Archive for ‘Professional Organizing’ Category

Paper Doll Carries On About Everyday Carry: What’s In Your Bag?

Posted on: March 14th, 2022 by Julie Bestry | 18 Comments

Are you familiar with Everyday Carry? Yes, it sounds more like a branding title for a line of messenger bags than an entire movement that ranges from “the things you schlep each day” to a massive platform for self-identification. But it is both the latter and, to a less dangerous degree than some political affiliations, very much the former.

WHAT IS EVERYDAY CARRY (EDC)?

When I first heard of the term “everyday carry” about a decade ago, I was reading Kevin Kelly’s superb Cool Tools blog. The blog is really aptly named, as it’s a smörgasbord of, well, really cool — and usually inexpensive — tools for solving life’s problems. It’s like having a circle of really resourceful friends writing about their latest finds. 

I’d happened upon the blog via one or another random newsletters that had mentioned Kelly’s “What’s In My Bag?” section of his blog, which often hinged on average people (or possibly semi-famous people I didn’t recognize) talking about their organizing-related products and systems.

The above term “bag” should be taken loosely. For example, a recent post by writer and photographer Nicole Harkin answered, “What’s In My Drawer,”  with a variety of oddities in her kitchen drawer. Sometimes, the bag is a larger space, like Chris Askwith’s “What’s In My Workshop?” 

And another subset of the kinds of cool tools list appearing on the blog would be “everday carry” pocket tools: small pens, tiny versions of flashlights, pocket knives, itty-bitty compasses and levels, pry bars, battery chargers, multitools, carabiners, S-biners, miniature lighters, and all manner of things that good scouts might carry to be prepared.

It seemed quaint when I first noticed these occasional posts, but the more I surfed the “technology bro” corners of the web over the years (as productivity and technology realms often overlap), the closer a look I got at some of the trends in this area. 

A tech friend who spends a lot of time on his bike told me that outdoorsy types (already, a category of human unlikely to cross paths with indoorsy Paper Doll) who biked, hiked, camped, and did similar activities where bugs and crawling/biting things live, tended to hang out in online forums to talk about the stuff they “carried” daily.

As in, things they carried every day when they were taking the subway or getting cake in the break room or flying to conferences in Pittsburgh or Dubuque, generally indoors, where they had no need to start life-saving fires, send an SOS, or rig a floatation device out of their cargo pants!

In the summer of 2019, before the pandemic meant that we were all at home and didn’t need to carry anything a greater distance than from the couch to the kitchen, Vox‘s Stephen T. Wright (not to be confused with the comedian Stephen Wright, who would likely have a bizarre field day with the topic) wrote, Meet the Men Obsessed with Carrying All the Right Stuff. 

For some people, EDC (as those in the know apparently call it) is all about being prepared for any and every eventuality, in a scoutmaster-approved manner. But for others, it can become a realm of competition; instead of buying the fanciest car or the newest phone, some folks seek out the teeniest, weeniest “thing” that can do the most stuff. Hence, for example, all the different types of multitools.

I’ll leave you to the Vox article to explore the EDC subcultures, which tends to be predominantly male, knife-heavy, and painted in black or camouflage-adjacent colors; less often, they are miniaturized and as geeky as possible. In some corners of the web, GQ-friendly stylings are also popular. If you want to explore the concept, you can visit:

 


 

WHAT’S MISSING FROM THE EDC ARENA?

Over the past decade, I’ve seen the references to everyday carry expand to the point that many of the design and technology blogs and accounts I read have regular everyday carry features. What do they all have in common? I note three things:

  1. A focus on tiny metal objects
  2. A focus on efficiency and preparedness at all costs
  3. A focus on the needs (and wants) of dudes

Before you tell me that women need the same things on a daily basis as men, I’ll stop you. All of us who grew up on 1970s television shows, boys and girls, expected that at some point we’d have to save ourselves from quicksand. We were prepared equally. But for the reality of our modern lives? 

Yes, men and women have similar survival needs for making it through a day of hiking or white water rafting. But a day in the workplace? A walk through a parking garage at night? Not so much.

How many men do you know who carry pepper spray, a rape whistle, or one of those doohickeys where you pull out a tab and a horrendous, high-pitched alarm goes off? 

When you look around, whom do you generally see carrying diaper bags? Who is blowing the noses of tiny humans with their inexhaustible supply of tissues? Who is prepared for rest rooms that have no soap or toilet paper? 

Who is carrying the aspirin and tummy meds, the bandaids, the emery boards (for snagged nails), the extra masks, not just for ourselves, but because they’re are more likely to be the guardians of not only their own kids, but their kids’ friends and even random strangers?

The not-dudes.

My point isn’t that the male-centric EDC communities are bad, just that the competitive, posturing nature of some sub-groups can be a bit silly.

Preparedness is good. There just don’t seem to be many communities where the people coming together to talk about women’s EDC needs are discussed.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t resources. I’ve gathered some EDC articles written especially for women. These pieces have great tips for hiding your cash (in places dude-thieves are definitely not going to look), dealing with hygiene emergencies, and protecting personal safety, as well as coping with the universal 21st-century problems like a dead phone battery or the need for an itty-bitty flashlight.

Primal Survivor’s Women’s EDC Checklist: 17 Survival Items to Carry Every Day

Pew Pew Tactical’s Best Everyday Carry (EDC) Items List For Women

Tactical.com’s EDC Gear Women Should Never Leave Home Without

Everyday Carry Experts’ These EDC Items Should Be In Any Woman’s Purse

WHAT ABOUT THE EVERYDAY EVERYDAY CARRY?

