I am so excited to receive my breakout session evaluation from The Sharp ~ Speaking at the Women’s Health Conference late 2011. This makes all of my preparation and planning worthwhile! See the attendees comments below:

2011 Breakout Session Evaluation

Become the Master of Your Muck:

Get Organized and Make Room for Yourself in Your Home

Comments

Phenomenal!

Lots of good techniques for decluttering

Liked the tips. Longer please. Will for sure be using her system

She didn’t let the lack of video images phase her great presentation.

Liked everything

Great speaker

Good tips!

Very good

Excellent speaker, really keeps your attention, good with audience participation, great visuals! Very good! Keep it up! Real funny.

Could always use this presentation. Could have been longer and more specific

Wish it could have been longer. She is so personable!

List those 8 places so we can right them down every paper will fit into- to help my new file system

Great takeaways. Next time list 8 things on a handout

Thanks so much!

Excellent

Compassionate, understanding but cut and dry when it comes to organizing

My favorite one! Liked getting tips I can do when I get home!

Liked it all. Thank you

Great ideas!

Nice voice, keep you awake, keep your interest, so many good tips

Practical ideas

Topic applies to everyone

8 categories keep papers vertical

Liked learning about how to declutter and get more organized

We all need this info, very good!

Good practical recommendations! Thank you!

This is a critical shell for today’s life of info overload.

Clear presentation

Liked her tips

Excellent!

Easy to follow. Simple to implement ideas

Good advice

Key tips are great

Liked learning how to control paper!

Liked pics. Next time learn about organizing time

Liked getting tips to thrive! Papers flow… getting to work

Excellent!

Liked the info presented and ideas to change it.

I liked the suggestion of keeping papers vertical

Kathi Burns- I want to hire her!

Liked learning about info on home and garage organization.

I liked the belief that we can do it!

Great ideas. I hope I can incorporate them in my life and home. Thank you!

Liked the positive suggestions for attacking clutter.

Well organized flow. Clear, concise presentation.

Great job. Thank you

Liked it all

Best one!

Great topic

Hold it twice so room isnt so full

Topic applies to a lot of people including me. Closed captioning next time

I liked it all. Thank you!

She didn’t make us feel like we were weird for having so much clutter. Would have liked it if all pics were shown (some of them didn’t show)

Liked it all. Good!

Liked the examples illustrating the points. I feel better knowing we’re in the minority that gets to park our cars in the garage.

The digitizing is what I am doing. Going great

Great stuff. Acoustics not great in the room.

I liked it all. Very informative

Loved handouts

Gave me clarity/understanding the origin of my clutter

Good info and anecdotes. Should have used generic pics

Great speaker

Some good specifics, concrete ideas. Bad acoustics/competing noise

Liked the pics of before and after

I am so pleased and honored that my presentation was one of the most attended sessions and to have been included in this incredible conference! Thank you Sharp!!!

Having a cluttered home makes it very difficult to find what you are looking for. Living in clutter can also cause stress and other health problems. It is not uncommon for individuals to purchase furniture to help them get organized. For example, a bedroom vanity can help someone who wants to organize his or her bedroom, and it can enhance the décor of the bedroom as well.

Purchasing furniture to keep your rooms organized is a good idea; however, individuals who have excessive items in their homes tend to clutter up the shelves and top surfaces of their furniture as well as the floor space around it. This diminishes the look of the furniture, ruins the décor of the room, and causes the home to look unkempt and be unsanitary.

Many individuals have a strong desire to collect things. When buying collectibles, people do not think about the day they will have to part with these items. In fact, most people have difficulties parting with material items, particularly those with sentimental value. The inability to get rid of things that are no longer being used is the primary reason for clutter in many homes around the world.

When people fail to throw away items that are no longer in use, they tend to store them in areas of the home where there is extra space. Extra bedrooms, basements, attics, and closets are just some of the areas where people store clutter. Once these spaces fill up, individuals generally begin storing items in visible areas, including living rooms, dens, porches, and backyards. Some individuals may even purchase extra furniture for the sole purpose of stuffing them with things.

When individuals continuously purchase new items and never get rid of old items, clutter starts to build, and it builds quickly. Excessive clutter in the home often causes anxiety, and ongoing stress. Disorganization is a major cause of stress, according to many experts. The time and effort that it takes to look for items that are not easily findable can cause your heart rate to increase and making you feel flustered. According to a study performed at Yale, individuals who hoard items (or live in cluttered environments )have much higher risks of depression and can develop attention deficit disorder during adulthood.

Pests and bugs tend to gravitate towards clutter as well. Mice, rats, cockroaches, silverfish, spiders, and ants hide in cluttered areas to escape from predators. They often build nests and reproduce in these cluttered areas. Individuals exposed to their excrement can develop allergies, rashes, and unknown illnesses. The excrement created by small pests is often microscopic, making it impossible to see. Many individuals who knowingly live with these pests set traps and spray insecticides, which can lead to respiratory issues. The best way to deal with this problem is to clear the cluttered area completely to get rid of the bugs and pests.

