Effective Home Organization and Decluttering Tips for Seniors

A missed grocery trip or a small repair that keeps getting put off can be the first sign that an older adult could use more help at home. Senior organizations can help with practical needs like these. Cultivate, formerly Boulder County CareConnect, connects older adults with volunteer-powered services in the Boulder area.What Senior Organizations and Services ProvideCommunity organizations can help older adults with everyday needs such as getting groceries, finding transportation, or keeping up with basic tasks at home. Each program has its own service area and enrollment process. Start with the task causing the most difficulty and ask what the organization can do at your address. Cultivates Services for Older AdultsPhone: 303-443-1933 Through Carry-Out Caravan, volunteers help older adults order groceries, shop at King Soopers, and deliver the order. Cultivate says shopping and delivery are free, and clients pay for their groceries.  Medical Rides and Basic Help at HomeCultivates VetsGo program offers rides to medical appointments for eligible older veterans and qualifying older family members. Cultivate requests seven days advance notice for VetsGo ride requests. The organization also lists Fix-It for basic home repairs and YardBusters for seasonal yard cleanup. Ask about current availability and whether the task you have in mind is within the programs scope.  Why This Matters in BoulderService boundaries can vary even within Boulder County. Cultivates grocery program, for example, says it currently cannot deliver to certain mountain communities. Give the team your exact address and explain how soon you need help. If a volunteer program cannot meet the timing or location, ask whether Cultivate can refer you to another local resource.  How to Get Started1. Describe the Specific TaskSay whether you need groceries brought to your door, a ride to a medical appointment, or help with a basic home repair. For a ride, have the appointment date and address ready.2. Confirm Enrollment and TimingCall 303-443-1933 and ask what paperwork is needed, what costs apply, and when you can first request service. If the need is recurring, ask how repeat requests work. Related Seniors Blue Book Categories Volunteer Opportunities Transportation Aging Life Care

Have you ever grabbed some cute baskets or some lidded bins while you were shopping at Target or Home Goods and thought, This is it! Now Im going to be organized!? Then in a few weeks (or days), felt disappointed that you werent any more organized than you were before?  I know this cycle well. Before I learned how to organize, I would spot a cool organizing product while I was shopping and buy it, thinking it would solve my problems. Eventually, Id realize it was just creating more clutter in my home. Today, as a professional organizer, many of my clients tell me, I keep buying bins and baskets, but I just cant keep up!  Dont get me wrong, I love bins and baskets. They are useful tools and I recommend them to my clients all the time. But if you dont know how to buy them and use them effectively, they can be a waste of money and space. If those bins and baskets you bought arent working out the way you hoped, here are a few possible reasons why. You didnt declutter firstBefore you can identify the best way to store your belongings, its important to take time to re-evaluate what you have and pare down to what you really want and need. Often when we feel disorganized, we have clutter. Meaning we have more things in our environment than we can manage or enjoy. If you go out and buy containers before youve decluttered, youll only be transferring your clutter into bins and boxes. Sometimes, just putting things in containers can be an effective strategy for people who are struggling with organization or are neurodivergent. But for everyone else, this tends to lead to more clutter and stress, because youre still aware that you have bins of stuff you have to deal with, and youll probably find yourself just buying more bins to contain new things you acquire.If you find decluttering really difficult, working with a professional organizer can help make the process less painful. But dont skip the decluttering step. You bought it before you knew what was going in it   With pretty organizing supplies, its tempting to just buy something and think Ill find a use for this. But then you end up with a bin that snags your sweaters or a basket thats slightly too small for your kids stuffie collection.  Before you buy anything, consider: What kind of things (and how many of them) do I want to store in this container?  Do I want to be able to reach in and grab things quickly, or is it storing things I dont need to access frequently?  Where is the container going to live?   Do I want to be able to see inside it? Thinking through these points can help you pick the products that are going to work best for you. You didnt measureAll of your containers/organizers need to fit in the places where you want them to live, whether thats inside a drawer in your bathroom vanity or on a metal shelving unit in the garage. Make sure you measure the dimensions of the space where you want to use the container, as well as the container itself, before you buy anything. You didnt establish a system Sometimes my clients tell me that they feel like they need to keep buying more bins to keep up with things. Usually, whats happening is someone buys baskets to contain all of the things they currently have to feel organized. But what happens when new items come in? We need more containers. As this cycle repeats, our homes just feel more cluttered. This is why creating a system to manage your belongings is really important. (And no, buying more bins doesnt count as a system.) Maybe you want to create a boundary for a category of items and decide that once your belongings reach that boundary, you dont buy any more, you declutter, or you use the 1-in, 1-out system. So for example, lets say you decide your closet is going to be the boundary for your clothes. If you get to the point where you cant fit any more clothes in your closet comfortably, instead storing your extra clothes in bins in the attic, you could declutter your closet to make space for new things, or discard one old item for every new one you bring in.  This is just one example of a system, and there are many types of systems you could create to stay organized. However, the important point is to create a system that works for you. And if you have trouble with systems, working with a professional organizer can also help you. If youve struggled with buying organizing products that didnt really organize you, Ive been there, too. I hope this gave you some new ways to think about bins and baskets in the future so your next attempt at getting organized can succeed! 