So, let’s move beyond the emergent and urgent needs of so-called everyday carry. What about the plain old quotidian things we actually need to carry?

I’ll be honest, I can’t figure out why Paper Mommy‘s purse is so heavy. She’s been searching for the perfect purse since the Eisenhower administration, and I’ve accompanied her on a variety of purse-shopping adventures, so I know her requirements for inside and outside zippered compartments, pockets, and divided sections. What I can’t figure out is why it weighs more than my friend’s toddler (when he’s wearing a full-on snowsuit and boots).

Baggallini Cross-Body Bag

(After this Baggalini cross-body purse got me through two weeks in Italy, I realized that it was the ideal bag for everyday living. BTW, to nobody’s surprise, Paper Mommy picked it out.) 

My own personal everyday carry is probably typical for a woman sans tiny humans, and doesn’t involve most of the things recommended in the articles above. I keep my phone charged, trust my car charger, and have my AAA card in my wallet and the app on my phone. 

I probably can’t MacGyver much, but with the exception of the time Paper Mommy dropped her keys down the elevator shaft and we had to call upon the ingenuity of someone with rare Earth magnets and an approximation of a fishing pole, I’ve rarely needed much more to survive a typical day than the items in my purse, catalogued just now as:

  • Cell phone
  • Wallet
  • Keys
  • Business card case
  • Compact (e.g., face powder, for the younger readers)
  • 2 lipsticks
  • Eyeglass case
  • Hair scrunchie
  • KN95 mask
  • Stack of Starbucks gift cards (because people keep giving them to me as gifts and I almost never go there, so I give them to unhoused persons when it seems someone could really use a hot beverage or a meal)
  • Individually-packaged antibacterial hand wipes (which I carried pre-pandemic) 
  • Tiny satin cosmetic bag for corralling hand sanitizer (and ensuring it doesn’t leak into my purse), ear buds for my phone, half a stack of pink Post-it® Notes, and a pen (so I don’t have to touch the pen at the reception desk in the doctor’s office or when signing a credit card slip).

My purse is a fairly light, but I’m no minimalist. I check a bag for every flight, and plan multiple outfits of every day of any vacation. When I was younger, I tried going out with just an ATM card and driver’s license tucked into my business card case, a lipstick in my pocket, and keys on a coiled bracelet. I felt naked.

WHAT ABOUT A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER’S EVERYDAY CARRY?

Ah, now there you’ve got me. My everyday carry for my in-person work with clients is a masterwork of precision. It’s the perfect combination of bag and contents.

When I first read Geralin Thomas‘ post ZÜCA Takes The Lug Out of Luggage, I was intrigued by her dazzling review ZÜCA‘s products. (Rolling suitcases with drawers and a built-in seat? Sign me up!)

The next time I saw Geralin, she was stopping traffic at the NAPO conference expo with her gorgeous ZÜCA Business Backpack.

Within weeks, I owned one too, and it looks and works pretty much as it did 13 years ago. If anything (heaven forbid) ever happened to it, I’d get another one exactly like it without a second thought.

So, what makes the ZÜCA Business Backback so nifty as an everyday carry (for all my EDC essentials)?

 

A lower-front zipped portion that, once unzipped, opens toward the user, like a glove compartment or an oven door.  It’s suitable for small gadgets, but ideal for hardcover or paperback books you’ve selected to read on the plane or train. It’s also the perfect size and shape to stow your ticket, itinerary and other travel documents.

For my everyday carry, it’s stocked with my ancient Brother P-Touch PT-65 label-maker (20 years old and it keeps on ticking, but nowadays you’d want the PTD210) and some 12mm black-on-white label maker tape.

That compartment usually holds index cards and sticky notes for helping temporarily label client’s sorted paper piles, a small toiletry kit with a toothbrush, mini-toothpaste, and other hygiene tiems, and my Anker PowerCore5000 Portable Charger. 

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It’s about the size of a HoHo or Twinkie, comes in it’s own carrying case, and can charge my phone, tablet, or anything USB-ish. (Yes, one of these days, I’ll have to replace it with a USB-C charger, but today is not that day.) There’s usually a Nature Valley protein bar hidden away in there, as well. Organizing is hungry-making work!

Two side zipped compartments on the left (as you’re looking at at the bag; you can see the zippers in the first ZÜCA photo above) are ideal for multiple uses. For me, the lower, square compartment holds measuring tape, a mini-stapler and staple remover, paper clips, and other paper-specific organizing tools.

The upper compartment is cut on the diagonal. I used to use it for electronic cords and cables (now made unnecessary due to Bluetooth) so it houses my diabetes glucose meter, ensuring quick and easy access.

A right side “door” panel opens revealing oodles of space. The outer side has a mesh pocket suitable for a mini-umbrella or a bottle of water. The interior has two mesh compartments and is padded so you could use it for office essentials or for items that need a bit more TLC, like a stash of thumb drives or an external hard drive.

 

The side “wall” of the backpack, exposed by the opening of the “door” has compartments for pens as well as credit, loyalty, and identification cards. There’s a detachable keychain, so you never have to worry about losing keys in the dark recesses of the bag.

