The Joy of Organizing

Wouldn't it be great to live your best life? Professional Organizer Jennifer Ascher drops by the show to give us her best tips on getting organized so that you can take some time for yourself. We talk about how doing the little things you enjoy can make a big difference in how you feel. She also has some great tips to work at home moms! So take a listen and start living your best life today!

Welcome to year two on The Joy of Organizing Radio Show! Closet organization is one of the most popular segments of home organization. We all have closets—they store our clothes, they store things we want to keep out of sight, they are the trunk of our homes. We've all seen the parodies where the unsuspecting person opens a closet door and an avalanche of stuff buries them. Most people's closets are not too far off. Our organizing friend Lea Schneider has written a new book "From Closet Clutter to Closet Control" We talk about her new book and she shares her best closet organization tips!

Piles of paper, no clear place to work, missed deadlines, never ending emails, stress. This is what the average office looks like! If you are drowning in office clutter, this show is a lifeline for you! A disorganized office means every task you attempt takes longer than required to complete it. That is why most people feel they don't have enough time in the day to complete their tasks. That all changes today! Professional Organizer Karyn Madorin of Chicago's Extreme Organizing shares her best office organizing tips to help tame the paper clutter that overwhelm us.

Physical clutter has its way of invading both your home and your mind. In your home, clutter and disorganization might mean you need to clear off a space to do work, or you are tripping on items to move around your home. In your mind, when your eyes see all of the "stuff" your brain gets overwhelmed too. This week's guest's philosophy is simple- clear your space, clear your mind. Organizer Linda parks joins us and discusses the impact getting organized and clearing the clutter makes on your life. She shares a wonderful success story of a early stage hoarder that embraced her philosophy and has changed their life. We also talk about how hoarding is portrayed on television, and some of her best tips you can to to get organized today!

The kids are back in school, and our college students are just finishing up their second or third week of school. For many, this is their first time with a roommate that is outside of their immediate family. After getting to know each other, they are probably just getting into their first disagreements about living in the same small space. This week we welcome professional clinical counselor Susan Fee to the show. She is the author of a best selling book "My Roommate is Driving Me Crazy" which deals with the issues surrounding living with someone else, especially when you are in college. While her advice is geared towards a college-aged audience, her tips for managing conflict can be used across all age levels and housing situations. We found it particularly useful in our field, as often times there is one tidy person and one messy person living under the same roof. We often come across these situations with our organizing customers, and it contributes to a lot of stress and tension within the household. So take a listen to Susan's advice on how to pick the perfect roommate, how to manage conflict with the people you live with, and a look at the valuable information on her website- http://www.susanfee.com About her book: My Roommate Is Driving Me Crazy! Are you living with your total opposite? Does your roommate's boyfriend or girlfriend spend more time in your room than you do? Does your roommate make it impossible to communicate? This book's for you!In My Roommate Is Driving Me Crazy, Susan Fee teaches you how to solve conflicts, set boundaries, and survive even the most challenging roommate.

Planners are great for keeping you time organized. Are you using one? While many do, even more people use the "just wing it" method to planning their time. This leads to wasted time, and missed appointments. This week we discuss the pros and cons to buying a paper or digital planner. The idea is that when you've finished the show, you'll be able to head out to get your own. We give some simple ideas to create your own, but you can always go out and buy one at your local superstore. As long as you use it, it doesn't matter what it is. Listen to the show to find out how to enter and win a Neat Receipts and Neat Desk system from Neat Co. Drawing is September 30th, there are four ways to win, and each person can have four entries!

This week we talk about one of the organizing segments that is on everyone's mind- paper! Bonnie will introduce a simple to create, and easy to use filing system that will make short work of those piles of papers. Since we have yet to evolve to the "Great Paperless Society" that we have been promised, here are some tips to tackle those piles for good! Listen in for how to win two great prizes from Neat Co! We are giving a Neat Receipts system, and a Neat Desk system to two lucky listeners. Entry instructions are in the show!

Moving is one of life's top three stressors. We worked in the relocation business, and helped hundreds of people just like you move around the world. We know first hand about the stress that is inherent with moving. But with some organization, it doesn't have to be stressful! This episode focuses on some quick tips to help you get ready to move, and tips to get you up and running in your new home once you are there. If you are moving soon, or know someone who is, spread the word as this is a show that will get you on the path to a smooth move! For a more in-depth look at tips for your next move, pick up a copy of our book, The Joyful Organizer's Guide to a Joyful Move. Available through our website, http://www.thejoyfulorganizer.com or on Amazon.com.

This week we welcome Kathi Burns to the show. She is both a professional organizer and image consultant. So she can help you get rid of all of the clothes that don't make you feel good about yourself, and help you find ones that do! We discuss her new book, How to Master Your Muck!, and how to add space to your closet and your life. About Kathi: Kathi Burns, founder of addSpace To Your Life!, is a Board Certified Professional Organizer (CPO) and Image Consultant. Her mission is to empower people to master their environment and personal image by assisting them in taking control, making change and organizing their lives. She believes that when people become organized and look their best they will have more freedom to create and work with their true passion.

