Hello Forgotten Shanghai Blog Followers!! We are pleased to present Annika Lindner, a professional organizer as our guest blogger! She has been organizing for almost four years and we are honored to have her as a lunch speaker next Wednesday November 17th @ noon.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP to becky@forgottenshanghai.com as space is limited! Follow this link for details…http://www.bizzy.com/pub/business/664564/communication/1842239
Annika Lindner is a professional organizer and interior design stylist for many Bay Area residents and businesses. She has helped clients organize, design, and style spaces. Most clients need help finding clutter-free systems that work for them. She looks forward to the challenges of small apartments in San Francisco that must be organized, functional and stylish.
All I want for Christmas is to give my mom the gift of a clutter-free home. My mom has been holding onto everything--from paperwork to baby clothing--for the past 30 years.
When I talk to my mom about why she saved all of these things, she said that since she never knew whether or not she would need one of the items later on, she just held onto everything. Over the years, she was a full-time mom, a graduate student, and a full-time worker. She could never find the time to go through her paperwork or prune her collection of our childhood books and clothes--she was constantly on the go.
Many of us are in the same situation. In these busy times, we all have jobs, kids, social lives, and errands that are more important than an organized home. Our things start to pile up, and while we tell ourselves that we will deal with it at some point, we usually never find the time. This is where the services of a professional organizer (like myself) can come in.
When I start with a new client, I like to find out how he or she goes about their daily life; for example, where are the mail, keys, or other small items kept? If there are children, is there a place for the kids' toys and artwork? There are many more questions I ask, and all of these help me create more functional systems for them. My clients find that once they get rid of the clutter and start to live in a more organized way, they can be more relaxed when they're at home. I can even help my clients feel as though their small San Francisco homes are more spacious.
In a new space, I will often start the client on whichever room they feel is the worst. Then we begin to deconstruct the room into individual, manageable, bite-sized sections. For many clients, when they look at their overall space, they have a tendency to feel overwhelmed -- when we break down the room into smaller chunks, and go drawer-by-drawer or shelf-by-shelf, the process becomes almost easy. And with each section, there is a small victory; the client begins to see their clutter disappear, and as more and more space becomes available, the process becomes easier and easier and the client more and more satisfied.
After their space or home has become completely clutter-free, I can then help to build systems to help keep them from collecting clutter again. Each system is designed with the client in mind. Sometimes, a system can be as easy as an in-and-out box on a desk, or a rack on the back of the front door for keys, coats, and purses. Other systems involve the client giving up their own time to go through their mail every Sunday at a specific time, or doing their laundry and hanging their dry cleaning.
I know this sounds great in practice, but does it actually work?
Well, try it yourself: pick the most over-crowded bookcase in your home, take the top shelf, and go item by item. Ask yourself if you really need the item, or are you holding onto it just because you don't know what else to do? You will almost certainly find that there are quite a few items that you don't really need or want, but it was just easier to leave them where they have been for months or even years. But it's perfectly okay to discard them, especially if the act of discarding can itself be a positive thing: as a courtesy to my clients, I will bring whatever items are appropriate to their local Goodwill free of charge after a session, helping them understand that their "stuff" can find new life and new value with someone else.
When I think about all the stuff my mom has collected over the years, I am happy to think about clearing it all out, and giving her a space that she will enjoy coming home to at the end of the day that is functional and clutter-free.
Overall, getting rid of clutter is easy. You may have to give up some time on a Sunday afternoon, or whenever it fits into your schedule, but tackling a small section each time will grow into a clutter-free home.
Hope to see you Wednesday!
-Annika
http://www.lifestyleorganization.com