The interior is cordoned off into sections.  From back to front, it has:

  • A padded laptop sleeve—Suitable for a laptop or table, this section measures 10″ x 14″ x 2″ and is positioned firmly along the rear of the backback, so you’ve got no lumps or bumps against your spine. The padded sleeve also has a Velcro closure, so even if you stand on your head (or your backpack takes a tumble from the passenger seat to the floorboard of the car), your laptop should stay securely in place. I use this section for my iPad and Bluetooth keyboard, which is great when I’m helping clients organize documents in the cloud.
  • A zippered mesh compartment on the front of the padded laptop sleeve, is a great way to hide away small documents like a passport or receipts. I use it for when clients give me “precious” items to research, like ancient photos or recently, a 1959 junior prom dance card!
  • The middle interior portion is surprisingly wide enough to hold file folders “sideways,” as if they were within hanging folders. While I generally carry folders vertically in the backpack, it’s nice to have flexibility.
  • There are padded sections attached to the interior front wall of the pack. While the width of these sections does not accommodate files in the normal fashion, they can easily be turned upright. They are also the perfect size to securely hold catalogs, magazines, legal pads, notebooks, and any other papers required by a mobile professional. I use the sections for my 7-ring Emily Ley paper daily planner (yes, I’m retro!),
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my tickler file,

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 and my purple (they call it “orchid”) Roaring Spring legal pads.

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The ZÜCA Business Backpack is light and comfortable enough for everyday carry. It has padded shoulder straps as well as padded sections on the reverse for shoulder blade and ribcage comfort.

I’m a fan of the lean architecture and flat bottom, so that no matter how much it’s stuffed, it won’t fall over. If you’re planning on using it for travel, note that there’s a hard handle for carrying it (like a bucket of water) and horizontal straps to attach it to a rolling bag’s telescoped handle.

Obviously, this is the perfect everyday carry for me, a professional organizer who focuses on client’s paper and information. I will admit, I used to carry one nifty tool, a girly, purple, flowered hammer with lots of miniature screwdrivers nested in the handle (similar to this one).

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However, when I reported for Grand Jury Duty, the courthouse guards deemed it a weapon and told me I could either return it to the car or toss it in their trash. It was over 95° that day and I was parked seven blocks from the courthouse. You do the math. I’ve yet to replace it. That was more than five years ago, and I haven’t needed it. Nor have I needed a multi-tool, pocket knife, pry bar, or miniature lighter. But my iPhone does have flashlight, compass, and level apps, and thus far, that’s been plenty.

While I work with all sorts of residential, home office, and business clients, I’m not doing packing for relocations or installing shelving units, as some of my other colleagues might do. For the best everyday carry options for that kind of work, you’ll want to visit the March Productivity and Organizing Blog Carnival, which will go live on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

Do you have anything surprising in your everyday carry? What’s in your bag (or cargo pockets) that you can’t live without?

A Professional Organizer’s Take on National Library Card Sign-up Month

Posted on: September 27th, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 18 Comments

September is National Library Card Sign-up Month, and I want to make the case that library cards are your passport to a better and more organized life.

WHY PAPER DOLL LOVES LIBRARIES

I love libraries. My first real job, from my sixteenth birthday until I left for college, was as a page at the Clearfield Branch of the Erie County (New York) Public Library. My job involved helping patrons find books (back when we had paper card catalogs and no computers) and checking books out (back when the system involved using an overhead camera to take a photo of someone’s paper library card and the “borrow” card for the book).

However, the bulk of my job involved shelving books and “reading” shelves. The latter involved starting at the beginning of a section (for example, non-fiction) and making sure each book belonged after the one before it and before the one after it, per the Library of Congress classification system. I often think that this was the ideal training to become a professional organizer.

Back then, local public libraries had relatively few types of holdings: books, maps, record albums, and a truly dinky collection of audio cassettes. Libraries have come a long way, baby!

I marvel at systems I learned then, which I now use professionally, like organizing toddler books in dishpans, with book covers facing outward (record store-style) so that little hands can flip each book forward or backward without destroying a bookshelf. Because toddlers can’t read, they have no use for the spines of books, but a series of dishpans (filled with vertically arrayed, face-out books) allows tiny humans to recognize and access their favorite titles.

 

I have seen many beautiful libraries in cities all over the world, but my favorite is the A.D. White Library at my alma mater, Cornell University.

For most of history, libraries were closely guarded bastions of knowledge, and access was limited to those whose religious, academic, or financial positions allowed them to be considered worthy, but few libraries of significance were truly open to the public. In general, most libraries were subscription-based, where one paid for access, similar to how we use Netflix and Audible these days.

And even though public libraries had to close their doors to the public for much of the first year of the COVID pandemic, they did not turn their backs on their patrons. Most libraries offered curbside pickup; you could reserve your books online and then call (or, if your library was really fancy, use an app) to alert the staff of which pick-up parking space you were using, and diligent, masked librarians would verify your card, check you out over the phone, and deliver your “borrows” to your car’s trunk or hatchback. Most libraries also continued to offer programming for students, seniors, and other constituencies virtually.

To my mind, one of the greatest benefits of modern society is access to tax-supported public library systems. I consider my library card, my voter registration card, and my driver’s license as three keys to my sense of freedom (of intellect, of democracy, and the ability to work, play, and have an empowered life).

I consider my library card, my voter registration card, and my driver's license as three keys to my sense of freedom (of intellect, of democracy, and the ability to work, play, and have an empowered life). Share on X

But that’s me. You’re probably wondering why you should care about libraries, and more importantly, what this has to do with organzing.

WHAT CAN A LIBRARY CARD OFFER YOU?

So, what magical powers does your library card bestow? Your library card, what bibliophiles and library peeps like to call “the smartest card in your wallet,” grants access to a vast array of offerings.

