Now, look…I adore my new apartment. I really do.

I love living in San Francisco. I’m at the top of a 4-story building with a big balcony that overlooks the whole city. Most days, I feel like a princess in a castle.

But my laundry situation has me feeling all kinds of annoyed. 

Usually, I’m an A+ laundry student….

I wash. I fold. And I put things away…all in the same sitting.

But in this house, my laundry keeps piling up. Every weekend, I find some excuse not to do my laundry…until it is stacked so high that it feels overwhelming.

What might be causing this breakdown of laundry flow, you ask?

Well, the root cause of this chaos is the laundry machines. It would be an understatement to say that I really don’t like them.

First, they are located in the basement. I have to walk down (and up) four flights of stairs. There’s no elevator here, and as good as those stairs have been for my cardio, they add a hefty burden to an already less-than-fun activity.

Plus, the washer eat my quarters. The dryer barely dries. And everything takes way longer than it should.

None of these things is a dealbreaker, but it activates my perfectionism and awakens an “if I can’t do it right, I’m not going to do it at all” temper tantrum.

Every time I think about doing the laundry, I feel annoyed. I find myself feeling irritated and not wanting to do laundry at all.

So, I let the laundry stack up. I resist going to the bank for quarters. I sometimes even take my laundry to a friend’s house just to not deal with our machines.

I have total resistance about doing laundry here…so much so that I still haven’t bought a portable hamper to carry my loads down. Instead, I carry everything in my arms like a dizzy raccoon doing a weird obstacle course.

The truth is, my resistance to my building’s laundry room is the real monster.

I am the monster that’s causing the chaos with my laundry. Not the machines. 

Clutter loves this kind of thing. It thrives when something feels annoying enough that you avoid it…so it can quietly grow and expand.

If I’m really honest with myself, the situation “is what it is.” The machines aren’t changing. The stairs aren’t going anywhere.

But my attitude is the one thing I do have control over. I can either keep holding onto my resentment and annoyance, or I can do something about it.

I can accept that this is the situation and make a plan for what I’m going to do about it.

That’s where the monster loses its power…when we name what we’re feeling, accept the circumstances, and come up with a workable game plan (notice I said workable, not perfect).

If I keep focusing on my annoyance that my laundry setup isn’t as good as it was in the past, I feed the chaos that keeps my laundry stacking up.

And once I stop fighting reality, I can actually take care of myself. I can bring extra quarters for when the machines get hungry. I can buy a collapsible hamper so I can stop leaving a trail of socks up the stairs. And I can leave enough time to run the dryer twice.

None of this is glamorous. But there is no better solution than:

• Noticing what isn’t working
• Accepting the truth, and
• Building a game plan around it.

Most clutter monsters don’t start off big and scary.

They start with something small that just feels a little bit off. Something that annoys you enough that you don’t want to fully deal with it.

And then it grows.

So, take a minute look around your home…

Is there a little clutter monster in your home right now? (not an overwhelming monster, just a little annoyance you’ve been side-stepping)

Comment below and tell me about it. Venting is a great place to start when it comes to facing the clutter monster.  

I’ve got your back! 

The post Why My Laundry Keeps Piling Up (and what I finally did about it) appeared first on Star Hansen.

And I get it. Most people expect that I’m going to come in with the answers, hand them a system, and show them the “right” way to do it.

But that’s not really how this works. Because organizing systems don’t get people organized. Trust does.

I’m not the expert on you. You are.

And no matter how much experience I have, I will never know you better than you know yourself.

So, the way I approach organizing is a little different than what most people expect. I’m not coming in to tell you what to do with your stuff, and I’m definitely not using some one-size-fits-all system.

I’m not trying to override your instincts. I’m here to work with them.

I’m here to help you see what’s already working, and build on it…even if it’s subtle or inconsistent or half-formed. I’m here to help you take the pieces that already exist in your space and build them into something more sustainable.

