Angie Hyche 10/6/20 Angie Hyche 10/6/20

If It Stresses You Out, Create a System

While listening to an organizing podcast several years ago, the podcast guest shared a statement that has really resonated with me. This woman was a small business owner and a homeschool mother of 8 children (from my best recollection). To say that this woman had a lot on her plate is an understatement! Yet despite her situation, she was able to thrive in both her business and her home life. This is how she described the secret to her success: “If it stresses you out, create a system.”

Angie Hyche 9/9/20 Angie Hyche 9/9/20

"I'm So Overwhelmed!" Five Tips to Go from Paralysis to Progress

“I’m so overwhelmed!” It’s a common refrain in times of stress. When we reach this point, despite the growing mass of work to be done, we can sometimes reach a standstill where we’re getting absolutely nothing accomplished. The intimidating mountain of tasks looms menacingly in the distance, but we are stuck. How do we combat this paralysis and actually make progress?

Angie Hyche 8/3/20 Angie Hyche 8/3/20

How Scary is your Basement?

Basements have been frequently utilized as locations for scary scenes in movies. In Silence of the Lambs, the basement is a holding place for kidnapped victims. Who can forget the scene in Signs when an alien hand reaches through the coal chute to grab an unsuspecting child? More recently, in A Quiet Place, the basement used to muffle the sounds of the family’s newborn baby eventually becomes the setting for battles with aliens. We’ve become so accustomed to scary basements that as viewers, when a character opens the door to the basement, we yell, “Don’t go down there!”

Angie Hyche 7/7/20 Angie Hyche 7/7/20

What to Bring with you to College (or not!)

The biggest challenge of campus housing is a lack of storage space. Whether you’re in a dorm room or an apartment, your lodging is likely much smaller than you’d like. The smaller the space, the more important it is to use every bit of space you have as efficiently as possible. You’ll need to plan ahead and look for inventive ways to use every square inch of space. Don’t forget to consider using wall space if possible.

Angie Hyche 6/9/20 Angie Hyche 6/9/20

Tips for an Organized Move

There are a few particular times in our lives when being organized is especially critical. Preparing for a move is definitely one of those times! Whether you’re moving across town or across the country, moving is one of the most stressful activities of all. Planning well for each stage of the move can significantly decrease the stress level and increase your odds of success on move day. Having just completed two local moves in the past year, I’d like to share the tips that proved most helpful for us.

Angie Hyche 5/5/20 Angie Hyche 5/5/20

Time at Home, Not Time Wasted

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” So begins what I believe is one of the most well-written chapters in all of literature. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens was writing about the stark contrasts during the time period of the French Revolution, a time that brought both despair and joy. I wonder if someday we might look back at this extended time we’ve had at home during the Coronavirus pandemic in a similar way. This time has brought despair to many – uncertainty, furloughed or lost jobs, sickness, and death. But it’s also been a time of joy – more time with family, lighter schedules, time to reflect on our priorities, and good people rising to the call of the needs around them.

Angie Hyche 4/22/20 Angie Hyche 4/22/20

Beginnings: My Business and My First Book

If you had told me even as recently as three years ago that I would someday write a book, I might have laughed at you. In fact, both writing a book and starting a professional organizing book are two goals I could have never dreamed I would attained in my lifetime. Here’s how both of these bucket list tasks began.

Angie Hyche 4/6/20 Angie Hyche 4/6/20

How to (Really) Work from Home

The Coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed so much about our home and work lives. Because of the need for social distancing, many more people are working at home, some for the first time. While some excel in adapting to this new setting, others struggle to remain productive. My husband Eric began working remotely in 1998, well before it was so commonplace. Over twenty years of experience with remote work has given him valuable insights that can help those who are still settling into this new normal. For this article, I asked Eric some questions about how to work effectively from home.

Angie Hyche 3/3/20 Angie Hyche 3/3/20

Should I Buy It? Shopping Tips to Prevent Excess

I’ve written many articles with an emphasis on decluttering. I’ve shared plenty of tips to encourage us to let go of what we don’t love and don’t use. I realized recently I haven’t yet written much about the other side of the equation. We could theoretically continue to declutter consistently but not make much of a dent in our excess if we keep on bringing too much into our home. An influx of items can come from items people give us as gifts, either for special occasions or just because they feel we need something. But the main influx into our homes is primarily of our own making. We are simply buying too many things we don’t have room for and don’t need. I’d like to share some tips to help us change that habit and to be more mindful of our shopping habits.

