Peace of Mind Organizing

18 years of blogging

18 November 2024

This month marks the 18th blogiversary for this blog. On November 10, 2006 I posted my first blog post. Today, I’m publishing my 1679th post. (That includes the posts I’ve deemed worthy of repeating.)

Eighteen years of blogging—I can’t even believe it. I’m very proud that I’ve been able to blog consistently. I’m very grateful to my web designer, Nora Brown for encouraging me to start a blog. It’s possible I had never even have read a blog when she suggested it.

Blogging has required discipline, creativity, and effort, but all that has been paid back in spades. My blog has allowed me to connect with folks I would not otherwise have known (and vice versa), from all over the world. It has helped Peace of Mind Organizing be in the top of the search engine rankings for folks looking to hire a professional organizer in St. Louis. It allows my clients to get to know me before they hire me. It establishes my expertise. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

This blog has paid huge dividends. I do think it has served its original purpose of allowing prospective clients to get to know me (and continues to do so), but it has been useful in so many other ways:

• It helps keep my website high in search rankings
• It establishes my expertise
• It allows me to view the world through the eyes of a blogger—I’m constantly looking at situations and wondering how I can turn them into something helpful for my blog readers.
• It’s made me more reflective
• It’s put me in front of reporters who then interview me (check out my Press Room for links to some of those articles)
• It’s helped record my personal history so I don’t have to rely on my memory (in a way, it’s a very public journal)

These are just some of the reasons I blog. And I obviously enjoy it. In 2012, I added a second blog, Organize Your Family History and in 2023 I started a third one at my budget coaching website, Peace of Mind Budgeting. I try to blog once a week at each of them.

Internet marketing for small businesses has changed so much since I started Peace of Mind Organizing back in 2005. Blogging has taken a back seat to social media and video marketing. People don’t get as much information from blogs as they did when I started this blog. But I keep blogging and I keep benefitting.

It may sound weird, but my blogs feel like friends to me. I love giving them the attention they deserve and they give so much back to me in return.

Please VOTE!

4 November 2024

I took a look at the blog post I published four years on the day before Election Day and was struck by how my message hasn’t changed. Four years ago, I wrote “This is my eleventh presidential election as a voter. And I think it’s the most important.” I wasn’t wrong. And this year’s election feels just as consequential. I’ve edited that important post and am running an updated version. I think it’s the most important thing I could write about today.

Election Day here in the U.S. is tomorrow, November 5. The world is watching.The results will change the course of our country’s history. (I write that without hyperbole.) And the suspense is killing me.

If you haven’t voted already, please vote tomorrow. Or vote early today, if that is available to you. If you have a mail-in ballot, don’t risk sending it in through the postal service at this late date. Drop it off, if possible. You might be able to take it to the polls, have it spoiled, and vote in person. (Check with your local election office to see what the rules are.)

If you’ve just now decided that you want to vote, it’s not too late, assuming you’re a registered voter. (If you live in Washington, D.C. or one of the 23 states that allow same-day registration, you can register to vote on election day.) Go to vote.org to check your registration status and find or confirm your polling place.

If you live in Florida, Georgia or North Carolina and have been impacted by a natural disaster or major weather event, you may have additional options to vote. Click on the link for your state to see your state’s notice.

If you’re voting in person tomorrow, please allow plenty of time. You may need to stand in line for awhile. But it’s worth waiting to make your voice heard. Bring along some water, maybe some snacks and a great attitude. And of course bring your mask if you’re concerned about infectious disease.

The early voting turnout this year has been huge. It’s important to remember that all the early votes may mean a delay in results. So we will all need to be patient while waiting for the presidential election results to be determined. It’s going to be an interesting week!

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Don't let the holidays sneak up on you!

30 October 2024

Our 2023 card

Here in St. Louis, we’re enjoying some unseasonably warm weather. It’s been in the low 80s for a few days. And tomorrow is Halloween!