Every client I’ve worked with already had the start of a system, hiding in their clutter.

It’s always there. But unfortunately, people don’t always see it or trust it.

They’ll start organizing something, get a few steps in, and then hesitate. They pause, or rethink their plan. They start to wonder if there’s a better way to do it, or if they’re missing something. And then the momentum drops.

Not because they don’t have good instincts. But because they don’t fully trust them.

A big part of my job is helping you recognize that you already know what you’re doing.

You are the only person who has been with you your entire life. You know what you reach for without thinking. You know what you avoid. You know what feels easy, and what feels like a constant effort.

That’s the information we build from.

Organizing, at its core, isn’t really about the stuff. It’s not about making everything look a certain way or fitting your life into someone else’s system.

Organizing is learning how to work with yourself.

It’s about understanding how your brain operates and what kind of support it actually needs.

It’s about building systems that match your real life, not your fantasy life. It’s about developing skills you may never have been taught in the first place.

When you start to see it that way, organizing stops feeling like a project you’re just trying to “get through”. And it starts to be a transformational journey.

That’s why you won’t see before-and-after pics on my website. I’m not interested in that version of “after”. I care about something deeper than that.

I care about the moment when you trust your own decisions again.

When you stop looking for the “right” answer and start paying attention to what actually works for you.

That might look like a perfectly made bed. Or it might look like an unmade bed you genuinely don’t care about. It might look like a color-coded closet. Or a closet arranged by your mood.

That’s the work.

Not forcing yourself into someone else’s idea of being organized, but using your space as a way to understand (and honor) yourself more clearly.

Because in the end, this isn’t about the clutter.  It’s about building trust with yourself again.

And that’s the kind of change that actually lasts.

The post Organizing Doesn’t Start With A System (It Starts With Trusting Yourself) appeared first on Star Hansen.

As I’ve been packing and planning, I’ve been thinking about how much my relationship with packing has changed.

I used to be a chronic overpacker.

Not a little extra, I mean, truly deeply committed to the idea that I might need absolutely everything.

And many of my clients are the same way.

Packing brings up a lot…

Will I have what I need? What if the weather changes? What if my body feels different that day? What if I want more options? What if I get there and wish I had brought the other thing?

It’s easy to act like packing should be simple, but it’s not. It’s actually a pretty complex project.

You’re trying to plan for future weather, future moods, future activities, laundry access, location changes, and, for a lot of women, a body that may not feel exactly the same from one day to the next.

That’s a lot to account for.

Which is why I think one of the biggest mistakes people make is skipping the planning part of packing and going straight to the suitcase.

If you do that, it’s hard to stay focused…

The clothes start talking. Your shoes start talking. Your anxiety starts talking. The size (and weight) of your suitcase is talking…

And suddenly you’re no longer making choices from a clear space. Instead, you’re reacting to whatever feels loudest at the moment.

That rarely ends well.

There’s a quote I love (often attributed to Abraham Lincoln):

“If I had four hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first three sharpening the axe.”

The post The Stress-Free And Strategic Way to Pack For Your Next Trip appeared first on Star Hansen.

What’s one thing I can do differently next year to make tax season easier?

The post One Tiny Thing to Make Next Tax Season Easier appeared first on Star Hansen.

I grab my fuzzy blanket, open the door, sit down, and watch light dance around the city.

And as I’m sitting there, I catch the smell of blossoms from my lemon tree. Every time I notice it, something in me softens.

The smell of citrus makes me feel safe and happy. There’s just something about it I find so magical. I know there’s actual science around how the smell of citrus can lift our mood, but for me, it’s also deeply personal.

It reminds me of my great grandmother’s backyard and fun Easter days running around with my cousins in the Arizona heat. It smells like so many simple, yet happy moments from my childhood.

And now, it’s part of my morning routine.

What’s interesting is that when I first moved into my apartment, my patio was empty. I would still go out there, but I never really felt connected to the space. It didn’t feel like it was mine.

