Articles

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.

as featured in the OSCAR newspaper Aug 2024 edition

Stuff has a way of accumulating over time and then one day you look around and realize that you’ve got more stuff than you have space for.  Piles have started in various corners of your home and you feel overwhelmed.

When you get to this point, decluttering is key.  Many people tell me that one of the things that holds them back from letting go of items is that they are not sure where they can donate these items that they no longer want or need.   

Donations of Items that are in good shape and working order can have wonderful second lives with others in need in our community.

Here is a list of some organizations in Ottawa and a sense of what donated items they accept.  More information is available on their websites or at www.declutter4good.ca/charities/

Belong Ottawa (formerly The Well) – New and unopened toiletries

Caldwell Family Centre – Clothing, unopened personal care items, linens and kitchen dishes and small appliances

Friends of the Ottawa Library – books

Habitat for Humanity – Gently used home goods and building materials, furniture, housewares & décor, home appliances, electronics, fixtures, flooring, lighting, doors and windows, in good condition and full working order

Hakim Optical – Prescription eyeglasses (including both prescription and non-prescription sunglasses)

Heartwood House – Computer equipment and other electronics for reuse, repair or environmentally friendly recycling

Helping with Furniture – small kitchen appliances, lamps, flatscreen TVs over 27′ and stands; couches, love seats and living room chairs; curtains, brackets and rods, bed frames, box springs and mattresses, and tablets and laptops

Hijinx Ottawa – Housewares

House2Home – Furniture, bedding, kitchen supplies, towels, sewing machines, carpets and art

OrKidstra – Musical instruments in good working order, especially wind, brass and stringed instruments (no pianos, keyboards, guitars or drum kits)

Ottawa Outdoor Gear library – A broad range of outdoor gear (i.e. camping, outdoor sports and games, and yoga)

Ottawa Tool Library – Household tools in good working order

Product Care Recycling – old and leftover residential paint and spray paint

Letting go of items you no longer need or want is always a WIN-WIN-WIN: you are going to get more space and feel more calm, those in need in our community will get items they require and our planet will have less items going to landfills.

If you need some help getting started, reach out to me at Declutter4Good.ca and we can chat.  All consultations are free and confidential.

Article written by Martha Tobin and featured in April edition of OSCAR newspaper

A gust of hope usually blows through as the longer daylight hours begin. It’s at this same time that many people have visions of their garages being well-organized, easily maintainable hubs for storing winter items away and resurrecting summer items. 

A few things to keep in mind as you declutter and organize your garage:

• Frequency of use determines degree of accessibility – move summer items to the forefront of shelving (i.e sports items, gardening tools etc) and winter items to the back areas.
• For often-used items that you reach for from the home garage entrance, keep those close to that door for easy access.
• Store ‘like with like’ – as you gather your winter items put them all in the same area of your garage.  Go a step further and sort into sub categories corralling similar items into clear bins (i.e. winter car accessories, winter washer fluid, road salt, etc).
• Declutter winter items – review these items as you gather them together and determine how often you’ve used them.  Let go of those you no longer need and reclaim that garage space.
• Exchange winter decor/decorations for summer ones.  For anything electrical, test the items to make sure they are in working order. 
• Review hazardous waste and electrical items and declutter items that are no longer needed.  City of Ottawa waste drop offs will start up again in April so have these items gathered together for easy transport.
• Declutter any construction/renovation materials that you no longer need.  Check ReStore Ottawa to see their list of donatable items. 
• As you organize your tools, consider donating any that you no longer need to the Ottawa Tool Library.

Your show-worthy garage will be even closer to realization by adding shelving.  Many retailers sell easy-to-assemble, stand-alone shelving that can maximize your vertical space.  Shelving will allow you to clear floor space so that you can not only park your car in the garage but also maintain this area more effectively and easily.  

Spring is a great time of year to organize and declutter your garage, dust the cobwebs off your summer items and truly feel the warm air blow through. 

