Book Review: The Organized Mom by Stacey Crew

As an organizer, I love organizing books and as a mom, I love organizing books.  Stacey Crew’s new book, The Organized Mom, combines the best of both worlds.

When I had my daughter, I was in my late 30’s and had absolutely no idea what I was getting into.  Oh, I went to the classes, and read the popular books but while those were great for the big picture – I was still amazed at how much I didn’t know and even though I was pretty organized, there was a lot of things I bought that I really didn’t need, and things that didn’t make sense until after I was in the midst of it all.

What I really like about Stacey’s book is that it has a great mix of the warm & fuzzy part of being a mom, and the practical side of what you need to know AND how to do it.  So much of being a mom is being organized and having a book like this at your side can be invaluable.

The book is broken into two parts:  Organizing Your Home & Organizing For The Baby’s Arrival.

Organizing Your Home encompasses the definitions of organizing, Stacey’s GOPACK method for organizing, and organizing room by room.  This is helpful for just about anyone – and as well done as any organizing book I’ve read (and I’ve read a lot!).

Organizing For The Baby’s Arrival spans going to the hospital and coming home to babyproofing to baby’s firsts.  This is the part I wish I had when I was pregnant!

Some of my favorite things:

• defining of terms like ‘binky’ and ‘nesting’
• real life stories of how people solved common issues
• super practical and detailed recommendations and ideas
• checklists of what you need (including notations to indicate things that are nice but not necessary)
• diagrams for nursery set up and zones for rooms of the house
• an obvious understanding of what it is to be a mom, and a person with a life before parenthood
• the Appendix that has Worksheets and the one that has Resources

Plus the general philosophy that swirls through the book about having a vision for your life and about being mindful.

A few minor quibbles:

• I may have missed it but the book uses “mom” and “dad” which doesn’t necessarily encompass various permutations of couples such as same sex couples or single parents.  However, I suspect this was done for ease of writing and not a deliberate omission.
• The book also appears to make the assumption that someone will have a support system which is not always the case.

The best thing about this book is its logical, step by step approach to getting things done in ways that are achievable and, dare I say, even fun.  Plus, learning the skills as an expectant mom will allow mom to teach the skills to her child which may end up being even more valuable.  Being organized isn’t natural for all people, and learning the skills during childhood can only make later life better.

Stacey and I share a philosophy that less is more, and that life is so much simpler when there is not so much ’stuff’ in your way.  Bringing a baby into a family doesn’t have to cause chaos.  The planning ahead that this book lays out for readers makes it, in my opinion, an absolute must as a baby shower present for any mom-to-be.

You can find Stacey on her blog “The Organizing Mama” and on twitter @staceycrew ———>

Vendors, Books & Bagels at the DC Organizing Conference

Final post in my series about the MARCPO Conference!  As I’ve mentioned, I really enjoyed the conference in Washington DC hosted by the DC NAPO Chapter.  Not only did I enjoy the speakers, but I met some lovely vendors, got some new organizing books to read, and discovered a few cool places in DC.  So here goes . . .

My favorite vendor had to be Aviva Goldfarb from The Six O’Clock Scramble.  Her on-line menu planning site is all about making quick, healthy meals for your family.  I do love to cook and menu planning isn’t really an issue for me, personally.  However, I have tons of clients who desperately need her service!  Not only is she delightful and energetic, her site is super useful and is a boon to anyone looking to organize their mealtimes.  She’s also got a great cookbook out called “The Six O’Clock Scramble“.

I also met Tricia Kolwicz & Tracy Butler Coe from My Blis (Best Life Information System).  Super nice, and a cool web based home and life information system at your fingertips.  Really great to meet them as the NAPO 2010 National Conference is in Columbus, OH and that is where they are based – looking forward to seeing them again next April.

I did enjoy the “bookstore” at the conference, and picked up a few new books that I’m pretty excited to read:

Erin Rooney Doland just released “Unclutter Your Life in One Week!!” and I got one hot off the presses signed by Erin.  Erin is Editor-In-Chief of Unclutterer.com.  This book is a day by day plan for purging your life of clutter and becoming more efficient and productive.  Who can’t use that?

Also looking forward to reading Julie Hall’s book, The Boomer Burden.  I often work with clients who are dealing with generations worth of stuff from books & papers to furniture & art.  They get overwhelmed separating the good stuff from the pieces that are not worth it, either from a value standpoint or an emotional one.

Finally, while in DC, I got to visit Georgetown Bagelry.  Picked up a few dozen bagels (OK – way too many but I couldn’t resist) for my family.  I twitter with Mary Beth Adler who owns the place and just had to pop in and check it out.  Super cute place and, just, YUM.

So vendors, books and bagels – what could be better?  Looking for more books to check out?  Look on my website “Readings” page.  My favorites are there and I’m continually updating as I read more.  Questions?  Shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to answer!

DC Organizing Conference: Tips on Estates, Green Organizing & Email!

