Organizing Toronto ... one blog post at a time.

Wardrobe Decluttering: Ask LH: How Do I Get Rid Of Clothes Clutter?

2011-09-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Lifehacker, I really need some new clothes, but my closet’s already packed and a mess. Is there an easy Lifehacker-y way of getting rid of my clothes clutter? Thanks, Need New Duds

Dear NND,

We sympathise. Having too many clothes causes a kind of clutter that makes simply getting dressed or doing the laundry a hassle. It’s a good idea to tackle clothes organisation when the seasons change. While there’s no quick fix for clearing out your closet (you still have to go through all your clothes), we do have tips for what to keep and how to use your personal style to streamline your clothing choices.

Get Rid of Clothes That Don’t Fit You — Literally and Style-Wise
First, go through your clothes and find all the ones that you know you will never wear again because:

They don’t fit or fit poorly.
They’re damaged/stained.
They were just bad decisions or hideous (though well-intentioned) gifts.
You don’t look or feel good in them.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Decluttering and Organization - Yard-sale savvy: Turn clutter into cash

2011-09-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

By Holly E. Thomas

Pssst . . . there’s money hidden in your house.

But don’t tear up the floorboards and rip up the mattresses yet. We’re talking about money hidden in plain sight — in boxes of knickknacks, stacks of books and bins of forgotten toys. Whether you deem it trash or treasure, the current craze for all things secondhand and salvaged means someone might give you cold, hard cash for it. And while hosting an old-fashioned yard sale isn’t rocket science, there are a few formulas for success. I put them into practice on a recent Saturday, combining treasures from three houses for a sale that ran from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. After seven hours of selling castoff DVDs, books, furniture, clothing, toys and housewares, I had pocketed $500 and gotten rid of 75 percent of what I wanted to sell. Read on to see how a yard-sale rookie did it.

1. Combine forces. Collect extra sale items from family members to boost your offerings and created variety and visual impact. If your neighbors need to de-clutter, consider collaborating on a multi-family sale. If “yard sale” is music to frugal ears, then “neighborhood-wide yard sale” is akin to a symphony.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Estate Clearing: Selling your house? Avoid these mistakes

2011-09-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

By Amy Fontinelle

Any problem with the property will be uncovered during the buyer's inspection, so there's no use hiding it. Either fix the problem ahead of time, price the property below market value to account for the problem, or list the property at a normal price but offer the buyer a credit to fix the problem. Realize that if you don't fix the problem in advance, you may turn away a fair number of buyers who want a turnkey home. Having your home inspected before listing it is a good idea if you want to avoid costly surprises once the home is under contract.

Mistake No. 10 - Not Preparing Your Home for Sale

Sellers who do not clean and stage their homes are throwing money down the drain. If you can't afford to hire a professional, that's OK - there are many things you can do on your own. Failing to do these things will not only reduce your sale price, but may also prevent you from getting a sale at all. For example, if you haven't attended to minor issues like a broken doorknob, a potential buyer may wonder whether the house has larger, costlier issues that haven't been addressed. Have a friend or agent with a fresh pair of eyes point out areas of your home that need work - because of your familiarity with the home, you may have become immune to its trouble spots. Decluttering, cleaning thoroughly, putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls and getting rid of any odors will also help you make a good impression on buyers.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Decluttering and Organization: How to Cash in on Clutter

2011-09-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

By Marla Tabaka

Take a look around you. Are you surrounded by clean, uncluttered space or piles of paper, old magazines, dirty coffee cups and little items begging for a home? If clutter has taken over your space, think about how it makes you feel. Is your stress level high? How productive have you been lately? Is your creativity ebbing; fresh ideas distant? Are things piling up in your mind, just as they are in your office and home?

It begins with a few sheets of paper – meant to be filed at the end of the day. Soon, that pile becomes a stack, the books and magazines that we reference don’t get put away, and eventually nothing seems to find its way back to its proper place. The clutter virus that spreads from one room to the next can have a significant impact on our physical and mental state. Productivity levels drop and fatigue increases. Important tasks fall to the wayside and lost items are senselessly replaced with new; money spent for no practical purpose.

The good news is that you have a choice: check out or cash in.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE >>

Closet Makeover: GOT CLUTTER? Control that closet

2011-09-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

By Patty McPherson

Does your bedroom closet need a makeover? To make it more inviting and less cluttered, you can work with what you have or install a closet system or other organizing products. There’s a range of products available for every budget. The goal is to create a space where you can see what’s what, where like items are with like, and choosing an outfit is not a taxing experience.

