Peace of Mind Organizing

Facing down my inbox

25 January 2016

For five years, I’ve been extolling the virtues of my Inbox Zero policy. Honestly, emptying my email inbox is one of the best things I do to stay on top of all the aspects of my business.

I’m probably sounding like a broken record, but my puppy, Bix, is getting in my way. Since bringing him home on December 13, Inbox Zero nirvana has been elusive. I haven’t achieved it a single time. Not even once.

The issue is that when I’m not working with clients, I’m keeping an eye on/playing with/training the puppy and putting out figurative fires. So the urgent email is getting handled, but I’m letting emails linger in my inbox. And I’m sick of it.

This week is another busy week with clients. I hope that isn’t going to change any time soon. So I’m pledging right here and now to get my inbox down to zero at some point this week and after I’ve done that, to have zero messages in my inbox at the end of the day for the rest of the work week. (I traditionally relax the Inbox Zero policy over the weekend.)

Why is this so important to me? Email in my inbox has the same effect on me that an excessive amount of physical clutter has. It clutters my mind. I lose things in my inbox. And I know it’s not necessary because, as in my home, I have a designated place for things. I have a great system for achieving and maintaining inbox zero. I need to get rid of my backlog and put it in place.

I know the benefits to my psyche and my business. Making the time to get there this week is a priority.

I promise I’ll report back, most likely as an addendum to this post. Thank you for providing me with accountability!

Update! It’s Thursday, January 28, and I just got my inbox down to zero. Such sweet relief!

Illustration by Haberdashery Badges via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

The value of joining a NAPO chapter

21 January 2016

If you’re a professional organizer, I hope you’re lucky enough to live where there’s a local chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers. And if you do live near one, I hope you’ve joined it!

When I started Peace of Mind Organizing® in 2005, the first thing I did was join NAPO. The second thing would have been to join NAPO-St. Louis, except it didn’t yet exist. Thanks to the hard work of others, the chapter was established in 2006 and I was lucky enough to be a founding board member.

Through the last ten years I’ve remained involved with the chapter, serving on the board for the first six years of its existence, then taking three years off before joining the board again for another two-year stint that ends in 2017. So clearly I’m invested in the chapter.

Here’s a photo of the NAPO-St. Louis chapter members taken by Membership Director Sheila DeHart at the January 2016 meeting.

Why do I devote so much time and energy to the chapter? Because it gives so much back to me. Here are a few of the benefits of chapter membership:

1. Camaraderie. For new and veteran organizers alike, the opportunity to spend time with like-minded people sharing advice and experiences is invaluable.
2. Leadership experience. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be as good at leading my organizing teams if I hadn’t had the experience of being president of the chapter from 2008-2010. It helped form the kind of leader I’ve become.
3. Education. NAPO-St. Louis meets in person nine times a year and the chapter’s programs are really valuable. We use both outside speakers and have programs presented by chapter members—there’s an amazing wealth of knowledge among our membership! The chapter also makes conference recordings available to its members as a membership benefit. (I’m certain this is a common chapter benefit.)
4. Visibility. All chapter members are listed on the NAPO-St. Louis website, giving them another exposure to prospective clients.
5. Referrals. When chapter members receive inquiries from clients they might not be right for, they’ll sometimes send them to me. And vice versa.
6. Client resources. We have 13 Corporate Associate Members of NAPO-St. Louis and I refer clients to them all the time. I can also look for resource recommendations from fellow members of the chapter on our online forum. The chapter makes me a better resource for my clients.
7. Business development. These days I focus my business on leading organizing teams. All my team members are NAPO-St. Louis members. I’ve made it a requirement, because I want to use independent contractors who have shown a dedication to their businesses by joining NAPO national and NAPO-St. Louis. I can assure my clients that all my team members abide by NAPO’s Code of Ethics.

I honestly don’t know where my business would be without NAPO-St. Louis, but I’m pretty sure it would not have grown like it has. If you’re a PO or an aspiring PO I urge you to get involved with your chapter. It will reap huge dividends!

If you’re a member of a NAPO chapter, please feel free to comment on what you get out of your chapter!

The curse of the large house

19 January 2016

My husband and I own a house that’s larger than we need. It was built in 1908 as a two-family house and when we bought it, we lived in the upstairs apartment and rented out the downstairs apartment. The upstairs apartment, which has two bedrooms and is 1600 square feet, was plenty big for the two of us. But we rather hated being landlords, despite the fact we had good renters. (Truth be told, we’re born renters.)

We moved to Brooklyn, New York, for four years and in that time rented out both units of the house, with the help of a property manager. Our rent in Brooklyn was twice the mortgage payment of our St. Louis house. So when we moved back to St. Louis, we decided to live in the whole house and avoid the stress of being a landlord.

So we literally have twice as much space as we need. (More than twice a much, actually.) Plus we have a full basement.