Holding on to items “is like taking a deep breath, then holding it and holding it,
refusing to exhale. If we won’t let go, we stop the natural flow of taking in
what we need right now and releasing what we don’t. And if we won’t let go,
we can’t make space for new breath.” (Peggy Fitzsimmons)

If you have decided that 2024 is the year you are going to tackle some organizing
and decluttering it is always best to do it in bite-size chunks. By doing so, you
avoid burning out or becoming overwhelmed by the process.
Here are 5 organizing and decluttering tasks with each of them being able to be
done in the space of a couple of hours:
● Do a closet audit:
Most of us wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. In order to get a better
idea of what you reach for regularly, try turning all your hangers around in
your closet and then each time you wear an item, flip that hanger around
the opposite way when you put the item back. At the end of the season
this technique allows you to quickly see what you didn’t wear (and then
donate, sell or gift them to someone else). For dresser drawers you can do
the same thing by putting those items you wear the most often always at
the front of the drawer.
● Expired items:
Expired items can be a variety of things including pantry items,
medications, makeup, spices, or unidentified items in your freezer, etc. Pick
one area and focus on it for 15-30 mins. On another day do a second area
and so on. (Note: check with your pharmacy to determine the proper
disposal of medications.)
● Set up a ‘maybe’ box:
Many people hang on to items because they aren’t sure if they’ll need
them again. Go around your home and put items that fit into this category
into a large box labeled ‘MAYBE’. Date the lid of the box for 3 months from
now and put a reminder in your calendar to check the items in this box on
that date. If there is an item you need before then, pull it out of the box
and find a place for it to live in your home and then shut the box back up
again. If after 3 months you didn’t need any of those items, put them in a
donation box and drop it off. Items to consider for the ‘maybe’ box:

cookbooks, DVD movies, music CD’s, socks with no mates, mystery keys,
jewelry, unknown cables and cords, etc
● Digital decluttering:
Similar to the 20/80% clothing rule, the same can usually be said about our
mobile devices in that most of us really don’t need, use or want the
majority of the apps, files, emails, contact info, photos etc on our devices.
By decluttering our devices we can gain more focus, more clarity and
reduce distractions thereby improving our productivity. Another benefit is
that your device will work more optimally due to increased storage space
and less battery drain. Items to declutter on your phone: blurry or duplicate
photos, unwanted subscription sign up emails, unused apps, duplicate
documents, old emails, outdated contacts, etc
● Keep the memory and let go of the guilt:
Throughout our lives we have all brought home items that we thought we’d
use but then for one reason or another, we did not. And that’s okay. What’s
not okay is holding onto these items because we feel guilty that we bought
them in the first place. Letting go of these items either by selling or
donating them will make you feel lighter because you’ll also be releasing
any regret, unmet expectations or sad feelings that surround them. Items
to consider letting go of: clothing that doesn’t fit or that we are constantly
passing over, unused exercise equipment, unused kitchen appliances or
gadgets, unused inherited items, etc.
The key to decluttering is to make space for the person you are today. By doing
so you’ll be more in alignment with the person you want to be now and going
forward. Decluttering is empowering and gives you the opportunity to review
those things in your life that are essential while letting go of those items that no
longer serve you. Take a big breath, let it out and move forwards into 2024 with
more energy, focus and calm.

(featured in OSCAR and Glebe Report December 2023 editions)

With so many holiday decor and decoration items available at this time of year, it’s hard
not to buy a few more items for your tree, your tabletop, your front door or your yard.
Often in our excitement for that ‘new’ holiday item we forget that we already had a similar
one or we realize that we now have so much decor, we have run out of room to display it
all.
Here are a few tips and tricks that might help you to declutter and organize your holiday
decor and decorations this year:
Unpack first and buy second:
-Wait until you have unpacked your current holiday decor and decorations so that you
have a better idea of the categories and the volume of each category (ie. lights,
ornaments, tabletop items, outdoor decor, etc).
-By seeing the types of items you have and the volume per category, you can then pare
items down accordingly based on the available space you have to display those items.
-For any excess items, you can donate them and add them to someone else’s holiday
season.
What truly brings you joy now:
-Over the years you’ve probably amassed lots of holiday decorations and decor. Some of
these items may no longer bring you joy (i.e. ornament from an old boyfriend). Perhaps
some of the items are outdated. Or you may realize that you have too many of a certain
category (i.e. all your adult daughter’s grade school popsicle stick ornaments).
-For ‘sentimental items’ that you no longer want, check with your children, other family
members or friends to see if they’d like to add them to their holiday collection. If they do
then you can create a labelled box of these items and include a dated note with a bit of
the history that surrounds these items (especially if they are a family heirloom).
-Keep your treasures and those you have an emotional tie to but consider taking a photo
of the other less meaningful items so you can keep the memory but let the item go.
Check functionality:
-Determine which items work (ie. electrical, musical). Take the time to repair those that
you want to keep and let go of those that cannot be repaired.
-You can check out the City of Ottawa Waste Explorer site to find out how to dispose of
these items.
Rotate Decor each year:
-If you have an excess of decor and decorations you may want to consider rotating your
decor each year (ie one year you use the silver decor and the following year you use the
red decor).
-If you find that you are often passing over certain items each year instead of displaying
them, donate those items or gift them to someone else.
Packing up your decor and decorations for next year:
-Use clear bins and store ‘like with like’ in them. And label each bin (ie. lights, tree decor,
table decor, etc). Labelled, clear bins make it easier to see what you have and access
those items more readily.

