Professional organizing services for the San Francisco Bay Area

I am not your typical organizer! I don't have a corporate or business management background, and I have never been described as a "neatnik." In fact, I used to have problems with clutter, and have always been a bit relaxed about putting things away. I do have some intrinsic organizing skill, which allowed me to be successful in my career as an RN, but somehow it never occurred to me to try and organize my home!

Once I had kids, things got way out of control and I knew I had to change my ways. I dug myself out and discovered my true calling in the process. That's when my dreams of starting my own organizing business were born, but I put them aside for several years while I worked as a teaching aide and substitute teacher, waiting until my kids were a bit older before I turned my attention to full-time organizing. In the meantime, I did lots of organizing for friends and family, and took advantage of any opportunity to hone my skills.

Since starting my business in July, 2006, I have continued to learn and grow as an organizer. I have completed more than 70 hours of continuing education and have earned several certificates in various specialty areas related to chronic disorganization. In addition, I am currently enrolled in an 18 month certification program to become a CPO-CD.

My background in nursing and education, as well as my own personal struggles with orderliness in my home, make me uniquely qualified to teach and support others as they strive to improve the quality of their lives through better organization.

Here's a list of the education, experiences, and accomplishments that contribute to my skills as an organizer:

If you like long narratives, read on to find out more about how I went from being disorganized to becoming a professional organizer.

The first time somebody commented to me on how organized I was, I burst out laughing. I certainly didn't think of myself that way. It was true that I was good about meeting deadlines, but my surroundings were often quite cluttered and messy. I appeared to be functioning well to the outside observer, but I was actually working very hard to keep things together and was often quite stressed. I decided I had better try and live up to this strange notion that I was organized, or else it wouldn't be long before everyone realized how very disorganized I truly was.

At the time this comment was made, I was a stay-at-home-mom after having worked full time as a Registered Nurse. I was good at mothering, but not very good at housekeeping. I truly hated domestic chores. I had tried all kinds of gadgets and gizmos to help me be a better housekeeper, but nothing was working. Inspired by the comment about being organized, I took a much more analytical approach. The problem solving and systems analysis skills I had used as an RN came in handy as I assessed my situation, determined what my obstacles were, planned and implemented strategies for change, then refined them based on their effectiveness.  Much to my surprise (as well as my good-natured husband's) the housework started getting done a bit more often.

(I have to clarify that I do not equate housekeeping with organizing; however, being organized allows one to be better at whatever job one needs to do. In my case, housekeeping was the task at hand, and through better organization, I was able to accomplish it more effectively and most importantly, more quickly!)

I began to manage the housework reasonably well, but I still wasn't at peace in my home. Instead of feeling inspired when I walked into my house, I felt discouraged. My approach of adding more and more decorative items to improve my home's appearance wasn't working, so I tried the opposite: removing things. I took down the knick-knacks and removed the "just in case" items. I did second and third rounds of decluttering. At first, I was nervous about the empty spaces. I felt like I was wasting perfectly good storage space. How dare I let a cabinet go empty!

Slowly, I began to notice how much easier it was to clean those cleared-off spaces. I also began to notice that there was a lot more room to move. I felt inspired to take on projects that I had felt too confined to start in the past. Things were no longer getting lost in a sea of visual clutter. And then one day, I was wondering where to store the holiday gifts that were accumulating. Aha! The empty cabinet. That sealed the deal for me. Clear space no longer represented wasted opportunity; instead it represented room for flexibility and growth. Space had become a good thing. Having space brought relief.

I pursued more and more information about organizing through books, classes, conferences and the Internet.  I was especially interested in understanding the various reasons people are disorganized and how best to help them. Friends and family started coming to me for help. I loved adapting to the needs of various personality styles and coming up with different solutions.

I continued to hone my organizing skills and took on volunteer jobs where I had the opportunity to practice them.  I also began working part-time as a substitute teacher and instructional aide.  As a nurse, patient education had always been a favorite part of my job, and it was easy for me to slip into another role as an educator. I enjoyed strengthening my teaching and assessment skills by working with students with various learning challenges.

For me, helping others to get organized is the perfect combination of nursing and teaching. I love the fact that I'm helping others as well as teaching them how to help themselves. I love to use a conventional problem solving approach to come up with unconventional strategies and solutions. Facilitating the transformation of chaos and confusion to clarity and purpose thrills me every time.

Although it took a few years for me to feel as if I had really "arrived" as an organized person, my life was slowly improving all along the way. Each little change made a positive difference and brought relief. Now, my goal is to bring that same relief to others.

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