Get Organized TODAY is a key tool in building a successful life; to bring ease and flow to your day-to-day living when clutter has got you down. More professional and personal organization and preparedness expertise is yours with these insights from Nancy and her organizing peers. With Get Organized Today, you will better manage your life and be ready to handle any situation with ease. To support you on your mission to live an organized and balanced life.

Free Teleseminar Series to learn more!

This book includes expert strategies to:

• Capture the Vision to Create a Space You'll Love
• Create a Productive Environment in Five Steps
• Overcome Chronic Disorganization
• Build the Perfect Closet
• Create a Home Office that Works for You
• Conquer Paper Piles
• Organize for Disaster and Be Prepared!
• and more...

Including Nancy's Chapter ->  Get Organized for the Planet, that outlines 10 incredibly easy ways to turn your matter (clutter) into energy (where everything is in its place waiting to serve you) in an Eco-Friendly way!

Cost:  $24.00

Planet Tip – Create Less Trash

It has been measured that each year Americans produce 4.6 pounds of garbage per person every day. Let’s take a simple step to help sustain the planet by creating less Trash! Here's a few easy ways to cut back on your weekly waste, sourced from Real Simple Magazine:

• Banish plastic packaging - On your next shopping trip, steer clear of plastic containers. Look for comparable items packed in paper cartons or sold in bulk.
• Stock up on sponges and handkerchiefs. Forgo the rolls (and rolls) of paper towels you use and try reusable sponges or washcloths to clean up spills. Or put in use some old fashioned handkerchiefs in lieu of using those big boxes of tissues everywhere, cluttering up your garbage cans.
• Feed the Earth. Compost food scraps instead of throwing them away with your regular trash. They'll break down and help create fertile soil for the garden or houseplants. Indeed, the Secret to some of the most productive gardens is the use of compost. You will find "how to build a compost bin" instructions all over the web. Here's my favorite: http://simplemom.net/how-to-make-a-compost-bin/
• Concentrate. Choose concentrated versions of household basics, such as laundry detergent. You will use less of the product and won’t have to throw away big containers as regularly. Especially if you have soft water, which means you can use about half the recommended detergent per load!

"Qi" is a central concept of Feng Shui (also written Chi or Ch'i, pronounced "key). It is best defined as "life energy," "life breath," or "active energy that flows through all things".

Everything is constantly in motion, everything has its own energy field and is connected in some way. All energy fields directly influence each other. Whether strengthening or weakening, everything flows. It is easier to follow the stream of Qi and to know what it favours, than to swim against the current. Clutter swims against the current; that is, it impedes the natural flow of positive Qi. It weakens...

In other words, according to Feng Shui teachings, a messy home or office indicates a disjointed life. If a stack of old newspapers or a pile of paperwork hinders the flow of Qi over a long period of time, Sha Qi will impose its negative influence on other areas, making you tired and even depressed.

• A congested entrance indicates a lack of openness toward new things.
• A mess under the bed may well keep you from getting a good night's sleep.
• Such "blockages" also occur when you postpone paying invoices or making an unpleasant phone call.
• Check your pockets or wallet: If you find ticket stubs, sweet wrappers or old receipts, throw them away, to ensure the free flow of money!

For harmony and free flowing positive energy in your space, start with eliminating your clutter! Like I always say, when you get organized you are turning matter into energy.

And, as ever, if you need help, call me!

There can be clutter and disorganization in your closets, on your desk and in your file cabinets. There can also be clutter in your head, with to do lists and action items, and even in conversations. "Conversation clutter" is especially a time-waster when it happens in meetings, where multiple peoples are affected. I read a great article written by a fabulous Coach (not to mention a good friend of mine), Nikki Anderson.  It resonated with me as a very simple process to follow in order to lead an effective ORGANIZED meeting.

According to Nikki, there are three simple yet important steps to conducting effective meetings:

1st - Create an Agenda, to be clear on WHAT you are there to talk about.  I would add that it's ideal that the agenda is distributed prior to the meeting so that everyone is prepared and/or has a chance to add feedback.

2nd - Have a Desired Outcome, to clear on WHY you're talking about these issues.  My .02 is to state this outcome clearly at the beginning of the meeting and get everyone's agreement.  Write it down on a flip chart if there is more then 2 or 3 people in the meeting, and add other peoples ideas if there is feedback.

3RD - Set Next Steps, to clarify HOW each person is going to implement the outcomes, including WHEN they are responsible for a deliverable. And, if you are in the meeting, to save yourself from head/action item clutter, write down your next steps and due dates.

As Nikki affirms, these straightforward steps will ensure your 'good ideas' are part of a productive, satisfying meeting with successful results.

Check out Nikki's blog for more great articles.