It's August, and it is almost time for kids to go back to school. For parents, this is a stressful time of year, as summertime habits need to quickly turn into school year habits. Once the year starts, things get chaotic with challenges getting your child through their morning routine and on the bus, difficulty with your child remembering what is for homework, and ultimately getting that homework done before bedtime. To help our busy moms and dads we have welcomed four organizers from Organize Right Now's Online Team to share their best Back to School organizing tips. They all subscribe to the philosophy that creating a solid foundation of organizing skills for your child early on will pay future dividends as they mature into adults. They also believe that, contrary to what is often practiced, children are capable of being responsible, contributing members of the home at a young age. Which makes your job as a parent easier as your child takes on more responsibility for their own daily tasks. Our Organizing Panel consists of: Britt Morris of A Tidy Solution in Central Maine; Paris Love of Organize with Love in Orange Beach, Alabama; Darcy Munzer of Organize 4U in Kansas City, Missouri; Lea Schneider of Organize Right Now in Pensacola, Florida; and our very own Bonnie Dewkett of The Joyful Organizer in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Check out our prizes that you can win by subscribing to the Organize Right Now Newsletter, blogging about this show and including a link, and tweeting about this show and including a link in your tweet. Email us your blog post, or tweet, and we will count your entry.

This week we welcome LA Based Certified Professional Organizer, Tanya Whitford. We often get asked, "What are some of the best ways to get rid of the stuff I no longer want in my home?" Both of our companies, The Joyful Organizer and Organizing Wonders are committed to keeping discarded items out of a landfill. This episode gives you some fantastic ideas on places to sell, donate, or recycle your old stuff without taking a trip to the dump. Learn about sites like Freecycle and Dressed For Success, and how they can help you get rid of your unwanted items. About Tanya: Tanya Whitford's first memories of organizing were fixing her kindergarten teacher's desk. Signs that she was destined to become an organizer showed up in every job along the way until she found out there actually was such a thing as a Professional Organizer. She started Organizing Wonders in 1999. Tanya loves making a positive difference in people's lives by helping them overcome the things that have been holding them back. Whether it is clutter, an overwhelming project, a mental block, or simply something nobody else wants to do, Tanya is there to get the job done! Getting organized is an amazing, life changing event, and she loves to help people achieve that. Tanya was recently nominated for "The Green Award for the Most Eco-Friendly Organizing Service" at the 2010 Organizing Awards! Don't forget our Back-to-school special with the Organize Right Now Online Team. Our best tips and questions from real moms! Don't miss it, August 4th!

Certified Professional Organizer, Faith Manierre of Busy Bees Professional Organizing joins to to discuss a segment of organizing called chronic disorganization. Chronic disorganization impacts many people, and truly has a negative impact on everyday life. It is defined as having a past history of disorganization in which self-help efforts to change have failed, an undermining of current quality of life due to disorganization, and the expectation of future disorganization.

This week we welcome Kathi Burns to the show. She is both a professional organizer and image consultant. So she can help you get rid of all of the clothes that don't make you feel good about yourself, and help you find ones that do! We discuss her new book, How to Master Your Muck!, and how to add space to your closet and your life. About Kathi: Kathi Burns, founder of addSpace To Your Life!, is a Board Certified Professional Organizer (CPO) and Image Consultant. Her mission is to empower people to master their environment and personal image by assisting them in taking control, making change and organizing their lives. She believes that when people become organized and look their best they will have more freedom to create and work with their true passion.

This week we welcome organizing pioneer Donna Goldberg to the show to talk about getting your child/student organized for school. She is a nationally recognized expert on organizing students, and she shares some wonderful tips that will make a difference in your home once school begins again in the fall. About Donna:Donna Goldberg founded The Organized Student in 1990 while working at the Dalton School in New York. Combining her background in psychiatric research and child development with her skills as a librarian, Donna devised a unique method to help students succeed in school.Donna has been a member of The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) since 1992. She has served on the NAPO-NY Board of Directors, and conceived and chaired the Golden Tips Booklet Project, for which she was the recipient of the 2003 NAPO Presidents Award. Donna is currently the NAPO-NY Golden Circle liaison. She is a consultant to the NAPO in the Schools program and will lead a NAPO SIGs program, focusing on students. Donna is also a member of the International Dyslexia Association and NSGCD.The International Dyslexia Association awarded her book The Organized Student: Teaching Children the Skills for Success in School and Beyond the 2007 Margot Marek Book Award. She has been seen on CNN, CNBC, the Today Show, and Good Morning America. In print, she has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among others.

This week we chat with Pamela from Creating Clarity organizing. She tells us about her organizing business, and we get her best tips for getting organized in the event of an emergency. When disaster strikes, seconds can be precious, and looking for emergency supplies should be very easy. If it's not, chaos can make an already stressful time overwhelming.