organizing process Archives - SOS: Simple Organized Solutions LLC

Finding Homes For The Gifts You Receive This Holiday Season

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2023-12-11T12:24:13-06:00December 13th, 2023|Categories: Holiday Organization|Tags: assign homes, avoid clutter, gifts, holidays, organizing process|

This is truly the season of giving! The religions and cultures that celebrate the season include Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, and all these celebrations include giving and receiving gifts. The gifts you receive come from those that want to show their love and appreciation. I’ve written posts in the past about giving gifts of time, service and memories that will avoid accumulating clutter. This post is about how to find homes for the gifts you receive that will also avoid accumulating clutter. This concept goes back to the basic organizing principles, in this scenario, finding and assigning homes for your [...]

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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, [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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The Cost of Getting Rid of Things

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-11-17T09:57:10-06:00November 17th, 2021|Categories: Decluttering|Tags: cluttered, donated, downsize, organizing process, recycling, trash|

As I help clients to downsize their belongings, the biggest part of the process is decluttering, or getting rid of things. Decluttering comes in various forms such as donation, recycling - which can be a form of donation, returning borrowed items, gifting, and trash. Some things are in good condition and can be donated. Other things that are not worthy of donation, that can be recycled, go into the recycle bin. Then there are things to discard that are just plain trash. Getting rid of things can be expensive. I’m not talking about throwing out things via your weekly trash [...]

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Hair on Fire Most Days? Organizing Your Life Will Douse Those Flames

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-09-13T10:24:05-05:00September 15th, 2021|Categories: Productivity|Tags: clutter, goals, lists, organizing process, planner, proactive, schedule|

Does the first part of the title of this post resonate with you? If so, then consider organizing your life to douse those flames as stated in the second part of the title. By eliminating your constant ‘hair on fire’ scenarios, you will live a less stressful, more productive and peaceful life. But first, determine what areas of your life cause the ‘hair on fire’ scenario the most. Are you constantly looking for your keys, making you late to work, appointments, or school? Are you buying multiples of items because you didn’t know you already had one or more of [...]

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Focus on Safety First When Decluttering

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-09-07T16:00:53-05:00September 8th, 2021|Categories: Decluttering|Tags: clutter, decluttering, focus, organizing process, solutions|

Decluttering is the first part of the organizing process. You may think that only applies for older adults, but no, safety first applies to all decluttering projects for all ages. Not only is clutter a safety issue, but as mentioned in many past posts, it causes stress. During the needs assessment consultation, the client is asked about every area to be organized. We discuss what works and doesn’t work, and potential organizing solutions for the areas that are not working so well. As we walk through their spaces, I’m focused on safety first as I think about solutions. As you [...]

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Don’t Buy Storage Products Until After Assessment

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-06-21T17:42:22-05:00June 23rd, 2021|Categories: Home Organization, Storage|Tags: assessment, clutter, containers, easy access, labels, organizing process, recycle, storage|

New clients always want to know what storage products to buy before we meet. My recommendation is not to buy anything until after assessment of their needs. Needs assessment in terms of acquiring additional storage comes later in the organizing process. During the first step of the organizing process, which is the sorting step where we put like items together, we will empty all sorts of storage products. They come in all forms, such as baskets, plastic or glass containers, boxes of every size and shape, shelves, bookcases, etc. All of these containers can be repurposed for organizing systems. I’ve [...]

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Organizing User’s Manuals

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-04-03T13:39:07-05:00April 7th, 2021|Categories: Home Organization, Storage|Tags: digital, filing cabinet, hanging folders, organizing process, paper, recycle|

When you purchase items such as vehicles, appliances, garden equipment or any type of electronics, they come with user’s manuals. Some come in paper form, while others can be accessed online. These manuals are very important to understand the operation and maintenance associated with the purchased product. Quick and easy access is a must when you need information about the item. There are different schools of thought on how to organize user’s manuals. As with anything in life, what works for one doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for everyone. Think about the different options listed here, and decide which [...]

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Planning a Successful Organizing Project

By SOS Simple Organized Solutions|2021-03-25T16:16:15-05:00March 31st, 2021|Categories: Home Organization, Planning|Tags: brain dump, get organized, organizing process, planning, prioritize, tasks|

There are numerous reasons why someone would want to get organized. Maybe they can’t find things they are looking for such as their car keys and it causes them to be late for work, a lot. Maybe they buy duplicates or triplicates because they don’t know how many of one item they own. When they realize what the real issue is, they decide it’s time to work on an organizing project. There are several things to consider when planning a successful organizing project. A person can become overwhelmed if their project encompasses many areas, or a whole house transformation. I [...]

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