It's madness, what comes into your space every day; mail, paper, reciepts, business cards, flyers, schoolwork, magazines and more. Yet, it's really very simple. Look at it this way: every piece of email and incoming paper fits into one of a short list of categories, indentified by a simple acronym. To manage incoming paper, you just setup a system to sort based on these categories as, soon as new paper enters your space. For personal, it’s RAFT.  For a household or business, it’s RAFT'eD, as follows:

R = Read

A = Action.  Where the next step is to take some action, such as pay a bill, make a phone call, consider invitation/RSVP, send an email, etc.

F = File.   A business or home file system should be accessible, so easy to do that you file most things immediately or almost immediately.

T = Toss, as in recycle or shred. When it comes to paper, virtually all of it will either get shredded (anything with an account number) or recycled. Note that windowed envelopes, sticky notes and even some staples are ok in San Francisco and in most cities that recycle. 

and, for a business or household,

D = Delegate - Distribute to appropriate household or staff member.  Note, just as you have mail boxes in an office for each employee, have an in basket or incoming mail file folder at home for each adult family member.

As you proceed, here are a few key points:

->  A Green Tip: Paper that is not confidential and unprinted on one side can be reused in your printer for scrap printing. 

->  Remember that 80% or more of your incoming mail typically will go to “T”

->  Open mail every day. Sometimes you will skip a day, but if you do it every day it will soon become a habit, it will get easier and faster and it won't pile up.

->  Get angry and arrogant about paper. Stand by the recycle bin and toss freely. Most of what comes in is someone trying to sell you something anyway! Don't take the business card or flyer if it doesn't serve you. Don't keep paper that isn't about YOUR goals and desires TODAY. Let it go.. you are too important in your busy life to waste time sorting and acting on things that don't serve you.

Ok... Manage well. Toss Freely.

And, as ever, call me if you need some help!

From the dictionary:
clutter  -  1556, var. of clotern "to form clots, to heap on".  From the Middle English word “clotter” which means to coagulate.

Whether it's the toxic stuff cluttering your space or the toxic stuff you put in your body, clutter, inside and out, may be "coagulating" both you and your space. Time for fresh new habits around what you keep in your space and how you nourish your body. 

Winter is ending.

Spring is coming. 

Time for a cleanse with Teresa and Nancy to get some great ideas and a foundation to begin to get rid of all the excess clutter in your life!

BALANCE Tuesday workshop events are relatively intimate – from 10 to 25 attendees – so you will have the opportunity to get direct feedback on your specific issues and goals. The workshop locations are chosen with an emphasis on comfort and style.  No cold, dark, echo’ing rooms!  Each attendee will receive a gift bag. Snacks and H20 served.

More about the event!

Most of us are familiar with the concept of donating our possessions to a donation center. Often, however, I still see bags of clothing and such that end up sitting stagnant in a corner as clutter. Make it easy to get these items out of your space and into a new space by findng a donation source that is meaningful to you and easy to get to in your "life route". 

Add these three simple steps to your life:

1.  Keep a donation box or bag in every bedroom of the house and in utility spaces, so adults and children in the household get into the habit of filling it up when clothing or possessions are ready for a new home. (That’s a great way to start good habits if you have children!)

2. Choose a donation source whose mission you value, so that it motivates you and your loved ones to donate often. If you are a pet lover, find a pet organization that takes donations.

3. Finally, if possible, find a source that is in the neighborhood, maintains hours that work with your busy schedule and is in an easy-to-get-to location. Ideally, a place somewhere on your normal work or errand route or near a place you go often. That way, it’s easy to get these items out of your space and into the hands of someone else who can appreciate them.

The Salvation Army (http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/) and Goodwill (http://www.goodwill.org/) are great national sources, but don’t forget to explore local organizations as well.

My favorite source in San Francisco is Community Thrift, where you can choose the charity (from a long list of local and national charities) who gets a percentage of the proceeds of your donation items once they are sold at the store. I call it the double give!
The Community Thrift Store
623 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94110
Community Thrift is a non-profit thrift store in San Francisco that relies entirely upon donations to stock it's shelves, and they even have a super easy drop-off window though check out their site for directions to it and to learn more:  www.communitythriftsf.org

These basic truths about kitchens will help you put yours in an order that serves you. Where every item you want is in the right place, appropriately accessible and waiting to serve you.  The way to start is to understand the core activities performed in the kitchen and then "zone" your space accordingly.

The typical activity zones are:

• Food Preparation
• Cooking
• Dishwashing and Dish Storage
• Food Storage
• Utility
• Household Information Center

Food Preparation Zone
In this zone you are chopping, mixing, cutting, seasoning, and so on. The longest available counter is best for this zone, ideally between the sink and stove or the sink and refrigerator. In the cabinets above and below this counter area, store cutting boards, knives, mixing bowls, measuring cups, spoons, appliances, seasonings, and other food preparation items.

