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

It’s back to school time already. School generates a lot of paper even though more and more of it is on line. Plan for the onslaught of paper now. Have in place a plan to store the needed paper before the paper starts to build up. You will likely receive: General school information such as a school calendar and a calendar of events, papers with school hours, rules, fees, sports information, contact information, PTA news Welcome letter from your child’s teacher with her inform

Your bathroom is one of the smaller rooms in your house but it is also one that is heavily used and holds many items. A bathroom can get disorganized and cluttered quickly, so it is important to have a plan for how you want to use this place and how you want it to look. Keep clutter to a minimum. Look at the storage space you have available. Think about what you use daily in this zone. You may not have room to store back up supplies, first aid items, or cleaning materials. Us

The storage hall in my laundry has many purposes. I have an elfa wall unit to hold overflow from other areas of my home. This one wall holds entertainment supplies, recycling bins, a cat box, extra litter, bird seed, tool kits, cleaning products, extra file crates from the office and a hanging rod for clothes taken from the dryer. What a hodgepodge! Surprisingly, this zone works well. However, as I go through this zone, I look closely at what is there. I am sure some of the i

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

You come in from a meeting and you are tired. You bring in the mail but don’t have time to mess with it right now. You are afraid if you file the paper away you will forget it. So, everything gets dumped on the desk or countertop. Meanwhile, your desk or countertop becomes one big inbox with piles everywhere. Some paper has been there so long that it has actually stuck to the surface or has fallen behind the desk or is so buried that unless there is some trigger to dig for it

Before pulling out all that stuff onto the driveway, take a good look at what is in your garage now. Why is it there? How did it get there? Do you still need it? Decide on the functions of your garage. Is one of the functions to park your cars? 82% of homes have two-car garages or larger, but only 15% use them to park the car inside. Do you keep your lawnmower and gardening supplies in the garage? What about bikes and sports equipment? Do you have a workshop area with tools?

That new bundle of joy comes into your home and suddenly your home explodes with baby clothes, furniture, baby accessories, toys, books, feeding apparatus, and more. How did this happen and what to do now? Utilize the container system. I feel that as long as you can contain items in an orderly fashion, you can have as much “stuff” as gives you pleasure. A container can be the shelf for the books, the drawer for the sleepers, the hammock for the stuffed animals, the room for t

What is bothering me in this zone? Clutter Too much on the desk top Files too full Too much paper lying around screaming “do me” 2. How do I want my office to look and feel? Uncluttered Clean Welcoming I want to feel productive and happy I want empty space to allow for growth 3. What do I need to do to meet this vision? Clear our all desk drawers and the desk top Purge files and remove what is now archival to another place Clean out bins of completed projects and ready the

My first step in working with this zone is to review my vision for the living room. I like to start my day here with coffee and the newspaper. Later in the day, My husband sits in his chair with coffee and the paper and maybe watches the news on TV. Together we often connect in this room and plan our day, week, and the future. For entertainment we work on the daily jumble and crossword puzzle. On a more passive note, we often listen to music or perhaps watch a DVD or televisi

Now is a great opportunity to take the time to really set up your 2015 calendar so that is will work for you. I really enjoy this annual ritual. I sit comfortably with some nice pens and a lovely hot drink. I put on some holiday music and take my time to reflect and plan. I review my current calendar. I note birthdays, anniversaries, and standard meeting times ( networking, goals group, weight watchers, etc.) I also note medical appointments that are already set for the new y

If you are following my zone plan, this month is a good month to work on organizing your bathrooms. If you have a linen closet, you may wish to include it in this zone. Your bathroom is one of the smaller rooms in your home but it is also one that holds many items. A bathroom can get disorganized and cluttered quickly, so it is important to have a vision and a plan for how you want to use this space. Keep clutter to a minimum. Look at the storage space you have available. Do

Keep your car clean – it makes trips much more enjoyable Keep your car maintained – check out the oil change, tires, air conditioner, fluid for the wipers, etc. If you don’t already have one, consider a roadside assistance program Have a container for those often needed items like bug spray, sun screen, wet wipes, antibacterial gel, tissues, a small first aid kit Plan for the unexpected – have a container set up with jumper cables, a charger, a towel or blanket Have a folder

Good organization around food issues is a great way to start. Organizing your kitchen, your menus, your food shopping, and your time are all valid areas. Having a plan, taking action, and seeing the results, help you control your weight. As you start to close the weight, plan celebrations! (We’re talking buying some new clothes or going to a movie – not food) Kitchen: Having a well organized kitchen – and I am including pantry and refrigerator here – is crucial to weight los

The last day of school is almost here! The children are sooooo ready for this final day and the beginning of summer break. On the last day you just know they are going to rush home, dump their school stuff in a corner, and run off to play. OK, so give them one day. But, that pile in the corner has to be handled. Those stacks of old school papers, that whiffy backpack, and the end of year mementos have got to be dealt with before summer can really begin. Clear a space – maybe

Pets can cause almost as much clutter as children. What can we do to help organize this clutter? Food – Designate one area to store your pets’ food. Restrict your buying so that you do not have more food than will fit in that space. If you have dry food, it is a good idea to store the food in plastic containers. This helps keep the food fresh and keeps bugs out of the food. If you use cans of food, make sure you rotate the food, putting the most recently purchased food in the

My spare bedroom is used as a place for guests to stay, a storage area for memorabilia, my offsite office storage, as well as some storage in the dresser for off season or rarely worn clothes. As I have recently moved, my zones are a little confused. I want this room to look open and inviting to my guests. I also want all of my storage items easy to locate. During this month, I will clean out every drawer in the dresser. I will designate zones within the drawers so that each

January is set aside for my office zone. My plan is to revisit my vision for my office and see if I am still on track. I touch everything in my office and make decisions about what stays in the office, what stays but is stored outside of my office zone, and what I going to be tossed, donated, recycled, or shredded. This past year I have moved, so my office is in a new location and has different dimensions. The vision for the area has also changed. The room is larger now, so I

Looking forward to the new year, instead of making a list of “shoulds” – I should lose weight. I should spend less and save more. I should organize my files – set an intention or two for the coming year. Develop a vision of this coming year. Gratefulness, harmony, or joy might be part of your vision. Put together a vision board and post it where you will see it. I like to use Christine Kane’s word of the year tool – http://christinekane.com/word/. Once you have developed your

This time of year there are usually gifts to wrap and perhaps also to mail. It is sooo tempting to buy all of that lovely gift wrap that is displayed plus tissue plus ribbon plus gift bags. It is easy to lose track of how much of these goodies you have unless you organize all of your material into one convenient gift wrap zone. I have recently moved into a new home and have less storage for these items than I had before, so I must really consolidate and purge. I rarely fall