SORT hiatus

Hi friends,

It's been a while since I have done any blogging or organizing of any kind, so I decided it was time to provide an explanation for those who may be wondering where I went.  To be completely honest, my mind and energy have been directed elsewhere in recent months.  The months since my last post in November have been some of the hardest I've ever experienced in my personal life.  Not only did the course of my life change pretty dramatically, but I have moved homes twice since December. . . a pretty big deal for this type-A, organized, nester who likes to have her ducks in a row!  Most of my organizing energy has been directed at getting my own life SORTed out, as well as giving my all to my precious students in my full-time teaching job.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to help others get organized, but it is work that takes an immense amount of physical and emotional energy.  I think that contacting a professional organizer and inviting another person into your space to help you  get organized is an extremely brave and vulnerable thing to do.  I feel honored to be on the receiving end of such a request.  As an organizer, I want to make sure I am able to honor the openness of my clients by providing the very best support I can.

For that reason, I am taking the next few months to "get my head back in the game", so to speak.  I am attending local chapter meetings of the National Association of Professional Organizers and participating in online trainings for organizers.  I am reading books and blogs about how to best help my clients with their organizing needs.  Most of all, I am taking care of myself by being willing to say "No" to some things now so that my later "Yes" will be more effective.  I am doing the things that make me feel whole - like reading, yoga, cooking, and playing with my sweet pup.  I am recognizing that I have to find a sense of serenity within myself before I can engage in creating that sense for someone else.

I hope this message finds you well, and I encourage you to take care of yourself today too.  As for SORT, I am still working with a handful of ongoing clients and I look forward to meeting many new clients when I start organizing again in late May or early June.  Take care!

Katie

confessions of an overwhelmed organizer

I will be the first to admit that I do not have it all together.  Despite the fact that I am extremely organized, I still drop a ball or two every now and again.  Ok. . .I drop balls more than I care to admit.  This blog is a perfect example.

When I was launching my business last summer, I was determined to post multiple times a week with clever, insightful organizing tips and tricks that would inspire my readers.  On my most motivated days, I even considered buying a fancy camera and taking a photography class.  I attended a conference for bloggers and made lists of potential blog posts.  I scoured the web for inspiring organizing blogs from which to glean wisdom and inspiration.  And then reality set in.

In reality, I am an organizer. . .not a blogger.  I don't necessarily enjoy the creative process of writing.  I would much rather be reorganizing food items in your pantry than words on a page.  I will do LOTS of other things to avoid the task of sitting down and recording my thoughts.  It's somewhat comical to see the countless entries of the word "blog" in my dayplanner to-do column.  Each time, the word is neatly crossed through with pen (my indication that the item did not get accomplished and should be moved to another day).  It has seriously been an ongoing to-do item since June.  At one point, I sat down and scheduled several months worth of "Quote of the Week" posts.  This was a strategy to encourage myself to blog between the weekly automated posts so that my blog would not become a string of "Quotes of the Week" with no other content.  But guess what?  That is exactly what happened.  I'll admit I am tempted to delete all of those postings in an effort to "clean up" my failure, but I will not.  Hopefully you will find some humor in my shortcoming.

Also, another reality check came in the form of an unexpected career development.  While I dreamed for months of making SORT my full-time career, I knew when I launched that I was not ready to take the plunge into full-time self-employment.  In August, I started a new teaching position at an elementary school, working with struggling learners and students with dyslexia.  My intention was to stay in this role for one year while I got my feet wet in the organizing business.  But guess what?  I LOVE my job.  I cannot imagine leaving any time soon.  My daily 9 to 5 is challenging and stimulating and lots of fun.  I use my organizing skills every day to structure 30-minute lessons for the numerous groups of students who cycle through my classroom.  It's taken a great deal of energy and attention to learn the ropes in my new role, but I am finally at a place where things are running smoothly and I don't need to work long hours to keep it going.  I am ready to turn my focus back to SORT, but with a different expectation for where my business is going.

