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I had a life-changing epiphany. It was on May 27, 1978 in the wee hours following opening day of Atlantic City’s first casino, Resorts. My then-boyfriend and I were there until the casino closed (pre-24-hour operation). We drove around Atlantic City, off the main roads. I was stunned to see truly deplorable living conditions. I felt guilty about all I had and didn’t fully appreciate.

My epiphany? I would never again complain about things I didn’t have – I had everything I needed and much of what I wanted.

I’ve kept that promise. In fact, a few years ago I stopped buying stuff I didn’t need and avoided shopping centers. Maybe it was due to organizing and downsizing other people’s stuff, sometimes massive amounts. Or because I didn’t want more stuff. Probably both, plus Pareto’s 80/20 Rule: We use 20% of our things 80% of the time.

I don’t mean to sound like a scrooge. If you’re OK with your amount of stuff, have enough space, can afford and enjoy buying new things, and your life is not negatively impacted, that’s great!

But if you feel as I do, walk around your house, take a mental inventory and ponder these questions before buying more things.

• Will you use it and, if so, often enough to justify its purchase?
• Can you afford it?
• Do you have a specific place to put it?
• Will you take proper care of it?
• Do you/your kids need it or want it?
• Are you comfortable with the example you’re setting for your kids?
• Will your partner be OK with it?
• Do you shop to pass time?
• Are you trying to fill an emotional void?
• Do you place too much importance on things?
• Do your things control you and how you live?

Now when I shop for something new (who doesn’t like new things sometimes?), I focus on my goal and try to avoid aimless browsing – you know, how guys shop. I discovered it’s liberating being free from societal and marketing pressures to buy more, or the latest whatever, to be happy. You too can buck the gotta-have-more, gotta-have-it-now mentality with a change in perspective. You can do it yourself or with help from an organizing consultant.

I am truly happy with the many beautiful things I own. I have more than some and less than others. But I have more than enough. I’ll never own an Aston Martin and I’m OK with that!

My Evernote conversion occurred about five years ago. Stuffed in the back of my junk drawer (yes, I also have one) for several years, lay a handwritten recipe for the best maple balsamic salad dressing obtained from a restaurant in Vermont. Frustrated with my lack of organization for something so valuable, I downloaded Evernote and my life was forever changed.

I created a notebook in the Evernote app and titled it “Recipes,” took a photo of the recipe within the Evernote app et voila! Wherever I am, on my phone, tablet or laptop I have a screenshot of the recipe. I quickly saw how transformational this would be in both my personal and professional life. When a friend recommends a great restaurant, it goes into the notebook I created titled “Recommended Restaurants”. I also do this for movies, books, wine, travel destinations, decorating ideas. All those great details we scribble on the back of napkins never to find again.

If I’m surfing the web, I can use Evernote webclipper to clip an article or page and put it into the notebook of my choice. I can also dictate notes into Evernote and draw using the Skitch app.

I also have a notebook for each of my kids. I have a screenshot of their health insurance cards, health records, photos of their artwork from Kindergarten so I could get rid of those large poster-size monstrosities, er, I mean works of art. The list goes on.

For my business, I’m able to share notebooks with my team and with our clients. We often take notes during an organizing session and share these with our clients. Evernote also eliminates the need to email documents back and forth. Instead, the whole team can collaborate and has access whether they are working remotely or in the office to notes, documents, photos, etc.

I’m barely scratching the surface of Evernote’s endless possibilities. For more information and to create your free online account check out www.evernote.com

When it comes to washing clothes, it can be a daunting task. I’m a wife, mother, daughter, sister. You name, it, I’m it.

Let me just air my dirty laundry. It takes a lot of work to manage a home. I have a family of three and we have four to five loads of clothes to wash weekly. My son is involved in sports and camp, hubby referees basketball and works out, and I go to the gym on a regular basis.

I used to resent leaving the weekends for washing clothes and cleaning the house. I wanted my weekends for spending time with my family and doing fun stuff! As a professional organizer, I’ve learned to put some systems in place to make life a little easier for my family and me. I hope these tidbits will encourage you to do the same.

Tidbit 1:  Decide what day and time of the week you will do laundry put it on your calendar. This is crucial to avoid washing a load every day. An early bird, I prefer washing clothes early Friday mornings.

Tidbit 2:  Make sure your laundry room is organized and has all essential items to wash clothes. Decorate the room so it looks inviting. A nice coat of paint will do.

Tidbit 3:  Create a chore calendar using a dry erase board.

Tidbit 4:  Have each family member have their own laundry basket in their closet.

Tidbit 5:  Our laundry rule is: If I find tissues, erasers, pens, money, food, etc. in pockets while I sort clothes, it will cost the wearer 25 cents for each item. I have a digital coin jar that I keep in laundry room, which helps pay for detergent. It’s amazing how well this pay-up system works!

Tidbit 6:  Keep the laundry room clean at all times. Nothing is more discouraging than going to a messy laundry room. Designate a place for all items. Take a photo of the laundry room to remind the family that this is the way room stays.

I hope these tidbits were helpful!

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By now you’re familiar with Re-cycling, but have you heard of Pre-cycling? What about Up-cycling? What follows are descriptions of these “cycling” processes. Applying them to your routines will reduce the amount of packaging and other items that end up in landfills.

