I’m sure half of you read the headline and panicked. I did the other day when someone said there were only 10 Saturday’s until Christmas. But there are lots of things you can do now – that don’t take a lot of time and effort that will help you be ready for the season and let you enjoy it with less stress.

As we near the end of October it’s time to start wrapping up any projects you are working on – whether that means completing them or getting them to a point where you can put them on hold until January. This is not the time to take on a huge project or renovation with the expectation that you can get it all done before Thanksgiving. Remember any remodeling project usually takes twice as long as you anticipate and costs about 20 percent more. Don’t cause unnecessary stress during the holidays – put that project on hold until after the first of the year.

One of the easiest and most important things you can do is take stock of what you have – search all those cupboards and hiding places for items you’ve been stashing away throughout the year. (This might be a chance to evaluate whether you need to designate a specific area or a different area for gathering these items next year. How did things work this year? What items did you lose track?) By surveying what you have you know what items you still need to locate (and this can be used for gifts as well as decorations and other items.) Once you have surveyed everything make a list of the things you still need. I often make a list of what I have as well simply because I can’t always remember everything.) This step is particularly useful if you are one of those shoppers who shops for Christmas gifts throughout the year. For me it’s helpful if I’m planning something new and exciting with my decorating for the season. For example – this year I’m completely changing the color scheme for the tree and decorations. I’ve been acquiring items since the day after Christmas 2016. I’ve been picking things up at thrift stores, garage and tag sales, end of season clearance sales, sidewalk sales, etc. When you are collecting things over such a broad time frame, it’s easy to forget what you have acquired. Review what you have so that you don’t purchase duplicate items.

October and early November are when I do some deep cleaning around the house so that it will be ready for holiday decorating and entertaining. If you get the major cleaning out of the way you can focus on the creativity of decorating and simply do some light housekeeping as you go. Take the opportunity to go through closets to discard unwanted items. Make space for putting away everyday items that you store when the holiday decorations are put out.

Outside, I prepare as well. In anticipation of the outdoor decorations going up, I make sure that rain gutters and downspouts are unclogged and debris free. Does the lawn need one last mow and edge. Is all of the outdoor furniture stored. Do containers on the back deck or front porch need to be cleaned out or put in the garage? Depending on where you live you might still be able to get the windows washed and the blinds or draperies cleaned. (Living in the Pacific Northwest there are still a few fairly decent days to take care these things.)

If time allows, now is an excellent time to sort through closets to get rid of items you no longer use and make way for new items that may arrive. It also means you’ve made that last push to get things donated before the end of the year so that you are prepared for your 2017 taxes.

Bottom line is this is the time to take care of the things that you really don’t want to be doing during the holidays and by getting them done early you won’t need to stress out over them.

The biggest and most important tip I can offer is remember that you don’t have to do it all and it doesn’t have to be “perfect” in order to enjoy the season. Remember to enjoy the process (whether it’s trimming the tree, baking holiday goodies, or planning for the holiday meal.) Expect the unexpected, write things down, don’t set unrealistic expectations and make your lists and stick to them!’Tis the Season!

If you’ve got clutter, I’m certain you have some ‘junk’ you can toss. And while it may not be junk literally, it may no longer be useful. Making the decision to get rid of your old things may actually be the hardest part of decluttering. If you’re like most people, you have trouble getting rid of something that you spent your hard-earned money on, which you once used or loved. Many items you find will have more than just a monetary value –they will stir up memories and have sentimental value. These are real and valid feelings that make it challenging to part with our stuff.

Remember, you have options when it comes to getting rid of clutter, so you don’t have to feel guilty about putting everything in the trash. Mentally prepare yourself for decluttering and keep the following concepts in mind when you are struggling to part with something you haven’t used in a while.

The 80/20 Rule: When it comes to clothing, we generally only wear 20% of the clothes we own 80% of the time. This rule tends to hold true for other things as well, such as video games, computer parts, books, DVDs, toys and more. Your mission is to get rid of the things you don’t use 80% of the time.

Getting Over Sunk Costs. In the world of economics, costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered are referred to as sunk costs. As you go through the items in your house, most things should be considered sunk costs (except for rare situations where an item may have increased in value). Since you cannot get the money back that you spent on that item, you should only think about the value that thing can add to your life in the future. Understanding this concept of sunk costs can help you make more rational decisions about what to keep and what you should toss.

