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Wondering what to get someone you love this year for Christmas? Or maybe you’re wondering what they can give you?

How about a gift certificate for an organizing and decluttering session?

No one likes to feel overwhelmed by the amount of ‘stuff’ they have. A home should be your sanctuary where you/your family can recharge and rejuvenate. Working with Declutter4Good can quickly allow you to see results and hope.

As professional organizers Declutter4Good makes the organizing and decluttering process easy. We’ll keep you focused and motivated so that you can achieve the vision you have for the space(s) you currently find unmanageable and daunting.

And for those items you no longer want we’ll take them and deliver them to local charitable organizations. This is part of our Donations That Do Good program as we see this as a Win-Win-Win: you get more space and calm; people in need in our community get the items they require and our planet benefits by not having those items go into landfills.

An organizing and decluttering gift certificate is the gift that keeps on giving!

by Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

The holidays are a time when you want your home to look and feel its best.   Whether that’s because guests will be dropping by or

for our own peace of mind so that you can truly relax.

Quick wins for organizing and decluttering will allow you to see progress before the holidays and will motivate you to continue.

Areas to focus on for quick wins:

—front entrance/hall closet

—kitchen counter

—dining room table

—bathroom counter

Tip for quick wins:

Create some cardboard boxes and label them:

• donation
• sell
• recycle/trash
• memorabilia
• documents

Questions to ask yourself as you tackle areas:

• Have I used this item in the past 6 months or year?
• Am I likely to use this item again?
• Do I have something similar that can do the same job?
• Does the item need to be repaired to be functional?
• Where is it going to live in my home?

Quick wins do not involve scooping all items into a box to get them out of view.  Important items will get lost and inevitably make the situation more overwhelming after the holidays.

Like dieting, quick wins for organizing and decluttering will allow you to see your progress and this will motivate you to continue.

by Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

It’s a great time of year to be changing over your seasonal wardrobe ensuring less cluttered and more organized closets.

• Pack out-of-season items in large, clear labelled bins (labels specific to different family members)
• Add items you no longer need or want (i.e. due to fit, colour, style etc) to a donation bin
• Have a couple of donation bins in your home to make decluttering easier (i.e. guest room closet and/or basement laundry room)
• Consider using thin, felt hangers in your closets as they are durable, non-slip and save space
• As you hang up your current season’s items, turn the hangers around. When you wear the item for the first time, turn the hanger back the right way so that you can easily know at the end of season what you did and didn’t wear
• Put ‘like with like’ clothing together (i.e. skirts, pants, dresses) to be able to see your wardrobe at a glance
• Colour group items in each of these categories to see your volume per colour and avoid duplicate purchasing
• For the upper shelves of closets, use labelled canvas bins/baskets to make the most of this vertical space (versus piling items on top of one another)
• Sort items ‘like with like’ in these bins/baskets (i.e. jeans, work out clothes)
• Use shelf risers to add additional shelving (i.e sweaters and hoodies)
• To make the most of under-used spaces on the back of doors, use over-the-door hooks and over-the-door shoe racks

Check out my recent appearance on CTV Morning Live discussing all of the above.

Decluttering, organizing and maintaining closets is always easier and more maintainable when you have good systems in place.

by Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

Moving from any home can be stressful but moving from a larger home to a smaller dwelling (i.e. condo or retirement residence) can be even more challenging.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help make the process easier:

1. Start early.  Even if you don’t have a move date in mind, it’s never too early to let go of items you (and your family) no longer need, use, love or want. 
2. Consider the size of place you will most likely be moving to (ie. one bedroom, smaller kitchen, one bathroom)
3. Work in your least used room first leaving areas like the primary bedroom, bathroom, office and kitchen for last.  Often the basement or a spare room is a good starting point.
4. Work in one room at a time.  
5. Start with items on the floor first and work your way up (ie then surfaces and then shelving).  
6. Set up three categories in each room:  
   1. Keep for now
   2. Keep for later (only needed after you move)
   3. Items to purge (donate, give to others or sell)

Decluttering before you move (and ideally giving yourself the time to do it) will always reduce your stress and feelings of overwhelm when you do have to start the process of moving. Need some decluttering and packing up help?  Maybe you’d like help unpacking and organizing?

by Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

Every home (big or small) only has a certain amount of physical space in it. When drawers, closets, cabinets, and shelves are bursting at the seams and piles are starting, it’s a sign that storage areas are maxed out.

Ultimately this has a negative impact on the equilibrium of your home.

The ‘one in, one out’ rule can help restore this equilibrium when you let something go for every item you bring into your home.

For example, if you buy a new sweater, let another sweater go that you are no longer wearing (or a pair of shoes or a book etc).  

The key is not what you let go but rather that you are making space for the new item by purging the other item.  This will help restore the balance of items in your home.

An easy way to do this is to set up readily accessible ‘donation’ bins (maybe one bin in an upstairs closet and one in the laundry room).

