Take Control Organizing

The average person spends 55 minutes a day looking for items they know they have but can not find!

I know for me personally that is a waste of time!  I have too many other demands in my life to be worried about where I left my keys or a piece of paper that needs to be returned to school.

In addition to the time being wasted there are other real costs to being disorganized. Think of the financial cost.  The actual money being wasted on buying repeat items, lost checks, expired coupons and gift certificates.  A huge loss of money is wasted on late fees, usually not because the money wasn’t available but the bill was lost or forgotten about.

When we have a lot of clutter in our homes and around us it also clutters our minds.  It takes away our energy and creativity.  It starts to affect how productive we are and how we feel about ourselves and our homes.  It adds constant stress to our lives.

These are very real and very high costs to being disorganized.  The holidays are coming and this is a great time to start your organizing projects. Recently I wrote an article for Trading Cradles on how to make money with organizing.  I encourage you to read it and start clearing out what is no longer needed or wanted.  Make room for the things that truly matter the most.  

There is something to be said about simplifying.

Clearing your clutter means clearing your mind, your space, and taking back control of your time!

Start today, pick an area that has been bothering you and spend 15 minutes sorting and organizing.  These are the first steps in moving forward!

Happy Organizing!

I want to share a breakthrough story I had with a client this week….

This particular client recently retired and he wanted to sort through his belongings to clear up space and time.  He wanted to start enjoying his retirement without the burden of what the disorganization was costing him now…A lot of stress and anxiety!

We discussed the issue of letting go and how difficult this actually was. We talked about specific items and he was doing his best to decide what to keep and what to let go of. These choices are difficult because what logically makes sense in the mind does not always make sense to the heart.

The client was explaining to me a particular item, it meant something to him at one time but not really anymore but he still wasn’t sure what to do with it.  As we continued our conversation, the subject came up of when he passes… I asked him, “Does this represent who you are?” Would his children look at this and think, yes, this is my Dad.

My client paused for a moment….  and I honestly can say I saw the shift happening before me… I could see it in his eyes, a new perspective, a new way of thinking about it.   He decided to let it go.  It was not a representation of who he was as a person, a father, a friend etc.

I hope you can take this experience and apply it somehow to your own.  The next time you get “stuck”, think about how this item represents you. The answer may actually give you permission to let it go.

Happy Organizing!

Getting Started!

You want to get organized, but you don’t know where to start!  This is a very common dilemma for many of us!  Projects in whole can seem too large at times to tackle.  Which is why many of us just don’t get started.  We settle.  We settle for the loss time and lack of space.

My business is built around not settling any more and taking control!

Instead of thinking of projects as whole think about what is bothering you most about your disorganization!  Start here! 

It may not even be an actual space or item, it could be that you are constantly late or unprepared for meetings.  For the next week or so, just concentrate on getting to places on time and not trying to organize everything at once.

If you are constantly stressed about your children’s papers from school, spend the time to organize a system in which these papers can be contained.  If your bulletin board is driving you crazy because of all the clutter, take a few minutes to recycle the outdated material.  Maybe it’s a junk drawer you can’t get into.  It doesn’t matter what it is, just take care of it.

Start with matters to you!  Starting with matters to you first will zap those pesky tolerations you have been living with!  You will feel immediate results and will want to continue to add more systems to make your life easier!

Challenge:  I challenge you to pick one toleration this week and fix it!  Don’t just stop there… Keep going!

Happy Organizing!