SOS Simple Organized Solutions blog | St. Louis Professional Home Organizing Service

Selling Items is a Form of Recycling

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2023-04-22T11:36:24-05:00April 22nd, 2023|Categories: Recycle|Tags: consignment, donation, estate sale, garage sale, hiring professionals, recycling, selling|

Some of my clients talk to me about selling items they no longer want. This is not a service I provide, so they need to either find a service that does it or do it themselves. Most of us believe that our treasures are worth more than they actually are. I get it, you paid good money for this item and want to recoup some of your hard-earned dollars. Some time ago, I wrote a blog post about how to decide whether to donate or sell unwanted items to provide some insight on the pros and cons of each option. [...]

0

Timing is Everything in a Lot of Scenarios

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2023-03-23T11:34:13-05:00March 23rd, 2023|Categories: Time Management|Tags: consequences, decluttering, proactive, sell a home|

Think of timing as being proactive. The consequences of your actions, or inactions, depends on the timing of those actions, inactions, or choices really. This is true in a lot of scenarios. In this post we will explore different scenarios to drive home the point. Selling a house is a scenario where timing is important. Spring and summer are the prime times to list a house for sale. Most buyers are looking to buy a house during those two seasons for good reasons. If they have a family, it provides adequate time to enroll the kids in a different school, [...]

0

Miscellaneous – Not a Good Category For Organization

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2023-03-13T12:29:42-05:00March 15th, 2023|Categories: Home Organization|Tags: categories, labels, organizing process, professional organizers|

Professional organizers do not like the word miscellaneous. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary definition, it means, ‘consisting of diverse things or members’. This concept is the opposite of what organizers do. Organizers work with clients to categorize and assign homes to every item in their spaces, so that they can find specific items quickly and easily. When you have shelves, bins, drawers, etc., labeled with specific categories, there is no question what item is contained in that space. Categories are groups of like items. When you’re trying to find something specific, do you go to a bin labeled miscellaneous, [...]

0

4 Actions to Take to Eliminate Clutter Blindness

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2023-03-08T13:08:44-06:00March 8th, 2023|Categories: Clutter|Tags: clutter, declutter, mindfulness, organizing process, routines, stress|

To those with clutter blindness, it doesn’t look like anything, they don’t notice it. They don’t see the clutter because they’ve adapted to it, to seeing it all the time, it becomes part of the furniture, home décor, etc. Clutter blindness can happen to anyone, however, it seems that it’s more prevalent among those with health issues, physically and mentally. It makes sense. If you’re not feeling well, you’re less likely to put things away, so the clutter starts to grow and before you realize it, it’s everywhere and you stop noticing it. It’s a known fact that clutter [...]

0

How to Keep Things Out of The Landfill

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2023-02-14T13:48:22-06:00February 15th, 2023|Categories: Recycle|Tags: donation, recycle, reduce, repurpose, reuse|

The best way to keep things out of the landfill is to reduce, reuse, recycle, so let’s look at what these three R's mean individually to determine a viable approach. You can mix and match these options, or maybe you have an option I’m not aware of, it doesn’t have to start with an R. Using all three R's provides a variety of actions that will lead to the ultimate goal. Reduce One way to reduce means to get away from buying products with packaging that isn’t environmentally friendly such as plastics. Yes, I know you CAN recycle many [...]

0

Making Mistakes is Not Necessarily a Bad Thing

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2023-01-09T16:27:35-06:00January 11th, 2023|Categories: Learning|Tags: eliminate stress, emotions, lessons learned, making decisions, organize thoughts|

A new year has just begun and it’s time to reflect on the past year, the good and the not-so-good. We all make mistakes in our everyday living and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Although it can be frustrating, and at times, costly, making mistakes is valuable for us to learn and grow. Every decision made, gives you the opportunity to do the right thing. Sometimes though, that decision is not always black and white. You make decisions based on the resources you have at that time. Then you take an action, and there is always a consequence to [...]

0

Clearing Out My Dad’s House

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2022-12-22T12:11:39-06:00December 28th, 2022|Categories: Decluttering, Grief|Tags: categorizing, emotions, lessons learned, memories, organizing process, professional organizers, project, purging, task|

This past summer my dad passed away and we all miss him terribly. After a loved one passes away, there are many things to do, typically in phases. To understand these phases I wrote a past blog post to explain them, and you can read it by clicking on this link. This post deals with what my brothers and I went through when clearing out my dad’s house. First of all, as you can imagine, or maybe know, this task or project is a very emotional undertaking. This is the house where my brothers and I grew up, so the [...]

0

How to Stay Organized During Holidays

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2022-12-12T11:07:55-06:00December 14th, 2022|Categories: Holiday Organization|Tags: holidays, schedule, stress, task, time management, to-do list|

The holidays can be chaotic in so many ways. Because of this chaos, it’s difficult to stay organized for a typical day. Then you throw in all the things that need to be done to prepare for the festivities, and it can get really crazy. The premise to stay organized during the holidays, is that you have your spaces and time in order to begin with. If not, I encourage you to check out this blog post. It may help you to get organized as a starting point. You may have noticed that I mentioned having your spaces and time [...]

0

Why You Can’t Get to Appointments on Time & Tips to Avoid Being Late

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2022-11-29T11:30:03-06:00November 30th, 2022|Categories: Time Management|Tags: appointments, procrastination, schedule, stress, task|

Being late occasionally means that you're human. However, if you are consistently late for everything, you need to dig deep to find out why. There is a reason, or reasons why you are not getting to your appointments, work, or other scheduled events on time. Let’s take some time to explore some common reasons why you may run late. Common reasons for being late Your schedule Or lack of a schedule can cause you to be late. If you don’t have a schedule, you’re setting yourself up for much undue stress. You may have one, but maybe you don’t check [...]

0

Consumable Gift Ideas Just in Time For The Holidays

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2022-11-14T10:24:30-06:00November 16th, 2022|Categories: Holidays|Tags: clutter, consume, experiences, gifts|

What do I mean by consumable? The definition of consume as defined by Merriam Webster dictionary is ‘to use up’. The reason this is important is that something consumable will be used up and will not end up as clutter. The only caveat to that idea is that it needs to be consumed. Gifting can be a tricky situation at best. Understanding the needs and wants of the recipients is not always easy. We want to show our appreciation of the person with a well thought out gift. It needs to be tailored to each individual. One thing to consider [...]

0