Posts

Better Than Before

By Hazel Thornton | March 27, 2015 |

I have been a fan of Gretchen Rubin ever since her bestseller The Happiness Project. One of the things we have in common is that clearing clutter and organizing makes us both happy! I listened to her new audiobook — Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives — as soon as humanly possible…

Born to Organize*

By Hazel Thornton | March 17, 2015 |

People ask me all the time how I became a professional organizer. Here is my story: ONCE UPON A TIME in Los Angeles… after earning degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Drafting, and Fine Arts… I worked as an Integrated Technology Planner for the local telephone company. (If you really want to know, it was the portion…

Are You Situationally Disorganized?

By Hazel Thornton | March 11, 2015 |

Would it surprise you to learn that many of my clients are actually quite organized? They must be. They successfully run businesses and manage families and households. They earn academic degrees and professional awards. They make jewelry and quilts, and they write books. And they’ve done it all without my help because they’re organized in…

Don’t Stack Your Boxes, Use Shelving!

By Hazel Thornton | March 8, 2015 |

Everybody has stuff. Some stuff you use every day and you keep it handy — in cupboards, in drawers, or on small decorative shelves. Other stuff you use less often, or never — camping equipment, holiday decorations, emergency supplies, keepsakes, etc. — and you store it in boxes in less accessible places. No matter where…

7 Surprising Things I Found While Organizing…At My House

By Hazel Thornton | February 19, 2015 |

    As we sort through their possessions together, deciding what to keep and what to purge, my clients constantly find things they didn’t even know, or remember, that they owned. Well, guess what? It happens to me too! I was recently sorting through some of my own stuff and found a few things that…

Does Your System Need Tweaking Like Mine Did?

By Hazel Thornton | January 21, 2015 |

In Six Organizing Systems Everyone Needs I asked questions designed to help you create the RIGHT systems that will work for YOU. I also stated that every system needs to be re-evaluated periodically, and adjusted as necessary. Because things change. Here is an example of a system that worked for me for many years…until it…

Decisions, Decisions….

By Hazel Thornton | January 10, 2015 |

Do you have trouble making decisions? I think we all do on occasion, but this difficulty often plagues my disorganized clients. Consider the gazillions of decisions we are all faced with on a daily basis — what to wear? eat? do? say? buy? In the case of clutter we wonder: How did this pile get…

8 Motivational Quotes for an Auspicious New Year

By Hazel Thornton | January 1, 2015 |

Rather than telling you what I hope…I mean, resolve…to accomplish in the New Year, I want to tell you how I plan to keep myself motivated. It’s easy for me to set goals, even S.M.A.R.T. Goals, and then forget later why they were so important. (It is just me?) I even have an entire New…

Buy the best. Forget the rest.

By Hazel Thornton | October 20, 2014 |

I’m pretty frugal, but perhaps not in the same ways you are. The definition of frugal that I like best is this: Spending money on the things you value and saving on everything else. I don’t have the best of everything, but I am willing to spend money on things that are important to me.…

Readers’ Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep

By Hazel Thornton | October 1, 2014 |

In last month’s issue of Org4life News I offered up my recent blog post, Organize Your Thoughts for a Better Night’s Sleep, and asked for readers’ tips. Here’s what I received: