, organized way, it changes the whole picture.

Here are some questions to ask yourself before/during a toy purge:

1) Do you want to involve your child/children? (This depends on their age, temperament & your ability to make decisions.)
2) What is your philosophy on toys? Do you truly believe that "less is more"?
3) Which toys are pure garbage and need to be tossed?
4) Which toys can you donate?
5) Do you need to store some toys and rotate them to keep the play environment fresh?

With the holidays fast approaching, you can also start to think about which toys can be given to those in need. Some donation sites will take used toys in good condition, others request only new toys--unopened gifts are perfect for the new toy drives.

My thought: Children want our love and our time, not piles and piles of toys. What do you think?



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When we purchase and accumulate to excess, it can greatly affect our personal environments. As our rooms become overfilled, we can become unfocused, run late, and feel depressed or ashamed. But our overconsumption is now causing more large-scale damage as landfills bulge and global warming progresses.

How can you, as an individual, help?

Here are some thoughts. Feel free to respond to me and add your own.

1) Stop the waste at the checkout counter. Bring earth-friendly cloth shopping bags to the store. I've had many clients who hoard the paper and plastic bags, so this change can actually address two problems!

2) Return your hangers to the dry cleaner. Fewer hangers will need to be produced and your closets will suddenly seem a lot bigger, too.

3) DONATE, DONATE, DONATE!! Instead of throwing out your used things, pass them on to someone in need. Call or write me for info. on where to donate books, toys, clothing, and more.

4) Look into www.freecycle.org, a web site dedicated to recycling what people no longer need or use.

5) Be a very careful shopper. Before you proceed to the checkout, think hard about whether you really need the item. If you don't need it, you're purchasing clutter and potentially adding to the landfill.

6) Try "repurposing" items in your home or buying used items. Instead of running out to buy 10 plastic storage containers, pull an antique dresser down from your attic and use that instead. Be creative and you'll help the environment!

7) Give earth-friendly gifts. Instead of giving a child a plastic toy, buy them a membership to the local zoo or children's museum. Instead of buying an adult a candle or picture frame, buy them a gift certificate or another "experience" gift.

Send me your ideas! I'd love to poste Part II of this entry.









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Like many other people, I have recently embarked on a weight loss plan. It's been less than a week, but it's forced me to do a lot of thinking about my personal behaviors around food. I've always seen a strong connection between weight problems/loss and organizational issues, but now it's becoming even clearer to me.

What's the conncection? Here are my thoughts:

--Nobobdy can force you to lose weight, and nobody can force you to get organized.
--Some people need to feel "disgusted" or hit "rock bottom" before they seek help.
--It's all about attitude. As they say "perception is reality". If you think it's going to be a miserable experience, it probably will be.
--Even if you've failed in the past, today is a new day. Try again!
--You have to want it BADLY!! Weight loss and organizing require hard work, persistence & focus.
--MAINTENANCE is key! You can lose the weight and clear the rooms, but it can all be undone quickly if you don't keep it up on a daily basis.
--Both weight loss and organizing require you to examine your behavioral patterns. Do you eat when you're stressed? Do you accumulate/shop without thinking?
--Finally, you can succeed! Make it a priority, and you can reach your goal--with a lot of hard work, of course!

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Last year I put together a "holiday spreadsheet" on my computer, so today I just pulled it up and printed it out!

The concept is very simple, yet very useful. I set up 4 columns: "Name", "Gift", "Wrapped?", and "Mailed?" There's no way in the world I'd be able to keep all of this information "in my head", so I'll be referring to it on an almost daily basis between now and the holidays to make sure I stay on track.

In the meantime, I'll be keeping an eye out for anything I can purge to make room for incoming holiday gifts, especially TOYS, BOOKS, CLOTHING & DVDs.

I'm also starting to think ahead about any large holiday meals I'll be serving. Now is the time to gather recipes, delegate tasks, make shopping lists, and get it all into my date book.

Good luck as you start preparing for this busy season!

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“There are definitely ways to make the back-to-school transition more manageable,” says Julie Isaacs, a Professional Organizer and owner/founder of The Uncluttered Home. “One of the best ways is to make everyone in the family responsible for putting items in their ‘homes’. Even young children can be taught to put their shoes on a rack or hang their backpack on a hook”

Constant purging is another secret to keeping those piles off of your floor and dining room table. “You can’t maintain order if you keep every piece of paper. If a baseball flyer comes home and your kid doesn’t play baseball, throw it out on the spot! You have to be decisive about what stays and what goes.”