Keep all your clothes hangers the same color, preferably neutral. Swap out unmatched hangers if you are able, and toss/recycle wire hangers that came with dry cleaning and the free plastic ones that came with the garments when you bought them. While the slim, flocked hangers are great, just having all the same plastic tube hangers is an improvement.

Get as much hung up or on shelves as possible, aiming to get as much off the floor as you can (other than shoes or shoe storage). If you want a more involved closet redo, many home improvement stores sell closet kits that are fairly user-friendly. All you need are the measurements of your closet and some tools.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Hoarders and Hoarding: Animal hoarding recognized as serious mental problem

2011-09-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

By Donald Bradley

In 2002, animal control officers in Liberty went to a mobile home park on a report of hoarding.

They found 94 cats, four dogs, a rabbit and a ferret in a woman’s trailer. An officer, learning one of the dogs was diabetic, opened the refrigerator to check for insulin.

It was filled with dead cats, some in Tupperware containers.

In Kansas City, North, this week, officers carried more than 100 cats out of a woman’s house and found 50 or so dead and frozen in a deep freeze, tagged like hamburger.

Same woman.

Delores Metcalf, 56, seems to be a serial cat hoarder.

“She needed help back then, and she didn’t get it, and now she’s done it again,” a woman familiar with the Liberty case said this week.

Perhaps that’s because animal hoarding has only recently been looked upon as a mental disorder. It is relatively new to psychological research, and experts struggle to nail it down.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Decluttering Books: Turning the page on clutter with e-readers

2011-09-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

By Eugene Kane

I've been getting rid of many of my books.

When I tell that to some people, they take it almost as a betrayal.

"What are you thinking? You can't do that!"

They are all book lovers like me, so many can't imagine a world without the magic of the written word.

Books can tell a lot about the owner. My personal library is heavy on African-American authors, particularly fiction, with James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and others leading the pack. I also seek out great writers from other backgrounds like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Updike and Philip Roth. In nonfiction, I tend toward biographies or autobiographies; I have Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Sammy Davis Jr. on the shelves.

I also have Condoleezza Rice, black conservative writers Thomas Sowell and Shelby Steele.

I even have Salman Rushdie.

A love of books can get obsessive, which is why I recently purchased my first Kindle, the revolutionary e-reader that - along with other tablets like the Nook - some believe will eventually make printed books obsolete. I wanted to see if a paperless future can still be packed with satisfying reading.

So far, so good.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Downsizing a Home: Letting go of the suburban dream

2011-09-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

By Franca Temolo-Jones

After nine years, we did what some people would deem inappropriate. Others might even call it unthinkable. We sold our suburban house, got rid of 90 per cent of our stuff and moved back to the city.

It’s not like we were empty-nesters downsizing once the kids had left. No, we still had the kids in tow – two in elementary and one in high school.

You’re not supposed to do that, right? You’re supposed to covet the backyard you never really used. And Dad’s supposed to work a gazillion miles away so the kids don’t see him much, and when they do, he’s recovering from the commute.

Driving everywhere in the suburbs was absolutely essential, while walking anywhere was practically non-existent. The neighbours were okay, but with the houses so far apart and all the entering and exiting from the garage, we didn’t get to know them that well. READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Garage Organization: Reasons to Add Additional Storage Cabinets in Your Garage

2011-09-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

By Sharon Lynn

A garage is one of those places that can get cluttered up fast with all the tools and other items that belong in this space. After a while of collecting tools and other items for your garage, extra storage may be required. There are various types of storage that you can add to your garage but storage cabinets are at the top of the list in popularity. Storage cabinets in a garage allow you to keep your additional items picked up and put away. This is a good way to prevent accidents of tripping and falling over items left on the garage floor.

Anyone that is lucky enough to have a garage of their own would prefer it to be clean and neat with all their items organized and put away in their rightful place. Purchasing cabinets for your garage will take care of all your garage items, including your tools. Some tools don't get used as often as others and storage cabinets are a great place to keep these tools until they are ready to be used.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Click Here for Even More Garage Organization Ideas.

12 Tips for Getting Organized for Adults with ADHD and ADD

2011-09-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

By Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.

