FAQs

Although most people are inclined to just dig in and start sorting stuff, Conscious Order strongly advocates starting with the clutter in your mind. When you identify and clear out the clutter in your mind, it is much easier to clear out the clutter in your home and other spaces.

Conscious Order will teach you how to identify and clear out your “mental clutter” so you can make decisions much more easily about your physical clutter.

Read Conscious Order: Clear Your Mind, Leave Clutter Behind, and be on your way to a more clutter-free life.

People often ask me how long it takes to get organized. What I’ve come to realize is, it depends how much stuff you have, and how quickly you can make decisions.

Making conscious decisions is the key to getting and staying organized.

Our mind is a very busy place. It is filled with your mental lists of things to do, problems to solve, and plans for the future. It also filters the flood of information that bombards you from your daily life conversations, the media, and the Internet. Your mind may be cluttered with anxiety, doubts, fears and worries that might be part of your life and dragging you down. There are memories from your past and concerns about the future. Then there are all the negative thoughts and words of self-criticism that keep running through your head, because you’re not getting enough done! No wonder you might be stuck or even paralyzed. You could be feeling inadequate, depressed, and overwhelmed. Any thought or experience that makes you feel bad about yourself is also mental clutter. This “mental noise” keeps you from moving forward.

Physical clutter means different things to different people. It can be the things you don’t use, you don’t know the purpose of, and/or you don’t have a place for. It can be things you don’t want to deal with, or aren’t even sure why you have. It can be things that no longer serve you or that no longer reflect who you are and who you are becoming.

Physical clutter can look quite tidy if it’s stacked neatly, or it can look disorganized, messy and confusing. It can also be looked upon as stuff that wastes both time and space. If it doesn’t make you feel good, it’s probably clutter. And, whatever form it is in, it is considered “visual noise.”

Sometimes these words are used interchangeably. During sorting, you can do both at the same time, but there is a distinction. In Conscious Order, “getting organized” refers to rearranging things you already have. “Simplifying” refers to reducing the number of your possessions.

Getting organized also means different things to different people. It can mean knowing what you have and where to find it, “having a place for everything, and everything in its place,” placing things together that are used together, and making better use of the spaces you have.

Simplifying is also called “streamlining,” and involves reducing what you have as well as what you bring in. It is knowing what to let go of and what to keep, and deciding this on a regular basis. It is seeing and having less in each space, and the act of consciously letting go.

Finding a Professional Organizer to work with and support you can be of great benefit. There is something very powerful about working with someone who can be objective, as well as compassionate, understanding, and professional. There are organizers all over the world who might be able to assist you. Go to Resources on this website to find specific organizations that will lead you to the right person. Also included are individual organizers who have been certified to teach the Conscious Order approach, or that are known to use a more holistic approach to organizing.