Wondering how to get your home decluttered once and for all this year? I was asked this same question recently by Amanda Wyant, a writer with Blissfully Domestic.

Click on this link to learn four professional organizing tips to help you declutter and get control of your home and your life in this article.

Create a Holiday Organizing Binder – Create one this year and use it for years to come!

Save Your Christmas Card List in a Word Document so you can open it every year when you send cards. Throughout the year you can update and add new addresses. After the holidays, it will be easier to edit and add addresses from the cards you received. Mail cards early before all the busyness of the holiday starts. Buy the cards at the end of the season and save for the next year so you can start addressing cards before season begins next year.

Gift List as an Excel Spreadsheet – print it and put it in your purse or wallet. that has a list of names of people to buy for and I start collecting links to gifts to buy for them. Keep a list all year long on computer for people you buy gifts for. When you see an idea or they mention something they would like I add it to the list. When it’s time to shop I have great ideas for everyone.

Take a weekday off in early December to shop – Take a Tuesday or Wed off in early December and avoid frantic last minute and weekend warriors. 

Create a Hostess Gift Bin Make sure to buy extra small hostess gifts for spur of the moment parties this season and throughout the year.

Create a Gift Theme this year and buy all of your gifts around this theme. Keep it simple: candles and candle platters, linens to include napkins, tablecloths wine accessories such as wine glass tags, cork screws, wine glasses…

Organize a Holiday Sweet Swap. Every person makes a huge batch of one recipe then swaps with each other. This way you don’t have to buy a ton of different ingredients you just have to buy for your one recipe. I LOVE doing this

Stock up on food and gift wrapping staples this week that you know you are going to need for those holiday meals, and tape and ribbons and bows and anything else that you can get a head start on.

Prepare a food backup: of casseroles, snack foods and cold desserts in early December.

Bake and freeze – start making Christmas cookies and baked goods a few weeks earlier than last year. Freezing the cookies/desserts will make the holidays so much less stressful because you won’t have to bake at the last minute.

Give Gift Cards for Local Services – These are clutter free and thoughtful gifts while keeping your shopping simple and stress free while helping local small businesses. Consider gift certificates for professional services such as organizing, massage, spa treatments or image consulting.

Save Your Christmas Card List as a Word Document so you can open it every year when you send cards. Throughout the year you can update and add new addresses. After the holidays, it will be easier to edit and add addresses from the cards you received. Mail cards early before all the busyness of the holiday starts. Buy the cards at the end of the season and save for the next year so you can start addressing cards before season begins next year.

Create Your Gift List in an Excel Spreadsheet or Word Document –  Keep a list all year long on computer and  start collecting links to gift ideas. As the holidays approach, print it and put it in your purse or wallet. Make a list of names of people to buy for and  crossing off names as you buy. When you see an idea or they mention something they would like, add it to your list. Don’t worry if you did not get this together early on this year, simply start now and make your list. You can use it next year to get a head start on your gift planning. When it’s time to shop next year you will have great ideas for everyone.

Take a weekday off in early December to shop – Take a Tuesday or Wed off in early December and avoid frantic last minute and weekend warriors. 

Create a Hostess Gift Bin - Make sure to buy extra small hostess gifts for spur of the moment parties this season and throughout the year.

Create a Gift Theme this year and buy all of your gifts around one theme. Keep it simple: candles and candle platters, linens to include napkins, tablecloths wine accessories such as wine glass tags, cork screws, wine glasses…

Organize a Holiday Sweet Swap - Each person in the swap makes a huge batch of one recipe then swaps with each other. This way you don’t have to buy a ton of different ingredients you just have to buy for your one recipe. I LOVE doing this.

Stock up on the Food and Gift Wrapping Staples that you know you are going to need for those holiday meals, along with tape,  ribbons and gift wrap and anything else so you can get a head start.

Prepare a Food Backup- Make casseroles, snack foods and cold desserts in early December. Buy extra healthy snack packs and keep some in your purse and car so you wont be forced to eat junk food while you are out and about.

Bake and fFreeze – Start making Christmas cookies and baked goods a few weeks earlier than last year. Freezing the cookies/desserts will make the holidays so much less stressful because you won’t have to bake at the last minute.