Items to borrow

Although some special collections and reference materials can only be read in-house, the majority of tangible items at libraries circulate. This means they can be borrowed and taken home for at least a week, and sometimes up to a month, including:

  • Printed materials (and no, it’s not just books and magazines anymore, though libraries still have huge collections of those):
    • print books (including large-print books for the visually impaired)
    • audio books
    • books on CD
    • books in Braille
    • magazines
    • trade journals
    • graphic novels/comic books
    • sheet music

You can reserve materials that are currently out (or at another branch). In most cases, if your library is able to send you a digital notification of a reserved item’s availability, there will be no charge; for older libraries still using postcard systems, your reservation may be about the cost of a postage stamp.

Also, your library is likely to be a member of one or more systems through which you can request an interlibrary loan. That means that even if your library system doesn’t have a resource you want or need, you should be able to have them request it from a different system, possibly even across the country! (See? Libraries are cool!)

  • Electronic entertainment and educational materials
    • vinyl phonograph/record albums (though these are often in library system archives, the hipster appeal of vinyl has librarians bringing these out for display)
    • CDs (whether music, language CDs, or books on CD)
    • DVDs (including movies, courses, exercise, and how-to videos
  • Digital materials — Your library likely gives you access to a variety of digital downloadable services through the web or a free app. So, whether you want to satisfy your insatiable desire for mystery audiobooks while you’re getting your 10,000 steps a day or suddenly need to borrow a stress-reduction video while you’re stuck in the airport when your flight is delayed, all you need is your library card number, digital device, and some decent WiFi. Not all libraries have the same services, though these seem to be the most widespread:
    • OverDrive offers an absolutely massive collection of premium audiobooks, ebooks, and music that can be downloaded to your smartphone, Kindle, tablet, or computer via your browser or the Libby app. 
    • Hoopla has collections of thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, graphic novels/comic books, movies, television shows, and music. You can download content to your device or stream it, and it works with computers, tablets, and phones. (Personal note: I downloaded Frommer’s and Fodor’s guidebooks to Italy and the UK to use when traveling, and it was amazing to have thousand-page guidebooks at the ready with no extra schlepping.)
    • Kanopy-affiliated library patrons can download or stream a wide variety of movies, including modern flicks, documentaries, foreign films, classic cinema, independent films, and educational videos.
    • Less common library offerings include AcornTV (classic and modern UK television shows and movies), IndieFlix (part of the library-friendly RB Media offerings) for independent films, and other services.

As with print resources, you can usually put ebooks and audiobooks on hold if there isn’t an immediate availability. You might be wondering why, if it’s digital, there’s not endless access. That’s because libraries purchase licenses to electronic media, much the same way you purchase an individual ebook or audiobook. Buying a license for each copy of a digital work ensures (or at least tries to ensure) that authors and creators get their fair share.

  • Digital educational platforms — While every library has different offerings, there are some particularly common and popular ones, including:
    • LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) normally requires a paid LinkedIn membership, but if you’ve got a library card at a system associated with LinkedIn Learning, you won’t have to pony up any money for the technology and creative courses offered for current and aspiring professionals. Learn a language, gain computer skills, or study project management or leadership development, all from your digital device.
    • Infobase has collections of how-to and documentary programming, newsreels and archival films, speciality educational films in business and economics, social sciences, arts and humanities, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and health and wellness. Infobase also has career skill resources for creating resumes, interviewing, and finding jobs.
    • Language education  — While my library system uses Transparent Language, your public library may offer Mango, Rosetta Stone, or any of a variety of other platforms to help you separate your Ciao from your Shalom.
    • Academic and career preparation resources — My library system uses the Peterson’s prep materials for standardized tests and college and career searches. You may have access to other resources for the high schoolers and job searchers in your life.
    • Database Access — Public libraries subscribe to an amazing array of financial, medical, legal, and other databases (including LexisNexis, PsychInfo, EBSCO — even the Chilton Auto Repair Database!) which are made available to patrons. 
    • Genealogical support — I don’t know much about genealogical research. (That’s why I wrote Paper Doll Interviews the Genealogy Organizers.) But libraries have everything from maps and directories to digital access to resources like Ancestry.com’s Library Edition and state archives.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Just a sampling of some of the other things you may be able to borrow from your public library system, either for circulation or in-library use, include:

  • Museum passes — Call ahead to see what museum passes your library maintains and ascertain whether you’ll need to make reservations to borrow them.
  • Eclipse glasses — During the last solar eclipse on August 21, 2017, I was surprised to find that my library had arranged for loans of eclipses glasses. The next solar eclipse visible in North America will be April 8, 2024, so check with your library well before then to make sure you put a hold on yours!
  • Board games
  • Classic games, like chess, checkers and backgammon
  • Computer and video games
  • Video game controllers
  • Headphones — Because it’s easy to forget your ear buds before an impromptu library trip and nobody wants to wear borrowed ear buds (ew), so go old-school with the over-the-ear kind.
  • Tools — Over the last few decades, more and more public library systems have started a lending library of tools, ranging from socket wrench sets to power sanders, saws to stud finders, cordless drills to hedge trimmers. Take a peek at the visual tool catalog of what I can borrow from the downtown branch of my library. 

Free (and almost free) library services

Computer Access — Almost all public libraries offer computer access for free; you’ll only pay for pages you choose to print.

Wi-Fi and Wired Internet Access — Not everyone has high speed internet access. In addition to there being a huge economic divide between those who can and cannot afford internet access, there are also infrastructure issues. Many rural areas of North America lack dependable internet and even cell service.