Here are more declutter tips to help you decide what to keep and what to throw away:

See if it works. If whatever treasure you found stashed away in your house doesn’t work, get rid of it. If you want to fix it, then fix it, but don’t let it sit in your house for another month collecting dust.

Think of the last time you used it. If you haven’t used something you come across in the last 6 months, you should probably get rid of it. If you pulled the item out and said, “I’ve been wondering where this was!” you should probably get rid of it. And if you didn’t even know you still had the item in question, you should definitely get rid of it –you didn’t miss it enough to warrant keeping it.

There’s a neat trick you can use with clothing, books and DVDs (pictured below). Over the course of the year, when you use or wear an item put it back facing the opposite direction of the others. This allows you to see what you’ve used and what you haven’t. If you haven’t used or worn something in a year, get rid of it.

Ask yourself if you love it. This may seem obvious, but sometimes we keep things we aren’t completely crazy about. Yes, sometimes we spend money on things we don’t love, and sometimes we don’t return them. But if you don’t love it, and you haven’t used it in more than 6 months, add it to the “Get Rid of It” bin.

Sleep on it. After you’ve made the decision to get rid of some of the clutter in your home, sleep on it. If there’s something you can’t live without, you’ll know in the morning. You can pull it out of the junk bin and put it away.

Okay, you’re ready to get organized. Congratulations making the commitment is sometimes the toughest part of the challenge. Equally important is taking steps to ensure your success. The most important thing you can do is have a plan. It doesn’t have to be a complicated plan, but it is important to have a plan that guides you so that when you hit a rough spot you know what to do and in the end succeed in your endeavor. Listed below are some basic actions you can take that will keep you on track for a successful project!

Set Realistic Goals

No matter how many rooms or how much clutter you have to get through, starting with specific goals will help you create a plan that will reduce any frustration as you go. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you get started decluttering your home:

• Write down or make a map of all the rooms and ‘clutter hot-spots’ you want to tackle.
• Give each space a grade based on the severity of the clutter. That grade can be a letter grade (A through F) or a numerical scale. For example, on a scale of 1 – 3 (3 being the most cluttered), a particularly messy room or closet would get a 3. This will help you prioritize your time.
• Do one room or one space at a time.(I can’t stress this enough – don’t attempt multiple spaces at once!)
• Set completion dates for each phase of your cleanup. Be sure to pick dates that are attainable so you don’t get frustrated. If you make it into a declutter challenge for yourself, it may feel a bit more like a game.
• In addition to completion dates, you should plan time to work on specific areas when you expect decluttering those spaces to take longer than a few hours, such as a basement or a garage.

Create An Effective Sorting System

As you go through the rooms and spaces in your house, you will need a system for sorting the items you find. You can create your own method, or you can use the popular Three-Box Method of sorting clutter. This method forces you to make a decision item by item, so you don’t end up with a bigger mess than the one you started with.

Gather three boxes or storage bins, label them as follows: Keep, Donate, Sell. There is actually a fourth box – garbage – I typically just have a large container or trash bag next to the three boxes.

As you go through each space each item goes in one of the three boxes or into the trash. You will empty each box when you have completed each space. The keep items are the items that are neatly returned to the space you are working – if necessary label where these items go or place them in bins or appropriate containers. If this is a larger storage area that you are organizing be sure to place the items in containers that you can easily identify items or label them so you know where to look.

An important note about the items you set aside to sell is to set a timeframe in which to sell them – if you haven’t taken action in that time period then simply donate the items to get them out of your space.

There are things to keep in mind when it comes to those items you are throwing out, donating or selling.

• Recycle: Recyclable glass, plastics and paper can go straight into your recycling bin if you have curbside pickup. Otherwise put your recyclables in bags so you can transport the waste to the nearest recycling drop off location. Many  electronics can and should be recycled.  Check with your local trash collector or your city or county department that handles waste and see what options are available.
• Donate or Upcycle: You can rest easy knowing that something you no longer need is going to a good home. Clothes, shoes and other household items in good condition can be donated to a number of local charities. Your trash is truly another person’s treasure.
• Have a Garage Sale: If you’re up to the task, you may be able to make a little money off your clutter by having a garage sale. Check to see if your neighborhood or homeowner’s association has a designated garage sale date. Just make sure you begin your declutter process early enough so you can participate – you’ll get more foot traffic that way.
• Sell the items: There are many options to look at here – most depend on the effort you want to make and the potential value of the item. Some of the more common options are Ebay, Craig’s List, OfferUp, LetItGo and similar sites. What is important is set a time limit and if the item hasn’t sold then donate it to get rid of it. Many times when I have something to sell I do some research to see what similar items are going for – and if they are selling. If the effort isn’t worth the end result I usually just donate the item.

