Organizing Mistakes

Check out the recent Redfin article we were featured in: Organizing Mistakes: 27 Slip-Ups to Avoid During Your Next Project | Redfin

Organizing is difficult and can be a stressful, time-consuming project. It’s also an essential skill that can increase your physical and emotional health. Chances are, though, that during an organizing project, you made a few mistakes. While it’s natural to feel disappointed or frustrated when mistakes occur, it’s important to recognize them as valuable learning opportunities rather than failures.

So, whether you live in a house in Brentwood, CA, or a Greenville, SC, apartment, these expert-backed tips are sure to make your life easier. Read on for 27 organizing mistakes to avoid during your next decluttering project.

Read the full article here: Organizing Mistakes: 27 Slip-Ups to Avoid During Your Next Project | Redfin

How to Declutter and Organize Your Closet

Having to clear out your home for whatever reason can be challenging. You’re aware that there’s quite a bit of work ahead of you and dread even thinking about beginning. However, procrastinating will only make matters worse, as you’re probably very well aware. This is why you should take a breath and decide to start. The sooner you do, the sooner it’ll all be over, and you’ll get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. That being said, you shouldn’t rush into this process; there are some things you should inform yourself about prior to diving in. In the spirit of painless beginnings, let’s go over how to declutter and organize your closet without a lot of fuss.

Make an inventory of everything you own

making a list is a first step i a decluttering process when using a professional organizer Take the time to sit down with yourself before you start to organize and declutter your closet. Clear your mind and
thoroughly examine everything that you possess.

Write down your belongings in categories in as much detail as you seem fit. You should find the right balance, meaning that the inventory should be informative to a productive degree. Don’t clutter the list that’s supposed to help you declutter. Whether you’re downsizing your home or just doing some spring cleaning, this step will benefit you greatly. Making home inventories in advance and adding to the list as you go along can save you a lot of time. However, it’s completely understandable if you’re not that kind of a person.

If you wish to organize and declutter your closet, you should make an inventory first.

Detect your weaknesses from the start

If you’re someone who cannot focus on tasks such as decluttering and organizing your closet, admit this to yourself. By pinpointing certain areas of your character that are flawed, you’ll be able to aid them in the right way. If you’re too much of a perfectionist ever to start this process, make yourself get up. If you have a problem with being organized, write everything down and hire estate clearing services or a similar organization to help.

Clean your home

One of the biggest misconceptions about organizing and decluttering your closet is that it doesn’t include cleaning. A tidy home and a clean one go pretty much hand in hand. You cannot do one without the other. So when you start cleaning, decluttering, and organizing, make sure you use the right products. It will help you immensely. If nothing else, once you’ve purchased everything you’ll need, you’ll be much more motivated to start.

Hire a professional company to declutter and organize your closet

Much in the same way you’d hire move management and relocation specialists or cleaning services, you should think about hiring professional home organizing services to help you declutter and organize your closet. Especially if you’re not the most organized of people, there’s no harm in having someone to guide you through the process of decluttering and organizing your closet.

Divide and conquer

criteria for separation is a key to good organizing If you want a neat and tidy closet, you don’t necessarily need organizing services. Although hiring someone would help you out quite a bit, that doesn’t mean it’s required. You can involve your family and friends and delegate the work. This is especially advisable if you own a lot of things. Try not to look at this as some dreadful task. Make a fun day of it. Turn up some music, order a pizza, and reward yourself and your trusty helpers with some wine to help it all go down a bit more smoothly.

If you want to declutter and organize all your clothes, you should be decisive and get to it right away.

Organize a yard sale

Once you’ve separated the good from the bad, you then need to get rid of all the things you’ve deemed useless. One of the best things you could do to help this process move along quicker is to organize a yard sale. This way, you’ll earn and get rid of the old stuff. It’s a win-win situation. Of course, if money doesn’t play a grand role, you could also donate some of the items you’ve decluttered and organized in your closet.