Because of these issues, during the pandemic students were often attending their remote classes in the parking lots of schools and libraries (which remained shuttered, but there were employees inside, keeping the WiFi going). Remote workers also had a tough time accessing essential tools. Libraries are an inexpensive alternative to setting up your workspace at the coffee house.

Tech Support — Many libraries offer free courses in basic computer and web skills. Also, some librarians are able to provide guidance on common computer issues.

Homework Help — Librarians won’t do your children’s homework, but they’re fonts of information regarding selection of the appropriate resources. Many public libraries also have homework assistance hot-lines and online homework help.

Tax Prep Assistance — Libraries don’t supply tax advice directly, but AARP and other community organizations provide volunteer, pro-bono tax preparation assistance at most branches. And even though many people file digitally now, tax forms are usually made available to patrons who want to noodle the math with paper and pencil.

Delivery — Not everyone is able to get to the library. Elderly, housebound or disabled patrons can often request to have library materials delivered to them. Contact your local library for available resources and review the offerings of the National Library Service for the Blind and Handicapped.

Children’s Entertainment — Public libraries have story hours, magic shows, movies, puppet shows, arts and craft activities, and other events to keep children engaged while giving parents some breathing space.

Quiet Spaces — OK, this isn’t a service, per se. But sometimes, you need a place to go to center yourself, read, or just disconnect. Libraries are safe, temperature-controlled, and, unless you’re sitting right next to the children’s area, fairly serene. Obviously, this is more difficult when we’re in pandemic mode, but libraries were known for their shhhh-iness long before quiet cars on rail transportation existed.

Low-cost Services

In addition to free services, libraries provide a number of services are supplied at at limited cost. These include:

  • Printing
  • Photocopying
  • Faxing — Stop laughing. It’s shocking how often something like this crosses my Twitter feed:

  • Scanning
  • Notary Services — Call your library branch in advance to find out if and when the services of a notary public will be available. If a member of the library staff is a notary, you may not even be charged.
  • Passport Services — New and renewal applications for passports can be confusing. Many libraries provide assistance with applications and photo services by appointment.
  • Meeting rooms — Libraries maintain private rooms for not-for-profit endeavors, and the cost is usually limited to making sure the room bookings are serious. Rooms may be booked for:
    • Book Clubs
    • Game Groups for children and adults. (Pokémon card trading clubs having been going strong for decades!)
    • Community Meetings
    • Guest Lectures and Classes — Years ago, Paper Doll took courses in origami and in how to use the library’s electronic book borrowing systems to transfer books to Kindle and Nook. (I remain more proficient at the latter than the former. Folding cranes is hard!) I’ve also taught classes and workshops on organizing at public libraries, and chances are good that you can find one of my colleagues teaching similar workshops wherever you are.

Libraries around the country lend Santa suits and prom dresses, cake pans and artwork, knitting needles and selfie sticks:

18 Weird Things You Can Borrow from Your Public Library

200 Things You Can Check Out of a Library Besides Books

The downtown branch of my own public library has an entire floor set aside as a “maker space” with 3D printers, laser cutters, an HTC Vive virtual reality booth, a sewing lab, a soldering bench, Agile co-working spaces with white boards and projectors, a photography studio — and a state of the art recording studio!!!

This is not Marian the Librarian’s public library, and Chattanooga is not even a big city. It’s just one that values libraries. Check out (pun intended) what your own library system has to offer.

SO HOW DOES GETTING A LIBRARY CARD HELP YOU GET AND STAY ORGANIZED?

Maybe I have convinced you that libraries are the bees’ knees, but you still don’t get what it has to do with organizing?

Self-decluttering

From a professional organizer’s perspective, the best thing about libraries is the opportunity to allow yourself to trust that you need not maintain the entire world at your house.

Those four hundred issues of National Geographic making your guest room floor buckle, but which you never approach except to dust? The library has them, too, for whenever you want to learn about the mating habits of the elephants of the Serengeti, but you’ll never have to dust them. (The Nat Geos, I mean, not the elephants. Well, those too.)

Of course, I’m not saying to give up purchasing books and magazines, but understand that there’s an alternative to becoming an accidental collector of books you’ll never read (or never read again).

If you are overwhelmed by clutter in your space, but have a voracious hunger to read (or listen to music, or watch movies), check your public library’s collections first before running off to Amazon or your local indie bookseller. (But do support your local indie booksellers when you find things you want to own. This has been a hard time for them, OK? OK!)

Having a library means you can have access to any printed book, ebook, or audiobook, or tangible item (DVD, CD, graphic novel, magazine) without it permanently taking up residence in your home. Clutter often develops because we have too much stuff and no place to permanently store it, and we keep it forever because we don’t have the time or inclination to deal with it.

Library resources come with a built-in decluttering mechanism: due dates! Sure, you can renew things online, but in general, things need to be returned to the library. You don’t have to make the difficult decision as to whether it should stay or go because it’s not yours! It belongs to the library.

Or, if you prefer, think of it as yours, but stored (and dusted, repaired, and maintained) by the nice folks at the free (with your tax dollars) self-storage location called The Public Library!

And you don’t have to worry about digital items you borrow. Ebooks, audiobooks, movies, and music all “return themselves” automagically.

Just make sure you develop a system for keeping track of the tangible items you borrow. I recommend having one bookshelf or counter in your house where you keep all library items. If you have kids, help them get in the habit of returning items to that shelf or space when they’re not using them. (Oh, and let your kids help you get in the same habit. Kids love “catching” parents neglect an organizing task, and it helps reinforce the standards you’re trying to teach them.)

