Peace of Mind Organizing

Organizing wisdom from the Expo

1 April 2013

As I’ve posted here, the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO-STL) sponsored an organizing expo for the public on March 23. It was over a year in the planning and all that planning showed. The event was a great success, with every detail anticipated. It ran so smoothly. I was extremely proud of our chapter. We had great participation!

The speakers were terrific. Over 100 audience members heard five great talks. (I was honored to be one of the speakers, covering garages and basements.)

Here are some of the nuggets I gleaned, one per speaker. (I included one of my own for the sake of completeness.)

• When you’ve decided to discard a piece of paper, tear it in half so that you don’t have to rethink that decision. — Julie Hough, The Ordered Home

• As far as the IRS is concerned, there’s nothing special about scraps of paper. Electronic/scanned documents work just as well. — Carolyn Conboy, Org4U

• Start small when deciding where to start decluttering. A single shelf, a single drawer or cupboard, something doable. And make it an area that’s high impact, if possible. — Janine Adams, Peace of Mind Organizing

• If an app doesn’t work for you, delete it. — Jennifer Stewart, Organizing by Jennifer

• Goals need to be reasonable or they’ll make you feel like a failure. If a goal is too aggressive for your best friend, it’s too aggressive for you. — Denise B. Lee, Clear Spaces LLC

Incidentally, I created a garages and basements Pinterest board to share some organizing solutions for those areas. If you have a garage or basement in need of organizing, you might want to check it out.

Tagged with: napo st. louis, organizing expo, organizing principles, wisdom

Comments