Storage ideas

On the other hand, anything you don’t want to give away and get rid of, but you don’t want in your closet either, you should store. If you can make use of in-house storage ideas, go right ahead. Nonetheless, you can, of course, use a storage unit if you don’t have enough space. Whatever you decide to do, make sure to do it properly. Divide your belongings safely and efficiently so as not to have wasted all the time spent decluttering and organizing the closet.

Don’t stress about things not going exactly according to plan

Simply said, don’t stress over everything that might come your way. There will undoubtedly be some moments that won’t go as planned. That’s fine. Trust a job like decluttering can be stressful, but not if you are using a professional organizer with a decluttering specialty that you’ve done enough. Better yet, reward yourself for everything that goes right instead of punishing yourself for the mistakes that are out of your hand. Organizing and decluttering your closet can be very therapeutic if you let it be.

Try not to stress out over the things that aren’t in your control.

Don’t keep items for the wrong reasons

As the world has gotten to know people like Marie Kondo over the years, some things have become common knowledge. However, just in case you’re not yet familiar with the inner-workings of one of the most organized people known to man, we’re here to help. She’s practically given the world of decluttering and organizing closets a completely different meaning. One of the most important things she’s preaching is that we should attentively think about what we should keep in our homes and hearts.

Here are some questions to help with decision-making:

Do I love this item, and is it giving me joy?
Do I still fit in this outfit, or am I holding on to an older version of myself?
Does it project the picture that I want to show off?
Do I feel comfortable in this?
Am I trying to impress people by owning something that’s just not me?

Sometimes asking yourself some simple and seemingly shallow questions such as these can really help. You’ll be able to declutter and organize your closet much more efficiently if you’re not holding on to specific pressures and triggers. Minimalism has never seemed more appealing.

A rack of clothes that can help you declutter and organize your closet.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/clothes-hanged-on-clothes-rack-3965545/
https://unsplash.com/photos/oa7pqZmmhuA
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https://unsplash.com/photos/i-ePv9Dxg7U

Moving Management During the Holidays

Buying a new home is a taxing enough journey on its own. Throw in a global pandemic along with general holiday stress and you’re sure to be looking at one chaotic move. There are many factors to consider when buying a home during the holidays. Organizing for the big day involves time management, financial planning, and finding properly trained relocation specialists.

If you’re looking for advice on how to navigate such an exciting life event in these unpredictable times, you’ve come to the right place.

Moving Management

Working can be tedious and exhausting without help. Use a professional organizer to help ease the load.

When considering how you plan to actually move your belongings from one place to another, you may face more difficulty than usual finding any sort of help. Around this time of year, a lot of people are busy with prepping for the holidays and many are seemingly still, and rightfully so, hesitant to assist in any capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of relying on your often preoccupied friends and family, you most likely do not have access to the appropriate equipment needed for a big move. Renting moving equipment like a rental truck or dolly can prove to be a time-consuming headache as well.

In order to alleviate some of that pressure, we recommend our pack and unpack service where you will be working with our trained relocation specialists to help declutter your home and carefully pack away your boxes into our provided boxes and packaging. Having a relocation specialist take some of this burden can be a big help. Using our service will let you focus on some other aspects of the move as you can be as or as little involved as you wish.

Organization and Time Management

Having proper moving management goes hand in hand with organization and time management. It’s easy for some to toss aside any plan of action and dive headfirst into a project, but you will surely find yourself floundering without a proper plan in place. There are some often overlooked organizational tips that you will find helpful during your relocation. Here are some to prioritize throughout:

Make a To-Do List

Taking the time to sit down and write out the goals you wish to accomplish is a great way to stay on task. Not only that but referring to the list will help you remember things much easier during this busy time.

Set a Time Limit

With each goal you write on your to-do list, set a general time limit for each one. This gives you the ability to plan out the rest of your day and not spend too much time on one task.

