Your Life. Organized.

Radio This Week:Organizing Homeschooling Supplies & Information

Join me for Organization Nation this Tuesday as I interview my resident homeschooling expert, Donna Clarke, from DC Homeschool Consultants. Donna and I will discuss organizing all your homeschool supplies, materials and information, as well as how to save dollars and cents on your materials. If you're a homeschooling parent, don't miss it!

I Love Being Named To Lists

A few years ago I was named to the Forbes "America's Organizing Elite" List. How cool is that? Recently, my blog was named to the Top 50 Producitivity Blogs List by a lovely man named Leo who runs a blog called Zen Habits. Leo's story is an inspiring one and I hope you'll take a minute to read it and check out his blog. Thanks Leo, for including Your Life. Organized. on your list of Top 50 Productivity Blogs. And keep up the great work -- you are a living example for others to take on their own challenges and live a better, healthier, more fulfilling lives!

Speaking of Worm Poop...

Just a quick note to let you know that last Friday's special edition of my radio show with Tom Szaky, CEO and co-founder of Terracycle,  is up and ready for listening or download! This guy is awesome, you've gotta listen to this one, folks!

Monica's Travel Schedule

I'm heading out for a week of travel starting tomorrow! First I fly to Stillwater, Oklahoma to do a full day speaking engagement at Oklahoma State University. (But first, on my way Stillwater, I'm meeting some friends at Ron's Burgers and Chili in Tulsa for what is rumored to be the finest burger in the world. I'll let you know...)

From there, I fly to Minneapolis to attend the 2007 NAPO Conference. At conference I'll not only be sitting in terrific workshops, killer keynotes, (Jack Canfield, Sam Geist and Marc LeBlanc!),  reconnecting with old friends, new friends, mentors, colleagues, hooligans and trouble-makers, I'll also be running one of the most well-attended sessions of the conference, the Ask The Organizer Panel. This will be my fifth year moderating the panel and I'm hoping to exceed last year's attendance by putting 600 people in the room! I am so looking forward to it!

Radio This Week:Behind the Scenes at MISSION:Organization with Gail O'Neill

Tune in this week to Organization Nation as I interview my friend, the fabulous Gail O'Neill, host of the wildly popular HGTV show, MISSION:Organization. Since I'm hosting the HGTV Spring Get Organized Challenge, I thought this would be a great time to have Gail on as my guest! She's just so sweet and so much fun.  Listen in as Gail and I discuss what goes on behind the scenes, (as well as in front of the camera) in the making of  the show and the incredible transformations that occur right before your eyes. Don't miss it... this Tuesday at noon Eastern Time, streaming live on the web at Radio Sandy Springs online.

Monica on 20/20?

Just a quick head's up to tune in tomorrow (Friday 4/20) because I'll be doing a special edition of my radio show, Organization Nation, and it will be taped by a camera crew from ABC's long-running news show, 20/20.

My guest will be Tom Szaky, the sharp young founder and CEO of Terracycle, a Trenton New Jersey company that produces and sells the only product in the world made entirely from, and packaged in, waste. I can't wait for Tom to tell you about the process and how worm poop plays a big part! Yep. That's what I said. Worm poop. 

I had first seen Tom and Terracycle profiled on a tv show several months ago and thought he had an amazing concept, and now I have the opportunity to interview him live in-studio, so don't miss it!

In case you're wondering what this has to do with organizing, here's the scoop... I'm debuting a new format for my show called The Power of Focus. I'll run a Power of Focus format monthly and I'll interview people who have set and achieved big personal or business goals.

We'll find out their secrets and how the power of being focused and organized helped them succeed despite struggles and obstacles along the way. Tom Szaky will be my first guest for this new format, so tune in at 4:00 pm Eastern Time and find out how this 25 year old Ivy League drop-out became an American eco-capitalist success story!

Radio This Week:Other People's Stuff

Join me this Tuesday on Organization Nation as I chat with fellow blogger and Psychologist Dr. Amie Ragan, author of the Psychology of Clutter blog. We'll be discussing how you end up with someone else's clutter in your life, how it affects you, and what to do about it. This is the perfect week for you to call in and ask Dr. Ragan your questions. Call toll-free at 1-866-356-0789 between noon and one o'clock Eastern Time Tuesday!

The Verdict Is In on the Butler Bag

Earlier this week I blogged about the 10% discount handbag revolution, my eternal search for The Perfect Purse and my eager anticipation of the arrival of the UPS guy. I’m here to report, my wait is over and I have achieved...

Washington Spaces Online Talks to the Experts about Organizing

Check out the Washington Spaces online article about getting your entire home organized. The writer interviewed Christopher Lowell, Peter Walsh (from tv's Clean Sweep) Barry Izsak (NAPO President) and yours truly (humble organizing guru, blogger and radio host) as well as various closet company execs and kitchen designers. The result is a really good, comprehensive article with really nice photos!

