.ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE

To send, or not to send? No more holiday card guilt!

By Hazel Thornton | December 8, 2016 |

  I love to send and receive holiday cards! My Thanksgiving weekend ritual is to take inventory — while relaxing in front of the fire, with a glass of wine, snacks, and some Christmas music — of my friends, family, clients, colleagues, and those who have been helpful to me throughout the year. It’s a…

3 Tips for Clutter-Free Business Networking

By Hazel Thornton | November 30, 2016 |

Are your desk and office cluttered with promotional items? You know, the stuff you bring back from business networking events, seminars, expos, conferences, luncheons, and meetings? Don’t know what to do with it all? Here are my top 3 tips for controlling networking clutter:

Make Your Own Checklists!

By Hazel Thornton | November 30, 2016 |

I love checklists! You can Google for free, or purchase, all sorts of ready-made and downloadable checklists, such as those for packing for a trip, or for accomplishing seasonal household chores. HOWEVER…I’ve never met a checklist that I didn’t have to customize for myself. So I make my own. It’s easy, and fun, and you…

15 Ways to Make Chores Fun!

By Hazel Thornton | October 14, 2016 |

                Who enjoys doing chores? No one, that’s who. But what if I told you there were ways to make chores fun? Or, at least, more fun than they seem now. Chores include house work, meal prep, yard work, paying bills, running errands, grocery shopping, tidying up, cleaning,…

Is Your Unfinished Project Really Worth Doing? (The Sunk Cost of Clutter — Part 2)

By Hazel Thornton | September 16, 2016 |

My client and I are sorting and purging her belongings. We come across some fabric she has had for years. Decades, in fact. She puts it in the KEEP pile, saying, “I always thought I could make something out of this.” Not being a sewer, or a quilter, she does not otherwise have a stash…

Guilt-Free TV

By Hazel Thornton | September 9, 2016 |

Game of Thrones, anyone? Are you eagerly awaiting the Gilmore Girls revival? Still loyal to Grey’s Anatomy? If you are a TV hater, and I’ve met many, just move along. This isn’t for you. If you are still reading, though, and you’re disdainful of TV-watchers, why is that? Are your pastimes really so much more…

It’s All About the Labels (not the label makers)

By Hazel Thornton | June 22, 2016 |

I was sorting clothing with a client. Rather, she was sorting and I was managing the rapidly growing piles. We used white kitchen trash bags to contain categories, clearly labeled by me with a black Sharpie, such as: Keep; Donate; Repair; Try On; Wash. We talked about how, in this case, the labeled bags doubled…

Which Task Management Tool is the Best?

By Hazel Thornton | May 20, 2016 |

Some of my clients agonize over which time and task management tools they should use. Paper or electronic? PC or Mac? Synched up to their existing calendars or not? They try one thing, and then another, and often they end up not using any of them. They are intent on finding the BEST one before…

The Chinese Menu Time Management Technique

By Hazel Thornton | May 15, 2016 |

              . Are you familiar with the Happy Family Chinese-American restaurant meal? Choose one item from menu Column A, one from Column B… and with six you get egg roll…? Well, that’s how I manage my time. Allow me to explain… The first thing I do in a Time…

Organizing a Creative Mess

By Hazel Thornton | April 23, 2016 |

Do you have a creative mess? Do you feel inspired by it…or overwhelmed? I have helped clients organize their quilting and sewing rooms; scrapbooking, jewelry making, painting, and glass art studios; and elementary school art classrooms. Their respective supplies and equipment all had different storage requirements, but the clients all had these things in common: