I’m surprised it’s taken me so long to do a video on a system that I have created dozens of times over the years.

The BIGGEST problem many of my clients have is that of incoming mail. Most of the mail they keep is bills and statements.

Recently I shared with you a new video called How to sort memorabilia. I received a lot of positive feedback on that and was reminded that 7 years ago I had done my first video on memorabilia called How to create a memory closet.

Nearly all of my office organizing clients are burdened by their inbox - the physical inbox with papers representing decisions to make and things to do. Throughout our relationship we are constantly evolving how we break-out to-dos. To see all of them together in one place is a crucial step, but often feels downright overwhelming.

Sorting through curated memories nearly always conjures smiles and storytelling. It’s such a joy walk down memory lane with my clients. 

There are two problems though that are common:

1. Memorabilia is scattered.

2. Memorabilia has become utterly unruly.

My client has two gorgeous, huge heirloom trunks in her bedroom. They held clothing, but not well… Like I’ve said a thousand times before, “We should have taken a before shot!” You can probably imagine though what a stuffed trunk full of clothes typically looks like; Like strata, the closer to the bottom we got, the more folded (though more forgotten) items of clothing were.  She couldn’t see what she had and therefore was mostly using the top few items.

It can feel anticlimactic that the physical remains of a decades-long career sometimes fit neatly in a stack of boxes. Some of my clients have multiple boxes that they brought home on their last day of work, even if that last day was many, many years ago.