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a great time at the 2009 Mid Atlantic Regional Conference for Professional Organizers that was held in Washington DC. Not only did I meet some fabulous organizers, I learned quite a bit as well. Here’s my top three tips from each of the sessions I attended. Tips that I’m using now – and you can too.
First session was Julie Hall, Estate Lady. Julie is a certified personal property appraiser, a certified auctioneer and a licensed estate sale professional.  Very entertaining with a new book out, The Boomer Burden, Julie talked about

Julie Hall at MARCPO

working with people who are downsizing or have inherited items from family who have passed away.  Here’s the take aways:

• If a plan isn’t made ahead of time, it often falls to the families to deal with decades of stuff.  This can be a huge burden, both financially and emotionally.  Make a plan, NOW, of what happens to all of the things you own so this doesn’t happen to your family.  Working with a Professional Organizer or simply taking inventory and making decisions can make all the difference later on.
• Too often, decisions are crisis driven from seniors who are deceased or are no longer mentally capable.  Don’t let this happen – downsize early and make sure all your ducks are in a row including wills and property.
• As organizers, we can be a one stop shop for clients dealing with the stress of what to do with estates.  Most people have very busy lives, and they just don’t know what to do.  Be the resource for them, and help guide them to make the right decisions and help ease the burden.

Next up was Candita Clayton, “Putting Some Green In Your Organizing”.  Candita was delightful and full of information about using green products and making healthier and more sustainable choices for yourself, your family, your business and the planet.  Candita also has a book out:  Clean Your Home Healthy: Green Cleaning Made Easy.  Here’s the take aways:

• Bring up “green” to clients gently.  Some are very interested, and some can take offense.  If you sense resistance, back off, but bring it up to clients by showing the benefits to them and their family’s health.
• Develop a network of local green companies – seek them out and create strategic alliances with them.
• Utilize information on the web to strengthen your knowledge for yourself and clients.  Here’s some of her suggested websites:
  • treehugger.com
  • DailyGreen.com
  • IdealBite.com
  • CosmeticsDataBase.com
  • HouseholdProductsDatabase.com
  • CleanHappens.com

Finally, Lauren Halagarda with “Detox Your Inbox:  Overcoming Email Overload”.  I found this session to be particularly helpful because it’s something I struggle with daily and so do my clients, and, well, everyone I know.  I thought I was pretty good at it but I was surprised at how many tips Lauren gave that I’ve been able to implement easily that have saved me quite a bit of time.  Here they are:

• Remove yourself from mailing lists that don’t interest you anymore or are too frequent.  This sounds like a no-brainer but when I really looked at how many of these I was deleting daily, I realized how right she was.  I unsubscribed from 6-8 newsletters & flyers I was getting, and it made a huge difference.  Each day a new one arrives, and I decide right then and there to take that extra minute to unsubscribe if it really isn’t being read or used.
• Redefine the meaning of your inbox.  Look at it as a temporary location for storing incoming mail.  So many people use it as a task list or a reminder spot.  This is one I’m pretty good at but Lauren really broke it down.  Emails are one of the following:
  • project
  • calendar item
  • task
  • contact
  • archive (you need to save it but not see it regularly)
  • interaction
• There is a 5 step process for dealing with email:
  • Eliminate
  • Delegate
  • ACT (Appointment/Calendar Item, Contact, Task)
  • Extract (information into a tool)
  • Archive

I have to include one more tip which is just something I was so excited about.  If you use Outlook, you can click and DRAG an email over to the calendar, contact list or task list.  WHOA! This was relevatory for me.  Saved me a bunch of time – and super simple way to clear out my inbox easily.

Struggling with email is tough for everyone – but take control and make the decisions.  Inbox zero is an achievable goal . . .  at least once in a person’s lifetime!

So there you have it – my three sessions at MARCPO.

Next post will be about some of the vendors I met.  A few stood out as products or services my clients could actually use, plus I’ll mention a few cool places I visited while in DC including a yummy bagel place.

Escape From Cubicle Nation

Anyone who knows me knows that I love marketing and social economics. And I’d love to write really intelligently and concisely on this exact subject. But then there’s someone else who does it for me – like Pamela Slim of Escape From Cubicle Nation. Her recent post on speaking, presentations, blogging, phone and email communications and more was so on target, to the point, and, above all, useful, that I’m not even going to bother. Instead, go here: Let the Wild Rumpus Start and read it for yourself.

Her main website is: Escape from Cubicle Nation and she’s got tons of great info on there. I get her blog posts via a feed and have always enjoyed reading them – this one was meaty and really made me think. Hope it does the same for you.

kids, Christmas and lots of stuff

It is such a tempation to buy lots of stuff for kids. I’ve been emailing back and forth today with my sister-in-law about Christmas. We’re spending it with them in another city and want to make sure that the loot is distributed evenly amongst all of the children. They’re getting to the age where they will count how many each kid gets. We’re not quite at the point where the quality needs to be there too, but here’s where it gets sticky. Do I want a bunch more plastic stuff from China? I know my daughter will, but it seems that the fun is in the getting, not in the actual usage of the gifts later. How many will be broken before the day is over? How many will be cast aside in the onslaught of wrapping paper and bows?

We also have a very small house. Our little bungalow in the downtown area can only hold so much. All of her toys, clothes, shoes, books, etc. must all fit in her room. And only her room.

So we’ve set a limit on the number of presents coming from Santa, and I’m going to make a conscious effort to get quality items, maybe even made here in the USA.

I also just finished reading a book called The Real Toy Story by Eric Clark. The subheading is called “Inside the Ruthless Battle for America’s Youngest Consumer”. This is a really interesting look into the business of toys. I especially liked the chapter that talks about the independent toy stores vs. the big box stores and the discussion of how Walmart has played a huge part in the demise of many a toy store (among other companies). So when I got the email about the holidays from my sister-in-law, this book was fresh in my mind.

So I’m going to stand firm and resist the temptation this year to shower the kids with things that they don’t need, won’t miss, and can definitely live without. It’ll be me that has a hard time with it.