Now on to Organizing news, if any of you have a SECRET clutter issue then Peter Walsh is looking for you.  Check out his facebook page, he has put a call out looking for anyone who hides their clutter issues.  If you hide purchases in your truck car or have a ’secret’ credit card no one knows then he is looking to help you.  check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/PeterWalsh

Organizing expert Stephanie Calahan  shares some awesome resources with the world this week, check out her Resource Center featuring 36 Organizing Blogs for your time, office, home and Life. 

And last but not least,

For any Organizers out there, it is time to submit your organizing Blog Post for the March Professional Organizers Blog Carnival put on by Janet Barclay.  The Topic this month is Financial Organization, submit online here . 

Have a Great week all,

Kim

I believe in fate and in amongst all the crazy things going on I stumbled upon this great Blog post by Donna-Marie Coggins about ‘What to do when your workload overwhelms you’.  It has some great advice and reminds us to take a breath and do some planning and delegate as much as possible.  I sometimes forget that there are other people who can do the stuff I do; I just forget to ask them to help.

I discovered a great organizing tool this week, I have been using Google Reader to get my online reading organized to maximize my use of time, if you are into Social Media this is a tool you may want to check out.  I LOVE IT.  It is so easy to use it is amazing.  Check out this Blog for some great tips on how to use Google Reader to get organized: 6 Ways to Get Organized and Centralized with Social Media.

There is a lot going on this weekend if you are looking for some fun stuff:

If you like to party Join Janet Barclay’s Blog party that starts today, there will be loads of fun organizers in attendance so don’t miss out. Will you come to her party? I will be there!

The Coupon Princess is having a Rubbermaid Giveaway, hurry over and enter before March 3rd.

Locally here in Moncton Today February 26th Is Mission Possible: Haiti Day.  If you happen to be in the area pick up your Mission Possible T-shirt and Join us at the Celebration Center Tonight for a fabulous Benefit concert featuring ECMA winners The Divorcees, Stephanie Mainville and Chris Copelaugh.

On an International Level it is time to think about registering for NAPO Conference 2010. If you are an organizer you do not want to miss this opportunity to learn from experts and see all the new organizing gadgets that are coming out. Here is a message from NAPO President Laura Leist:

March Break officially starts here in NB this weekend, Elaine is off on a much deserved Family Vacation and I will hanging out to hold down the fort.  If you have any fun Organizing news or tips to share let me know and I will be sure to bring them up at the next session of the Watercooler.

Have a great week everyone and Happy Organizing!

Kim

closet

Standard closets in most homes are equipped with a sturdy but un-functional single rod and a dust covered shelf that would be adequate if you are over         5ft 4 inches….however, if you are vertically challenged like me that shelf space is not even attainable unless you have a step stool in the closet.

Want to find some storage space…look up, look way up.

I love storage that is flexible. Rubbermaid shelving is all that and then some. It is easy to install, inexpensive, the pieces can be changed and if you have allergies in your home the open wire shelving allows the air to circulate and the dust to fall to the floor where it can be vacuumed up quite easily.

Here are some of the ways that I have used this Shelving system;

• Bedroom Closets…of course!
• Mudroom shelving
• A storage closet in a home office
• Mudroom closet
• Basement storage room
• Playroom

The options and variety of uses for this shelving are endless.

The beauty of this lightweight shelving is that you can take advantage of the unused vertical storage….by looking way up and taking advantage of that coveted space in between where you would normally stop your shelving you can add several feet to your storage options.

Now in this last week of the 28 Day organizing Challenge go and reclaim the unused vertical storage in all your closets….

Elaine AKA the Empress of Inspiration

This is a time of year where people tend to curl up to wait out the rest of the winter. If that is what you are doing I have some interesting sites that you can visit right from the warmth of your home.

This is what we are chatting about around our watercooler.

Laura over at the Organizing Junkie is heading into the last week of her 28 Day Organizing Challenge, if you have a  Blog and are looking to win some great prizes then head over and check out this awesome contest.

Spring is just around the corner and so is moving time…moving is a hot topic around our watercooler with moving in Kim’s future and we found this great resource from Carla Woolnough on How to Stage Your own Home on DVD...you know how much we love visual learning so this was exciting for us to find to share with you.