Another reality check came the week before I started my new teaching job.  The love of my life asked me to marry him, right as the summer was winding down and school was starting again.  Of course, I said yes!  And with that "yes" came a whole lot of planning and organizing.  A wedding is a huge organizational feat in itself, especially when you are working with a small budget and two very different personalities.  Then there's the planning and organizing that comes with combining two households and making decisions about our shared future as a family.  When Chris and I marry, I will become step-mom to my favorite eight-year-old in the world, and while all of these life changes are welcomed and exciting, they've all coaxed my attention away from SORT and onto other parts of my life.

So here's my confession: I can only juggle so many balls at a time, and this blog has not been one of them.  While my business with clients has remained steady, I have totally dropped the ball on blogging, posting to Facebook, networking, marketing, etc.  It feels like I am just reaching a level of calm in my personal life where SORT can move back to the front burner, but even still. . .no one can do it all.  So my reality probably looks a lot like yours.  I dream big and love life.  I feel incredibly blessed by my jobs (both teaching and organizing), my family, my future husband, my health, etc.  But at the end of the day, I still have dog hair on my floor, mounds of clean laundry to fold, and an empty fridge.  Oh, and I haven't been to the gym in a month.  And it's probably time to start thinking about Christmas shopping.  And I can't remember the last time I actually completed a book. . .

So while I HOPE to blog more consistently, I know that it will continue to be a struggle for me.  It's just not a priority that often rises to the top.  I am setting a goal for myself to think small and post small.  Hopefully you will soon see posts about how I am organizing everyday, and from that you can find some inspiration for your own life.  Thanks for bearing with me as I SORT it all out.

quote of the week ~ September 23, 2013

When you purge unnecessary possessions and open up your space,

 

you feel more energized, focused, and motivated.

 

~ Peter Walsh

quote of the week ~ September 16, 2013

With all the things you have in your life,

are you any more happy than your dog?

~ Ramesh Balsekar

quote of the week ~ September 9, 2013

Science is organized knowledge.  

Wisdom is organized life.

 

~ Emmanuel Kant ~

quote of the week ~ September 2, 2013

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! 

 

Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.

 

Goethe

quote of the week ~ August 26, 2013

Have nothing in your house 

that you do not know to be useful,

or believe to be beautiful.

~ William Morris ~

quote of the week ~ August 19, 2013

 

 

Organizing is what you do before you do something, 

so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.

 

~ A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh ~

 

quote of the week - August 12, 2013

May your walls know joy;

may every room hold laughter

and every window open to great possibility.

~ Maryann Radmacher-Hershey ~



quote of the week ~ August 5, 2013

The world is full of individuals who could have made a difference

 

but were never ambitious or prepared enough

 

to show the world what they’re capable of.

 

~ Dan Schawbel ~

a secret about your things

I loved this passage from the book Clutter Busting by Brooks Palmer, so I thought I would share.  He titled this section "The Secret".

Things will not make me happy.  Repeat this phrase many times.

We try to give our lives significance by filling them up with things.  But it just doesn't work.  You never feel there is enough.  By discarding things that are important to other people but not to you, you start to live more spontaneously, and your natural joy comes through.  Now is the time to be self-reliant.  Now is the time to let go.

Hanging on to things is a way to avoid change.  Change is inherent in every cell of your body.  It occurs every second of your life.  Nothing stands still.  You can pretend change is not happening by distracting yourself with things that don't matter.  But that doesn't suit you.  You've been anesthetizing yourself with things to create a false sense of stability; meanwhile, change is going on inside and around you all the time.  

When you begin to let go of the old useless artifacts of your past, you accept change, and you discover a profound peace of mind because you are going with the flow of life.  There's momentum and power in that.  That feeling of personal mightiness replaces the need to acquire things.  Many of us own things to suppress feelings that we find difficult to face.  But you cannot permanently suppress them.  Now is the time to let those things go.  The world misses you while you're in hiding.  Come out.  It is safe. 

