Most, if not all, organizing projects do not start with shopping for containers. Indeed, that is almost the last step. The process actually begins with sorting and purging, then you choose where to put things based on usage, accessibility, proximity, etc. Only then, once you know what you have for a space, is it time to "containerize". 

Having said that, any organizing endeavor needs a reward to motivate you, though getting organized is its own reward. This time of year, I like to remind my clients that Container Store is having their annual Elfa System sale, but don't start by going to the Container Store and buying a new closet system. The sale is now through February 13th, so there is still time to organize the closet first. If you do so, the system in which you invest will serve you much better.

Here are the basic steps for closet organizing:

1. Make space. Clear off the bed or the hall way or make some room around the space where the closet is.

2. Get some supplies, including trash bags, a marker, sticky notes, and a few baskets or bins.  Designate the containers as follows:

• Elsewhere: This container is for items that belong elsewhere in your home.  Don’t waste your time going to put them away.  Put them in this bin to put away later or it may distract you and disrupt your organizing effort.
• Donate: This container is for items you will donate to your favorite charity. 
• Give Away (or name of person, people) – This container(s) is for items you want to give to someone else, perhaps to someone at work or a family member.
• Optional:  Sell – should you choose to have a garage/yard sale or sell on eBay or Craigslist. 
• Recycle – This one is obvious!  For our planet, recycle much as possible!
• Shred – This one is necessary if you will be going through paper.  Shred anything with an account number on it!!

3.  Now Organize, which means pull each item out of the closet and decide if that item is active and serving you. Ask yourself these questions:
          Is it Useful?
          Is it Beautiful?
          Do I love it!?
          Have I used it in the last year or so?
If there are no Yes answers to the above questions, put it in the appropriate bin to eliminate it. 
As I tell my clients, be brutal about your stuff to be kind to yourself. Make the hard choices. The less stuff you have, the easier your life will be; more ordered and productive.

4. Sort the Keep items by type. Also decide whether items are best kept in this closet or perhaps belong elsewhere.

5. Measure and purchase a system. Once you have a completed sort of all the items that will go into the closet, it's now time to take measurements of the closet. You actually may determine that you don't need a new system for the space; all the better as you are now closer to finishing. If you do need a system, measure the closet depth, height, width and be sure to measure the door height and width as well. You can now go online to containerstore.com where a design system will walk you through creating a closet and the parts you need to buy. Or just head out to the Container Store where the rep will help you with the design and what closet accessories you will need, be it drawers, shelves, hanging rods, divider racks, hooks, etc. As you design, consider the categories of items that will go into the closet and general volume, to insure you have the right space for everything. For example, if hanging clothing, how many inches of hanging clothing? If books, how many feet of books?

6. Now install the closet and put everything into it. The installation can be a laborious step, unless you have a willing handyman in the house who will have fun with it. If there is no such resource, hire someone. It serves you to get it done and it serves the local community to employ someone else to get it done. There will be payoff every time you look into your well ordered closet and every time you find something quickly when you need it!

Reward yourself with a well ordered closet now, while the price is right!

And as ever, call us if you need help!

I was taking care of some business at City Hall and was asked what do we do at BALANCE. When I explained my occupation as an Organizer, helping people to get rid of clutter and find order in their home or business, the agent said "oh, so you are like a Qi Master". A Qi Master, yes, that is just what I do!

In traditional Chinese culture, qì (also chi or ch'i, pronounced "key") is frequently translated as life energy, life force, or energy flow. In Chinese Medicine, balanced and free-flowing qi results in health; while stagnant or imbalanced qi leads to disease. In the same way that an acupuncturist diagnoses physical imbalances, and works to re-establish free-flowing qi in the human body, and the practitioner of Feng Shui perceives energetic imbalances in natural or man-made landscapes, and applies various techniques to remedy those imbalances, so do I, as an Organizer, work with my clients and their clutter imbalances. We work together to establish a more open flow of energy. If your space, home or office, has clutter blocking the flow of positive productive energy, perhaps you need a Qi Master to help you get to balance.  

I'm a Qi Master, indeed!

