I’m always amazed at how often I put off dealing with clutter in my own home. If I give it some focused attention, I’m able to declutter and organize pretty easily. But if I add a professional organizer to the mix and the process is supercharged!
Tagged with: bathrooms, declutter, decluttering, professional organizer, working with a professional organizer
Way back in 2011, I wrote a post aimed at helping readers who are interested in working with a professional organizer make the most of the experience. I asked other professional organizers to comment, which made the post even more valuable. I just re-read it and I’m thrilled that a dozen years later it’s still valuable. So I’m running it once again. To get the maximum benefit, I encourage you to go back to the original post and read those comments—my colleagues added some great insight. And please feel free to add to the comments on that original post!
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer, worth repeating
I spent the morning at the monthly meeting of the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals. It was so enjoyable and valuable that I decided to re-run an updated version of this post, which I originally wrote in 2016. If you’re a professional organizer and you don’t already belong to your local NAPO chapter, I encourage you to join!
Tagged with: napo, napo st. louis, professional organizer, worth repeating
Back in 2011, I wrote a blog post aimed at helping readers who are interested in working with a professional organizer make the most of the experience. I asked other professional organizers to comment, which made the post even more valuable. I just re-read it and I’m thrilled that 10 years later it’s still valuable, so I decided to run it once again. To get the maximum benefit, I encourage you to go back to the original post and read those comments. And please feel free to add to the comments on that original post!
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer, worth repeating
If you’re a professional organizer, I hope you’re lucky enough to live where there’s a local chapter of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals. And if you do live near one, I hope you’ve joined it!
Tagged with: napo, napo st. louis, professional organizer
I love leading organizing teams. The amount of work we can get done in a short period of time amazes me. Back in 2012, I wrote a blog post called Working with an organizing team that outlined some of the advantages of hiring an organizing team, rather than a single organizer. Eight years later, all of that is still true!
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer, team organizing
In March, I was pleased to be asked by the big St. Louis talk radio station, KMOX-AM, to do an interview on helping people let go of stuff. The Marie Kondo-fueled decluttering craze prompted the story. The reporter, Megan Lynch, a KMOX news veteran, asked really thoughtful questions and the interview was a lot of fun. I was also thrilled to be recording in a big, professional studio. I talk into a microphone in my home-office podcasting studio, but it was nothing like this!
Tagged with: declutter, media, professional organizer, professional organizer st. louis, radio
Way back in 2008, I earned the credential Certified Professional Organizer® or CPO®. This credential is conferred by the Board of Certification for Professional Organizers as part of an accredited credentialing program. In order to become a CPO, I had to pass an exam that I studied hard for. In order to sit for the exam, I had to have 1500 paid client hours or 1250 paid client hours and 250 equivalent educational hours. (I had the latter.)
Tagged with: accomplishments, cpo, icd, napo, napo st. louis, professional organizer, professional organizer st. louis
I had one of those great experiences yesterday that reminds me how my clients often feel when we work together. I had met a woman who was interested in pursing a career as a professional organizer but had no experience beyond working in her own home and helping her family members get organized.
Since she was someone I might hire and train, we decided to do an organizing session at my house to see how she liked it and what her organizing style was like. (Turns out she’s a natural!)
Tagged with: closets, decluttering, professional organizer, working with a professional organizer
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer, worth repeating
For seven years, I’ve periodically swapped organizing services with the amazing Aby Garvey. Aby is not only great at making spaces function really well, she makes them beautiful too. I absolutely love watching Aby fiddle with a collection of something to make it look great in a container. I could do it all day.
This past Saturday, Aby was kind enough to come to home and help me address my the large closet in my home office, where I keep supplies. Three years ago, she helped me tackle the same space and made it really lovely. I blogged about that experience in a post called Lessons learned while decluttering. In the intervening three years the space had become a little unruly. It still functioned well, but it had lost its visual peace.
Tagged with: aby garvey, decluttering, home office, professional organizer
I started leading organizing teams in 2008, but it was a relatively rare occurrence. By 2013, I’d renamed my team organizing service OPERATION: PEACE OF MIND and more than half my client appointments were teams. Now, I work almost exclusively by leading organizing teams. (And occasionally I send out teams that are led by experienced team members.) I find that the synergy of the team makes a team organizing session more than the sum of its parts. For those clients who can handle the fast pace, team organizing allows for swift and dramatic change. It’s rewarding for the client and for the organizers. I love it!
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer, team organizing, worth repeating
Five-and-a-half years ago, professional organizer Aby Garvey rocked my world by helping me reorganize (and rethink) my pantry. This weekend my plan is to declutter and fine tune my pantry, which has gotten out of control (as pantries have a tendency to do). I’m taking inspiration from this post I wrote after that initial session. If you have a pantry (or other space) to organize this weekend, maybe you’ll find it inspiring, too!
