Kate Bosch Professional Organizing
  • Home
  • Work with Me
  • About
  • Happy Clients
  • Blog
  • Free
  • Resources
  • Media
  • Let's Talk

​Get organized
​
Tips to motivate and ​​inspire you!

SUBSCRIBE & GET A FREE DOWNLOAD

Create a Forever Keepsake with 4everBound Books

7/9/2024

0 Comments

 
Professional Organizer keepsake book
Here’s the problem: Your kid is a prolific artist. The artist part is great, but the volume is an issue. How many crayon drawings of your family, poster-paint apple trees, and construction-paper collages are you supposed to be able to manage?

If you’ve been following my advice, you’ve Set Up a System to Deal with School Papers: A temporary display space to show off this week’s latest greatest creations and a bin or portfolio for long-term storage.

But you’ll notice a secondary problem. You’ve saved all of your child’s wonderful creations, but they’re stored away where no one looks at them.

Why keep a precious memento stored in a bin,
​never to be seen and enjoyed?

The typical options for putting children’s art into a usable keepsake each have their own problems.

School years scrapbooks work well as your storage system, but we tend to jam too many pages into the scrapbook’s pockets, making it a fight to get the papers out for viewing. The book becomes heavy and cumbersome and won’t lay flat.

Printed photo books are space-savers, but if you can’t bring yourself to throw away the original art (I couldn’t!), then you have to keep storing the artwork.

A binder with plastic sleeves is OK, but it’s a pain to put together and its utilitarian plainness doesn’t do justice to your child’s marvelous creations.

SOLUTION: 4everBound*

Owned and operated by Robyn and Peter Pomonis, 4everBound takes your precious paper mementos and hand-binds them into a beautiful keepsake book. Your child’s actual art pieces become the book’s pages. If a piece is too small, they mount it onto a larger page. If a piece is too large, they carefully fold it so it becomes a pop-out page.

Last year, I made a 4everBound book for my oldest daughter who’s now a young adult. It was fun to reminisce through her life from toddler to teenager. Although I had already pared down her work at the end of every school year, I still had too much even for the largest 90-page 4everBound book.

​How do you go about paring down all these precious memories? Make it a game.

SORTING: THE YES/NO GAME

Gather all of your child’s artwork into one place and separate it by year. Don’t get hung up on perfectionism or you’ll get stuck on putting it in chronological order — just do the best you can.

Now play the Yes/No Game. Pick a year — I like to work backward starting with the most recent — and sort the papers into two piles: Yes and No.

By forcing yourself to make a binary decision, you’ll get through it much faster than if you have to rank the pieces. Don’t overthink your answers. If it’s a maybe, put it into the Yes pile at this stage.

Now for the hard part: Immediately throw away the No pile! Don’t give yourself time to think about it or you’ll start fishing things out of the trash.

Repeat this for every year’s worth of papers. Set a goal to sort one year’s worth every day or five years’ worth each week.

​After you’ve gone through it once, count how many pages you have to see how much you still need to reduce. Play the Yes/No game again until you have the number of pages needed. 4everBound books are available in 30, 60, or 90 pages. Just go for the 90-page kit!
Professional Organizer pro tip for paring down artwork

THE 4EVERBOUND EXPERIENCE

Once you’ve begun the sorting process, you’re ready to order your 4everBound kit. You’ll receive a sturdy shipping box with a prepaid label, a thick plastic envelope, and instructions. All you have to do is put your pages in the envelope — in the order you want them to be in the book — seal it, put it into the box, and mail it back to 4everBound. At their shop, Robyn will hand trim, mount, and fold your pages then give them to Peter who binds them. Soon, you’ll receive a beautiful, one-of-a-kind keepsake that your family will treasure forever.

Just think what fun you’ll have snuggling on the sofa and leafing through the memories with your family!

Not just kids' art — 4everBound preserves all kinds of memories

Do you have paper or paper-like mementos that you want to bind that’s not children’s artwork? 4everBound can handle that too! Preserve family history by having them make a book of letters or documents. Memorialize your achievements by binding a book of awards or racing bibs. If it’s paper or paper-like, 4everBound can make it into a book!

Watch my interview with Robyn and Peter Pomonis, founders of 4everBound, and learn about some of the most interesting books they've made.