Do these words resonate with you?  I have been working on looking critically at my belongings and hanging on to only those things I find beautiful or useful (see my posts on my recent Purge Project).  I had no idea the extent to which my "old useless artifacts" were holding me to my past.  The wedding dress I wore nearly a decade ago has been following me around for years, reminding me of a marriage that failed.  Many of the decorative items in my home came from a different decorating taste and period in my life, and I am loving the empty space I've created by letting some of them go.  It's amazing how a white wall is so much more inspiring than a painting I didn't love, and a clear tabletop is so much more attractive than one covered with knick-knacks I would never choose.  We may not acknowledge it often, but the stuff we surround ourselves with has a profound impact on the feelings we experience in that space, and clearing the clutter provides wide open spaces for new possibilities.

 

quote of the week - July 29, 2013

Staying organized is like gardening.

 

You are constantly weeding, it's part of your routine.

~ Peri Wolfman ~

SORTed lives ~ woman's closet

 Disclaimer :: these aren't the greatest of pictures, and thye certainly don't do justice to this closet makeover.  I was just so excited about getting everything sorted that I guess I wasn't focused on capturing our transformation on film!

Here's the closet BEFORE.  The client had already done quite a bit of work on her own.  She went through all of her clothing and purged about 4 or 5 bags of items to be given away or donated.  Much of her "keeper" items were stored in a closet in a different room.  The client complained that the closet was too jam-packed when all of her clothing was in there.  She had some products in place to help maximize space, but they weren't really working for her.  In the picture on the left, you can see a double closet rod was added below the shorter hanging items, but it was wobbly and not very functional.  There was an obvious need for some kind of shoe storage as well.  One huge structural plus to this closet is the built-in shelves, which were being used to store cleaning and toiletry supplies (the closet is off the master bath), but they were clearly under-utilized.

 

What made all the difference in this project was adding some space-maximizing products.  Here are the products we used, all purchased at Bed, Bath, and Beyond or The Container Store.

 

 

Our main goal in this closet was to increase the hanging "real estate" so that clothing would not be wedged in too tightly.  We used the products pictured above to accomplish this goal.  Previously, the client had all of her t-shirts on hangers.  Instead, we used labeled canvas bins (1) to sort her t-shirts into categories and placed them on built-in the open shelving (see AFTER picture below).  We used more open canvas bins in various sizes to containerize bulk cleaning supplies, handbags, leggings, scarves, camisoles, and even boots!  (For the record, I love open bins

 . . . here's why.)

 

Bulky denim jeans were also taking up a lot of the hanging room, so we folded them down and placed them in short stacks below this expanding closet shelf (2).  On top of the expanding shelf we placed more canvas bins, making better use of the closet's vertical space.

 

To increase hanging space even further, we added this double hang closet rod (3) and utilized a variety of hanger types (4-6) to increase vertical hanging space versus creating more side-to-side bulk.

 

Instead of taking up shelf space for shoes, we added this shoe rack (10) on the ground, then used shelf dividers (9) to organize sweatshirts on the shelf above the client's athletic wear. 

 

It's not visible in the AFTER pictures, but this awesome little cart (7) fit perfectly into the awkward space betwen the open shelving and the wall (the cart is only 6 3/4" wide!).  It holds the client's bulk toiletry items, as well as bath and body products she saves to give away as gifts. 

 

The cleaning supplies remain on the open shelving towards the top, and we added this turn-table (8) to make items in the back more accessible.

 

Here's a glimpse at the results!



quote of the week ~ July 22, 2013

Start by doing what's necessary;

then do what's possible;

and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

~ St. Francis of Assisi ~

30 day Purge Project wrap up

As of today, my 30 day Purge Project is officially over.  I started out posting daily about what I was purging and why, but after about 20 posts I decided I didn’t like the way the posts were cluttering up my blog, so I removed them and decided to do one final post when the whole thing was over.  Here’s what I purged in the process:

quote of the week ~ July 15, 2013

A man can succeed at almost anything

 

for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.

