Like many people, I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. It inspired me to tidy my own house and it felt really great. It felt so great, in fact, that I wanted more. The organization bug bit me hard. I decided I wanted to take it to the next level and get even more organized, so I hired Sister Sorters to work their magic on my home.

That was some next-level Life Changing Magic, tell you. It didn’t just spark joy. It sparked joy drops! I couldn’t be more delighted with the Sister Sorters—they have a knack for organizing and creating systems within homes.

I would rate my organization skills pretty high already, but Sister Sorters got us even more organized. It’s INCREDIBLE. Since they’ve been here, basically the entire house has a system and everything’s in its spot.

What does that mean in practical terms? Now, all running items go in one spot, instead of three different ones around the house. My Christmas stuff is in one section in the storage room. My photo albums and pictures are all in one place. It’s unbelievable what kind of magic happens when you know where to find things.

I had them do our entire house top to bottom and it was the best decision I ever made. They did the kitchen, living room, bedrooms, all closets, utility room, book room, bathroom, everything! It was so liberating to be free of all the “stuff” that was holding me back. (As in loads and loads of trash and items that needed to be purged flew out the door.)

Letting go of excess stuff is so important. I learned a lot about that from Marie Kondo, but there’s a lot of literature on the subject that just can’t be ignored—we know from the research that “stuff” can weigh us down.

Untidiness makes us feel stressed and creates more cortisol that floods through our brain. Even worse, all this “stuff” and disorganization robs us of our happiness. The research backs this up: it goes so far as saying that your outside world (like your home) is in direct correlation to your inside world (what is going on inside of you).

That’s why last night when I saw Scott Strobel wrap up the bacon bits package and place it back in the fridge where it needed to go my heart did a big leap of joy. That’s also why this morning I was so excited as I opened each cabinet door in my kitchen as I prepared my smoothies.

My mornings run much smoother when everything is in its proper place. With all the time I save not looking for things, I can take care of myself instead of taking care of all the extra stuff. The wide open spaces free of clutter felt like they opened up my heart.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your life and find more ease in your routines, have a listen to my podcast or join my free Facebook group. We’re always having great discussions over there, so let us know—have you done a big tidy lately? How did it feel?