Can Full and Disorganized Drawers & Closets Be Bad For Your Health?

Everyone has them.. drawers and closets that are so full they won’t quite close properly. But did you know that it might be bad for your health? According to several neuroscience professors, every time you look around and feel anxious that the mess is getting out of control, your body releases cortisol, one of the classic stress hormones.

So, let’s start with your clothing closet. Remember, that 80% of the time, we wear only 20% of our clothing. So go through your wardrobe and get rid of anything that’s one of the Four S’s: stretched, small, smelly or stained. I mean, you could try and really wash those items that are smelly or stained but haven’t you already tried and isn’t the point of this to let things go?

Tip: turn all your hangers in one direction and for the next six months, flip the hanger (and leave it flipped) when you wear something. Get rid of or donate the unused clothing.

Tip: When something new comes in, at least one thing-preferably two (if you can) must go. And really be realistic…as in, if you are a size 10, hold onto the 8s but not the 6s.

Does E-mail Actually Make Us More Productive and Organized?

I have always wondered if e-mail actually makes us more productive and organized at work. I am always in offices where I see people checking their e-mail every 5 seconds or so. People hear a little “ding” on their computer and most feel an uncontrollable urge to look. But, only about 1 and 10 messages are actually important so it turns out to be a big waste of time.

So what can you do to be more productive when it comes to email?

1. Make sure you have a junk mail filter
2. Turn off the e-mail chimes
3. Limit yourself to checking once an hour (or at least try to not break you’re your train of thought!)
4. Use precise subject headers in your outgoing emails to everyone and they will hopefully reciprocate (ex: Monthly staff meeting starting at 4:00 pm on 2/8-no need to reply)

Happy Almost Valentines Day

So, by now you have probably already bought your sweetheart a card, or chocolates or another type of Valentine Day gift. However, I wanted to make you aware of an article that was published in the New York Times in March of 2001 that might make you think twice about your current Valentine gifts. The article said that Ikea did a survey of customers in which 31% reported they were more satisfied after clearing out their closets than they were after sex!

So maybe giving the gift of organization to your sweetheart (or yourself!) this year is really something that they will truly appreciate! A great alternative to chocolates (I guess they are fattening..) or flowers (they will eventually die..).

Happy Almost Valentines Day.

This Is The Year To De-clutter Your Life (Oprah’s 2/7 Show)

So I am usually not one to religiously follow Oprah but after today’s show, I feel even more inspired about choosing to become a professional organizer. It is such a rewarding experience when you can help someone completely transform their life and today’s episode showed and explained how we work.

According to Peter Walsh, the professional organizer on today’s show, 2/3rds of all American families are living in clutter and paralyzed with where to begin. Oprah was actually shocked at this figure. However, we live in a society where more is usually seen as better so people tend to hold on to things they don’t really need but have purchased maybe because it was 2 for 1, on sale, etc. For example, as the guest couple on the show stated, they were buying things for their children because they thought it would make them happy as well as the kids. However, all the purchases just lead to more clutter.

On the show today, it was explained that physical clutter actually impacts other parts of your life. I believe this is 100% true. There are so many reasons for people why they might be disorganized at the moment or have clothing still in their closet from 20 years ago. According to Peter, there are two kinds of clutter-the “I might need it later” (future) clutter and the “I want to hold onto it” (past) clutter. So what can someone do about it? Peter says you can’t focus on the “stuff” or it will never get organized. What you need to do is focus on the behavior and think about why there actually is clutter. He stated that clutter is really the manifestation of other areas of our life.

Today’s show reinforced my feeling that clutter is always around us. The solution is to call in a professional for help when you know you can’t attack it on your own and to be honest with yourself if you really can tackle the problem.

Below are the 10 tips Peter gave on how to keep your house clutter free.
1. Tackle messes one room at a time.
2. When you buy something new, practice the "in-out rule:" For every one new item, get rid of an old one.
3. Create intimacy in the master bedroom. Remember that improvements in one room can spread to the rest of the house.
4. Make cleaning up fun for your kids.
5. Create a vision for the room you're cleaning.
6. Teach your kids how to sort.
7. Use a hanger system to determine which clothes you wear most.
8. Ask yourself if you really need something. If you hesitate, you don't.
9. Establish a "magic triangle" in your kitchen between the stove, refrigerator and the sink. Keep the items you use most in that area.
10. Identify useful utensils with the cardboard box test. (Take a cardboard box and fill it w/ all your utensils in your kitchen. When you need to use one, take it out, use it and put it back into a drawer. If after 4 weeks you still have utensils in the box, get rid of them)

Because I was so inspired by today’s show, Rosey’s is running a limited time offer for 15% off professional organizing services. Please contact for more details.

Tomorrow’s (Wed. 2/7) OPRAH Show

I have just been notified that tomorrow’s Oprah show is titled: This Is The Year to Declutter Your Life! I am so excited to see the show and encourage all of you out there to tune in or set your Tivo systems. There is already a message board for tomorrow’s topic up and running. Please check it out: Oprah Message Board

The show’s message board states “Their home looks normal from the outside…but inside! We are calling in a professional with serious ground rules and a three-step action plan! Clean-up secrets that could help you get organized, lose weight and even have more sex! This is the year to declutter your life. We'll show you how! Join the discussion.”

I am so glad that Oprah is helping to bring such an important subject like professional organization into the spotlight. There are such wonderful benefits to becoming organized and I can't wait to see what Oprah uncovers tomorrow.

Your Shopping List for 2007

Now that we have are a month into 2007 and all the pain of holiday shopping has past, we can once again think about shopping for ourselves again. Can’t we? According to Glamour Magazine, there are a few new basics that we can count on seeing a lot this year in stores.

I am all for trends but try to keep in place the rule: one thing in, one thing out, when shopping.. no need to bring in more clutter to your closet!

Try any or all these items which come in all different price ranges:
1. An oversized bag
2. Higher-waisted, slouchy pants
3. A long tunic
4. Platforms, especially in patent leather
5. A shrunken, feminine trench
6. A swingy black sheath dress
7. Slim-fit jeans

What To Do When Organizing Seems Too Exhausting

One of the main reasons clients come to me to help them organize is because it is a task that is usually too exhausting to even think about! While most people don’t think of organizing as a sport (yet!), I always remind them that organizing is actually mentally draining. In addition, organizational projects can sometimes be physically taxing.

When weeding through your belongings (paper, clothing, etc.), it often brings up emotions and memories. Each item has a past… So, instead of giving up when it becomes emotionally taxing, maybe spend the last few minutes of your project working on something less emotionally exhausting, like downsizing the clutter in the garage. Or, alternate the type of project that you’re doing--if you are working indoors switch to outdoors or if you are doing a mostly a mental task switch to a more physical task.