Over the next few months, we will be interviewing professionals who work with the hoarding population. We are asking them to share their insight on people who hoard and people who think they have the hoarding disorder. We recently interviewed Rachel Seavey. Rachel founded Collector Care when she discovered her passion for those with hoarding disorder. She helps others shed their emotional and physical clutter. Rachel’s media appearances include the Emmy-nominated A & E

Take a walk through your home. Pretend that you are getting ready for out of town visitors or that you are putting your house on the market. Notice if you have stacks of papers and other items on the floor or out on exposed surfaces. NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals) states that the average American receives almost 15,000 pieces of junk mail in their lifetime. How much of that is hanging around in various parts of your home right now? Cl

I once helped clear out a home that had been damaged by fire. The house had been extremely cluttered with only pathways through certain sections of the home. The owner was an elderly woman who had difficulty walking. The fire started at 2:30 am. If not for her son who was there that night, his mother would very likely not have been able to get out alive. When I go into homes and see exits blocked and the floor covered with clutter, I worry. When I go into homes and see clutte

You look around your love nest. You notice the piles of shoes by the front door. Then there are the piles of papers and magazines cascading off the coffee table and the CDs and DVDs scattered on the floor. The living room is going to have some serious work done to look romantic. Maybe just scoop it all up into a box that you stash in the spare bedroom and deal with it later. But what about the dining area where you want to put out that romantic meal? It seems to be covered in

When you work on any project, you want to see the job completed and then put away. Marilyn Paul in her book, It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys, talks about the rhythm of organizing. This rhythm is cyclic. With any task you first get ready for action, you then take the action, this causes a natural disorder, and then you need to restore order. Many people do not do that final step and so have a series of natural disorders building up in their environ

Possible reasons for clutter in the elderly: They are weaker physically As parents age, they often develop physical difficulties that they might not share with their children. It is harder for them to move around. Putting things away may be difficult so they leave the items out on the table or counter “just for now”. They may think they are going to get better and they have visions of giving parties and entertaining again, so they continue to buy and keep cooking paraphernali

I have a system in my home and one I share with my clients that keeps that clutter under control. The system is called the Zone Plan. This is how it works: You divide your home into 10 zones. My zones include the office, the living room, the kitchen, the laundry room, the master bedroom, the baths, the guest bedroom, the attic, the storage shed, and the entry hall and storage closets. Each month, except for July and December, you work in one of these zones. The intention is t

Clutter and unfiled papers Projects not in bins Files too full Too much laying around and screaming “DO ME” 2. How do I want my office to look and feel? Look clean and uncluttered Look and feel welcoming Have empty spaces to allow for growth Feel productive 3. What do I need to do to make this vison come true? Sort and label all loose papers Clear out all desk drawers and desk surface Purge files and put into a project bin all I will need for taxes Shred and archive papers De

Unless you clean your home on a regular basis, the clutter gathers dust. When you have piles of “stuff” you are not likely to move them in order to clean. This accumulated dust can cause lung irritation and allergy flair ups. Stacks of boxes that block vents also cause poor air circulation and lack of filtering the air. I’ve also unpacked boxes of papers that have been stored so long there was evidence of black mold on the papers or books. You certainly don’t want to breathe

Now, you want to reclaim the room. You’d like a craft room or a place to keep and sell items on eBay. But the mess is huge. You can hardly open the door. You don’t even have a goat path clear across the room. You are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. When I work with clients I like to use a variation of the Mount Vernon Method. This method involves starting at the door and moving clockwise around the room completely cleaning one area at a time. I use a similar method

It’s fun to receive gifts. I think it is even more fun to give gifts. But, let’s give this whole gift giving a bit of thought. When we decide to give a gift consider: Do they really want it? Will it clutter up their space? Do they have a designated place to put it away when not in use? Does it require upkeep or maintenance? Will they use it? Let me explore this from a recipient’s point of view. I love to give parties. People know this and it is great that they think enough ab

We have had conversations about not having out material that you are not using this week, having designated containers for different types of paper (homework turned in, homework graded, administration paperwork), corralling all supplies and only having out what is needed now. I try to get across that all of the visual clutter will cause stress and lack of focus. The same is true of our homes and offices. Just sitting in a cluttered room can cause stress. There is too much to

You need a pair of shorts. Off you go to your favorite store. You find the shorts and a top that will look great with them. If you buy three tops you will get a better price. The necklace laid out with one of the tops would just finish the outfit. On the way out, you see a pair of sandals you like. They fit perfectly and look nice too. Man, if the shoe fits you’d better stock up. You buy the sandals in five colors. When you get home and try to squeeze your purchases into your

Unwanted catalogs, credit card offers, donation requests really seem to swamp us this time a year and can really clutter up our homes and offices. Yesterday alone 7 catalogs and 2 donation requests came into my home. Some of the catalogs and donation requests came from groups that I have never used. Many companies send this mail because they have bought our information from a data broker. More than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are mailed to U.S. households each year, inclu

Often when I am helping people declutter, we first work on a very basic sort – you know, the one that has boxes labeled “Keep in this room”, “Goes elsewhere”, “Donate”, “Trash”, “Recycle/shred.” Sometimes when I pick up an items and ask, “Where does this go?”, I’ll get one of the following responses: Oh, it is used all over the home I don’t know – wherever Where do you think it should go These are the homeless items. They are just left where they were last used or moved somew

You look around your space and you know you have too much “stuff.” But it all seems important to you. After all, you either bought it or it was a gift. How do you go about making the decision of what goes and what stays? Look at your motivation. Why are you considering getting rid of this “stuff” at this time at all? Are you moving? Do you want to entertain? Do you want clear open floor space? Are you just tired of all this stuff? Your motivation will help you with making dec

Do you wonder where in the world all your money goes? Let’s find some of those holes and turn them around. 1. You buy items you already have. You buy that cute green shell only to later realize you already have four in your closet. You buy BBQ sauce only to find a bottle in the fridge and several on different shelve in your kitchen. The answer to this is to group all like items together so that you can see what you have. Then look before you shop. 2. You are continually payin

If you want an organized closet, you have to tame the clutter that seems to accumulate over the year. First decide how you plan to use your closet. Is it only for your clothing or do you also use it as storage? Do you store all of your clothes in this closet or do some of your clothes (like off season or special use) go into another closet? Do you store some of your clothes in dressers? Now, pull out everything and separate into four piles: keep, toss, donate, and goes somewh

I have recently started working with Wendy Watkins, CPCC, PCC’s (http://www.wendywatkins.com/) in a coaching program. Part of this personalized program is centered on my business and part of it is centered on increasing my joy factor. One thing I have been working on is increasing my awareness of my surroundings (not always with great success- according to my husband who washed and vacuumed my car and I did not even notice). But, imagine my despair when I looked into my medic

You look around your home and see little stacks of clutter here and there. How did that happen and how can you control this situation? Everything that is in your home should have a purpose and a “home” where it stays when not in use. Nothing should “float.” Even if you use your laptop in several places, it should have a place where it lives when you want to put it away. Like items should live with like items. This helps you keep track of what you already have. Laundry items s