Monthly Archives: December 2022

Time to store the decor?  The holidays are such fun and who doesn’t like to take their house apart and decorate for a few short weeks?  It’s the UNdecorating where I come in.  Consider hiring a professional to dismantle the decor, wrap it, pack it, label it, and store it in heat safe, stackable containers and bins.

I recently had the opportunity to dismantle Halloween and Autumn for a client.  There were 28 bins and 5 bagged life-sized characters, this was driven to a spacious storage unit where SURPRISE!  I found over 200 bins of Christmas decor.  Requiring a 24-foot rental truck, extra muscle and weeks of organizing this client was able to see everything she didn’t know she had.  The decor had been improperly wrapped causing damage, mislabeled bins causing confusion, all resulting in many duplicates purchased over the years.

In January, I will return to UNdecorate and this time the task will be done efficiently and properly.  Maybe, just maybe… I can reduce the number of bins to under 200 and next year a pickup truck may be the only transport required.  One can only hope

Those extra pounds creep up, especially around the holidays.  I’m not talking body fat.  I’m talking clutter.  Find those items you have stashed to “re-gift” and get them ready to wrap.  While you are wrapping, sort through your leftovers… no, not the food, the old, recycled gift wrap, and bows.  Are they crinkled and smooshed?  Look like recycled?  Then recycle them in that big bucket on the side of the house and start fresh.  No one wants a gift in an extra loved gift bag.  Sort through and organize ribbons, seriously?  A 5” ribbon is going to help you? 

This year while opening gifts, have a bag ready for the wrapping and if Aunt Betty wants to flatten, straighten, and save every piece of tissue, wrap and ribbon, let her.  Then send it all home with her.

Ahhh… now that’s better.  You’ve lost the weight! 

Recently I was tasked with a supply and copy room in an office building.  The manager wisely emptied out the entire room of all boxes, bins, piles and her employees sorted it out in a large empty room.  When it was my turn, I had a clean slate with which to work… shelves, cabinets, drawers.  I knew all the items in front of me were to be kept and it was a snap to put it all together in an organized fashion using drawer organizers and a label maker, I had the supply room looking pristine in no time. 

This method is perfect for anyone, anywhere.  Home, office, garage… empty, sort and organize.  Always better to start with a clean slate. 

Your home or office didn’t get this way overnight!  Perhaps you had to move in a hurry and threw everything randomly in boxes.  Those boxes sat in a garage or corner until now. Maybe, you inherited items from a relative who has passed away.  You used to be organized and then the twins arrived.  Health problems arose and you don’t have the energy or physical ability to deal with the piles. 

Whatever the reason… decluttering is a process.  Peel the onion one layer at a time. One drawer, one closet, one shelf at a time. Set aside two hours of de-clutter time and set a timer. STOP when it goes off and you won’t “hit that wall”. 

When you decide to donate or throw… follow through.  Be careful of putting it in another pile, like “to be donated”… take it to the drop box the day you purge. 

There are professionals who can help, like organiZare and sometimes it takes that extra shove.

Follow these tips and you will stay inspired and push ahead with the process.