As a professional organizer, I’m always asked if I “make” my clients get rid of stuff while helping them declutter. In case you’re wondering the same thing…the answer, in short, is: absolutely not. In recent years there has been a growing interest in minimalism and a greater emphasis on “less is more”, but before you jump on the bandwagon and rid your home of anything that doesn’t bring you joy, take a moment to carefully review a couple of categories before letting them go.

Who has issues in the morning and would to shave off a few minutes from their morning routine? There are so many ways to make the most out of your confined space in a shower so that you are not only more organized, but you are able to speed up your daily routine (win-win!). Similar to every area of your home, organization can streamline your daily routine and help you save time, money, and frustration in the long run. And all this while in the shower!? Yes. It’s possible.

The weekend is a time where I’m able to focus on a couple of projects from my ongoing to-do list, and I’m looking forward to getting my house totally back together after our spring break trip (I mean, I always forget how much laundry it entails!).

What’s on your to-do list this weekend? Whether you’re somewhere warm or in the DC area like where it’s calling for snow, I know that a lot of you are in spring cleaning/organizing mode!

While it can be tempting to think of how you can transform your entire home during spring cleaning/organizing, it can also be overwhelming and time consuming. Instead, narrow your focus to a few select areas that will make the most impact, like your kitchen and pantry. When you set out to organize your kitchen and pantry, make sure to avoid making these common mistakes so that you can save on time, money, and ensure that you make the  most out of your available space.

Basements, garages, and attics can quickly become full of clutter because of how much can be packed inside and the lack of upkeep that it requires (function definitely trumps design in these areas so it’s easy to make excuses for their disorganized state). Think of each of these spaces as another room in your house–a place where everything should be purposeful, visible, and where you can still walk around to access everything. At least once every year pull every content out of the storage area and review what should stay and what should go.

A few months ago I hosted a workshop event called Cleanse Your Closet with the consignment gurus from The RealReal. The workshop was held at the inspiring BUREAU coworking + event space, and we spent the evening chatting all things closets, including how to create the best closet layout for your space, how to organize your clothing, and how to handle situations like knowing when to consign an item, how to handle sentimental items, and how to store out of season clothing.

I recently spoke with Jessica Ashley, host of the Single Mom Nation podcast. It’s an honest girlfriend to girlfriend conversation where we talk about…well, marriage crap.As a former single mother, I discuss with Jessica Ashley how to move forward with you life when you are single parenting and have to deal with the mental and physical clutter that is left over from your marriage. I was a single mom for many years and have helped other individuals going through divorce or loss, so this topic is one that deeply resonates with me.

The thing about spring cleaning/organizing/whatever you want to call it is there is so much build up around it. There is no official “spring cleaning” holiday per se, but instead it’s the general time of year where we are all supposed to buckle down and get our stuff in order.

To be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with it. I mean, as a type A person to my core there are few things I enjoy more than a good list to check off and for everything to have its place. But, even though everything has its place doesn’t mean that everything needs a place in your home.

It’s officially spring and with that comes the start of spring cleaning and organizing. This year I’ve created a Spring Organizing Series here on the blog, which will be a collection of blog posts dedicated to getting specific areas of your home organized. First up in the series is the topic that I get asked about most often: kids stuff!

As a professional organizer, I should probably tell you that I love Spring cleaning, right? I should probably tell you getting things organized for Spring is a breeze in my home because every room is already perfectly in place and that since we don’t have clutter the process takes minutes to keep up. I mean, it’s literally my job to help people declutter and get their homes in order, but that doesn’t mean that my home always is neat all the time. We are an active family of four and we LIVE in our house. It will never be perfectly neat and that is ok with me.