8 things I learned about organizing in 2020

1. I have a renewed love of Bigso boxes

The early days of Covid forced me to work virtually with existing in-person clients. For one client, we were in the middle of organizing and upgrading the office side of her bedroom. We didn't skip a beat and we were able to still pull it off with orders from Ikea and The Container Store. We were so pleased with the result! It had been a while since I had a project that used so many repeating Bigso boxes from The Container Store and this storage makeover renewed my love for them.

Read more about the transformation, what we stored, and links to the products in this post.

2. Renovations cause chaos, even for Professional Organizers

Mid-March we were scheduled to start a gut job on our only bathroom in a 1000 sq. foot condo. I think we all remember madness that was Mid-March 2020... Nic wanted to postpone, but I insisted we carry on. It was an extremely stressful three weeks, but in hindsight, we're overjoyed with the result and happy we pushed forward. Having spent so much time at home in 2020, it's been such a joy to finally have our dream bathroom.

In the thick of it though, with the first floor covered in tarps and rubble, we were forced to operate out of the loft bedroom - Zoom calls, daily admin, eating, and more. In a fit of frustration, I grabbed a flat black archival box and in it threw everything that would normally live on or around my dining table/desk. My office-in-a-box was born and I'm still using it to keep my papers together and my workspace clear! I even filmed a video on it: watch Work from home at a dining table? Organize the paper with an office in a box. What I really learned was that even if you're a Professional Organizer, there's no avoiding the stress of renovations.

View more before/after pictures here.

3. Cluttered to-do lists are weighing a lot of us down

I've always known this, but teaching something is the best way to absorb a lesson. For nearly ten years I've been helping people declutter their to-do lists to work less and get more done. I call them "Accomplisheets." It took a pandemic for me to create and launch a course on Accomplisheets. An Accomplisheet is a single sheet fill-in-the-blank tool that prioritizes your tasks & rituals for a day or week. Many of my clients enjoy working off of one or two of these instead of a pile of scraps and sticky notes. So, I decided to teach with their examples and create an Accomplisheet course in 2020!

It launched in August and I sold nearly ten times my goal! Clearly, it struck a nerve. One student recently wrote and said:

"Thanks so much for helping me, Kacy. Your course was a bright spot in an uncertain year, where being disorganized was sort of expected and allowed. I'm glad I survived, and the sheets really helped."

The Accomplisheet course will launch again in early 2021.
Get on the wait list here.

4. Reflecting on the word "stagnant" can break through years of clutter

For a few years now I've been assigning words to clients. I do this a few times a year, and wish I had jotted down all of them! The first time I remember doing this was when I gave the word "reasonable" to a client with a vast amount of water bottles for a household of 2 people.

One word I remember from this year is "stagnant." I have a client I have worked with for about 10 years. Her house is quite spotless, but the study remains a challenge. She can actually get it in perfectly presentable shape, but lurking in the closet is a collection of paper going back to the 1990s. It is stored neatly, but contains articles, notes, and tear-outs that she feels she needs, but NEVER refers to. As attached as she is to the papers, she wants to cut it all back.

Herein lies the struggle (and the reason I'm in her life). We still manage to have fresh conversations and some movement all these years later, but something brand new came to me in a session. I explained that sometimes a word pops into head that I know I client needs, like a prescription almost. My word for her: Stagnant. She was into it and ran with it. She lit up and exclaimed how that was exactly how that paper made her feel. On our next call, she had tossed more from that shelf in the closet than she had in ages. Some yellowed articles from the 90s remain, but that's ok because she broke through the stagnancy by calling it what it is.

5. Sometimes it helps to just admit you don't like paperwork

Speaking of calling it what it is, a regular out-of-state client of mine wrote to me this year, lamenting how Covid has kept us apart, and said:

”Sadly, I am not faithful with my paperwork. You set me up for success but I don’t like doing paperwork.”

I so appreciated her honesty. We can't be good at everything, nor do we have to like everything, especially things we know we should do but don't. Like a lot of my clients, she simply needs me in her life. I am her maintenance plan and that's ok. Admitting you don't like organizing paper and probably never will is freeing. Just cry uncle, and then find someone who does love it!

6. Always carry a measuring tape

If I had a dime for every time I said, "Oh shoot, my measuring tape is in the car"... and sometimes my car is parked blocks away and the client doesn't have one. There's very little that I carry in my leather work bag, but now a measuring tape is always in it. (My toolbox is too small for the large heavy-duty measuring tape that I need.) Now that I always have one on me, it's an extension of me and I use it multiple times per week with clients.

7. Sometimes an extra set of hands comes in handy!

It's hard to believe that it took me 10 years to hire a subcontractor. A regular client of mine wanted a fast turnaround for her condo's main closet. I knew I could do it in 4 hours with the help of another organizer. So, I hired one that I had known for a few years who is newer to the profession. We worked beautifully together and finished in 4 hours! We pulled everything out, assembled the new Metro shelving, and re-populated the closet with better containers. Of course, my client was very involved in paring down as we worked. I don't know why it took me so long to work this was, but I'm happy to work as a team more in the future.

8. It can help to focus just on what you don't use, instead of everything you have.

Like most Americans, I went on a tear through my house this year with a ravenous need to edit down my possessions. Since I regularly donate items throughout the year, I'm down to the giveaways that aren't so obvious. Mostly, I wanted to make room in my closet. I had stared it down before, but I knew more could go.

I tried something new that worked: I pulled out into the bedroom everything that I didn't wear. That wasn't the time to agonize over what stays and goes, rather, it was a black 'n white exercise of simply seeing what I didn't wear. I then was looking at a small pile on the floor. My work became clear once it's wasn't camouflaged in with all that I love and wear.

I think pulling everything out can be overwhelming. Knowing that I wear much of what I own, that seemed like way too much physical and metal work. In the end, I donated or sold probably a dozen of the 17 or so items. It worked and I can't wait to use this technique with clients. I could see it working for kitchens, hall closets, garages, office supplies, and more.