Category: From the Expert

Occasionally I get calls from overwhelmed clients who just lost a parent and have found themselves with a house full of stuff that they have to deal with. While the client grieves, they are burdened making millions of decisions about every item in the home. It is challenging, in part, because what may look like […]

I walked in the house balancing an overflowing box of great finds from Costco. A 5-pack of toothpaste! 4 bottles of dish soap for the price of 3! Shoe racks were on sale and, well, shoes have always been a problem, so I thought I better get that too. And new towels that were just […]

What is fast fashion? According to Oxford Dictionary, fast fashion is inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends Everyone wants to be trendy Is your shopping addiction actually harming the planet? Over-consumerism is not a victimless act. Article on fast fashion and its negative impact on the environment (above). […]

Most of us have things that are meaningful to us but that we might not need to see all the time. For example, I frequently find paintings that clients made with friends at wine-n-paint events. While they evoke wonderful memories, the paintings might not be masterpieces – so what to do with it? There are a […]

Does your pantry make your life easy? A lot of pantries are overflowing. There are bags of pasta falling over; 8 types of specialty flour – each partially used; a bag or two of dried fruit of mysterious origin; unlabeled bags of spices; left over Halloween candy; and who knows what else. While we are […]

Happy New Year! Congratulations on making it through another holiday season! Hopefully you found moments of peace, joy, and a little magic! For me, the new year always invites personal reflection. Specifically, I take time to consider what ‘clutters’ my schedule. I think we can fall into activities out of habit, expectations, or feelings of […]

Anti-Clutter Gift Giving Ideas I love the holiday season! I love the music, the lights, decorations, seeing friends and family, and the festive mood that the season creates. Finding gifts, wrapping them, and even waiting in the long line at the post office to mail them brings me joy! I realize many people do not […]

Clients often say “I have too many books!” and my response is “There could be a lot worse things to have too many of!” Of course, I understand that what they are really saying is that books are a component of the clutter that they do not like. That said, we do live in a […]

We do not have hurricanes or tsunamis in Minnesota, so I do not a keep a Go-Bag at the ready. But the week of the riots in South Minneapolis I put one together. It had our portable lockbox, dog food, dog leashes, and a few other necessities. Fortunately, the riots passed and the items in […]

As summer winds down we often find ourselves looking for storage solutions for the patio chair cushions, pool supplies, beach towels, bug spray, sunscreen, bike helmets, picnic gear, sandals, etc. Storing off season items, in out-of-the-way spaces, can make space for the muddy and salt-covered snow boots, winter coats, ice skates and ski equipment that […]

My family frequently vacations in August. Many years we would return right before the school year started to find the Back-To-School section at Target almost empty. Then we would run to Office Max, Staples, and even Walgreens – until we found every binder, folder, and notebook, in the right color, on the school supply list. Now that […]

Summer! It is here and I hope you are all taking full advantage of it! Be that time on the water, at the cabin, or trips to the dog park, now is our limited season for enjoying the Minnesota outdoors without 14 layers and Yaktrax on! Recently I wrote about the sometimes-overwhelming amount of papers […]