Organizing is a challenge and a chore for most people. But when you have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), symptoms like distractibility, forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating can make getting organized seem impossible.

But there are small steps you can take to organize your space and your life. Below, attention and ADHD coach Laura Rolands and clinical psychologist and ADHD expert Ari Tuckman share their strategies for getting a handle on clutter and creating a clean space.

1. Start small. When it comes to organizing, one of the mistakes people with ADHD make is to try to work on everything at once, said Rolands, who operates LSR Coaching and Consulting.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Downsizing: Thinking small can be a big challenge for homebuyers

2011-09-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

By Bob Karlovits, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

When architect and designer Jim Cardillo looks at the Cape Cod-dominated small homes that dominated construction after World War II, he sees houses he thinks should be popular today.

"Small homes are for people who have been around the block," he says, believing many would-be buyers simply have not strolled through life enough to discover that truth.

It leads to the paradox with small homes: In a time where downsizing and energy efficiency are popular, the small home has limited popularity.

Maryann Bacharach from the Shadyside office of Howard Hanna Real Estate, sees a market for them and insists the "boomers are looking for small ranches."

Yet, she admits one of the first comments many clients have is: "Let's see, what am I going to have to add to this place."

Architect Bob Barrage, who is taking over the practice of Thomas Wasilowski in Natrona Heights, says the design of an efficient small home always is a challenge, but one he does not get enough because of a lack of interest.

"Americans are obsessed with the idea that bigger is better," he says.

READ FULL STORY HERE >

Downsize Your Home: Easing the angst of downsizing

2011-09-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

By Patrick Langston, Ottawa Citizen

Downsizing: a word that summons terrifying images of yellowed college essays, Grandma’s cracked tea service, and the mountains of other stuff that we all accumulate. But it gets worse. Where to go when it is time to downsize? Or what about Mum: how are we ever going to convince her to trade the sprawling family home for a berth in a nursing facility?

Doug and Judy Robinson don’t have all the answers. But they have gathered some very good suggestions into their just-released book The Best of the Rest: Downsizing for Boomers and Seniors ($19.95 from General Store Publishing House; online at www.chapters.indigo.ca and www.amazon.com).

The husband and wife team wrote the how-to book from experience. Owners of Ottawa-based Senior Moves (613-832-0053, www.seniormoves.ca), the retired teachers have helped over 1,800 seniors downsize since 1996.

The Robinsons recently launched their book at the Westboro location of Amica, a high-end retirement home chain. As nattily dressed residence staff prepared the adjacent dining room for the evening meal, friends, family and business associates thronged around the Robinsons in Amica’s lounge. Clearly, the couple has struck a chord with their downsizing expertise.

READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Animal Hoarding: Pet Hoarder Horrors

2011-09-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

Animal hoarding is in the spotlight as a result of some recent high-profile cases, including one that's being called one of the worst in U.S. history. Hoarding is certainly bad for animals, who face malnutrition and squalid conditions that breed disease. And hoarders may be vulnerable to poor air quality and diseases that can be spread from animals to humans.

What causes people to hoard animals ranging from cats to rats? Psychologists don't know the exact causes but point to several factors including early child experiences (parental neglect or abuse), distorted thinking, impulsivity, and plain old loneliness.

VIEW THE SHOCKING PHOTO GALLERY HERE >>

Hoaders: Hoarding can be a life-threatening disease

2011-09-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Brian Misiaszek

Q: My mother, now in her 80s, is starting to hoard things. Should I be concerned by this behaviour?

A: Yes, this can be a sign for concern.

Hoarding is common in the general population. Two to 5 per cent of the population hoard or have hoarding symptoms. There are two factors to consider about hoarding behaviour.

The first is primary hoarding. This is when a person has always been a collector or a slob and has continued this behaviour into their later adult years. This can also be common in those who lived in deplorable conditions in their youth, like during the Great Depression. These people didn’t have much, so when they begin to accumulate things, they start to stockpile. These habits form early and continue on into adulthood.

Secondary hoarding can be more serious and significant. If it is happening later in life it’s usually due to a considerable change — for example, a loss of spouse or job, a stroke or alcoholism. It may begin as passive accumulation of items such as failure to take out garbage, forgetting that they already have food in the fridge (so it spoils), and continuing to buy things they already have in stock. This may be related to memory loss and cause them to forget to take pills, forget a doctor’s appointment or neglect their overall health. Other clues to consider include not doing basic chores, giving up driving, new funny ideas that show a lack of insight. They can’t remember that their home should be kept tidy.