Give Gift Cards for Local Services – Gift cards for services are clutter free and thoughtful gifts while keeping your shopping simple and stress free. These purchases also help local small businesses. Consider gift certificates for professional services such as organizing, massage, spa treatments or image consulting. addSpace Personalized Gift Certificates are available now! Call 760.436.4266 and let us know what you need.

Have you ever battled to get your fashionista daughter dressed and out the door in time for school? In a recent interview with Woman’s Day Magazine, I was asked for a few tips to get the frenzied mom and kids out of the door in the morning in a more harmonious way.

Too many clothes  combined with a fashion oriented child makes for a slow ‘getting out the door and off to school’ morning process. I recently received a new product sample that can definitely help with this challenge. It does take pre-planning BUT, just like any other organizing tactic, the time you spend pre-planning each weekend  will pay off in spades throughout the week.

This is how it can work: Every Sunday night, you and your fashion savvy child can select and accessorize (of course!) outfits for the entire week. One for each day! The Organizables Team has created cool hanging bags that will keep every choice for each day contained and waiting for the morning routine, including shoes, socks, and accessories!

Not only will your morning routine go faster, your endless arguments about fashion will be consolidated into one day, the day you decide together what to select for school attire. Additionally, the closet will be less cluttered and chaotic. Purging at the end of each school year will also take less effort because you will be much more aware of what was actually worn throughout the year! Each bag is marked with the day of the week – Monday through Friday. Each bag also has two pockets to hold the small accessories for each outfit including undies, socks, and shoes.

These bags can also be folded up and used as travel bags to keep overnight weekend trips and family vacations better organized. You can get a set for each child. The boys set comes in blue. You can find these bags online at www.Organizables.com.

So, once again the moral to this story is, a little pre-planning with the proper tools will keep your better organized and less stressed as you proceed throughout the week. If you want to read more solutions to get you out the door faster from my Woman’s Day Article, click here!

(Part One)

(Part Two)

Shoes, shoes, and more shoes!!! Many women have a major infatuation with shoes. After working with hundreds of clients, as both a professional organizer and image consultant, I have determined why most women love to shop for, and have fun wearing, shoes more than any other clothing item.

You see, even while our weight is upsizing and downsizing, our shoe size is remains basically the same, give or take a 1/2 size.  Not only do our feet consistently stay the same size, they never create a humiliating shopping experience.  Shoes are kind. They don’t make us feel fat or accent bulges in all of the wrong places like a bad pair of jeans or a too snug blouse. In fact, more often than not, the right pair of shoes make us feel sexy, powerful and ready to take on the world! So, this in my humble opinion, is why we typically end up with more shoes than we can reasonably fit into our closet.

My most common organizing challenge is how to fit the largest amount of shoes into the smallest amount of space. With this goal in mind, the common shoe rack rarely solves this problem. The shoe rack takes up a lot of floor space. Don’t get me  wrong, floor space can be useful at times but it also collects dust bunnies when cluttered, disorganized and filled wall to wall.

The Hanging Shoe Bag -   This is my all-time favorite shoe storage device! I have been using this system for years and still marvel at the fact that I can store 10 pairs of shoes in a space no wider than 6.5 inches! For those of us with over 40 pairs of shoes, this means we can fit our entire shoe collection into a space of less than 3 feet! Granted with this system, you need to have extra hanging rod space, or, if you are ingenious, you need that much free ceiling and wall space. Most versions have metal hooks to hang them from the rod although some have velcro straps to rap around the rod. Either version connects effortlessly and easily onto your hanging rod.

The men’s version of the hanging shoe bag is slightly wider (8”) to accommodate the larger shoe width.

Side by Side Hanging Shoe Bags – Another variation of the hanging shoe bag is the side by side pocket model. It has pockets on the right and left and holds 30 pairs of shoes. You can hang it on the back of the door or on an empty wall inside your closet.

Hanging shoe bags provide quick and easy access as well as providing a perfect view of what you are looking for. They are stored easily into pairs. You don’t have to open a lid, move stacks of boxes, bend over or go through any other rigamarole to see and access the shoes you need.

Sometimes you simply might not have the rod or wall space for the hanging shoe bag. If not, never fear, I have other solutions for you.

Shoe Storage Boxes - Plastic and canvas options available

Canvas Shoe Box Organizers - feature front end openings and stack well together. The front door is clear so you can see what is inside and also allows you to access your shoes without having to unstack  your collection.

