Marilyn Bohn | Creative Organizer

We have had the most delightful time in Washington State. We went to the further most part on the Western coast of the United States at Cape Flattery. It was a beautiful, easy hike through the rain forest. There were gnarled old roots protruding from the mud, well placed circles in the trail hand made from large trees, beautiful flora and fauna everywhere. A light misty rain was falling which was such a lovely relief from the 102 degree weather we had come from.

It is the Makah Indian nation’s land. We were grateful to them for allowing us to walk through their forest. As we came out of the trees from the wooden board walk it was a stunning scene before us of rock out-croppings in the water, fog in the distance, the sound of birds and beautiful majesty.

At another lookout we admired the lighthouse out on an island, a rocky area in the water and birds swooping into caves. There were gorgeous orange and purple star fish far below us. A man came along who offered us the use of his binoculars. What a difference it made in what we saw. On the rock area were about 14 seals sunning themselves and we could see the nests of the birds entering the caves. The starfish took on shape and we saw so many more than with just our eyes.

By organizing our homes we can get a different perspective from someone else’s eyes, ideas and experience just as we did by looking through binoculars. Do you feel you need hope or a new lease on life by de-cluttering and organizing your home or office? As a professional home and office organizer that is what people tell me I do for them in their lives. What a great reward it is to be able to sort through and help others realize their goals so they can be more successful.

As a professional home and office organizer one of the things I do is to provide over the top, excellent customer service to every one of my clients. It is too bad not every company is the same.

I am so sorry to report a bad experience I recently had with Comcast. They have been my carrier for internet, phone and basic cable T.V. for years. Recently I had a problem with them; we were treated very badly and it cost us so much time, effort and money we are changing carriers, hoping in the future when we need service there is a company out there that can and will deliver.

It started about 7:30 a.m. Monday July first when our phone wouldn’t work. At 7:45 I called Comcast and was told they could have it fixed within 44 HOURS. I asked if they had to come out to our home and was told no, they would take care of it in their office. HUM I was asked for an alternate phone number so I gave them my work number.

Then the internet went down and my daughter who does a lot of her business work on the internet, as do I called Comcast at 8:10 a.m. and was told they would have a repair person here before 5:00 p.m. the same day. What a difference between 44 hours and today. (Or so I thought). All communication was all done by using our cell phones. Before it was all said and done I used 2 hours of my minutes and she had used close to 2 hours of her minutes. Consequently for her she couldn’t use her phone for a third of the month as she ran out of minutes. (That is, without considerable added cost to her all because of Comcast).

(I have to say when she called T Mobil, her cell phone carrier; they were excellent and actually added minutes without being asked). KUDOS to T Mobil from this household.

Back to Comcast and their horrible customer service: At 5:30 p.m. that same evening Comcast had not been to our house to fix the problem of the phone and internet. I called them to learn Comcast had cancelled the repair order because they couldn’t reach us by phone. I was stunned. What part of “we are calling you because our phone doesn’t work don’t you understand?” And besides I had given the first person I spoke with an alternative phone number.

There was nothing they could do because the department who makes repair appointments was closed by this time. So the next day I am eating my cell phone minutes and precious time trying to make an appointment. But they were all booked up and would not come to the house even though they were the ones who had made the error of cancelling the repair order.

The supervisor we ended up talking to by the name of Tony (I wish I knew more than that) was super rude. He knew we were on a cell phone and he kept saying, “I can’t hear you”. The connection was very good and my daughter kept repeating everything until she realized he was just being rude and extremely disrespectful. She told him she could hear him very well and to stop pretending the connection was bad. At that point he did.

There are other carriers out there for the phone and internet and we will certainly be using one. Oh, one other thing, by asking over an over Tony agreed to credit our account with a measly $25.00 for the minutes we used on our cell phones, the inconvenience, not to mention the plethora of hours we spent in worthless conversations with their customer (I won’t say service) department.

The repairman when we got one out here was excellent.

We had so much fun just after the 4th of July. We went to the Young Living Lavender festival outside Mona Utah. We said we weren’t going to tell anyone about it as we don’t want it to get so large it won’t be fun. But here I go.

It was beautifully organized. From the time we walked in the front gate where we got our lavender wrist bracelet until we left, everything was wonderful. Because it was organized our experience was memorable, peaceful, and a great experience to remember.

On one day we walked in the run/walk race through the lavender fields. There are beautiful acres and acres of lavender we walked/jogged through and we stopped and took pictures of the fields, of us and anything else that caught our eye. When we were jogging near the freeway (which is in the middle of nowhere so it is not as bad as it sounds) people would honk and we would wave. The sun was peeping up over the mountain top and it felt peaceful and mind clearing.

They were generous people who host the festival at the Young Living farm. It was extremely hot and they didn’t gouge us in the price of water, the vendors were varied and interesting as well as friendly. There was a stadium built for jousting and the jousters came from all over the U.S. and Ecuador to compete. There is a medieval village, puppet shows, magic shows, a wild west shoot out and much more.

It was a great experience largely because of the planning and organization that went into an event such as this. In our homes we can realize a pleasant, happy, enjoyable place to be for ourselves and others by organizing our rooms and office. It can be broken down into small projects just as it was at this festival. It is too overwhelming to do anything all at once, doing one thing at a time is all we need to do to have an organized home and office.

Do you ever think you need to thin your house down? My friend the other night said she thinks her house needs to go on a diet.

In the kitchen there is probably a table, but it hasn’t been seen for awhile because of all the mail and other paper work that is just left here. She is sure a kitchen counter came with the house. But with all the clutter and stuff it too has been buried.

The bedroom is the catch-all of the entire place. Before going to bed either the clean laundry has to be thrown on the floor or it has to be folded right then. Socks are living under the bed. Dirty clothes are in every corner.

