Ok, so I am not the most organized person in the world. Actually, I am organized in a disorganized kind of way. Organized chaos describes most of my life. I have always wanted to be organized but just never got there. Then an event in my life caused me to change my ways. I am looking for order, neat and tidy on the shelves, paperwork in files and laundry folded and put away. What, you may ask, brought this on? Recently my brother, his wife and their 3 year old moved into my apartment, which already held myself, my husband and our 15 month old.


During the move my office/junk room was moved into my scrapbooking workshop room. This may not have been so bad if I had been around to assist. I was not and everything, useful and otherwise, was deposited into my workshop room where I had previously run workshops and classes for my scrapbooking business.


We have been living together for 2 months now and things have settled into a rhythm. Just keeping up with the housework has been a struggle but I was determined to reclaim my space. As a work at home mom my business depended on getting this room under control.


I knew I needed help when I brought the wrong product to a customer then did not have that same product for the correct customer because I could not find the paperwork in all the mess. I had never run my business like this and I refused to let it go any further.


I asked my cousin, a self admitted neat nut, for her assistance. She is an Organization Consultant and had offered her services to me several times before I just was not desperate enough to accept. Now I was desperate and begged for her assistance. She came armed with pen and paper. I was to make a list and follow through on her suggestions if I wanted to reclaim my space and get my business back up to par.


We each took a seat in the mess, well actually on the outskirts since there was too much furniture in the way. I told her what I wanted the room to do and she told me how to make it happen. Here is a check list of what we did.

1. Decide what you want the space to do when you are finished. Envision a perfectly organized space and make that your goal. I wanted to have a neat, functional workshop room and office area.
   
2. Get rid of all unnecessary items i.e. Furniture, books, clothes, junk, etc. If you have not used it in a year you probably don’t need it. Goodwill gladly accepts all these items.
   
3. Paperwork: Toss what is unnecessary, file what is necessary, and act on things that need it. I was so excited to toss 2 trash bags of junk mail and magazines. Take the time to create a filing system for yourself. It is easier to file things right away than let them get lost on the desk. A great tip was that the desk or table should be cleared off everyday. Never let things get out of hand. It is easier to deal with one day's worth of paper than a month's.
   
4. Shelves, shelves, shelves! I did not have enough storage so I put up 3 sets of shelves and will be adding more storage bins as we go. It made a huge difference to get everything off the floor and tables. Now I can see what I have. I am also not tripping over things. Customers are more comfortable here now as well.
   
5. Binders, binders, binders. I love them. I have a binder for each of my major projects. I use sheet protectors to hold all papers from a particular meeting or event. Whatever project I am working on, I just pull the binder and am up to speed within minutes. I have found this to be the most successful tool yet since it keeps my businesses separated. I do not have meeting notes from one business in with notes from my other business.

So it took me a week of work but I was able to have a workshop on Friday evening and have several events planned each week through the summer. I am so excited to prove to the Naysayers wrong. The room is better than before. Thanks Christina for all your wonderful advice and vision.


Kate Powers is a founding member of Wild WE and a Creative Memories consultant. Visit her online at Creative
Memories.