The official launch date of my book, “The Circulation Solution,” is this coming Monday the 18th. In the meantime, here is an excerpt from Chapter 2, “Circulation in the Kitchen.” Why is there an illustration of a showroom and a stockroom in a chapter about the kitchen? Read on! I used up the first example of circulation prevents accumulation already …
Book Excerpt: Circulation in the Mail
What follows is an excerpt from my upcoming book “The Circulation Solution: The Ultimate Organizing Approach For Lasting Clutter Relief.” The focus of this chapter is on how to circulate the daily mail in a series of manageable, reliable steps. Despite the option for electronic bill paying, and despite the new online advertising and online catalogs, we receive more paper …
Digital Minimalism Book Review
Our company provides solutions for clutter, including paper and schedule clutter, but we don’t offer solutions for digital clutter. Cal Newton’s book does. In Digital Minimalism, Newport goes into great detail why digital clutter is such a problem, then recommends intelligent solutions. He talks at length about Facebook and the iPhone. Both are major culprits of digital clutter, but they …
My New Organizing Book Excerpt: “The Circulation Solution”
What follows is an excerpt from my new book, coming out later this month, “The Circulation Solution: The Ultimate Organizing Approach For Lasting Clutter Relief.” This section comes right after the introduction, where I talk about why it is so hard to stay organized today, the definition of clutter, and why to get organized. In this excerpt I get into …
How to Store Old Photos and Preserve Precious Memories
Today’s blog is a guest post from Wendy Dessler Photography is a job or hobby or millions of people all over the world. There are over 1 trillion photos taken in a given year, and this number is only expected to rise. While most photos today are taken on a camera phone, there was once a time when nearly every …
What I’ve Learned in 15 Years of Professional Organizing
Sunday, September 1, 2019 marks 15 years since I officially opened for business as a professional organizer. In September 2004, I was doing business as Breathing Room. That is what I wanted my organizing to give people. However, it wasn’t long before I changed it to Matt Baier Organizing. That way, you never forget my name and what I do. …
An Eco-Friendly Guide to Getting Rid of Your Unwanted Clutter
Today’s blog is guest post from Haley Kieser. One of the best feelings is walking into a clean, organized home–and knowing you live there. But reaching this utopian-like state can seem impossible, or even downright irresponsible with the news of climate change and overflowing landfills trending on social media. You brought this stuff into your home, now it’s your job …
6 Tips to Get Organized Fast
September 1, 2019 will mark 15 years since I started my professional organizing business. In those 15 years, I have learned a lot about how to get organized faster. Here are my top 6 tips to get organized fast. 1. Establish Exit Zones Organizing depends on prioritizing. That includes de-prioritizing. Before you can create sustainable systems, you must declutter the …
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Organizing Your Next Steps
The most important things to understand about organizing your next steps is to recognize that organizing has steps. Effective, sustainable organizing has to involve more than just grab-an-object-and-store-it. Before you figure out where something should go, you should sort by category and review by priority. By addressing one step at a time, you have a singular focus. When you have …
Organizing Tasks of Lesser Value
Organization may be eluding you because you are wasting time on organizing tasks of lesser value. Here are some examples of such low value tasks that I have observed and what I recommend instead. Note: If you are doing these things and you are still finding the time to take on larger organizing challenges, then ignore what I’m saying. This …
Get Your Closet Organizing All S.E.T
The best way to get your closet organizing all set is by striking the right balance. I’m talking about a balance of three organizing factors, represented by S, E, and T. “S” stands for space and “T” stands for time. You might have guessed the organizing factors of space and time, so what does the “E” stand for? “E” stands …
What Are the Best Organizing Tips for Closets?