PRE-CYCLING

Pre-cycling is basically preventing recycling. It’s the practice of avoiding and reducing consumer waste by buying unpackaged, reusable or recyclable products.

  Examples:

1. Unpackaged items: buy in bulk quantities (proven winners only).
2. Reusable items: grocery bags, water bottles, batteries, cloth napkins, “real” plates, cups, cutlery, etc.
3. Recyclable packaging: buy items with as little packaging as possible in #1 and #2 plastics, cardboard, aluminum, steel and glass.

RE-CYCLING

It’s great to recycle through your municipality but you (hopefully!) may want to go farther.

  Examples:

1. Plastic bags: bring to bins at the entrance to grocery stores (not your recycling bin).
2. Fabric: bring to Goodwill (keep separate from non-damaged clothing and label the bag).
3. Electronics and accessories: bring any and all to Goodwill.
4. Plastic packing peanuts: bring to UPS and other shipping stores.
5. CFL (corkscrew) lightbulbs: bring to Home Depot and Lowe’s (bulbs contain mercury).
6. #5 Plastics: bring to Whole Foods Markets (not recycled by most municipalities).

UP–CYCLING

Up-cycling is the creative reuse of materials to produce a higher quality item.

  Examples:

1. Memory quilts made from t-shirts, ties, etc.
2. Purses made from soda tabs.
3. Mittens made from sweaters.
4. Clocks made from vinyl record albums.
5. Rag rugs made from … you guessed it … rags.
6. Sock monkeys … I’ll say no more.

Check out Pinterest for tons of other up-cycling ideas. Please post some of your up-cycled projects as we’d love to see them.

I hope I’ve expanded your awareness of options available to prevent unnecessary trash and recycling. Why not be creative and up-cycle some holiday gifts?

Work toward keeping your ecological footprint as small as possible!

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Is the morning of the first day of school a frenetic, crazy time at your house? How about the next few days? Whether your child is elementary- or high-school bound, it’s hard to get her up and moving in the morning and to bed at a reasonable time. Once she’s awake, then comes figuring out what to wear, a frantic search for the missing shoe because another pair isn’t acceptable, followed by general chaos that causes wasted time, drama and stress!

It doesn’t have to be this way. With some simple planning and organization, things can run smoothly. Whether your child is starting school for the first time or a returning student, these tips will ease the transition from summer to school.

1. Create a schedule to complete any unfinished summer assignments.
2. Review your child’s clothes and shoes, fill in as needed and donate what no longer fits.
3. Do the same for school supplies.
4. Schedule medical and dental appointments.
5. Schedule a haircut.
6. Start your child’s school routine one to two weeks ahead. Establish regular meal times and school bedtime. Set the alarm to wake up, dressed and fed on time.
7. Start limiting TV watching and time on devices.
8. Except for the very young ones, have your child lay out clothes the night before.
9. Make lunch the evening before.
10. Create a laminated ID card with your child’s name, address and phone number, parents’ names and contact info, and important medical and other information, and secure it in the backpack.
11. Have a system for papers coming from and going to school. It can be as simple as two labeled folders: To Home and To School.
12. Set up a dedicated spot for homework, ideally a desk with supplies within reach.
13. For the first few days before school starts, add a half-hour to whatever time you think you’ll need for the morning routine. It’ll make the back-to-school transition much easier, especially for you!

Being organized makes life so much easier. As one of my favorite clients said upon completing his project, “Peace through organization.”

Have you ever heard of BOGO? What about FOMO or YOLO?

These acronyms are clever and catchy:

BOGO: Buy One, Get One is an advertising phrase that encourages people to purchase because of the promise of a second item…whether they need it or not.

FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out is a phenomenon where people refuse to commit to plans or feel less present in their current activity because they wonder what they’re missing (that might be more fun).

YOLO: You Only Live Once is my youngest daughter’s favorite.

Ever heard of AUG? Don’t worry if you haven’t. Other than being the abbreviated version for this month, it is my attempt to be clever by encouraging de-cluttering throughout August. AUG stands for Anything Unused Goes!

AUG is an acronym that is very flexible. I invite you to get creative with the different ways you can use it to clear unused, useless and unworthy things from your life, space and storage areas.

• In your closet, you can customize it to Anything Ugly Goes. Get creative and Abolish Unattractive Garments! Whatever phrase you use, the concept is to adopt an approach of streamlining your belongings.
• If you are a collector of teapots or chess games, you can change it to Anything Unworthy Goes. With collections, we sometimes forget to consider the value of individual pieces because we get overly concerned with the size of the collection. But this is BOGO thinking rather than keeping quality in mind. I want to suggest you use the rest of this month to decide if an item warrants display space — or if it deserves a spot on the donation or resale pile.
• Apply Abandon Unused Gadgets to electronics. With today’s technology, things become obsolete faster than ever before. Chargers, cords, ports and storage devices may not be up to date and therefore become unusable. Don’t let these useless devices clutter your work space…YOLO!

How do you decide worth or usefulness? Please don’t decide worth solely by how much you spent or invested in something. Real worth is defined by how valuable it is to you today. Decide how necessary your stuff is to your life and its worth of the space it’s taking up in your home, car or office.

Lots of folks confuse usefulness with an item’s ability to still be useful – without considering if that item is of actual use to them. Today, there are so many ways to donate, repurpose and recycle things. Don’t hold onto things that clutter YOUR life. Let Anything Unused Go!