Welcome, fellow sentimental hoarders and nostalgia enthusiasts! If you’re anything like me, your home is full of awesome trinkets & tchotchkes that could make even Marie Kondo reconsider her minimalist ways. From those old ticket stubs to your collection of “World’s Greatest Grandma” mugs, we all have our cherished keepsakes and sentimental objects. But what happens when it becomes too much?

Unless couples find ways to deal with their organizational divide, the stress on their relationship can be immense — both for the neat freak and the chaos goblin. Here’s how I’ve seen people make things work.

One of my favorite things to hear a client say during a session as a professional organizer is “Oh my god! I’ve been looking for that for ages!” It is so satisfying and exciting to help someone reconnect with a long lost treasure that they never thought they’d see again. The funny part is that the things people are so thrilled about finding usually seem super trivial like a screw for a remote or a favorite rogue sock. But sometimes the treasure is absolutely life changing!