Clutter Support Group Forming in Kingwood (February 2012)

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Have you had a life long struggle with being organized?  Need support from a community of people who are equally overwhelmed?  Don’t know where to start? Looking for accountability and resources to help you live the life that truly want in life? Need an affordable organizing solution?  It’s time to get started and declutter your life!

Join Ellen Delap CPO® in February 2012 for Professional-Organizer.com’s  Clutter Support Group. This membership based group is the starting point for your journey in transforming your life, helping you define, establish and maintain an uncluttered lifestyle. 

Professional-Organizer.com’s Clutter Support Group is a four week, 1 ½ hour program where members support each other every week.  Members will work on individual projects, read along in the book The Other Side Of Organized, and discuss organizing solutions.  Fee is $100 for the sessions, book and related materials.  Register by January 25.  There is a limited membership.  For information and to register, call 281.360.3928 or visit www.professional-organizer.com.

ADDA-SR Conference Survive and Thrive with ADHD on February 17-18, 2012

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24th Annual Conference

Attention Deficit Disorders Association – Southern Region

Friday and Saturday – February 17 & 18, 2012

Sheraton North Houston Hotel – Houston, TX

 

This event is designed for parents, educators, adults with ADD and healthcare professionals. The general session speaker will be Thomas Matthews, M.D., with UT San Antonio covering updated trends in ADHD. Author Chris Dendy will present several sessions addressing teen issues. Thirty breakout sessions address wide variety of topics including behavior management, life skills, medication, educational law, related conditions and classroom strategies. Join me at the session Organizing Your ADD Family on Friday.  For further information call 281-897-0982, or visit www.adda-sr.org

Organizing Your Christmas Decorations

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The holidays have come and gone.   Getting organized for the holidays really depends on organizing your Christmas decorations the year before!  I wanted to share a few of my favorite products in organizing for after the holidays.  These are available at Target, WalMart, Container Store, Stacks and Stacks and more!

Take Back Your Life… By the Sea Galveston Weekend

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Take Back Your Life Now! … by the Sea!
A Weekend of Happiness and Positivity
Empower Women to Lead Healthy, Balanced and Organized Lives
Presented by Deborah Olson, M.A., LPC, Kingwood Counseling and Ellen Delap, CPO, Professional-Organizer.comTake Back Your Life Now! Women Empowering Women.

  • Discover your unique strengths and how these contribute to your happiness and resilience
  • Learn your organizing style
  • Enjoy sessions on wellness, photography, and fashion
  • Relax and rejuvenate at the spa, walking the beach and reflecting
  • Share and bond with engaging and energized women

Register Now:
Event: Take Back Your Life … By the Sea
Date: January 27-29, 2012
Location: San Luis Resort, 5222 Seawall Blvd, Galveston TX » SanLuis Resort, 5222 Seawall Blvd, Galveston TX.
Cost: $295.00
Includes: Fees include all workshop materials as well as breakfast and lunch Saturday, and breakfast Sunday.
Hotel Fees: $139 per night, single or double occupancy

REGISTER EARLY »
via email or call 281-360-3928

Registration deadline January 10, 2012

Address the Mess at University of Houston Small Business Development Center. January 19.

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Join us for Address the Mess! 

Join the UH SBDC as they team up with the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) to bring you an exciting and informative session on the latest ideas and solutions for organizing your business.  NAPO is a group of over 4,000 professional organizers dedicated to helping individuals and businesses bring order and efficiency to their lives. January is national GO – Get Organized month so make plans now to attend.  You will receive strategies for email productivity, must-have guidelines for organizing your business finances, and secrets for organizing and preparing your desk and workspace for immediate impact.

NAPO speakers include:

Holly Uverity, CPO®, Office Organizers – The Entrepreneur’s Organizer™

Ellen R. Delap, CPO®, Professional-Organizer.com

Gayle Goddard, The Clutter Fairy

Breakfast included.

Institute for Challenging Disorganization Conference and Motivational Interviewing

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Learning is important to me.  I love to learn, especially tools I can use in my work with my clients.  This year at the Institute for Challenging Disorganization Conference, I learned more about Motivational Interviewing. 

