How To Give Up Sentimental Items To Clear the Clutter

  How to let go of those sentimental items when you are trying to clean out the clutter.

I've had many clients who find taking a photo of an item with sentimental value gives them the courage to then gift the item to a family member, donate it or even throw it away. Being able to still see the item seems to be the biggest need. Buy a frame to put that picture and display it where you get to see it all the time. Better then the actual item stored in a box or a storage unit where you never see it now.

Several years ago my daughter wanted her baby blanket and a small stuffed animal I had kept from when she was a baby. I took a picture of the two of them and then was able to give them to her. Just being able to see the items really is what brings back those memories you yearn for. I can easily look at the picture, but when I had the actual items in my possession they were stored in a box and I very rarely got to see them. It was a win-win compromise.

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Just a Bit of My Experience with Sorting and Organizing

 1. Experience? I was hired by an insurance company to organize 42 filing cabinets due to constant complaints by employees they wasted so much time just trying to find a file.

2. I was hired by a homeowner in San Francisco to fly out, pack her up in organized fashion with labels on her boxes to be ready for the movers coming following week. Then, once she and the movers arrived in Arizona she hired me again to come out and unpack her and help her set up her new home.

3. I have several clients who pay me to sort thru their receipts each month, put them in a spreadsheet and send to their accountant or bookkeeper.

4. Lots of online, remote, data entry. Typing voicemails, entering invoices, inventory data, etcetera. Understanding data you are entering can be helpful to avoiding mistakes. I have experience with UPC Codes, parts numbers, invoice numbers, ISBN Numbers, VIN numbers, names and addresses, medical codes from the ICD9/10, insurance claim forms, SS Numbers, Drivers License Numbers, Professional License such as when verifying a doctor or dentist state license, sales data and more.

5. A woman hired me to organize her hall closet that had become a place where she hoarded all sorts of things; she had become afraid to open the door!! Yikes.

6. I've had many jobs creating an inventory sheet with important info for homeowners and businesses alike. I use MS Excel and I have also used a businesses online portal.

~. What can I help you with?

Organizing Mistakes by Large Companies

   Organizing mistakes I've seen: Big box stores like Walmart give a number for each of their departments, for example, the shoe department might be Department 14 and Pets would be 22. All stores face a constant problem of items being left outside their department by customers who change their minds.

They may pick up a pair of flip-flops, and change their mind while in the grocery bread aisle and leave the flip flops among the bread. A store employee will pick up the item, but instead of returning it to the Shoe Dept, they have bins, usually located in customer service, for employees to return these "lost" items to. Employees of the shoe department will check their bin daily to see if they have items they need to return to their respective shelves.

The problem is the store has identified each return bin by number rather than actual name of the department. A store like Walmart has lots of departments and an employee working in Grocery or Pets will not know what the department number is for shoes. So to return the shoes to the rightful bin they have to stop and take the time to look up the department number.

The only saving grace is if you see a bin with a pair of shoes in it, you can surmise that is the shoe department but this rarely happens. Most employees are in a rush to get back to their own work in their department. It is much more efficient and time saving to categorize the bins by Department Name and then to put the in alphabetical order. This makes for a very quick return of products and saves time and aggravation for the employee.

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Tips To Being Organized

 One key to staying organized and making a space look neat and tidy all the time is to have a specific place for all items. Make an effort to not lay things, especially smaller items, on the desk top, counter top, dresser or vanity. Only large items such as a lamp and your organizing baskets, bins or holders should be placed directly on the surface of the area you wish to organize. This also makes cleaning much easier. Having 14 items to remove from the space so you can clean or dust is a hassle. But if those 14 items are in 3 bins or baskets then the thought of cleaning the surface isn't so time consuming.

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