 Looking anxious, Diane* brought me over to a hidden spot between her dining table and credenza and gestured to several large tote bags. They were packed full of mail, paperwork, and notes collected over several months, perhaps even years.
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 I had just come home with a bag full of new yarn, excited to start knitting the sweater my daughter had asked me to make for her. All I wanted to do was cast on and start knitting.
 Life is busy and maintaining an organized space can feel like an uphill battle. Whether due to a lack of time, a significant life change, or simply an overwhelming accumulation of clutter, it’s easy to feel like you just don’t know where to start. You don’t have to muscle through it on your own. Bringing in a Certified Professional Organizer® can save your sanity and be a game-changer.
Here’s when you need to call in the experts. Chaos & Clutter What’s bugging you? Is it your jumbled kitchen drawers, overstuffed closets and bureaus, messy entryway, chaotic playroom, or piled-up home office?  After 8+ years of helping people organize their homes, you can bet I’ve seen it all. One of the things I love most about being a professional organizer is that every project is different, with varied homes and unique clients.
While each client has a specific reason for needing my help — just moved in, about to move, busy family life, inheritance, downsizing, new baby, and more — I’ve noticed some organizing errors that crop up in just about every home.  I have a confession: For the past 6 years, I’ve rented a storage unit. OK, technically I didn’t rent it, my husband did. His original impetus was good. He’s an artist and he had work coming back from a show, but no space in his studio because he was busy making new work. So he thought he’d get a small storage unit for a few months until he could move the art to another gallery. Months turned into a year, then two, then six. The art market shifted — and a worldwide pandemic shut down the gallery scene — and the shows he hoped to get didn’t happen. But the storage rental continued. This is how it happens with storage units. We think it’s a short-term place to stash some extra stuff, but since the bills are paid automatically and it’s out of sight, it’s too easy to forget about what we squirreled away. Watch my podcast episode:HOW BIG IS THE PROBLEM?
If you see yourself in my situation, know that you’re not alone. There are over 51,000 storage facilities in the US. That’s more facilities (not individual storage units) than McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts combined.  “How long will it take for me to get organized?” As a Certified Professional Organizer®, I get this question a lot.
Remember, your home didn’t get disorganized in one day, and it’s not going to get fixed in one day! How long your organizing project will take depends on 4 factors. 1. HOW QUICKLY DO YOU MAKE DECISIONS? If you need to reminisce and tell the story of each item before deciding whether or not to keep it or where to put it, the organizing process is going to go pretty slowly. If, on the other hand, you set some pre-decision guidelines, your project will pick up speed.  You know you need to let go of excess stuff. You even read my 3 Sticking Points blog and now you want to let it go. But actually getting rid of it seems overwhelming and you just can’t bring yourself to do it. I know that feeling! Before I was a professional organizer, I was a milliner (a hat maker). Immersing myself in the world of millinery design, I had amassed quite a collection of wooden hat blocks, the molds on which I formed hats by hand. I scoured thrift shops, scrolled eBay, and searched for block makers around the world to build my collection. This fall — after not working as a professional milliner for over a decade — I made up my mind to reduce my collection, keeping only as many as I need to fuel my hobby. In my last blog, I outlined the 3 Sticking Points — Emotional, Practical, and Financial — that hold us back from detaching from our excess stuff. These hat blocks hit all three sticking points for me! But after confronting the reasons for holding on, I faced another hurdle: How do I actually get rid of them? Once you find your sticking points, you need a KEY to unlock the clutter! The Keys to Unlock Your Clutter
= The actions you take to address your Sticking Points (emotional, practical, and financial) and let the clutter go.  This September, I realized it was time. Past time, really.
I eyed the three long shelves stretching across the back wall of my craft room, piled with over 60 hat blocks I had collected in my previous profession as a milliner. These blocks had been the tools of my trade. Hand-stretching a felt or straw over each wooden form makes a unique hat. Some blocks were antiques I’d scored on eBay or thrift shops and others I’d watched being hand-carved by an artisan in Florence. “I’m a professional organizer now,” I told myself. I make myself a hat every now and then, but I have no desire to be a professional milliner again. So why was I having such a hard time letting go of these hat blocks?  Check out the recent Redfin article I was featured in: Organizing Mistakes: 27 Slip-Ups to Avoid During Your Next Project | Redfin Organizing is difficult and can be a stressful, time-consuming project. It’s also an essential skill that can increase your physical and emotional health. Chances are, though, that during an organizing project, you made a few mistakes. While it's natural to feel disappointed or frustrated when mistakes occur, it's important to recognize them as valuable learning opportunities rather than failures. So, whether you live in a house in Brentwood, CA, or a Greenville, SC, apartment, these expert-backed tips are sure to make your life easier. Read on for 27 organizing mistakes to avoid during your next decluttering project. Read the full article here: Organizing Mistakes: 27 Slip-Ups to Avoid During Your Next Project | Redfin   As a Certified Professional Organizer, I connect with my clients, unleashing creative solutions to help develop competence and confidence in the way they organize so they can find contentment in their homes. Each of the five C-words in this sentence—Connection, Creativity, Competence, Confidence, and Contentment—impacts my organizing work and together they represent my core values. We hold many shared values—for example truth and integrity—but your core values are the unique combination of motivating beliefs that drive you to do what you do. Core values are the WHY behind your WHAT. Let’s explore how my 5 C core values impact my organizing work with clients. Read on... Be sure to watch my episode of the This Organized Life podcast or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. Host Laurie Palau and I explore the impact of knowing your core values. |
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