Posts by Jill Annis | Simply Organized
It’s not the stuff in life that matters
“All you need is love,” according to The Beatles. It’s not the stuff that matters. In fact, owning less stuff will positively change your life. Short on time? Save time, shop less. Stop acquiring more things that need to be laundered, dusted, organized, etc. Short on space? Make space by decluttering and donating your excess.…
Read MoreHow To Responsibly Donate Your Things To Charity
When I work with my clients, we come across many things they no longer want but aren’t interested in selling. I encourage clients to donate as much as possible to local charities versus throwing usable items into the trash. Since 2002, I’ve become more familiar with the items charities accept and the condition they should…
Read MoreWhat does a professional organizer do and when should you consider hiring one?
Some people aren’t sure what professional organizers do. In short, get started organizing, make decisions when you’re stuck, and keep you focused. We won’t force you to throw anything out, and we don’t judge you. Bottom line, we help you accomplish an overwhelming task you may have been putting off for years. I enjoy my…
Read MoreLego Organizing Tips To Keep Them Off Your Floor
The iconic Lego bricks have been a long time childhood staple and provide hours of entertainment for kids of all ages. On the flip side, bare feet dislike them and they can be a bugger to organize. You may even feel guilty asking your kids to clean them up when they are in the middle…
Read MoreConsider Eliminating These 5 Perfectly Good Things
You own some nice, perfectly good stuff which translates into “super hard to part with.” If we hang onto every single perfectly good, useful item, even when they haven’t proven useful to us, our spaces will lose their spaciousness. A house filled with good stuff leaves little room for friends, family, and relaxation. Here…
Read MoreUntangle and Organize Cords for Your Electronics
If your electronic cords and chargers are a tangled, unorganized mess you know how downright infuriating it can be when you need to find one. Sorting out the snarl every time you need to use one is also a big time waster. Take the time to label the end of every cord with the name…
Read MoreHow to find your ideal home office space plus a peek inside a professional organizer’s office
As a professional organizer, I’ve worked with clients who have called a variety of spaces their home offices. Common spaces like kitchen tables, nooks in bedrooms and sofas tend to be used more often as a workspace for household paperwork than a dedicated room equipped with a large desk and shelving. Clients are happy…
Read MoreWeekend Mini-Organizing Challenge: Electronics Backup For Peace of Mind
Need some organizing motivation and inspiration, or a gentle nudge? Simply subscribe to my blog to receive mini-organizing challenges several weekends a month. They will be automatically emailed to you so you won’t have to remember to visit the blog. Mini-organizing challenges are doable and will focus on decluttering a tiny area of your home. If the…
Read MoreOrganize and Tidy Your Bathroom
How did the bathroom counter become so cluttered? The cabinets and drawers a jumble of personal care items? Your bathroom is a heavily used room and in some homes, it’s small, with little storage. Our bodies require some upkeep, but let’s be real about how many products we need and use. Old products and…
Read MoreHow Timers Can Help You Organize
My colleague, Ellen Delap, incoming president of the National Association of Professional Organizers is a guest blogger for this post. Thank you Ellen! My Organizing Obsession: Timers It may not surprise you about my obsession with timers. A timer is a vital tool for time management. It’s a monitoring device as well as an accountability…
Read MoreWeekend Mini-Organizing Challenge: Create Space For a Home Workout
Need some organizing motivation and inspiration, or a gentle nudge? Simply subscribe to my blog to receive mini-organizing challenges several weekends a month. They will be automatically emailed to you so you won’t have to remember to visit the blog. Mini-organizing challenges are doable and will focus on decluttering a tiny area of your home.…
Read MoreThe Less Obvious Costs of Clutter
Clutter is costly, especially if it has caused you to lose checks/gift cards/money and resulted in added late fees. These are the more apparent monetary costs of clutter. There are other costs that are less obvious but still harmful. A poor credit score due to a late or missed bill payment. Switch to automatic bill…
Read MoreWeekend Mini-Organizing Challenge: Spice Storage
