What’s the purpose of embracing a fresh start? Is it to have a do-over? Is it useful because it helps you to be poised, ready, and open for new opportunities that appear? Is it a burning desire knowing that it’s time for a change? What says “change” better than clearing the decks?

Last week, I had the opportunity to be a guest on WNYC’s “All Of It” with the fabulous host, Alison Stewart. You can click here to learn how Alison and I met. On her show we talked about organizing, overwhelm, mindfulness, New Year’s intentions and more. Listeners had the opportunity to call in and ask me their most pressing organizing questions. Alison has an impressive audience of listeners, and they asked great questions. I thought it would be fun to do a follow-up post so that I could expand on my responses to some of the issues.

How to Make the Best of Your Fresh Start

Get Fresh With Your Paper Stuff

Even though we live in an increasingly digital world, we still manage to amass a lot of paper. It takes up valuable space and mental energy.  Listener, Bill, expressed this when he called in. He felt overwhelmed with his backlog of documents and wanted some advice about what to let go of.

The general rule (although definitely check with your accountant who understands your specific situation) is to keep tax back-up records for seven years from the date of filing. Keep copies of your tax returns indefinitely. If there isn’t any tax or other financial implication like capital improvement records, or proof of a significant purchase needed for warranty purposes, most papers can go. Think shred, trash, out-of-here now! Also, for going forward, consider getting records digitally and filing them in electronic file folders. That will reduce future paper clutter.

For some other thoughts about the benefits of paper clearing, check out How to Use That Energy Boost You Get From a Fresh Start.

Get Fresh With Your Move

One of the biggest motivators for new beginnings is when you’re preparing to move. Listener, Margaret, called in to share about the tremendous decluttering and letting go work she’s been doing in preparation for her upcoming move. She’s already donated many bags of stuff to local charities. Go, Margaret! While she has been able to let go and have less, she was concerned about maintaining her “less stuff” approach after the move.

While a massive amount of decision-making goes into moving and choosing what to give away, sell, or keep, that process doesn’t end after the move. In fact, most people make a second or third edit post-move. Pay attention to how it feels to own less. After you move, you’ll have a new perspective on space and your belongings. Continue the editing process until you are “right-sized.” To maintain your home, build in some editing time every six months or so to review and release.

For additional thoughts about managing clutter, check out Decisions, Clutter & Tag Sales.

Get Fresh With Your Family (but in a good way!)

My heart went out to the listener, Alexandra, who called with a question about how to best help her mom with hoarding behavior. I was moved by the amount of support, love, and willingness the family has given her mom. The challenge is that while her mom has an awareness of her problem, she hasn’t been able to make any behavioral changes. Attempts by the family to help “clear out” have caused the problem to worsen. The family is at a loss as to how to best help.

Hoarding disorder has a mental health diagnosis. While it’s beautiful to have a supportive family, it’s essential to build a team of experts that can help like therapists, social workers, and other professionals. However, no team will be effective without a willing participant. 

One of the best books for loved ones of those that hoard, is Digging Out – Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding & Compulsive Acquiring by Michael Tompkins, Ph.D., and Tamara Hartl, Ph.D. It is written for the family to understand better the disorder and how to best help. 

Another excellent resource is The Hoarding Project. They offer nation-wide consultation services, education, and support geared towards people with hoarding behavior, family and friends, and professionals.

Behind the Scenes at WNYC

To listen to the WNYC “All Of It” January 4th podcast with these listeners' stories and more, click here. My segment is the first 20 plus minutes.

Are you in the fresh start mood? How are you making the most of yours? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Join the conversation! 

Several organizing challenges commonly occur with my clients. A few months ago, I had the pleasure of talking with my friend, John Hunt, from Smead, about the top five organizing challenges and strategies for overcoming them. I’m thrilled to share these two podcasts with you.

If you’re stuck or overwhelmed or know someone who is, keep reading. You’ll learn how to shift your perspective, engage new strategies and possibilities, and confidently take next action steps forward.

Top 5 Organizing Challenges . . .

1. Transitions

Life transitions such as a move, new job, birth of a child, or loss of a loved one can create “situational” or temporary disorganization. Transitions can be overwhelming because they can involve something unfamiliar. Current organizing systems may no longer work and require adjustments. Watch the video (Part 1) to learn transition strategies like making a list of areas that need editing and organizing or recalling other past transitions that were successfully navigated.

2. Papers

While we live in a digital age, papers are still a big organizational challenge. Overstuffed and outdated files, unopened mail, and the management of paper can easily cause us to feel overwhelmed. Watch the video (Part 1) to learn paper management strategies including creation of a simple system to process incoming paper.

Organizing Challenges: Transitions and Paper, and How to Overcome Them (Part 1)

Linda Samuels' Smead interview with John Hunt - Part 1

3. Emotions

Organizing can be more challenging, especially when we have a strong emotional attachment to our possessions. This can happen when we’re experiencing grief or loss. Decision-making can be more difficult making it harder to let go. Watch the video (Part 2) to hear about possible strategies, which include engaging the help of a supportive, non-judgmental friend, family member or professional organizer and allowing your belongings to have “safe passage.”

