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Getting Decluttered Enough to Hire a Cleaning Service

Published: April 18, 2022

A frequent goal of my organizing clients is to have their home decluttered enough to hire a cleaning service. They want to have the home dusted, swept, mopped, vacuumed, or deep cleaned, but the clutter is too overwhelming. Most cleaning companies do not declutter before cleaning, and when the floors, countertops, and tables are covered with clutter, or some rooms are inaccessible, a cleaning service will say that you need to declutter first. Some people just feel shame, embarrassment, and overwhelm, not knowing where or how to start.

In general, getting your home in better shape starts with decluttering and organizing, that’s where hiring a professional organizer can help ease the process. After organizing, a cleaning service is often hired. Sometimes, living in a clean and organized home leads to homeowners wanting to change the interior design, repaint, remodel, etc. All of that is an ongoing step-by-step process, but you can’t start if there are floors you can’t sweep, mop or vacuum, and furniture you can’t dust due to clutter.

Here are my tips on the order to best tackle decluttering before hiring cleaners:

1. Floors

Start with just one room, usually a bathroom or kitchen is the best starting point, and begin on the floors. Have trash bags and recycling bins, and some boxes for donations ready, or just boxes to help you move items into other rooms. It can be helpful to set up an empty folding table, if there’s space, so you’re not crouching on the floor as you declutter. Begin by clearing one section of floor and slowly work your way through the room. Move from one room to the next, until you can see all floors, so they can be swept, mopped or vacuumed by cleaners.

2. Countertops

Once the floors are cleared, focus on the flat surfaces gathering items on the kitchen and bathroom countertops. Determine what needs to be kept, tossed, or moved to another room, and place some things in cabinets, drawers, pantries, or closets. Cabinets, drawers, pantries and closets may need decluttering also, but if you’re in a rush to just get cleaners to work on the main surfaces, save those areas for another time.

3. Tops of Tables

Continue to sort thorough and clear off flat surfaces such as the tops of kitchen tables, dining room tables and desks, so those areas can be dusted and polished. You may again be filling drawers and closets, but you are clearing the surfaces.

4. Tops of Dressers and Nightstands

Focus on the tops of any dressers, and then make sure you can close all dresser drawers, this might involve a small amount of decluttering clothes. Just make the dressers and nightstands clear enough to dust and polish.

5. Any Boxes or Bins in Living Areas

You may have unpacked boxes or plastic bins from a move, delivery packages that were were never opened, or boxes or bins of miscellaneous stuff taking up valuable space in your home. Sort through those boxes, empty what you can into the proper rooms, recycle some, and move what you’re keeping to a closet or storage area where the cleaners will not be going.

6. Clothing and Luggage

Empty any unpacked luggage into your dressers and closets, and launder and put away any piles or baskets of clothes, so that loose clothing is not in the cleaning company’s way, unless they also do laundry.

Further Declutter After the First Cleaning

Focusing on those six things will generally get the home decluttered enough for cleaners to come in and work. If you want to take it further, and open up room in the storage spaces behind closed doors, you can continue to declutter inside drawers, cabinets, closets, pantries, attics, basements, etc. after the cleaners have been there at least once, so you’re starting from a clean baseline.

If doing this on your own seems overwhelming, and you’d like further guidance and assistance from a Certified Professional Organizer, On Task Organizing offers virtual organizing sessions over Zoom or in-person organizing sessions in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. You can also search by zip code for qualified organizers near you on The National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals site. Please contact me to learn more about On Task Organizing’s services.

Things You Should Not Store in a Garage, Attic or Basement

Published: March 23, 2022

Over the years, I have decluttered and organized numerous garages, attics and basements. Often, I find things that have been ruined due to not being stored in a climate controlled area. Changes in temperature and humidity can cause mold and mildew on some items. Extreme cold or heat can melt or warp some materials as well. A basement flooding or a roof leaking can lead to your belongings being water damaged. If insects, rodents, or other pests move into these spaces, they can also damage things.