Being proud Canadians we have been glued to the TV watching all the excitement of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics…Summer Olympics are nice but the Winter Olympics get your blood pumping with all the speed of the events, did you catch Shawn White the US snowboarder- wow he can fly and of course no Olympic experience is complete without following hockey,(well at least for us Canadians) it sure is looking like it will be Canada Verse the USA in both men’s and Women’s Hockey.  In honor of our Canadian heritage here is a funny video that the Molson Beer empire created a few years ago…

Last but not least we want to know Who are the people in your Neighborhood?  Elaine asked this questions a few weeks ago on her blog and it got a lot of people thinking and replying.  let us know who is in your neighborhood. 

Have a great one everyone!

Chat with you next week around the Watercooler,

Elaine and Kim

I thought this week I would share some really funny organizing stuff, crazy stuff…stuff that makes you think OMG Professional Organizers have a very bizarre sense of humor….Enjoy!

Every Professional Organizer I know has a Dymo Label maker…we love to label everything…really, everything!

professional Organizers love Ikea because of the functionality of the furniture and accessories and the Organizing and Storage options…

and

Lastly who has not been inspired by Martha Stewart, she  inspired me in the kitchen and gave me my first introduction to all things organizing….did you also know she has a great sense of fun!

For any of you with Pets in the house, check out this blog on how to Store and Organize your cats…Had us laughing ourselves silly.

Feeling inspired to get moving on the spring organizing? Looking for some ideas on how to get started?

Check out our Home Organizing Videos, they show you how to get organized using our 6 Step Organizing System.

Until next week…See you at the Watercooler

Elaine…aka…the Empress of Inspiration

watercooler

This is what happened at the Watercooler this week….

One final bit of information to share ….the LA Organizing Award winners list courtesy of our friend Lorrie Marrero over at the Clutter Diet Blog…check out the list of winners

Back to Canada where the option for organizing resources and help is just getting warmed up….thank heavens for that because there is nothing warm about Canada right now…..seriously…it is -29 today…brrrr.

Let’s head to the wild wild west to visit a fellow Canuck, Laura the organizing junkie,….this woman has a thing for baskets…no really she does. Anyhow Laura has resurrected her 28 Day Challenge and you are invited to join in.  There are some pretty serious prizes for the winners and in Laura’s words,  “We have some absolutely amazing prizes to offer you as motivation as well.  I’m just so excited to tell you about them.  These are some of the finest organizing services and products out there, all designed to help you live your best organized life possible“. check it out

More exciting news, for you…Laura loves our video set so much that she had her online store people call our people…that would be Kim…and they wanted to add actual hard copies of our product to their site…well holy smokes….we were over the top on that one….so Kim quickly sprung into action and in less than a week our video set is now available in Laura’s the Org Junkie’s store….this is now another option to the digital download….if you want something that you can actually touch…it is now available…get it now

At last but not least our friends over at Canadian Parents Online have made us a part of their Clutter Club this month with the addition of the Organizing the Fridge video to their site, Our hostess Laura…not to be confused with Laura the Org junkie….well it must be Laura Month…is brilliant in this video, I am sure that we have all felt a bit scared when heading to the back of the fridge…you never know what can be lurking in the depth of the abyss….check out the video.

As GO (get organized) Month comes to a close there are several goodies to share this week that will help you with your goals of getting and staying organized in 2010.

As we head around the globe let’s visit…

Watercooler

You do What for a Living?

I love how Wendy Davie, our Australian organizing pal, explained what Professional Organizers do and I shared her animated video on my blog this week, see it here.

Great Organizing Giveaway

Are you looking for FREE resources to get you organized….well holy smokes you have hit the jackpot. The Great Organizing Giveaway was launched this week. Kim and I are uber excited because we were asked to participate in this Global event with over 120 of our Professional Organizer friends from around the world. We are offering a free download of our Home Organizing Basics, which includes the video, worksheets and e-book. Our friends are offering everything from Home Office Organizing Tips to Feng Shui Tips and everything in between. To get all these awesome offers FREE, you just need to sign up here with your name and e-mail and all 126 offers are there for you….enjoy.

How do I get my children and husband to help around the house?

