Tag Archive for: organizing goals

Organizing with My Clients

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Who’s taking a summer vacation? Mine is planned.

  

 
 

I’m looking forward to some rest and relaxation. I’ll be on vacation from August 9th to August 25th.

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Recent Blog Articles:
Question:  In which season are you more motivated to get organized? Summer? Fall? Winter? Spring? 
 
Please share.
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Hi  Janine,
Hope all is well with you, and I hope that summer is on it’s way. I’m ready for sunshine and visits to the beach. In this newsletter I wanted to share more details about how I work with my clients and my price increase. The two articles below provide more details about my organizing consultation and my organizing process with clients. The price increase will take affect once I return from vacation, August 25th. I will be increasing my hourly rate by $10.00 per hour. If you have questions regarding how I work with my clients or the price increase please contact me by email or call me directly at 508-699-6652.

What happens during an organizing consultation?
Below are some questions that I typically ask while doing an on-site consultation. Based on the answers I ask more questions in order to get a complete picture of how I can best assist.
1. How are you feeling about having me here and showing me your home?
2. What is your goal for your home?
3. How long have you lived here? How long has your home been like this?
4. Do you want to reduce? If so, by how much?
5. What bothers you the most about your home?
6. What is your biggest stumbling block when you organize?
7. How difficult is it for you to get rid of things? What steps do you take to get rid of them?
8. How difficult is it for you to make decisions on what to keep or not to keep?
9. How good are you at maintaining order once it’s established?
10. How would you like me to help you? What do you consider my role?
11. Ideally, what would your home look like?
12. Are you willing to put in the necessary time and effort to organize?

If you want to organize on your own, think objectively and ask yourself these questions. The answers will help you plan your organizing strategy.

What are the Organizing Steps I use with my clients?
Here are the organizing steps I use.
1. Pick a target area.
2. Tackle the floor and flat surfaces first.
3. Sort like items together into categories and label each category.
4. Go through each category and decide what stays and what goes.
5. Get rid of what goes as soon as possible.
6. Decide where to put the items that are staying, even if it’s a temporary place until you can address the target area it will be in.
7. Pick another target area and repeat steps 2 through 6.
The work definitely goes faster when another person is present and physically helping you. If that person is me I also provide input, possible resources, support for decisions, and knowledge of donation and recycling options. My physical presents also helps hold you accountable to do the work, helps you stay focused and on task, and helps you make decisions more quickly and objectively. If you’d like more details I’d be happy to have a conversation.
From,

Janine Cavanaugh, CPO®
(508)-699-6652
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If you’ve worked with me in any capacity, I’d be grateful for a review.  Simply click on this link and answer 2 questions.  Thank you and happy organizing!
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How to Keep Only What’s Important

Organizing tipKeep what’s important and let go of the rest. Keeping only what’s important will help us stay organized because we won’t be wasting our time with things that aren’t wanted, needed, or used.

Complete these 4 statements to focus on what’s important in life right now.

  1. I want this in my life now, because…
  2. This holds value and significance in my life now, because…
  3. This make me happy because…
  4. This is worth preserving and holding onto because…

Once the 4 statements are complete, take action to remove, recycle, or re-purpose what you can.

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Storage Units – Good or Bad Solution

Helpful Organizer BlogWould you consider your home to be an average American home? Do you think you have just as much stuff as your neighbors? Do you rent any storage units? Would you believe that there are 300,000 items in the average American home? (Becoming Minimalist) That’s a large number of possessions to have, store, maintain, and organize.

Where are people keeping all their stuff? Two of the most common options are in their own homes, or in a rented, off-site storage facility. Actually, the average American home has converted 3 or more spaces into make-shift storage units. (SpareFoot) On the other hand, the self storage industry is a booming business, reaching an annual revenue of 22 billion dollars in 2016. (Statistic Brain Research Institute)$22billion According to an LA Times article, there are 51,000 storage facilities in America, which is more than four times the number of McDonald’s.

Before considering another option, let’s ask the question, “Are storage units a good or bad solution?” Do they just allow us to acquire and hold onto more stuff, or do they serve a helpful role in storing our belongings ? In my opinion, I think there are two legitimate reasons for using storage units.

  • Storage units are a good idea when they help us through transitions in life. Some of those transitions may be when we’re selling a house, moving long distance, or cleaning out an estate.
  • Storage units are a good idea when they are used as temporary holding place for belongings. Some situations when a temporary holding place is needed may be when we’re dealing with a flooded basement, undergoing home renovations, or making decisions on inherited belongings.

Unfortunately, most storage units start off as temporary but become long-term. So, is there another option? I think there is. Live with less stuff. It’s estimated that we use 20% of what we own, 80% of the time (Pareto Principle). That leaves plenty of room for editing and reducing. I know it can be difficult to make decisions on what to keep or not keep, so here are some helpful suggestions:Live with less = less stress

 

 

©October 2017  Janine Cavanaugh, Certified Professional Organizer  All Rights Reserved

 

 

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Situational Disorganization

Organizing tipSituational disorganization is when our organizational systems are temporarily derailed, or when we’re temporarily overwhelmed by life. A few examples are when one has to downsize in less than 3 months, when one has to clean out the family home to prepare for a sale, or when one inherits a mass quantity of things all at once. In these situations I’d recommend asking for help from a Professional Organizer.

 

Lessons Learned From Clients

Helpful Organizer BlogBeing a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) is educational and rewarding. As a member I receive valuable training, business support, and resources. One of the best benefits is the collaboration with other Organizers. There are several smaller groups within the association, and one that I belong to is Golden Circle. We meet 4 times a year to discuss a specific topic, to offer each other support, to get to know each other a little better, and to socialize. Last month we met to discuss lessons we’ve learned from our clients. Everyone had such valuable insights to share.

One important lesson I’ve learned is that it’s not easy to accept reality, especially when it means that our dreams are unattainable. For example a client of mine had collected large amounts of books with the dream of spending hours enjoying her books. Although she wanted my help to sort, reduce, categorize, and organize these books, the reality was that her eyesight was going, and she would never be able to read the majority of her books. My practical, organized self, encouraged her to reduce and let go, until she said to me one day, “What if the doctors are wrong, and my eyesight improves?”  That is when I realized that she wasn’t giving up on her dream. So, I needed to respect that, and not be a dream crusher. Coincidentally, it was not an easy reality for me to accept.

Here are some lessons we (Professional Organizers from NAPO-NE Golden Circle) have learned from our clients:

  1. It’s necessary to give up our right to be right.
  2. We’re like Velcro. We throw out solutions and some stick and some don’t.
  3. Everyone is good a something.
  4. We’re done when our clients are done.
  5. There is value in talking and communicating, not only physically organizing.
  6. Our clients motivate us to walk the walk, and organize and reduce in our own homes.
  7. Everyone organizes at their own pace.
  8. It takes courage to ask for help.
  9. We never know someone’s whole story.
  10. If we can remain neutral, we allow our clients to arrive at their own best solution.
  11. We affect each other in powerful ways.
  12. We all need personal support in our lives.
  13. The first step for change is a shift in perspective.
  14. You’re not a hoarder if you can see the floor.
  15. Running a home is a business in, and of, itself (the business of living).
  16. Sometimes it’s about me, the organizer.
  17.  We don’t know what we don’t know.
  18. Organizing is not always a priority.
  19. It’s all relative.
  20. GRATITUDE!

Another lesson I’ve learned is that simple solutions are often the best solutions. To read more, click here.

©June 2016   Janine Cavanaugh, Certified Professional Organizer®   All rights reserved