13, Sep 2024
I was honoured to be a guest on the Your Estate Matters podcast with hosts Nicole Garton and Greg Brennand of Heritage Trust. Their podcast focuses on estates, including helping Canadians build and preserve their legacies. We discussed my background and how I started my company, Out of Chaos, over… Read more
02, Dec 2023
It was exciting to be invited to present an organizing and decluttering segment as part of CBC BC’s 37th annual Food Bank Day on December 1st. CBC dedicated an entire day to broadcast their show with a live studio audience to raise funds and awareness for food banks in BC…. Read more
08, Aug 2022
Did you know that Canadian charities offer a charitable tax receipt for certain items that you donate or gift? However, the gift or donation must meet specific criteria described in the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guidelines. Let’s look at what will and will not meet these criteria. Is the recipient… Read more
10, Jan 2022
When you are moving or downsizing, time is your friend. The more time you have to plan, the more resources are available at a lower cost. You can also make environmentally friendlier decisions on what to do with your stuff. There are three basic ways to part with your unwanted… Read more
28, Dec 2020
If you’re looking to simplify your home and life, these are things you can downsize now. Although I don’t usually make blanket statements about what people should and should not keep, these items often appear in excess in many homes we organize. Read on to see what you can easily… Read more
08, Jun 2020
During the COVID-19 pandemic, people were staying home to reduce the spread of the virus. Students moved from in-class learning to virtual classes, and it was quite apparent who was able to make this switch technology-wise. Tight family budgets were made even tighter with so many workers out of work… Read more
17, Oct 2016
While clearing your closet is very important, it’s also necessary to be socially responsible. The Out of Chaos team and I make every effort to ensure unwanted clothing items have a second life in some form. When dealing with clothes, what sustainable choices can you make? Don’t Throw Unwanted Clothing in… Read more
26, Feb 2008
How do you define value? In the case of clothing and personal possessions, often the value is more emotional than monetary. Consider for a moment, expressing value in terms of usefulness. If you have not used something as it was intended, it is just lying around taking up space. What… Read more
16, Jan 2007
The end of the year allows us to reflect on the bounty of possessions we have enjoyed throughout the year. We can look back at the fortunes that have come our way and in many cases, realize the clutter in our lives. Sharing through clearing is an excellent way to… Read more
21, Jul 2006
Today I’d like to share Alison’s story as she recently cleaned out three generations of items in the family home. She wanted to find new owners for the items not wanted by the remaining family members, as well as contribute to her community. The items presented a range of challenges… Read more
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Our family engaged Linda after the initial consultation meeting, when she blew away any other competition we had also vetted, with her depth of knowledge, experience, enthusiasm and clearly strong leadership skills that she continued to exude in spades throughout the “project”.
This “project” was near and dear to us, which was sorting and clearing out our family home that had been piled up with decades of memories and belongings. Linda’s incredible skill in immediately sizing up the plan, managing a large team that she was able to quickly assemble to tackle this complex challenge was very impressive. Each day, we were able to see great progress, all due to her strong leadership and organizational skills in being able to direct and motivate every person on her team to operate at their highest level of efficiency and effectiveness. Watching her work was like taking a master class in leadership and project management skills.
She listened to us, and not only ensured that our guidelines were adhered to, but also went above and beyond to keep our best interests at heart with her vast knowledge of what items to best keep or not, and her strong network of connections – there doesn’t seem to be any service or organization that she doesn’t already have at her fingertips!
Linda and her team were such a pleasure to work with, and they literally and figuratively did all the heavy lifting to accomplish what felt like a Herculean task in a record period of time. I would not hesitate to recommend Out of Chaos to anyone – you won’t find any better professionals at the top of their craft!
— Anna Y.