As wonderful as the holiday season is, the reality is that we live in a time of tremendous
consumerism due to products being easily manufactured, marketed and sold on an
enormous scale (and delivered to your door the next day).
We also live in a world where our planet is suffering from excess so determine what you
have before you buy and then donate, gift or responsibly discard those items that are no
longer meaningful to you. By doing so, you can truly add to the health of our planet,
keep items out of landfills and help others less fortunate who will no doubt have a better
holiday this season because of you. And in the end, isn’t that the true spirit of the holiday
season?

Submission to OSCAR Newspaper for October edition

By Martha Tobin, Owner at Declutter4Good

Now that mobile phones have become indispensable, there are many reasons to organize and declutter the data they store, send and receive.

Here are 5 tips and tricks for doing that:

#1.  Make a note in your calendar each month to delete blurry or duplicate photos and organize any remaining ones into folders (i.e. work, personal, events etc.)  This will make it easier to download the ones you want to transfer to a hard drive or USB. 

#2.  Review your apps and delete those you no longer need or use

#3.  Unsubscribe to ‘junk’ emails as they arrive and/or ‘block’ those email senders

#4.  Make a note in your calendar to turn off your phone for a few minutes every month so that apps can update properly

#5.  Delete old contacts in your address book

A great time to do your ‘phone decluttering’ is when you are waiting (i.e. at a medical office, in an airport, etc).  The key is not to try and do it all at once but rather, break it down into ‘bite size chunks’ so that it is a less overwhelming task. 

As an added bonus, phone decluttering will help improve your battery life, optimize your device and save you time and energy when searching for items on your phone in general. 

In fact, any decluttering and organizing journey is always going to simplify your life, reduce your stress and give you back more mental space and calm. 

Article by Martha Tobin as posted in the August issue of the Glebe report and OSCAR paper

What if….Decluttering and Organizing was like gardening.
This is the time of year when we all want to spend time outdoors and tending our gardens
instead of tackling the ‘stuff’ in our basement, garage, shed or attic. In fact, the very thought
of tackling those areas can seem very overwhelming.
Here are a few tips and tricks for approaching decluttering and organizing as you would
gardening:

1. Similar to pulling up those weeds that are strangling your other garden plants, focus
   on the items of trash in the area you want to declutter and separate those items out
   for disposal or recycling.
2. By preparing your soil with compost and manure, you increase your soil quality and
   give your plants the nutrients they need to thrive. Preparing to declutter and organize
   is key too when tackling an area of your home. Have some cardboard boxes,
   garbage bags and bins on hand so that you can sort items more easily.
3. Understanding your soil’s drainage in a garden contributes to a more lush garden.
   The same can be said when decluttering and organizing in that understanding what
   your vision is for that space you are working in, allows you to work towards that goal.
4. In your garden paying attention to how much sunlight your plants need is key. When
   organizing, ask yourself what items you need on a daily basis versus weekly or
   monthly and then set up your space so that the items you need the most often are
   the most accessible.
5. By clearing out those plants that are not thriving in your garden, you are able to
   showcase those that do. The same is true for decluttering and organizing in that by
   letting go of those items you no longer need, use, love or want, you are able to focus
   on those things that matter most to you.
   Gardening is good for the soul. It improves our overall wellbeing by increasing our optimism,
   our self-esteem and boosting our positivity. The same can be said about organizing and
   decluttering those spaces in your home that are making you feel fenced in and weighed
   down. By tackling these areas you will feel lighter, more focused with less feelings of stress
   and overwhelm. And like gardening, donating items is good for the soul as it ensures items
   have a second life with others in need in our community.

Martha Tobin is the owner of Declutter4Good
Martha@julian