Recently I’ve been decluttering some deep storage in our home because we’ve waterproofed our basement and now have the ability to store stuff down there. I came across items that we put away in 2001 when we moved back to St. Louis. This is stuff we haven’t used in 15 years. Stuff we didn’t even miss. Or remember owning. (I’m talking about items like tablecloths, games, and a bag marked, in my handwriting, “Barry’s shirts.” What was I thinking?) Most of it has been donated.

The longer I’m a professional organizer the more fervently I believe that life is better when we have less stuff. I believe that owning fewer belongings leads to more freedom. And I see it in my clients as well.

I have two clients looking to put their houses on the market on February 15. Both clients own spacious homes. Consequently, both clients have lots of stuff. I am encouraging them to let go of as much as possible as we pack up items for storing for staging purposes. As my team members and I are handling these items, I just keep thinking about how much better off we all would be dragging around less stuff.

If you live in a small home that is bursting at the seams, you may think the answer to your clutter problem would be moving to a larger home. I’m here to tell you that it isn’t true. When we have large homes, we tend to acquire more. (Just like when we have higher incomes we tend to spend more.)

At some point before long, I suspect Barry and I will sell our house and move. Believe me, I will be advocating for a much smaller space! As challenging as the downsizing might be, I’m confident having fewer belongings will lead to happiness and peace of mind.

Your moment of cuteness

15 January 2016

I’ve had difficulty finding time to blog, between the busy beginning-of-the-year client load and sharing puppy-raising duties with my husband.

But, of course, little Bix, our standard poodle puppy born on October 16, is worth all the time and attention we give him. He’s growing like a weed and makes us laugh every day.

In an effort to post something new here, I give you this photo of the sweet boy. I think it can’t help but put a smile on your face.

I took the two photos with my phone and used the app Pic Stitch to put them together. The photo was taken almost two weeks ago, so he’s probably half again as big now, but I love it so much I had to share.

Worth repeating: An empty drawer is a beautiful thing

11 January 2016

I wrote this post a year ago and I still fervently believe its message. Less stuff = more freedom, in my opinion. It’s that simple.

My team and I helped a client declutter and organize her entire home last week and we were able to make a huge impact—because the client parted with so much. She was so ready to let go of the excess that was weighing her down and she made amazing decisions. As we took out bag after bag of donatable items, the rooms seemed to get lighter.

All the team members—and the client—were practically giddy over it.

When it came time to organize the items that were kept, it was a breeze. We found ourselves with empty drawers and even an empty cabinet when we were finished. Folks, that’s a rarity. And it’s a great thing.

To me, an empty drawer represents abundance (though it may appear the opposite). It represents the ability to bring in new items, new ideas, new opportunities. By letting go of so much, this client has opened herself up to a whole new way of life. She’ll no longer have to struggle to find what she needs. Everything in her home has a place (another rarity). Possibilities have opened up.

I have every confidence that she’ll be able to maintain the order. If she has difficulty, she now has a resource (me) to get her right back on track.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the less stuff you own, the easier life is.

If you have more items than you can store comfortably and the excess is getting in your way, consider letting stuff go. I promise that living in your home will become less of a struggle. And who doesn’t want that?

2015 highlight reel

4 January 2016

2015 was a challenging year for me personally, with more loss than I’ve ever experienced, along with family health issues and challenges. Thankfully, my business didn’t suffer much from the personal challenges.

It’s easy to let out a sigh of relief that 2015 is over and forget about it entirely, but I know that it’s wise to reflect on some of the accomplishments of the year. It may have been a tough year, but it was by no means without high points. So, as I have done in the past, I present my highlight reel for the past year.

For Peace of Mind Organizing

I celebrated ten years in business!. I started Peace of Mind Organizing in July 2005. Ten years in business feels like a huge accomplishment.

I worked with three generations of one family. A client who hired us to do a whole-house transformation went on to refer us to her parents and hire us to help her twentysomething daughter. That was such a special treat!

We made a huge difference for several recently widowed clients. For some reason, in 2015 I heard from a number of recently widowed folks. It can be a challenge for grieving people to face the disorganization that can come with the illness and death of a loved one. I am very grateful for the trust these clients placed in us and for my amazing team members who made the experience a positive one for these families.

I made more money working fewer hours. Organizing can be an exhausting profession. And it’s also a profession that many of us start mid-career. That means that figuring out how to continue having a successful business as we age is a very real concern. For me, it’s using team members to do a lot of the physical work. (Many hands make light work.)

I became president of NAPO-St. Louis (again). In my 2010 highlight reel I included the fact that I had passed the reins of the St. Louis chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers on to my successor. Well, five years later the chapter was in need of a president so I volunteered for a year. In this board year, we’ve embraced my mantra of Let it be easy and the result has been a pleasant and productive, if not ambitious, year for NAPO-St. Louis. We’re calling it “the year of catching our breath.”