Here are some things that you should not store in a garage, attic or basement (unless it is a climate controlled space)

Cardboard boxes: these can become a home for pests, and can easily warp due to temperature changes.
Paper of all kinds, but especially important documents and keepsake papers.
Books
Photographs
Artwork

Clothing
Sewing Fabrics
Yarn
Towels
Sheets
Blankets
Comforters
Curtains
Tablecloths
Sleeping Bags
Mattresses
Pillows
Stuffed animals
Rugs and Carpeting

Instruments
Upholstered furniture
Wooden furniture
Wooden decor

Electronics
Vinyl records
Audio cassettes
VHS tapes
CDs
DVDs

Candles
Batteries
Paints
Medications
Perishable foods (unless temporarily stored in a fridge or freezer in these areas).

I’ve seen so many of the items listed above ruined from being stored in a garage, attic or basement. They are then not able to be used by their owner, or handed down to family members, or donated or sold. To protect and preserve your belongings, it is best to store these things inside in a climate controlled area. Some areas that work well are inside the closets of bedrooms, guest rooms, home offices or bonus rooms. Some items can be stored in drawers, cabinets or shelves inside the house, or underneath beds. Now may be a good time for you to look in your storage areas and see if there’s anything you need to bring into the house to keep it in good condition.

The Top 5 Things to Organize in Your Home

Published: February 28, 2022

In my decade of experience as a professional organizer, I have found that there are five categories of items or areas that are most in need of organized systems to maintain organization. The cyclical nature of these spaces is what makes it challenging, because items are coming and going, or moving from one area to another, or changing on a regular basis. Let’s look at these 5 categories, and review some tips to maintain organization in these areas.

Mail & Papers

Mail arrives almost daily, and while much of it may be junk, the important papers and packages need to be opened and given a home inside your house. Whether that’s being saved in a paper file folder, scanned, or a a bill to be paid, a coupon to use, or an invitation to respond to, you need to have a regular system to open and check the mail, discard the unimportant, and then take action on the important. Setting up areas of your home to hold incoming mail, store action papers, and then store files that you need to save for reference can help you manage paper overload.

Laundry & Clothing

Sizes and seasons change, we buy new clothes, and don’t always declutter the old clothing. Clothes go through a cycle of clean (and ideally in a drawer or closet), to being worn, to being dirty and then needed to be washed, dried, folded or hung up again on a regular basis. Creating homes for clothes in all of these states is extremely important to maintaining organization. For example, selecting and placing laundry baskets or hampers in an accessible place, and regularly decluttering drawers and closets to give each type of clothing it’s own space, so you can easily put it away and retrieve it when needed, will help you stay better organized.

Dishes

Just like the clothing, dishes, silverware, and cooking supplies have a cycle of being clean (and ideally is a designated cabinet or drawer), used, dirty, and in a sink or dishwasher, then clean and awaiting to be put away. By decluttering and organizing your kitchen so every item has a space, and then setting up routines to load and empty a sink or dishwasher, wash the dishes and put them away, you can keep this area organized.

Groceries & Meals

Food cycles through a home from the fridge, freezer or pantry, then being consumed, and then needing to be restocked by a trip to, or delivery from a grocery store. Setting up organized spaces in your fridge, freezer and pantry, and planning a regular decluttering of spoiled or expired foods, then keeping up with writing a grocery list, and meal planning weekly can help keep the organization of food items under control.

Schedules & Time

Just like physical spaces, calendars and schedules can become cluttered and disorganized. By choosing the right planner, calendar or task management tool for you, whether that be paper or digital, and using it everyday to keep track of your time, you can keep your schedule better organized. You can schedule times for work, commuting, chores and errands, appointments, relaxation and social time on your calendar. Having a way to contain and manage your schedule can prevent you from being late or missing important events, and lead you toward better organization in all areas of your life.

Organizing Tasks to Tackle: 10 Minutes at a Time

Published: January 26, 2022

A common reason some of my new organized clients say that they haven’t gotten organized is because they don’t have the time. While doing a deep declutter and reorganization of an entire home can take a long time, there are some organizing tasks that can be done in short bursts of time, in just 10 minutes or less, to get you rolling and keep up momentum. While staying organized is a daily process, here are some things you can do that might take 10 minutes, depending on how much stuff you have.