Some of Isaacs’ favorite clutter management tips:
• Ask your children to dump out their backpacks and sort the contents as soon as they walk in the door.
• Handle all incoming paper before you go to bed. Toss the junk, fill out any forms, and put “action items” in your date book.
• Keep only the most meaningful artwork. Store it in a mailing tube or clean pizza box.
• Don’t hold on to those bulky dioramas. Simply take a photograph of your child proudly holding the project and then discard it.
• Hanging shoe bags are great for storing shoes, winter hats and gloves, toys, or art supplies.
• You can’t have enough hooks. Isaacs uses them for coats, caps, backpacks, and sports bags.

After you set up the organizational systems, maintenance is key, says Isaacs. “It’s very easy for clutter to return, so it’s important for everyone in the family to do their part. Make the systems easy and fun to use and you’ll be more likely to maintain them.”

Isaacs has clients all over New Jersey and specializes in overwhelmed, overscheduled families. She regularly speaks on organizing topics and is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).
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School papers and artwork are very difficult for many people to sort through. If this is true for you, try analyzing your feelings. Do the crayon pictures and spelling quizzes make you feel emotional? Guilty? Overwhelmed?

Several clients have brought up the KEY question. If you save all of this school paper, what is your end goal? Are you going to hand your kids gigantic plastic tubs full of dioramas and essays when they leave the house? If so, are they going to want them? In the meantime, is anyone looking at/appreciating all this stuff?

My advice is to be VERY, VERY SELECTIVE! Try to save only the pieces that hold some real meaning for you. If it's something a teacher photocopied, or if the teacher did most of the work--DISCARD! If the piece represents some real effort/enjoyment by your child, keep it, honor it, display it, enjoy it.

Want to know how to store the meaningful stuff? Call the Uncluttered Home--I'll be happy to share my best ideas!

HAPPY 4TH!!
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Client: I can't believe I have to hire someone to help me with this.
Me: Why?
Client: It just seems like I should be able to do it myself.
Me: Why?
Client: What's so hard about sorting through clothing (or paper, toys, etc.) and deciding what to keep?
Me: True. It's not rocket science.
Client: Then why can't I do it?
Me: You can do it; you're obviously a very capable person. You just don't. You told me yourself you've started this project several times and never finished it.
Client: It's so embarassing. Other people seem to be able to do it with no problem.
Me: Do you realize that organizing has become a multi-billion dollar industry? Why do you think that's so?
Client: I guess there are other people out there like me!
Me: Of course there are.
Me: Have you ever watched a personal trainer working with someone in a gym? Doesn't it seem like the client should be able to do the push ups without the trainer standing there?
Client: Yes.
Me: I give that person credit for getting help with an activity they've avoided. I give my clients credit for seeking help with their projects. I've required help in many areas of my life. Everybody has at one time or another.
Client: True.
Me: This is a positive thing we're doing here. Do you agree?
Client: I think I see your point.]]> http://unclutteredhome.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry070522-151237
--gift bags/shopping bags
--hangers (bring them to the dry cleaner for recycling)
--expired coupons
--old school flyers/homework sheets
--back issues of magazines
--holiday or birthday cards you have received and DO NOT need to keep
--broken or stained items you swore you would fix/clean and never have, never will!

This is enough for now! I'm sure I'll add to this list at a later date.

HAPPY PURGING!!]]> http://unclutteredhome.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry070311-174754
Anyway, here it goes. Some tips for taming the laundry beast:

1) Don't allow laundry to migrate into every room of the house. Confine it only to the laundry room and to the hampers in your bedrooms. Nobody wants to live with laundry spread over couches, chairs, dining tables, and other flat surfaces.

2) Related to tip #1: make sure each bedroom has a good sized hamper. If laundry is constantly spilling over the top, buy a bigger hamper.

3) Try spreading your laundry out over the week instead of tackling it all on one day. Why ruin your Saturday with hours of laundry when you can parcel it out a little at a time throughout the week.

4) I NEVER EVER carry unfolded laundry out of the laundry room. I fold the clothing as soon as the dryer stops. This avoids those nasty piles of undfolded, wrinkled clothing. Have you ever had to rewash clothing because it's been hanging around unfolded for so long? This is a way to make sure that never happens again.

5) Another way to avoid having to rewash clothing: make sure you NEVER lay clothing, washed or unwashed, on a surface with pet hair (floor, carpet, beds, etc.)

6) Force yourself to get the clothing back into the drawers and closets ASAP. Nobody likes living out of a laundry basket.

7) For families with children, consider color coding your laundry baskets. As you fold clothing, place it in the appropriate basket. Older children can grab their basket and take it from there.

8) Finally, and this is VERY IMPORTANT: GET SOME HELP! Different family members can be assigned specific tasks, such as removing laundry from the baskets, carrying it to or from laundry room, folding, etc.]]>