* I receive a small commission when you buy through my affiliate link.
0 Comments

Kate Featured on Apartmentguide.com

6/24/2024

0 Comments

 
Use the back of the door to organize small items
I'm honored to be one of Apartmentguide.com's experts featured in their article, "From Cluttered to Cozy: 18 Expert Tips for Apartment Organization."

Here's my biggest tip for small spaces:
Using the back of doors for storage adds valuable space to your apartment that is often overlooked. Kate Bosch Professional Organizing remarks, "When organizing a small space like an apartment, don't forget to use the backs of doors. Hang a clear shoe pocket organizer on this often-overlooked space to hold small gadgets in the kitchen, toiletries, and washcloths in the bathroom, accessories near the front door, cleaning products in a storage closet, small toys in a child's room, and shoes in your clothes closet." ​

Read the whole article for more expert advice about making the most of your small space!
0 Comments

The Top 3 Organizing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

6/6/2024

0 Comments

 
Professional Organizer Top 3 Organizing Mistakes and how to fix them
After 8+ years of helping people organize their homes, you can bet I’ve seen it all. One of the things I love most about being a professional organizer is that every project is different, with varied homes and unique clients.

While each client has a specific reason for needing my help — just moved in, about to move, busy family life, inheritance, downsizing, new baby, and more — I’ve noticed some organizing errors that crop up in just about every home.

Read More
0 Comments

Solve the Problem of Laundry OVERLOAD

5/7/2024

0 Comments

 
Organize Laundry Overload Professional Organizer Providence
Is your laundry a seemingly-insurmountable pile? Does it feel never-ending? You do the laundry and there’s another pile forming before you’ve even put away the last load!

You can do this! Here are my Top 5 Pro Organizer Tips for making laundry manageable.

1. DAILY LAUNDRY
Just like you do dishes every day (You do, right?), do a load of laundry every day. You’ll stay on top of it and the piles won’t even have time to form.

Don’t have enough laundry to do it daily? Use your hamper as a guide and do a load as soon as the hamper is close to full, not overflowing.
2. COMPLETE LAUNDRY
Get it into your head that “doing laundry” equals doing the WHOLE thing: washing, drying, folding, and putting away. This avoids masses of clothes sitting around, causing more work for you because they’re so wrinkled.

PRO TIP: Do you habitually forget to move the laundry to the next stage (washer to dryer, or dryer to folding)? Set a phone reminder. “Hey Siri, in one hour remind me to put the laundry in the dryer.”

Read More
0 Comments

What Is That Storage Unit REALLY Costing You?

4/9/2024

1 Comment

 
An unorganized storage unit needs a professional decluttering service
I have a confession: For the past 6 years, I’ve rented a storage unit.

OK, technically I didn’t rent it, my husband did. His original impetus was good. He’s an artist and he had work coming back from a show, but no space in his studio because he was busy making new work. So he thought he’d get a small storage unit for a few months until he could move the art to another gallery.

Months turned into a year, then two, then six. The art market shifted — and a worldwide pandemic shut down the gallery scene — and the shows he hoped to get didn’t happen. But the storage rental continued.

This is how it happens with storage units. We think it’s a short-term place to stash some extra stuff, but since the bills are paid automatically and it’s out of sight, it’s too easy to forget about what we squirreled away.

Watch my podcast episode:

HOW BIG IS THE PROBLEM?
If you see yourself in my situation, know that you’re not alone.

There are over 51,000 storage facilities in the US. That’s more facilities (not individual storage units) than McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts combined.

Read More
1 Comment

How Long Does It Take to Get Organized?

3/5/2024

0 Comments

 
Professional Organizer asks How Long Does it Take to Get Organized?
“How long will it take for me to get organized?” As a Certified Professional Organizer®, I get this question a lot.

Remember, your home didn’t get disorganized in one day, and it’s not going to get fixed in one day!

How long your organizing project will take depends on 4 factors.

1. HOW QUICKLY DO YOU MAKE DECISIONS?
If you need to reminisce and tell the story of each item before deciding whether or not to keep it or where to put it, the organizing process is going to go pretty slowly.

If, on the other hand, you set some pre-decision guidelines, your project will pick up speed.

