My client, Barbara (not her real name) is kind, generous and very, very busy.

Her calendar is packed full of appointments, events and meetings. Her cell phone rings, buzzes and beeps almost constantly with notifications that go unanswered. Her unopened emails go on for pages. Her enormous home is tidy, beautifully decorated and as warm as she is but every inch of her storage – closets, cabinets, cupboards, drawers –  are packed full. There isn’t an inch to spare.

Barbara is like the juggler who can keep ten plates spinning simultaneously at the top of ten poles without dropping them because each of them are equally important.

But when you treat everything in your life as equally important, spinning those 10 plates for days, weeks, months or even years (not just minutes) because you believe or behave as if everything is equally important, eventually one of two things happen. One or more of the plates break or you do.

It can be a quick break or a slow one but even the juggler knows when it’s time to stop.

When Barbara said to me recently that she’d turned down a number of invitations because she realized they weren’t worth her time, I felt a sense of relief for her because she was discovering that saying no meant she was finally saying yes… to herself. I also knew she had finally started to see the cost of making everything in her life equally important.

For every task, project, meeting, coffee date, or invitation you receive, before you do it, take it on or schedule it, before you say yes, ask yourself these 3 questions: 

1) Is it important to me?

Is this your priority or someone else’s?  Say yes to you before you say yes to someone else. If  you are the kind of person that likes to be helping others but find yourself doing so at your own expense, it’s okay to say, “thank you for thinking of me but I just don’t have the time right now.”

2) If I don’t do this will it cost me?

What would happen if you didn’t do it? If you’re not sure whether to take something on, imagine not doing it. You don’t want to end up spending a little effort on lot of things instead of a lot of effort on what’s truly important.

3) Is it worth my time?

Only you can answer this question. If it saves you from stress and doesn’t cost you something to say no, then say no. You’ll only be saying yes to what’s really worth your time.

The bottom line is don’t hold on to stuff, projects, even old beliefs about yourself when they are no longer useful to you. Be willing to be brave. Be willing to make hard choices for the bigger rewards. Make room in your life for what matters most!

Organized Garage. Photo by LET’S MAKE ROOM

What are you doing this weekend? Unless you are like my friend Jan who loves to organize her home, there are probably a lot of other things you’d rather be doing then, say, organizing your garage.  This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want to be organized. Being organized is wonderful! It reaps great benefits, including but not limited to:

1. Quickly finding what you need when you need it. Something you take for granted until you can’t find it.
2. Feeling the sense of calm that comes when everything is clear in your space.
3. Knowing you haven’t overlooked something important like your mortgage bill or the date of your kid’s first recital.
4. More money to spend on things you want when you’re not spending money on duplicate items you can’t find and forgot you already had.
5. Having time to focus on what you are truly great at or on something that gives you real pleasure

The difference between being organized and getting organized is simple: One takes effort, in some cases an overwhelming amount of physical as well as mental effort. It also takes a plan and a good working system that can easily be sustained.

Being organized, takes much less effort, and as a result you have more freedom and time to spend doing what you want to do as opposed to what you should do.

To put it simply, being organized is a whole lot more fun than getting organized. I’m a professional and I’ve been doing this for years but even I don’t live to get organized. I get organized to live.

When you decide to get organized, with or without help, the first thing you should do is stop making your clutter a character flaw. Instead consider the clutter you’ve created as a reflection of the busy, productive (and hopefully) better life you’ve created for yourself.

If it’s paper clutter that’s driving you crazy, stop blaming yourself for all the paper you have.  Despite all the efforts at going “paperless,” paper is still a fact of life. Today, for example, the contents of my in-box grew by 2 documents, 5 receipts and 7 pieces of mail I personally did not generate.

So instead of beating yourself up, ask yourself, “What would I rather be doing this weekend?” If your answer is something fun, fulfilling or relaxing, go ahead and do it, without guilt. If, however, the clutter around you is causing an unacceptable level of stress or you finally want to tackle your garage, go ahead. The investment in your home and yourself will be worth it.

Have you read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown?  If not, I recommend it. Especially if you feel like you are never able to catch up or you find yourself asking, “is this all there is?”

