Holistic Organizing
To help anyone organize you need to start somewhere. Choose a starting point: one shelf, one desk drawer, that pile of papers on the desktop. Start with the easiest spot first.
Instead of looking at the WHOLE organizing project, I have found that breaking down the project into smaller parts can be beneficial for some, and look more confusing for others. Years ago after attending a workshop, I started using THEMES with some of my clients that were struggling with getting and staying organized.
How it works with a client that suffers from maybe some level of ADD/ADHD, Chronic Disorganization and/or Hoarders is “a theme is a way of holding a whole together while you take it apart” said by Judith Kolberg. I have an example of a theme I used years ago with a client.
The client was a nurse, going to Med School to become a doctor, had two daughters enrolled at dance school, one daughter in sports, plus the family volunteered. Her family consisted of four daughters ages 3 to 12 years old, and a husband. The client loved the Theme: Nurses Station, we worked together with the family to set-up a nurses station in an area in the dining room. This family was not using the dining room to eat meals, so I thought it would be a great way to get them back to a gathering space.
Here is a sample of the simple area we created:
We picked a 2’ x 2’ (approx) area in the corner of the dining room. We hung on the wall a big beautiful calendar (COMMUNICATION CENTER) that the family picked out, under the calendar, I hung a nice sturdy shelf (SUPPORT) to hold highlighters, pens/pencils, post*it notes, etc. Underneath the shelf, we placed a file cabinet (SECRETARY). It had been sitting in the basement filled with Barbie & ken and all their stuff (if you’re wondering, they were evicted – they did not go quietly!). I cleaned up the file cabinet to almost new, placed it under the shelf. The secretary held all the information for each family member (patients). The file cabinet included all the things the family loved to do together; hiking, vacations, volunteer work, all the invitations, save the dates, and anything else to help this family function efficiently, with peace of mind and most importantly FUN! Between the wall and file cabinet on the left hand was a Tote (SUPPORT) for the library, dry cleaning, repairs, consignments, etc. There is one picture missing – I placed a basket on top of the file cabinet for all the mail, instead of throwing on the couch, the stairs, or countertops it has its own home.
“Holistic Organizing is not changing behavior, it just modifies it.” ~ C.C.
Find your Theme & Have fun!
Peace & Harmony ~ Cheryl
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Are you looking for a home or office organization in your life? Comment me @ cchomeconcierge@gmail.com. We can talk about what the next step will be, you already made the first step. I’m so proud of you.
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