The Inspired Office

I found this in an old email to a client and it echoes a sentiment I’ve shared many times over the years. No matter where you are in your organizing journey, it’s possible to feel relief. No matter how much you have to sort, it’s possible to feel hopeful from where you stand.
Sometimes a client’s project might take dozens of hours before we’re “finished," but I love seeing them find a sense of hope just an hour or two in!
Once they've uncovered more space than they’ve seen in a while, or set out a few boxes for donation for the first time in ages, the joy of organizing creeps in. This happens all the time!

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This decorative white elephant was given to me at a recent white elephant gift exchange (get it?). Cute but, it came with a broken ear. I didn't have it in me to trash it or donate it broken, so there in the foyer it sat...and sat... I was stuck in decision paralysis (to fix or not to fix?) and guilt (should I just add it to the landfill?).
Clutter takes many forms. Oftentimes, each frustrating item is in our face or lurking in a corner for a "good" reason. I had walked by this dang elephant multiple times daily for about a month.
I finally fixed it. It took the patience of a saint and about a hour, just as I feared it would. Do I recommend that you too take an hour of your life to mend your versions of the white elephant? Maybe, maybe not.
I do recommend you do what it takes though to move that piece of clutter along. For me, taking an hour of my life was the path of least resistance. 😩For you, maybe trashing it on day one would have been. Letting it sit in stasis as I did, for as long as I did, is certainly not the right answer.
In the end, my lovingly repaired elephant found a home on my sister's office shelf. Right before I gave it to her I took this pic thinking that the elephant might want its story to be told.
Do you have a logjam of broken items that are lying around because they need to be fixed in order to be put away or donated? Can you pinpoint an exact time within the next week to deal with them? Maybe the things need mending, washing, or a trip to the hardware store. If you can't do it within the next week, is letting go of it as-is something you can live with? Please share below!

Sometimes I get asked if my clients ever need me again after we're "done." Yes, sometimes they do and that's ok.
I am working again with a client I worked with in 2012. She took both of these pictures of me 9 years apart! Back then we got rid of SO much from her two bedroom apartment. We tracked the contractor’s bags as they went out and they totaled in the dozens.
Nine years later, she called me again. She's since moved, dealt with the passing of a parent, struggled with some health issues, and found herself working at home. Her new (to me) home looks similarly to her old home, but I don’t see it as a failure at all. Order in the home doesn’t come naturally to her, but she has found it in the past. If she can’t maintain order throughout some difficult years, well hey, that’s normal.
She DID pick up the phone though. That’s not always easy and I commend her for it.
It's only natural that life, paper and more crept back in. She tells so many stories of how over the years she has heard my voice in her head telling her things such as "you deserve a nightshirt that isn't tattered!" I was honored that she welcomed me back as a birthday present to herself. 🙂🎂

Another day on the job! Glamour shots on a website are necessary and all, but I so rarely look like that while working (or ever). This photo from Friday is more true to form.
Yes, my client and her son not only gave me permission to post this, but it was her idea and he 100% approved of me sharing it. 😀
Most of my work is offices and paper, but I still organize it all and love the change-of-scenery that projects like this provide. Organizing legos and costumes was a welcome break from to-do lists and bills. We spent three hours organizing his closet. It had been a one way street for years, with things going in and never coming out. He was a joy to work with, letting go of old toys & games left and right. I kept holding up little plastic parts with a puzzled look on my face and he knew what each doo-dad was - and let go of most of it!
I really treasure this photo. It’s more “me" than any posed picture, and encapsulates my work better than any before/after. Organizing can be full of so many laughs and joy-filled moments!

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