I’m reading it now.  So much of the book’s three-word message — less but better — is resonating with me that I’ve turned almost every page of my e-book a bright shade of green from all the highlighted sections.

I was fortunate to have heard Greg speak at a conference of Professional Organizers a few years ago, before he became a New York Times best-selling author.

I was only a couple of years into running my own business but the memory of the daily grind I experienced in my previous corporate job was still fresh in my mind.  At one point, I recall, Greg explained that most of us use about 10 percent of our potential in our jobs when we are desperate to use so much more. That certainly rang true for me.   Then he asked everyone in the audience to raise their hands if they thought they were using 100 percent of their talent now. My hand shot up like a rocket.

Using 100 percent of your brain’s potential doesn’t mean spending 100% of your time in activities that leave you exhausted, overwhelmed and stressed.  It means spending your time doing things that matter most to you even if it means having to say no to things that matter most to others.

“It’s natural not to want to let go of what we wasted on a bad choice,” Greg writes, “but when we don’t, we doom ourselves to keep wasting even more.”

We all make bad choices or mistakes that we later regret. This is human. but it’s the act of realizing and then doing something different, changing course, or eliminating that choice altogether that makes us wiser.  He reminds us that “there should be no shame in admitting to a mistake; after all, we really are only admitting that we are now wiser than we once were.”

I love this idea so much that I found myself using it in a conversation I had with a young woman designer I met recently who was berating herself for getting into a project she quickly discovered was over her head.  I said to her, “how wise you are to know this now.” Not surprisingly, she had a hard time taking this in. Sometimes it’s easier to blame ourselves than it is to recognize the wisdom in our mistakes.

The same holds true for the “stuff” in our lives.  So much of what we surround ourselves with is the result of out-dated choices.  When those choices cost us, we tend to hold on to them longer. Greg refers to this as the “endowment effect” meaning our tendency to overvalue things we already own.

So much of our daily lives is spent in the act of making choices – both trivial and essential –  that mistakes are inevitable.  How many times have you bought or acquired something that later you discovered was the wrong choice but couldn’t let it go anyway?  This happens because  we force ourselves to find value in the thing, even when there is none, to justify our choice in the first place.  When I work with clients.  I often ask them, “if you saw this today, would you buy it?” Even when they say no, the pain of learning that the original choice no longer has value is sometimes hard to bare.

I believe the clutter in our lives (and in our minds)  also comes from having too many choices to begin with. We have so much already coming at us that the very act of choosing is exhausting.   There are simply too many other “more important” choices to make.  This is in essence what creates clutter.  Too many choices, too much saying yes, or simply not choosing, when we really want to say no.

But living an essential life, a life that Essentialism defines as “the space and the time to think, time to look and listen, permission to play,” invites us to ask ourselves not, how can I do it all or have it all but instead how do I recognize the essential from the trivial? It takes awareness about our motives for choosing this over that and then consciously AND deliberately asking ourselves, “is this essential to me or can my life be just as good, if not better, without it?” By choosing what is essential, we discover how life can be better, even with less.

Making plans to move doesn’t start the day you start packing.

Whether you are moving, across the street, across the country, or just temporarily while your house is being remodeled, the secret to a stress-free move is all in the preparation.

Here are 15 “Dos” and 15 “Don’ts” to help you, or those you know, plan and prepare to move without breaking the bank or your back.

Do’s

1. Do get at least two written, onsite estimates and read them carefully. Fees for supplies, materials, 2nd stops or even labor can vary widely from mover to mover.
2. Do label and if possible, separate items you are Moving (by destination), Selling, Donating or Hauling.
3. Do consider getting your high value items insured against loss or damage, especially if you are moving more than 50 miles.
4. Do give yourself plenty of time to purge if you have clutter or are downsizing your home.
5. Do hire a licensed mover with a long list of references and check their references.
6. Do plan on being there on move day to direct movers at your old home or new home if you can’t be there.
7. Do pack heavy items such as books in small boxes, light items such as pillows and lamp shades in large boxes, bulky or odd-sized items such as lamp shades, toys or tools in medium boxes. Fragile items such as crystal and china should go  in extra strong dish-packs.
8. Do have a plan for unpacking and getting organized at your new home. The average home will take 1-4 weeks to unpack depending upon the amount of items you move. Consider hiring professional organizers if you need it done more quickly.
9. Do arrange with your movers to disconnect large appliances such as washes and dryers.
10. Do make a plan for your school aged children on move day  and secure your pets in a safe place.
11. Do inspect the moving truck after your items are unloaded to be sure it’s fully emptied before movers depart.
12. Do leave folded clothes in dressers. Most movers will provide wardrobe boxes, free of charge, for your hanging clothes.
13. Do book your move first thing in the morning.
14. Do label boxes clearly so movers can get them to the right room in your new home.
15. Do consider donating or giving away your gently used boxes or see if your movers will take them back.

