Over the last decade, we have spent thousands of hours working closely with clients as we untangle the chaos in their lives. Our Bees recognize that in order to get to the heart of a clutter problem, we need to understand what is preventing folks from getting and staying organized. We developed the Organizing Profiles to give our organizers (and you!) a head start in figuring out the relationship between you and all of your stuff. You can find out which profile most closely represents you by taking our short Profile Quiz! Understanding the relationship between you and your clutter can BEE the first step toward finally taming the disorganization in your home.
The Space Giver
Space Givers are people who frequently give up their storage space for others. Whether it’s keeping a few crates for your sister, letting your neighbor store their excess in your shed, or allowing your grown children to keep all of their memorabilia in their childhood bedroom even though they now own their own home, Space Givers have a hard time saying no to requests for storage. For Space Givers, the clutter relationship is not with the items, but with the owners of the items.
If you are in the habit of prioritizing others’ needs over your own, it can be a challenge to give yourself permission to reclaim your space. But if you want to get control of your clutter, you will need to have conversations with the owners of the items you are storing to make a plan and timeline for when they can reclaim their stuff—so that you can reclaim your space!
The Memory Keeper
Memory Keepers tend to be deeply sentimental and nostalgic, and they hold on to items as a way of preserving family history and precious memories. They worry that getting rid of an item that has emotions attached to it will erase the memory—or that they’ll feel guilty about letting things go that have sentimental value. For Memory Keepers, the clutter relationship is not with the items, but with the memory they represent.
If you are a Memory Keeper, try to remind yourself that if everything is special, then nothing is special. Give yourself permission to hold on to those items that are most meaningful to you, and let go of those things that you feel obligated to keep but bring you no happiness.
The Money-Minded
If you are the kind of person who hates throwing away things because it feels wasteful, you just might fit into this category. Our Money-Minded folks are cost-conscious and try not to spend money—even on things that really need an update. We find that they often feel guilty getting rid of unused items, so they hold onto things on the off-chance that someday, somewhere, somehow, they’ll be able to put the items to use. For the Money-Minded, the clutter relationship is not with the items, but with the money that was spent on them.
If this describes you, ask yourself if you would truly miss the item if it was gone—how often do you actually use it? If you don’t still love, need, or use the item, it’s okay to let it go. Maybe you can even sell it to recoup some of its cost!
The Just-In-Caser
Are you one of those people who other people turn to in an emergency—the neighbor that has every conceivable tool in their garage or appliance in their kitchen? Do you hear yourself consider getting rid of something but then decide to keep it just to be on the safe side? If you are always planning ahead for hypothetical needs and wants, you might be a Just-In-Caser. For our Just-In-Casers, the clutter relationship is purely circumstantial, not personal.
As we like to tell our clients, “Store things at the store!” Do you really need to stockpile items that aren’t relevant in your life right now? When was the last time you actually needed that 16th folding chair or the gourmet sandwich press? Prioritize your time, money, and space for your current reality rather than what might happen.
The Acquirer
Do you find yourself picking up items simply because they’re a great deal or because something caught your eye in the moment? Acquirers love shopping—it’s fun, exciting, and rewarding. But sometimes, the joy comes from the act of acquiring rather than from the actual items themselves. This can lead to an overwhelming amount of stuff that doesn’t always have a clear purpose or place. For Acquirers, the relationship is not with the items, but with the thrill of the hunt.
If you’re an Acquirer, try to focus on quality over quantity. Before bringing something new into your home, ask yourself whether you really need it or if you already own something similar. Being mindful about what you buy can help you enjoy the thrill of the hunt without accumulating unnecessary clutter.
The Crammer-Jammer-Stacker
Your home looks neat and tidy—until someone opens a drawer, a closet, or (heaven forbid) the garage. Crammer-Jammer-Stackers are masters of the quick clean-up, tucking things away wherever they’ll fit. While this method might make a space look organized, there’s usually no system in place, which can lead to frustration when trying to find things later. Over time, this type of clutter can become stressful and overwhelming—even if it’s mostly out of sight. For Crammer-Jammer-Stackers, the clutter relationship is burdensome and overwhelming.
If you suspect you might be a Crammer-Jammer-Stacker, ask yourself whether this system is working for you! Is your system wasting your time and money and causing you extra stress? Instead of stashing things wherever they fit, try to tame the chaos one space at a time. That will allow you to feel a sense of calm, not dread, when you open that drawer or closet.