Cooking Zone
Clearly, the cooking zone is best located near your stove and cook top, and near this location you store pots, pans, pot holders, bake ware and cooking utensils.

Dishwashing and Dish Storage Zone
To make clean-up and storage of everyday eating and drinking items easier, you want this zone near the sink and dishwasher or dish drainer. It will include everyday dishes, glassware, flatware, dish towels and detergent.

Utility Zone
This zone houses the heavy-duty cleaning and maintenance supplies for the kitchen and is usually under the sink. For outsized mops and brooms, you can store them in a closet or on hooks nearby.

Food Storage Zone
This is where food is kept, including the refrigerator and pantry space. In kitchens with no pantry, consider storing the food in the cabinets nearest the refrigerator.

Household Information Center
Finally, every kitchen has some level of paperwork or where all the mail gets dumped. This area can include everything from notepaper and cookbooks to a computer and household files. Determine what reasonably gets done in the kitchen (set boundaries) and make the right space for it. Managing household paperwork is a “big” organizing challenge, so stayed tuned to balancesf/blog for more on household paper organizing.

Once you have arranged your kitchen with zones, you will find you spend less time traveling within your kitchen to get things. What you need will be close by and convenient. Kitchen tasks will be simplified and clean-up will be easier. You’ll save time and stay organized.

Bon Appetit!

You often hear the story about the young guy who gets famous with some techno business idea and you may think, darn I wish it were me. This story is so super fine and cool, you won't be green with envy, but it is green! Terracycle was founded in 2001 by a 19 year old Princeton Univ. freshman named Tom Szaky whose dream was to find a more responsible way of doing business that was not just good for the bottom line, but good for the planet and for people.

www.terracycle.net

Terracycle is an extraordinary operation that turns your “trash” into useable stuff. Send them your juice bags, for example, and they will turn them into colorful purses and pencil cases and resell them at Target or Walgreens. They’ll even donate money to your charity of choice for each item you send them.

To participate in the Candy Wrapper Brigade, for example, all you do is sign up online and you will receive prepaid postage labels and collection materials from Terracycle. Once you collect enough candy wrappers to fill a collection bag, you affix the prepaid postage label and drop it off to UPS. The program is designed for schools, universities and other non-profit organizations that get money back for each item collected.

As of this writing, Terracycle has over 8.6 million people collecting trash, are making 181 products and have donated $562,000 to charities.

Go Tom. Get Green.  ...and the planet lives on.

It's nice to have a printed list of the upcoming holidays but even better to have them all posted in your calendar with reminders. So you won't forget to pick up those roses for Valentine's Day or to phone home for Mother's Day. Not to mention knowing when it's a full moon so you have an excuse for eratic behavior!

If you are an Outlook user, here's a solution.  I've been using this service for years to refresh my calendar at the beginning of the year. It's so easy and it's relatively inexpensive. And if you do have issues with the service, their support is very helpful:  http://www.calendar-updates.com/  

Happy Holidays!

In the world of getting organized, "containers" are anything from a hook on the back of a door to a bin or box or even an entire shelf system or custom closet installation.

As ever, The Container Store is having their annual elfa sale. elfa is a modular shelving and drawer system that can be customized to your needs and your space to help you get organized. You can use the systems in just about any room, including the closet, office, garage or pantry. It's a relatively low cost and attractive "do it yourself" way to create a custom built-in closet and or a shelving system. Until Monday, 15 February, you can get 30% off a closet or built-in system!

But WAIT!

It's unlikely that you will get organized if you start by going to Target or The Container Store or to IKEA; a mistake many people make when they set the goal to get organized. While these are all great sources for "containers", the FIRST step is to sort your stuff and purge, or edit. Editing as in letting go of what no longer serves you. Yes, it's true, organizing usually involves making some choices to let go. These decisions can be difficult, but they are always ultimately LIBERATING and REWARDING.

So, step 1 and 2 - Sort your stuff and edti.  Let go of what doesn't serve you now in your life. Then, step 3, decide where the rest of the stuff goes. Then, and only then, if you need a shelf or a bin, it's not until step 4 that you head to the store, because that is when you know what you have!

(And don't forget, it's good for the planet if you repurpose those bins and boxes you bought the last time you tried to get organized!)

Make sense? Contact me if not.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture*, if the typical "stay-at-home" mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year. OK, so first may I say what's with the "stay at home" mom descriptor? As if, tra la la, I'm just staying at home, bon bons, etc. Jeez oh Pete... not the Mom's I work with. So, please, "full time mom" ...it's an occupation and in my mind, the most important one any man or woman can take on.