Give Yourself Space Between Tasks

If you realize something is taking a bit longer than expected, give yourself some crucial small breaks in between tasks. Doing so will tremendously help you to succeed in completing tasks thoroughly while not eating up delegated time to other ones. The time in between will be a nice way to help you unwind as well.

Be Productive

Everyone’s organization and planning processes are different. For some, waking up early and starting the day off strong comes easy. For others, they become more productive as the day goes on. Finding which hours you are most productive and using that to your advantage will help you get more done throughout the day.

Knowing where everything with great organization is easily accomplished with a professional organizer If you feel as though there’s too much on your plate to sufficiently plan out your time and organize your move properly, you can roll the fees for our pack and unpacking service into escrow and we will unpack and organize for you. As a financially viable option, it allows you to completely focus on prepping your home for the holidays while we take care of the move entirely.

Financial Planning

Arguably one of the most important aspects of a move is the financial factor. Your funds may already be a little tight due to a loss of income because of the pandemic or you simply have budget restraints for the upcoming holiday season. Either way, a move can prove to be very pricey. What you individually factor into the price of your move will depend on your specific situation. Some finances to think about ahead of time include:

Furnishings for your new home
Repair, renovations, or maintenance
Upcoming bills
Cost of the move itself (gas, hotel stays, food, babysitter or pet sitter, etc.)

Try not to panic if you’ve already created your budget and you see some things you forgot to factor in. There are a handful of different financing options that may be available to you if you’re a bit strapped for cash. If you’re moving from one home to another you could have equity in your home in which case you may qualify for a home equity loan. This option can financially support you with starting a project in your new home, getting a larger or more convenient vehicle, or whatever else may reduce your stress during the move.

If you are not moving from home to home or you have no equity in your home, you may also want to consider a personal loan from your local bank, credit union, or online lender. Getting a credit card or increasing your credit limit is always an option, but is usually not recommended as it is easy to find yourself racking up some solid debt with a high interest rate.

During the holidays, everyone just wants to take that time to relax and unwind. Unfortunately, dealing with a move can drastically take away from that. But working smarter and not harder will give you the time back in your life to enjoy these moments with family and friends in a time when it is needed the most.

The Holidays, Quarantine, and Emotional Labor

As the year comes to close, organining your clutter will help bring a bright new year. It’s mind boggling to realize that the holidays, the end of the year, and the END OF 2020 are fast approaching. Our normal preparations and plans are likely taking a back seat to the goal of just getting through another day, and honestly, the process is often tiring and emotionally consuming.

I’ve spent a good amount of time in quarantine doing research on my upcoming book Emotional Labor: Why Women’s Work is Never Done, and What to do About It. With the holidays bearing down on us, I know that women’s work will become even more exaggerated as the weeks fly by, with a greater focus on family, and meeting the emotional expectations of the ones we love.

Emotional labor accounts for why a woman’s work is never done. Kin work is such a large part of the invisible labor women do that Micaela Di Leonardo, who first coined the term kin work in 1987 in The Female World of Cards and Holidays: Women, Families, and the Work of Kinship’ notes that “Women are involved in three types of work: housework and child care, work in the labor market, and the work of kinship.”

How can we possibly create a celebratory mood when we’re forced to put on hold so many of our traditions? How do we keep things simple if we have to be solitary?

At this stage in the pandemic, transitioning the home into a festival of lights may either feel like something fun to do or a total nightmare. Things are still a bit disorganized and you haven’t quite gotten to working through the stuff and clutter in the garage or the top of closets, or … “Where are all those Christmas decorations I bought on sale last year?!”

I offer a few strategies to help ease you into the holidays so that your planning and prepping is enough to get your through the holidays. Your desire to celebrate while staying emotionally managed these final weeks of 2020 (yes!) may be satisfied.

you can have a professional organizer help with de-cluttering your holiday decorations.

