New Hoarding Support Group In San Mateo County

A colleague, Caroline Totah, RN, CPO-CD®, CPO®, who works on the peninsula south of San Francisco recently forwarded information about a new support group forming there for people with hoarding issues.

Those interested in attending the group can find out more at Peninsula Community Service's hoarding website: www.hoarders.org.

You will be directed to take a survey. For those who do not have access to the internet, you can call directly.

• Joanne Chan, PsyD at 415-816-8611
• Linda Merrifield at 650-343-4380.

I looked at the survey and it doesn't ask any personal questions about hoarding issues, but instead asks the reader about his/her preferences for where and how often meetings should be held, how long they should be, how far you would be willing to drive and what benefit you would like to derive from attending meetings.

I recommend visiting the PCS website whether or not you can attend this support group. It is really comprehensive with many resources and information for those living in the San Mateo County area as well as for anyone, anywhere.

And by the way, if you are in need of a professional organizer in the Pacifica area, please consider contacting Caroline Totah. I know her through my membership in the NSGCD (National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization) and she has a really wonderful list of qualifications and the personality to work with the "organizationally challenged." She has a great "About Me" page you shouldn't miss!

• http://ctorganizingsolutions.com

NSGCD Conference

Wow, what a great time I am having at the annual conference of the  National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization!

Some highlights

• My Level III student, Janine Adams, received her CPO-CD® pin! Whoo-hoo! If you need a PO (professional organizer) in the St. Louis area, give her a call!
  
  
• And since she earned her Level III, I earned my Level IV! (Thank you Janine for making it SO easy!) You can guess what Level is next, huh?
  
  
• The NSGCD will be changing its name! The committee has been formed, but no new name yet. We've outgrown the name--we are international now (we just signed an agreement with both the Australasian Association Professional Organizers) and Nederlandse Beroepsvereniging van Professional Organizers (The Netherlands).  And we are no longer just a study group--we are doing some research...and we also have subscribers (fancy way of saying members) who are in related fields like psychology.
  
  
• Dr. Daniel Amen spoke--always such great info on the brain. I've read a couple of his books as well as watched his PBS specials. Very entertaining and charming in person, too. He previewed for us his script of his next PBS special based on his next book Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, in which he related his research on the brain to different types of brains and what each person needs to do to help them lose (or gain if they need) weight. He's also doing a study on retired NFL players and dementia...hmmm...can't wait to see that one!
  
  
• Getting to see all the friends I've made all around the country has been very exciting...and making new ones each day. That's called networking, right? But it feels really fun and this is a welcoming, warm, fun (and very smart) group of organizers.
  
  
• Getting to spend time with a very good friend, Kim Anker-Paddon, who abandoned me in Sonoma County to come and live and work in LA, where she is closer to her daughters. She's an extraordinary organizer who specializes in clients with issues like ADD (ADHD), chronic disorganization, and compulsive hoarding. Please call her if you need any help in the LA area!
  
  
• My hotel vegan dinner turned out to be a really lovely polenta (with about 10 cloves of garlic in it) on  a bed of mushrooms and al dente veggies. I was able to request a dessert of berries--raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and a blackberry (there's my brain food, Dr. Amen!) They didn't score so highly with me at lunch. Once again, they just took the chicken off the bed of pasta and gave it to me. At least there were veggies on the side!

Oh...there's so much more, but I've got to go get ready for an early 8 am breakfast. (They had soy milk at the buffet yesterday for the cereal...more vegan brownie points for the Omni Hotel!)

And please forgive my liberal use of exclamation points today...but I am having fun! (oops...)

Margaret

How a massage can help you get organized

Yes, I really do intend to prove to you that getting a massage can help you get and stay organized!

It's a simple premise, really. One that I often suggest to my clients: Schedule something in your home on a regular basis--like a party or tea with a friend--and you will find yourself "cleaning up" more on a regular basis, too! The threat, uh, I mean pleasure, of having someone over and in the house, is always wonderful motivation to clean.

This was proven to me once again, and with my own home. I've sort of relaxed my "maintenance," this summer shall I say, and had let my bedroom go a bit. Last year, after a minor neck injury, I had semi-regular massages by a wonderful massage therapist who came to my home. Now, professional organizers have a reputation to uphold, and I certainly wanted to continue the illusion that I keep my home perfectly neat at all times. She would set up her table in our bedroom, and yes, I found myself tidying up that room and our master bath before her visits. I really enjoyed having these rooms so nice and neat during this period.

However, since my neck has been feeling better, I hadn't had Kelly in for months! And it showed! Tasks in the bedroom were a tad behind--laundry, vacuuming, dusting, etc. All the things that my mind's eye had been blocking, came into focus as I looked at it with a fresh "eye" knowing someone was coming over and would be seeing it.

I tidied up and enjoyed the fruits of my labor--and a wonderful 1.5 hour massage.

That's how a massage can help you get organized!

I'm also sure there are other factors working here--namely, that when you indulge in self-care, you are a happier and healthier person who is better able to focus. And when better able to focus, organizing and tidying up are also much easier.

So, yes, while massage can be seen as an "expensive treat" (although well worth it), the idea that scheduling something once a month or maybe once a week that might motivate you to tidy up is a solid one and can be less expensive or even free.

Here are some other ideas and their approximate costs. They are sort of in descending order. You may want to try the last ones first and work your way up.