FULL STORY HERE >>

VIDEO: Lisa Makes Bug Cookies, Chicken-Heart Pie on Hoarders

2011-09-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

Marla Ottenstein’s Get Organized: Tools to get better organized

2011-09-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

If you ask me to name the three greatest inventions of the past 50 years (costing fewer than five dollars apiece) and I’ll give you an answer quicker than a chicken can cross the road to get to the other side.

Take away my supply of can’t-live-without Ziploc bags, Command self-adhesive wire hooks or 3M Post-its and I’ll go absolutely bonkers. Personally and professionally, I consider each of these tools to be the ultimate solution to almost any organizing conundrum.

Earlier this year, I wrote a column about creative solutions to everyday organizing dilemmas (Naples Daily News: Feb. 18, 2011). Since then, I’ve received numerous letters and photos from readers of this column (thank you very much), as well as from clients, who have shared their clever organizing solutions. READ FULL STORY HERE >>

Downsize Your Home: Thinking about downsizing? Consider these option

2011-09-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

By Jim Miller, “The Savvy Senior”

Dear Savvy Senior

What tips can you recommend to help seniors with downsizing? I have been thinking about moving to a retirement community, but in order to move I need to get rid of a lot of my stuff. I have a four bedroom house as well as an attic and basement that are full. Any tips would be appreciated.

Overwhelmed Senior

Dear Overwhelmed,

The process of weeding through a house full of stuff and parting with old possessions can be difficult and overwhelming for many seniors. Most people in your situation start the downsizing process by giving their unused possessions to their kids or grandkids, which you can do up to $13,000 per person per year before you’re required to file a federal gift tax return, using IRS Form 709. Beyond that, here are a few extra tips and services that may help you.

FULL STORY HERE >>

Decluttering and Organization: Control clutter online, on desk and in the kitchen

2011-09-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

Sarah Welch and Alicia Rockmore/ getbuttonedup.com

Sometimes it can feel like life is all over the place. Work is a mess, home is a mess and your life just needs a good old-fashioned overhaul. We've culled some of our favorite tips from over the years and put them all together in one quick and easy cheat sheet:

Controlling cyber clutter

1. Start using Dropbox. This fantastic Web-based storage system is the best backup-without-thinking-about-it solution we know of. Rather than saving everything to your desktop, Dropbox saves all of your files in "the cloud," which means you can access them from any computer, anywhere, using your user name and password. Just download the app, make Dropbox your main "virtual filing cabinet" (using any filing names and conventions you want) and you never have to think about backing up again.

2. Adopt a systematic file-naming convention. The No. 1 virtual time-waster? Hunting for files you know you have but just can't seem to find. Pick a simple naming convention that you use on every file you create, from spreadsheets to Word documents. Nobody is judging your file names, so make them descriptions you'll know and understand. A format we love: "date created — file name." But it doesn't matter what your system is as long as you do it consistently. READ THE FULL STORY HERE>>.

Do It Yourself Closet Organizing: From 'Archiving' Designer Looks to Trashing Acid Wash, How to Clean Up and Organize Your Closet

2011-09-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

Just because you don't fit into it doesn't mean you shouldn't keep it. Or does it? An online survey conducted by shopping channel QVC revealed that 41% of British women say they are planning to lose weight before wearing their hoarded outfits, 17% keep styles in the hope of a fashion revival and the average woman has 22 garments in her wardrobe she will never wear but absolutely refuses to get rid of. According to the survey, British females waste £1.6 billion on clothes we never wear and, somewhat perversely, we claim that it is the "idea" of wasting money that stops us from clearing our wardrobes.

I find it hard to take issue with anything the survey unearthed, because I am a closet slut of the worst kind. I've tried to reform, really I have.

In fact, some years ago, Tamara Mellon, chief creative officer and co-founder of Jimmy Choo, confided that her life had been transformed by a woman who organized her wardrobes. Somewhat uncharacteristically, I was persuaded by Mellon that clean, organized closets could change my life too, and I made an appointment with her woman—Elika Gibbs (aka Practical Princess). I wrote about my encounter in a column I was then writing for the Times of London, describing the leggy, energetic Gibbs as a blonde lurcher in a parka and extolling the virtues of her methodology. READ FULL STORY HERE >>.