It just hit me that it’s almost November and I need to get my holiday cards ordered. But I haven’t even started the process. I’m fond of telling people that they shouldn’t feel obligated to send out holiday cards. But I always do it because I actually enjoy the process. And this year, since we’ve moved for the first time in 23 years, it’s particularly important, since our holiday cards will double as change-of-address cards. So I’ll want to try to get cards out early.

Here are the steps I need to take:

• Decide what photo I want to use for this year’s holiday card

• Go to site where I created last year’s holiday card, Paper Culture and choose a card. I typically send non-folded cards with a photo on the front. (By the way, that’s an affiliate link. If you click on it and place an order, I get a small cut.)

• Decide on the text for the back of the card, since it will include a change of address

• Come up with a ballpark figure for number of cards so I can place an order

• Order stamps

• Finalize my card list, so I can get started writing the cards as soon as they arrive

In years past, I have uploaded my address list and had the envelopes addressed for me, but I’ve come to enjoy addressing the envelopes by hand.

This is the process I’ll use our personal holiday cards. I also send company holiday cards to clients and colleagues, so I need to repeat the process for my Peace of Mind Organizing cards.

For both cards, I use a Happy New Year message because I like its inclusiveness.

How about you? Have you been contemplating the tasks you need to do around the holidays? It might be time to start a list so that you can get started soon and make December an easier month.

Do you have a plan to vote?

23 October 2024

Here in the U.S. a very important election is happening on November 5. I am thrilled to say I voted today!

We now have early in-person voting in Missouri (called “no-excuse absentee voting”) at a few designated polling places. I’m lucky because there’s a polling place, the Schlafly Branch of the St. Louis Public Library, just two blocks from my home. This makes voting for president so much easier than it was in 2016 when I stood in a line that went outside the door on Election Day and in 2020 when, in the height of the pandemic, I opted to vote absentee by mail but had to get my ballot notarized. (As an aside, that’s why I became a Notary Public. If you live in St. Louis and need an absentee ballot notarized, I’m happy to help. Just email me.)

Early voting in Missouri started yesterday. I’ve been anxious to vote but when I took a close look at the sample ballot that was mailed to me, I realized I needed to spend some time doing research. The meaty ballot included 13 offices, 19 judges, five constitutional amendments, one statewide proposition, and four city propositions. The judges have no party affiliation so I went to Your Missouri Judges to check out the ones who were on my sample ballot. The whole process took a little while.

It also took longer than usual to vote, with so many little boxes to fill in. (At my polling place voting on paper ballot was the only option.)

This is why I encourage you to have a plan to vote. Depending on where you live you might need to do some research in advance like I did. If you can, I suggest voting early. You might avoid lines. (I was pleasantly surprised to have to stand in line for ten minutes or so…the polling place was hopping!) And if there were some sort of problem with your registration, this would give you time to work it out. For more information on voting in your state, check out Vote411.

Voting is a privilege. It’s not always easy. But it’s up to us to make sure we can exercise our privilege. Please make a plan to vote!

Organizing your kitchen for the holidays

18 October 2024

I was recently interviewed for the Ask Veronica column for St. Louis Magazine, an online column written by the magazine’s design editor and chief, Veronica Theodoro. The column, entitled Ask Veronica: The holiday season will be here before we know it. What steps can I take now to organize my kitchen?, allowed me to share some ideas for planning ahead to prepare your kitchen for holiday entertaining so that your gatherings are less stressful for you.

I’m a firm believer in helping out your future self by taking simple steps now to make potentially stressful events down the road easier. It can be hard to take the time to do that amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life. But if you do, your future self will thank you.

One way to do that is by hiring a professional organizer. When you make an appointment with an organizer (or organizing team) you make a time and financial commitment to help your future self. Whether it’s to plan for the holidays or a move, streamline your organizing systems, simplify your life by decluttering or anything else, working with a professional organizer allows you to actually get the job done (and maybe even have fun doing it). And that’s self care at its finest.