“Organizing can be more challenging, especially when we have a strong emotional attachment to our possessions.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVPO

4. Maintenance

Organizing involves not just establishing workable systems, but also maintaining them. Maintenance is an often overlooked, yet integral part of the organizing process. Watch the video (Part 2) to learn some maintenance tips including building in regular daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly stopgaps.

5. Mindfulness

Distractions interrupt our focus and frequently disrupt the organizing process. When organizing, we can focus on the future or past instead of the present. Watch the video (Part 2) to learn some mindfulness strategies including using “Full Circle Thinking”, where you purposefully pay attention and are mindful of what you’re doing while you’re doing it. Focus on one “circle” at a time until it’s complete such as “I’m opening the drawer and closing it.” Or, “I’m unlocking the door and placing my keys back in their home.”

Organizing Challenges: Emotions, Maintenance, Mindfulness, and How to Overcome Them (Part 2)

Linda Samuels' Smead interview with John Hunt - Part 2

What is your top organizing challenge? Are there strategies that work for you? What are the possibilities? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!

With the Thanksgiving season upon us, thoughts of gratitude, family, friends, food, and love are usually the focus. While there has been some “turkey talk,” more of the conversations are politics-filled, especially because of the recent election. We are passionate human beings with varying perspectives and values. Our emotions are running high. While we wouldn’t necessarily view organizing habits and politics together, I had a conversation during a client organizing session, which made me think about the connection.

My client was telling me how much she valued working with me and then mentioned an excerpt from a recent White House Press Conference, which related to her thoughts. At the press conference, President Obama was referring to the President-Elect and talking about the importance of recognizing aspects of your temperament that will or will not serve you well as President. He said that recognizing and correcting for deficits are essential to being successful in that role.

Obama used the following example to express this idea and said, 

“…I know myself well enough to know I can’t keep track of paper. I am not well organized in that way. And so pretty quickly, after I’m getting stacks of briefing books coming in every night, I say to myself, I’ve got to figure out a system because I have bad filing, sorting and organizing habits. And I’ve got to find some people who can help me keep track of this stuff. That seems trivial, but actually it ends up being a pretty big piece of business.”

We all have strengths and challenges. Even the President needs help staying organized. Positive outcomes happen when we’re able to work from our strengths and enlist the right support for our challenges.

Uncertainty exists, especially in this tumultuous political climate. However, you can choose to embrace change with the things you have within your control. Are their habits that no longer serve you? Do you see an opening for change? What support do you need to move forward? If it’s organizing help that you desire, I’m just a phone call away. Reach out. Let me help you change your corner of the world.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation.

The latest installment (v11) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature is here with my newest discoveries that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. I’ve included unique and inspiring enlisting help-related finds, which reflect this month’s blog theme. You’re a fantastically engaged group. I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced for you. What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? . . .

1. Interesting Read – Decision-Making Help

Living requires us to make millions of decisions. Are you overwhelmed by choice? If so, you’re not alone. Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice – Why More is Less, sheds light on how the abundance in our culture has made us become less satisfied and more stressed about our daily decisions. He says that while choice improves the quality of our lives, helps us control our future, and is essential to autonomy, the overload of choice comes at a price. Schwartz explains why this has happened and suggests ways to overcome it. He concludes with, “Choice within constraints, freedom within limits, is what enables [us] to imagine a host of marvelous possibilities.”

2. Interesting Study – Productivity Help

While traveling on one of my favorite airlines, Southwest, I read about an interesting piece in their onboard magazine. The University of British Columbia did a study where the results determined that desk clutter lowered your attention span. Interpreted another way, an organized desk increased your attention span by 167%. A different experiment concluded that study participants in a cluttered workspace took 10 percent longer to complete a quiz than the participants situated in a neat workspace.

3. Interesting Conference – Disorganization Help

The Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD) will have its’ annual conference in Portland, Oregon, September 22-24, 2016. Organizers and related professionals will convene from all over the globe to learn about aging, ADHD, productivity, mental illness, hoarding, time management, and the latest research on chronic disorganization. I’m looking forward to attending and learning from the experts so that I can better help my clients. Are you going? I’d love to see you there!

4. Interesting Product – Paper Organizing Help

Have you noticed the adult coloring book craze? They are in bookstores, conferences, airports, hospitals and everywhere. They’re even on file folders. One of Smead’s clever new products is the coloring file folder, great for organizing your papers.  Available at myOrganized.life, you no longer need an excuse to doodle on your files. Get out your colored pencils and have fun while you’re organizing your paper piles.

5. Interesting Resource – Repair Help

I’m all for letting go of things that no longer serve a purpose, are beyond repair, or have overstayed their welcome. However, what about those finer shoes or handbags that could be repaired, but they sit around waiting for a way to get that done. Cobblerconcierge.com is a convenient service that meshes the skill and traditions of expert cobblers with the ease of using the Internet. The process is easy. Fill out an online form, receive a shipping box, and your shoes or handbags will be quickly refurbished and returned right back to your home.

6. Interesting Thought – Exclamatory Help

We all do it, don't we? Swearing that is. Especially when we need help, those expletives can arrive fast and furiously. However, they only go so far for handling a moment of frustration. If you’re struggling with overwhelm, with a challenge that seems unsolvable, or with figuring out how you’re going to move forward, it’s probably time to reach out for help. Be brave enough to ask.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What are your interesting finds? Do any of these resonate with you?  Come join the conversation!