How to Organize Your Closet: Organizing Tips to Help You Get Your Wardrobe in Order

2011-09-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

Does your closet make you turn around and leave because it seems like an overwhelming task to change from one season to the next?

Now is a good time to reorganize your children's closets as well as your own. With the changing of seasons and school starting, wardrobe use also is changing.

There are many ways to accomplish this task. Start by going through each closet. This may seem like an unending chore, but if done in small parts it will be easier to complete.

If you want to do a total closet reorganization, take everything out of the closet. Another option, which works better for some people, is doing the closet by sections.

Decide how you want to organize your fall clothes as you change from summer to fall. If you have space to take all the summer clothes out and store them elsewhere that is great. But perhaps just rotating the areas for easier access is your only option. READ FULL STORY HERE >>.

Decluttering and Home Organization: Declutter Your Home With These Simple Steps

2011-09-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

People probably know about someone whose home seems to always be uncluttered and tidy but for many of us this is difficult to achieve. It is usually a combination of a fast paced lifestyle and a natural inclination to hoard items that can lead to a lack of space around the house. Sometimes it is aggravated further when you’ve got young children since it is a hard-to-find quality to find a child who enjoys tidying up after themselves. It could be that you would really like to remove the mess laying around your house and yet you never seem to get round to it. This is often until you have company and you suddenly must find somewhere to put everything and this is stressful in itself. And so here are several tips to get you going in decluttering your home.

It can be a frequent blunder once you have finally decided to tidy your house to try to do it all in one day. It might tend to be commendable however what tends to happen is that you get everything out and before you know it, the day has passed without actually achieving anything. So that you can complete the task at hand, doing one room at a time is a great way to go about this. This definitely will make you feel a lot better and inspire you to do the same in your other rooms as you will see you are making progress. Perhaps it is an idea to straighten-up your primary living areas first as these can cause the most disruption if someone visits you. READ FULL STORY HERE >>.

Entry Closet Organization

2011-08-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Organization expert Linda Rothschild is here to save the day! Cyn's closet is overcrowded, unorganized, and a complete mess. She can't find anything she needs without everything falling out. Leave it Linda to offer some helpful tips on what to keep, what to get rid of, what to donate, and how to make it all a bit more user friendly. Linda's company, Cross It Off Your List, helps with general organization, coordinates home and office moves, and assists with overall lifestyle management--but here you will see her take matters into her own hands and do what needs to be done to get organized. READ FULL STORY HERE >>.

Closet Organizing Tips on Video

2011-08-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

Home Organization Tips: Organizing Any Room in Five Easy Steps

2011-08-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

Has the clutter really piled up in your living space? Do you have a room that you are ready to reorganize? Use the following five-step approach to ensure that you cover all the bases when organizing any room.

1. Determine the goal for the room.

Before you begin sorting through your clutter, take a few moments to articulate the specific goal for the space. This step helps you define the desired function of the room and stay on track. For example, “I want a living room with enough seating for family and guests and enough storage for our books, games, photo albums, and movie collection.”

2. Identify the limitations of the room.

Make sure your goal for the room is realistic and takes into consideration any features of the room that you can’t change, such as its size, layout, dual function, and so on. For example, you may have your sights set on creating a tropical island guest suite, but you still have to account for the fact that the room is also a home office. READ FULL STORY HERE >>.

Click Here to Hire a Professional Home Organizer in Toronto.

Home Storage and Organization: Before You Buy Plastic Storage Containers

2011-08-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

The sight of well-organized plastic storage containers is awe inspiring for those of us who have piles of stuff without a place to put it. Plastic storage containers do a great job of helping to organize seasonal, bulky, and many other types of storage in our homes. Find out what you need to do before you buy storage containers.

What Needs To Be Stored?
In order to determine the right type of storage container, you'll need to know what and how much storage you need to fit in the container. So gather it up. Stack it all in one spot to help determine exactly what your needs are. You may be surprised to find that you have a lot more to pack away than you thought. This is also a good time to sort through and pull out items that can be thrown away, given away,or returned to the people they were borrowed from. Don't be afraid to let go of items you may not really want in favor of the things you really need to store. READ FULL STORY HERE>>

Search Amazon.com for Storage Containers