Organize.com

I have had two organizational epiphanies this month.

The first was when I decided to find out what the 'Pinterest' bug was all about and became completely and utterly addicted to browsing its virtual photo boards. It wasn't long before I knew that I must create an organizational 'board' to save all of the many amazing ideas crafty people of the web were posting. (To view said board, click the 'Follow Me on Pinterest' button under my profile information and select the 'For the Love of Organization' board.)

The second was when I stumbled upon Organize.com.
This fantastically amazing site provides home organization consumer products for kitchens, closets, bath, laundry rooms, offices, dorm and garages amongst other things.

It states:

"Organize.com is a one-stop shop for all of your home organization and storage needs. The first big step to organizing your house is to do an inventory of each room. Clear out the clutter, put everything away or donate items that you don't need. Organizing your clutter will allow you to start with a clean slate. Once you do that, the organizational maintenance will be easy.

A good way to stay motivated is to start your home organizational overhaul with your master bedroom. Waking up every morning in a clean, well-organized room will put you in the right state of mind and will get you motivated to organize the rest of your house as well. Utilize the storage and organizational products on Organize.com, like our closet organizers or kitchen storage products, to continue your organizational overhaul to the remaining rooms in your house.

Don't forget to organize the garage! Once your home organization is complete it's time to move on to the garage. The garage tends to be a catch all for things that should be thrown away or given away but didn't quite make it to the proper location. Use storage racks, containers and bins to free up space in the garage for your cars and other valuables that should be stored in the garage. You can even use our closet organizers to maintain your garage's tidiness. Keep seasonal storage organized and out of the way when not in use with holiday storage containers and bins.

Creating and maintaining an organizational routine will save you time. If you stay on target and don't allow your home to return to unorganized chaos, then you can leave your weekends free for having fun and not organizing! There are many home organization and kitchen storage products available through Organize.com that can make organizing easy and fun."

I couldn't have put it better myself.

FlyLady.net

Ever heard of FlyLady?
If you're a Mormon housewife, you probably have.

Upon visiting her site, the first words you see are these:

"You can't organize clutter; you can only get rid of it! I want your home to be filled with things that make you smile. Our lives are too short to continually deal with that pink elephant in the living room." ~FlyLady

Now if that ain't wisdom, I don't know what is.

But FlyLady can offer more than just wisdom.
Her site offers help for the hopeless when it comes to personal and home organization.

Her 'basic routines' (posted under FLYing Lessons) offer a step-by-step guide for beginners. This is a perfectly practical way to motivate readers to take control of their clutter one step at a time.

Additionally, she divides the home into five 'zones' or manageable pieces which she then instructs readers to maintain on a monthly basis through an inspired emailing system. Motivation for more organization is simply a click away with FlyLady.

But I have only begun to scratch the surface of helpful hints FlyLady provides. From the '5 Minute Room Rescue' to the '27 Fling Boogie', she offers an assortment of fun and innovative ways to stay on top of your clutter.

Perhaps her greatest advice comes in the form of a strange request: "shine your sink". I'm sure you're wondering what this has to do with anything, but I've been practicing this principal for years and wholeheartedly agree with her. She says:

"Many of you can't understand why I want you to empty your sink of your dirty dishes and clean and shine it, when there is so much more to do. It is so simple. I want you to have a sense of accomplishment. You have struggled for years with a cluttered home and you are so beaten down. I just want to put a smile on your face. When you get up the next morning, your sink will greet you and a smile will come across your lovely face. I can't be there to give you a big hug, but I know how good it feels to see yourself in your kitchen sink. So each morning this is my gift to you. Even though I can't be there to pat you on the back, I want you to know that I am very proud of you. Go Shine your Sink."

I believe this concept can be applied towards any area of your home. Keeping things in a constant state of readiness is possible and, I might add, preferable.

It all comes back to my 'everything has a home' principle. Would you spend hours sorting and cleaning piles of clothing on your bedroom floor if you had simply either put them away or tossed them in the dirty hamper as soon as you were done wearing them?

Would you need to be arm deep in sudsy water, scrubbing a sink full of crusty dishes if you had instead rinsed and loaded them into the dishwasher immediately after using them? No, I say!

Maintaining a household is a continuous work in progress. Insisting on doing nothing consistently and everything sporadically will only leave you exhausted and discouraged.

So take a hint from FlyLady and get rid of the CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) in your life.

A Word on NAPO.

I'm sure many of you aren't familiar with the term 'professional organizer'. Heavens knows, I get a lot of blank stares when I mention the name.

Perhaps the easiest way to explain what a professional organizer is/does is to start at the top of the hierarchy. Ever heard of the popular TV show 'Hoarders'? It features people who obsessively collect 'things' until they are literally digging tunnels through their piles of stuff in order to access limited areas of their home. Many times, this clutter causes health issues as well as emotional and spacial problems.

Cue a professional organizer.

This being the most extreme, and probably complex, of scenarios, a professional organizer would come in to the home to both sort through the massive amounts of clutter and to help the hoarder sift through their emotional attachment to it. They help with cleanup/organization of both the home and mind.

However, professional organizing does not need to be so dramatic.
Many professional organizers choose to deal with small home or business clients in need of simple storage and/or filing solutions without becoming involved in the emotional aspects that surround the human need for 'things'. They simply contact the client, discuss their wants/needs and complete the set arrangement.

Although becoming a professional organizer does not require earning a degree, many are certified through the National Association of Professional Organizers. Surveys have also shown that professional organizers tend to hold degrees in a wide range of other fields but, for some reason or another, have decided to focus their efforts on helping the world and its inhabitants become more organized.

Believe it or not, NAPO has been around for quite some time: more than twenty years to be exact. This may come as a surprise to some, considering that the general population is in ignorance of its mere existence.

Now you are well versed in the rapidly growing field that is professional organization. Be proud. Very proud.

A Bit O' Inspiration

Upon moving out of my parent's house and into my own apartment, I discovered a new and exciting aspect of adult life: limitless access to cable TV.

And, more importantly, a wide assortment of potential channel choices. So far my favorites have been Food Network, TLC, HGTV and Style.

These days, I am completely and utterly fascinated with the Reality TV show, Clean House. So much so that I'm even willing to put up with large doses of Niecy Nash.

The show revolves around clutter-happy families who have accumulated massive piles of 'stuff' to the point of insanity in every crevice of their homes.

Enter the Clean House team.

Throughout the course of the episode, the family members are asked to remove everything from their home and keep only what is absolutely essential to their everyday living. If they haven't used the 'thing' in over a year or only hold onto it for sentimental reasons, they are bribed into letting it go in exchange for new furniture.

Eventually, a yard sale is held and the proceeds of which are doubled (up to $1,000) and applied towards the new home's interior.

So as I sit, wide-eyed, marveling at the amazing transformation every time, I can't help but wonder: why do you have to be on TV to take such initiative?

Really.

I'm issuing a little challenge.
Go home and look around. Do you like what you see?
Maybe you haven't even really noticed before, but are your 'things' taking over?

If so, have your own personal episode of 'Clean House'.
If you can't sell it, chuck it.

And when you're all done, sit down and enjoy the result of your labors with a little HGTV.