She is embarrassed whenever anyone comes over because there is no place to sit down in the living room. Things and clutter are everywhere. I recommend as a professional home and office organizer that steps be taken to put that house on a diet and get rid of the unnecessary clutter, find homes for what needs to stay and get rid of the rest. It will be hard as diets are hard, but what great rewards await us who put our homes on a well needed diet. The feeling of peace, light and order out weigh any other feeling we may have about de cluttering. Good luck to you and your house.

Sea glass is a beautiful opaque glass. It is usually in small pieces that comes from some bottle or other piece of glass that has been thrown away and has broken in the ocean. It is then tossed about by the tides and storms at sea. Some of it eventually ends up on sea shores in different parts of the world. Not all beaches have sea glass.

It is opaque and comes in pink, brown, aqua, green, white and blue to name just a few of the colors. When we were in Fiji my daughter hoped to find some as her friend collects it and she wanted to take some back to her. It was so pretty she started to also collect for herself.

And I got in the spirit and found some pretty dark green aqua and light aqua as well as white pieces. I kept 5 pieces which I have in a sea shell in the bathroom. My daughter has a jar of the beautiful glass.

I got to thinking as a professional home and office organizer is this the way we do with our possessions? We find beautiful or interesting things to bring into our home, such as clothes, nick knacks, dishes, magazines and more and we become overwhelmed as we keep collecting and never let anything go until it is no longer a place of beauty and our possessions have taken over.

The sea glass is contained in a small jar and in a small sea shell. It has not grown as do things we buy and collect. It remains a great souvenir of our trip, it is beautiful and does not stress us as we don’t have too much of a good thing. Things can become too much of a good thing. They can take over our lives and weigh us down. Or we can stop the increase of clutter by choosing to make our lives happier and simpler.

Pencils aren’t hexagonal because it made them easier to grip. They were originally cut that shape to keep them from rolling off tables. I think they need to go back to making them that way.

A pig is considered one of the most intelligent animals. It is placed ten (10) on a list which puts the chimpanzee first, the gorilla second, the orangutan third, the dolphin eighth, and the elephant ninth.

I am not sure how these facts have anything to do with being a professional home and office organizer. I just thought they were interesting.

Let me just give a tip out of the blue. When you are at a recurring appointment (for example, a haircut), make your next appointment before you leave. This saves a phone call later and ensures you get an appointment at a day and time convenient for you. I hope you all are using a planner that you can carry with you. They save time and energy.

I had to laugh the other day. My youngest daughter in Washington State called and said I am a bad influence on her. Being bad in this case is a good thing. She said when she tells people her mom is a professional home and office organizer they think they will expect her to have organized closets and drawers too. Because she thinks this she had just cleaned out and organized her work space (she telecommutes) and all her closets.

Wow, I am glad my influence is of the good kind. Then yesterday my oldest daughter came to me and said I was rubbing off on her. She had just spent three hours organizing her magazines and closet. If I had buttons they would be popping I am so proud of them.

And I am proud of you all who are working on being organized so you can feel good about yourself, find where you put things and just have an inner peace being organized brings.

As I was walking one morning, I noticed a neighbor had a beautiful apricot tree heavily laden with fruit. Later I asked her if I could come and pick some. She said she would be happy for me to come and pick. I remember when my mother would bottle apricots every summer. And I did for a few years until I realized no one in my family would eat them. Canning seems to be a dieing art. Another friend who used to bottle fruit and jam said she gave away all her bottles in case she would ever be tempted to bottle fruit again.

Do you have things in your home that you have inherited and you have no place to put them and no intention to display them or have any use for the items? As a professional home and office organizer I see this all the time. Sometimes people take a photo and then get rid of the item. It is always nice when there is someone else in the family or who the person was close to they can give things to. Of if they have no sentimental value, they can be sold. If it is just too hard to get rid of the inherited things, then put them in sturdy plastic boxes, label them and store out of the closets and other places that are always being used for your own things.

There are things we just can’t get rid of and that is O.K., they just don’t have to be taking up space where we work, live and play. Keep them safe and sound, just not in the middle of your current living space. Find a home for them and let them live there. They will be happy and so will you. (Actually the things won’t care, but you do).

Preparation for the Model T’s production brought Ford so close to bankruptcy that he had to borrow $100 from a colleague’s sister to pay for the car’s launch. That $100 was eventually worth $260,000 to the generous donor. The first “Lizzie” rolled of the line in 1908, with a four-cylinder, 20 horse-power engine capable of speeds of 40 miles per hour. It cost $850.

Mass production innovations continued to lower the price of the Lizzie. In 1916, a new Model T sold for just $360. Each vehicle finished its turn around the assembly line in just 980 minutes, compared to the earlier day and a half assembly line run.

Wow, can you imagine cars going down in price now days? It happens all the time with new products, when DVD players first came out they were in the hundreds’, now they can be purchased for under $100. The same goes for microwaves, computers and hundreds of other products.

When I work in homes or offices as a professional home and office organizer I look for ways to cut costs and improve productivity with those I am working with. These can be easy techniques or perhaps doing something totally radical that works and makes that person happier and more centered and focused. It can be as simple as tossing pens that don’t work, sharpening pencils or organizing work spaces to be more convenient and accessible to those using the space. Always consider what is best for the person using that space and how will this help them in their lives whether at work or at home.

Someone asked me to work on Wednesday and I pointed out that it is the 4th. They said, “It is Wednesday”. I then said It is THE 4th of July. To me this is an important date to be with my family, watch fireworks, and celebrate what a great life we have here in America, even with all our problems.

I love being a professional home and office organizer, but I am taking this day off to watch fireworks, a parade and doing little of nothing.

Happy 4th of July to you, your family and friends!!