Do You Want to Learn Your Organizing Style?

When I first moved to Sedona I often heard the expression “a Sedona moment”. Here, it means that it’s fate, kismet, meant to be….the vortex made it happen!

I want to tell you about one of my “Sedona Moments”.   

I came to town with a brand-new business and had to make all my connections from scratch. I joined the Chamber of Commerce, Women’s Groups, Business Groups and any other I thought would help me move forward. But something happened that I never expected. 

One day I got a call out of the blue from a woman named Sunny Schlenger. She heard from a mutual acquaintance that I was starting a new Professional Organizing business in town and wanted to meet me. She explained that she was once also a Professional Organizer and wanted to offer advice, guidance, really, anything she could do to help me move forward. I couldn’t believe my luck. We agreed to have lunch and of course, before I went, I Googled her.

I nearly fell over.

She was not just a Professional Organizer, she was probably The Original in the business! She had been on many talk shows and written many books. She was doing “the thing” before it was a thing!

She shared a lot of wisdom with me, and I will be forever grateful for that.

Now, I would like to share some of her wisdom with you.

Sunny wrote a book called How To Be Organized In Spite Of Yourself     

Here’s how she describes it: “In my first book, How To Be Organized In Spite Of Yourself, I identified 10 different styles of managing time and space that determine which organizational products and systems are best for each individual. I don’t believe that getting organized is simply a matter of solving a series of problems, but rather learning how to make personal, individual choices that will bring you close to who you are, and who you’d like to be.”

I just picked up this book again and with Sunny’s permission, decided to create my next series of blogs by sharing this information with you.

What’s Your Organizing Style? Stay tuned and find out.

TIME:
Hopper
Perfectionist Plus
Allergic to Detail
Fence Sitter
Cliff Hanger

SPACE:
Everything Out
Nothing Out
Right Angler
Pack Rat
Total Slob
 

Buckle Up! It’s going to be fun, and you will probably learn a little about yourself. 

Do You Know How to Pack?

Here’s a serious question: Who out there knows how to pack? There must be a formula, right?

I always think I do. I think I’ve packed the perfect amount of clothing, everything is needed, everything will be worn and BOOM – I can’t close my suitcase and I must start eliminating.

As an organizer, this is embarrassing to admit. But nobody’s perfect.

I put a little more thought into it when I packed for my recent weeklong vacation in a hot climate and here’s what I started with:

7 pairs of underwear
4 pairs of socks
2 SS Tees
3 Tank Tops
2 Shorts
2 LS Tees
2 Leggings
2 Sun dresses
1 Sweat pant and Sweat shirt
1 Pair PJ’s
1 “Nicer” Outfit”
1 “Nicer” LS Top
1 “Nicer” Shoes
1 Flip Flops
1 Walking Shoe
2 Bathing suits with a cover up

Well, it seems reasonable to me…

I start with I pair of undies per day (because who wants to do laundry) and the the maybes start – maybe I’ll work out so I should pack some extra.

Then the other questions:

Will it really be hot at night? I’m always cold so I need more layers. Better safe than sorry right?
Will it be so hot that I’ll have to change during the day?
Will I have to dress more than once? I should bring extra outfits just in case…

What do you think happened?

Of course, I added much more stuff and took a bigger suitcase. And, you guessed correctly I never wore more than half of it!

I just can’t help myself!

Tell me how you do it. If you’ve discovered the formula, please share!

What's the "Best" Way to Organize?

How do you motivate yourself to get things done?

At times we all get lazy, overwhelmed or even panicked at times and pushing ourselves to tackle tasks can become a task in itself! It’s even more difficult when you don’t enjoy the task at hand.

Well, this certainly won’t help if your taxes are still not done but if you’re trying to get yourself organized, here are some tricks to try.

Firstly, and most importantly, don’t try to do it all in one shot! That thought even freaks the professionals out!

Here are some fun ways to break down the daunting task of organizing almost anything:

Let’s start with the more common ones:

1-      By Room, the most practical method. Choose one room at a time to concentrate on, then de-clutter and organize until you’re satisfied with the results.

2-      By Category can be very productive. Pick a category every time you decide to de-clutter. One week it could be clothes, the next toys, the next books and so on. Make sure you really find everything that fits into that category and evaluate whether to keep or donate.

Now we start creating the “games” and having some fun:

3-      Numerically there are two ways you can commit to playing this. Using the first method, on the date you decide to organize you commit to donating/discarding the number of items for that date. For example is you organize on the 10th, you eliminate 10 items. With the second you use the number represented by the month, so in April you would choose 4 items and in November you would choose 11.

4-      Alphabetically speaks for itself. Make sure you make a list of everything before you start so you don’t forget a category.  S is for sewing accessories, shirts, stuffed animals etc. You can pick on “S” a day or plan a day full of “S’s”.

5-      By Color may be the hardest one to do. Choosing a color is easy but then you have to hunt all over the house for things of that color…it may keep your kids busy for a while!

There is no right, wrong, best or worst.

Whatever it takes to accomplish your goal is the best way.

Can you think of any other ways to organize? 

Here’s an article outlining some other things to avoid when taking on an organizing project! Enjoy!