Adding the lemon tree changed that.

Now, when I go outside, I feel more in rhythm with the seasons. I feel more like myself. I actually want to be there.

And this is something I think about a lot when it comes to organizing.

We tend to focus so much on what to remove from our homes. What to get rid of. What to declutter. What’s too much.

But just as often, big shifts come from what we add.

Your home should feel like you.

Not just look organized. Not just be functional. But feel like a place where you recognize yourself. Where something in the space reflects who you are, what you love, what you remember, and what matters to you.

When people don’t feel good in their homes, it’s not only because there’s too much stuff.

Sometimes it’s because there’s nothing in the space that’s really speaking to them.

And if you’re in a season where clutter feels like too much to take on, or you don’t have the energy to take it on right now, you don’t have to start there.

You can start by adding something.

Add something that makes you feel good in a real, personal, and sensory way. It could be a:

• Plant
• Scent
• Color
• Texture
• Piece of art
• New set of sheets…

Something that shifts how the space feels when you walk into it.

Once your home starts to feel good to you, the rest begins to follow.

It becomes easier to let clutter go. Not because you’re forcing yourself to. But because you’ve created something you want to protect and nurture.

If you were going to add one thing to your space right now that would make it feel more like you, what would it be?

Start there. Add it and see how it changes the way you feel in your home. And if you feel like it, hit reply and tell me about it.

Small changes create big shifts.

The post What Would Make Your Home Feel Like You? appeared first on Star Hansen.

Where do you go to catch your breath?

And the shame ends up taking more energy than the actual action would have.

The post Building A Village: You’re Allowed To Need Support Sometimes appeared first on Star Hansen.

I don’t know about you, but when it’s 80 degrees and glorious outside, I find it very hard to stay inside and work on little projects around the house.

Over the winter, a few things started quietly stacking up around the house…

…a pair of boots I want to polish after wearing them out in the rain. A box of jewelry and accessories I never unpacked from my move last year. A new planner I can’t wait to use, but that I never quite feel ready for.

Plus, each of those little tasks comes with a pile of stuff meant to help me get it done. And for better or worse, I do what most people do…

I leave things out so I don’t forget to finish the project.

But lately, those projects are starting to get a little loud.

Not in a dramatic way, but in a quiet, persistent way that makes it hard not to feel a twinge of guilt as I head out for the day to enjoy the sunshine, instead of staying home to be productive.

And when I stop and check in with myself, I realize that I don’t actually want to give them my attention right now.

Spring has a funny way of amplifying this.

Everywhere you look, the outside world starts getting excited about spring cleaning. Suddenly, there are messages everywhere telling you it’s time to declutter, reorganize, deep clean, and get your life together.

And look, I’m not here to stop anyone from decluttering. I’ve built my entire career around helping people get organized.

But I do want to offer a small shift in perspective.

Instead of thinking about this “spring cleaning” season as fixing something that’s wrong with you or your home, what if you thought about it as quieting the noise?

Clutter is one of those words that can feel surprisingly judgmental. It’s a term we tend to assign to things that make us uncomfortable. Things that feel loud or noisy. Things that require something from us that we’re not able or willing to give right now.

But when we look at it through a softer lens, clutter isn’t a failure.

It’s just information.

It’s a reminder of the project you thought you were going to do. The project that just quietly lost its priority status on your list. The task that keeps getting shuffled around because you feel like you “should” do it someday, not because you actually want to.

And that “should” can get loud.

One of the reasons people feel overwhelmed when they start organizing is they think they have to do everything all at once. They believe that if they can’t complete the whole project, then it’s not worth starting at all.

When something feels too big, too layered, or too complicated, we bench ourselves. We never get started because the task feels too big.

But forward motion doesn’t have to look like a full transformation. Sometimes it’s just making one simple decision.

