KSRO Hoarding Show

Being live on the air with Kira Reginato (Call Kira About Aging) is always a blast, and I had a wonderful time once again on Saturday, January 28, 2012. I shared the spotlight (or rather, the microphone) with hoarding expert Dr. Michael Tompkins, whose book "Digging Out: Helping your loved ones manage clutter, hoarding and compulsive acquiring" is a great handbook for organizers and family in learning "harm reduction" techniques that help create a safer environment.

Of course, I could have used the whole afternoon, much less an hour talking about this stuff all myself! I bowed to the esteemed Dr. Tompkins for many of the questions, so I didn't get in as much as would have liked to!

You can listen to this recorded hour on the archive page for Call Kira About Aging here. Be sure to click on the January 28th show. Of course, if you have the time, be sure to listen to all the month's shows about organizing! My friend and colleague from North Carolina (and a "Hoarders" show organizer) Geralin Thomas (January 7th) was featured at the beginning of the month about "Getting Rid of Clutter," and our own local estate specialist, Diane Judd was interviewed on January 21, about "Vital Documents and Systems to Get Organized."

Here area few points I had hoped to "get in" during the interview for thoughts about how to begin the New Year if you are struggling with clutter:

1.     Think about your past successes and make a list of them. Pick one or two and examine them more closely and ask yourself these questions:

• How did you achieve them? 
• Did you have others helping you? 
• What was different then than now? 
• What can you do now to use those strategies that worked?

2.     Find a powerful image or phrase for yourself. For example, when my husband and I were at the end of our "conception journey" and thinking about adoption, one of the adoption books told me that if I just stuck with the process, I would have a “a baby in my arms” at the end (a promise that medically-assisted conception could not offer.) That was such a powerful image and phrase. (And the answer is yes, we had a baby in our arms in just a few months. She's 10 now!) And yes, the process was a roller coaster, but we stuck with it.

3.     Give yourself permission to experiment, to make mistakes. Practice making decisions, and learn from them—both the successful ones and the challenging ones. Getting over that nasty bug of perfectionism will serve you well. Good enough is good enough. And often a thoughtful study of a  "mistake" will teach us more than if we had done something "right" but not examined why it worked.

4.     Find a good fit with your organizer just like you would with a therapist. Personality as well as training are important. For example—I’m pretty laid back. Other people might need someone more assertive than me, but my clients often don't respond well to that.

And don't forget that you can listen to the archive
of the show if you missed it live!

http://www.callkira.com/2011-show-archives/

Listen to KSRO Saturday, 2-3 pm!

I'll be on the radio this Saturday! 

Listen in live (or later on the archive) on KSRO 1350 AM this Saturday between 2-3 pm (Pacific Time) when I will be interviewed on "Call Kira About Aging." 

The subject this month is organizing and our topic on Saturday will be hoarding. Specialist Dr. Michael Tompkins (who co-wrote "Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding and Compulsive Acquiring") is the other guest and I am there as the professional organizer.

 

2012 SF Hoarding and Cluttering Conference

The San Francisco Mental Health Association has announced the dates for its 2012 Hoarding and Cluttering Conference.

What's New

SAVE THE DATE

The 14th Conference on Compulsive Hoarding and Cluttering
(now a 2-day International event!) will be held on

April 26-27, 2012

at the Westin SF Airport in Millbrae, CA 

You can follow them on Facebook.

Coming in 2012...

My business model and fee structure will be changing beginning January 2012.
Please contact me to find out more
(or check back on my Packages/PayPal tab).

(All hours left on current packages bought before the end of 2011 will be honored,
but those packages will not be available for purchase to new or returning clients in 2012.)

*Current 2011 rates: $70/hour.
Pre-paid packages are $700 for a 10+1 hour package (11 hours) and
$1400 for a 20 + 3 hour package (23 hours)

I will be working exclusively with only 1-2 regular weekly clients
and 2-3 phone-coaching or maintenance clients at a time.

 This will enable me to work with clients who wish to work intensively and quickly on projects involving large areas of clutter or chronic disorganization,
reaching goals within the week or month.

Four-hour sessions are available Monday thru Friday from
(approximately) 9:30 am to 2:30 pm.
Three-hour sessions will be available only if the client
is unable (physically) to work for four hours.

The first Assessment Session (3-4 hours) is paid hourly and at the time of service,
and includes a full assessment and hands-on organizing if there is time.

Further working sessions are part of
pre-paid larger packages that offer a savings.

Call or e-mail me now if you are ready to get going!
(A 20-minute phone consultation is always available at no charge.)

707-823-3479

margaret@organizeinharmony.com

PayPal Accepted Now!

Since clients have been asking if they can pay by credit card, I have now set up a PayPal account! This is a safe and secure way to use your credit card and make payments using your credit card via the PayPal website.

NBOC and Soles4Souls Shoe Drive

My local group of organizers (North Bay Organizers and Coaches-NBOC) is collecting shoes in connection with the non-profit Soles4Souls (they take shoes to people around the world who need them). We already have well over 500 pairs, and our goal is 5,000! Luckily, one of our members (the drive coordinator, Teri Mendelson) has a barn to hold all these gently used shoes. (That's Jillian Stocks there helping her and Teri at the controls.)

Soles4Souls threw down the gauntlet at our NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) 2011 conference earlier this year. They want us (as a national group) to collect over a million pairs of shoes!

The kicker here (pun intended) is that while collecting shoes is relatively easy, shipping them is not. Our clients are happy to give them up when we are helping to purge closets, and many folks have donated at the bins we have placed at Sole Desire and Fleet Feet locations. (See the list of drop off sites on the NBOC web page.)

Sole Desire is offering a $10 off coupon for every
pair donated through October 31 at one of their stores.

The NBOC will keep up the shoe drive through the end of the year. You can donate directly to any of us in the NBOC or at bins we will keep up through Sonoma County until December 31, 2011.

We are asking our clients/friends/family and anyone with a charitable bent to help us with the cost of shipping these shoes to the Las Vegas warehouse (about $1/pair). You can do this safely and securely online at the NBOC Soles4Soles donation page. The nice thing about this is that you can also make your donation in the memory of someone who has passed away or in honor of someone in your life.

I donated in memory of my dad, Hal Pearson, who passed away in 2003. He grew up in the Depression a poor Kansas farm boy, orphaned at a young age. I'm betting he went barefoot a good portion of his life. He made sure I never did. He also dedicated his life to teaching, and his last 20 years were spent at schools in the "rougher" parts of town with kids at a distinct disadvantage in life.

Who would you like to honor?

Click here to help us ship shoes.