So, is it hard to stay organized if your job is "Mom"? Yep, because, to meet that $140K salary, you would have to hire: a cook, a child care provider, a laundry service, a driver, a facilities manager, a janitor, a computer operator, a chief executive officer (oh yea, you are so good at that) and a psychologist. So you, master multi-tasker, are doing the job of many people. How do you keep it all sorted out?

First, simply accept the challenge you have taken on and know that at times it will be difficult to keep everything organized. Forgive yourself and have fun. Second, when you have a chance to breath, (sigh), review in your head what your top priorities are at this given moment. Not each individual action, just the top level goals and priorities you have as the family CEO. E.g. Jenny's Birthday, travel trip coming up, working with Tommy's learning issue, my husband/partner's xyz problem, the broken jfk, ... etc. Don't worry about the action times, those will likely just happen naturally by doing this.

Finally, about that breathing thing, no really, try to breath. Deep belly breath, eyes closed. And Thanks for what you do.

* SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture; "Baby Bargains", Denise Fields, 7th Edition.; Salary.com

It's a good idea to use the Unsubscribe button often on enewsletters to keep clutter from your inbox. You only need to ask yourself one question: "Will it serve me?" Is the content meaningful and useful to you and the goals in your life now?  If not, unsubscribe freely! 

Does the content of the newsletter appeal to you... for example, a key business initiative or personal goal, an activity or hobbie that you love love love? Or a philosophy, political genre or material that is of high priority in your life? Can you learn from the content?  These are all questions about whether this information will serve you right now, today, in your life. Be sure not to fall into the trap of "maybe someday I'll get into this...".  Don't worry. When that "some day" comes, the world will give you what you need. There will be a newsletter or website out there just for you.

Also consider the structure and format of the publication.  Is it well organized? Is it easy to review and read to determine quickly?  Are there links that work?  That sort of thing.

Finally, consider the sender.  If you met that person at a network event or a party, perhaps they included you on the list only because you know someone who might appreciate it's value. If that's the case, then forward it along - that's great karma.  And then.. well, you get the idea... unsubscribe freely! 

There's a great way to get rid of your possibly valuable but definitely toxic to the planet high tech devices and gadgets.  Check out www.gazelle.com.  At the site you can calculate the value of your gadgets; they will give you a quote and even send you a box or envelope to mail it to them (with prepaid postage!)  Gazelle will resell or recycle the product for you. Buh bye clutter and the check is in the mail! It’s all good. A small step towards clearing some of your more valuable clutter.

By the way, you will likely get a little less for the higher worth items then you might if you used eBay or Craigslist to sell them. But, really, how long has that Sell on Ebay pile been sitting there in the corner. Your time may be much to valuable for that!

It is generally understood that it takes 21 consecutive days… a mere 3 weeks…. to establish a habit.  So, start with a small "bad habit" and see how long it takes you to change it to a good habit. Do you lose your keys all the time? Try, for 21 days in a row - of putting them in one place every day.  A hook, a bowl or just pound a nail in the wall and every day for 3 weeks take a moment to put your keys there. 

Do you end up with piles of mail so daunting you continue to procrastinate opening it up?  Well, try to start that habit. No matter how busy you are, open your mail every day. Stand over a recycle bin when you do it. Toss freely into recycle because 80% of your mail is someone trying to sell you something. Just for 21 days. After that, you might find it's not an effort any more and you have a nice neat pile of bills to pay, stuff to read and a healthy fat recycle bin.

21 days to liberation of a bad habit into a good habit that serves you. You so very much deserve the great results. 

Let me know how it goes!

I believe in matter and energy.  That everything, all of us and everything around us, is some form of matter and energy, spinning together, evolving and all connected.  I feel myself grounded when I touch a tree.  A tree, that is more matter than energy, but plenty of energy.  Eating of the soil upon which it’s rooted, drinking up the sun from its’ green energetic leaves.  And around you now.  Matter and energy.  For example, the chair  you sit on - or couch, seat, bed, insert your matter source for sitting here - is matter mostly, yet within it the energy of every warm, soft, sexy behind it has supported before yours, and the energy of the trees and the plants from which it was formed.  From this same spinning planet.  This simple chair, supporting you, with joy.  Because you have given purpose for all the matter and energy that went into it’s creation.  

So how is clutter supporting you in your life? How is matter and energy working in that case?  Indeed, it is not.  When you consider your own clutter challenges, consider this.  That pile of paper wants a purpose. Those piles and boxes full of who knows what are not serving anyone.  So get busy making decisions on you stuff.  Is it active and serving you in your life?  If it isn't, get it out of your space and back into this spinning planet to serve someone else. Or to be recycled. It's good for you. And it's good for the planet.

Turn matter - your clutter and disorder - into energy - where everything is in it's place waiting to serve you. 

Welcome to BALANCE.  A place to get help to support your ongoing effort to live an organized and balanced life.