Remember that big project I told you about—helping my daughter clear clutter while organizing her storage shed?

Another idea I wanted to share is that after you have organized the bins and boxes and you have gotten rid of all the clutter (or you think you have) and you have assigned homes for everything they may need to be moved again. This applies to a storage room or any other place where you use containers.

After we had placed several containers on some shelves my daughter stood back and realized some needed to be moved because it made more sense to have them arranged differently so she could get to the ones she used most often.

So if you don’t quite know where things belong, use your best judgment and then step back and take another look. If you need to change things around that is okay. Before you know it you will have gotten rid of clutter and organized while doing it.

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

Happy birthday to my daughter Julie today!

When she was packing to go away for two years to serve in the Peace Corp her room needed some serious clutter control. I couldn’t even stand to look in her room as I walked by because it looked like a tornado had hit it.

She said to me (which has become a family joke); “mom, it’s your fault I’m not organized, you never taught me”. I was agog and aghast. Now she is an expert at clutter control, packing and organizing. With all the places she has lived and worked (Albania, Eritrea (Africa), Niger, Nigeria and places in the U.S.) she now has taught me a thing or two about clutter control.

If you are working with your children teaching them how important clutter control is and you don’t seem to be getting anywhere—keep on teaching and working with them, sometimes it just takes a bit longer than we think it should take for them to be organized as we would like them to be.

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

A few years ago when we bought our first house we were sure that the rocks in the garden actually grew there. The soil was horribly hard to make a garden because of all the rocks.

Now fast forward to today. If anyone would have said to me that someday I would be searching out rocks for our yard I would have not believed them. But that is exactly what we did. We carried rocks from a friends place to line between the flowers and the grass– it has given our yard a better look.

When you are getting rid of clutter inside your home take a look around and see what you have that you can use in some other way. Maybe it will be something like my rocks; I never thought I would want rocks in my yard but give things a try, it might be just the organizing idea you need. When getting rid of clutter consider if there is a different purpose for what you are getting rid of, is it clutter or does it just need a home?

Have you been getting rid of clutter lately? If so, what was your clutter?

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

Now that I am through with writing my book which I was working on 9 to 12 hours a day for six months I feel like I have a life again. (For those who don’t know I wrote a book for a publisher on Organizing. They titled it Go Organize! Conquer Clutter In Three Simple Steps. It will be in major bookstores in December.) So now I have more freedom I have been working in the yard.

There is one pesky weed I noticed that is coming up right in the same spot as it did last year in the driveway. All summer I pulled it out and it just returns.

I was thinking this is like organizing. Do we get rid of clutter or do we just move it from one place to another? Like my weed to we find temporary solutions instead of permanent ones which would save us time and effort?

To get rid of clutter; designate a specific place for everything in your home and when finished using an item, put it in its home. Teach your family to do the same. I find as a professional organizer people (including children) are more willing to keep things organized if they know where things belong.

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

I had a most delightful time Tuesday talking to a women’s group on time management. If you were to save 5 minutes a day x 7 days in the week that would =35 minutes x 4 weeks that would = 149 minutes which is over 2 hours a month x 52 weeks—that is a savings of over 30 hours in a year.

Wow! What can you do to save 5 minutes a day and end up with over 30 hours a year doing something you want to do?

One thing I do in my home is clutter control. When I use something I put it away when I’m finished so things don’t pile up. I leave a drawer slightly ajar to remind me that something needs to be put away and if I haven’t done it immediately this is a subtle reminder.

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

This is for my faithful blog readers. Monday I was on Studio 5 which is a morning T.V. show. It was on 10 tips for a successful garage sale. Now you are through with clearing clutter in your home it is time to make some money.

One tip I didn’t give was: if you have nice antiques or things that haven’t been used so you want a higher price for them maybe a garage sale isn’t the best place to sell them as people are looking for bargains at garage sales. Instead sell them on line

Click here to watch 10 tips for a successful garage sale.

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

As you know I got back from Hawaii recently and as I observed the airlines know how to get rid of clutter. We could take a lesson from them.

They do it a little at a time. After serving drinks they come through the cabin picking up any trash and then they do it again later and once more just before landing. Some airlines go one step further and they ask the passengers to pick up any trash they find around their seats.

Lessons learned on how to get rid of clutter:

•Take baby steps—do it a little at a time so it doesn’t become overwhelming.
•Get others to help.
•Don’t serve food–even on long flights–so there is no clean up. (Don’t try this one at home)

Do you have a tip on how to get rid of clutter in your kitchen, in your bedroom or in your garage?

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

Are you having a day that you just aren’t accomplishing very much and you set your goal to get rid of clutter in your home? So you’re doing little of nothing and feeling guilty while doing it?

I say, just take the day off and don’t think about clutter. Instead get a good book and read it. When I went to Hawaii I took with me the book “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peal Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The only bad thing was it was such a good novel I finished it way too soon.

This book is a wonderful uplifting and poignant read. It is told through letters—don’t let that put you off it really is a wonderful little book. I was on the waiting list at my library for the CD for over 7 weeks. I finally bought the book the day it came out in paperback. And now I want everyone I know to read this book.

So after you read this go out and get the book and start reading. Just for today don’t think about getting rid of clutter. Or read a book of your choice—what book would you recommend for us to read?

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).