Money-saving

Rather than spending lots of money for books you’ll only read once, or perhaps not even finish, or for accessing any of a huge variety of tangible and digital resources, you can take advantage of the benefits of the public library.

Adore a book or piece of music beyond measure? Consider the library experience to be your free ice cream taste test; then purchase it with the knowledge that it’s something you love and will keep forever and share with others. But you don’t have to shell out money for entertainment and educational experiences you’re not sure are the right fit. And you don’t have to feel guilty, because you know the authors and creators will still be getting paid through the system of library licenses.

Still not sure about the benefits? How about saving and organizing those little green pieces of paper in your wallet? This simple form will automatically calculate the financial value of your library card in terms of annual savings. (Of course, the cognitive, emotional, and societal values are priceless.)

SO GET YOUR LIBRARY CARD

I always ask new clients a variety of questions to make sure they have life essentials: “Do you have a calendar? A file system? A will? A fire extinguisher?” On the advice of my friend, internet-famous librarian extraordinaire Jessamyn West, I also ask, “Do you have a library card?”

I’ve even been known to drag friends to sign up for a library card when I visit them in their new cities. (Shoutout: Hey, Chris, I’m looking at you!)

National Library Card Sign-Up Month is the perfect time to get a card for yourself or your kids. 

1) Locate your public library.

2) Fill out an application, available at your branch or on most library web sites.

3) Show valid ID with your current address. If you’re new to town and don’t yet have a photo ID bearing your address, most libraries will accept two items showing your name and street address (but not PO box), such as current utility bills (e.g., telephone, gas, electric or cable), voter registration cards, or other mail with postmarks from the past 30 days.

4) Use your new library card often. Plan a weekly visit with your family and explore your library’s offerings. Develop a ritual for going to the library and your children will grow up appreciating all that libraries have to offer. Let your kids help you mark down due-dates for returning tangible items.

5) Set up a library shelf in your house where all the items you borrow from the public library “live” when they’re not being read or used. Having a set location where library items belong when not in use prevents them from going missing and assures you’ll be able to return them on time. 

Happy National Library Card Sign-Up Month!

Paper Doll, Media Darling — or Expert Organizing Advice and How to Get It

Posted on: May 10th, 2021 by Julie Bestry | 16 Comments

Who are the experts in your life?

We turn to doctors, lawyers, accountants, professional organizers… In my family, when I need advice about cooking or want to know if a booboo requires medical attention or is just one of those weird things, we refer to it as “opening the Mommy Encyclopedia” and I call Paper Mommy.

Sometimes, I get to be expert.

Real Simple and Photographs

Because I’m a professional organizer, I often get asked to share my expertise with the media. Sometimes, it’s an organizing or productivity topic that’s right in my wheelhouse. Other times, I need to do a little research, confer with colleagues, or make a referral to someone better-versed in the topic. 

Back in January, Senior Editor Rachel Sylvester interviewed me about organizing and managing family photographs for the May 2021 issue of Real Simple. 

Longtime readers of this blog know that while brevity may be the soul of wit, longwindedness is the backbone of Paper Doll. I had a LOT to say about organizing family photos. Share on X

Longtime readers of this blog know that while brevity may be the soul of wit, longwindedness is the backbone of Paper Doll. I had a lot to say about organizing family photos, like:

  • how and where to locate all the print and digital copies
  • how to gather all your photos together so you can see the big picture (no pun intended) 
  • how to automate your backup (because you know I’m all about the belt-and-suspenders approach, using a local external backup drive and a backup in the cloud, like Backblaze)
  • how to identify and eliminate duplicates

Eliminate fussy backgrounds or jerky ex-boyfriends with apps like Remove or Slazzer, or the built-in background remover in Canva Pro. (Sadly, these apps only remove jerky ex-boyfriends from photos, not from your memory.) Share on X

Of course, organizing your photos only starts with these steps. Beyond the basics, you may want photo organizing and editing software, as well as a wide-variety of ever-changing photo storage options beyond your own Dropbox or local drives. 

For example, while longtime free, effective June 1, 2021, Google Photos is capping free photo storage at 15 GB; after that, you’ll need a Google One account for $1.99/month for 100 GB. Other solutions include:

Apple iCloud Photo Library – Built into iOS devices, it’s 5GB for free, $0.99/month for 50GB, $3/month for 200GB, or $10/month for 2TB storage.
 
Forever – With a wide variety of storage options from 2GB (free) to 10GB up to 1TB, ranging from $13.30-$489.30/month. (Obviously, those mega-dollars are for professional-level storage.)

Flickr – Store one thousand photos for free, then consider $7/month or $60/year for unlimited storage.

Photobucket – Selections range from Beginner level for $6/month for 25GB, Intermediate for $8/month for 250GB, or Expert level at $13/month unlimited storage. (Note: You can only store uncompressed photos at the Expert level.)

When I work with clients, I bring my expertise on the first set of topics. We work together to gather photos (and slides – there are always slides!), plow through to eliminate most of the seventy-three shots of the front lawn of the new house the day they moved in (and yes, we eliminate some jerky boyfriend photos, too), and discuss storage options.

If clients want to digitize photos, we discuss their DIY options, but it’s not a service I provide. (You really can’t be an expert at everything.) Instead, I often send clients to my Atlanta-based colleague Jiffy Page of Pixorium, and I can tell you that her people treat my client photos with as much respect as (and often more than) families give their own old snapshots!