The best organizing tips for closets come from first looking at what organizing is NOT. Here are some examples. Organizing is not Hiding When discussing places for storage, clients will often suggest, “We can just hide that away.” If you are hiding things from yourself, you really need to ask why you are keeping it at all. It’s OK to …
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The Most Fundamental Organizing Rule
Want a really simple rule to apply to all organizing? It’s this: REVEAL, DON’T CONCEAL. Sound obvious? If it is, odds are good that you are already organized. Even if you are not organized, you may be saying “Well, duh!” Still, I’d like to share some clients’ organizing practices, where they hide things from themselves. Opaque Containers You know those …
How To Love Your Kitchen Space
Does your kitchen always seem to be a mess? Does it cause you anxiety? I want to share some thoughts on how to love your kitchen space. My focus is on space because we tend to under-appreciate the role of space. Oh sure, most of us agree that it’s nice to have space. We look at it as what’s left …
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My Best Minimalist Habits
Minimalism is a way of life that starts with a reexamination of priorities. This reexamination is a formidable project. You must get your possessions down to a manageable quantity and settle on intentional goals. Once you get to this point, you will need minimalist habits to maintain your goals. That said, these minimalist habits are also useful in guiding you …
Get Organized For Downsizing
There are many things to consider when you get organized for downsizing, including finding the right resources. Of all the other things to consider, there is an approach that I believe stands above the rest. That approach is always making decisions with next steps in mind. For every item that you review in your home you have several choices to …
Socket Shelf Product Review
If you hate cord clutter with your chargeable devices, the Socket Shelf is a good solution. Here are the features that I like (and don’t like) about the Socket Shelf from The Sharper Image. Frees up surface area If you’ve ever read any of my posts, you know what a huge proponent I am of surface area. A clear work …
A Downsizing Menu for Fairfield County
Downsizing options in Fairfield can be like ordering from a menu: A la carte or prix fixe. Where you may spend more on individual services, you can save money by skipping unneeded services. If you do need a full service option then a move manager may be a better value. However, for help in just a few key areas, a …
Organizing Paper: When Should You Scan and Shred?
When should you scan? and when should you shred?, aren’t the first questions you should ask when organizing paper. However, clients often ask these questions early on in the conversation, so I am going to answer them. I understand the frustration that leads to these questions. The paper accumulation is overwhelming. They client has had it and believes there has …
Storing Keepsakes
A while back, I wrote a post on organizing keepsakes. It was really more focused on getting your keepsakes organized. This post focuses more on tips for storing keepsakes. Clarify keepsake category The first step to storing keepsakes is to recognize that you have them! As a reminder, we are talking about items that you are keeping strictly for sentimental …
Why Your Garage’s Floor May Be Its Greatest Asset
There are a lot of of great garage storage products out there. The MVP, however, might be something that you may think of as nothing. In my last post, I discussed when empty is golden. This certainly includes an empty garage floor. Here are three reasons why your garage floor may be its greatest asset. Protect Your Car! Do you …
5 Attic Organizing Tips
Attic organizing projects can be overwhelming, but you can overcome, by understanding the challenges and breaking them down.
Organizing the Playroom
While I’m not a parent, after almost 15 years of organizing the playroom, I understand the challenges. Mostly, I understand the limitations of just how organized a playroom can get. You just can’t hold it up to the same standards as rooms that you have more control of. I often have clients ask for a playroom where their children can …
How To Get Organized Fast
Recognizing that basic division is the first step in how to get organized fast. Here are six more.
Organizing Priority Management
I often say that organizing is ultimately not about sorting out your stuff, your paper, or your time. Rather, it’s about sorting out your priorities. Financial advisors have similar advise for managing your finances. Don’t look for that magic stock. Start by looking at what your financial priorities are. It’s essential in both cases. Why? Because everybody has different priorities …
Just the Organizing Systems Please!
One of the things that I often hear from new clients is, “I’ll do the purging. I just need you to set up the systems.” This comes from that assumption that organizing is all about “toss the excess, contain the rest.” Yes, it IS important to recognize that effective organizing has two parts, getting organized and systems to stay organized. …