Don’ts

1. Don’t assume movers will be available on the day you need to move. Book 4-6 weeks ahead if possible.
2. Don’t hire movers you haven’t met with or have not been recommended by people you trust.
3. Don’t forget to pack/purge contents from storage areas, attics, sheds and offsite storage.
4. Don’t waste time scrounging for boxes and packing supplies. Gently used ones can be found online and less expensive ones at stores like Home Depot. Professional Movers can also deliver boxes/supplies
5. Don’t leave packing to the last minute. It will add to the cost of your move if your movers were not hired to pack.
6. Don’t hire a mover solely on price. Experience, knowledge of your community and skill (like moving a grand piano) counts for much more.
7. Don’t move boxes you haven’t opened since your last move.
8. Don’t call movers at the last minute with significant changes to your move. It will cost you.
9. Don’t book a move at the end of a month or in the summer, if possible. These are their busiest times.
10. Don’t water your plants for two days before you move.
11. Don’t forget to go back and check all areas of your home before your moving truck leaves.
12. Don’t forget to complete a change of address form for all your service providers and the US Mail.
13. Don’t talk to movers when they are moving heavy objects
14. Don’t forget to tip your movers if they did a good job.
15. Don’t forget to notify friends, relatives and the post office about your new address.

• You spent a lot of money on that sofa 5 years ago but it doesn’t work in your new home.
• You loved it when you bought that suit but it doesn’t fit your personality anymore.
• Your best friend talked you into buying that clock last year but it’s just not you.
• Your husband gave you a gift because he thought it was meaningful but it’s simply not your taste.

Sound familiar? What do you do?

First, forget how much you spent on it or how much it may have cost. That money is gone.

Second, it won’t serve you tucked away in some back cabinet or closet especially when you need that space for other items.

Once you’ve realized the cost of holding on to it exceeds the cost of letting it go, you have two options.

1. Donate it
2. Sell it

Keeping it is an option if you want to delay your decision even longer but that’s the very definition of clutter.

“Gifting” it to someone else is also an option but be careful that you are not simply transferring your clutter to someone else. In this case I consider “gifting” the same as donating.

The next thing you should do is decide on a dollar amount that would make it worth your time to sell it because selling an item takes a lot longer than donating. And donating takes time too.

Would you take the time to sell it if you made $10? $50? $100? More?

Let’s say for example you have an artsy, hand-painted table you bought fifteen years ago when you were living as a single person somewhere else.  Now you are married and working full-time.  It’s still in good shape but it no longer fits your more streamlined, contemporary style (or your spouse hates it).  Now there’s no place to put it so it’s just taking up space in your garage.

You paid almost a thousand dollars for it so you can’t imagine donating it.  Your kids don’t want it and you don’t have the time to refinish it.

You’ve already taken the time to find out similar used tables sell for about $200-$300.

If you decide to sell it you will need to be prepared to spend at least a couple more hours selling it. You can do this on sites like Craigslist, Amazon or Ebay, including the time to reply to emails,  be available to meet with prospective buyers and sell it in person, assuming you don’t plan on shipping it.

If you’re lucky it will sell for the price you want. If not, it’s still taking up valuable real-estate in your garage, not to mention space in your brain.

You can also donate it to a charitable organization such as Goodwill. Alternately you can donate it to a specific local charity or non-profit organization you are connected with for a fund-raising auction. Again, this will take time, more time depending upon which type of donation you choose. You can also consign but keep in mind consignment shops have the last word on whether or not they will take an item. You could end up going from store to store and still not get anyone to take it. Be sure you know and understand a consignment store’s policy before you go there.