The ten things I know are true

7 October 2024

I started Peace of Mind Organizing® in July 2005. When I made this big transition from being a writer, I strongly suspected it would bring me happiness. (You can read about why I became a professional organizer, if you’re interested.) What I didn’t know then is how much I would learn and what a life changing profession it is. On my tenth anniversary, I reflected on ten truths I’ve learned as an organizer. When I review those things after 19 years in business, I realize they’re as true as ever. I thought I’d share them again today.

Thinking about my anniversary, I took a moment to write down ten things I’ve learned as a PO that have been proven true over and over again.

1. The less stuff you own, the easier your life is. Less stuff = more freedom.
2. Relationships are more important than things. Don’t let your stuff get in the way of your relationships.
3. There is no such thing as perfectly organized. Strive for “organized enough” instead.
4. You can’t put something away unless you have a place for it. And you can’t have a place for it if you have more stuff than you can comfortably store.
5. It’s easiest to create a new habit if you pair it with something you’re already doing. Use that trick to let habit creation be easy.
6. Indecision leads to clutter. Make it a habit to decide immediately what to do with items.
7. It’s okay to ask for organizing help. In fact, it can be very beneficial.
8. Messy does not equal disorganized. I’m living proof.
9. Tidy does not equal organized. I’ve seen many neat but disorganized spaces.
10. You are not your stuff. Don’t let your stuff (and your ability to organize it) define you.

Alphabetizing my closet

3 October 2024

I know this is going to sound crazy, but I organize my hanging clothes alphabetically. And it makes me so happy.

Let me explain. I buy almost all my clothes from one company, wool&. They sell merino wool clothes that I adore. They’re comfortable, durable and come in a variety of styles. I’ve blogged about the 100-day dress challenge I did four years ago as well as my love of merino clothes in the past.

wool& names all its garments. (Right now I’m wearing Roam, Axis and Cypress, along with a non-wool& merino sweater.) Since each wool& item that’s hanging in my closet has a name I can alphabetize them. I have two pairs of pants that I store together at the beginning of the rack. But all the other wool& garments are in alphabetical order.

It’s hard for me to take a photo in my closet because it’s narrow and I can’t back up far. But I just snapped this picture. Certainly the organization is invisible to the naked eye!

I don’t have a whole lot of clothes, which is how I like it. (All my hanging clothes fit on one 2.5-foot rod rod.) I just counted and I have 33 wool& garments plus 16 garments from other companies. A few of them are merino shirts or sweaters from other companies and most of the rest are clothes I bought at my favorite St. Louis charity shop, The NCJW Resale Shop plus one non-wool special-occasion outfit. The non-wool& clothes live to the right of a divider. The one exception is a favorite skirt that I knitted more than ten years ago. It’s the first garment on the rod because I enjoy looking at it when I open the closet door. (I do have a dresser drawer with leggings and bike shorts and another drawer with undergarments…they’re all wool too!)

The reason this works so well for me is that it works with how I think about my clothes. When I get dressed, I mentally put together an outfit. Since each part of the outfit has a name, it’s easy for me to find each component. When I take an item off the hanger, I leave the hanger in place to make it easy for me to hang it back up again.

Prior to alphabetizing my closet (which I did six months ago), I organized my closet by type of clothing (dresses, pants, jackets/cardigans). And back when I had more clothes I would organize them by color within those category. That worked with how I think as well.

There’s no right way to organize your clothes. And I know most people couldn’t (or wouldn’t want to) alphabetize their clothes. The best way to organize your closet, in my opinion, is to figure out how you think about your clothes and what would make it easy to find them and also to put them away. The way to keep a closet tidy is to put stuff away regularly. We all know that when we haphazardly put stuff in our closets it turns into an annoying mess quickly.

If you have a hard time finding the clothes you want to wear in your closet, I suggest going through them, letting go of the clothes that you don’t wear, and then thinking about how you go about selecting the clothes you do wear. Then perhaps you can revamp how you store them. It can be a fun exercise!