Organizing Blogs by Professional Organizers
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Tag >> organizing
Pet Cancer Awareness MonthHave some quality time with your furry friends while checking your pal for lumps. We regularly organize family moves that include pets. And, because moving is just as stressful for your pet as it is for you, PHA suggests that the animal be crated during the packing and unpacking process. Photo courtesy of my good friend Cheryl November is Pet Cancer Awareness Month, and according to Dr. Post, a veterinary oncologist, cancer is one of the leading causes of death in pet dogs or cats. Like humans, the earlier the cancer is detected, the better your chance for receiving effective treatment. More information is available at http://www.acfoundation.org. In the meantime, take the time to hang out with your furry friend and give them a rub down. They will enjoy the attention, and you can determine if it's time to schedule an appointment with your vet.
Art of Stress-Free Moving Coast to Coast or Anywhere in Between
Stress-Free Moving, is that really a possibility? I think so. But, you need some tips to get from here to there with a minimum amount of stress.
If you're being relocated due to a job change, your Employer is probably providing services through their Relocation Services vendor. And, if you're lucky, the moving company will pack up your belongings, physically move them, and deliver them to your new temporary/permanent home... sounds stress-free, but is it?
Items arrive at your new temporary/permanent home, and now what? The physical configuration is way different than the home you left behind.
Again, you might be lucky and the movers will unpack the boxes, but they leave everything on counters and on the floor. Where do you begin with all this chaos? You are now more stress-full than before! Here are some tips that anyone can use whether you are moving within your local city, or moving coast to coast: Once you know you'll be moving, research reputable, licensed moving companies. Get at least three bids and make sure they are apples to apples: You want a not to exceed bid, which means, the Mover cannot go above that price for your move; You want to know how much Replacement Cost insurance is going to cost - what deductible applies, and, finally what other charges may be included (most movers charge for travel time, packing materials like shrink wrap, and a surcharge for fuel). For coast to coast moves, the rate is based on the weight of your items; however, there should be a to-not- exceed % above the price as the moving estimator should have done a good job when they originally came out to bid the job. Declutter, declutter, declutter. Years ago I read a statistic that people who move throw away or donate up to 1500 pounds of household items AFTER they move!! Don't pay to move something that is no longer useful to you. Donate to your favorite charity, sell on Craigslist, give away on FreeCycle. And, folks, books are heavy.....thin out your book collections - you'll save tons. Pre-Organize before you begin Packing. I've moved over 200 families in the last ten years. With no exception, items are located in one room that belong somewhere else. If you get these stray items to the rooms they belong, when packing begins all items in that room are in that room! Helps on the unpack as well ;) Use a moving concierge - if you can. It will simplify your life in ways that you cannot even imagine. Think about it. If all you had to worry about was packing suitcases for you and your family with important documents (birth certificates, copies of insurance information, deeds, copy of will & trust, etc.); daily medications, clothing and favorite children's toys? If someone else took care of everything else, now, wouldn't that be a stress-free move for you? PHA/Peggy Hughes Associates - San Francisco Los Angeles New York City 415.846.0569
The longer I help clients organize, the more I see that staying organized is not just about setting up a dynamic system, but it is about changing behaviors. I can set up the most wonderful system for a client, but if they don't work it, they will not see the desired results. I often encounter clients who have tried in vain to keep themselves organized. Usually that is when they hire me. My approach, after a few years of organizing, has changed. I now focus on the client's behavior in addition to a great organizing system. The following steps will help you maintain the organizing you have done. Your continued commitment to staying organized will reduce stress and give you a feeling of control over your environment. If you keep doing what you have always done, you will get what you've always gotten. Let that become an organized space.
 There is no doubt I am a Country Music Fanatic. I love the concept of a country life, plain and simple. Now, in saying My Life is Like a Country Song (to give credit where credit is due, this is a play on Chris Cagel's My Life's Been a Country Song), I don't mean the country song about how the wife has left him, the dog dies, and he has been drinking to no end. I mean the concept of family, good values and simplicity! The front porch swinging, slow paced living kind of song.
When you live in a busy area (like Orange County, CA) you somewhat feel the need to stay busy like all the others. There is a feeling you are missing something if you don't do it all. Whether you are a stay at home mom, with a crowded activity/volunteer schedule, or the high powered executive who needs to close just one more deal, it seems as if we are wearing ourselves out. Personally, the fast paced life can beat me up. Some days I dream of sitting on a wrap around porch, sipping tea, rocking in a swing and staring out at a field of grass. (Of course I would be listening to some old Kenny Rogers and the sound track to Urban Cowboy). I guess I just wish the world would slow down, at least for a day or two.
