I talked with Dee, the professional organizer who is helping me get organized in my home office. I asked to tell her story about being a professional organizer.  Here it is, in her own words:

My choice to become a professional organizer has evolved out of my desire for a new career and out of necessity in helping my 8 year old son Alec, who is an Autism Spectrum child.  Because of his unique challenges and his need for a peaceful, non-chaotic environment, I have learned the value of what good organization can bring to his well-being — physical, mental and …read more

In recognition of “Getting Things Done” and professional organization this month, I interviewed Ellen Faye.  Ellen is the owner of Straighten-Up and she’s a Certified Professional Organizer.  She’s been working in the professional organization business since 1999, and she is a key person in the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).  Here’s the interview:
1.  How did you get into the professional organization business?
When my youngest child went to school full-time, I decided I needed to get back to work.  I had been in the hotel business, learned about service businesses, but I knew I didn’t want to work for someone …read more

What is your “dream” organized day?  How does being productive look to you?
My new professional organization expert asked me this question and I had to stop and think… Here is just part of what I thought about:
Start of the Day. First, my day would start with my having before me a list of the things I need to do, in the order I need to do them.
My email would be prioritized for me, the spam removed, and any email that required a quick response or appointment scheduled would already be taken care of for me.
Task Manager. My tasks would …read more

I’m getting organized!  I’m very excited about this, as I have been frustrated over the past month as I try to get my home business going.  I have a lot of STUFF sitting around (David Allen of Getting Things Done (GTD) actually calls it that) and I have problems every day figuring out what to do first.
I’ve been studying GTD religiously.  I even went out and bought a bunch of file folders and a labelmaker, as David Allen suggested. But I didn’t know where to start.  I’m too disorganized to even BEGIN figuring it out on my own.
Then, today, miraculously, …read more