 

~ Charles Shwab ~

What goals do you hope to achieve in the next week, month, or year?

SORTed lives ~ garage

This lucky home owner has a large, walk-in closet with ample shelving located in her garage. . . perfect for storing holiday decorations, luggage, camping and skiing supplies, hardware and tools.  The family had like items grouped together on this open shelving, but the lack of clear boundaries and insufficient storage containers made it hard to maintain order. 



Garage Shelves :: Before

Garage Shelves :: After

We started by removing everything from the space and grouping like items together.  Some items, such as a few rogue holiday decorations, already had a home elsewhere in the garage.  These items were returned to their true homes.  Everything else was grouped into categories, and we used post-it notes to name each group.  Once everything was cleared out, we gave the shelving a quick wipe-down.  Then, we began the task of choosing containers for each category based on how much we had of that item and when/how it is used.  Closed containers with lids hold less-often-used supplies, helping us to take advantage of more of the formerly wasted vertical space.  Open containers were used for more frequently used products.  These labeled bins act as drawers, so homeowners can pull them out to see all the contents inside.  Once everything was sorted, we no longer needed the large space-eating bins on the left in the "Before" picture, which opened up quite a bit of floor space and made the shelves more accessible.

Garage Shelf :: Before

Garage Shelf :: After

This shelf just outside the kitchen door holds flower pots, glass vases, kids' art supplies and toys for the pool. In the "Before" picture, you can see that lots of vertical space is lost on the vase shelf, and lack of boundaries makes other items hard to access. Overflow items end up on the floor or wherever space can be found.

Again, our process involved removing items shelf-by-shelf and grouping like items together.  The homeowner decided to purge some of her vases and flower pots.  Once we identified the items to keep, we decided that flowerpots would remain on the top shelf. On the second shelf, we added a shelf extender, which decreased the surface area needed for vases by almost half. We then sorted children's art supplies and grouped them in bins and large 12x12 sterilite drawers. On the bottom shelf are pool toys and a pot too heavy for the top shelf, and underneath that are coolers and potting soil.  Everything is much more visible and accessible, and we added storage to encourage putting items back where they belong.

Here's a close-up of the art supply shelf:

quote of the week ~ July 8, 2013

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. ~ Bill Cosby ~

SORTed lives ~ medicine cabinet and kitchen drawer

Medicine Cabinet

Today I helped a dear friend sort a medicine cabinet that, according to her, has been accumulating for 20 years(!).  This medicine cabinet is large and deep, which is a luxury, but a lack of containers meant a loss of vertical space and made it hard to see the contents, especially towards the back. In addition, this woman and her husband travel internationally for mission work several times a year, and there are special toiletry items that they use only during these mission trips.  We knew we needed to create some boundaries by grouping like items together and containing them in a way that made them easy to access.

We started by taking everything out of the cabinet and sorting it into categories.  We threw out anything that was expired or not likely to be used.  Once we could see how much of each item we had, we chose the appropriate containers for each group.  Adding clear plastic drawers and open baskets (all labeled) makes it much easier to find what is needed. We sorted the contents into categories such as Cold & Allergy, Pain Relievers, Bandaids, Vitamins, etc. We were able to utilize the whole depth of the closet thanks to these awesome extra-deep baskets and drawers from The Container Store.  The AFTER picture shows how much organization a few containers added to this space.  Voila!

Kitchen Drawer

 

This extra-large kitchen drawer holds large grill tools, meat forks, and hot plate holders.  The home-owner admits that this is the least organized part of the kitchen, in large part due to the large size and awkward shape of many of its contents.  Adding customizable clear acrylic drawer organizers makes it easier to see and find utinsels, as well as making it safer to reach into this drawer of sharp objects.

quote of the week ~ July 1, 2013

When we throw out the physical clutter,

we clear our minds.

When we throw out the mental clutter,

we clear our souls.

~ Gail Blanke ~