A bear in the bathroom...

Have you ever had an item in your life which has gone from the 1) I love this! So cute! to the 2) hmm is this getting dated stages but you still want to keep it? I have that from time to time. I start to question, is this clutter? but like the thing and want to keep it, but...but...

Here's my item in question:

Bear was sent to me as a get well card in September 2010 after a very nasty fall down some stairs (Note: avoid checking email on iPhone when walking through dark lobby with dark granite steps albeit in lovely green.) My fall was traumatizing (ok so stunningly painful I thought "it can't be broken because then I'd feel something and this hurts so much I can't feel my leg!!") with almost broken bones and more than almost knee injuries, halting my marathon running in mid-stride (darn! bummer! just 3 days after a hilly 10k on Bowen Island to celebrate my 51st!)

The bear card was a warm and fuzzy reminder of my real teddy bear that helped me get through trauma at age 30 (a blog post for another day.) So I loved that card. It caught my breath when I opened it and I felt like I'd just taken a visual hit of Rescue Remedy, immediately feeling soothed. Thank you Janice at www.sendacardeverytime.com for your timely, perfect card.

But then it was January... February, and my clutter radar was beeping.

Now, clutter isn't clutter anymore if we can re-purpose it. On a trip to my medicine cabinet to get a bandaid, my organizer light bulb went off and I knew Bear was staying. His place was going to be with my few first aid items, as my personal Dr. Bear. Voila! From clutter to happy moments. He now gives me a hit whenever I open the cabinet, and as needed, my booboo's are pleasantly eased with his cute presence.

Here's his home now with before and afters. Fitting him in gave me the opportunity for a quick de-cluttering session in another corner. So he stays but actually there were a few items in the cabinet that had to go.

How about you? Do you have any items you think might be clutter but you'd like to re-pupose? Maybe I can help. That's what I do at Goodbye Clutter: I make room for what matters.

Paper paper paper!

I'm one of those who doesn't like paper. Are you with me?

It's tax season once again. That means its the time of year that I get to work with clients who either are fighting off the beast of home-office-paper-gone-wild, or have carefully collected (read procrastinated) stock pile of unorganized business and personal tax paperwork.

Generally, it started out with at least some semblance of a system (how did shoeboxes become the favoured system?) but over time deteriorated. Sometimes badly. I can relate. In part. My own business paper isn't always a pristine, organized, colour coded, expression of harmony and calm. What I have is an in-between. With regular purges. Usually in December or January. And an ongoing distaste for paper. I'd rather be traveling, running, making jello, flirting...

I prefer my paper organized, in attractively coloured files, with consistent labels, and in reality, more than 75% of my paper ends up that way. The other stuff? Well a little less organized, a little more piled up on my table. Current projects, current client files, current marketing, the papers I want to have visible, those are my challenge.

For me, it's kind of like ...(insert your bias here men/women/)...I'll pick men. Can't live with em, can't live without em. That's me and paper.

Now, purging paper is a whole different story. I love that past time! And that's something I'm really good at. Into the shredder/fireplace/ant composter it goes.

So there you go, confessions of a Professional Organizer. Hope you weren't under the illusion that all organizers are uber-organized. We're not. Some day I'll tell you about the Professional Organizer who's teenager threatened to expose her if she didn't hand over the keys to the car. Until then, I've got some filing to do.

But remember, Goodbye Clutter! We make room for what matters. And sometimes that's jello.

the overwhelming thought of letting go

Creating your clutter free world may not be as daunting as it seems. No superhuman effort is required. After all, it takes years for things to accumulate. And in that light, the idea of making it all disappear over the course of a weekend could justifiably be considered a bit unreasonable.

As we endeavour to simplify our lives, consume less and jettison those things that are needlessly taking up space, we often think of letting go. The thought of letting go, however, can be overwhelming and not very rewarding. And the question becomes, how do we convert thought into action?

There isn’t one answer. We’re all different. That’s why professional insight can be so important. But one small act can make an enormous difference.

In her famous book, On Death and Dying, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross describes the five stages of grief. This won’t be the first time these five stages have been retooled and applied to another area. This is because what Kubler-Ross hit on is so universal. So, with apologies to the originator, here are the Five Stages of decluttering your life.

1. Denial: "It’s okay. I’ll just step over that."
2. Anger: "This shouldn’t be happening to me. I’m special."
3. Bargaining: "If I vacuum and dust it, it’s not really clutter, right?"
4. Depression: "All this stuff is bumming me out. I’m going shopping."
5. Acceptance: "I’m okay. I can simplify my life, then go to yoga."

(Today's entry is from guest blogger, D. Gillis)

Where's the GC green?

People asked me about my blog colours. They are wondering where the Goodbye Clutter signature green is.

I couldn't figure out how to get my green using the Blogspot program. I managed brown, representing my love of dark chocolate. I couldn't get my current favourite blue to work either. So I settled, for blues and chocolate.

I'm on the learning curve. Somewhere. Destined to greater things. Like favourite colours and tricks like links to photos. It's a big world, this world of computer. And I'm exploring it, one lesson at a time.

So forgive the branding incongruency for now. Go to my website www.goodbyeclutter.ca if you need a fix of green. Or email me and I'll mail you my business card. Or hire me and I'll wear my company green shirts.

A New Year, a New Blog

I love the new year. It's like a blank page. With limitless possibilities.

2011 has begun. It's well underway.

So far, my favourite phrase of the year is 'more is less'. In the past, I've heard 'less is more', but the concept of more is less, seems different. For me it emphasizes the drain of excess, the cost and even futility of consumption. I see this with some of my clients. Rooms packed full of items, some not even out of their bags. Multiples of things. Three tv's, two old vcr's, five sets of daily salt and pepper shakers, .... so much stuff.

It's easy to see how less is more. More space, more time, more calm. Surfaces you can see, rooms you can walk through, libraries where you can find the book you are looking for, closets you can walk into, hey even garages where you can park two cars.

I think the trends are changing. People seem to be catching on. They are realizing that stuff doesn't make us happy, we make us happy.

On that note, I think I'll relax in my 400 square feet of home. Small but manageable. And definitely comfortable. Not more. But less. Which is actually more...