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

"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!

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

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