It’s increasingly strange for me to answer the question “How long have you been an organizer?” 17 years in, I’m still learning so much about organizing, human nature, motivation, happiness, and more with each passing year. Sometimes in the moment I know that a certain realization or exchange with a client will be something I'll share here, and other times, it’s not until months later that I jot down the revelation as its significance hits me.

Last week my mom asked me to recycle her old Christmas light strings while I was running errands at Lowe’s. I had never heard of this! I knew that Best Buy takes most electronics, but apparently Lowe’s specifically takes Christmas lights. I just dropped them off at customer service. We need to recycle these for the same reasons we recycle any LED lightbulb.

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.