This week I received this question on my youtube channel and Kim and I immediately sprung into action.  We got our trusty video camera and I got out my SoapBox…yes I needed it for this one. I would not call myself opinionated…but I do have opinions.  Enjoy and I hope this inspires you to empower your family…you can see more of our videos on our Organizing Connection Youtube Channel

That was the week in organizing.

Don’t forget, you can follow Organizing Connection, Elaine and Kim on twitter and we also have a Facebook Fan page that you can join.

Have a good one….Elaine

Yes, you can follow Organizing Connection, Elaine and Kim on twitter and we also have a Facebook Fan page that you can join.

The Watercooler has been all abuzz this week this is what we have heard.

January is GO(Get Organized) Month for our friends in the USA and the whole country is buzzing with activities. Here are some of the highlights for the last week of this event.

LA Organizing Awards…
It is award show season, forget the Golden Globe’s roll out the red carpet for the best of the best in the professional organizing industry. In the next few days many of our friends will be descending on one of the most amazing cites I have been to….LA. Bright lights, Rodeo Drive…a chance encounter with Simon Cowell in 2004 makes this one of my favorite places….ps…that is my reflection in Simon’s shiny Bentley…and it was not me if you are asking!

Simon Cowell on Rodeo Dr

While we are in sunny California I would like to introduce you to Josh Zerkel. I am very fond of Josh and even fonder of his love of productivity….birds of a feather stick together.If you are free on January 27th I invite you as my guest to an event that you will not want to miss.

Joshua is going to be hosting a FREE teleclass on January 27^th dedicated to showing you “The 7 Essentials for a Profitable and Productive 2010,” and he’s arranged FREE access for anyone I send along. register now!

Our Friend Josh

Now over to Georgia and the ZING list. That is Allison Carter’s vision of The Zing List.

What if there was a Craig’s List just for the organizing community?
What if we had a neighborhood market where we could all share what we are doing, creating, teaching… and you could go there to find interesting classes and books and products.

Haiti still needs our help and for our Canadians readers here is another way to give….and give …and give

Soft Moc Canada National Shoe Drive: Help Survivors of the Haitian Earthquake Disaster!

As a WAHM (work at home mom)  the watercooler is not as much fun. First of all I don’t have one and if I did I would be the only one there.

Those days are long gone but…today I feel the need to hang around the watercooler. If you were here we could chat about….

This week on Oprah

Peter Walsh and Oprah are sending families a wake up call with their Stripped Down Challenge.   Looks hard but I think our families are worth it. What do you think?

Here is a summary of the “Stripped Down” Challenge.

1.       No cell phones or texting
2.       No electronics (e-mail, computers, iPod, TV, microwave, etc)
3.       Prepare and eat healthy meals together
4.       Clean and organize the house
5.       Family must hug and say “I love you” to each other at least one a day…this is my favourite.

PS…what do you think of Oprah’s new website? It looks like a major change to facilitate the use of “Social Media”. With links to twitter, facebook, myspace and youtube to follow our favourite TV friend.

This week at Unclutterer

Whoever said organizers did not know how to lighten up and let loose have obviously not played the Clutter Game…my score of 120 is a bit embarrassing.  I think I will leave the video games for the kids…I prefer board games myself.

Over at Lifehacker

With the weekend upon us I wonder how many of you will be spending the weekend playing catch-up. How would you like to “UnClutter your workdays to free up your weekends” ?

If you have not already done so you can help our friends and family in Haiti through any one of these organizations… The Red Cross , Worldvision or Oxfam

Please stay well, be good to yourself and others and I look forward to meeting you again “At the Watercooler”.

Elaine

I just finished watching Oprah and the topic of the day was hoarding, in all its retched glory. I found myself fascinated by this show and my heart breaking for those living in this condition. As a Professional Organizer I have seen this stuff in real life, and let me tell you it is REAL, I don’t know how many people live like this, but there are more than you can imagine living in various degrees of this cluttered existence. In my small city of Moncton I have seen my fair share. You may even be one yourself, if so, you are NOT alone!

Why would someone live like this?

How did they let it get so bad?

Can’t they see how disgusting it is?

Why don’t they just clean it up for Pete’s sake?

These may be thoughts that go through your mind if you are on the outside looking in. We are quick to judge things that we cannot relate to or ever imagine living in, but can you for just a little bit try to empathize with those families that are dealing with this, instead of judging.