Maybe it’s looking at a project that’s been circling your house for months (like my boot polishing project) and saying, “You know what? This isn’t a priority right now.” And then either outsourcing it to someone else or putting the task away for some future date when it is a priority again.

Maybe quieting the noise looks like taking action on something small, like sending your friend a belated birthday card (even if it feels “too late” or imperfect).

You don’t have to tackle the whole house…or even a whole room.

You just have to quiet a little bit of noise and create some space to breathe.

So today, wherever you are, pause for a moment.

Take a breath. Look around the room you’re sitting in. And gently ask yourself:

What is one thing in this room that feels a little too loud right now?

And then, take one small step towards quieting that noise.

You don’t have to solve everything…you just have to take one step.

The post Spring Cleaning Isn’t About Decluttering. It’s About Quieting the Noise. appeared first on Star Hansen.

By the time someone calls me, they’ve usually been doing a “clutter marathon” for a long time…decades even.

Running a marathon for decades is a long time (clutter or otherwise).

Focusing on clutter for that long can be stressful, emotional, confusing, and overwhelming. And many people have been running this “marathon” completely on their own for years before they ever ask for support.

So, when someone invites me into their life to help with their clutter, I’m always aware of that. I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to help. But I also know I’m not standing at the starting line with them.

They’re already miles into the race.

And even though I know I can’t run that marathon for you, what I can do is support you along the course.

Sometimes that looks like being an aid station…offering encouragement, perspective, and a little bit of relief when the journey feels overwhelming.

Sometimes it’s more like coaching or training. I can help you adjust your stride, rethink your approach, or see patterns that are slowing you down.

Sometimes I jump in beside you for a stretch of the run, helping you move through a difficult part of your home or project that feels impossible to face alone.

But it’s always your race.

And the reason this journey can feel so intense is that clutter is rarely about stuff.

For many people, organizing is a personal evolution. It’s learning how to make decisions, trust yourself, release old stories, and build a life that reflects who you’re becoming.

That kind of transformation doesn’t happen overnight. It happens one step at a time.

So, if you’ve been feeling discouraged about your clutter, or wondering why it’s taking so long to “figure it out,” I want you to remember something important…

You’ve been running this marathon for a long time.

And if you’re still showing up, still trying, and still taking even the smallest step forward…that says a lot about your strength.

No one runs a marathon without support along the course.

And you don’t have to run this one alone either.

The post Clutter Is A Marathon And You Don’t Have To Run It Alone appeared first on Star Hansen.

Why am I talking about organizing when the world feels like it’s on fire?

There’s war, violence, unrest…and it’s in our faces, all the time. It feels strange to talk about closets and clarity when so much feels unstable right now.

What I keep noticing with my clients, as well as myself, is that we’re not just tired and overwhelmed. We’re flooded.

This world has always had chaos. There has always been suffering.

The difference now is access. We don’t just hear about things later. We see them instantly. Repeatedly. And in great detail.

We weren’t designed to process global trauma on a loop.

When we’re exposed to this much intensity nonstop, our nervous system doesn’t just “feel stressed,” it shifts into survival mode.

That alarm center of the brain lights up. Stress hormones increase. And the part of your brain that is responsible for logic, language, and long-term thinking goes offline.

That’s why you might feel scattered or frozen, and not be able to explain why. Why it’s hard to think clearly. Why decisions feel heavier than they “should.” And why so many of us are compulsively scrolling, even when we know it’s not helping.

It’s not weakness or laziness, it’s survival.

When the body senses danger (even digital danger), it prioritizes survival over strategy. And from that state, you can’t “logic” your way back to feeling calm or grounded.

And at the same time, life keeps moving. There are emails to answer. People to care for. Groceries to buy. Work to show up for.

The tension between staying informed and being functional is incredibly tight right now.

You care. Of course, you care. But caring and constantly consuming are not the same thing.

When I teach people how to organize, the first step isn’t buying boxes or throwing things away. It’s setting an intention for your space.

