Category: From the Expert

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 […]

It is summer! And after this long, long winter, I want to take advantage of every moment of it! But like our homes, it is easy for our days to get cluttered. This happens to me when I get distracted – usually by social media or something on my phone. There is definite value in […]

When my son was young he brought so many things home from school. Artwork, assignments, name tags, or any interesting tidbit that he was sure should be kept forever. I saved a lot, but not everything. It can be hard to know what to keep and what to do with things, but if we don’t […]

Many of our parents and grandparents kept every official piece paper they ever received. Bills. Bank statements. Insurance renewals. Academic records. Product manuals, etc. It is ok to keep everything, until it isn’t. Once paper becomes a hassle – once it flows out the drawers of the filing cabinet, and of the second filing cabinet, […]