For Organize Your Family History

A year of great growth for my genealogy blog. I started the Organize Your Family History blog in June 2012. In 2013 I had 18,000 page views. Readership has grown steadily since then and in 2015, it surpassed 100,000 page views for the year. My most widely read post, Reading hard-to-read gravestones has been viewed 19,000 times since I published it in July 2014.

A new identity! The talented designer Rebecca Pollock revamped the look of Organize Your Family History with a new header, new business cards and a template for what became the Orderly Roots guides (see below). I love the new look—it’s a vast improvement over what I had created myself three years before.

I created the Orderly Roots genealogy guides. Similar to my Organizing Guides, my new Orderly Roots genealogy guides are an inexpensive way to tap into my expertise. It took some effort to create the first two and put them up for sale and I’m proud to have managed it. More titles are in the works.

I attended four genealogy conferences. I love conferences and genealogy conferences are amazing ways to learn. Not only did I learn a great deal, I met some amazing genealogists and bloggers (as well as readers of my blog). I think my puppy will prevent me from attending as many in 2016, but I plan at the very least to attend the National Genealogical Society conference in Ft. Lauderdale in May.

For myself

I met my goal of reading a book a week. I love reading on my Kindle Paperwhite and I keep track of the books I’ve read in Evernote. So I know that in 2015 I read 53 books, barely surpassing my goal of a book a week. That feels good.

I started coloring. I hopped on board the new craze of coloring books for adults a little late in the game, I think. But I’ve enjoyed the calm that comes with it. For me, it’s a nice mixture of creativity (selecting the colors) and rules. Plus, I’ve enjoyed organizing my coloring supplies. I’ll have to write a blog post about that.

Clearly 2015 wasn’t all bad. And 2016 will no doubt be better!

Taking stock of the previous year’s accomplishments provides a great foundation for setting goals for the new year. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to create a highlight reel for 2015 It provides an easy and gratifying way to look back on your past accomplishments. I’ve enjoyed reading previous years’ highlight reels as I’ve prepared this blog post.

Here’s to an amazing 2016!!

Six things having a new puppy has taught me

28 December 2015

Happiness is a warm puppy

My thoughts are all wrapped in my dog these days. We brought our standard poodle puppy, Bix, home from the breeder two weeks ago. He’s now ten weeks old and commands most of our attention. Emails have gone unread and unwritten. Blogging has slowed way down. I feel behind in everything.

But I have a warm snuggly puppy and it’s worth all the effort. (That’s Bix in the photo at right snuggling with his dad.) This morning, as he and I had a quiet moment together on the couch, I jotted down a few things that this time with Bix has taught me. He’s not my first puppy, but he is my first puppy since I’ve become an organizer and blogger. I’m in the habit of turning everything into a blog post. So here you go.

Six things my new puppy has taught me to do

1. Be patient. Oh my goodness. I think of myself as a patient person. I can stand in silence for minutes as a client ponders whether to keep or donate an item. But Bix is taking my patience to a new level. It’s been pouring rain for days and Bix is still being house trained. Waiting in the rain for my dog to eliminate requires an exquisite amount of patience.
2. Be attentive. One has to pay attention to an unhousetrained puppy or one cleans up a lot of messes. Also, puppies chew stuff up. So when I’m with Bix I need to be focused. When I focus instead on my phone, I usually am sorry. (In fact yesterday I was focused on neither of them and he started chewing on my phone!)
3. Look for the positive. Puppies are a clean slate. They need to be taught which of their natural behaviors are desirable and which are not. I practice positive-reinforcement training so I have to stay attuned to those things he does so I can reward him for it. (I realize I should be applying this to my interactions with humans as well!)
4. Be prepared. When you have to be ready to take a puppy outside at a moment’s notice and it’s winter, you have to be prepared. That means my coat is at the ready, clicker and treats in pocket. I try to have a toy handy at all times to give to him when he tries to bite my fingers (and other body parts). And I always have a clicker and treats in my pocket for a quick training session or just to reinforce something great he’s doing. And, of course, I try to have my iPhone handy to capture the cute moments!
5. Prioritize. My husband, Barry, and I share puppy duties. (Barry works from home.) It seems like all I have are small snippets of time that I must make the most of while Bix sleeps or Barry is entertaining him. The fact is that all I really want to do is post pictures and videos of Bix on Facebook and read the admiring comments, but really I need to prioritize the things that are essential to keeping my business running (like communicating with clients and team members).
6. Stop and enjoy the little things. Puppies are young only once. And they’re outrageously cute. It’s easy to get frustrated but, really, there is so much to enjoy. Like snuggles. Like the sight of a puppy running toward you with a ball in his mouth. Like the first time he walks up the stairs by himself. This time with him is precious and I’m focusing on creating lasting memories.