1. Hire a housekeeper once or twice a month to do just the floors and counters in the kitchen and bathrooms. Cost: $25-$100. (More if you have a really big kitchen or lots of bathrooms. Most housekeepers in this area charge about $25/hour.) The idea here is that you will motivate yourself to get all your stuff up off the floors and counters so the housekeeper doesn't waste her precious time (and your money) moving things off them or putting things away. You want her to do the stuff you don't want to. (Ok, this is the stuff I don't like to do--sweeping and mopping.) You get a nice clean "base" and if she's coming on a regular basis, you are motivated to do your part before she comes.

2. Plan a party once a month. Cost: $0-$??? Obviously, if you make this a potluck, you reduce your own costs, and if you serve Russian caviar and imported champagne, it will be pricier. But you'll get two things out of it: motivation to clean your house before guests arrive and a nice time with friends or family. (Even nicer if you have friends and family who will help you clean up after the party before they go home!)

3. Have just one or two friends over for something very simple like coffee or tea, a game night, or watching a movie. Cost: $0-$10. Simple things like this keep the kitchen from exploding into a mess. Serve a simple cake or cookies or make microwave popcorn. DVR a movie, watch a DVD you own or rent one. Close the doors on the rooms you haven't quite gotten to. If you have nosy friends, maybe post a sign on the door that says something like "Sammy the Snake's Room. Just ignore him, he likes to crawl on people but he doesn't usually bite.")

4. Invite one friend over to go for a walk. $0 (Unless you need to buy new walking shoes.) This one sounds like it wouldn't help, but really, it's a nice way to break yourself in if you haven't had friends over in the house in a while. You may only have to meet them at the front door (you only need to clean up what they can see from the front steps), or depending on your level of progress in the house, let them in a little farther each time. So, maybe just the front room has to be tidy, or if they might need to "use the facilities," tidy up only the rooms enroute to the facilities!

And if all of these seem out of your reach right now, then please, at least go out and get a massage at a spa. The whole part about being good to yourself, self-care and massage helping with focus still stands.

And in case you are ready right now for an in-home massage, and you live in the Sonoma County area, my massage therapist has recently "left her day job" as they say and is taking on new clients. Give her a call and you will thank yourself. (And maybe me!) I've always felt so wonderful after her work on me and she helped me keep working after a neck injury.

Kelly Nelson (based in Petaluma, CA)
Holistic Massage Therapist
707-235-7911
707-773-0127

Values Clarification

My local organizers group recently held a "mini-conference" and one of the session leaders was Life Coach Pam Austin.

She led us in an exercise that helped us realize our "Core Values" and how once these are clear to us, our priorities are more clear and all decisions we make or actions we take will be based on these, helping us to reach our goals in life. (Quite a condensation of a 2 1/2 hour-long session!)

I found this exercise useful for my very next client, and really, I can see its value for almost every client I come in contact with. It's really where it all starts with organizing or changing habits in order to change the mess or clutter that infiltrates your home or even your social or work calendar. (Remember, people can be clutter, too!) It's a nice reminder for us about what really important, and for some a real clarification we didn't even know we needed. But when you start living your values more intentionally, you start reaching your goals and feeling satisfied on a daily basis, instead of always "waiting" for things to happen or your goals to be met. (Yes, values, like goals can change over time.)

While doing some research on this topic, I found a website/blog that helps you do this on your own. (Of course, I'd recommend going to Pam if you are in the Sonoma County area. 707-544-2348)

But Steve Pavlina has a similar approach in an easy-to-follow method. Click here to begin "Living Your Values, Part I."

And yes, he has a Part II.

If you try it out, let me know how it worked for you and what you think of it.

Happy clarifying!

Chronic Disorganization, ADD and Hoarding, Oh My!

October was the month of conferences and I'm glad we'll be heading into the quiet weeks of just major family holidays!

It was actually the end of September when I attended the NSGCD (National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization) Annual Conference in Mt. Laurel, NJ. We had two main wonderful speakers whose expertise was in ADD and people who hoard. Both areas are such huge issues right now in the field and it was great to hear the most up-to-date information. Among the attendees, we realized that collaborative therapy (client, therapist and organizer) is the way to go with our clients in great need. We'll be bringing this message to the world of therapists and coaches in the next few years! On a personal (and professional) note, I sat for my Level III peer review and received my official CPO-CD (Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization) title and lapel pin. Sixteen months of study and mentoring have come to a close! And yet the work continues....

Conference #2 was the ADDA Regional Conference in San Francisco. (Attention Deficit Disorder Association) Again, more wonderful information about adult ADD.

Conference #3 just wrapped up this last weekend in San Ramon. The NAPO-SFBA (National Association of Professional Organizers-San Francisco Bay Area) held their regional conference. I co-presented a session with colleague Kim Anker-Paddon (soon to be of the LA area) on ADD with a twist. We called it "Nature and Nurture: It all A.D.D.s up!" Kim spoke on the "traditional" organizer ways to help our clients with ADD (or AD/HD--same thing) and I spoke about some new ideas I am using about how nature and other natural methods can help people focus. (Some great studies have been done by Stephen Kaplan and Andrea Faber Taylor and Frandces Kuo.) I'll write more about these ideas and studies soon.

I actually passed on another great conference in SF--the Mental Health Association's Hoarding and Cluttering Conference. There just wasn't enough time for me to attend this one, but Kim did and she said it was wonderful. I attended last year and heard Randy Frost speak. He is one of the authors of the new book "Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring and Hoarding." Also a must-read for anyone who has this issue or has a loved one with hoarding problems. The problem is more widespread than anyone can imagine--and such a heartache for all involved. Marin County is starting a task force on the situation.

Well, there is certainly enough fodder in my last month of conferences to blog daily for quite awhile. Please tune in soon for more detailed information about all the topics mentioned today.

Have a Happy (and safe) Halloween!
Margaret,