Peace of Mind Organizing

Professional Organizing featured in WSJ

27 May 2008

It’s not a large article, but to me it’s significant. The Career Journal section of today’s Wall Street Journal features “Professional Organizer” as the career it examines in its Pay Grade column.

It lists hours, benefits, best part of the job, worst part of the job, and similar info, based on interviews with several professional organizers. The online version of the article has a slide show with photos of some organizers as well as some before and after shots.

Why do I think it’s significant? To me it legitimizes our profession (though it’s certainly not the first time that POs have been mentioned in the Journal). I’m still surprised that I occasionally encounter people who don’t know that organizing is a viable profession — despite NAPO being two decades old and boasting 4200 members.

There are still those who have a real or virtual smirk when mentioning our profession (the judicious use of quotation marks around “professional organizer” that was used in popular blogger Merlin Mann’s recent 43 folders blog entry and the ire it whipped up in the comments comes to mind). When an august business-oriented newspaper like the Wall Street Journal treats organizing as a career option like any other, I think that’s progress.

Have a happy holiday weekend!

23 May 2008

Whether you’re staying at home or traveling on this very busy weekend for travel, I hope you have fun and stay safe.

Me, I’ll be working tomorrow, then working around the house and in my home office on Sunday and Monday.

If you’re going to be traveling by car this weekend, gas prices and fuel efficiency might factor into your travel plans. If so, you might check out this website, which I learned about when I tuned into the Today Show for a minute this morning. It’s the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, fueleconomy.gov. There, you can find links to websites that show lowest gas prices in a given location (another site for finding low gas prices is Gas Buddy) and you can also compare the gas mileage on various types of cars. This is great if you’re renting a car and can do a little research up front, so you rent the most fuel efficient car that suits your needs. It also has on FAQ on gasoline prices and how to get the best gas mileage.

Have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend. Don’t forget to be take some time out for yourself!

Something to make you smile

22 May 2008

If you’re a dog lover, click on this link to see a video of a dog enjoying a water slide. It’s just over a minute—not much of time investment. Every time I hear and the see the dog hit the bottom of the slide with a big splash, I chuckle a little. I heard about the video via Freelance Success, from which I learn about so many good things.

Traveling light can save money

21 May 2008

American Airlines has announced it will start charging $15 for the first bag a passenger checks. I remember being shocked when airlines starting charging for bag number two. Now you can’t check any bags free of charge (on American, at least). Passengers will start bringing even more carry-on luggage on board. That’s going to make flying an even bigger hassle. Sigh.

So, from an organizing perspective, the message here is to pack lightly and efficiently. Here’s a resource (which I found via Unclutterer): It’s called One Bag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light. It’s a fascinating website, which advocates bundle wrapping your clothes in a specific fashion to minimize wrinkles and maximize efficiency.

If bundle wrapping doesn’t appeal, I can give a personal recommendation to packing folders, which I tried for the first time on my trip to Baltimore last weekend. They allow you to fold clothes very flat and group them by type in these flat, velcro-fastened envelopes. I give them a thumbs up. They also made unpacking and repacking very easy.

What about you? Do you have any tips for packing so lightly you won’t require a checked bag? Or will you just avoid flying airlines that charge extra for such “amenities”?

How are those New Year's resolutions coming?

20 May 2008

Back at the beginning of 2008, I blogged about my constant craving for order as reflected in my January 1 journal entries year after year. In that entry, I wrote,

But the thing I want to work on is establishing the routines and habits that allow me to effortlessly pair “A place for everything” with “Everything in its place.” I need to put stuff away! That’s the key to living mess- and clutter-free.

The truth of the matter is that I’m still not living mess-free. I’ve been traveling a great deal this spring and things have started to deteriorate. But I’m working on rejiggering my space a certain amount and am confident that my storage will improve.

But I can report, with great happiness and pride, that my goal of clearing my desk each night has been achieved. I’ve been keeping track via Don’t Break the Chain and I can report that since January 5, when I resolved to clear my desk daily, there have been only two days, February 9 and May 9, where remained messy when I went to bed.

Here’s how the last four months of my “Clean Desk” chain on my Don’t Break the Chain account:

The last four months of desk clearing as chronicled on Don't Break the Chain.com

Being greeted every morning by a clean desk has made a huge difference in my productivity. And it makes me smile. I am absolutely delighted that I have developed this habit. And if I can create a new habit this way, so can you.

How about you? Have you made any progress on the goals you set at the beginning of the year?

Off to Baltimore!

16 May 2008

I’m catching a 6:25 a.m. flight to Baltimore this morning to attend the HH Backer 20th Annual Pet Industry Spring Trade Show and Educational Conference. It’s funny: for ten years I was a pet writer and always wanted to attend this show, which is not open to the public. But I never found a magazine to send me.

This year, I’m a professional organizer, doing nothing professionally with pets and I’m going. Go figure. I’ll be helping my fabulous friend, Sally Brown, owner of Roll Over Rover a t-shirt company that features her wonderful dog illustrations with cute sayings. She’s an exhibitor at the show, which makes me an exhibitor at the show.

I’ll help her in any way I can while trying to sell as many t-shirts as possible to retail shop buyers. And I’m sure I’ll have time to look at the 553 other exhibitors at the show. Since I’m a true pet lover, I’m really excited to see the latest and greatest pet products. And I’m delighted that I don’t have to write about them for a magazine.

Mostly I’m excited to help my talented friend sell her really high-quality, top-notch product. She does sell direct to the public through her website, so feel free to take a gander and buy a t-shirt or hoodie!

Back on Monday!

Are you a knitter? You don't have to knit alone!

15 May 2008

As I’ve chronicled here, I’m a knitter. I knit pretty much every day, usually in the evenings, usually while watching TV. It’s a solitary pursuit, though my animals and my husband often keep me company.

Once a week, however (when I’m in town), I actually leave the house to knit. I’m fortunate to belong to a fine group of knitters who knit most weeks at the bar at the Westin hotel in downtown St. Louis, in the shadow of Busch stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. We meet on Thursdays from 5 to 7. All knitters or crocheters or other crafty folk are welcome!

We sit, we chat, we show off our knitting. We talk patterns and yarn. Oh, yes, and we enjoy beverages, usually alcoholic. We also order food (the Westin management is kind enough to extend us a 50 percent discount on food!). I’ve learned over the last couple of years to stop knitting once I start drinking.

In the summer, we don’t meet at the Westin when there are home baseball games. The management would rather make room for baseball fans those nights and, besides, we knitters don’t like to have to yell to be heard. Our alternate location can vary, but tonight we’re meeting at Lucas Schoolhouse, in Soulard. (Our group always meets in a relatively downtown location.)

If you have access to a knitting group, don’t be shy. Join in. I know our group welcomes newcomers with open arms, and I expect that’s true of most, if not all, groups. One place to look to see if there’s a group near you is the Knit Happens website, home of Stitch ‘N Bitch, the book by Debbie Stoller that helped fuel the resurgence in popularity of knitting. You’ll find a link to a regional Stitch & Bitch Group finder. If you live in St. Louis, check out the St. Louis Knitters group at Ravelry for a list of local knitters. I imagine that many other cities have Ravelry groups as well