Last month I blogged about working with professional organizer Karel Worley in my basement. With my husband’s help, we tackled a dirty decluttering job in only four hours. It was one that I’d been dreading for months. It was amazing how much we got done and how painless it was.
Tagged with: aby garvey, kitchen, professional organizer, worth repeating
If you’re a professional organizer, I hope you’re lucky enough to live where there’s a local chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers. And if you do live near one, I hope you’ve joined it!
Tagged with: napo, napo st. louis, professional organizer
This past weekend, I experienced the thrill of an empty basement in my own home. My husband and I live in a two-family home built in 1908. (We used to rent out the downstairs apartment, but now we live in the whole thing.) It has a scary unfinished basement that I joked was straight out of Silence of the Lambs. The limestone foundation walls and plaster-and-horsehair dropped ceiling shed dust onto the floor that is so bad we have special “basement shoes” so we don’t track dust around the house.
Tagged with: decluttering, emotions, encouragement, karel worley, paint away, procrastination, professional organizer
Even professional organizers benefit from the help of professional organizers. After I worked with my friend and colleague Aby Garvey last summer, I wrote this post, which summarizes the insights I gained from our time together. Aby and I have swapped services for years, and I never tire of it!
Tagged with: aby garvey, decluttering, home office, professional organizer, worth repeating
I love it when I find myself in situations that plant me squarely in my clients’ shoes. This past weekend, my friend Aby Garvey, who is an amazing organizer, offered to come to my house to help me organize my office. We swap services occasionally and it’s always fun and rewarding.
Tagged with: aby garvey, decluttering, home office, professional organizer
Back in 2009, as a requirement for the CPO-CD® program, I hired a professional organizer to help me in my home. It was a great experience and I blogged about it at the time. The post is still true (and, I think, interesting). I really loved being in the client’s shoes, and, four years later, I still reflect on that experience when I’m working with clients.
Tagged with: decluttering, emotions, encouragement, karel worley, professional organizer, worth repeating
I wrote this blog post in February 2012, and it’s more true now than ever. I’ve renamed my team organizing OPERATION: PEACE OF MIND and these days I’m doing more team organizing than one-on-one organizing. The results are amazing!
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer, team organizing, worth repeating
I was recently interviewed for an article on the Sparefoot.com blog. (Sparefoot is a website that helps people find storage units.)
Tagged with: press, professional organizer, storage units
As I’ve written here before, I love swapping services with professional organizers. In theory, I shouldn’t need organizing help in my home, since I know what I’m doing. But in fact, bringing in a PO yields amazing results. And it’s loads of fun!
Tagged with: aby garvey, decluttering, home office, professional organizer
A year ago (almost to the day), I posted a blog post aimed at helping those of you interested in working with a professional organizer make the most out of the experience. I asked other professional organizers to comment, which made the post even more valuable. I wanted to make sure those who might benefit from it will see it, so I’m posting it again. To get the maximum benefit, go back to the original post and read those comments.
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer, worth repeating
When I started my organizing business in 2005, I exclusively worked one-on-one with clients. It’s intimate, fulfilling, valuable work. But it can be really slow. And that means progress is harder to see and it can become discouraging for the client.
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer, team organizing
If you’re reading an organizing blog, chances are pretty good that you fall into one of three camps:
Tagged with: decluttering, professional organizer
Having just spent four days with professional organizers, who are among the most supportive and helpful groups of people I can think of, I’m pausing to think about how important support is.
Tagged with: declutter happy hour, decluttering, felder rushing, napo, professional organizer, shannon wilkinson, support
Last month I blogged about working with professional organizer Karel Worley in my basement. With my husband’s help, we tackled a dirty decluttering job in only four hours. It was one that I’d been dreading for months. It was amazing how much we got done and how painless it was.
Tagged with: aby garvey, kitchen, professional organizer
As I blogged about the other day, I hired professional organizer Karel Worley, of Clearing Your Path, to come to my house and help my husband, Barry, and me declutter our basement.
Tagged with: decluttering, emotions, encouragement, karel worley, professional organizer
When it comes decluttering, which is usually the the first step of getting organized, getting started is often the hardest part.
Tagged with: chronically disorganized, decluttering, emotions, karel worley, professional organizer
Over at Unclutterer today, my pal Geralin Thomas of Metropolitan Organizing has a terrific blog post on how to hire a professional organizer. It includes fifteen questions to ask a prospective organizer, as well as qualifications to look for.
Tagged with: geralin thomas, hiring a po, professional organizer, unclutterer