Tips & Tricks to Make Life Easier
Hoo-boy what a year was 2020. We've been healthy and lucky — including virtual organizing sessions with clients alongside my "virtual" 3rd grader — and I hope you have, too. As we all emerge into 2021, let's embrace baby-steps toward change. See below for a few ideas!
- Molly Boren, Certified Professional Organizer®
Simplicity Works Decluttering and Organizing Services
DO FOCUS
Clients know my passion for the simple yet powerful act of surface-clearing (i.e., looking for things on surfaces that aren’t in their homes, and putting them in their homes). Do it anytime and even for just one minute; it will make everything else easier. Check out these videos that quickly and brilliantly illustrate similar ideas from SubmitDearDiary and Apartment Therapy.
DON'T CLEAN THE KITCHEN
...or some other spot that can stay messy for now. This nugget from podcaster and longtime worker-at-home Sarah Powers (heard on the Edit Your Life podcast) has stuck with me. She’d rather dive into a morning work project that get stuck puttering, and finds that a full clean-up in the evening works just fine. So she lets it be. What task can you delay (or delegate, or delete) in favor of something more rewarding? Email-checking? Bed-making? You get to make the rules.
MEETUPS
I’m starting a pay-what-you-wish “Get Organized Meetup” series, building on those I’ve enjoyed throughout 2020 with a couple of small groups. These fun, three-hour sessions include group discussion, goal-setting, personalized problem-solving, and a big chunk of work time when everyone tackles their own project. (See one participant's before-and-after on the left!) Click here to tell me what timesare best for you.
GIVE TIME AWARENESS
I squealed when I opened my newTime Timer. In Boren blue! This is the company that invented the "visual timer," helping people of all ages and learning styles develop time-awareness — especially helpful now when time seems so slippery. They have tabletop models as well as digital and wristwatch products.
GIVE FOR KIDS
During quarantine, some families doing virtual school have been able to afford Covid-safe childcare or to stay home themselves to supervise, but so many can't. I don't know of many options for these families — pleasetell me if you do! — but here in Ann Arbor at least two groups are stepping up:Peace Neighborhood CenterandCosecha Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti. Please support them!
NEWS
Check out my newonline schedulerfor 30- to 90-minute organizing sessions by video. Curious what they're like? Read about themhere, or schedule afree 30-minute consultto chat about them. I also had a blast doing a Zoom workshop for 60 Yelp.com fans; see their comments here, including their big takeaways. And in June we got a dog!Here is Obee. You can read more about our summer in thesetwofeaturesfromAnn Arbor Family.