February 22nd, 2007
Getting rid of clutter for clutter’s sake is not very rewarding. It brings you face-to-face with the accumulation of your life; memories, poor purchases that never delivered the feeling you sought in purchasing it, possessions you have long since outgrown or no longer need. It can feel like trudging through a morass of mud and sludge.
Yet, when motivated by a higher purpose we often find it easier to part with things. Following Hurricane Katrina millions of Americans purged their homes of items they thought would better serve the hurricane survivors; clothing, blankets, household items, furniture and more.
When assisting clients we often find the motivation of “repurposing” possessions a powerful motivator. Things begin flying into boxes and bags to be transported to some worthwhile non-profit organization serving a population in need. (see earlier blog, “One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure”)
I want to share my latest find. A wonderful non-profit with a higher calling that we can all help support while lightening our own loads. “Open Books” is a newly founded non-profit used bookstore supporting literacy in Chicago. I recently learned of Open Books in DailyCandy Chicago when they highlighted the tremendous work of this dynamic duo, Stacy Ratner and Becca Keaty. After successful careers in other non-profits and start-ups, these two formidable and energetic women made a conscious decision to combine their vocation and their avocation.
Open Books will fund literacy programming through the sale of used books. And this creates a wonderful WIN/WIN for all of us storing boxes of dusty …
January 12th, 2007
With getting organized near the top of people’s lists of New Years resolutions, it is easy to understand why the National Association of Professional Organizers (www.napo.net) worked to get January named GO (Get Organized) Month.
When PhD and internationally acclaimed author, Sonia Choquette published her book True Balance; A Commonsense Guide for Renewing Your Spirit, in 2000 she detailed the attributes of each of the seven chakras, psychic energy centers in the human body. The first chakra, when balanced and healthy provides the foundation for your Life. Sonia (www.inner-wisdom.com) asked me to contribute an article on getting organized in the new year because of its importance to a healthy, balanced state of being.
The beginning of the New Year provides us with the opportunity to reflect on what is working and what is not working in our lives. We pause intentionally to examine the quality of our life and to consciously choose to make shifts in order to experience a more satisfying life. We are, after all, a higher order of being and are granted the gift of free will, the power to consciously choose or not to choose.
Therefore, getting organized takes on more importance. Organization enhances our ability to focus and to not be distracted in a meaningless way by irrelevant “stuff”. And increased focus aids us in living more intentionally, some might call it more productively, each and every day. And intention is what enables us to be more satisfied, more content each and every day, through the exercise of true choice.
So, …
December 15th, 2006
I believe that everyone has an organizational “style” and that, as a Professional Organizer, my role is to help them find it. There are many benefits to this approach:
1. We move into solution mode following a fairly brief assessment. There is no time for judgment.
2. Our clients never feel embarrassed and if they do, we help them get past that momentary feeling.
3. We seek the best solution for our client. We never apply the same cookie cutter approach to every client because it wouldn’t work.
So what’s your organizational style? Your organizational style is often related to your learning style; a) Visual, b) Kinestetic, or c) Auditory.
If you are a visual learner, you will most likely prefer to see everything. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean everything must be out. It does imply the use of bright colors and clear containers for your papers and possessions. In an effort to reduce the visual clutter that often characterizes the homes and offices of visual learners, we find it helpful to create Guides directing them to categorized areas of things. The visual style of learning is the most dominant and typifies creative people.
If you are an auditory learner, we employ a more “logical” style of organizational system. Files may or may not be colorful, but will be categorized topically and then arranged alphabetically within the category. Color does not enhance the sense of order and foundation for an auditory learner. The “architecture” of organization must be logical and orderly for an auditory learner.
For kinestetic learners, we focus …
October 15th, 2006
Help! Ever have that feeling you are drowning in your priorities, responsibilities, “things to do”, places to go, people to see” lists? Do you have too many “to-do’s” and too little time? Can I get a big “Amen?”!
I haven’t posted since Sept. 28 (in case you haven’t noticed). Yes, even my time can get overrun by my tasks.
Time and Trash - the longest lasting challenges for modern society. Years ago Thomas Edison said, “Time is really the only capital any man has and the one thing he can’t afford to waste.” So lack of time is at least as old a problem as the invention of the light bulb!
If this is your challenge, too, don’t allow it to continue. I thoroughly believe that slowing down is the key to accomplishing more - and with a greater level of satisfaction in doing so. In this day and age of more choice, myriad options and greater selection of diversions, pursuits, etc we must become masters of choice. Yes, we must consciously decide what is important to us and what gives our lives the most meaning (read personally and professionally).
Many of us can’t see through the clutter of our lives to determine what is most important to us. Yet, it’s worth the time to sort it out! Commit to yourself to take a few challenging, but incredibly simple steps to define “Satisfaction” for yourself. In an oversimplistic manner, let me suggest the following:
1. Read The Art of Living by Epictetus; the original and …
September 28th, 2006
We were recently contacted by Kevin Aeh, a writer for “Time Out Chicago” to perform a closet organizing project for their upcoming design issue.
Lucky guy! He even got to be our guinea pig. Kevin is a hip, urban professional with a creative job and an eclectic sense of style. We liked him immediately and weren’t deterred when we saw the chaos he called his closets.
You can read his take on our project via the following link:
http://www.timeout.com/chicago/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TOCWebArticles1/83/check_out/closet_case.xml
So what are you waiting for?
September 27th, 2006
I am an experiential learner, a graduate from the School of Life, one who must first make the mistake before “getting” the lesson. My journey towards simplicity and my mission with White Space ™ to assist others who are seeking more balance, order, simplicity and control grew from my own experience, too.
