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Professional-Organizer

Week 19 | Tchotchkes | 52 Weeks to Downsize & Minimalize

Join me this week to downsize & minimalize the knick knacks, doodads, bric-a-brac, and nondescript “junk” covering shelves, ledges, dressers, and other surfaces around the house.

What can you do with little things collected over the years that you are ready to let go?

  • Donate to a local charitable organization such as Goodwill
  • Give them to all the kids on the block
  • Leave them at the edge of your driveway by the sidewalk with a sign that reads “Take me, I’m yours” and watch them magically disappear
  • Donate them to places such as the East Bay Depot for Creative Reusehttp://creativereuse.org/ or Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT)http://www.raft.net/material-donations where they will be reused and re-purposed for creative projectsGood-bye tchotchkes!

Bella_Organizing_Best_Professional_Organizers_San_Francisco_Oakland_Berkeley_silicon_valley_montereyIsabella Guajardo, founder and owner of Bella Organizing, is a San Francisco Bay Area professional organizer offering home organizing, interior redesign, and residential move management services throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Call (510) 229-7321 or email info@bellaorganizing.com for more information. Gift certificates are available.

Follow our projects on: Facebook | TwitterInstagram | Houzz

Counties we serve:

Alameda | Contra Costa | San Francisco | Marin | Sonoma | Napa | Santa Clara | San Mateo | Santa Cruz | Monterey

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Professional-Organizer

Week 18 | Toiletries | 52 Weeks to Downsize & Minimalize

Join me this week to downsize & minimalize the excess make-up and toiletries that take up valuable space in the bathroom.

Shampoos and conditoners that your hair didn’t approve of, excess lotions, gels, creams, liquids, powders, and make-up that never did it for you.

Don’t hold onto what you don’t need nor what your hair and skin don’t like. Choose what you love and let go of the rest.

Bella_Organizing_Best_Professional_Organizers_San_Francisco_Oakland_Berkeley_silicon_valley_montereyIsabella Guajardo, founder and owner of Bella Organizing, is a San Francisco Bay Area professional organizer offering home organizing, interior redesign, and residential move management services throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Call (510) 229-7321 or email info@bellaorganizing.com for more information. Gift certificates are available.

Follow our projects on: Facebook | TwitterInstagram | Houzz

Counties we serve:

Alameda | Contra Costa | San Francisco | Marin | Sonoma | Napa | Santa Clara | San Mateo | Santa Cruz | Monterey

Categories
Professional-Organizer

Week 17 | Jackets & Sweaters | 52 Weeks to Downsize & Minimalize

Join me this week to downsize & minimalize the amount of jackets and sweaters taking up closet and drawer space.

Who has TONS of jackets and sweaters they hardly wear? EVERYONE. These things are big, they are bulky, and they take up too much space. Make room in your closet and chest of drawers this week and let go of the excess jackets and sweaters you didn’t wear during the past fall and winter.

Clothing declutter tips very much apply to Jackets and Sweaters!
https://bellaorganizing.com/how-to-declutter-clothes/

Imagine the free, open space you will create…

Bella_Organizing_Best_Professional_Organizers_San_Francisco_Oakland_Berkeley_silicon_valley_montereyIsabella Guajardo, founder and owner of Bella Organizing, is a San Francisco Bay Area professional organizer offering home organizing, interior redesign, and residential move management services throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Call (510) 229-7321 or email info@bellaorganizing.com for more information. Gift certificates are available.

Follow our projects on: Facebook | TwitterInstagram | Houzz

Counties we serve:

Alameda | Contra Costa | San Francisco | Marin | Sonoma | Napa | Santa Clara | San Mateo | Santa Cruz | Monterey

Categories
Professional-Organizer

Week 16 | Pet Hair | 52 Weeks to Downsize & Minimalize

Looking to reduce the amount of pet hair in your home? Do you love your dog or cat so much that you don’t notice the hair anymore? LOOK CLOSELY. Your guests see (and smell) it.

Owning a pet is a wonderful experience that tends to result in sacrificing the cleanliness of the home, but it doesn’t have to. It’s time to become conscious of the pet hair all over the furniture, floor, in the rug, on your clothing, and also how it makes the house smell in ways you’ve probably become so accustomed to, you no longer notice it. Oh my!

