10 Items What you Can Purge Right Now

I have written several posts in the past about 5 things you can purge on the weekend, but below are 10 things you can purge this weekend. Some of these things may take a longer time to look at, go through and organize than others, but for the most party they should be relatively quick depending on how much you have in each category.

1. Coffee mugs. Who else has a ton of coffee mugs that you have accumulated through the years? Whether this is coffee mugs you have bought, that were gifted to you, that you inherited, etc. they can just add up very quickly.
2. Missing socks. How in the world do socks go missing? Most every client we work with has missing socks.
3. Plastic containers with no matches. This is often a big issue for clients because they grab a plastic container to use for to-go items, to grab quickly to use for a project, kids take them,  and the list goes on and on. So overtime lids or the actual container go missing and usually become less useful.
4. Expired food. The pantry is good to go through quarterly and get rid of expired food. You don't always realize how much expired food you have. It will free up space and see what you need to repurchase at the store, so you are not constantly buying duplicates.
5. To-go plasticware and condiments you don't use. If you eat out a lot or just accumulated a lot through the years, then you know the to-go condiments and plasticware can overtake a space quickly. If you don't use them often and don't know how long you have had them, consider throwing the condiments out since there is usually not an expiration date on them. The plasticware use when you have a picnic, take the excess amount to work or just donate them.
6. VHS's you no longer want / need. If you don't have a VCR how are you going to watch a VHS. If the movies are not sentimental that can't be easily replaced with a dvd or if converted to a dvd, then it is time to purge them. There are tons of services in various cities that can help you convert the VHS tapes that you want to put onto a dvd, in the cloud or downloaded on a hard drive or usb drive.
7. Papers with notes on them that have no use anymore. Does anyone else grab a piece of paper and make notes on them when you need to jot things down really quickly and then those pieces of just randomly end up in a pile or you forget what that note meant? I see it all the time and often do it myself as well. Now is a good time to go through those random pieces of paper.
8. Dry rotted shoes. Some clients have shoes that they have had for so long that they are now dry rotted. If that is you, it is time to throw them out. 
9. Clothes that are too small and that you will never use again. This will probably take you longer to do than the other items on this list, but if you quickly sift through your clothes that you know are too small and grab them to give away or donate that can at least help you make some space until you can do a bigger purge. Spend 15 minutes on this without overthinking it and see how far you can get.
10. Expired hygiene products. Do you ever buy hygiene products to try and then find out that you don't like them? I see this all the time with clients. Some retailers will actually let you return the product if you end up not liking it. You may or may not know this, but most hygiene products do have an expiration date on them where they go bad or are no longer effective. 

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A Houston Concierge and Professional Organizer's 9 Reasons Why You Should Use Local Junk Removal Companies

As professional organizers, one of the things that we help clients with the most is decluttering their spaces. Often times when we are doing huge decluttering sessions, like garages, we often schedule for junk removal on the same day because it helps clients get clutter out of the way quick and so it is not just sitting in their spaces and/or sitting there for a long time. We love using various local Houston and The Woodlands junk removal companies on client projects. There are so many different junk removal companies out there, but 2 that we use the most in Houston is College Hunks Hauling Junk and Junkluggers Houston. 

Here are some of the reasons that we love working with these 2 local Houston junk removal companies the most:

1. They are easy to work with
2. The franchise owners are accessible for any questions
3. They take paint and usually a small amount of construction material
4. They donate items that can be donated to charities
5. They will move items for you
6. They are often on time or ahead of schedule 
7. They give NAPO Houston members discounts, which Eco Modern Concierge passes onto clients
8. They often have last minute availability if it is needed
9. They are cost effective

Have you used local junk removal companies? How do you like them?

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5 Things to Organize This Weekend

Looking for some quick and easy organizing projects this weekend? Here are 5 ideas of areas that you can organize this weekend. Most will only take a few hours. Remember that by starting small on your organizing journey you will not get as overwhelmed like you would if you were starting a big project. If you need to break these various areas down even more to make them more manageable, then do that. Organizing shouldn't feel stressful and do what works best for you.

• Toys. Get rid of any old, unused toys. Sort and organize toys into categories, so it makes it easy to find what you are looking for. 
• Spare bathroom. Do you even know what is in your spare bathroom? Go through everything and use bins to organize under the sinks and in drawers. Get rid of any old, expired products. Refresh the space every 6 months to make sure guest products are up to date and to make sure it is always ready for any unexpected guests you may have. 
• Shoes. Do you have shoes that are falling apart, shoes you no longer wear or want? If so, get rid of them. Figure out the best way to organize your shoes based on your space. You can organize using some shoe organizing solutions found on the Eco Modern Concierge shop page.
• Blankets. Anyone else have too many blankets? How do you organize them? Consider rolling them up and putting them in a basket near your couch or on a ladder blanket holder to display. 
• Medication. Get rid of any expired medication and properly dispose of it. 

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6 Tips For When You Are Overwhelmed with Clutter and Don't Know Where to Start

Are you ever so overwhelmed with clutter and have no idea where to start? This is such a common problem for our clients and the reason why so many of them reach out to us in the first place to help them get organized. Clutter can be a very daunting and unwelcoming thing that leads to an endless amount of unnecessary stress. That is where professional organizers come into place and help you tackle your clutter by asking the right questions, coaching you through everything and making sure everything has a home.

Below are 6 tips to help you tackle the clutter. 

• Make a list of all the areas that make you overwhelmed and/or that you want to get organized. Making a list helps many people get their thoughts out and feel a little less stressed.  
  
• Start small and slow. Organizing can take a lot of time, so try to break up large projects into smaller projects. For example, if you are starting in your master bedroom, start with a small pile you may have, then onto the dresser or a drawer within the dresser, then maybe just shirts from your closets, and so on.
  
• Calendar your broken up areas to tackle. This will help you stay on task and know exactly what you need to tackle without thinking about it all the time. 
  
• Start in areas that give you the most stress. Once these areas are done you will fell a lot less overwhelmed. 
  
• Have an accountability partner. If you know you do not stay on task well, ask someone to be your accountability that will motivate and encourage you along the way. 
  
• Enjoy your organized spaces!

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5 Things to Declutter this Weekend

Clutter is what causes so many people stress and becomes a spiral of disorganization often. This weekend here are 5 simple things you can declutter. 

Expired items. Get rid of anything that is expired in the pantry or bathroom. 

Old receipts. If you do not need them for tax purposes, than get rid of any old receipts. 

Cords. If you do not know what they go to or if they do not have a purpose, get rid of it.

Socks with no match. If you have been hanging onto the same socks with no matches for ages, it's time to let them go.

Essential oils. With the craze of essential oils currently, we see all the time essential oils that were bought and never used or used a couple of times and then clients didn't like them. Time to declutter them. 

Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash

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The Most Liked Eco Modern Concierge Instagram and Facebook Photo in February

With Instagram changing their algorithm I don't get nearly the amount of post likes like I used to. I love organizing for clients and after working with this client I posted this picture that got lots of interaction on Facebook and Instagram. I think it may be because I was actually in it. This client was a rockstar and donated SOOOOO MUCH. So if you are in Houston or beyond and looking for an organizer, I would LOVE to help you declutter and begin or fine tune your organization journey. 

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