Get the decorations out – and in full view of everyone in the family and ask: what are our “must have” decorations this year. Let everyone pick one or two things that really “speak” to each individual. Keep it simple.
Think twice about the holiday décor that no one selects. This could be a great time to de-clutter!
Since everyone is home, everyone gets to help decorate. Choose the date and time when you turn off the electronics for an hour to make the house festive!
Take the pressure off the whole cooking thing! As a family, decide a “must have” dish and order out the rest!
Instead of gifts, let the family choose a non-profit, or a shelter, or organization that serves the greater good.
Virtual family outings – tours of museums and galleries – here’s an outstanding link showing 75 of the BEST of the BEST tours!
Family fun with extended Family: Host a Murder Mystery and create an actual virtual “who done it?”
Plan for next year! Gather ‘round the Zoom room and get excited about Holidays 2021!! Delegate responsibilities, trust everyone will follow-through, and then delegate who’s going to follow-up with everyone who is follow-through!
Delegate tasks to family members to create a family activity. Have one person work on writing addresses on envelopes for cards, another to help with meal preparations, someone else may do the online shopping, etc. This creates shared responsibility and achievement for the whole family.
Sharp Health Group in San Diego offers emotionally healthful strategies for making it to the end of the year
Enjoy living in the season rather than being focused on creating memorable moments for everyone else. Focus on what matters to you and loved ones and prioritize those first.
Gifts: Many of my clients tell me that some of the clutter in their home is from gifts they’ve never needed, used, or desired. They keep them due to GUILT Which keeps the gift trapped in their home! I listen to the holiday gift-buying commercials. Before 12/25, television and radio ads encourage you to buy things that people will LOVE!! After 12/25, the ads change, reminding consumers that since they didn’t get the gift they really wanted, they can exchange it for something they’ll really love! No one, it seems, can win at this game of gift giving/receiving. Here at A Clear Path we’re all about the gifting that doesn’t cause clutter! Being of service, cooking a great meal, helping someone organize… now those are gifts everyone can use!

If you haven’t figured it out already, probably the most important thing you can do for yourself is to learn and understand the art and practice of delegation. A few of the strategies for getting through this time includes the delegation of the emotional and physical work of making the season work for you. Click here to schedule a free 30-minute call to learn better the nuances of delegating.

And speaking of delegating – remember – the Clear Path Ninja Organizers are here for you – and we love decorating your home for the holidays – and organizing everything when the holidays are over!

Peace and love to you all…

Regina

Tips to Upgrade a Small Home Workspace for Ultimate Productivity and Happiness

a professional organizer can help create a clean home environment

Image via Unsplash

If you’ve been working at the living room couch, kitchen table, or breakfast bar for the past few months, it’s time to upgrade your remote workspace for an improved work-from-home experience. You can convert nearly any small space into a productive home office, and the following tips will help you to do it!

Create a Productive Home Workspace

Even if you’re short on living space, you can create a stylish, yet productive home office that enhances the remote work experience.

Get creative with your space! Build a home office under the stairs, against a spare wall, or in a bedroom nook or closet.
Stay productive during working hours with these seven remote work tips from Upwork. In addition to creating a designated home workspace, it’s important to stick to a daily routine and start your day as early as you can.
Work with the pros at A Clear Path (ACP) to design, organize, and furnish your home workspace for optimal happiness and productivity.
Invest in a few pieces of space-saving office furniture. Compact desks are available to fit even the smallest of spaces, so you can finally stop working at the couch or kitchen table.

Beat Isolation and Loneliness as a Remote Worker

Are you missing your favorite coworkers and watercooler conversations amid COVID-19? You can combat isolation and loneliness with these great tips for remote workers.

Banish feelings of loneliness and isolation during the workday by adopting an animal companion, working with co-workers virtually via Zoom or Skype, and calling your loved ones over the lunch hour.
Join one of the 36 best Slack communities for remote workers.
Host a virtual happy hour with your coworkers, friends, or family members.
Is working from home triggering your depression? Try adding a light therapy box to your desk.