Read More
0 Comments

The Keys to Unlock Your Clutter: Actions You Can Take

2/6/2024

0 Comments

 
Professional Decluttering Service gives the keys to unlock your clutter
You know you need to let go of excess stuff. You even read my 3 Sticking Points blog and now you want to let it go. But actually getting rid of it seems overwhelming and you just can’t bring yourself to do it. I know that feeling!

Before I was a professional organizer, I was a milliner (a hat maker). Immersing myself in the world of millinery design, I had amassed quite a collection of wooden hat blocks, the molds on which I formed hats by hand. I scoured thrift shops, scrolled eBay, and searched for block makers around the world to build my collection.

This fall — after not working as a professional milliner for over a decade — I made up my mind to reduce my collection, keeping only as many as I need to fuel my hobby.

In my last blog, I outlined the 3 Sticking Points  — Emotional, Practical, and Financial — that hold us back from detaching from our excess stuff. These hat blocks hit all three sticking points for me! But after confronting the reasons for holding on, I faced another hurdle: How do I actually get rid of them?

Once you find your sticking points, you need a KEY to unlock the clutter!
The Keys to Unlock Your Clutter
= The actions you take to address your Sticking Points
(emotional, practical, and financial)
​and let the clutter go.

Read More
0 Comments

Why It’s Hard to Let Go of Stuff: The 3 Sticking Points

1/9/2024

0 Comments

 
Home Organizer shares why it's hard to let go
This September, I realized it was time. Past time, really.

I eyed the three long shelves stretching across the back wall of my craft room, piled with over 60 hat blocks I had collected in my previous profession as a milliner.

These blocks had been the tools of my trade. Hand-stretching a felt or straw over each wooden form makes a unique hat. Some blocks were antiques I’d scored on eBay or thrift shops and others I’d watched being hand-carved by an artisan in Florence.
​

“I’m a professional organizer now,” I told myself. I make myself a hat every now and then, but I have no desire to be a professional milliner again.

So why was I having such a hard time letting go of these hat blocks?

Read More
0 Comments

2023 Top 3 Most Popular Blogs

12/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Professional organizer Kate Bosch presents her Best Blogs of 2023!
As we wind down 2023 and look ahead to a new year unfolding, I looked back to see which of my blogs resonated the most with readers.

Turns out, the 3 most popular blogs had a similar theme: helping you develop the mindset and give you the steps YOU need to tackle ANY organizing project.

Each of these blogs will help you finish 2023 STRONG!


Read More
0 Comments

Why You Need a Gift Wish List

11/7/2023

0 Comments

 
Professional organizer discusses why you need a gift wish list
“What’s the hot toy the kids want this Christmas?”

“What size clothes do they fit into now?”

“What do you want for your birthday?”

My family is blessed with generous, far-flung relatives who thoughtfully want to give my kids (and my husband and me) wonderful gifts. But fielding all of these questions for every holiday and event was more than I could manage. Then I had to remember which gift idea I’d given to which relative. Not to mention the added dread of new toys and stuff flooding into a home that I’d tried so hard to keep organized.

THE SOLUTION? WISH LISTS!
People register for weddings, kids send their lists to Santa, Amazon even has a list option. So why not keep an ongoing wish list that relatives could consult for any gift-giving occasion?

I started keeping a Wish List for each of my family members and soon my whole extended family jumped on board.
​​

But I know what you’re thinking...

Read More
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Categories

    All
    Bathroom
    Beauty
    Books
    Closets & Clothes
    Clutter
    Digital & Electronics
    Garage
    Holiday & Seasonal
    Housekeeping
    Kitchen & Pantry
    Motivation & Mindset
    Moving
    Office
    Organizing Basics
    Paperwork
    Pare Down
    Productivity
    Recycling & Repurposing
    Schedule
    School
    Sentimental
    Shopping
    Storage
    Toys & Kids
    Travel

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    RSS Feed

Home

work with me

About

Happy clients

Blog

RESOURCES
MEDIA
LET"S TALK
Copyright © 2025 Kate Bosch Professional Organizing LLC
Providence, Rhode Island | 401-699-4878
  • Home
  • Work with Me
  • About
  • Happy Clients
  • Blog
  • Free
  • Resources
  • Media
  • Let's Talk