Have you ever organized a space… only to be left with one random pile of stuff you have absolutely no idea what to do with?

That’s where Sarah is stuck.

After making amazing progress on a hallway closet that had collected years of clutter, she’s left with the final 1%: gift cards, spare keys, buttons, shells, memorabilia, mystery objects, and all those little things that don’t have an obvious home.

And this is the part where Sarah says she always fails.

In this organizing session, we work through that last pile together, and discover that finishing isn’t just about making a few more decisions.

Some things need a home. Some need a system. Some are waiting for a project that may or may not ever happen. And some are tangled up with memories, old wounds, and beliefs about what we’re supposed to save and pass on to the people we love.

Along the way, Sarah realizes why she’s had such a hard time getting to the end of her organizing projects, and practices something she says she’s never really done before: finishing 100% of her organizing project.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why the last 1% of clutter can be harder than the first 99%
• How starting with the easiest decisions can build momentum
• Using short time limits to make overwhelming projects feel doable
• Why objects without homes often point to systems we haven’t created yet
• How body doubling can help us stay with uncomfortable tasks
• How family patterns and past experiences can affect what we’re willing to let go of
• How to handle those truly mysterious leftover items
• Why putting everything away is part of organizing and not something to leave for later

Sarah begins this session believing, “This is the part where I fail.”

But she ends it with an empty floor, and the realization that she didn’t give up, even when she desperately wanted to.

Watch the extended session

Want to see more of the actual organizing process? There’s also an extended, hour-long video version of my session with Sarah on YouTube.

WATCH THE EXTENDED VIDEO → https://youtu.be/oVghlTAoluc

Ready to make space in your own life?

· Download a free copy of my book, Why the F#@ Am I Still Not Organized?, and find more resources, classes, and ways to work with me at www.StarHansen.com/podcast.

Join the Chaos to Calm Organizing Community at www.starhansen.com/community

Lanie has a storage room that’s trying to do a lot.

It holds household overflow, things to sell, art supplies, and all the stuff that doesn’t quite have another place to go. But Lanie wants it to be more than storage. She dreams of creating a space where she can work, make art, and reconnect with a creative side of herself that’s starting to return after becoming a mom.

The problem? Just walking into the room feels overwhelming.

So, we start small.

In this episode, Lanie and I figure out what she actually wants from the space, tackle a few surprisingly complicated categories, and use a strategy I call triage to make progress without having to organize everything at once.

Along the way, we talk about ADHD, why one “simple” organizing project can actually be dozens of smaller projects, the value of a good maybe box, and why sometimes 70% is more than enough.

And as we keep working together, we begin to learn something neither of us expected when we started.

In this episode, we’ll explore:

• What to do when a room feels too overwhelming to start
• How to triage a cluttered space before organizing it
• Why “no new projects” can be a helpful organizing rule
• Making decisions when getting rid of something isn’t so simple
• Why 70% accuracy can be enough to make real progress
• ADHD, time, energy, and the hidden work inside organizing
• Knowing when to rethink the plan

Resources mentioned:

• Why the F#@ Am I Still Not Organized? (free download): https://starhansen.com/podcast/

What happens when you finally empty your storage units…and then have to deal with everything you brought home?

Cece has been part of my Chaos to Calm Community for years, and we’ve also worked together privately at different points along the way. Recently, she bought a home of her own and decided it was time to close down the two storage units she’d been paying for and bring everything home.

There was just one problem.

Eight months later, a big pile of that stuff was still sitting under a tarp in her backyard.

Cece knew she needed to deal with it. She also knew there were boxes that had been exposed to water, humidity, and possibly a few critters she would rather not meet. So she volunteered to bring the project to the podcast and finally find out what was under the tarp.

In this episode, we talk about why something can feel so much harder before we actually begin, what happens when the things we’ve already sorted and reduced still feel difficult to let go of, and why storage can be exactly what we need in one season of life…and something we’re ready to leave behind in another.

We also get very up close and personal with some bugs.

In this episode:

• Why Cece decided it was finally time to close her storage units
• What happened when she brought everything home
• How an eight-month-old pile became “the monster under the tarp”
• Why the anticipation of an organizing project can be worse than actually doing it
• What to do when you’ve already pared down a category and letting go gets harder
• Using physical space to create limits for what you keep
• Why sometimes it helps to work with the time you have instead of trying to finish the entire task
• How Cece got through one of the worst boxes in just 12 minutes
• Why storage units aren’t inherently good or bad
• Recognizing when you’ve entered a new season with your stuff

By the end of our session, Cece hasn’t finished the entire project. But the tarp has been pulled back, she knows what she’s dealing with, and she has a plan for moving forward.

After years of storing these belongings somewhere else, she’s bringing the pieces of her life home and deciding what belongs in this next chapter.

So, what is Cece making space for?

A life without a storage unit.

And maybe, as she puts it, a chance to come home to herself.

Resources mentioned:

• Star’s Chaos to Calm Organizing Community
• Star’s Book, Why the F#@ Am I Still Not Organized? (free download): https://starhansen.com/podcast/