Additional Resources

Need an afternoon pick-me-up? Struggling to stay productive while working from home? These additional resources can help to motivate and energize you whenever you’re feeling sluggish and unfocused throughout the workday.

Whether you’ve been struggling to stay productive while working from home amid the pandemic — or you’ve been experiencing feelings of isolation, loneliness, and depression — your office space could be partly to blame. By upgrading your home workspace, finding new ways to communicate with your co-workers, and incorporating some productivity-boosting exercises, meditations, and songs into your day, you’ll become the best remote worker you can possibly be!

You might be interested in a free copy of the Table of Contents and 1st Chapter of my Book

Download a complimentary copy of the 1st Chapter of Regina’s 3rd Edition of her book, Psychic Debris

Dr. Regina Lark

regina@aclearpath.net

Organizing Services Can Make Remote Work and School a Breeze

decluttered home office desk organized by a professional

All over the country, families are about to enter a grand experiment. The question: Can we handle working remotely while our children take virtual classes? Unless your family happens to be naturally suited to this setup, it’s probably going to be a bit of a challenge. One of the simplest ways to make it easier: A solid organizational scheme.

Home organization is about more than simply putting things away. When everything has a place (and everyone knows what that place is) you save time and eliminate chaos. Moreover, you can use your organizational scheme to create psychological barriers between workspaces and living spaces. This will be one of the most valuable tools in your pocket when it comes to keeping everyone sane during the upcoming school year.

Invest in professional organizing services to ensure your family is well prepared to juggle work and school from home. Here’s a look at a few of the ways that this service can help keep your family productive and happy while you adjust to this new normal:

Enhancing Professionalism

If you weren’t working remotely before the pandemic, odds are your home wasn’t set up with this in mind. In the early days, no one thought twice of barking dogs or messy desks in the background of Zoom meetings. Now that we’ve all had some time to adjust, however, you need to be thinking about how to stay professional during remote work. Think about what your webcam shows in your background: An organized office is going to give a much better impression than a messy, cluttered space.

Your kids should have this in mind as well. After all, virtual learning is going to be tough enough for them and their classmates without a ton of distractions. When your home is well organized, you can limit distractions on video calls and keep yourself, your kids, and work (or class) on track.

A Clear Path’s Ninja Organizers can make sure your space gives the right impression, as well as ensure you have all the tools you need to thrive virtually, including:

A high-quality webcam to join virtual meetings or classes
Ergonomic desks and chairs to stay comfortable throughout your workday
Drawers, baskets, cubbies, and other organizational tools to keep you and your kids on track
Fast, reliable internet that can support work, school, and downtime

Facilitating Focus

Your headspace can make or break remote success. This is as true for you at work as it is for your kids at school. We need defined boundaries between work and life to be able to focus properly. When that’s all happening in one space, we have to create those boundaries for ourselves. Keep this principle in mind when working with your professional organizer, and ask for their insight about how to create these psychological barriers. Here are some ideas to consider:

Specific workrooms: If you have spare rooms in your house, consider turning them into an office for you, or a study space for your child. Depending on your workflow and your child’s school schedule, you could conceivably share a space.
Visual barriers: When you can’t set up a workspace in a specific room, visual barriers such as room dividers can help create mental barriers. Home inventories are a great way to figure out what should go where and define each area’s function with items you already have.
Avoid blurring lines: Wherever possible, avoid setting up your workspace in an obvious relaxation area such as a living room, den, or bedroom. Not only will this make it harder to focus during work and school, but it can also get in the way of unwinding and getting a good night’s sleep.

Overcoming Roadblocks

As if this year weren’t complicated enough, many families are bound to face obstacles that make it even harder. For example, you might need to move at some point during this year. On your own, juggling remote work while packing, unpacking, and organizing your new home can be a nightmare. With relocation specialists on your side, however, this process can be a breeze. Not only will you have an easier time with the move itself, but your move manager can also set your home up for virtual success from the get-go.

a move manager can help re-arrange items to create a clean organized space

Here are a few more roadblocks that are much easier with an organizer on your team:

Starting your own business or expanding a freelance career
Managing a blended schedule, where children transition between in-school and virtual classes
Keeping a multi-generational household happy, healthy, and productive.