If clients have more complicated photo organizing needs, or they are far off from my service area and the project isn’t suitable for my virtual services, I recommend my colleagues. You can find superior photo organizers in two places:

The National Association of Professional Organizers – Use the geographic search from your zip code to find service providers who specialize in photo organizing. (After doing the zip code radius search, select “photography/memorabilia/collections” from the Residential Organizing and Productivity Categories drop-down.)

The Photo Managers (previously, the Association of Personal Photo Organizers, or APPO) – Search geographically and by a wide variety of photo-related services, including related areas, like backup solutions, data recovery, photo restoration, family history research, and more.

When I need advice on a photo organizing topic, I have my own experts to whom I turn, including:

Andi Willis of Good Life Photo Solutions in Georgia

Hazel Thornton of Organized For Life in New Mexico

Jill Yesko of Discover Organizing in Pennsylvania

Isabelle Dervaux Photo Organizer and Visual Storyteller in New York

And for those who want a grounding in photo organizing concepts for DIY projects, I recommend the book written by Cathi Nelson, the founder of The Photo Managers, Photo Organizing Made Easy: Going from Overwhelmed to Overjoyed.

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Advice Among Other Professional Organizers

No man is an island, and no professional organizer operates in a vacuum, which is why you’ll often see us sharing one another’s advice and guidance. 

Recently, Margarita Ibbott of Downshifting Pro published 15+ Great Professional Organizers to Follow and Read. I’m proud to have been listed among this group, and the post includes:

  • 4 Canadian professional organizing bloggers
  • 12 American professional organizing bloggers
  • 1 Belgian professional organizing blogger
  • links to the blogs of each
  • links to the most popular post by each of us

And just last week, Melanie Summers of I Speak Organized published a post called Ask the Experts – Professional Organizing Trends and Industry Changes. Yep, Melanie quoted me (can you see a trend running through my post today?), and I held forth on the importance of continuing education in the professional organizing and productivity fields.

Many of the other nine veteran organizers interviewed for the piece are those you’ve seen me quote here and share on my social media, and they talked about finding your niche, the fact that Instagram-worthy spaces aren’t necessarily functionally organized spaces, and the ultimate fact that organizing needs to focus on the individual and not what’s trendy. 

I encourage you to read Melanie’s post and click through all of the names linked at the bottom to read the extended interviews.

Hometown Girl Makes Good

In another media coup (well, it feels like it’s worthy of celebration), I was interviewed by Mary Fortune, Editor of the Chattanooga Times-Free Press Edge Magazine. It’s a digital magazine that focuses on business topics in my area; go ahead and click through to pages 28 and 29 to see my interview, but consider reading the other pieces, as the magazine covers a lot of ground in my 23-year adopted city.

If you’re a subscriber (hey, Chattanoogans!), then you can go directly to the interview without having to flip through the digital magazine pages; if you’re not, you may or may not get to see the entire interview. (Sometimes, it’s behind a paywall, sometimes it’s visible. The mysteries of modern media!)

Yes, it’s a bit of a provocative headline, but I don’t think you’ll be shocked by what I have to say about the barriers to getting organized, the benefits of a more organized life, and some tips you can put into practice to be more productive right away.

An International Footprint

Recently, I was interviewed by Victor Lang, the Chief Operating Officer of gini, a global business data analysis company, for a piece called SMEs on COVID Relief. (No, I didn’t know what SME stood for, either.)

So, at 9 o’clock Chattanooga-time one evening, I was interviewed by an American gentleman in Hong Kong for gini, a company based in Australia and New Zealand! If that’s not worldly, what is?

Ostensibly, the discussion was on how business leaders of small and medium-sized enterprises felt vaccinations would impact profits. However, topics did run farther afield, including discussion of the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of business owners interviewed. As a professional organizer, I’ve learned (and taught my clients) that there’s a difference between having a positive attitude and ignoring the importance of self-care and mental health, so you know I didn’t pull any punches.

They interviewed owners of 500 small and medium businesses around the world (in English-speaking countries), and it was interesting (but not surprising) to see how the availability of a national social safety net, the relative size of the companies represented, and the actual impact (in terms of COVID cases and the economy) led to the projections made. Feel free to read the article, including my quotes. (I guarantee you, I never imagined I’d ever be interviewed in an article on the projections of global business leaders.) Or, skip my part and surf the infographic gini developed from the article:

gini | SMEs on COVID relief infographicPlease include attribution to https://www.gini.co/ with this graphic.

Wrapping Up

While the point of this post may seem like an opportunity to give Paper Mommy something to kvell (Yiddish for brag) about, there is a larger point. Often, organizing and productivity clients feel guilty about seeking advice or help. They think (or others in their lives think) that they should be able to handle everything on their own.

In general (at least when we’re not in a pandemic), we don’t cut our own hair. We don’t set our own broken bones or determine our own optical prescriptions. We don’t code our own websites or home-school our kids in Advanced Placement physics. We don’t build our own houses or rebuild our own carburetors, and if we’re wise, we don’t just limit our mental health care to our own self-therapy. We can watch videos or read books on how to do yoga, but getting guidance from an expert determines we won’t tweak our backs doing a pose incorrectly.

We professional organizers and productivity specialists don’t have all the right answers, but we’re comfortable formulating the right questions. It’s OK to seek help.

Who are your experts?

The Truth About Celebrity Organizers, Magic Wands, and the Reality of Professional Organizing

Posted on: June 12th, 2020 by Julie Bestry | 22 Comments

Yesterday, it happened again.

