You may wish you had the carte blanc services of a family member who is a professional organizer, but my poor mom can’t enjoy a glass of wine with me without me starting to dig around and organize something. “Kacy, get your hands outta there!” is commonly heard at my parents’ home (and has been since I was a kid!).

If you’re like about 50% of Americans, you’ll receive unwanted gifts this holiday season. 39% of you will keep those unwanted gifts, and at least 7% of you knowingly gift unwanted gifts! As an organizer, I’ve seen firsthand how the backlog of unwanted gifts creates a great burden of guilt, unnecessary use of precious storage space, not to mention the largely unseen burden on the environment.

Who’s that crazy person with 6 lists on their refrigerator door? A professional organizer who is about to go to Bali for 3 weeks. I found this video on my phone while organizing photos from our August trip. The closer we got to our trip date, the faster the lists multiplied, though each became essential.

A few weeks ago I shared one of the better, more honest, articles on organizing I had read in a long time. I declutter homes for a living. I hate free stuff. was written for The Washington Post by fellow DC organizer Nicole Anzia.

It’s a joy and a challenge to work with a whip smart client who has tried it all and looks to me for some out-of-the-ordinary advice. I knew she and I would be working on her email last week. She didn’t want someone else to tell her to create more email folders and just reply to things on time.