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Professional organizers help you bridge your old lifestyle with your new lifestyle — working with you to change habits and forge successful ones. Sometimes you need just a gentle nudge to shift from the same old ways of doing things (or not doing them at all!) to new ways.  This includes seeing through refreshed eyes — seeing your space, seeing yourself, and seeing the way you use your time.

Do you feel mired? As if you can’t quite get any traction? Organizers help break the patterns and free you to start moving again. We help you handle papers differently, approach your closet from a new perspective , and work through your projects — to completion!

Professional organizers’ eyes are judgment free. We don’t look at spaces and draw down a curtain of shame; we look to help clients understand: how did things get piled on the floor? Or why are there duplicates taking up prime real estate in your home or office? Our goal is to teach new ways of handling your stuff to clear your spaces, work surfaces, and floors from clutter. And ultimately, this will help free your mind to be even more productive.

ORGANIZERS HELP CLIENTS CREATE:

• a new vision of themselves (you really can become an on-time person)

• a different script for their future life (you will finish this project)

• new habits to maintain order and calm (the pile on the kitchen counter isn’t a permanent fixture)

Break the hold old patterns have on your life by hiring an organizer. Organizers help you update your old operating system. We listen to what’s getting in your way and help you problem-solve HOW to do things  — step by step — so you don’t get overwhelmed. We are cheerleaders for your successes no matter how incremental. We are confidants to your pitfalls as you learn to surmount them. 

Clutter is more than a physical burden; it has an emotional claim. If you can admit that you are overwhelmed and you are open to receiving help, you have taken the first step to inviting an organizer into your life. Any space that overwhelms you probably has an organizer suited to improving the function of that area.

February is the shortest month of the year, but it can also be the most depressing.  It’s cold outside, often gloomy, and really…who wants to get out of bed?!

It’s clear that a psychological tie connects people to the items that they hoard within their home.  Some people develop hoarding tendencies after experiencing a stressful life event that they had difficulty coping with, such as the death of a loved one, divorce, eviction or losing their possessions in a fire, according to The Mayo Clinic.  However, the psychology behind your home lies in how you choose to treat it with color.  Read below to see how colors can affect us both physically and mentally (via Squidoo.com):

Red – Increases enthusiasm, stimulates energy and action, and encourages confidence

Orange – Stimulates activity and appetite, and encourages socialization

Yellow – Mentally stimulating, activates the memory, and encourages communication

Green – Soothing, mentally and physically relaxing, and helps alleviate depression

Blue – Calming and sedate, cooling, and aids in intuition

Purple – Uplifting, calming to the mind and nerves, and encourages creativity

Brown – Stability, a connection with the earth, and offers a sense of orderliness

White – aids mental clarity, encourages us to clear clutter, and enables fresh beginnings

Gray – Unsettling and expectant

Black – Restful emptiness and mysterious, evoking a sense of potential and possibility

So, how do your favorite colors stack up?  What colors are your rooms painted currently? Let the colors be your guide to create an environment that suits your wants and needs.   Once you create the environment that you want, you may gain some new motivation to get organized.  You don’t need to totally redo your house to emit the same feelings; you can just use and/or reuse accent pieces from other areas in your home, like these:

Soft furnishings – Pillows and throws can add a great pop of color and keep you warm and cozy in the cold weather.

Lighting – Try some new lampshades or just switch out the light bulbs.  Soft white bulbs emit a warm yellow-toned light, while daylight bulbs like GE reveal® emit a more natural looking blue-toned light.  Hence, the color on your walls can be affected by whichever type of light bulb that you choose.

Artwork and Picture Frames – Find inexpensive prints from places like IKEA and even less expensive pictures, from your camera!  Put them into colorful frames or if you can’t find one of the right colors, consider spray painting a basic one!

Books – Head to a thrift shop to look for old hardcover books.  Peek under the flaps to see what color the cover is.  Pull together a grouping of books based on the colors you are looking for, it doesn’t matter what the subject matter is!  Organize some flat and some standing for variety on a bookshelf.

Candles – These come in a variety of colors, give off a pleasant scent and a bit of warmth on cold days!

As for me, my home is painted in blues, browns with white trim and I accessorize with those colors as well.  The blue offers me calmness, while the brown offers me a sense of orderliness and finally white encourages me to clear the clutter.  Pretty right-on for an organizer, huh?!

Family and friends watching loved ones drown in their clutter and despair can frustrate and un-nerve the person, ending up with emotions & angered words flying about! I’ve seen some very heated interactions when family & friends step in to “help” or “save” their loved ones. They mean well, although most times I have observed that they feel they can take the decision making away from the individual and that their opinions rule!

As human beings in this world we live in, we feel we own our things and place a lot of value on them, which means we have the right to do as we please with these things, and nobody else has the right to these decisions.

As professional organizers, we practice non-judgment, patience, mirroring what the client says, pointing out other point of views to consider, and being a support through this difficult new process. We listen, empathize, give moral support, and partner with them in accomplishing their goals.

I am writing this so people can learn to heal themselves with this process. The process as I stated in one of my other blogs, has many hidden components. These components are comprised of layers of emotions and thoughts not always recognized consciously. The healing can start with the person taking a stand for themselves with a family member. What does that mean? This may be the first time they have stood up and expressed what they believe or set boundaries. This will alter and impact future interactions with them in a positive manner. Once someone has a breakthrough like this, life alters.  Asking for professional help to assist does provide healing in a loving, nurturing and non-judgmental way. It can be a cry for help, and an acknowledgment of self-love for the first time! So, if you don’t hire a professional, you will probably experience some version of this.