Most who are living this life already know- as Linda states in the Oprah show how Ugly and Horrid it is. They live daily with the embarrassment and humiliation of not being able to function in their own homes, not being able to ever have anyone over and having NO idea how to stop it.

What is the cause of Hoarding, how do you get to the point where your stuff has taken over you space? Well on the show, Dr. David Tolin gave a few hints to the answer to this. It is a mental illness, an Obsessive Compulsive disorder, an addiction. But whatever the technical terms you want to use it boils down to this- it’s REAL, it’s not about being messy(that is just a symptom) and It’s Affecting a lot of lives. Several of the women on the show state that a major ‘trigger’ for them was the loss of their father, the loss of a ground force in their life.

What can you do, if you think you are a hoarder, is it just about cleaning up you home?

Peter Walsh gave the best insight into this on the show, that there is an underlying cause of the hoarding, just like an addiction, you have to get to the root cause of the hoarding before there can be change and until you start talking about these root causes like loneliness, boredom, and whatever else is a trigger then you will never make the change needed.

In my opinion, he is so correct, when Oprah’s crew was visiting Linda a year and a half After The A & E Hoarders show she was featured on, we could all see the signs of backsliding. She can be defensive and come up with reasons and excuses all she wants but from the outside looking in, she was on her way back to where she started. As Peter said, until she replaces that boredom and loneliness with something else that gives her what she needs in life, then she will continue to slowly move backwards. I was so inspired by her stating she was heading back to school- what courage she has to move forward and to fill the void by doing something instead of buying something. Bravo to her!

My heart goes out to the children living in this situation, we all know from lots of studies that children learn what they live. Dr. David Tolin summed it up by stating that children ‘growing up in this environment leaves a scar, Children of hoarders are PROFOUNDLY affected by their environment’. Is it any different than living in an abusive environment?

On the show Jennifer and Ron took action when they were at risk of losing their kids; that says to me that even he authorities view it as a threat to kids lives. What is in store for these kids as they grow up, my tears started early on in the show when a young boy was running down the driveway upset that they were throwing away his old dirty play house, it is understandable that kids would be upset to see their stuff go away, I know that from my own personal experience with my kids, when they see things, they want to keep them, even if they no longer play with them. The problem with this scene is not that the boy was upset, it was his explanation of why, he stated he was keeping this playhouse for his kids to play in when he grows up, where did that come from: the obvious answer would be- his parents. He is learning what he is living and if things don’t change he could be on the same path.

His parents Ron and Jennifer, can be proud of the steps they have taken to change the way they were living, teaching by example that change is good and working with a Professional like CPO Geralin Thomas is okay. Bravo to them for their courage to act and to ask for the help they needed!

Bravo to all those who have taken steps to regain control of their life and their space.

Here are some take aways:

• Everyone has ‘STUFF’ in their life and for Hoarders, Stuff is representing the other ‘Stuff’. This is how their ‘Stuff’ showed up.
• Find Your ‘Triggers’ and avoid them when possible.
• Find something to fill the void, the loneliness or the ‘buzz’ you may get from shopping. Take a class, take up a hobby, Volunteer, Whatever will make you feel more fulfilled but not make your house more Full and Filled.
• Have a place for things BEFORE you bring them into your home
  Create Posters and place them around your space to remind you: My Family is More Important Than my Stuff!
• YOU CANNOT HELP SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT WANT HELP! You cannot go in and throw everything away and expect something to change. It is not about cleaning up a mess, it is about dealing with the underlying issues. And if someone does not want help, refuses to see they have a problem then you cannot really help them.

Tony Robbins would say- You have to get Disturbed, before major change can happens. In this show Ron and Jennifer got ‘disturbed’ when authorities threatened to take their kids away and they finally got the help they needed in order to save their children.

Let’s keep the conversation going..

If you are in a similar situation and are finally ready to get Disturbed there are resources out there to help you.

Here are just a few places to start- and really just taking the steps to start is a huge leap in the journey to Regain control:

National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization
www.CompulsiveHoaring.org

If you have a story you want to share with us about your clutter please feel free to leave a comment or email us at info@organizingconnection.com

Here’s to a Fullfilled Life, Not a full and filled Home!

Kim