“Explain it to me like I’m a five year old” is something I say when something complicated needs to be broken down. That is why I love that the Pete the Cat cartoon series on Amazon put out an episode all about decluttering! …

Yes. I know this from my years of experience as a professional organizer, but this quote puts it so accurately:

“One’s abode is ultimately and inevitably an exercise in autobiography.”

- Mayer Rus, Architectural Digest writer

A month ago I posted two sentences author Suketu Mehta wrote at the end of his book on Bombay “Maximum City,” anticipating his return to the US:

“Surviving in a modern country involves dealing with an immense amount of paper. He who can stay on top of the paper wins.”

There it was - further validation of my career path buried in the last couple pages of a sweeping paean to Bombay, India (Maybe you know it as Mumbai.) Even with a few summer afternoons with reading as the only agenda item, it still took me 5 weeks to read Suketu Mehta’s book Maximum City, about his rediscovery of Bombay decades after having left for the United States as a child.

If I had a dime for every beautiful blank notebook I’ve found in my clients’ homes and offices……just WOW. Some blank notebook hoarders genuinely struggle with compulsive shopping in many life areas, and others just compulsively collect in this one area.

Professional Organizers’ inboxes are flooded these days with articles on Marie Kondo’s new Netflix show. All that I’ve read are glowing, and deservedly so, but one article a client texted to me this week suggested such an enticing layer to its popularity.