YWCA Volunteer Project :: Toy Closet Completed!

Saturday, May 15th, 2010, a group of volunteers from NAPO Nashville and Hands On Nashville went to the YWCA Weaver Domestic Violence Shelter and spent the day organizing.

I was team leader of the toy closet where new, donated toys reside as gifts for displace children who end up at the shelter, often with nothing.  The staff works so hard with their residents but sometimes organizing isn’t the first thing on their minds.  This project was dear to my heart as I love working with kids and their stuff.

I had gone earlier in the week to preview the toy closet, create a plan and determine needed supplies.  I like to work with what is on hand most of the time but we had some available donations of bins and shelving which was very helpful.  We had a very small space to work with that needed to house a LOT of stuff.  Our main goal was to make it as easy as possible for the shelter staff to access the toys and store new toys when they were donated, and do so in such a way that the system was apparent to all who used it.  I think we succeeded!
Here’s what we did:

From YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter :: a fresh space

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.

Always Learning . . . Organizing Conference in Washington DC

October 17th was highly anticipated by me, and was just as much fun (and as educational) as I’d hoped.  The Washington DC NAPO Chapter was hosting its 11th annual Professional Organizer Conference (MARCPO) and I made it a priority to go.  Of course, it helped that I had family in the area so I could (in a very organized fashion) combine business and a family trip.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I continually educate myself in all areas of organizing and business so this was an opportunity to not only gain some new tidbits I could pass along to my clients, but also to see one of the icons of the Organizing world:  Julie Morgenstern.  As the keynote speaker, she was interesting, entertaining, and above all, inspiring.  If you haven’t read her classic, Organizing From The Inside Out, get it and read it now!

I have to say, I was really impressed with how well the conference ran and how welcomed I felt by the DC Chapter and everyone else who attended.  Although I shouldn’t have been surprised – after all, organizers are pretty great people for the most part, and they are, well, organized.

Me & Deb Lee at MARCPO

Part of the fun was the “tweet up” at lunch (is this a twunch?).  Those of us who tweet (you can follow me on twitter) got together and gabbed in person instead of 140 characters or less.  That’s me with Deb Lee from the DC Chapter (she’s @dallisonlee).

So, what it’s in for you?

Well, some great new info on green organizing, intriguing Outlook tips, dealing with estates and downsizing, and a newly motivated me!

The opening speaker, Krista Green, really inspired me to look at my business with a different eye.  I took four pages of notes and what really stood out was her emphasis on analyzing our businesses with pattern recognition and quantifying our work.  From a client perspective, this is extraordinary because really analyzing what I do will make organizing with clients more efficient and effective.  I’ve already been doing this but she put it into perspective and made me see the importance of this part of the process.

Krista Green at MARCPO

The tip I want to pass on is this:  When you are looking at different areas of clutter in your life, remember, it’s all the same stuff, it’s just disguised differently.  Clutter is clutter and it is dealt with the same way whether it’s cans of peas, Polly Pockets or soccer games.

Using the process of “sort”, “purge” and “containerize” that we organizers teach, you can analyze your clutter and make the changes you need to have a calmer and happier life.

Upcoming posts will give tips and ideas for you to use from the speakers I saw and heard, along with my perspectives on how you can use this information in your own life.

Back To School Organizing Seminar!

Back To School Organizing Seminar this Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at Office Max in Brentwood!

Join NAPO Nashville and Office Max to learn how to get and stay organized this school year. Our local National Association of Professional Organizers will help you with your organizing issues – you know, the ones we all have when school starts. Just ask yourself:

• do I have all my school supplies ready?
• do I have a proper space set up up for homework?
• do I know what I’m going to do with all those papers that get sent home?
• am I prepared for the back to school routines?
• how did I do last year getting the kids ready in the morning, and after school?

Let NAPO Nashville help you out with these concerns. We will give you tips and techniques on:

• routines for morning, after school, homework, paper management, etc.
• desk and homework stations
• backpacks
• scheduling

We’ll have a Q & A session as well so you can ask us to help with your problem areas – we love to help and can point you in the right direction so you start the school year off calmly, serenely, and, yes, organized!

The seminar runs from 6-8PM and is free and open to the public, but space is limited so register here to reserve your spot! Please forward this post along to anyone you know that may be looking for some organizing help this school year!