Here are tips and tricks to downsize and minimalize the amount of pet hair around the house:

  • Sweep and vacuum weekly, including the furniture. This sounds like common sense, but sense is not common to everyone. Life is busy, and it’s easy to let time slip away and forget to sweep and vacuum regularly, allowing pet hair to build up fast. Make it a weekly habit whether or not you think you see the hair.
  • Use a roll of packing tape. Keep a pair of scissors or a tape dispenser handy, and cut off a long one to two foot piece to gather up hair on clothing, furniture, curtains, and other fabric and surfaces that won’t get damaged by tape. It’s sticky, extremely effective, and costs less than the expensive sticky paper rollers made specifically for pet hair.
  • Brush your pets weekly (outside). If makes them feel good, it’s a bonding experience, and gets rid of excess pet hair that won’t fall out in the house.
  • Use products such as the FURminator.
  • Use a soft cloth and furniture polish or anti-static dusting spray on wooden furniture. The spray will eliminate the electric charge and help remove pet hair easier.
  • Use a rubber glove or clean sponge lightly dampened with water to remove pet hair from upholstery. Run your rubber gloved hand or the sponge over the surface to gather pet hair. Rinse the glove or sponge when covered and repeat. Be sure to catch the hair in a sink strainer and don’t let it clog the pipes.
  • Use an electrostatic or microfiber dry mop on bare floors. Regular vacuum cleaners tend to blow hair around on hardwood, laminate, or other bare floors versus gather it in one spot. Electrostatic and microfiber attracts hair, just what you want to get things nice and clean.

Bella_Organizing_Best_Professional_Organizers_San_Francisco_Oakland_Berkeley_silicon_valley_montereyIsabella Guajardo, founder and owner of Bella Organizing, is a San Francisco Bay Area professional organizer offering home organizing, interior redesign, and residential move management services throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Call (510) 229-7321 or email info@bellaorganizing.com for more information. Gift certificates are available.

Follow our projects on: Facebook | TwitterInstagram | Houzz

Counties we serve:

Alameda | Contra Costa | San Francisco | Marin | Sonoma | Napa | Santa Clara | San Mateo | Santa Cruz | Monterey

Categories
Professional-Organizer

Week 13 | Yard Junk | 52 Weeks to Downsize & Minimalize

Join Bella Organizing to downsize & minimalize yard junk and get the front, back, and side areas of your home looking good again. Keep reading to find tips and resources for getting yard junk reused, recycled, and even hauled away for free. Many of these resources are available throughout the USA.
junk-yard-downsize
 
What is Yard Junk?
  • Lumber scraps that have rotted and decayed
  • Wooden logs hanging around when you no longer camp or have a working fireplace
  • Broken sun umbrellas
  • Rusting patio furniture that has been through too many seasons
  • Outdoor toys no longer played with
  • Landcaping supplies that have gone unused
  • Fencing and chicken wire that serve no purpose
  • Dirty, empty pots and planters that snails call their home
  • Unknown objects hanging from trees that were once decorations
  • Broken outdoor holiday lights still strung along the house and fence
  • Bricks, cinderblocks, and other building and landscaping materials that have been laying around for too long with hopes that “someday they’ll be used”
What other yard debris are you ready to kick to the curb? 
Resources for giving away and recycling yard junk

Resources for local yard junk pick-up services (be sure to read the details of what they DO and DO NOT pick up on their website.)

  • Many waste management companies offer residents one free, annual bulky waste pick-up in addition to your regular weekly trash/recycling pick up. Contact your local waste management company for details. Here are examples for Oakland and San Francisco.
  • Local trash haulers, such as 1-800-GOT-JUNK and Junk King (fee-based). There are LOTS of companies to choose from. Do an Internet search for “junk-hauling companies” near you.

urban-ore-yard-junk-downsize-minimalize

Local SF BAY AREA companies and organizations that accept donations of various types of yard junk (you drop off):

nails-wood-yard-junk

SAFETY TIPS

  • Use heavy duty gloves and face masks when handling yard trash, as there can be nails and splinters in wood, mold, bugs, and other yucky stuff lingering on and under these things.
  • When giving away items online, there are inherent dangers of inviting strangers to your home. Always play it safe and take precautions.
  • There are many junk haulers who are not legitimate, law-abiding companies. Beware of local scams in which you pay a hauler who illegally dumps instead of dropping it off at a local city dump. You can be held accountable and fined if someone is discovered to have illegally dumped property that belongs to you, even after it is hauled away from your home or business.

Bella_Organizing_Best_Professional_Organizers_San_Francisco_Oakland_Berkeley_silicon_valley_montereyIsabella Guajardo, founder and owner of Bella Organizing, is a San Francisco Bay Area professional organizer offering home organizing, interior redesign, and residential move management services throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Call (510) 229-7321 or email info@bellaorganizing.com for more information. Gift certificates are available.

Follow our projects on: Facebook | TwitterInstagram | Houzz

Counties we serve:

Alameda | Contra Costa | San Francisco | Marin | Sonoma | Napa | Santa Clara | San Mateo | Santa Cruz | Monterey