Because if you don’t decide what you’re creating, the clutter will decide for you.

You’ll move things around, react to piles, and feel busy…but you won’t feel clear. And your organizing systems may even feel a bit chaotic.

And right now, the world’s chaos is having the same impact. If we don’t pause and choose how we want to show up, the noise chooses for us.

So, instead of trying to think your way out of overwhelm, come back into connection with your body.

In the trauma-informed world, we call this “bottom-up processing.” It just means body first.

When the mind feels noisy, the body is the doorway back to steadiness.

Before you reach for your phone, turn on the news, or “make a plan”…

Pause. Because when we’re dysregulated, chaos directs us. And if we let the chaos lead, we get more chaos.

I’m not suggesting you ignore what’s happening. I’m asking you to regulate yourself before you engage.

That might look like:

Going for a slow walk and notice colors, light, and sounds
👉Taking three deep breaths
👉Sleeping with your phone outside of your bedroom
👉Shaking out your body
👉Standing barefoot on the grass
👉Eating something sour to snap yourself back into the present
👉Taking a “screen-free” hour

Regulating yourself isn’t avoidance. It’s how you stay capable.

You cannot make grounded decisions about a chaotic world from a nervous system that feels under attack or is stuck in survival mode.

Take one small, intentional step at a time. Fill up, and then engage with the world. You can’t pour from an empty cup.

Regulating yourself is the best first step in making a positive impact in your life and this world.

The post How To Stay Grounded When The World Feels Chaotic appeared first on Star Hansen.

Your closet holds some of the most fun and fascinating clutter in your house (I’m looking at you, 1970’s platform boots).

But closets are hard to organize because your closet isn’t about clothes. It’s about identity.

It’s how you see yourself. And how you present yourself to the world.

In many ways, we wear “costumes” every day. We dress for work. For motherhood. For dating. For grief. For ambition. For comfort. For artistic expression. For reinvention.

Inside your closet, there are layers of every version of you…

• Younger you.
• Career-shifting you.
• Postpartum you.
• Pre-pandemic you.
• Sweatpants-era you.
• “Finding myself again” you.

It’s beautiful. But it’s also why your clothing closet feels so hard to edit.

Because you’re not just deciding about jeans. You’re deciding who you are and where you’re going.

And if they don’t…what does that mean?

So, instead of asking you to purge half your wardrobe, I want you to consider another option…

What if your closet only held the pieces that are active in your life right now?

Not your past. Not your someday. Not your “what if.”

Just today.

That doesn’t mean you have to get rid of everything else. I will NEVER be the organizer who tells you to toss your old jeans because you haven’t worn them in six months. In fact, have a box of jeans that my post-pandemic body can’t currently fit into, but I refuse to get rid of them because I love them and have every intention of wearing them again.

Bodies change. Life changes. We all go through seasons. It’s ok to be in transition.

What you can do is separate out the versions of you that aren’t part of your daily life right now. Keep them, but move them out of your daily view.

When everything lives together in one space, your brain has to process all of it anytime you get dressed. It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed when we’re confronted with every version of ourselves, especially when we’re just trying to throw on an outfit to go run errands.

The less visual noise you have to face each day, the more you’ll actually wear what you love. And the easier it will be to get dressed.

So, here’s my invitation to you today…

Box up one category of clothing that doesn’t fit in with your current day-to-day life. This might be costumes, memorabilia, off-size, or off-season items…whatever feels like it doesn’t belong here right now. Then move that box to a storage area (even if it’s just a high shelf in your closet).

P.S If you want help editing your closet in a way that honors your past and supports who you are now, come join us inside the Chaos to Calm Community. We’re working on organizing our clothing closet this month and would love for you to join us!

Or, if you want deeper support, book a virtual 1:1 session with me, and we’ll curate your space in a way that actually fits your life.

The post Your Closet is an Archeological Dig of Who You Are appeared first on Star Hansen.