I’m excited to bring you another installment (v5) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature where I share my latest discoveries that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. I’ve included unique and inspiring clutter-related finds, which reflect this month’s blog theme. You’re a special and engaging group. I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced for you. What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? . . .

1. Interesting Read – Decluttering

In a new publication from Budget Dumpster, The Ridiculously Thorough Guide to Decluttering, professional organizing pros (including yours truly) come together to share their best tips and strategies for letting go and creating clutter-free environments.  “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.” If you’re in the decluttering mode (or want to be inspired to begin), check out this guide.

2. Interesting Container – Tall Box

Part of the decluttering process involves decision-making. What will stay, and what will be released? The other part is about managing or containing what remains. I’m super excited about The Container Store’s latest addition to its clear plastic box collection—the double-tall shoe box! The organizing possibilities go way beyond storing shoes. Get creative while corralling your clutter.

3. Interesting List – Mind Clutter

Knock Knock is one of my favorite companies. They know how to add humor and fun to their organizing products. One of their newest creations is the Daily Intention Tracker Pad. With untraditional categories like “Appreciate,” “Let Go Of,” and “Feel,” it’s great for releasing and organizing our mind clutter in a visual, productive way.

4. Interesting Product – Sorting

In December I met two amazing women, Yukiko Uno and Keiko Hamaguchi, Shuno-no-su business partners, at the JALO conference Expo in Yokohama. They’ve designed a variety of organizing products. One of the most unusual and clever is their Colorful Sorting Sheets. They're used to “sort out your stuff” into categories such as “use every day,” “use once in a while,” “don’t need it-let it go,” and “actively use it.” They can be used to sort (and ultimately declutter) everything from clothes to cosmetics to papers and more.

5. Interesting Tech Tool – Cord Decluttering

Last month in Los Angeles at the NAPO Conference Expo, the Cable Keeper, brainchild of Neet Products founder Chris Voss won the NAPO Organizers Choice Award for “Best in Show.” Have you been frustrated by cord clutter and tangles in your bag, home or office? The Cable Keeper is a cable management tool that not only is practical, but also comes in a lively array of colors. Guess which color I bought?

6. Interesting Thought – Stuff

What is too much? Only you can decide. If the things in your life are taking over your time, space, and thoughts, it could be an opening for change.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What are your interesting finds? Do any of these resonate with you?  Come join the conversation!

Life is complicated. There are many dynamics, decisions, phases and stages. There is constant change that we navigate to the best of our ability. Clutter is complex too. We become emotionally attached to our things. Our stuff seems to collect as we sleep. Where did those piles come from? How did my closet get so crammed that it’s stressful getting dressed every morning? I have to keep my stuff because if I let go, I’ll lose a part of me.

I’d like to share two powerful and possibly simple clutter concepts with you. Are you ready?

While there are many solutions for “dealing with” clutter, and I’ve written lots of posts sharing those ideas, it all comes down to two basic concepts: Release and Manage.

Powerful Clutter Concept One: Release

To reduce the volume of clutter, to make it easier to manage our stuff, we need to release or what I like to call, “edit.” Yes, we’re talking about letting go of the unessential so that we can make room for what’s most important and significant. You get to decide which clutter is taking up physical and mental space in your world and then release it.

Powerful Clutter Concept Two: Manage

To organize the essentials that remain, we need to create specific “homes” for our stuff to live so that we can manage how it works with us. The homes might be containers, closets, surfaces, or compartments. Yet it’s not just the creating of the homes, it’s also taking the time to return things to their homes.

You've heard this before: Less is more. Less is easier to maintain.

Decide what your less looks and feels like. What is your optimal less? Experiment with reducing the volume of clutter. Experiment with managing what remains. If you’re struggling with decision-making or organizing, enlist the help of a trusted friend, family member, or professional. The right kind of support can make all the difference.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation. What’s been your experience with releasing and managing clutter?

My client gave me permission to share this story. During a recent organizing session we were sorting and editing when she came across one item that she wasn’t sure what to do with. She wanted to keep it, but didn’t have a place or category to pair it with.

To figure out the puzzle, I asked some questions to learn more about the item and it’s significance to her. Within a few minutes she determined that it was something she might bring out for her children to play with (supervision needed) when they had a short time to play. After a few more questions, she decided that containing it in a box with a label and storing it in her closet would work.

Just to recap, we discovered an item without a home, discussed what it was about, and determined the best way and place to store it. Labeling the box was key. What’s in a name? In this case, she came up with a label name that’s one of the best ones I’ve ever typed in the 20+ years I’ve been organizing. It says,

“15 Minutes of Fun!”

I love that. Now I want a box with that name.

What does this have to do with letting go? How often do you feel you need hours or days to have fun, get organized, or ____________  (fill in the blank)? Because you don’t, you postpone fun. You postpone organizing. You postpone moving forward. The reality is that in a short time you can enjoy, do a lot, or even a little. Days are segmented. We feel like we’re supposed to work or play in long time blocks. We don’t often have the luxury of endless, continuous hours.

The next time you’re thinking that you don’t have time to __________, remember the “15 Minutes of Fun” box and see if you can motivate yourself to use the short burst of time that you do have.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What resonates with you? Come join the conversation.

I just returned from the NAPO conference in Los Angeles. Almost 700 professional organizers convened from around the world to attend sessions about building organizing businesses, discovering relevant products and services, and learning new skills or concepts to help our clients. We took copious notes, conversed, laughed, saw old friends, and made new ones.

Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, better known as The Minimalists gave the opening keynote session, “The Art of Letting Go.” Their following is far from minimal with over four million readers. Their story is inspiring.

Without going into great detail, because you can read all about them and their journey on their website, I will share my big takeaway. Their story reinforced what I’ve observed for 20+ years working with my organizing clients. While we might want to let go, reduce clutter, and change our lives, until we’re ready to do that, letting go is challenging. The desire to let go might exist, but the motivation to do so doesn’t.

Sometimes it takes conditioning, slowly exercising those letting go muscles to move forward. Sometimes it takes a major life change like divorce, death of a loved one, new job or a move to shift into re-evaluating life and energize the letting go process.

When we’re able to let go and keep only what’s meaningful, beautiful and useful, we create physical and emotional space for what’s truly important. Defining “important” is unique to each of us. As Josh was evaluating and letting go, he’d ask, “Does this thing add value to my life?”  Particularly with his sentimental objects, he was able to let go of the majority of them when he realized . . .

“Our memories are not in our things. Our memories are inside us.”

Linda Samuels at NAPO 2015 with Josh Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus

Josh and Ryan’s stories are inspiring because they shared how they shifted from overwhelmed and dissatisfied by their “stuff” to calm, happy, and more fulfilled through the letting go process. They shifted their focus to experiences and relationships instead of things. It was also inspiring how the change in Josh’s attitude and minimalist living style inspired Ryan, his childhood friend, to pursue a similar way of being.

This brings up another interesting point. You never know how many people you’ll inspire in the process of changing and growing.

What have you noticed when someone lets go? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation.