declutter paper piles Archives - Bella Organizing | San Francisco Bay Area Professional Organizer

I am interviewing Betty A. Sproule, co-author of The Stuff Cure: How we lost 8,000 pounds of stuff for fun, profit, virtue, and a better world.

What a catchy title, Betty, who should read your book?

Our book is for anyone who feels that they have more stuff in their home and garage than they really need. When stuff becomes a burden, rather than a joy, it’s time to slim down. Often people need to unstuff when they are planning to move, a child leaves home, or when they need to downsize. Sometimes people need to move stuff along so they can clear enough space to park their car in the garage.

What about the fun, profit, virtue, and a better world? How can getting rid of stuff help in all those areas?

We know that buying stuff can be fun. We believe that getting rid of stuff can also be fun, if you have the right approach. You can sell your unneeded stuff for cash or you can take a deduction on your taxes. Donating to worthwhile agencies, such as Goodwill, St Vincent DePaul, and Hope, does a lot of good for our community. Reusing and recycling help us to be better stewards of our environmental resources.

When you talk about getting rid of stuff, how do you know what to keep?

We have three criteria to define a keeper. When it’s

Currently functional,
Really valuable, or
Outrageously sentimental

If something doesn’t qualify under one of these three headings, then it’s a candidate for unstuffing.

Once you decide to get rid of something, how do you make it work?

We use the principles of gift, shift, and thrift to find our stuff a better home. We discuss the seven morphs of leading an unstuffed life: Refraining, Restraining, Returning, Reusing, Renting, Recycling, and Rendering into trash. We include a discussion of our Stuff Cure Method and the 7 rules of the game. We share a proven recipe for success in getting rid of excess stuff without regret or guilt. We give a lot of specific suggestions for how to responsibly move your stuff along before resorting to just throwing it in the trash.

When do you need a professional organizer in your unstuffing process?

We recommend using a professional organizer to help you achieve your goals even faster. If you get rid of some of the stuff that you don’t need, it helps you to get more value from the time with your professional organizer and you’ll be more pleased with the result.

Mike and Betty Sproule, co-authors of "The Stuff Cure" — Mike and Betty Sproule, co-authors of “The Stuff Cure”

If you’d like to read the book, you can order it on Amazon, in either paperback or Kindle form.

Read more about The Stuff Cure on the website: http://www.stuffcure.com/

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Isabella Guajardo, also known as Girl With A Truck™, is a professional home organizer and a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). She travels to work with clients throughout the great San Francisco Bay Area, East Bay, South Bay, Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz and Monterey Peninsula. She shares simple and creative ways to stay organized and stylish while reducing, recycling and re-purposing.

Call (510) 229-7321 today to schedule a complimentary estimate for your home organizing goals. Gift certificates are available.

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Are you like many… a collector of magazines? Are they piled high in your living room, office, bedroom, or bathroom? Do you keep them near out of fear of throwing away a perfectly good article? If so, this organizing tip is for you.

You can hold onto your favorite magazines and beat the clutter by following these simple steps each time a new one arrives in the mail.

sunset mag 1 paperwork organizing — Here’s what I do when I get my monthly subscription of Sunset Magazine: I cut out the articles and recipes that I want and recycle the rest immediately. It’s as simple as that! Imagine letting go of over 50% of those piles without getting rid of what matters most to you. In the process you have glanced at the entire magazine and cut out what you REALLY want to get to later when you have more time.
Tip: Before tossing the leftovers, cut off the name & address label. Always shred or cut up your personal information before sending it to the recycle bin.

file folders paper organizing — Next, I grab a few file folders for my cut outs. This color blue makes me happy, so I use these instead of boring beige. There are so many colors and designs to choose from out there…use what you like!

file folder paper organizing — I created my own favorite categories: “Thing to Do,” “Things to Eat & Drink,” and “Things to Read & Feel Good About.” Customize file folders to your liking and lifestyle…”Places to Visit,” “Things to Buy,” “Business Tips,” and “Reference Photos” are examples. Be careful! Only make a few folders, you don’t want to end up with a file cabinet full of magazine cut outs. Keep it SIMPLE.

magazine paper organizing — This is my set-up: labeled file folders, stapler, scissors, and magazine. I tear out pages and neatly trim, or cut out pieces of a page I want to keep. I staple together multiple pages of an article to keep them together.

3 topics paper organizing — My three categories: “Things to Do” (left), “Things to Eat & Drink” (center), and “Things to Read & Feel Good About” (right). Out of a 58-page magazine, I am keeping 18 pages. I am cutting my magazine paper clutter down by 69%!

desktop file paper organizing — Next, I bring my desktop file holder into the picture. This is where I neatly store my magazine file folders. I keep it all here and nowhere else, and can place it on my desk, the kitchen counter or out in the open anywhere else in the house without it being an eyesore. When I act on something, I remove the page and recycle it.

If it’s a recipe I make and love, I move it to my recipe binder in the kitchen. If it’s a Thing to Do and I do it, I yell out “I’m so adventurous (or) creative!” and recycle the page, making room for new adventures and creations. If I successfully read it, the information is absorbed and bye-bye the paper goes. If I want to share something I absolutely love from the magazine, I mail it to a friend and in an enclosed note briefly write about my experience. It’s been too long since we’ve mailed REAL letters.

adventures — Isabella having fun in Death Valley, CA. 2011 – The Racetrack

More ways to prevent magazine collection & paper pile-up, have fun, and get things done:

Use shredded magazine leftovers as shipping material.
Use magazines to create fun collages with the kids or a vision board for yourself.
Download this Stop Junk Mail Kit created by the Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition for numbers to call and websites to visit to be removed from Catalogs you no longer want to receive, Direct Marketing lists, Credit Card offer lists, Sweepstakes, Shopping Flyers, Junk Faxes, and more.
Read more Paperwork Organizing Tips

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READ MORE BELLA ORGANIZING TIPS, IDEAS & TRAVELS HERE.

Isabella Guajardo, also known as Girl With A Truck™, is a professional home organizer and a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). Living in Oakland and Monterey, she travels in her truck to work with clients throughout the SF Bay Area, East Bay, South Bay, Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz and Monterey Peninsula. She shares simple and creative ways to stay organized and stylish while reducing, recycling and re-purposing. Join Bella Organizing on Facebook. Gift certificates are available.

Call (510) 229-7321 to schedule a complimentary telephone consultation.