Finally, go easy on yourself as you begin this upcoming school year. Your family has a major transition to navigate, and there are sure to be challenges along the way. Professional organization services can set you up for success, and a flexible mindset can keep you sane while you learn how to function in a brand new environment.

Thanks for reading!

3rd Edition of Psychic Debris, Crowded Closets by Regina F Lark, Ph. D.

You might be interested in a free copy of the Table of Contents and 1st Chapter of my Book

Download a complimentary copy of the 1st Chapter of Regina’s 3rd Edition of her book, Psychic Debris

Dr. Regina Lark

regina@aclearpath.net

Photo Credits: 1, 2, 3

Top 10 tips for your best Garage Sale EVER!

So, you’re selling your house and need to declutter. Clear out the old, the unwanted and the unused. There’s an incentive to clearing. Creating more space in your place may have a positive effect on your peace of mind, as well as move you along the home selling process. A fun way to deal with the stuff you don’t need is to sell it all at a yard sale. Make extra cash, ask a few neighbors to join you for a block sale, and get rid of the things that haven’t been serving you for years!

Doesn’t that sound great?!

Here are tried and true Top 10 Tips for your best Garage Sale EVER!!

1. Six or more weeks before the sale choose the date for your sale. Weekends, of course, are best. With good planning, a 3-day weekend is fine for a 1-day sale because people have more time for chores, shopping, and playing.

2. Schedule an entire day to clear your garage before the date of the sale since you will want to be ready bright and early in the morning of your sale. Throw away the obvious trash. Add colorful post-it notes to the sale items, and different color post-it notes to items that you plan to give away or keep.

3. Stage an area in your home or garage where all your “for sale” items can sit until the sale. Take a few pictures of some of your sale items.

4. De-clutter for the sale: Go through all the spaces in your home, office, garage, closets and drawers. Everywhere. Carry a box or bag with you as you go through each area and fill it with that which you no longer use, want, or desire. Be ruthless. And try to not let guilt guide your decisions about letting go! Now put all the stuff in the staging area.

5. Pre-sale advertising on Craigslist and NextDoor.com: This is the key to having the best garage sale EVER! Each week for four weeks prior to the sale, post an ad about your sale on craigslist. The weekly ads should include the same important information: title of ad, city/community of yard sale, dates/times of yard sale, but the body of the ad should change each week. Your ad should excite, delight, and attract potential customers! Show pictures of some of the sale items. Comments may include, EVERYTHING MUST GO! MORE ITEMS IN NEXT WEEK’S AD! Each week post different stuff with different but similar comments. The goal is to build a “following” so people look for your ad next week. Do not include your address until your final post a week before the ad. Very early on the morning of the sale, post ad #4 a second time (for a total of 5 posts).

6. Signage (part 1): Signs should be clear, simple, and readable. Cut a poster-board in half. That’s about the size you should make the signs. Use block letters, printed with date/time of sale, address of sale. Each sign should have a space to draw a directional arrow. Plan to start the sale in the morning because people are more likely to show up to your door before 7am!

7. Signage (part 2): Before you hang your signs, spend a few days driving around your neighborhood for all the ways to get to your house and likely places to hang the signs. If your sale is on a Saturday, post the signs on Wednesday evening. When you go out to hang signs, bring these with you: thick-tip Sharpie marker, heavy duty tape, hammer and a few nails. Add a directional arrow to each sign just before hanging. IMPORTANT:

REMOVE YOUR SIGNS THE DAY AFTER THE SALE (or better, THAT NIGHT!!!) Do not clutter your neighborhood with your old yard sale signs.

