Did you know that decluttering also has a mental health aspect to it? Your home environment can affect your mental well-being. By having all the things unorganized, you can feel the chaos and be out of control. 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but back to school is coming up pretty fast and furious, and unless this is your first year, first kid, first rodeo, so to speak, you probably know that that stress can hit hard, and keep on coming if you’re not organized.

Some clutter is easy to spot. It’s the broken lamp. The jeans that haven’t fit since 2009. The random cords that go to absolutely nothing.

We’ve made it through the holidays and all the busyness and stuff that comes with it. It’s a new year, and the weather is making many of us want to (or have to) stay in the house. It’s the perfect time to turn your motivation to get decluttered into action.

And yet, even when we’re motivated…decluttering is still hard.

There was a time when my to-do list felt like an avalanche - small things piling up until I was buried under the weight of it all. I was getting ready to reach my limit and knew that something had to change. As a professional organizer, having my home organized wasn’t an issue.

A fellow Closet Factory designer and I were chatting recently and I mentioned that I used to be a slob. Surprised, she asked, "What changed you?" She said she had always been a neat freak.

I don't get excited for the New Year as a holiday. There are no parties or resolutions. But this year I welcomed 2024 with some anticipation, albeit cautiously. 2022 was challenging. 2023 was a sh*t show. I’ll stick to the lowlights - my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and between September and November I lost three people who were important to me.

When I arrived at a client’s house recently, she excitedly shared with me that Marie Kondo had given up being tidy. “WHAT?! It can’t be!” I thought to myself and immediately started Googling the moment I got home. Sure enough, there were the headlines - “Marie Kondo’s house is messy,” “Marie Kondo has quit tidying,” etc.

May is National Moving Month! We’ve teamed up with Cindy Bennett of Maison Real Estate Boutique to bring you Moving May - a blog series dedicated to getting ready to move. This is the first in a series of four posts that will give you tips on everything from preparing to move to getting settled in your new home.

So the moment has come, and you’re ready to move! If you have a home to sell first, getting that organized is the very first step. Hopefully, if you’ve followed some of the guidance in our first Moving Month post, you don’t have a HUGE task ahead of you. The “get ready to sell” info changes slightly based on whether you are staying in the home or moving out and having it staged to sell.

You’ve signed a contract on a new home and now you’re moving. Which means packing. And finding a mover. And arranging furniture. And unpacking. And finding places for ALL of the things. And. And. And…

The movers are gone, and you’re surrounded by boxes. Overwhelmed? Now what?

The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and flowers are in full bloom—you’ve officially made it through winter. There’s something about spring that sparks the urge to refresh every room, nook, and surface in your home. That’s why they call it spring cleaning, after all. But after months of winter hibernation, knowing where to begin can feel overwhelming. 

Whether you’re working with a minimalist hall closet or a decked-out workspace, it’s critical that wherever you do laundry is tidy and thoughtfully laid out. “An organized laundry space should be functional, saving you time and making this chore less painful,” Mary Davis, owner and founder of In Good Order in Richmond, Virginia, explains. “Plus, making it look good can make your laundry room somewhere you actually want to be.”

Contrary to what you may believe, a junk drawer is not meant to be a catch-all for life’s throwaways. That would be your trash can. Still, many people treat their junk drawer as a pre-garbage can limbo. 

Join us for an enlightening episode of "Organizing with Ease" as we welcome special guest Mary Davis, a distinguished mom, wife, and Professional Organizer. With over 20 years of experience in the corporate world and as the founder of In Good Order, Mary has dedicated her career to helping people create functional and beautiful organizational systems.

Imagine this: You walk into your home and you need a couple of things from the kitchen, another from the bathroom, and one more from your bedroom. You know precisely where all four items are, down to what’s on their left and right, and could lead even a perfect stranger to them. That is what it’s like to have organized drawers. It’s something to aspire for, and now you have the exact blueprint for how to make it happen.