Staying organized and periodically getting rid of excess items is the best way to keep a home free of clutter. Keeping a clutter-free home is a surefire way to ensure that your home is a beautiful and healthy environment to live in.

Miguel is an avid blogger, father of 2, and recent proud homeowner. He loves studying architecture, home design and decor and plans to one day buy a custom house plan to build his dream home.

It’s easy for a bedroom to become disorganized. As one of the most lived-in rooms in the house, it is a natural magnet for all types of paper, books, toys, and knick-knacks. Since your bedroom is where you sleep, it’s important you keep it as neat as possible to encourage relaxation at night.

Arrange the Clothing in Your Closet
Your closet was not designed to be a refuge for every article of clothing you have ever owned. Go through your closet and remove anything you haven’t worn in the last year. With the exception of some types of formal wear, if you haven’t worn it in the last 12 months you probably won’t wear it in the next 12 months. Donate the clothes to a charity, and make room in your closet so you can find what you’re looking for quickly and easily.

Reorganize Your Drawers
It’s so much easier to shove an article of clothing in the back of a drawer than decide whether or not to keep it. If your drawers are so packed that you can’t find what you need when you need it, then it is time to weed out clothing you don’t wear. This goes double for items you don’t wear because they are stained, don’t fit, or don’t look good on you.

Take Advantage of the Space Under Your Bed
Evict the boogieman and put a few large plastic storage bins under your bed. Choose wheeled bins for easy access. Storage bins are ideal for items you use infrequently, like uncomfortable shoes.

Use Baskets
Baskets are a good way to make your bedroom look neat quickly. A laundry basket is a must, and so much better than a pile of clothing on the floor. Put a wastebasket next to your nightstand so you can easily throw out tissues and other bits of garbage.

Hang Art
Don’t clutter every surface with framed photos. Instead, hang your photos in small groups around the room and free up your tabletop space.

Put Things in the Right Room
If your bedroom has become home to wayward items that belong in the playroom or garage, then put them where they belong.

Get a Covered Desk
If your desk is in your bedroom, it’s easy to get sidetracked by work at bedtime. To prevent this, invest in a desk with a solid cover to prevent you from being distracted by work at the wrong time.

Use a Shoe Tree
Organize shoes on a hanging shoe tree in your closet. This frees up floor space and makes it easy to find shoes when you need them.

Put Personal Care Items on a Vanity
Vanities are a convenient way to keep your personal care items organized. A bath vanity can go in the master bathroom or in your bedroom.

Clear Your Nightstand
Keep your nightstand free of anything you will not use immediately before bed or upon arising. For most people, that means having only one book, a clock, a bottle of water, and a box of tissues.

Miguel Salcido is an avid blogger, father of 2, and recent proud homeowner. He loves studying architecture and home design and decor and plans to one day buy a custom house plan to build his dream home.

If several household members are sharing a bathroom, follow these 14 tips to help organize it.

Tip #1

• Clean out every drawer and shelf in the bathroom. Get rid of anything that isn’t being used.

Tip #2

• Move your medicines to the kitchen. The heat and steam in the bath can ruin them.

Tip #3

• Give each household member a different colored basket to fill with toiletries. No sharing. Make sure everyone has their own toothpaste, eye drops, cosmetics and grooming supplies. Each person will keep the basket in his or her bedroom.

Tip #4

• Evaluate your storage. You will need places for: towels, nail care, extra paper, feminine hygiene products, hair care and back-up supplies of soap and shampoo. Nothing else belongs in the bathroom.

Tip .#5

• Use a shower/bath caddy for shampoo and soap. They hang on the wall of your shower and keep the clutter out of your shower area. They are relatively inexpensive and available in many different styles.

Tip #6

• Set up a drip-dry container for bath toys if you have small children.

• Corner to corner suction cup hammocks work well

Tip #7

• Make space for a small, lidless hamper or laundry basket. Otherwise, have a system for depositing used towels in the laundry room.

Tip #8

• Use hooks instead of towel racks for kids. They’ll be more likely to use them. Have as many hooks and/or towel racks as you have persons using the bathroom.

Tip #9

• Make a checklist of all products in your bathroom as well as those used by each individual. Review your list weekly before shopping.

Tip #10

• Explore the variety of storage options you can use in the bath.
• Small countertop drawers can organize cotton balls and Q-Tips.
• Use cutlery trays in drawers, plastic shelves under the sink and caddies which attach to doors.
• Rolling carts can all contain the clutter that frequently accumulates in this much-used room. To keep things organized, each person can have one basket on the cart.

Tip #11

• If pressed for space when storing towels, consider a space-saving towel rack that clips right over the back of the bathroom door.

Tip #12

• Transform the dead space over your toilet by adding a stacked cabinet to store some of those items that have been kept under the sink.

Tip #13

• Consider installing a shower dispenser right on the wall to dispense liquid soap, shampoo and conditioner and eliminate all of that clutter

Tip #14

• Use organizational cosmetic containers or even small boxes to organize each person’s cosmetics individually.

Author Kathi Burns, CPO® gives Tampa Bay 10 Connects CBS News viewers advice to help them organize their home from her  book How to Master Your Muck