8. Day before the sale: Take everything from the staging area inside the house to the garage or area where you plan to hold the sale. Get the items into boxes and bags and close to the front door. Wipe down dirty or dusty items. Have a bunch of paper or plastic grocery bags to help cart away the purchases. Also, have a change purse with several $1s, $5s, a couple of $10s, and coins. Get a good night’s sleep.

9. Day of sale: Get up and out EARLY! People will be waiting when you get outside. Feel free to politely ask them to return at the designated time or… start selling! Put a tall/large item near the curb to attract people driving by your house.

10. To price or not to price an item: If the point of your sale is to get rid of your old stuff, don’t add a price tag on anything. When a customer asks about the cost, ask what they want to pay and take their money! Or name a price, and banter back and forth with the customer until you come to an agreement. If you’ve got a big-ticket item such as a treadmill, couch, or dining set, go ahead a name a price and guage a customer’s reaction. Bottom line: sometimes when an item has a price tag, it may discourage the customer from asking for a lower price. I’ve done at least 25 yard sales (personally and professionally). I’ve never tagged a single item and always had a great sale.

I wish you amazing success with your sale. Put what you’ve earned in the bank, or take yourself and a friend out to dinner! But please don’t go shopping!

De-Cluttering a Kitchen – Top Ten Tips

The Kitchen! OY!!

Some places in our kitchen resemble caverns – dark and deep. We’ve got stuff tucked way, way back that haven’t seen the light of day for years (heck, we could say the same about refrigerators!). In addition, many of us no longer entertain as we once did but our bulky serving trays and bowls are also stuck in time. From my observation, most kitchens have more than one junk drawer (and if it’s junk why do you throw it in a drawer?). Old table napkins take up space, and a birds-eye view indicates more than enough wooden spoons, potato mashers, garlic presses, and spatulas.

The task of clearing the kitchen of superfluous items seems daunting. Planned well, the job may be performed relatively easily. I can’t overemphasize the importance of using your calendar to schedule time to get the work done. If it’s not on the calendar, the likelihood that you will reach your goal of tackling your kitchen is decreased.

Our Top Ten Tips to de-clutter your kitchen provides a good start to creating better flow in the room you use several times a day. For more advice, send an email to me with photos. I can help assess and offer suggestions.

Happy June!

June Top 10 Tips: An Organized Kitchen

1. Start by getting rid of expired or unused items (yes, even spices and tea expire eventually). Discard items that you haven’t used, or don’t plan to use. How many toasters do you have? How many do you or your family use on a regular basis?

2. Take everything that does not belong in the kitchen out of kitchen. Oftentimes, the kitchen serves as a catch all for all activities for all members of the family.

3. If you’re short on space, think vertically and stack items. Hang pots and pans to free up storage space.

4. Avoid counter top clutter by using a cake stand to store salt and pepper and other frequently used items when your cake stand isn’t housing a cake, think of it as a Lazier Susan.

5. Evaluate your cookbooks. Which ones have you used and what is decoration? Are your cookbooks near grease or humidity? Consider taking out the recipes you use and putting them in a binder. Better yet, use a tablet instead of a cookbook to save space.

6. If you don’t have much space and entertain often, consider purchasing a rolling cart. Not only can you easily transport and store heavy dishes, but you will also get extra counter space.

7. Save money by purchasing in bulk and storing in large glass containers or mason jars.

8. Take inventory regularly, Hang a whiteboard near the refrigerator to help keep track of what items you need and what items you have.

9. Get rid of items that are missing their partners. For example, if you have one chopstick but are missing the other, get rid of it. Same thing applies for Tupperware lids and bowls. Mark your calendar to spend some time with the plastic-ware and match everything up!

10. Corral loose flavor packets, tea packets, personal size condiments, etc. into small bins and containers. Bins can also be used to store bigger items like reusable water bottles.

Relocating your home office

Has your business outgrown your home office? When should you consider relocating your home office?