Allow plenty of time!

I’ll close by saying that allowing sufficient time for this process is a critical element to your success. This can be a time consuming process depending on the scale of your project. Remember if needed to seek out help (enlist support of family members or friends.) Know your physical limitations and have people to help.

Most importantly, start small and take on things in a manner that helps you to see progress and support your overall success. If you need to break the areas down into zones and determine how many zones by what you can complete in 30 minutes or less.

I have a confession – for the last eight months I feel like I’ve been living a lie! Why? We had extended family living with us as they made a transition to a new home. Now I’ll preface this with when it started we thought it would only be for a few weeks. Unfortunately the world is a complicated place and what was only supposed to be a few weeks turned into eight months.

So why do I feel like I was living a lie? Well, when you have extended guests in your home the goal is to make everyone as comfortable and at home as possible. That means you alter or place normal routines and processes on hold. So during these last eight months I’ve tabled some projects, modified behaviors, etc. While that may not seem like a huge deal, the reality is this was a profound shift in the day to day routine of our household. Towards the end of their stay I could tell that the impact to our daily routine was immense. Happily the transition is complete and they are settling into their new place. So now there is huge opportunity for me to get things back in line and moving forward.

I’m sure at this point you are now wondering what this has to do with the psychology of getting organized. It’s simple – an organized life is much more productive and healthy than one that is in a constant state of chaos. There are countless studies that show how your environment impacts your health – physically and emotionally. So the next time someone scoffs that being disorganized has a negative impact – don’t be so quick to let them get away with those harmless chuckles. Beyond how it makes you feel there is the psychology that goes into the process itself. Some of these issues are the very things that we must overcome in order to get ourselves more organized.

Let’s face it, we all have a little junk in our life (and in reality some of us may have more than a little – I’m not pointing any fingers!) Regardless of how much stuff we have, we can all benefit from getting rid of clutter and excess things we don’t need any more, or things we haven’t even seen in a while. The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) conducted a poll that suggests nearly 65% of Americans feel their home is at least somewhat disorganized.

What is clutter? Clutter is anything you’re keeping around your house that doesn’t add value to your life. Decluttering is all about making room in your home for the things that matter. Decluttering can and does take many forms.

Clutter, however you define it, can be bad for your health. According to Psychology Today, people tend to feel like life is out of control when they surround themselves with more things than they can manage. The mess causes stress. If you’re not taking care of the clutter in your home, you may not be taking care of yourself either.

When is clutter a problem? For many people clutter can be an energy zapper or they waste inordinate amounts of time looking for things they can’t find. In extreme cases, people may suffer from obesity or depression when a life of consumption extends beyond ‘stuff.’ In hoarding situations, a house full of clutter can cause fire hazards and other health complications when mold and dust are present. But extreme cases are not common. I’ve worked with a few clients that could be considered hoarders. It is important to understand that you can’t just go in and get a hoarder “organized.” The result of doing something so drastic could have unfortunate consequences. From a professional standpoint I will only work with a hoarder if they are also under the care of a qualified mental health professional.

Why should you declutter? Many people enjoy decluttering because it relieves stress by providing a sense of control and accomplishment. For others, getting rid of the junk frees up a little extra space in the house that wasn’t there before. Some people may just need to purge before they move to a new house. Whatever your reason for decluttering your home, it’s not as difficult as you might think. And when stuck, search the internet, Pinterest or contact a professional organizer! Next week we’ll look at some of the techniques that help you in your organizing efforts.

FALL – there I said it – that four-letter word that seems to be creeping up on us – I feel like I’ve just found my summer groove and now that other season is almost here – the back to school sales are behind us and the stores are transitioning to pumpkins, chrysanthemums and cinnamon sticks. Just because the temperatures will be cooling and the days grow shorter there is still plenty of opportunity for projects and tasks to keep you organized!

As you wind up the summer season it is time to start preparing your home for the winter months. Now is the time to review the goals you had for summer. What projects have you started that need to be completed and which are you postponing for next year. I’ve learned to break larger projects into tasks that can be completed in 30 to 60 minutes – I find by doing this I have a greater sense of accomplishment and get more done. It keeps me from feeling overwhelmed.

