What Would Sandy Suggest – Week 5

I’m in an Office Mood I think

When I think about what I would suggest when I walk into a room…. I have to stop…. and think.

You first off have to find out what the client wants out of the room.
1) What do they want to use this space for?
2) What is their vision for this room?
3) What storage is available?

You can’t fit 20 gallons of gas into a 10 gallon tank right? So if you have too much “stuff” and not enough space to store it… then something needs to go.

Organizers aren’t miracle workers, we can’t create more space in a home. We can help to utilize the space that there is to the fullest.

“Life” happened to this person. A spouse died expectantly a year or so before, and things went kind of crazy. But they wanted some help and guidance.

There were several cats in the home, and thank goodness I didn’t have allergies. But getting used to the smell wasn’t easy either.

Suggestions:

1) Sort through the Clutter. Separate into A) keep B) Donate C) Store D) Trash/Recycle

2) Rearrange if needed to make a usable space – Move bill area to the sturdy desk and decrease need for the folding table.

3) Use existing supplies (client didn’t have finances to purchase new)

4) Clean the space (cat droppings, dust, dirt)

5) Support the client in her decisions

It was a very long day but we were able to accomplish making a livable, usable space. Simple but workable.

If you are wondering… this person was not a hoarder. The rest of the house wasn’t not this bad. This was the “catch all” room that got out of control.  They were open to getting rid of stuff and were very excited to have the room back.

What Happened:

1) We cleared out most of the clutter.

2) We kept the arrangement of furniture the same. The client liked having 2 separate desks and was not open to combining the work spaces.

3) We did basic cleaning. (Carpet cleaning and deep cleaning were still needed)

4) We separated paperwork into boxes  to go through later.

5) There was still several boxes to the left of this picture that the client had to go through. The budget did not allow for me to come back to help as we had planned. But I gave the client the basic knowledge so that they were able to ask themselves the same questions that we did when we worked together.

Not every space has to be organized to be “pretty”.  Being able to help people with the basics and to utilize what they already have is important. Often times I go into situations that the client really needs help. They might not have the finances to do anything but get the help – meaning… we work with what they have.

So… keep that in mind if you feel you don’t have the “money to organize”. I have heard that so often. Going through your things and deciding what to keep or give away doesn’t cost a dime. It just takes time.

Before:

After:

You can do a lot in one day. It wasn’t perfect, and there was still more work to be done… but together we were able to accomplish a lot.

If you have any spaces that you would like help on and would like to be featured in an upcoming week, please leave me a comment that you would like some help.

If you have any blog posts of an office that you have reorganized and would like to link it to my Organizing Mission- Monday link party – please add it to my Link party by clicking my button

I also would LOVE it if you could vote for my blog.  You can vote once a day!

Interview with Peter Walsh!!! (part 1)

Interviewing the King of Organizers!!

I was thrilled to be able to interview Peter Walsh today via web cam.  He could not see me (thank goodness because I was sitting with my sweatshirt on and no makeup!) but I was on the phone.

I was asked by Office Max if I wanted this opportunity. Heck yes!!

Peter is coming out with a new line (they are soooo cool) of organizers for the office called the you.organize series and we are lucky enough to get a preview here.  I am glad….I was sure hoping he would.  My favorite is the wall modular system! I love the look of it and it is so functional.

I asked him about filing though. That seems to be my biggest challenge when I work with clients. I wanted to see what his thoughts were. Also on the programs where you log all the information into your computer and each file folder gets a number. Then you put in a key word and it shows you where your file is.  They work great and I have used a version or one with one client. But….I do not like that you can’t open the file drawer and find your file without logging onto your computer first.  *The client I had use this system, I still labeled the front of his files with the file name & the number.

Enjoy my interview (as nervous as I was…) with Peter Walsh. Plus the fact that I could see him in the video but was talking to him on the phone. Well when we were  making this…his voice didn’t match his mouth! I felt like I was watching a foreign film. LOL  So I had to keep looking away from the screen because it was throwing me off. (You know as I get older it doesn’t take as much to throw me off! ) Thank goodness on the final video he talks just fine!

Thank you SO Much Office Max and Peter for this opportunity!

You can follow Peter’s Facebook Page to get answers to even more of your questions.

Tomorrow I am going to share some tips that are from Peter.

Disclosure:  I was not paid for this interview with money or products. I also did not have to pay them to have this interview.  My reward? I got to interview Peter Walsh!!!  yippee & squeels!

Before and After Pictures of a small office.

“Before” picture of a clients home office. She wasn’t sure she wanted to take the time to paint it to match the newly painted family room that it was connected to. I told her this was her chance and encouraged her to do it.

She wanted a “Scrapbooking” place and also a place to wrap presents. We put that in.

We used the wall space to utilize all we could in this 8×8 office. We stored her many unused greeting cards, stationary and office supplies and her photos in the decorator boxes she picked out.