Angie Hyche 2/4/20 Angie Hyche 2/4/20

Organizing Your Media

In my work as an organizer, I regularly help clients make decisions about their belongings. One category of belongings that we regularly encounter is media. By media, I am referring to music, movies, “home movies”, and books. How do you decide what media you need to keep and which ones to let go? How do you best organize and store media that you keep? What should you do with media in outdated formats? This article will address all of these questions.

Angie Hyche 1/6/20 Angie Hyche 1/6/20

Make Smart Organizing Resolutions

Angie Hyche 12/2/19 Angie Hyche 12/2/19

Stop Giving (Meaningless) Christmas Gifts

I fully expect some controversy with this article. I may even be likened to Ebenezer Scrooge, that archetype of misers, for daring to write it. Though I don’t relish negative reactions, I believe Joel Waldfogel’s 2009 book Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Presents for the Holiday is worthy of inclusion in a discussion of holiday gift giving. (By the way, I am only scratching the surface of this well-written, interesting, and comical book. I recommend a full read.) I promise to also include practical tips outside the scope of this book. My ultimate goal is to lead you to smarter purchases that could decrease clutter, increase the satisfaction of your gift recipients, and even contribute to world well-being. A lofty goal indeed.

Angie Hyche 10/12/19 Angie Hyche 10/12/19

The Declutterer Declutters: What I Learned from my Downsize

Angie Hyche 9/17/19 Angie Hyche 9/17/19

Process Your Paper to Prevent Piles

Now that most communication occurs digitally, you would think paper disorganization would be a thing of the past. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. In my experience, almost every person who struggles with organization of any type also struggles with keeping papers in order. It’s not unusual to find piles of paper throughout the home as well as multiple containers of paper when I visit a client. Without a good system for organizing and maintaining paper, there is little hope of change. The system of paper organization I have used for many years and have helped clients establish is extremely effective. This article gives step by step instructions for implementing this system.

Angie Hyche 8/6/19 Angie Hyche 8/6/19

A Recipe for Organizing Your Recipes

Angie Hyche 7/16/19 Angie Hyche 7/16/19

Organizing Your Car

Most of us spend so much time in our car that it can sometimes seem like a second home! AAA’s most recent American Driving Survey* found that during 2016 and 2017, on average, drivers spent 51 minutes driving approximately 31.5 miles each day, making an average of 2.2 driving trips. That’s a lot of car time! In the summer, this is even more true. Summer vacations and long car rides go hand in hand, not to mention trips back and forth to camp, the pool, picnics, and family reunions. Since we spend so much time in our cars, it only makes sense that we would want to keep them neat and organized!

Angie Hyche 6/3/19 Angie Hyche 6/3/19

Prevent a Cluttered Calendar: Learn to Say 'No'

I believe that organizing our time is the most important organizing we need to do. We all have the same amount of time each day. We all have numerous responsibilities and lead busy lives. The choices we make about how to spend that time are critical. If we don’t make those choices thoughtfully and carefully, we can end up with an overloaded schedule and its resultant stress.

Angie Hyche 5/7/19 Angie Hyche 5/7/19

How Messy is Your Desk?

I’ve been thinking about all of the different types of desks I have used throughout my life and how much desks have evolved in general. Remember those early desks with a cavity in the side for storage, a built in chair, and a wooden writing surface with a groove for your pencil? While it’s true that desks have changed drastically over the years, they are still an essential part of a functional office space. Whether or not your desk is organized can have a huge bearing on how effectively you work. The true measure of an organized desk isn’t just how it looks, but whether or not it is functional for you. Can you find what you need quickly? Do you have adequate space on which to work?

Angie Hyche 4/9/19 Angie Hyche 4/9/19

Spring Cleaning: What Do I Do with This?

Have you felt the urge to do some spring cleaning?

If you do a thorough job of decluttering, you’ll likely end up with a whole lot of things you don’t need. For most of these items, deciding what to do with them is relatively easy. Those that aren’t worthy of donating may need to be just thrown into the trash or recycling container. Of the items that are in good enough shape to donate, the majority can be taken to the local donation center of your choice. But there are quite a few items that are a little more problematic. You may not be able to simply drop these special items into the trash can or the recycling container. They may require some sort of preparation to properly dispose of them. Some items may not be accepted at donation centers for various reasons. This article provides pointers for these special cases. This list is by no means exhaustive. I couldn’t include every special case or every Tri-Cities location, but this will at least give you some options.

Angie Hyche 4/9/19 Angie Hyche 4/9/19

I Love NAPO!

From Thursday, April 4 to Sunday, April 7, Laurie and I were thrilled to meet with hundreds of professional organizers from around the country (and around the world) for the annual convention of NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals) in Fort Worth, Texas. What an amazing weekend!

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