Take a moment to be grateful to the people who care, and notice your distress. These special people in your life mean well, and are only expressing their love, and support for you. The key is to understand their commitment to you, and your well-being. BUT, remember to stay true to yourself and express your needs in a loving manner!

professional organizer (noun)

1. A Professional Organizer enhances the lives of clients by designing systems and processes using organizing principles and through transferring organizing skills. (source: National Association of Professional Organizers)

professional coach (noun)

1. A trained professional who partners with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. (source: International Coaching Federation)

Professional Organizers’ work is extraordinarily valuable to many different individuals in many different situations.  Learning new ways to manage space and time can have a dramatic impact on improving the quality of peoples’ lives.

Professional Organizers’ work encompasses many different situations.  Sometimes Organizers:

• teach techniques and develop better ways to do things
• provide supportive guidance and assistance to work through accumulations of papers, files, toys, clothing, memorabilia and family heirlooms
• share ideas about better ways to use and enjoy existing spaces

But sometimes the actual act of organizing isn’t enough.  For some people it is important to delve into the “whys”.  With an Organizer Coach those clients can spend time:

• gaining clarity around the long term vision for one’s situation and how disorganization impacts their quality of life
• understanding why it is that being organized is important
• anchoring the actions of becoming organized with their long term goals

The synergy of organizing and coaching can bring dramatic results.  Coupling the WHY with the HOW helps to ensure motivation and commitment that leads to the completion of an organizing project.

If you think the combination of organizing and coaching is something that you’d benefit from, I urge you to consider a Professional Organizer who is skilled and trained in both of these areas.

Many members of the Greater Philadelphia chapter of NAPO are trained and/or certified as a Coach.  As with organizing, differing emphasis are found throughout the coaching profession, but all coaches trained to International Coach Federation standards will have competencies in ensuring the client’s work is congruent with their needs, values, and situations.

People always ask if my home is perfect, and I say it functions perfectly.  I’ll let you read between the lines there.  Striving for perfection can be an obstacle in itself.  Most people are surprised to learn that perfectionism is a common reason for disorganization.

Common problems with perfectionism and organization:
•    Perfectionists might say to themselves, “If I don’t have time to do it right, I’ll wait until I do have time.”
•    Waiting for a “good” time doesn’t work.  The time will never present itself.  You need to schedule it.
•    Parkinson’s Law says that work expands to fill the time allowed for it.
•    The law of diminishing indicates that the more we hone, tweak, and perfect the less efficient and effective we become.  We also neglect other important projects.
•    The project waits, grows, and becomes a big, hairy monster.

It’s not important to do everything perfectly.  In fact, if you think of organization as a spectrum, perfection is one end and extreme disorder is on the other.  A healthy balance is really the best middle ground.  Always having every dish put away, every toy in the toy box, and every surface clear is unrealistic.  The important things to remember are:

•    Every item should have a home.
•    Everyone needs to know where those homes are located.
•    Storing things closest to where they are used simplifies retrieval and return.
•    Set limits on how much is enough.  “More” can undermine organization and make maintenance more work.
•    Storing like items together in containers helps to stay on top of inventory.
•    Planning a time to clean-up is part of every project, not something we do another time.

Perfectionism paralyzes action.  Done is better than perfect!

The next time you feel paralyzed by perfection, remember the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing.  The next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

Yours truly,
A former perfectionist

Finding the motivation to de-clutter one’s home and maintain “order in the house” can be challenging for clutter-bugs and busy people.  Some are motivated when they are tired of being embarrassed; others are moved to action by nagging spouses or the arrival of company.  Working away from what you don’t want can be inspiring but the effects are not always long lasting.

Working toward what you want produces greater inspiration and longer-lasting results.  How, exactly, do you work toward what you want?  Simply through visualizing what you want and noting how you feel.  Let’s try it out:

Get comfortable, relax and close your eyes.  Focus on your breathing for a moment.  Picture yourself walking into your home – not your house as it is now, but rather your IDEAL HOME.  What does the first room look like?  Is it clutter-free and redecorated?  Look in the closets, cabinets and drawers – what do they look like?  Notice how you feel when you’re in your ideal room.  Do you feel calm, peaceful and confident?  Take a mental snapshot of the room for future reference.  Continue to tour your home, one room at a time.  How does it look?  How do you feel?  Take mental snapshots as you go.

Now notice how you IDEALLY OPERATE in your de-cluttered home.  Do you clean up without effort, gliding through your home every morning and evening, putting items back to their assigned homes?  Perhaps someone else handles these chores in your ideal world.  Do you juggle your responsibilities with ease?  Are you aware of what needs to get done?  Do you prioritize with clarity, delegate with ease and float from one task to another while “in the zone”?  How do you feel as you easily manage your time and tasks?  Preserve this image in your mind’s eye.

Come back to earth!  If you’re like most people, you found the visualization to be calming and inspiring.  You know what you’d like your home to look like and you know how you’d like to be in it.  You now have a photo gallery of visualized rooms and a mental video tape of a way of behaving.

Use these visualization tools to inspire action and keep going.  If you’re sorting your clutter and start to feel overwhelmed, stop, go within and look at your mental photos to remember how calm and empowered you felt in a home that nurtures you instead of one that drains you.  Face your clutter again and ask yourself if it fits in with your vision of your IDEAL home.  If it doesn’t, let it go and enjoy the resulting lightness of being.