Ten Minute Chores

Make the beds.

Gather up trash from a room or an entire house.

Empty the kitchen sink.

Put away the dishes.

Empty the fridge and/or pantry of spoiled and expired food.

Pick up the toys in a playroom.

Gather up dirty laundry and bring it to the laundry room.

Fold and put away one laundry basket full of clothing.

Break down empty cardboard boxes to be recycled.

Ten Minute Decluttering Tasks

Sort through a pile of mail and toss or recycle the junk mail.

Shred some old mail or paperwork.

Start filing away some important mail or paperwork.

Organize the contents of one file folder in a file cabinet.

Empty out the trash and remove clutter from your car.

Declutter your purse or wallet.

Pick one small drawer in a dresser or kitchen and declutter it.

Declutter a small flat surface – for example, your bedside table, a bathroom counter, the top of your home desk, the top of your kitchen table or dining room table.

Start decluttering your email inbox.

Pull a handful of clothing pieces out of your closet that you will no longer wear, and put those in a bag or box for donations. (Move that bag or box to your car once it is full, so you can drop it off when you’re near the charity of your choice).

Ten Minute Errands

Make a weekly meal plan and grocery list.

Pay a few bills.

Gather up items you want to return to stores, and put those in your car.

Ten Minute Time Management Tasks

Update your to-do list for the day or week, use a paper or digital calendar to plan when to get things done.

Schedule an appointment with a doctor, a dentist, etc.

Contact a company about a bill or financial issue.

While ten minutes alone will not be enough to get and stay organized, if you can find small pockets of time to work on these small tasks, you’ll begin to feel better organized! If you’d like further guidance and assistance from a Certified Professional Organizer, On Task Organizing offers virtual organizing sessions over Zoom or in-person organizing sessions in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. Please contact me to learn more about On Task Organizing’s services.

Developing a Sense of Urgency for Home Organizing

Published: December 20, 2021

When you’re working through a to-do list, urgent tasks become top priority, while other items on your list may be put off for a long time. Often, home organization may be one of those tasks that falls by the wayside because it may not be urgent. One motivational tactic to help improve momentum when tackling home organizing projects is to develop a sense of urgency. If you do not have a timeline in mind, it can be hard to feel compelled to keep organizing.

Although home organizing is never a one-time task, because it requires almost daily upkeep to keep a space organized, setting a deadline to tackle your major organizing goals can be incredibly motivating. When I first meet with my home organizing clients, we discuss goals, priorities and timelines before starting the organizing projects.

Here are some tips to help you move forward and set deadlines when working on organizing projects:

Turn “Someday” into a Date on the Calendar

If you’re decluttering and organizing because you’re going to move “someday”. Narrow that someday down. Perhaps you’re moving after your children have left the nest, when you get married, before the birth of a child, etc. You can narrow the date down to a year, month, or season. If you’re moving even sooner, discuss the date that your home will be put on the market with your realtor, and that day becomes your FINAL declutter date). If you want to get organized on the other end, when you move in to a new house, finalize the date that the moving truck will arrive at your new residence, and that is the start of your project. If you have a wedding date or expected arrival date of your child, those are your deadlines.

Invite Others to Your Home

Other than moving or other life transitions, the times that I’ve seen the most motivation and momentum to get organized are when visitors are coming to your home. You’ll want to make friends or family feel comfortable in your home, and create a good impression with an organized and clean space. If you don’t have someone scheduled to visit, inviting them on a specific date will give you your end deadline to help move you forward. Some examples are visitors for Thanksgiving, Christmas, summer vacations, dinner parties, weddings, family reunions, or even a sleepover for your children.

Make a Deadline to be Ready for the Unexpected

Many times, decluttering and organizing is needed because of an unplanned event. For example, when someone suffers an illness or ailment and has to move to a rehabilitation or senior living community. Although these dates can never be certain, you could make a plan to be organized by a certain age…maybe select a certain birthdate or your retirement date as your organizing deadline.

Aim for an Important Date

Make getting organized a gift to yourself for a special occasion. Choose your birthday, an anniversary, New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc. Set your own deadline, and tell others about it for accountability to help you stick to it!

