Don’t Agonize, Just Organize!

How Can Virtual Organizing Help Me?

In today’s virtual world, you can do almost anything, including getting organized!

How can that be you may wonder? VO is the next big thing. Whether you choose to connect to your professional organizer via telephone or email, nothing could be more convenient. You don’t even have to get dressed.

No one is going to come into your home.

Through technology you can get help with a specific project, specific room, your entire home or office, time management, filing, closet organizing etc.

The key is to work with an experienced professional organizer such as Diane Hatcher at Time-Savers Professional Organizing Services, Inc. In business full time since 1998, Diane is the only Certified Professional Organizer in S. Florida. There are only 320 in the entire U.S. This is a testament to her hard work, continuing education and successful work with hundreds of clients.

What does that mean to you? It means you get the benefit of her knowledge and skills to help you get organized, learn new systems and provide you with solutions that suit your needs, most efficiently and effectively and have fun while your doing it.

HOW DO WE DO IT?
Sessions last up to a half-hour, once a week. No need to carve out a three or four hour block of time.

During these sessions you and Diane will determine your goals and how to reach them. We will determine how fast you can accomplish this, how much you can handle in a week.

You’ll discuss what worked and what got in your way.

There will be no judgment or criticism of your progress. We are goal and progress oriented and we will celebrate your successes. If you’ve ever been to a popular weight loss program, or worked with a personal trainer, it may be that you already know what to do, but having that person to report to, helps hold you accountable.

You will receive positive feedback, encouragement, support and motivation.

And best of all, everything takes place in the strictest of confidences. No one will ever know what we discussed. They’ll only notice your changes.

Each time you reach a major goal, a simple, customized plan for maintaining your progress will be provided.

You’re probably thinking, for all this benefit, I still can’t afford to work with a professional organizer.

Surprise. For a limited time only, we are offering a 15 minute complementary session.

Call us at 954-252-7511. 

If you have questions or are ready to get started, contact us now at diane@timesaversusa.com or 954-252-7511. Remember, the sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll experience results!

Or visit our blog www.timesaversusa.com/blog and sign up for our RSS feed so you can keep up with the latest organizing tips and advice we provide!

HAPPY ORGANIZING!

 by Diane Hatcher/Time-Savers Professional Organizing Services, Inc.

 
Does your home or office look like a tornado just blew through?

Do you spend hours looking for something you know “is around here somewhere?”

Do you have paper piles all around your office, desk, floor or home?

Then you may have the characteristics referred to in the Professional Organizing industry as Chronic Disorganization (CD).  Although it is not a medical or psychological disorder, it can cause you real problems.  You may be shaking your head in agreement at this point, because you or someone you know may fit this description.

Chronically disorganized people can have adverse effects on those around them, as
well as to themselves.  They are rarely prepared for meetings, appointments, paying bills on time, deadlines, finishing things they start, filing papers or any combination of these.  They may feel they have little control over their lives, as life tends to control them. (Visit www.nsgcd.org for a more comprehensive checklist of characteristics).

Is this the kind of pattern you want your children to learn from you? We all know “Children live what they learn…” Your bad habits will be noticed and assimilated by your children. How are you going to get them to learn to clean up after themselves if they live with the disorganized clutter you’ve created all around them?

A person can be chronically disorganized at work, and not at home, and vice versa.  Once one gets so backlogged with mail, paperwork, clutter or disorganization, he/she tends to avoid the situation even more.  This willingness to endure the clutter causes further stresses and frustrations due to the overwhelm generated by the thought of addressing (or avoiding) the issue.

Disciplining ones self to get organized can be as simple as taking the time to do so.  Ironically, this can be one of the most valuable uses of a CD’s time.  Instead they spend it compounding the problem.  In the “being busy,” they avoid attacking the situation head on.  While in their office, the avoidance is compounded by working around the piles, not realizing the stress they feel is due to the surrounding disorganization.  The vicious cycle continues until intervention is sought.

The good news is, getting organized does not have to be a painful process.  It is a matter of breaking old habits and establishing new ones.  Professional organizers are available to guide the process.  We not only help clean up, we create systems and solutions that save time and help you maintain the organization. 

Soon, a newfound sense of freedom and control is realized.  This rejuvenation then positively impacts other areas of one’s life.

The following tips can get you started:

+Commit to putting in a few hours at a time to get organized.
+Find an appropriate place (a home) for each item.
+Place papers and items in those homes when they are brought into the home or office.
+Set up systems that save time.
+Purge files, drawers and closets annually at a minimum.
+Make a daily To-Do list, the night before.

Benefits of being organized at work include providing you with more time for customer service, increasing sales or to spend with employees at your business.  At home, there will be more time for enjoying family and leisure-time activities.

Think about simplifying your life.  Busy is great, but isn’t being organized worth the benefits?

Diane Hatcher, CPO®, the only Certified Professional Organizer in South Florida, owns Time-Savers Professional Organizing Services and is the author of Don’t Agonize, Organize Your Office Now! She has been organizing paper and clutter in offices and homes since 1998. Contact her at (954) 252-7511 or at www.timesaversUSA.com/products.
                                                  

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1. Thou shalt not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of human activities.
2. Thou shalt not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.
3. Thou shalt not cross bridges before you get to them for no one has succeeded in accomplishing this.
4. Thou shalt face each problem as it comes. You can handle only one at a time anyway.
5. Thou shalt not take problems to bed with you for they make very poor bedfellows.
6. Thou shalt not borrow other people’s problems. They can take better care of them than you can.
7. Thou shalt not try to relive yesterday for good or ill–it is gone. Concentrate on what is happening in your life today.
8. Thou shalt count thy blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small ones add up to a big one.
9. Thou shalt be a good listener, for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own. It’s very hard to learn something when you’re talking.
10. Thou shalt not become bogged down by frustration. 90% of it is rooted in self-pity and will only interfere with positive action.

HAPPY ORGANIZING!

Mary’s house was inundated with papers on every horizontal surface in the living room, kitchen and den. Papers ranged from bills to junk mail ads, some as old as 4 years.

As uncomfortable and embarrassing as the situation was to Mary, she was unable to take any action. And the papers continued to arrive daily with the mail.

We discussed her fears, her past efforts and her willingness to change. The plan was to pile everything up in one place, in a box, with the newest paperwork on top (providing  she was able to determine which piles were the most recent).

We set to work, one piece of paper at a time. I asked her to decide one of three things about each paper:  whether it was junk and could be thrown out, if it was out of date and could be tossed, or whether it was tax-related or for some other reason important enough to keep and file.

A missing key component from Mary’s office was the lack of a viable filing system. No wonder she did not know what to do with the papers! There was no “system” in which to place them.

Once all the papers were sorted and a customized filing system was developed  to support the papers she needed to keep, the decision-making on future papers became simple.

Additionally, getting her “caught up” made a seemingly hopeless situation manageable.

Getting this issue under control enabled Mary to make great progress in other areas of her life as well. Once the clutter was gone, her mind became clearer, without the distraction of clutter. She is now so happy and paper clutter-FREE!

This is why I love being a professional organizer!

Happy Organizing!