What is motivational interviewing?  It is helping a client resolve ambivalences in their life by supporting change with authentic resources. So what does this mean?  Through motivational interviewing, my clients can talk through a challenge and find a possible solution.  It is ” a person centered form of guiding to elicit and strengthen motivation for change.”  It is basically a guided way to talk through a challenge that the client has decided needs to be changed. 

How will this help my clients?  In finding additional tools in our work together, my clients will be using their own voices to resolve organizational, motivational, time management and paper management issues. This tool will be in addition to coaching and bringing resources to them.  We can create our own solutions with a partner guiding us and coaching us through the questions we have, as well as adding insights and resources from time to time.  In listening and reflecting back to clients, they are finding answers.  In addition to coaching, this client centered approach is a great fit for the clients I work with and helps us work together to establish their vision of organized!

Thanks to Cathy Cole (www.cathycoletraining.com) for instructing us at the ICD conference!

Small Ways to Make A Difference this Holiday Season

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It is so easy to get caught up in the blitz of the holidays.  How easy it is to overlook the ways we can make a difference for others.  Here are a few small ways to make a difference this season.

Star of Hope Mission          http://www.sohmission.org/NetCommunity//

FamilyTime                            http://www.familytimeccc.org/

Humble Area Assistance  http://www.haamministries.org/

Drop some change in the Salvation Army bucket.

Drop off a toy for Toys for Tots at ToysRUs.

Gather your kids and donate your used toys to thrift shops in our community.

What are your favorite ways to make a small difference? 

Cut the morning chaos

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Morning time can be crazy time! Add in kids, timelines, a little extra traffic, and it can be a rough start to the day.

  • Do as much as you can the night before, including packing up your purse, kids backpacks, and stuff in the car.
  • Get a great night’s rest with an earlier bedtime.  Moms and Dads need bedtimes too!
  • As the mom or dad, get up 30 minutes earlier than your kids. You are getting yourself together ahead of getting everyone else up.
  • Simplify breakfast with smoothies, ready made microwave foods or cereal to go in a cup.
  • Create a happy sound track to the morning with great music.
  • Keep a simple routine with simple steps for the morning.
  • Get everyone out the door with a hug!

Take Back Your Life… by the Sea (Houston, Galveston, and Southeast Texas)

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A Weekend of Happiness and Positivity

January 27 – 29, 2012

Empower Women to Lead Healthy, Balanced and Organized Lives

Presented by Deborah Olson, M.A., LPC, Kingwood Counseling and

Ellen Delap, CPO, Professional-Organizer.com

•Discover your unique strengths and how these contribute to your happiness and resilience

•Learn your organizing style

•Enjoy sessions on wellness, photography, and fashion

•Relax and rejuvenate at the spa, walking the beach and reflecting

•Share and bond with engaging and energized women

Location: San Luis Resort, 5222 Seawall Blvd, Galveston

Cost:         

Workshop fees $295.00 including materials as well as breakfast and lunch Saturday, and breakfast Sunday.

Hotel fees $139 per night, single or double occupancy

Register early by email or call 281-358-2030

Registration deadline January 10, 2012

Last minute holiday organizing

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Thanksgiving is here! And so are your guests! Just take a few minutes to do a little last minute organizing.

  • Keep it simple sweetie.  Set a plan in motion and stick with it, whether it is one type of dressing or how you fix the turkey. Last minute changes are what make us crazy. So make a simple plan and stay on course.
  • Room by room 30 minute decluttering can make a difference. It is a little like sweeping the dust under the carpet, but sometimes all that is needed is a quick once over on clutter. Be sure to have your family redistribute items that are in the wrong rooms.  Gather your paper together, place it in your home office and set a date to do paper triage next week.
  • Freshen up your home with seasonal touches purchased at your grocery store.  Fresh flowers, miniature pumpkins and scented candles add warmth to your home.
  • Delegate to friends and family. Everyone wants to share and contribute. Be sure to share responsibilities with those at your holiday gathering.  If no one offers, a polite invitation to help includes everyone.   Get help with dinner from your local grocery, Sams, Costco or other source.  Order your turkey and have everyone bring a side dish.  There are many ways to delegate. 
  • Remember your holiday is about people and connections, not perfection.  Enjoying your gathering is the most important part!  Take a few minutes to write down 5 things you are grateful for this holiday. It will remain with you longer.