Plastic Shoe Boxes – These are best used when you have a lot of shelf space and limited hanging space. I keep my special occasion shoes on a shelf way up high in my closet. Shoe boxes protect your shoes from dust and pet hair and also keep your best stilettos from being smashed by others. If you decide to use this method, make sure to buy clear containers so you can get a glimpse of what might be inside. Or better yet, spend the time to take a photo of the shoes and attach the pic to the short end of the box so you will not have to guess which gold heels are actually stashed inside the box!

Back of the Door Shoe Storage – This solution is good under extreme small closet conditions as it does provide storage in a small amount of space.

Back of the Door Shoe Pockets – The disadvantage I see witness is that shoes often become crushed when you try to smoosh them into the pockets.

Back of the Door Shoe Racks – I like this solution because it holds a massive amount of shoes in a very small sometimes unused space. The disadvantage is the wire racks can sometimes warp your shoes so use it gently.

Shoe Cabinets – Hide shoes and can provide self stand alone solution when shoes need to be located outside of your closet. Many models use drop down drawers which let you take shoes in and out very easily.

Here is a larger version of a stand alone shoe cabinet. If you are a visual person, this one is perfect because it has doors to hide the visual clutter of 15-48 pairs of shoes.I like it because it again, uses more vertical space!

Ikea also offers a plastic version which can mount on the wall.

Wooden Shoe Benches - provide a place to store shoes and also to sit while putting them on. Sometimes, I use these at the entrance to homes with a lot of foot traffic, meaning a lot of kids and shoe clutter! Sometimes it is easier to get the kids to take off their shoes as soon as they get in the door than to try to find shoes later when they are running out the door and late for school. Shoes off when coming into the house, on when going out! This also eliminates dirt and makes cleaning the carpet less frequently and solves the challenge of storing shoes in the closet.

Shoe Shelves – can solve many challenges. If there is an ample amount of floor/wall space, I  like using stackable shelves so that I can add to your storage capacity if needed.

Many shelves also offer the advantage of being expandable so that you can customize the size based on your space requirements. If you do decide to go with shelf storage, make sure to buy heavy shelving, especially if you are storing mens footwear. I have found that a lot of shelves simply do not hold up and or topple over when loaded to capacity.

Under Bed Shoe Storage – including plastic tubs, rolling racks and zippered pouches. Under the bed rolling shoe organizers use space that is typically free and clear of clutter.

Under Bed Rolling Racks - The open air rolling shoe racks are good for shoes that you wear frequently. The disadvantage is that they tend to collect dust bunnies.

Under the Bed Zippered Pouches - are best for off-season or occasional shoes because they are too much of a hassle to get in and out of on a daily basis.

Under Bed Plastic Bin Storage – I like this solution becuase it has wheels for easy access.

Shoe Storage Carts - I use these for my clients who have a lot of off season shoes. It is tall but only takes less than 14 inches of horizontal space. It is also zippered so it keeps shoes in clean when in storage. Anytime I can use vertical space and less horizontal space, I am happy!

Smaller Wheeled and Sealed Storage Cart – Good for stowing under hanging clothes.

Shoe Carousels – You can hang this unit form your hanging rod.  The Swivel hanger allows you to access every pocket and shelf in one swirl. Lifts all your items up off the floor and organizes them so when you are ready to use them they are visible and clean.

Revolving Shoe Trees – These work fantastic when stashed into the small unreachable corners of your closet. I had one installed to the left of a built in cabinet in my two sliding door closet. It served me well for years and made good use of the corner that was never easy to reach. When I needed a pair of shoes, I simply spun the rack and found what I was looking for.  Make sure the space you choose has room around it for the shoes to move since each carousel rotates for easy location.You can buy these as stand alone units or, in my super small closet situation, the floor to ceiling model was perfect!

Standing Racks are yet another way to keep your shoes off of the floor. These are a little better than the shoe rack because they keep your shoes on place and separated.

Shoe Storage Wheel - This is a very interesting and novel way to store your shoes. I have not seen it personally so cannot vouch for it’s quality, but it looks pretty cool! They say you can store 20-30 pairs of shoes inside. The unit is on wheels so you could stow it under your hanging clothes and pull it out to access your shoes. Very interesting. I would love to play with one of these in person!

If you still cant find the perfect solution for your shoe collection after reading this article, I quit! Have fun upgrading your shoe storage, and most importantly, stow your shoes somewhere besides in piles on the floor of your closet!