Simplicity and order were not always a chosen way of Life for me. During my sixteen year career in the fast-paced, hard-driving world of advertising, I excelled in my drive for the accumulation of “stuff” – stuff to entertain, stuff to distract, stuff to alleviate the basic dissatisfaction I felt with my life and the path I was on. I accumulated stuff until my closets were crammed, my bookshelves overflowed and my storage space would store no more.
It was during my self-imposed sabbatical throughout which I slowed the pace of my life and cleared the clutter from my closets and my mind that I discovered the joys of order and simplicity.
Sonia Choquette says in her book True Balance that “order helps us to see the patterns of our life.” William Morris, founder of the American Arts & Crafts movement, said “Have nothing in your home that you do not believe to be useful or beautiful.”
With the ever-increasing pace of Life, there’s no time like the present to examine the “stuff” of our lives and determine what is truly useful and what is holding us back from seeing the patterns in our lives.
Thoreau extolled from his cabin on Walden Pond, …
September 19th, 2006
I have been carrying around a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s, The Tipping Point, ever since it first hit bookstores. I even made my family pull over during a holiday trek into the mountains to search bookstores prematurely because I just knew it had wisdom I wanted.
Well, nearly three years later and following several incomplete forays into its pages, one of the professional organizers at White Space who knows me well gave me The Tipping Point on CD. I was about to embark on a road trip and she suggested it might be a way for me to finish the book.
The good news . . .it worked.
The better news . . .I discovered numerous points of wisdom that were key “a-ha” moments for me.
Consider Gladwell’s point of view on “clutter.” Granted, he was talking about the information clutter we experience on a daily basis. According to his research we are now besieged by 254 different messages daily. And the challenge for marketers is to not only stand out, but to be memorable – or in his terms “sticky.” The difficulty for them is that our minds are so “cluttered” with the immediate details, information and statistics of our daily lives that we have little capacity left for potential items of interest.
Guess what?!? The same is true for our physical environments. When your desktop, closet, cabinets or car are strewn or stuffed with clutter it is nearly impossible to focus …
September 15th, 2006
Clutter has a great deal more value than any professional organizer is willing to admit. It’s much easier to simply dispense with it and depart another satisfied client’s home, payment in hand. Yet, after nearly a decade in the business of organizing other people’s stuff I have come to realize that clutter has value.
Clutter consists of things left undone. It can be anything awaiting action. It can contain keys to those areas of Life we avoid or delay. It indicates potential and unexplored territory; emotionally, mentally and physically.
It is rich with meaning and potential. It tells us a great deal about its owner or creator. It contains keys to the deepest desires and unfulfilled wishes of the creator. Therefore, if clutter has character, what does your clutter say about you?
Does your clutter contain articles about exotic destinations you have yet to reach? Are there articles on topics you long to explore, hobbies you wish to undertake, careers you would like – someday – to pursue? Does your clutter indicate your mutli-faceted interests and enhance your depth of character by its sheer volume and diversity?
Perhaps this explains why we are so attached to our clutter. Why it’s so hard to throw out that which we have painstakingly accumulated. And, if we let go of it, do we shrink in stature in our own eyes if not in the eyes of those we know and love?
The answer is NO! Yes, clutter may contain a peak into our emotional closets, …
September 15th, 2006
More often than not, my clients need some motivation to help them take the first step in getting personally organized. Once it took motivation just to get the client to let me in the door. She actually positioned herself like a big “X” in the doorway to stop me from peaking into her world of chaos.
While I might envision a “cattle prod” or a back hoe, I usually engage a more empathetic and sensitive approach. My favorite is the tax deduction incentive plan; aka, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Did you know that the second most overlooked tax deduction allowed by the IRS is called “Non Cash Contributions to Non-Profit Organizations.” In plain English, any unwanted household items, clothing, books, appliances, toys - basically anything but cash – can be donated to a non-profit group.
To take full advantage of the deduction, you must create an inventory. Time-consuming – maybe. Worthwhile – Absolutely! Just do the following:
List each item.
Note the original cost of acquiring the item.
Assign a fair market value (The IRS’ standard is “would you wear another man’s underwear?”)
Add any comments that you think will sway a crusty, governmental auditor.
Attach to the non-profit organization’s receipt.
Drop in your Tax File (please tell me you have a tax file)
Wait until tax season to submit.
The total value of these items comes directly off your gross income. In other words, your hand-me-downs (my Midwestern roots are showing) reduce your taxable income. In some cases, the deduction can be significant.
In 2002, we helped a …
September 15th, 2006
I am lucky, one of the fortunate few, who is getting paid to do that about which I am also passionate. I’m a professional organizer. Actually, my title is “Master Simplifier” ™. And as such, I get to clear other people’s clutter, streamline their closets and their lives and help them find time in an otherwise hectic daily schedule.
And while my days may be spent getting clutter under control – one client calls his “Jurassic sediment” – I am here to tell you that I really don’t give a hoot if your sock drawer is organized. In fact, I’m tired of listening to organizers and hosts of the currently-hot, cable space makeover shows, drone on as if having the perfectly organized closet, file system or garage solution is akin to attaining nirvana.
Perfectly aligned containers, fewer storage spaces jammed to the fagers and closets that no longer spring open under the pressure of too much stuff, isn’t going to insure you Peace of Mind. The essence of getting organized isn’t about being “neat as a pin.” Neatness doesn’t equate to understanding what gives you satisfaction. Orderliness may be next to godliness on someone’s list, but on mine it could be an indication of OCD, and that’s the opposite end of the same spectrum.
Wake up everyone!! It’s about saving you time! Precious time – “the one capital every human being has and can’t afford to waste” according to Thomas Edison. (talk about the light bulb!) The one resource we all wish we …