Jott it Down

If you've ever been driving and thought of a few things you just had to put on your task list but couldn't stop to add them, you need Jott. If you've ever been walking out of a meeting and wanted to remember to send the person some specific information as soon as you could, you need Jott. If you've ever been out of your house and thought of two things to add to your shopping trip on the way home, you need Jott. What is Jott?...

I Love Vicky & Jen (and their podcast)!

Once again, I've had the very great pleasure of being a guest on the Vicky and Jen podcast, "What Really Matters". Vicky and Jen are super fun, so tune in and listen at your leisure as we discuss the pros and cons of working from home, and find out what I'm wearing most days when I'm working at home. We had waaaaay too much fun with this interview so you definitely need to listen. Vicky and Jen also feature some great music on their show, too.

Is Storage the Same as Organizing? U-Haul Thinks So

The other day, as I was driving across town I saw this sign.  I just had to stop and take a picture of it for my blog because it reminded me of the misguided notion that a lot of people hold about organizing, apparently U-Haul included.

Newsflash: Storing stuff is NOT organizing. Containerizing is NOT organizing. And for Pete's sake, just getting rid of stuff isn't organizing either...

Handbag Revolution

 Hurry up UPS guy! I'm very excited today because I've been on the hunt for The Perfect Bag (or briefcase) for several years now and -- fingers crossed -- I just might have found it. As an organizer, you can imagine that a chaotic purse drives me absolutely batty. So I've been through purse after purse, seeking the Holy Grail of Handbags. So far, nada. I'm hopeful that my new Butler Bag will fill the bill.

The Butler Bag is new, compartmentalized handbag designed by Jen Groover and until April 17th, Jen is offering 10% off your total order plus free shipping if you order two bags. Use the code 305348 when you place your order online.

I ordered two bags (one standard size and one of the larger "hybrid" size) and I can't wait for the UPS guy to bring them so I can try them out and give you my official review!

If you have a purse or briefcase that you absolutely love and think could be The Perfect Bag, do let me know!

 

Radio This Week:Organizing Homeschooling on a Shoestring Budget

Join me this week (Tuesday at noon Eastern Time) for Organization Nation, as I interview Donna Clarke from DC Homeschool Consultants. Last time we talked about how to know if you're a good candidate to homeschool, and this week we'll be talking about home schooling and the financial aspects of it, what to expect, and how you can do it on a budget. So if you're home schooling your kids or considering it, tune in! This is the second show I've featured Donna's homeschooling expertise and we'll be doing it monthly for several months to come. Feel welcome to call toll-free at 1-866-356-0789 with your questions!

Martha Stewart on the Clutter Bandwagon

Martha's on the get organized bandwagon. There is an article on her web site called 100 Reasons To Get Rid of It. The author cites every reason you can think of, from "because it's fun" to "someone else needs it" and "because you don't want to end up like them."

It's a cute and sort of silly, but useful resource if you've been wanting to downsize and haven't found a good enough reason so far.

Easter 2007

Yesterday was Easter and I took a day off. I didn't think about work, talk about work or do any blogging. We spent the day and evening with friends and their kids, which is always fun. We had the traditional Easter ham plus a deep fried turkey (if you haven't had deep fried turkey, you haven't lived) and lots of yummy side items. Dessert was this homemade dark chocolate bunny cake and cookies. We had a great day, but today is Monday and back to work time. I hope you had a wonderful Easter yourself and are back to your life feeling refreshed and renewed, like spring itself!

Behind The Curtain: An Organizer's Desk

Ariane Benefit and I were chatting about posting pics of our desks, and Ariane blogged about it last week, so here's my desk. For those of you wondering, it's certainly not perfect. I'm not about perfection. Just for fun, let's take a desk tour so you'll know what all that stuff is...

Cords and Cables...ACK!

I hate dealing with cords and cables. Blecch. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I love simple organizing tools and some of the ways I control all my nutty chargers.

Today I want to share my joy about another really simple organizing tools called a Cable Turtle. It's just a little rubber donut lookin' thing that helps me control the various cords in my life. I have one on my laptop cord and my cooling pad cord and I love it! Talk about simple!

New 10-Minute Lesson: 5 Secrets to Simplify Your Life

Just wanted to let you know there are two new 10 Minute Lessons up and running. These newest ones are both part of a series called 5 Secrets to Simplify Your Life. The first one covers Secret Number One: Clarifying Your Priorities, and episode two covers the first half of Secret Number Two: Changing Your Relationship to Time.

You can either head to the 10 Minute Lessons site to listen, OR look just to the right side of this post in the sidebar, where you can click directly on my 10 Minute Lessons widget and you can listen from here. Either way, I hope you enjoy the first two parts of the series and stay tuned for the rest of Secret Number Two (coming very soon!)  as well as the other three secrets to simplify your life!

Step One of the HGTV Get Organized Challenge

Have you signed up for the HGTV Spring 2007 Organizing Challenge yet? More than 650,000 people have signed up already. Have you? If not, what are you waiting for?

Step One: Understanding Organizing Basics.

See you on the web forum!