The Aspirer
Aspirers are dreamers. They have big plans for the future—whether it’s learning to paint, taking up golf, or starting that strength-training program your friend told you about. Because of this, they tend to accumulate items that represent their future selves rather than their current reality. If your house is filled with unopened craft supplies, unused gym equipment, or stacks of books waiting to be read, you might be an Aspirer. With Aspirers, the clutter relationship is not with the items, but with the potential that those items represent.
If you think you might be an Aspirer, give yourself grace. It’s utterly wonderful to have aspirations and goals, but it’s also okay to change your mind. Before holding onto something indefinitely, ask yourself whether holding on to the item makes you feel inspired or guilty? Instead of keeping physical reminders of who you want to be, consider creating a vision board or a goal list—and hold off on purchases until you have blocked out the time and mental energy to begin!
Understanding your organizing profile can be the first step toward creating a home that feels more functional, peaceful, and you. The key is recognizing the patterns that keep you stuck in clutter and making small, intentional changes that help you take control of your space. And if you ever need help simplifying your Hive, you know you can call in the Bees!
21 Break Rooms and Zero Chaos: How the Bees Helped Lockton Companies Get Organized
When you walk into the bustling Kansas City headquarters of Lockton Companies—the world’s largest independent insurance broker—you expect to see people focused on high-level strategy and client care. What you don’t expect to find is decades of mystery tupperwares, forgotten lunchboxes, and “I Love My Labradoodle” coffee mugs wedged behind cabinet doors on every floor of the building. When TJ Wright stepped into the role of hospitality manager at Lockton Companies, he immediately noticed the break room clutter. “Every cabinet was packed full of stuff. I noticed it with the first cabinet I opened,” he commented. With 1,400 busy people in the building, Lockton had accumulated a LOT of stuff across their 21 break rooms and four major storage areas since moving into the space in 2004. TJ wanted every break room to be a clean, modern, and functional space so that employees could focus on their work, not waste time searching for the right condiment, snack, or a spoon. He wanted the cafeteria to be easy to navigate without any sticking points. And he wanted the four big storage areas to have a thorough purge and organizational system put into place. The negative effects of cluttered work spaces are well-documented, so it was an easy call for TJ to make. BRING IN THE BEES! The Execution The Bee Organized team swooped in with their signature calm, orderly magic. They didn’t just organize; they tackled the massive logistical challenge of sorting through the clutter of an entire office building floor by floor. But what do you do with the hundreds and hundreds of items cleared out of the cabinets? You get a little creative! TJ and his team filled long tables and shelves with lost and forgotten items and hosted a sort of garage sale. Employees used the honor system to buy unclaimed items and ended up raising $500 for an internal corporate charity! The remaining items were packaged up and donated to a local shelter. Beyond just clearing out the clutter, the Bees used in the kind of professional business organizing insight that changes how a workspace functions. They measured all of the spaces and brought in clear storage bins, drawer dividers, condiment caddies, and other matching organizers—designing each space to intuitively match the needs of employees. The transformation extended beyond the 21 break rooms to the massive central cafeteria, creating a seamless and stress-free flow for the 1,000+ employees who eat lunch there regularly. One Year Later: The Hive is Still Humming A full year after the project, Lockton hasn’t had to change a single system that the Bees put in place. The spaces are still beautifully organized and easy to maintain for his team, and the daily friction of a messy break room is gone! When we asked TJ what he would say to other businesses wondering if they should hire Bee Organized, he said “Seriously, it was the best money spent. They are super knowledgeable and so good at what they do. I could have done it myself, but it would have taken me two years. The Bees did it in less than a week!” A peaceful workplace is one of the best employee benefits you can offer. If you need help whipping an office (or a whole office building!) into shape, you know you can call in the Bees!
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Tips for How to Stay Organized While Traveling BEEfore, During, AND After!