Most people tend to overvalue the worth of their possessions. Not everyone will have a seemingly worthless vase that really is a priceless collector’s item like the ones on TV’s Antiques Roadshow.

When deciding whether or not to donate or sell, you’ll want to obtain the true estimate value of an item or items to help you decide.

Donation is not the same as disposing. When you donate an item it does continue to have worth, both tangible (the tax benefit, re-sale value) and intangible (the ‘feel good’ effect).  Incidentally,  the IRS allows for up to $500 of non-cash donations to be claimed on your taxes without having to provide proof of value for each individual item.

Does this mean you should donate the table? Not necessarily but it does depend on other factors:

• Do you have the time and willingness to sell it?
• Do you need the income right now?
• Is the item worth your time to sell given it’s actual estimated market value?
• Will donating now versus waiting to sell it help with other goals you have such as gaining more storage or more room for another hobby or interest?

If you consider all of these factors together, chances are you will know what to do. If you’re still stuck, consider asking the advice of a professional organizer or call LET’S MAKE ROOM.

We can help you make a decision you can live with.

My friend and Yogini extraordinaire, Deborah Saliby, called me on Sunday asking for my advice.

Deborah Saliby, Yoga for Health

Deborah has been teaching Yoga for more than thirty years.  There are a lot of Yoga teachers out there but relatively few hold the special certification that she does in Iyengar training. The certification signifies that she has undergone extensive training as an instructor in a particular method of Hatha Yoga called Iyengar, named for B.K.S. Iyengar, one of the foremost Yoga teachers in the world.

Whenever I have a question about Yoga, I call Deborah.  The moment I feel like my body, mind and spirit are crying out for a little restoration, Deborah is the first person I think of.  On Sunday, however, after her class, Deborah’s mind and spirit were crying out for a different kind of restoration, in her home.  I am grateful she called me.

“I want to organize three closets in my house,” she told me,
“but I’m not sure where to start.” She asked if I would mind sharing some of my professional organizing tips.  “Of course,” I told her. I enjoy it when anyone calls me with a specific organizing question. To me if you are willing to ask the question, you are definitely in the mindset to get organized.

As a professional organizer,  the most common questions I get involve the how and where of organizing, as in “how do I do this?” or “where do I start?”  Typically this follows an extended period of gradual awareness which eventually transforms into “I really wish my (fill in the blank) was more organized. But it’s not until the defining moment when the thought, “today is the day I’m going to do something about it,” that change can occur.

For my friend Deborah that moment came after she got home from teaching one of the many Yoga classes she leads in Berkeley, California.

“So where do you want to start?” I asked. “I don’t know, she said. So I probed a little more. “Which of your closets bugs you the most, that is, which has the most impact on your daily life? “My bedroom closet where I keep all my clothes,” she said, with a little giggle, “you know how much I love to shop?”

“Okay,” I said. “So why do you want to do this at all?” She explained to me that she wanted to hold a sidewalk sale. “Yes,” I said, “that’s good, but why do you want to get organized?” I asked again. “Because I can’t stand looking at the mess in my closet anymore. I know I have a lot of nice things in there that I don’t want anymore and half the time I can’t find what I’m looking for. I’m wasting time and I want to be able to wear what I love.”

Deborah understood what was bothering her about her closet but even more she knew what organizing it would mean to her (not to anyone else) and she was motivated. Plus she had the added incentive of making a little extra money. I told her, “Yeah, you could sell all the clothes you don’t want anymore and with the money you make go out and buy new ones.”  We both laughed.

I offered Deborah a step-by-step plan to get all three of her closets organized.  I shared some strategies for how to overcome some predictable obstacles such as what to do with items that had more “emotional value” than “wear-value.”  I took her through exactly what I would do with her if I were physically doing the work with her and then I asked her if she had any questions. “Nope, I’ve got it.”

Before we hung up I told her to feel free to call me when she was done with the first closet.  Even though Deborah was doing this for herself, I wanted her to know that I was interested in hearing about her progress.