For most, to slow down we dream of relaxing vacations. We go on vacations with the idea we are going to relax, but come home more exhausted then we left because we crammed in so much on vacation we never had the opportunity to relax. Not to mention the amount of money we spend on vacations that make us feel we need to work more to pay off what we spent! It is like a vicious cycle that never ends.
I keep myself, home, and family organized so I feel a little less crazed in my daily life. There is rarely a time where we are stressing out looking for something. We are efficient as we can be in a busy life. This allows us to have time to hang out and just be. But for some reason, I still feel the need to do more. My brain can be on overdrive, while my surroundings are not. On my lists: write a book, update my website, send out a mailer, work on my presentations, PDF downloads on my website...the list goes on and on. I want to try and squeeze in so much I don't allow myself to have the down time I need. I am always thinking of the next project.
This summer, I am making a vow to allow myself at least one day to just do nothing. Well, not really, I am a mom and that requires full time work, but to really not work on the house or my business. Just to be with my family and just BE! We have Adirondack chairs on our front porch and this summer I will be planting my bum on those while I watch my kids play. I will read, I will relax, and I will know that my work will still be there when I get back to reality. With my organizational skills, having a systems and procedures in place, I know I can allow myself to have the quite happiness I am looking for! Now if only the asphalt street I look out to on my front porch could turn into a field of wild flowers...
Organizing is my passion - I've been doing it all my life. I think that may be true of many of my professional organizer colleagues - I know it's definately true about me. I was always the child held up as an example by my friends mothers as the one they would like their little girl to emulate. This didn't really cause a problem for me because my friends seemed to agree with the wisdom of their mom's desires. Also I was pretty affable and I actually seemed to enjoy cleaning up all of our toys after play time. As time went on, I developed a minimalist philosphy which manifested itself by not purchasing "things" I didn't need or saving (and thus having to store) items that had outlived their usefulness. I taught myself certain tricks that helped to weed out the extraneous in my life and found I could simplify my world considerably by actually owning less. I called it "creating breathing room" and so it was.
What image comes to mind when you think of spending time with family? Is it interaction and conversation? Is it fun activities or relaxing vacations? What we think of and what actually takes place can be so very different. We are so busy with technology, work, school and activities that we actually could be in the same house, yet we don't spend any time together. No wonder families feel so disconnected!
The other day I was watching Oprah and she had the adorable Nate Berkus and the clutter cutter Peter Walsh on. They were showing neighbors swapping furniture in order to recreate new looks in their homes. The point behind the show was to open our eyes to how, in hard times with limited budgets, we can be creative in our design to get the best out of our space. Now of course having a fabulous designer makes a huge difference when you are decoratively challenged (I think I just created a new word), but the point was easy to get. The "one man's trash is another man's treasure" was spoken loud and clear here.
Greetings from Santa Cruz! I'm back in the office and my head is spinning with all of the new ideas I have from attending the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) annual conference. I was sad to have the conference end, but it is exciting to be back to work on building and improving my consulting business.
Here is the recap of my final day at conference...
My day started with a break out session on creating a lifestyle business. The concepts were based on the Timothy Ferriss book "The 4-Hour Workweek". http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/ One concept that I took away from this session was to consider decreasing the amount of information that comes into my world. I know that I can find the information when I need it, so why do I want to clutter my mind with it constantly. In fact Tim Ferriss says that "a wealthy of information creates a poverty of attention." I left the session with some thought provoking homework. If I had a heart attack and could only work 2 hours per day, what would I work on?. If I had another heart attack and could only work 2 hours per week, what would I work on? That is a big concept if you spend a lot of time working on tasks that keep you busy, but they are not urgent or important. Definitely something to think about.
Greetings from Orlando! Today was the 2nd day of the National Association of Professional Organizers annual conference. It is so exciting to be with 700 other professional organizers! This is the largest organizing conference in the world and all types of organizers come from all over the world.
After the morning general session on how veteran organizers turned their business dreams into reality, I attended 2 technical sessions. The first was on time management and the presenter was Harold Taylor, (http://www.taylorintime.com ) He gave me some new insight on the subject. He talked a lot about the overload that we are experiencing and the speed in which we work and live. He offered several ways to slow down time by adding variety to life, being present in what we do, and creating more meaningful experiences in our lives. I like that advice. It makes so much sense. We are more likely to remember and cherish memorable events than the mundane activities we do day after day.
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