Sometimes my organizing clients are less-than-thrilled when they realize that they are going to need to invest some money to get organized. Often, they have the double-whammy of realizing that 1) theyve already spent a lot of money on things they dont want or need and 2) they need to spend more money on services like professional organizing and junk hauling to get their place organized. I feel their pain. When I got organized myself about 10 years ago, it hurt when I thought about how much money I had spent on clothes that were headed to Goodwill. I called 1-800-GOT-JUNK to clear out my garage, and I couldnt believe that my bill was over $1,000. Who knew trash hauling was so expensive? You know the saying no pain, no gain? When it comes to organizing, I believe a little bit of pain is actually a good thing, because it motivates us to create lasting changes. My own painful experience with decluttering has helped me stay organized for years, and inspired me to become a professional organizer. Although there are some upfront costs to organizing, getting organized can be a money-saver over the long term. So if you are thinking about getting organized, its actually a long-term investment that is going to save you money over time. Heres how:  Eliminate expensive storage unitsThere has been a boom in self-storage units in recent years. Storage units can be helpful resources if you have a short gap between moving out of your old place and into your new one. But if you are using a storage unit to store extra stuff for more than a few months, the cost can really add up (this article estimates that it costs an average of $2,000 a year to keep your stuff in a small storage unit). Ive helped clients clear out their storage units, which immediately starts saving them hundreds of dollars a month.     Stop buying things you already have Have you ever run out and bought a roll of masking tape, then later found six more rolls stuffed in a drawer somewhere? Weve all been there. Americans collectively spend an estimated $2.7 billion a year replacing lost items. Organizing makes it easier to find and use what you already have, so you dont have to waste your time or money buying duplicates of things you already have.Cut down on fees and convenience costsSomething that surprised me about getting organized was how much time it saved me. Once I could easily find the things I needed to get out the door in the morning or whip up a quick dinner, I was less rushed. And having a little more slack in my schedule meant that I could take public transit instead of an Uber, or make dinner at home instead of ordering takeout, which ended up saving me money. If you struggle with paying late fees because you cant find your bills or remember when they need to be paid, getting organized can help you eliminate those  unnecessary fees.Change your shopping habits for goodAfter going through my own painful decluttering experience, I realized that the way I was shopping led me to over-buying, which was not only cluttering my house, but wasting money. (I wrote a whole blog post about how I started shopping differently after getting organized, if you want to learn more about how organizing can change your shopping habits.) Since then, Im much more critical about what I decide to buy because I dont want to have to do a massive decluttering again. Resell unused itemsWhile decluttering, a lot of my clients come across unwanted items they can resell. While its not exactly a way to make money (because items sold secondhand usually sell for much less than their original price), reselling can help you recoup some of your original expenditure. I even had one client who offset most of her organizing costs by having me sell things she didnt want anymore. If youre not sure where to start when it comes to reselling, I can help you. If organizing feels daunting or too expensive, remember that clutter has a cost, too. In the long run, decluttering and creating systems that work for you will save you time, money, and your mental health. If youre ready to get organized, book a free consultation with me.