If you are procrastinating on getting organized, read this. Here is what my client said to me Friday before beginning our session to continue organizing her home (something she has been wanting to do for years!) This client is a busy, single, working professional. So far, we had organized all of her clothing, accessories and jewelry and began to organize paper.

I am not publishing this to toot my own horn but rather to encourage you, if you keep putting off the project of getting rid of your clutter. I expect that deep down, you know this could be the result. Well, here is proof.

Her words, exactly:
"Working with you on this organizing project has been a healing and nurturing experience for me. It has been transformational! It has given me a sense of inner peace and self-confidence. Coming home and seeing the order of things now helps me to be more clear about who I am in the world and what's important. AND IT'S NOT THE STUFF! Now I have more inner capacity to hold conflicting ideas and emotions. I feel more at peace and less hurried.  And, anytime I want to get a contact "BALANCE" high I look in my jewelry drawer!"

You can hire someone like me or you can do it on your own and just read this blog once in a while for tips and support. Give yourself a gift this holiday. Get organized and transform your life too!

Pop Quiz: Is your clutter killing you?

I'm was browsing through an interesting book called "The Owner's Manual" (Harper Collins), written by two M.D.'s. It's "An Insider's Guide to the Body that will Make You Healthier and Younger". Who doesn't want to be healthier and live longer? Early in the book, they ask you to test how "body smart" you are with a quiz. The very first question was the closest I have seen to an ROI (Return on Investment) study on the benefits of getting organized. ROI, in this case, measured in years of life.
Here it is:
Which of the following ages you the least?
a.   Smoking one pack of cigarettes a day
b.   An HDL cholesterol level of 29 mg/dl  (for those of you who don't know, that's sorely inadequate)
c.   Consistently avoiding a nagging task on your to-do list  (...in other words, clutter!)
d.   Eating steak twice a week

The answer.. eating steak twice a week ages you the least. A lousy cholesterol level will age you about 4 years. And, drum roll please, avoiding a nagging activity - such as those clutter piles or an action item you hate - will age you just as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes a week! The doctors say it will age you eight (8) (yes, eight) years! Yikes! Eating steak ages you less than a year.

So, the return you get from investing in getting organized is to live a longer, less stressful life! Does your clutter stress you out? Time to get organized. Eliminating those nagging to-do items. The time is now. Because, it's aging you my friend.

Stay tuned to www.balancesf.com in 2011 to help you stay young! Our mission, after all is "to inspire your quest to live a more organized and balanced life."

Get Organized TODAY is a key tool in building a successful life; to bring ease and flow to your day-to-day living when clutter has got you down. More professional and personal organization and preparedness expertise is yours with these insights from Nancy and her organizing peers. With Get Organized Today, you will better manage your life and be ready to handle any situation with ease. To support you on your mission to live an organized and balanced life.

Free Teleseminar Series to learn more!

This book includes expert strategies to:

• Capture the Vision to Create a Space You'll Love
• Create a Productive Environment in Five Steps
• Overcome Chronic Disorganization
• Build the Perfect Closet
• Create a Home Office that Works for You
• Conquer Paper Piles
• Organize for Disaster and Be Prepared!
• and more...

Including Nancy's Chapter ->  Get Organized for the Planet, that outlines 10 incredibly easy ways to turn your matter (clutter) into energy (where everything is in its place waiting to serve you) in an Eco-Friendly way!

Cost:  $24.00

It's madness, what comes into your space every day; mail, paper, reciepts, business cards, flyers, schoolwork, magazines and more. Yet, it's really very simple. Look at it this way: every piece of email and incoming paper fits into one of a short list of categories, indentified by a simple acronym. To manage incoming paper, you just setup a system to sort based on these categories as, soon as new paper enters your space. For personal, it’s RAFT.  For a household or business, it’s RAFT'eD, as follows:

R = Read

A = Action.  Where the next step is to take some action, such as pay a bill, make a phone call, consider invitation/RSVP, send an email, etc.

F = File.   A business or home file system should be accessible, so easy to do that you file most things immediately or almost immediately.