Beyond wrapping up your summer projects, what can you do in the fall to help you be more organized?

I start with some basics. Is the garage in good order? What items do I need to be preparing for storage and setting aside for the season? What items do I need to be getting out to use in the months ahead? This is a good time to identify what lawn and garden equipment needs to be serviced or replaced. You might not do it immediately, but you can schedule service appointments and be on the watch for end of season sales that may have items you need. Most of the larger retailers are slashing prices as they make way for holiday merchandise to hit shelves.

Fall is an excellent time to spruce up the interior of your home. Do you need to do some deep cleaning in specific areas? You’ve got the kids set for the upcoming school year, how about tidying your home office. Clean out files, organize paperwork, make sure you are well stocked with paper, pens, pencils, paperclips and all the other essentials.

As we move inside from outside liven things up a bit with new dish towels and placemats – ones in warmer tones that reflect the season. Change out throw pillows in the living room or master suite to give things a new look. Perhaps it’s time to create a welcoming scene on your front porch or landing.

Go through your clothes as you transition to warmer threads. Before you pack away the summer items sort through them and discard those that are no longer up to par. Make a list of the items you need for the next season.

Refresh kitchen utensils and gadgets as you shift from camping and picnics to entertaining in your home. Be sure your pantry is stocked and organized as baking season draws closer.

It’s not long till you’ll be tailgating and planning your Halloween parties. What items do you need to be collecting for your ghoulish delights? It’s never too early to start planning costumes, researching recipes and lining up craft projects for the kids’ parties.

The key to success here is being proactive and preparing yourself for the season ahead – if you are organized, have the right tools and accessories you are ready to take on projects – whether planned or last minute – and enjoy this magnificent time of year!

“Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it,” the old saying goes. Before you can effectively overcome the chaos in your world, you need to identify and understand the processes and events that got you to this disorganized state.

Situational Disorganization

Situational disorganization happens when a precipitating event causes life disruption. It could be as simple as getting backlogged at work or home due to a big, time-consuming project. Personal loss like the death of someone close to you can cause major disorganization in your home life. Even managing the affairs of an elderly, ailing relative can derail your own personal state of order. The grief and loss of a divorce or medical emergency can also inundate people with disorder. Situational disorganization may be caused by a variety of sources, but it can be temporary in nature.

Knowing that a precipitating event caused your disorder hopefully takes the pressure off you. Many people look around at their clutter and feel ashamed. They wonder why they can’t get it together. All of us can become inundated by the unexpected. When you recognize the variety of reasons that have contributed to your disorganization, you let yourself off the hook.

Habitual Disorganization

Habitual disorganization does not mean that we are forever cursed and stuck with chaos in our life. Rather, it means that we have created our own state of disorganization with our collection of bad habits. We can also remain in our chaos, using our bad habits as a reason for why we can’t get out. Whether we are dealing with space, time, paper, information, or tasks, we all have our own set of patterns that may sabotage our order. From procrastination to over-scheduling our life, we are our own worst enemy. By our own hand, we become victims of disorganization.

To change, begin by identifying any bad habits that you’ve developed that are contributing to your disorganization. Acknowledging those habits is the first step to restoring order. If you don’t identify your bad habits in the process of organizing, your efforts won’t make a lasting impact. For example, you could go through a lot of work to establish a great filing system but if you are in the habit of neglecting maintenance, your filing system will rapidly deteriorate. Once you name those bad habits you can become more conscious of them. As you engage in your organizing process, you can then proactively work to eliminate those bad habits. Only when you extricate yourself from self-defeating habits will you truly be liberated from disorder

Historical Disorganization

When your upbringing (either orderly or disorderly) impacts your state of order. You can either model or rebel against the environment in which you were raised.

Growing up with Disorder
In some cases, we rebel against the disorganization we grew up with, and we resolve to train ourselves for orderly living. Due to our disorganized past, we want to have an organized future. Growing up feeling out-of-control is not a good feeling, so we determine to control our environment in our adult world. Our history with disorganization offers plenty of proof that the costs of disorder are significant. As we reject the disorder of our past, a re-training process is required. If we grew up with disorder, we will have to learn how to create order. Re-training can help us gain skills we didn’t learn in childhood, thereby correcting the past.