We know the internet is filled to the brim with travel advice, but the Bee Organized team is especially suited to help you get and stay organized for the duration of your upcoming trip! We’ve seen how the best travel organization plans crumble on the second day of the vacation—and how trip-related clutter can linger in the corners of bedrooms for WEEKS after the return. So let us help! We’ve divided our best travel organization advice into four sections to help you think through what will work best for your family regardless of whether you are flying across the pond or road-tripping through the Midwest. 1. Pack Like a Professional Organizer The goal of packing during the travel organizing process isn’t just to fit everything in your suitcase; it’s to make sure you can actually find what you need when you need it. Invest in Packing Cubes Sets of packing cubes, such as thinner nylon versions, are less than $20, hold up well under travel stress, and serve as mobile drawers to keep you organized along the way. Buy a different colored set for each family member to keep things even simpler! Stick to a Coordinated Color Palette Consider sticking to a specific color palette for your trip so that all of your clothing coordinates. If you’ve ever wanted to experiment with a capsule wardrobe, a long trip is a great place to try it out! Give Everything a Home Like you’ve heard us say a hundred times by now, everything needs a home! Use zippered mesh bags to keep similar items together, bag your shoes to keep street grime off your clothes, and scan a digital version of your travel documents into an album on your phone. Keep a Running Master Packing List Keep a running packing list on your phone or computer so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time you are packing for a trip. Regularly add to the list when you discover things that you wish you had brought so that you have them next time. Make Sure Everything Is Full and Charged Make sure everything is full. Have you charged your backup battery packs, phones, Kindles, tablets, laptops, and headphones? Have you filled up your travel shampoo and conditioner? Is your travel first aid kit stocked with what your crew tends to need the most? 2. Reset Your Home Before You Leave Organizing for a trip isn’t just about what leaves the house! It’s about doing what you can to prepare your house for the future influx of exhausted humans loaded with dirty clothes and good memories. Think about doing a complete reset of your home before you go so that you can hit the ground running when you return. Focus on tidying areas you’ll see first when you walk back through the door after your trip. Clear your entryway or kitchen counters so you have a place to set down all the things you’ll be carrying when you return. Clean the kitchen, remove items that will spoil from the fridge, and rinse out the sink and the coffee maker. Be sure to take out the trash and recycling. If there’s anything left in your budget, schedule a cleaning service to come while you are away so that you come home to a sparkling home. Try to catch up on your household laundry before you head out of town so that you can tackle the dirty clothes from your suitcase right when you get back. 3. Stay Organized While on Your Trip Keeping the chaos in check comes down to thoughtfully setting yourself up for success and then maintaining a few tiny habits while you are traveling. Live Out of Your Packing Cubes Don’t feel the need to completely unpack. You can move your packing cubes straight into drawers or on shelves to keep everything accessible and organized. Use the “Safe Shoe” Trick One important travel organizing tip is keeping your belongings safe. If you put anything of value in the hotel safe, put a single shoe inside the safe with your stuff. You will wander around looking for your missing shoe until you have that "aha!" moment, but you’ll never leave your passport or jewelry behind! Designate a Travel Drop-Tray Bring a travel tray (or even just a brightly colored paper plate) that screams “Put important stuff here!” It works as a magnet to attract cell phones, key cards, loose change, and other things you don’t have a place for when traveling. Streamline Your Toiletries One area that tends to get chaotic quickly is the toiletry bag. Hanging toiletry bags work great for staying organized while also keeping counter space clear. If you are traveling with the whole family, try using one large bag for shared items and smaller pouches for each person’s individual items like toothbrushes and makeup. Commit to a 5-Minute Nightly Reset Taking even just five minutes each night to reset your room will help you keep the clutter from taking over. Throw away trash, restock your day bag, and recharge electronics. Decide which clothing items are irredeemably dirty and go into the dirty clothes bag and which items can return to their packing cubes for another day. Maximize the Travel Home If you have a flight or long drive home, use the time to help you transition back to real life: write a post-trip To-Do list, sort your vacation photos and delete the blurry shots and duplicates, or set up a grocery delivery. 4. Stick the Landing Once You’re Home Travel organization isn’t really over until everything is put away and the house is back in order. Keep these organizing tips in mind: Take everything out of the suitcases immediately and put the luggage away. There’s no reason to let the partially unpacked suitcase take up space in your closet for the next couple of weeks! Sort your laundry. Everything that’s still clean in their packing cubes can go back in drawers or closets. Get that first load of dirty clothes started while you deal with the rest of the unpacking. Keep a dedicated crate for your travel-only supplies like packing cubes, electrical adaptors for traveling internationally, pouches for travel documents, and neck pillows. Have a simple homecoming meal plan ready. Whether it’s a pre-scheduled DoorDash delivery or a lasagna you stashed in the freezer, your future self will be grateful that they don’t have to think about dinner. Put all papers together (receipts, brochures, the stack of mail waiting for you) to sort through when you have the time. Your top priority when you first get home is to undo your packing. You can sort through miscellaneous papers once you’ve had a good night’s sleep in your own bed! Whether you are heading out on a grand adventure or a quick weekend getaway, remember that organization isn’t about rigid perfection—it’s about creating more space for the memories that matter. Travel is meant to be a reset, not a source of additional stress. If the thought of prepping for your next trip (or digging out from the last one) feels overwhelming, the Bees are always here to help with our best vacation organizing tips!