The next day, Deborah did call. She sounded really happy.  She told me how she had followed my plan including emptying the entire closet first, sorting items by category, parting with what she no longer used, wore, or loved and got rid of things that brought in bad “mojo.”  She reorganized the items she kept by type and color and put aside those things she plans to include in her sidewalk sale.  In total it took her two hours. I was impressed.

“How do you feel now?” I asked her, “Great! Just walking past my closet makes me happy.”

I offered Deborah some final tips about items she was still undecided about and suggested some ways to contain items on the shelves using what she already had around her house, before saying goodbye.

After we hung up I went in to my living room and took a big breath and stretched.  Thank you for that, Deborah.

Have a question about organizing? Getting ready to move or start a home renovation project and need to get things packed, donated and organized? Call or email me. I promise you’ll come away with something you can use.

As I told Deborah, I love to be a catalyst for change.

At 8:00 this morning, I had my own private celebration. It took place in my head.

An hour earlier I was driving and thinking about how terrifying it must be for some of my clients to do the one thing that scares them the most; To finally confront what’s kept them from moving forward in their lives because they feel overwhelmed and stuck and it’s showing up as piles of papers, boxes and who knows what else, on their desks, on the floor, in their drawers, everywhere.

I was thinking about what it means to do the one thing that scares you the most and to have the courage to do it anyway because you know you have to. Because you know not doing so will have far greater consequences.

For people who are chronically disorganized, the consequence of not facing their fears can be enormous.  For some it’s a loss of control over their lives. For others, it’s isolation. I know people who have lost their children, their spouses and their very security because of their inability to face their fears head on.  I also know people who have shown great courage and have discovered the meaning of making room in their lives.

My fears are about public speaking. And yet, as a small business person I know the value it brings to others in the form of information and sometimes even inspiration. But I do it quite frankly because I have to. Working with people in their homes and in their offices or helping them move is tactical but it’s also very personal. I know that if people see me and feel I am someone they can trust, and recognize I  have the expertise to help them, then they often will remember me when it comes time to organize their offices, or their bedrooms or help them plan and oversee their move to a new home.

This is what I was thinking at seven o’clock this morning, on my way to speak to a group of fifty small business owners and entrepreneurs about how to face their fears, specifically about how to confront their own Paper Monsters.  I did this presentation a few weeks earlier and it had not lived up to my expectations  – perfectionism, my monster, rearing it’s ugly head, yet again –  and now I was getting ready to face him again.  Was I scared? Petrified, which is why at that moment I started thinking about my clients.

“If  they can have the courage to hire me, then I can damn well find the courage to face my fears as well, ” I thought.  And so I did. And it went fine. It wasn’t perfect but it was good enough. And that’s good enough. But to be honest, I’m glad it’s over. At least for today I can celebrate.

Tomorrow, I do it again.

While I have lived in California for 25 years  I grew up in New York City and still consider myself a “New Yaw-ker.”

Like a lot of people, when I see the images of destruction in the wake of Hurricane Sandy that hit the coastal communities of New York and New Jersey and hear the cries from people who have lost everything, absolutely everything, I still can’t believe it.

As a child, my family lived in an apartment that faced the Hudson River separating Manhattan from New Jersey.  In the 60s and 70s we went through two blackouts and at least three blizzards but this storm was altogether something different.

Yet what strikes me most is the gratitude people express for just having survived, for having their loved ones near by, for having the fortitude to know they will start over.

As an organizing professional I am deeply aware of the nature of people’s attachments to their possessions. I see almost daily how people instill their possessions with meaning.  Yet when they no longer possess it or they leave it behind either by choice or by circumstance, I am always struck by the notion that those things, in and of themselves, have no meaning. They become merely objects that in most cases, have no value other than what they can fetch on an open market. Their meaning along with the memories they evoke are tied to the people who possessed them.

The other day I was emptying a storage closet that belonged to someone I never knew and who had long since abandoned it.  It seemed strange and sad that no one had taken responsibility for the items I found: photographs of family events and babies long since grown;  awards and commemorative plaques honoring the life and work of this person; books and files and several religious figurines.