It can be quite rewarding for startup businesses to work at home because it’s a good way to save on expenses. Not only do you save money on rent, utilities, office supplies and personnel expenses, but since you don’t have to commute, you save on fuel and vehicle maintenance. However, the business could grow to an extent where you need more space, but how can you tell if it’s the right time to move?

Reasons to Consider Relocating Your Home Office

You Need More Employees

When you need to hire employees to work at your office, you may not want them entering your home every day. Depending on your business, it could be possible to have them work remotely, but for some, supervision may be crucial. For this reason, if your business has grown and you want to have employees working in the office while you are away, it’s time to think about relocating out of your home.

You Are Running Out of Space

As your business grows, you might be forced to accumulate inventory or technology to enhance your operations. If you find your home office space is getting smaller by the day, then it’s time to consider other options. You could rent a storage space for your product inventory, if that is your only concern. However, if you need to upgrade equipment, such as an industrial printer, and it’s larger than the space available at your home office, you’ll need to move.

Present a Professional Appearance

For businesses where clients need to visit the office before they decide whether to purchase your product, renting an office space can help to improve your business image. The more professional your business looks, the more moving with the help of a certified professional organizer like Regina Lark can ease the stress of any move attractive it will be to customers, and therefore earn more money. If the estimated increase in the customer base or sales is higher than the expenses incurred when renting an office space, relocating might actually help your business to grow.

Finding a reason and deciding to relocate your home office can be quite straightforward, but when it comes to deciding where to relocate to, well, it may not be easy. Here are a few tips:

Proximity to Your Home

If you can find an office space close to home, you’ll save a lot of time by having a short commute. The more time you spend commuting to work, the less time you have for work. However, if your clientele is location-specific, you may need to strike a balance on the distance.

Consider a Shared Office

You can save on rent and curb any loneliness by opting for an open office. In this situation, you share the office cost with others, as well as employees, such as the receptionist. The opportunity for community conferences can also come in handy.

Hire a Moving Company

Since your home office is a source of income for the household, you need to give it the utmost attention when moving out. With the heavy and sensitive equipment around the office, such as desks, electronics, computers, printers, and books, it’s always a good idea to hire a reputable moving company. This will ensure that all of your items are handled with care, and that what would have been an overwhelming experience goes smoothly.

Upon moving, be sure to notify your clients that you’ve changed your address. You can do this by email, phone, with business cards, or put it on your website.

Good luck in your new office!

May and June Speaking Engagements for Regina Lark, Ph.D. CPO®

5/24/16:
Speaker – “Strategies for De-Cluttering your Life”
Brandeis University Alumni Knosh & Knowledge
Rustico’s Ristorante Italiano
11:30 – 2:00
1125 Lindero Canyon Rd., Westlake Village
Closed to Alumni and their guests

6/1/16:
Speaker – “Psychic Debris and crowded Closets – the Relationship Between the Stuff In Your Head and the Stuff Under Your Bed”
Jewish Family Services Life Program at Park LaBrea
Park La Brea Activity Center Theater – 535 S. Curson Avenue, Los Angeles
1:00-2:00pm

6/2/16:
Speaker – “Help for Hoarding: It Takes a Village”
21st Annual Professional Fiduciary Association of California Educational Conference
Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa
2:30-4:00pm
PFACMeeting.org

6/8/16:
Panelist – “People who Hoard and those Who Help Them”
LA County Department of Mental Health Hoarding Forum
8:00-4:00pm
1000 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Free

6/9/16:
Speaker – “Help for Hoarding: It Takes a Village”
Silverado Beach Cities | Memory Care Community
11:00-1:00pm
514 N Prospect Ave | Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Free – but RSVP Tel (310) 896-3100

6/10/16:
Speaker – “Strategies for De-Cluttering your Life”
Benjamin Center Cancer Support Community
3:00-4:30pm
1990 S Bundy Dr #100, Los Angeles, CA 90025
Free