Erin Barbot & Co

A little organizing inspiration while you’re stuck at home! This client’s beautiful closet was a joy to organize! After sorting and editing down to only what she loves we arranged everything into beautiful, accessible and labeled baskets and jewelry stands. 💍 👗 🧺 @ Washington D.C.

Lisa is one of my favorite organizing heroes for nuggets like this! It’s so true! Keep editing your stuff, keep putting things away, keep reevaluating your systems. It’s the best way to stay organized 💯.

This favorite client of mine came to me with inspiration from to organize her three boys papers and art. Each boy got their own color for school schedules and art work. We also added a big family calendar to complete the family action zone! We were both so pleased with how it turned out! 📅 🎨 🏊‍♀️ @ Arlington, Virginia

The holidays are upon us! If you’re looking to give a great gift this year but don’t want to add to someone else’s clutter, then I’ve got the book for you!

My amazing friend wrote this wonderful book, 101 Clutter-Free Gifts, and I’m giving away a copy to one of you lucky folks!

If you would like a chance to win:
1. Like this post! ❤️
2. Tag 2 friends 👯‍♀️ in the comments!

Good luck 😘. The deadline is 5PM EST (US) on November 22nd. I’ll announce the winner at 5PM Saturday, the 23rd on this post!

No really...how many skeletons are in your closet? Zombies? Witches?

We have at least four, because I LOVE to decorate our house for Halloween! Every October, zombies crawl up our porch, scary crows caw, and a spooky graveyard haunts our lawn. And when I go to Target, I am tempted to buy every last glittery skeleton they have. Because can you have too many decorations, really? Well, yes you can! As fun as it is to build a big collection, those decorations are only up for a couple of weeks each fall. The rest of the year, they are taking up valuable space in your house or garage.

So before you buy another witch for your door this year, ask yourself: where will I store this the rest of the year? Is there anything I’m ready to let go of to make room for something new? Is the thrill of a new decoration worth a year of fighting clutter?

Thank you NAPO Washington, DC Metro for sharing my post on how to keep your car clean!

NAPO-WDC - Would You Like a Cleaner Car? National Association of Professional Organizers Washington DC Chapter

It’s a great time to create a plan for all the incoming school papers and artwork about to take over your dining room table! There are many approaches to tackling these papers. The most important thing is to make a plan...and stick to it. Create labeled containers for each child, be very strict about what you keep, and go through everything weekly, if not daily. You got this, moms!

If I had to pick one thing that is the biggest hurdle to my clients’ organization goals it would be an unrealistic aim for perfection. The beautifully photographed, spotless Pinterest house in their head seems so distant from their current home they have no idea where to even begin.

I love a precisely organized home with pretty baskets and custom labels as much as the next organizer, but before we set up the photo shoot, we have to focus on making your house function well. To me that means on a regular basis getting rid of anything that’s no longer serving you and creating systems and habits that make it fast and easy to clean up and declutter.

Once your home is flowing (and you will know when, because you will feel it!), then you can focus on those Pinterest boards:).

A stylist for Mother's Day? Yes, please!

This Mother’s Day, skip the flowers and give mom what she really wants. Pamper her with the services of a personal stylist! A personal stylist will:
1. help her clear outdated outfits from her closet,
2.refine her style,
3. organize her wardrobe so it is easy to find clothes for big nights out, soccer games, and everything in between.

Wandering Parisian is offering a Mother’s Day Closet "Detox" and Outfit Creation Special. Follow the link to learn more! (www.wanderingparisian.com)

Check me out on the podcast "This Organized Life." We're discussing home management strategies!

Erin Barbot & Co share some simple strategies that you can do RIGHT NOW to streamline the process of running your household. Best of all, they don’t cost a penny! More, here: http://bit.ly/TOLep122

We can all agree stuff is rarely just “stuff” right? We make purchases based on where we are at any given time in our lives. We spend time and money choosing the right products for ourselves and our family. All of these items represent a point of time in our lives- like our first apartment, when our babies were born, or an amazing trip we took.

When we declutter and decide what we no longer need or want, it can feel like we are also letting go of this time in our lives. And the truth is we kind of are. Of course we always have the memories, which is the most important, but that doesn’t always make it easy to say goodbye to items that once meant so much to us.

The thing we want to remember is, if we don’t get the “old” stuff out of the way, we block ourselves from making space for the person we are becoming. Sometimes we literally don’t have room for the items that better represent who we are today and who we want to be tomorrow. Sometimes it’s the energetic weight of those items keeping us in the past.

When we organize we work on finding a harmonious balance of keeping enough things to treasure our history without holding us back. We focus on what we want to take with us into our next chapter.

Do you have an area or piece of furniture that you know doesn’t represent who you are today but you just can’t seem to get rid of?

My current books in rotation! I’m not only a slow reader I’m usually reading multiple books at once. I do love it though, even if it takes me forever to get through one book. My active books are: Momma Zen by Karen Maezen Miller. I’ve actually finished this one already, but I keep it close by for reference to keep it together with two small kids in the house :). Really enjoying The Minimalist Home by for some fresh takes on living with less. Just added ‘s new organizing book which came on Monday and I’m so pumped to read! Lastly, I’m loving ‘s new book. It’s a really different take on food and healing. Super interesting! What’s on your nightstand? Do you have multiple books going at once too?