Professional organizers offer tips on decluttering your home

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When Pam Gilbert and Angie Smith reduce clutter and reorganize a client’s space — whether a closet, storage room, pantry, recreational vehicle, business or garage — they’re not only creating beauty, they’re eliminating chaos.

“(Disorganization) creates anxiety and stress and affects mental health; your home space does not feel safe if it’s in chaos,” says Smith who, with sister Pam, created Tidy Matters Professional Organizing in 2022.

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The duo will be at the Edmonton Renovation Show, from Jan. 24-26, to showcase the ultimate pantry makeover. The Pack A Pantry exhibition will provide organizing tips and raise donations for the Edmonton Food Bank.

The Renovation Show space at the Edmonton Expo Centre will feature two different L-shaped pantries: one displaying a well-organized layout and the other used to gather food donations from show attendees.

Anyone who bring a food donation and a photo of their pantry can receive some quick tips from the Tidy Matters experts on how to better organize their shelves. They will also receive a free ticket to the Edmonton Home + Garden Show, March 27-30.
Gilbert and Smith will also be part of an on-stage question and answer presentation during the Renovation Show.

The sisters were both in the corporate world – Smith as chief financial officer for an engineering company and Gilbert in supply chain management for a grocery company. Then Gilbert became obsessed with the TV series The Home Edit.

“I said, ‘I want to do this’ and convinced Angie,” Gilbert says. “We have different skills. I’ve done a lot of interior decorating and Angie is good with tools, and I wanted us to work together.”

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The biggest surprise, says Smith, has been Tidy Matters’ impact on clients.

“You are changing lives, reducing the stress and anxiety that comes with a lot of clutter in homes. You get a lot more hugs than you get in the corporate world.”

The pandemic, they say, boosted clutter as people who were stuck at home started shopping online.

“I can’t tell you how many clothes we have brought from homes still with tags on and kitchen gadgets still in boxes,” says Gilbert.

So, what are the biggest mistakes made when organizing a space? Here are a few that Gilbert and Smith have noticed:

• Buying too much stuff. Storage containers and bins just further clutter your space;
• Not decluttering first. Before you can organize, reduce the clutter. It can admittedly be overwhelming if you don’t know where or how to start. And people, particularly older clients, sometimes find it hard to detach emotions and memories from things;
• Thinking it’s a quick fix. It’s not; it takes time;
• Overcomplicating things by dividing items into categories that are too specific. For example, dividing toys such as Lego by colours instead of just dividing all toys into broad categories like dolls, books and cars. “You want kids to clean up after themselves, so overcomplicating things can overwhelm them,” says Gilbert.;
• Trying to do too much. Stay in one space, instead of starting one project then moving to another before the first is completed. “People get overwhelmed and feel they have failed because they can’t get organized.”

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To increase your odds of success, here are some of their top tips:

• Start small. Begin with something like the junk drawer. Pull everything out, categorize the things you want to keep (cords, pens, etc.) and be realistic about what you don’t need. Completing it will give gratification and motivation to keep going;
• Stay organized. One in, one out is the biggest rule, Gilbert says. Be intentional about what you purchase and if you bring something new in, something old must go out;
• Double check expiry dates on those items you may have shoved in the back of the pantry;
• Put seasonal buys for special occasions in front and use them up — and don’t overbuy;
• Declutter spaces before and after the holidays, and if you are not going to eat something, donate it to the food bank.

Part of the sisters’ goal is to reduce the shame people feel about a disorganized home. As Gilbert says: “You don’t feel you have failed when you call an electrician, yet you do if you don’t have skills to organize your living space. That’s why we are here.”

What you need to know

The Edmonton Renovation Show
When: Jan. 24-26, 2025
Where: Edmonton Expo Centre, 7515 118 Ave. N.W.
Tickets: https://edmontonrenovationshow.mpetickets.com/
Featuring: More than 200 experts and exhibitors, including Bryan Baeumler from Bryan’s All In on the Sleep Country Main Stage, presented by Home Network and The Edmonton Journal.

This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of the Edmonton Renovation Show.

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