I hear the members of our online organizing program sometimes talking in our message boards or on our member webinars about how they didn't get something done because they "are lazy." Let's pause for a moment for a couple of points: Speaking negatively about yourself in a permanent way ("I AM lazy" vs. "I felt… Read more »
General
Your Organizing Tipping Point: When To Get Help
When people find out what I do, the response is typically a joke about their own level of disorganization, or that of someone close to them. "Oh, can you come to my house?" or "Ha! My boss really needs you." With a few exceptions, nearly everyone feels they could use some help with getting organized…. Read more »
My Brain Needs a Defrag
When your computer hard drive slows down, you can run a defragmentation utility on it, rearranging the pieces of its memory to make it work better again. Sure wish you could do that for your brain! I've been traveling a lot recently and have had several projects going at once, along with everything that I… Read more »
No More Yellow Pages Clutter!
When I was just starting my organizing business ten years ago, a huge percentage of our clients came to us from a large (expensive) ad we had in the Yellow Pages. I did a lot of close tracking on that, and I watched that change, slowly but surely, from Yellow Pages to Google. The last… Read more »
Location, Location, Location: Find Important Things FAST!
In the organizing world we often tell people that everything should have a home, which is very good advice. Usually we’re speaking in generalities about how food goes in the pantry or toiletries go in the bathroom, but today I want to talk about very specific homes for very specific things. Yesterday I was with… Read more »
You Can Lead a Person to Rice Cakes But You Can’t Make Her Eat
Today we had a webinar with Rubbermaid to teach people about "The Motivational Secrets to Staying Organized." (We are repeating this free event Wednesday night, January 26, 2011, at 8:00pm Central, 9:00pm Eastern. Click here to register.) One of the questions we got from a participant was about what to do about her mother's clutter… Read more »
Paper or Plastic? 5 Ways Paper Sacks Can Help You Organize
Before I write anything else, I want to say that I greatly prefer reusable bags for shopping, rather than receiving a new bag at the checkout. But if you forget your bags, you might need to answer the "Paper or plastic?" question. I have found so many uses for paper bags in organizing projects that… Read more »
I Screwed Up.
Yesterday I made a mistake. I missed a family event. It was "on my radar" the night before, it was on my calendar, and all my systems were set up correctly to remind me, but I just BLANKED. I am sure this has happened to every one of you reading this. (If not, please say… Read more »
What NOT To Say in the New Year
I talk to myself all the time. Admit it, you do too! Even if you don't do it out loud, you do it in your head. Sometimes that voice in your head is a much meaner voice than the audible one. I want everyone to start the new year by thinking about how important language… Read more »
TRYING to Wish You a Happy New Year…
If I am TRYING to wish you a Happy New Year, it's not a very strong wish, is it? That doesn't make you feel very solid and sure about my intentions. I bet you've invited someone to a party or event before who said, "I'll try to make it." And you knew right then they… Read more »