T = Toss, as in recycle or shred. When it comes to paper, virtually all of it will either get shredded (anything with an account number) or recycled. Note that windowed envelopes, sticky notes and even some staples are ok in San Francisco and in most cities that recycle. 

and, for a business or household,

D = Delegate - Distribute to appropriate household or staff member.  Note, just as you have mail boxes in an office for each employee, have an in basket or incoming mail file folder at home for each adult family member.

As you proceed, here are a few key points:

->  A Green Tip: Paper that is not confidential and unprinted on one side can be reused in your printer for scrap printing. 

->  Remember that 80% or more of your incoming mail typically will go to “T”

->  Open mail every day. Sometimes you will skip a day, but if you do it every day it will soon become a habit, it will get easier and faster and it won't pile up.

->  Get angry and arrogant about paper. Stand by the recycle bin and toss freely. Most of what comes in is someone trying to sell you something anyway! Don't take the business card or flyer if it doesn't serve you. Don't keep paper that isn't about YOUR goals and desires TODAY. Let it go.. you are too important in your busy life to waste time sorting and acting on things that don't serve you.

Ok... Manage well. Toss Freely.

And, as ever, call me if you need some help!

It's nice to have a printed list of the upcoming holidays but even better to have them all posted in your calendar with reminders. So you won't forget to pick up those roses for Valentine's Day or to phone home for Mother's Day. Not to mention knowing when it's a full moon so you have an excuse for eratic behavior!

If you are an Outlook user, here's a solution.  I've been using this service for years to refresh my calendar at the beginning of the year. It's so easy and it's relatively inexpensive. And if you do have issues with the service, their support is very helpful:  http://www.calendar-updates.com/  

Happy Holidays!

In the world of getting organized, "containers" are anything from a hook on the back of a door to a bin or box or even an entire shelf system or custom closet installation.

As ever, The Container Store is having their annual elfa sale. elfa is a modular shelving and drawer system that can be customized to your needs and your space to help you get organized. You can use the systems in just about any room, including the closet, office, garage or pantry. It's a relatively low cost and attractive "do it yourself" way to create a custom built-in closet and or a shelving system. Until Monday, 15 February, you can get 30% off a closet or built-in system!

But WAIT!

It's unlikely that you will get organized if you start by going to Target or The Container Store or to IKEA; a mistake many people make when they set the goal to get organized. While these are all great sources for "containers", the FIRST step is to sort your stuff and purge, or edit. Editing as in letting go of what no longer serves you. Yes, it's true, organizing usually involves making some choices to let go. These decisions can be difficult, but they are always ultimately LIBERATING and REWARDING.

So, step 1 and 2 - Sort your stuff and edti.  Let go of what doesn't serve you now in your life. Then, step 3, decide where the rest of the stuff goes. Then, and only then, if you need a shelf or a bin, it's not until step 4 that you head to the store, because that is when you know what you have!

(And don't forget, it's good for the planet if you repurpose those bins and boxes you bought the last time you tried to get organized!)

Make sense? Contact me if not.

It's a good idea to use the Unsubscribe button often on enewsletters to keep clutter from your inbox. You only need to ask yourself one question: "Will it serve me?" Is the content meaningful and useful to you and the goals in your life now?  If not, unsubscribe freely! 

Does the content of the newsletter appeal to you... for example, a key business initiative or personal goal, an activity or hobbie that you love love love? Or a philosophy, political genre or material that is of high priority in your life? Can you learn from the content?  These are all questions about whether this information will serve you right now, today, in your life. Be sure not to fall into the trap of "maybe someday I'll get into this...".  Don't worry. When that "some day" comes, the world will give you what you need. There will be a newsletter or website out there just for you.

Also consider the structure and format of the publication.  Is it well organized? Is it easy to review and read to determine quickly?  Are there links that work?  That sort of thing.

Finally, consider the sender.  If you met that person at a network event or a party, perhaps they included you on the list only because you know someone who might appreciate it's value. If that's the case, then forward it along - that's great karma.  And then.. well, you get the idea... unsubscribe freely!