When I got my first apartment after I finished graduate school, I learned an important lesson about the power of habits. Several times during the first few weeks, I left my apartment and started my 3-block walk to the subway, only to stop in fear that I had not locked my door. I would return to the apartment and discover that I had indeed locked the door — I just couldn’t remember doing it. Eventually, I trusted that if I left…
Read more →I was intrigued by a book review in the weekly magazine The Economist, since the book in question delivers the same message that I have been telling my clients: spend your money on experiences, not things. According to “Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending”, by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, behavioral research indicates that the excitement brought on by material purchases wears off quickly. A much better strategy, the review states, is “to spend money on experiences, like interesting trips, unique meals, or even going…
Read more →I’ve always loved these lyrics from the musical The King and I, which Anna sings in the introduction to the song Getting to Know You: It’s a very ancient saying But a true and honest thought That when you become a teacher, By your pupils you’ll be taught. As a Professional Organizer for the last seven years, I can vouch for this. Although clients hire me to teach them how to live their lives in a more organized fashion, I frequently…
Read more →I’ve just returned from a 2-week vacation with my husband and teenage daughter. Well, it was sort of a vacation. My husband had some business trips to take, so we built a vacation around them. And we decided that as long as we were traveling, we might as well start doing college visits. So it was a rather hectic vacation, with a lot more early morning wakeups than I’d like. But it was still great to be away as a family…
Read more →Here’s a pop quiz. Let’s say you are searching the top of your closet for an item that you have stored there. Which of these bins will make it easier for you to find what you are looking for? The opaque bin on the left, or the clear bin on the right?
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