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How to Teach Kids to Bee Organized: 4 Little Habits with a Big Impact
Organization is not a personality trait that kids are born with. It’s a skill! And like any skill, it can be taught, practiced, and improved over time. The goal is not to raise mini-perfectionists who keep their socks color-coded. It’s to raise capable humans who know how to manage their belongings and their time in a way that works for them. We regularly get asked how to help kids get (and stay!) organized, so we’ve rounded up our best ideas for developing life-long organizational skills in children of all ages. 1. Start with Systems Kids Can Actually Use If the system you are developing for teaching your kids to organize only works when YOU are involved, it’s not a system that your kids can maintain. We suggest involving kids in creating the organizing systems in the first place. Let them help choose bins, decide where things should live, and make the labels. The more ownership they have, the more likely they are to follow through. If you want kids to be able to put things “away” by themselves, everything needs to have an “away.” Every single item (or category of items) needs a home. And we cannot overstate how important it is to label your storage system in a way that makes sense for your age of kids. For example, labels for the youngest kids should use pictures in addition to words so that everyone can easily figure out what goes where. Make sure the system you design is simple and accessible. Kids need to be able to reach and maneuver bins by themselves. For younger children, use open bins that they can toss toys into without needing to fuss with hard-to-manage lids. Place hooks down low enough for kids to hang up their own jackets, backpacks, robes, and bath towels. And remember—, an organizing system that actually works for your kids might not be perfect or beautiful, and that’s okay. 2. Teach the Process Telling a kid to “clean your room” is a bit like telling someone to “get organized.” It can be absolutely overwhelming unless they have the ability to break big jobs down into manageable tasks. Help kids look at a larger project and think through all the steps along the way. For example, for tidying a room, we love the Five Things method. Encourage your kids to: Collect all trash/recycling from the room Take away all dirty dishes Pick up all laundry Put away things that have a home Deal with the stuff that doesn’t have a home Developing and teaching your kids organizing processes for cleaning out their backpacks, organizing their desk, or preparing their lunch box can help them build their self-sufficiency skills. 3. Make Routines Work for You One of the best ways for how to get kids to organize is to help them establish and maintain consistent routines. Children absolutely thrive with clear routines, as routines help kids feel safe, build independence, and reduce power struggles. Setting up clear morning and evening routines can be so empowering for kids. Establishing norms that everyone in the family follows can help tame the chaos too. For example: We always put away one activity before we start the next. We always pack lunches and backpacks the night before. We spend 5 minutes resetting our bedroom each night. Our whole family takes part in a Weekly Reset every Sunday. We find checklists to be so useful when helping kids think through routines. Work with your kid to write a checklist for dailiy/weekly chores, their bedtime routine, packing their lunch or backpack, or any other predictable event. You can also establish routines that help kids understand and manage their time. Tracking deadlines, assignments, practices or rehearsals, competitions, and more is such an important skill to master! Depending on their age, a dry-erase weekly or monthly calendar on their wall, a spiral-bound day planner, or Google calendar on their phone can all work well. The ability to project themselves into their future is an incredible life skill that will benefit them their whole lives. For example, realizing that a Thursday evening event means they’d better start their Friday assignment early can prevent buckets of stress. Some of us grown-ups are still learning to care for our future selves, but the next generation can do better in implementing strategies for organizing their time and task list! 4. Coach, Don’t Control! This might be our hardest piece of advice. If you value having an organized home, it’s very tempting to step in, take over, and just do it yourself. It’s certainly faster and easier, but it’s not helping in the long run! Your role is not to be the manager of everyone else’s stuff. It’s to be a coach and a cheerleader. That might look like asking your middle schooler what they need for practice, rather than telling them what they need to bring. It might look like allowing mistakes to happen, because that’s how we learn. We need to let go of the idea that perfection is the only thing worth celebrating and that every kid’s space has to be organized the same way. Part of this process is regularly clearing out the clutter together since kids outgrow clothes, toys, and interests very quickly. Normalizing the process of saying goodbye to things that no longer serve you can help prevent kid clutter from building up. Teaching kids to be organized isn’t just about having a less cluttered house … although that is a pretty great benefit! Helping your kids develop organizational skills will help reduce stress and last-minute scrambles, build independence and confidence, and create more time and space for the activities you love to do together. If your home is feeling a little too chaotic right now, you don’t have to figure it all out on your own. As professional home organizers, the Bees are always here to help create systems that work for your whole family, including your kiddos!
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