Stephen Organizing Services - Professional Organizer - Personal Organizer - San Francisco - San Jose - Bay Area

One Room Clutter Control Ever feel like if just one room were under control it would give you the kick-start to get the rest of the house organized? This package is exactly the kick-start you could use to get that feeling. Clear out that junk room and use the momentum to overhaul the entire house. We bring the right tools to the job. *Three hours of decluttering for* $210.
Paper Management Does your filing system live in old paper bags? Are there boxes next to your shower containing all your papers? How would it feel to be able to locate any piece of paper in five minutes or less? How much time do you lose right now looking for paper? Together, we can create a filing system for you with a searchable online index. *Get the special paper management package, which includes two hours offsite file preparation, plus six hours of onsite organizing, for only $560.*
Home Office Improvement Does your home office look like it’s been ransacked by Wookies? Still dealing with old technology? How would you like to have your home office be a place where your blood pressure goes down instead of up? Your serenity is important; having your office strewn with junk does nothing to help you maintain the calm you need to compete in today’s marketplace. How about the Home Office Improvement package? *You get six hours of onsite organizing, plus a written report showing you next steps you can take yourself for just $495.*
Time Management You already know that we all have the same amount of time. We all have 24 hours every day. And yet, strangely, some of that time seems to drain away. Would you like to know where it went? Let me help you figure out where your time is going and change your perception of time so that you are in control of it and not the other way around. *Get the time management skills you need for just $210.*

Decluttering

The stuff that you own says a lot about you, and having a lot of clutter can make you feel like your life is going downhill. Decluttering is the process of transforming the clutter into something else. Sometimes letting go of clutter can cause you to open up a space in your life that has been neglected for years. Decluttering is also the first step for most feng shui consultations.

Decluttering not only creates room to maneuver, but it usually causes you to feel much better and more in control immediately. A three-hour session of decluttering is akin to a good therapy session. Natural groupings will appear very quickly once you begin to declutter: a recycling pile appears, books get sorted into stacks, papers are sorted into piles of opened and unopened mail; even the things you lost start to reappear.

Once a room is decluttered, the magnitude of the problem diminishes into something easier to manage. Recycle this, donate that, sell those, and find a storage solution for the rest. Decluttering makes it possible to take charge of your stuff and your life!

The beauty of decluttering is that it opens up new possibilities of what can be — if you simply finish the process by organizing what a decluttered room has left you to manage.

© Copyright Carol Stephen All rights reserved

Paper Management

Paper seems so innocent. A single slip of paper is thin and light, and yet each piece of paper requires an answer, a decision, a little dialogue between yourself and it.

Questions run through your head as you face paper: should I keep this receipt? Should I act upon the offer in this piece of mail? Should I read these magazines? Paper saps your decision-making momentum so that you have little energy left over to deal with other important decisions. If clutter is indeed a series of decisions delayed, then paper most certainly makes up the majority of those delayed decisions for most people.

Books can be included as part of the paper problem. Books are my Achilles’ Heel, too, so don’t think organizers don’t have their own issues! Many people love books and the ideas and people they represent. Whenever I want to get rid of a few books, I remind myself that I live in earthquake country in California and I would not want to be crushed by books falling over on me.

Part of the solution is to staunch the flow of incoming paper. Get off the mailing lists, sort the paper right over the recycling bin, or hire someone to handle the paper for you.

Another part of the solution is to have homes for the remaining paper. A paper management system allows you to control the content of the paper.

A good filing system enables you to process all forms of paper quickly and easily while building a database of useful information. You might not have to scan every piece, but having a searchable file that allows you online access can be a lifesaver if you get a lot of mail and paper.

I can adapt a paper management system to accommodate whatever way you would like to access the paper in your life to put you back in charge of the paper menace.

© Copyright Carol Stephen All rights reserved

Manage Mail

Mail is the most troubling of paper sources. You don’t ask for mail; it just busts into your life rudely unannounced: “Pay this bill! Vote this proxy! Analyze this statement! Read me! I might be important even though I keep that a secret until you read me.”

No wonder mail accumulates unopened. It’s simply terrifying to know that every piece of mail demands time and attention and worst of all, it demands action: to pay or not to pay that bill? To accept or reject an offer? To retain or dispose of the information?

I can develop a system for you, or, I can even process your mail on your behalf.

I can reduce your junk mail, sort your mail, and I can even process your bills for you.

If your mail is stacking up and you’re paying late fees every month, then you need to wrestle with this problem. Yes, in the short term you will spend some money getting it under control. But in the long term, you’ll have a system and you’ll save money and also help rescue your credit if paying the late fees has caused you problems with your credit.

Old mail tends to become increasingly urgent, until some deadline is missed which then results in one of two predictable outcomes: the issue addressed in those letters either becomes a crisis, or a lost opportunity. If you’re stuck in dealing with mail that is urgent but unimportant, while missing what is important but not urgent, then you should consider the improvements I can bring to your mail handling process.

© Copyright Carol Stephens All rights reserved

Why should you bend over backwards to conform to your environment? Make your environment conform to you!

“Our minds become clear and open in a home that is free from the chaos of possessions. This is not
about throwing everything away; it is about keeping a sense of yourself and your life’s journey.”
Jane Tidbury, author of Zen Style

Even if you don’t need to declutter a room, you might have rooms or areas within a room that simply don’t work the way they could for you.

Every room in your home and every utilitarian component of a room should perform for you. Many systems are generally excellent. For example, your car gets you around town, you get clean in the shower, your washing machine and dryer do their jobs perfectly well.

But how many of us have a table that has every flat space filled with clutter? How many of us have a “junk drawer” that is full of junk? How about a “junk room” that is filled with junk? If your car can drive you around town and if your shower can get you clean, and if your washer and dryer wash and dry your clothes for you, then why shouldn’t you have a filing system so that your dining room table can be used for dining? What a crazy idea! You should have systems for managing the things in your life that work just as well as your car, your shower, or your washer.

Organizing isn’t just about storing your stuff. It’s about making your home perform effectively to enhance and affirm your life, to elevate your mood, and give you a system of management tools to give you a better life.

© Copyright Carol Stephen All rights reserved

Moving Services

A great time to declutter is right before you’re going to move. That way, you don’t have to move the clutter along with you. You’ll pay less to move, too.

I can help you decide what to keep and what to toss. Once you’ve gone through your stuff, I can also help you pack it. We can move very quickly or slowly, depending upon your pace.

© Copyright Carol Stephen All rights reserved