What I’ve been organizing lately - a classic home office

A few weeks ago I drove from my home in Silver Spring, Maryland nearly two hours to Winchester, Virginia. The scene accurately matched my client’s story.  She told me ahead of time that she felt paralyzed by her piles.  Most was unopened mail, some was in boxes, some on the desk, and she was finally admitting that she couldn’t do it alone. She had in fact been working on a small desk in the living room, avoiding her office entirely.

If this sounds familiar, you’re in good company. This was an extremely typical job (and my comfort zone)!   

The first picture is of her desk, the bins below, and a box of mail in the top right corner.

The second picture is of the sorting process that took the majority of our time together.  As with so many projects, this is the rudimentary step that cannot be avoided.  I sit with my client on the floor, and we sort, sort, sort.  From there, we decide how long to keep each statement or bill.  We then assign homes to what we keep.  In her case, most was tossed and the rest landed in a desktop file box for a series of 2016 bills, statements, and a few more categories that she adds to about monthly.

The third photo is a rare shot of me at work, next to the clean desk 3 hours later!