On the other hand, some of us don’t want to learn organizing skills and we rebel against order. We succumb to our disorganized past. Since we were not taught to organize our belongings or time, and we never learned the skills to tackle clutter. Since we didn’t acquire organizing skills in our youth, we enter our adult lives ill-equipped to manage the onslaught of paper and tasks that comes with employment. We can’t believe someone else is horning in on our work, micro-managing us, and telling us to clean up after ourselves. We want to live in the way we’ve always known; it might not be organized, but it is familiar.

Growing up with Order
Some of us grew up in impeccable homes where perfectionism reigned supreme. As we enter adulthood, we may rebel against the order we experienced because it was imposed to restrain us instead of to release us. Along with the order came rules, regulations, and restrictions. Your current definitions of order are likely along the lines of control, authority, and restraint. By altering your definitions of order you can change your opinion of it. If you began to define order to include freedom, peace, and sanity, wouldn’t organizing be less threatening and more inviting? By changing your definition of order, you can escape your past and begin to experience true peace.

Finally, some of us grew up in a showcase of order and we embraced it. We loved the orderly lifestyle then and we love it now. We can’t understand why others would knowingly and willingly live in chaos. We bring our organizing skills into our own adult world and adapt them to our unique needs. We recognize that organizing is not a series of regimented activities, but a method of discovery that allows us to correct the things that are not working in our environment and time. We know that organizing isn’t a strict set of rules; it is a means of liberation.

Whatever your experience with order has been, you likely have responded to that experience in your adult life. You may have embraced or rejected order based upon your history with it. Becoming cognizant of your past experience with order will help you discover where your feelings about organizing have developed. Your feelings about organizing have likely played a role in how you cope with the disorder that imposes itself upon all of us.

Social Disorganization

Our culture encourages accumulation. We are told through advertising and social norms to collect enough belongings to fill up our garage or to gather more toys than the next guy. Some of us wear our stuff like a badge of honor. We think that if we have more stuff than others that means that we are better or smarter or richer. We want to have name brand stuff so that we can tell the world about our financial status. We get more and more stuff, yet we are more and more unhappy and stressed. We are the socially disorganized.

The dichotomy is that once we stockpile all this stuff we don’t know what to do with it and it begins to enslave us. Whatever we collect we must save, dust, store, protect, inventory and insure. In my experience as a professional organizer, I’ve observed that the more stuff people have, the more complicated their lives become. Having stuff isn’t wrong in itself. The problem is when you have so much stuff that you lose and abuse it. When we stop managing, using and appreciating what we own then we become victims of a society that accumulates for the sake of accumulation.

Social norms also encourage us to over-program our lives. We become disorganized when we give into the attitude in society that says, “I have to have it all.” This attitude can lead us down a slippery slope of over-commitment. One of the reasons we collect too many belongings and activities is because we have a hard time saying “no.” If you have been a victim of social pressures, your choices may have resulted in an overloaded schedule and disorderly living. You can now make a conscious choice to reject the social pressures that surround you and extract yourself from an out-of-control schedule. If you can say “no” and stop accumulating you will begin to restore order.

Chronic Disorganization

Chronic disorganization is another way people arrive in chaos. This phrase is not a subjective term. In fact, there is an actual condition called “chronic disorganization” as well as a group of people who study it. If you’ve ever wondered why none of your efforts to organize yourself have succeeded, you might fall into this category.

If you’ve tried a number of methods to dig out, only to find yourself in the same place you started, this may be your unique brand of disorganization. According to the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (www.nsgcd.org), the definition of chronic disorganization is “having a past history of disorganization in which self-help efforts to change have failed, an undermining of current quality of life due to disorganization and the expectation of future disorganization.” In short, if you’ve been disorganized in the past, have tried to change on your own and forecast similar unsuccessful results in your future, you may suffer from chronic disorganization.

The chronically disorganized likely have a home or work space (or both) that is piled high with clutter. Often, they feel helpless to overcome their disorganization. Indeed, chronically disorganized people require more specialized service than those who came by their disorganization by way of situation, habits, family history or social influence. It is unlikely that a chronically disorganized person can independently pull themselves out of their circumstances alone. Anyone who thinks she may suffer from chronic disorganization can visit the website of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (www.nsgcd.org). On this website, you can find a referral directory in case you decide to enlist the help of an expert or investigate resources for you to conduct further research.

Excerpted from Restoring Order: Organizing Strategies to Reclaim Your Life by Vicki Norris. Visit her website at restoringorder.com.