I took most of the items to Goodwill. What couldn’t be donated was recycled.  Doing so made me think of the thousands upon thousands of items that end up unclaimed every year in rented storage spaces, abandoned homes, even people’s current homes and forgotten storage areas. They become the remnants of their lives.  Items that meant so much one day, and nothing the next.

If tragedy teaches us anything, it teaches us who we really are. When I organize someone’s home or office or help them get organized to move,  I often stress that in the scheme of things they come first, not their stuff.  I am not saying this to judge them or to minimize the value they place in their possessions, rather, I am encouraging them to be as conscious and thoughtful as possible about what they own.

Not everything has to have “meaning” but ideally if it takes up space it should have usefulness or add value to our lives in some way. It should give us joy or be pleasing or practical or purposeful. Just like our homes, that offer us a place of refuge or peace, the items we surround ourselves with offer us something real and tangible.  At the very least they should be a positive reflection of ourselves and something familiar to come home to.

To me that is the true lesson of Hurricane Sandy. That, in a matter of hours, all that was familiar to so many was lost.  They didn’t expect it. They couldn’t plan for it and yet they remain hopeful that their lives as they once knew them to be will one day return.  The rain and the winds and the water may have washed away their homes but it didn’t wash away their spirit.

Would you like to help people impacted by Hurricane Sandy?  Donate now

Is your stuff – paper, possessions, or supplies – out in the open where you can see it?
Do you forget, ignore or lose what you can’t see?
For you, is out of sight is out of mind?’

On the other hand do you prefer to have everything you own tucked away  – in a drawer, cabinet, or closet?
Do you feel unsettled, anxious or out-of-control when things are not stored, stowed or put away?
Do people always remark at how tidy your home looks?

If the first example sounds more like you, consider yourself a Piler.  On the other hand, if the second example resonates more strongly with you, you are probably a Hider.

The terms Hider and Piler represent two types on an organizing continuum. Generally people fall somewhere along the continuum preferring one kind of organizing habit over another. These are not absolutes. Understanding your – and others – preferred type can help you learn ways to be and stay organized as well as to help you better understand the habits of others. For couples, its common for one partner to be a Hider and the other a Piler. Understanding your partner’s style and how they think about organizing will help keep the peace at home.

The most important thing to know is that both Hiders and Pilers can be equally organized or disorganized.

Take a look at the pictures below:

The column on the left represents two versions of a Piler organizing style: An organized Piler, as represented by the store that sells beads and other jewelry making s

upplies and a disorganized Piler  as illustrated by the photo of the cluttered office.

The column on the right represents two versions of a Hider organizing stye – an organized Hider as  represented by the physician’s examination room and a disorganized Hider as exemplified by the cluttered drawer.

Organizing styles can be dictated by function – such as the need for safe and sanitary conditions as in a doctor’s office or the need for customers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily as in the bead store example. For most people, however, organizing styles emerge from our individual personalities, learned habits or in some cases, physical or emotional conditions.

It’s helpful to think of Hider and Piler as preferences, rather than extremes, with most people falling somewhere between them but leaning towards one or another at varying degrees.

While I have not conducted a scientific study about organizing preferences, in my experience as a professional organizer, I have found that Hiders and Pilers also share some other characteristics.

For example, Pilers, because they like items out where they can seem them, may not benefit as much from conventional organizing methods.  An example of this is a standard two-drawer file cabinet.  A better solution for a Piler is an open file drawer on wheels that allows them to see and file their papers and then stow them away as needed.

Many of my clients who I would consider Pilers are artists, creative types or visual learners. They are stimulated by various forms of color, design, objects, and words. A Piler who does not feel comfortable expressing himself in a particular environment may find substitutes for filling the space in other ways.

An example of this are artists who earn income in an office setting. To compensate for the design of a standard office cubicle – with things like closed, overhead bins – artists and other Pilers often fill their surfaces with paper, piles or other bulky supplies. When I notice a client doing this, once we’ve worked together on organizing the paper,  I often recommend they find objects, artwork or photographs to fill the space (in lieu of the paper) that inspire them.

Conversely, a Hider may feel torn between her need for order and the desire to consume, purchase or own items of perceived value.  From the outside, everything looks fine, even beautiful. Until you open a drawer, cabinet or closet.  Then suddenly everything spills out in a jumble.   This is what I call the “Jack-in-the-box” phenomenon.

