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Professional-Organizer

Week 16 | Pet Hair | 52 Weeks to Downsize & Minimalize

Looking to reduce the amount of pet hair in your home? Do you love your dog or cat so much that you don’t notice the hair anymore? LOOK CLOSELY. Your guests see (and smell) it.

Owning a pet is a wonderful experience that tends to result in sacrificing the cleanliness of the home, but it doesn’t have to. It’s time to become conscious of the pet hair all over the furniture, floor, in the rug, on your clothing, and also how it makes the house smell in ways you’ve probably become so accustomed to, you no longer notice it. Oh my!

Here are tips and tricks to downsize and minimalize the amount of pet hair around the house:

  • Sweep and vacuum weekly, including the furniture. This sounds like common sense, but sense is not common to everyone. Life is busy, and it’s easy to let time slip away and forget to sweep and vacuum regularly, allowing pet hair to build up fast. Make it a weekly habit whether or not you think you see the hair.
  • Use a roll of packing tape. Keep a pair of scissors or a tape dispenser handy, and cut off a long one to two foot piece to gather up hair on clothing, furniture, curtains, and other fabric and surfaces that won’t get damaged by tape. It’s sticky, extremely effective, and costs less than the expensive sticky paper rollers made specifically for pet hair.
  • Brush your pets weekly (outside). If makes them feel good, it’s a bonding experience, and gets rid of excess pet hair that won’t fall out in the house.
  • Use products such as the FURminator.
  • Use a soft cloth and furniture polish or anti-static dusting spray on wooden furniture. The spray will eliminate the electric charge and help remove pet hair easier.
  • Use a rubber glove or clean sponge lightly dampened with water to remove pet hair from upholstery. Run your rubber gloved hand or the sponge over the surface to gather pet hair. Rinse the glove or sponge when covered and repeat. Be sure to catch the hair in a sink strainer and don’t let it clog the pipes.
  • Use an electrostatic or microfiber dry mop on bare floors. Regular vacuum cleaners tend to blow hair around on hardwood, laminate, or other bare floors versus gather it in one spot. Electrostatic and microfiber attracts hair, just what you want to get things nice and clean.

Bella_Organizing_Best_Professional_Organizers_San_Francisco_Oakland_Berkeley_silicon_valley_montereyIsabella Guajardo, founder and owner of Bella Organizing, is a San Francisco Bay Area professional organizer offering home organizing, interior redesign, and residential move management services throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Call (510) 229-7321 or email info@bellaorganizing.com for more information. Gift certificates are available.

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Professional-Organizer

How To Develop A Family Technology Policy At Home

This weekend I attended the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) conference for our San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. The Annual NAPO-SFBA regional conference is an opportunity for members and those interested in becoming a professional organizer to network, learn innovative ways to organize, and discover new products and services to help our clients and their families stay clutter-free and productive.

Keynote speaker Judith Kolberg, a world-renown productivity specialist, had lots of tips and information. The following is a sample list of family technology policies for the home she shared with us to share with you:

 

Family Technology Policies:

  • No devices at the dinner table or church
  • No texting in front of grandma
  • Lights out means no devices
  • No devices within 10 feet of water (bathtub, swimming pool, a drink on a table, etc.)
  • No tech zone in the house should be observed

What family technology policies would you implement at your home? What would be your rewards for compliance or consequences for non-compliance?

For more about Judith Kolberg and putting together a Family Technology Policy, visit http://fileheads.net/2013/09/how-to-develop-a-family-technology-policy/

For more about the National Association of Professional Organizers – San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (NAPO-SFBA) and the conference, visit: https://naposfbac.memberclicks.net/regional-conference – Hope to see you at our 2015 conference! (Location TBA)

Judith Kolberg founded FileHeads Professional Organizers in 1989, the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization, and the Institute for Challenging Disorganization (ICD). She is credited with launching a field of professional organizing dedicated to helping individuals challenged by chronic disorganization. Judith is the author of several books including Conquering Chronic Disorganization, which are required reading for industry certification programs (over a quarter million copies sold). She is a popular speaker and a featured organizer on the “Buried Alive” hoarding series. A native of New York, Judith lives in Atlanta, GA where she takes care of her mom, sees clients, writes, and publishes.

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Professional-Organizer

Interview with Betty A. Sproule, co-author of The Stuff Cure

I am interviewing Betty A. Sproule, co-author of The Stuff Cure: How we lost 8,000 pounds of stuff for fun, profit, virtue, and a better world.

What a catchy title, Betty, who should read your book?

Our book is for anyone who feels that they have more stuff in their home and garage than they really need.  When stuff becomes a burden, rather than a joy, it’s time to slim down.  Often people need to unstuff when they are planning to move, a child leaves home, or when they need to downsize. Sometimes people need to move stuff along so they can clear enough space to park their car in the garage.

What about the fun, profit, virtue, and a better world?  How can getting rid of stuff help in all those areas?

We know that buying stuff can be fun.  We believe that getting rid of stuff can also be fun, if you have the right approach.  You can sell your unneeded stuff for cash or you can take a deduction on your taxes. Donating to worthwhile agencies, such as Goodwill, St Vincent DePaul, and Hope, does a lot of good for our community.  Reusing and recycling help us to be better stewards of our environmental resources.

When you talk about getting rid of stuff, how do you know what to keep?

We have three criteria to define a keeper. When it’s

    • Currently functional,
    • Really valuable, or
    • Outrageously sentimental

If something doesn’t qualify under one of these three headings, then it’s a candidate for unstuffing.

Once you decide to get rid of something, how do you make it work? 

We use the principles of gift, shift, and thrift to find our stuff a better home.  We discuss the seven morphs of leading an unstuffed life: Refraining, Restraining, Returning, Reusing, Renting, Recycling, and Rendering into trash. We include a discussion of our Stuff Cure Method and the 7 rules of the game. We share a proven recipe for success in getting rid of excess stuff without regret or guilt. We give a lot of specific suggestions for how to responsibly move your stuff along before resorting to just throwing it in the trash.

When do you need a professional organizer in your unstuffing process?

We recommend using a professional organizer to help you achieve your goals even faster.  If you get rid of some of the stuff that you don’t need, it helps you to get more value from the time with your professional organizer and you’ll be more pleased with the result.

Mike and Betty Sproule, co-authors of “The Stuff Cure”

If you’d like to read the book, you can order it on Amazon, in either paperback or Kindle form.

Read more about The Stuff Cure on the website: http://www.stuffcure.com/

____

Isabella Guajardo, also known as Girl With A Truck™, is a professional home organizer and a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). She travels to work with clients throughout the great San Francisco Bay Area, East Bay, South Bay, Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz and Monterey Peninsula. She shares simple and creative ways to stay organized and stylish while reducing, recycling and re-purposing.  

Call (510) 229-7321 today to schedule a complimentary estimate for your home organizing goals. Gift certificates are available.

Keep up with Bella Organizing on Facebook and Instagram.

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Professional-Organizer

Professional Home Organizer San Francisco Bay to Monterey

Isabella Guajardo, also known as Girl With A Truck™, is a professional home organizer and a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). Living in Oakland and Monterey, she travels in her truck to work with clients throughout the SF Bay Area, East Bay, South Bay, Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz and Monterey Peninsula. She shares simple and creative ways to stay organized and stylish while reducing, recycling and re-purposing. Join Bella Organizing on Facebook. Gift certificates are available.

Call (510) 229-7321 to schedule a complimentary telephone consultation.

Professional Organizer Berkeley Oakland San Francisco Monterey