When you begin to restore the physical balance of your home, you’ll notice your own personal equilibrium is more aligned and you will be more in harmony with yourself, your day-to-day activities and your goals. 

by Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

The advantage of a basement is that it can be a great place for storing items that you don’t need on a day-to-day basis (i.e luggage, out-of-season clothing, items you are keeping for your kids, etc).

The disadvantage of a basement is that it can become a catch-all for items that you don’t know what to do with (i.e. inherited items, old electronics, past craft projects, unhung artwork, boxes from previous moves, etc)

When a basement is organized and decluttered, it offers great additional storage space in a home.  

In fact, basements can help make your home more enjoyable and calm by allowing you to store items there that currently take up space in your main living areas.

A few questions to ask regarding your basement:

1).  Has your basement got items in it that you haven’t seen in years?

2).  Do you avoid going down to it as it’s too overwhelming?

3).  If your basement was more efficient would it help unclutter other areas in your home?

4).  Has this area become a catch-all for items?

Basements can either be a blessing or a curse for the additional space and storage they offer.  Which one is yours?

by Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

Decluttering and organizing can seem daunting when you take on large areas so consider smaller, more self-contained areas.  

One such area could be your entryway closet.   At this time of year, this is an area that can get overrun with the change of season and the addition of more clothing/layers for the colder weather.

Here are 7 tips & tricks for tackling this area of your home:

1. Start from the floor and work your way up
2. Remove any out-of-season items: footwear, coats or jackets, hats, etc
3. Add easy to grab baskets or canvas bins on the top shelf of your entry closet either per family member or per category of item (i.e. scarves)
4. For sunscreens and bug sprays, check the expiry dates and purge those that won’t last till next summer.
5. Set up a shoe rack on the bottom of your closet with a drip mat underneath
6. Ensure that you consider the height and reach of each family member so that they can find/return items easily
7. Label bins and baskets so that everyone is clear on where to find an item and where to return it.

Entryways are the last thing you see as you leave your home and the first thing you see upon your return.  By ensuring this area is not a ‘bottleneck area’, you will feel more calm and you’ll be one step closer to your home feeling like your sanctuary.  

by Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

Life can feel so busy that you never seem to achieve your vision for some of the rooms that you were hoping to transform in your home.  Maybe you had plans for a craft room after the kids moved out or maybe you want to turn your basement into a TV room.  

Creating spaces in your home that speak to your dream can seem daunting when those rooms are full of ‘stuff’.

Here are a few tips and tricks that can help you declutter that room and get your dream started:  

1. Map out what you want in that room (i.e. new sofa, craft table etc)
2. Determine what will be removed from this room (i.e exercise equipment, ewaste etc)
3. Set up a plan to either sell, donate, trash/recycle those items that will not be staying in this space (i.e. Facebook marketplace, Buy Nothing, items out for garbage day etc)
4. Grab a few boxes and remove items that belong elsewhere in the house (i.e. clothing, books, toys etc)
5. What you are left with in this room are your ‘keeps’ – items that support your vision for this space.  
6. Determine where these ‘keep’ items will live in this room (i.e. books, framed photos, decor, lamps etc)
7. Determine if you need any storage for these ‘keep’ items in this room (i.e. shelving, desk, storage ottoman etc).

As a general rule of thumb, items that don’t have a proper place to ‘live’ in your home are usually ones that you should let go of (otherwise they will likely continue to remain in a pile).  

By Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

Moving (or downsizing) often makes you realize how much ‘stuff’ you have.

And preparing for a move is a great time to declutter for a few reasons:

1. Reduces moving costs as there’s not as much stuff to move
2. Decluttering a home for sale prior to listing photos and showings can increase the home’s value
3. Reduces the amount of packing you’ll have to do when it is time to move.
4. Reduces your feelings of overwhelm when you arrive at your new home (and happily realize you didn’t pack all of those items you no longer used or needed).

Here are a few things you can declutter quickly:

• Items on surfaces
• Duplicates of items
• items you haven’t used and likely won’t use again
• items that won’t fit in your next home
• items you don’t need anymore (i.e. shovels, rakes, etc if moving into a condo or residence)

As a general rule of thumb, decluttering before you move is always going to reap rewards: higher home sale value, less stress when packing and less feelings of overwhelm when you arrive at your new home. 

By Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

Would you like a strategy for items that have nowhere to ‘live’ in your home?

Problem:  

Items that have nowhere to ‘live’ in your home (for example):   

• inherited items that you are not using or displaying
• clothing that is piling up in corners
• items that gather on the dining room table or kitchen counter
• items that you have tucked out of sight in the bottom of closets
  

Strategy:

1. Review these items one area at a time (ie. dining room table)
2. Sort items into ‘like with like’ categories
3. Review these categories and remove duplicates as well as items that are damaged or items that you already know you no longer need/want
4. Pack up any items that can be sold/donated or need to be recycled/trash
5. What you are left with are your ‘keeps’
6. Decide where these ‘keeps’ belong in your home (ie tech items to a ‘tech drawer’, kids clothing back to their rooms, out of season items in labelled bins in garage, closet or basement)
   

As a general rule of thumb when organizing and decluttering, if an item has nowhere to ‘live’ in your home it might be time to let these items go.