Typically hiders call me when their clutter starts creeping out from the drawers, cabinets and closets because they’ve run out of room.  I often recommend to Hiders that they examine their beliefs about what they value so that they can begin to edit down what they have.  I also remind them that storage areas are valuable ‘real estate.’ If they want to cut down on the clutter-creep they are either going to have to maximize the real estate, through editing, or else be at risk of spending more to house thier stuff. The worst case scenario is when people buy bigger homes or invest in expensive storage units to accommodate items they don’t use, want or need.

A hider can also lean towards the other extreme, purging themselves of all but the minimum necessities, sometimes prematurely, maintaining a tidy space albeit a bit sterile or overly staged.

In the fall I will be conducting an online seminar about Hiders and Pilers. If you are interested or want more information, email me at Lis@letsmakeroom.com.

If you’ve lived in the same home for 10, 20, 30 or more years, and decided to move into a smaller space, there is a term professional organizers and others such as realtors have adopted from the business world. It’s called downsizing.

In business, downsizing has a negative connotation as it generally means that people will lose their jobs. In the world of organizing, however, downsizing refers to a conscious and deliberate process of reducing the contents of one’s home prior to a move to a smaller space. Although the use of the term in this context is thought of as neutral, people who undergo the process of downsizing may feel otherwise. This is particularly true if you are older, retired or living alone as you will probably need to make decisions about whether or not to keep literally hundreds of items before your actual move day.

Complicating this fact, is that as we get older the part of our brain that helps us with mental tasks such as organizing and prioritizing, otherwise known as the “executive function,” does not work as well as it used to. This isn’t our fault. It’s just a normal process of aging.

When preparing to downsize in preparation for a move, here are a few strategies I recommend to help minimize the stress and uncertainty you may experience.

1. Plan ahead. Start thinking about and planning for your move at least 6 months before you put your house on the market. This could include talking to family members about your plans, determining your needs and goals for your next home and perhaps even researching or visiting other communities you are potentially interested in moving to.

2. Take the time to survey your belongings. Make a point of sharing memories and stories they evoke with those who have offered to help you get ready to move. You may even wish to record those stories in writing or with the use of a tape recorder well before you start packing.

3. Don’t try to do it all yourself. Delegate physical tasks such as sorting, categorizing, packing, transporting and moving to professionals or trusted friends. Elicit ideas and suggestions so you can benefit from the expertise and experience of others who do this professionally or who are knowledgeable about the process.

4. Keep only what you need, love or can’t replace. Don’t become a hoarder. Hoarding is distinguished from collecting in that collecting generally involves objects considered by others to be both interesting and valuable. Hoarding, on the other hand, involves keeping large quantities of things that appear to be useless or of limited value so much so that it compromises your ability to use your home as it was intended. The decision about what to keep and what to sell, donate, or dispose of is yours but only keep what you truly love, will use again or can’t easily replace.

5. Make your wishes clear from the start. If you prefer to be consulted with on certain decisions let others know that in the beginning. Talk openly about how you appreciate help and be willing to accept it when offered. However if you are feeling anxious, say so and take a break. The less anxious you feel, the easier it will be to make decisions you can live with.

6. Conserve your energy. While you think you may be able to work for four or five hours at a time, in reality you may only be effective for two. Commit to doing a specific number of tasks such as packing three boxes, instead of a whole room. If you enjoy it, do so while watching your favorite TV show or listening to music.

7. Don’t hold back (or apologize for) your emotions. Moving is stressful for everyone at any age. As you prepare for your move, you may experience everything from the joy of remembering a happy event to the sadness of grieving the loss of a loved one. Give yourself permission to feel these emotions and recognize that they are a normal response to the circumstances. Your emotions won’t hurt you but suppressing them may. If possible, talk to someone you know and trust who can listen and empathize.

Lis Golden McKinley, M.A., is CEO of LET’S MAKE ROOM, a professional organizing company serving clients in all five counties of the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. For more information, visit their website at https://www.letsmakeroom.com or call them at 510-846-1976 to schedule a complimentary phone consultation.