It is great to want to get organized for peace of mind, and to reduce stress and save time and money in the long run, but making or having a deadline will really keep the ball rolling. If you’re in need of organizing services, tips or accountability from an experienced Certified Professional Organizer (virtually over Zoom nationwide, or in-person in the Raleigh, NC area), feel free to reach out to me for a consultation call to get started on your journey to a more organized life.

Transforming a Dining Room into a Home Office

Published: December 13, 2021

Working from home has become more common due to the pandemic. I have recently helped several residential organizing clients in the set-up and organization of a former dining room area that was transformed into a home office. While this is a great reuse of the space, there are some common challenges to making a dining room into a functional home office. Here are some tips for overcoming common problems.

Furniture Not Functional for an Office

Dining rooms usually have a big table with no drawers for storage, several chairs, and a dining buffet. Although you may want to keep this furniture, if your work-from-home is long term or permanent, you may want to store those pieces elsewhere in your home, or in a storage unit, or possibly donate or sell that furniture.

Small Room Size

Dining rooms are often small, so choosing to keep only the furniture you use for work in that space, such as a desk, office chair, storage cabinet, file cabinet and/or bookcase, can give you the space you need. Make sure the furniture pieces you purchase are not too big for the room, always measure first.

No Built-in Storage

Most dining rooms do not have closets or built-in cabinets or shelving, so you’ll want to hire a contractor to add these storage pieces, or to buy freestanding cabinets or shelving to hold the office supplies that you need when working from home.

Inadequate Lighting

One bright overhead chandelier will not provide sufficient lighting for you to work at your desk, or to illuminate your face on video calls. Also, bumping your head into a chandelier can be an issue after the dining table is removed. You will want to replace the chandelier with a different overhead light, and also add desk lamps and floor lamps near your workspace, as well as a halo ring light, if you’re regularly on video calls.

Open Doorways

Most dining rooms do not have closing doors. If you don’t have a door, you’ll want to either hire a contractor to build a door, or temporarily set up a curtain, room divider, or even use a piece of furniture, such as a tall bookcase, to block or cover one doorway (if the room has 2 entrances).

Lack of Privacy

Most dining rooms are located at the front of the house. Therefore, you’re more likely to be disturbed by anyone at the front door such as delivery services, solicitors, or household members traveling in and out through the front door. You may want to add “no soliciting” signs or notes for delivery service workers to your front door, and discuss your need for privacy during working hours with other household members.

The windows are usually at the front of the house, and without the proper window treatments, you are on display, especially if you work into the night. Add window blinds, and window treatments that are sheer to soften the light and add privacy, or even heavy black-out curtains, to help make the space more private, and avoid glare from sunlight.

Often times, since dining rooms are near the front door, they may become the catch-all area for items such as shoes, jackets, purses and backpacks. Set up another area in your house with coat hooks and shoe racks, so household members will stay out of your workspace.

Dining rooms are usually near the kitchen, so the sound of the dishwasher, refrigerator, or other people chopping, cooking, putting away dishes, etc. can be easily heard in the next room. If you need silence to concentrate on your work, invest in noise-cancelling headphones. If you’re on calls or videoconferences from your home office, consider adding soundproofing elements such as acoustic wall panels, putting up soft wall hangings like decorative quilts, and adding a rug to help absorb noises, in addition to adding a door or doors to the room.

Videoconference Background Concerns

When setting up your workspace, consider the look of the area that is right behind your desk. If you are on video calls, a dining buffet may not be the most business-like background. Consider setting up a freestanding shelf or floating shelving with a few decorative pieces on it, or keep that wall blank and hang framed artwork on the wall behind you. Also, check to see if there’s glare from any windows in the background, mirror reflections, or if anything else behind you would be an on-screen distraction.

Clearly, repurposing a dining room into a private and functional workspace can be done, as long as you address the common challenges listed above. If you’re in need of further tips, guidance or assistance from an experienced Certified Professional Organizer to help get your home office into shape, please contact me to discuss On Task Organizing’s virtual services offered over video chat nationwide, or in-person services available in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.