Hazel’s Organizing Stories

Do I Practice What I Preach? (Habits, Maintenance, and Backsliding)

By Hazel Thornton | January 15, 2024 |

Dear Readers: I hope you enjoy this refreshed post from 2016.   I was helping a long-time virtual coaching client with email maintenance, teaching her about Inbox Zero, and I admitted that mine was currently more like Inbox 200. In fact, as I continued to say, I don’t do anything (maintenance-wise)  every day. She was…

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If you can’t find something, clean up!

By Hazel Thornton | September 27, 2021 |

I thought this phrase — If you can’t find something, clean up — was a well-known adage. But random people I’ve queried have never heard it. So, I Googled it. Turns out it’s one of Gretchen Rubin’s many Secrets of Adulthood, which she introduced in her bestselling book The Happiness Project. I guess it made…

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There’s No Place Like Home

By Hazel Thornton | April 19, 2021 |

(NOTE: It was in October 2012 when I “just returned” from this trip and wrote this post. A worldwide pandemic was the furthest thing from my mind! Most of us have stayed home for over a year, and we’re just now thinking about traveling again as we gradually get our COVID-19 vaccinations. Also new since…

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What do you love about your office? Here’s what I love about mine.

By Hazel Thornton | February 12, 2020 |

I think the key to being productive is to be comfortable and happy spending time in your office. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a corporate cubicle; a dedicated room at home with a door that closes; or another space you’ve carved out for yourself. If you love your office, great! Carry on. If you don’t,…

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Org4life: The First 15 Years

By Hazel Thornton | January 5, 2020 |

Please join me in celebrating 15 years of helping clients to declutter, simplify, organize, and refresh their homes, offices, schedules, and lives…and helping them discover their roots and tell their family stories, too! And what’s an anniversary without gratitude, a few selected highlights, and a crossword puzzle?

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Confessions of a Professional Organizer (I’m organized enough, and not one bit more)

By Hazel Thornton | February 1, 2019 |

Clients are always amused and relieved to learn that I have my own organizing issues to deal with at home. I tell them, “I’m organized, not perfect! Whoever said I was perfect?” If you and I both have a pile of clutter on the kitchen counter, the difference between us is that I know it’s…

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Mom’s Boxes Part 6: Sometimes Organizers Need Help Too!

By Hazel Thornton | August 6, 2018 |

You didn’t think I was finished with Mom’s Boxes, did you? Ha ha ha! Noooo! In fact, I haven’t done a thing on this project since my brother left in December to spend a year in Japan. ←These are a few of the resulting categories: Cassette tapes, Mini photo albums, Grandma & Grandpa’s letters, Ephemera…

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Do You Follow Doctor’s Orders?

By Hazel Thornton | July 23, 2018 |

I twisted my knee last fall. (Note: This post was originally written in 2013, but now I’m working on rehabbing my ankle.) I saw a doctor for knee pain and was already on a Rx anti-inflammatory, which masked the symptoms and made it seem not bad enough to see the doctor again. But a few…

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WHY I Love Chores

By Hazel Thornton | May 7, 2018 |

WHY do I love chores? OK, I don’t. Not really. But hear me out…. I LOVE having someone else clean my house. But, for the most part, I prefer to clean it myself for various financial and Zen reasons. I’ve often thought of housework and exercise as the cheapest forms of therapy. Whenever I feel…

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Is your kitchen counter messier than mine?

By Hazel Thornton | April 16, 2018 |

← This is my kitchen counter. If you think it looks like THAT at all times — not a bit of clutter; complete with fresh fruit and flowers — you will either be disappointed, or relieved, to learn that it also looks like THIS on a regular basis →              …

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