Need some organizing motivation and inspiration, or a gentle nudge? Simply subscribe to my blog to receive mini-organizing challenges several weekends a month. They will be automatically emailed to you so you won’t have to remember to visit the blog. Mini-organizing challenges are doable and will focus on decluttering a tiny area of your home.…
Read MoreWeekend Mini-Organizing Challenge: Belts
Need some organizing motivation and inspiration, or a gentle nudge? Simply subscribe to my blog to receive mini-organizing challenges several weekends a month. They will be automatically emailed to you so you won’t have to remember to visit the blog. Mini-organizing challenges are doable and will focus on decluttering a tiny area of your home.…
Read MoreWeekend Mini-Organizing Challenge: Plastic Food Containers
Need some organizing motivation and inspiration, or a gentle nudge? Simply subscribe to my blog to receive mini-organizing challenges several weekends a month. They will be automatically emailed to you so you won’t have to remember to visit the blog. Mini-organizing challenges are doable and will focus on decluttering a tiny area of your home.…
Read MoreLearn How To Start Organizing Now With This Step By Step Tutortial
Learn how to get organized with this 4-part video series I created. Each video is less than 4 minutes because I want to provide you with enough guidance to encourage and motivate you without risking information overload. You’ve been meaning to get organized but you struggle with or even resist starting. Where do…
Read MoreHelp Your Kids Edit Their Stuff Before the Holidays
The holidays are a fun time of year. Giving and receiving presents can be fun, but it can also add stress and clutter. It doesn’t have to be stressful if you are mindful about giving, and do a little editing of your children’s belongings before the onslaught of receiving. Over the next couple of weeks,…
Read MoreIt’s Okay if You Don’t Send Holiday Cards
Sending Christmas or other holiday cards to family and friends is a wonderful tradition but it can also be overwhelming, time consuming and not so enjoyable for some of us (including me). This tradition can be simplified if you want to continue sending cards but are finding it more and more difficult to find the…
Read MoreWeekend Mini-Organizing Challenge: Thin Out Your Holiday Decorations
Need some organizing motivation and inspiration, or a gentle nudge? Simply subscribe to my blog to receive mini-organizing challenges several weekends a month. They will be automatically emailed to you so you won’t have to remember to visit the blog. Mini-organizing challenges are doable and will focus on decluttering a tiny area of your home. If the…
Read More4 Simple Steps to a Clutter-Free Thanksgiving
Hosting Thanksgiving dinner in a few weeks? Don’t panic. It’s possible to organize four key areas of your home before Thanksgiving without organizing every hour of every day. Front entrance or porch: Make your home more inviting for your guests. Sweep the cobwebs away from your front door and sweep the porch. Give the welcome…
Read MoreWeekend Mini-Organizing Challenge: User Manuals/Instruction Booklets
Need some organizing motivation and inspiration, or a gentle nudge? Simply subscribe to my blog to receive mini-organizing challenges several weekends a month. They will be automatically emailed to you so you won’t have to remember to visit the blog. Mini-organizing challenges are doable and will focus on decluttering a tiny area of your home. If the…
Read MoreHow To Keep Track of Your Monetary Donations and Prevent Confusion
If you’ve donated to charitable organizations in the past, you probably receive a thick stack mail from charities every week. It can be confusing and time consuming to keep up with the requests. It’s a common practice for charities to sell, share, or rent your contact information with other charities. This is why they appear…
Read MoreDo Professional Organizers Have Perfect Homes?
Professional organizers are fairly normal, lead normal lives and some even have messy homes. Clients ask me about the state of my house. Is it perfectly organized? Are all of my containers and shelves labeled? Is my clothing organized by color? The answer is NO. Even though I’m passionate about organization and enjoy helping others…
Read MoreHow to Deal With Purchasing Mistakes
You are not the only one who has purchased something only to find out you don’t really need it or like it. I’m more likely to do this when it’s on sale or if I can’t find exactly what I want and I settle for the next best thing.Clearance sales, or any sale for that…
Read MoreLet Go while keeping the memories alive
I donated my mom’s favorite dress to charity a few months after her passing. I now have a sense of how my clients feel when they give away items once treasured by a loved one. I didn’t treasure or even like my mom’s special dress, but she loved it more than any other article of…
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