“It” is when someone (this time, on an international discussion-based web site I frequent) complains about needing organizational help but doesn’t know where to turn. Unfortunately, they don’t know that professional organizers even exist, or the only thing about organizing they’ve ever seen in the media is Marie Kondo’s show on Netflix.

The Kondo Thing and Celebrity Organizers

Many, many of my colleagues have written about the pros and cons of Kondo, her books, and her television show. However, I have always held off because while I think Kondo is an interesting character study in expert-as-celebrity, the profession of skilled, educated, non-judgmental, and empathetic professional organizers existed for many decades before Marie Kondo came along.

I think the big difference between Kondo and professional organizers in NAPO, ICD, POC, APDO-UK, and the like, is that we believe that systems need to be customized to the individual and hold that one system imposed onto everyone is a recipe for making people feel like failures.

For more than 18 years, I have been telling clients that “tidying” or “cleaning up” is about the stuff, but professional organizing is about the person who owns the stuff.

For more than 18 years, I have been telling clients that tidying or cleaning up is about the stuff, but professional organizing is about the person who owns the stuff. Share on X

Kondo presents some intriguing approaches in her books and on her Netflix show. I’ve often noted that about 70% of what she discusses is the same advice all professional organizers offer; about 25% focuses on her very precise rubric of organizing methods; and about 5% is culturally specific to her background. Rather than writing about her, per se, I’d point you to some posts by my colleagues, who are better able succinctly share their thoughts:

Marie Kondo isn’t going to be the last famous organizing expert. She’s certainly not the first. When I started my professional organizing business, Julie Morgenstern was starting her meteoric publishing ascent. She won a national award at the NAPO conference in 2002, the first I attended, and her Professional Organizing from the Inside Out was already becoming a classic. I devoured her books, as I had done with Bonnie McCullough’s Totally Organized and Barbara Hemphill’s Taming the Paper Tiger books in the 1980s. A bit later, Oprah Winfrey, who helped make Julie Morgenstern a household name, brought Peter Walsh from Clean Sweep stalwart to media stardom

Good for them. Good for us (the professional organizers). Good for you (the readers who want to get organized)!

Concert Pianists and Magic Wands

I often tell a story about my mother, known to many of you readers as Paper Mommy. When I was little, I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She smiled and said “A concert pianist.” Having just started piano lessons, I encouraged my mother to take lessons with me, and launched into a fantasy of her stellar career in music. I will never forget my mother’s incredible self-awareness and honesty when she explained that she didn’t want to become a concert pianist, she wanted to be one. She wanted the magic wand.

I will never forget my mother's incredible self-awareness and honesty when she explained that she didn't want to become a concert pianist, she wanted to be one. She wanted the magic wand. Share on X

Celebrity professionals in all fields, including my own, offer the magic wand: the idea that there is one method, one Holy Grail of organizing that will work for all! It’s pretty compelling.

Superstar professional organizers do one great thing. They let people know (or remind those who have forgotten) that life does not have to be a series of frustrations and overwhelms. Help is available, whether that’s from a book, or a professional organizer, or the guidance of a more experienced friend or relative.

I’ve got news for you. I don’t care whose advice you follow. I mean, sure, I’m delighted that you’re on my blog and come here for advice on organizing. And I love my clients and wish I could clone myself and work with all of the clients who want and need my help, especially now, when so many people have been stuck at home and ostensibly have the time to focus on such projects. (On the plus side, I am now offering virtual services, which means that I can help more people in shorter bursts of time to kickstart their advancement toward organizing and productivity goals.)

But it’s not about me. Or Marie. Or Peter. Or Margareta Magnusson, the lovely lady who wrote The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. (For what it’s worth, I find the Magnusson’s gentle, homespun psychological approach to downsizing to be far more applicable to my clients’ lives than most other “star” advice.)

No, it’s not about any of the celebrity organizers, or even my less-famous but fabulous colleagues in NAPO, ICD, POC, and the various organizations within the International Federation of Professional Organizing Associations.

It’s about the client. It’s about you. It’s about being ready and willing to make changes. 

The No. 7 Moisturizer

Sometimes, people just want advice on buying storage containers – without ever having given thought as to whether they should hold onto everything they’re going to put in those bins. They believe the right container will solve all of their problems. And sometimes (a lot of the time), people look at celebrity organizers as the magic wands, or in this case, the magic storage bins.

Speaking of Marie Kondo, she’s back in the news lately because she’s hawking her (rather pricey) products appealing to the same human instincts to which we’re all subject. I’m a good example. Years ago, the posh-sounding UK brand No. 7 started selling products in the United States. They came out with a Protect and Perfect, a product designed to smooth the skin and given the just-starting-to-age face a nice boost. The product wasn’t that expensive, and I wasn’t looking particularly decrepit, but the ads in the glossy magazines were compelling, and I plunked down my $20 at Target.

Then two things happened.

First, after the initial few times I used the product, I slacked off. I’m not much of a beauty product person. I don’t watch the influencers on Instagram and YouTube to learn how to make a perfect smokey eye. (Though, six weeks into the pandemic quarantine, I did watch my stylist’s video on how to style my overly long bangs. Twice.)

Second, as time went by, even though I had only used the product in a lackluster fashion and hadn’t seen much effect when I did use it, every single time I saw an ad for the No. 7 product in the beauty magazines, I had a little blip of “I want that.” I had it. I’d used it. I’d blown it off. But I STILL WANTED IT. Advertising is insidious that way.

We want what the product or service promises, even if I’m not willing to do the work. Even if it’s not the right product for me. It’s the fantasy, not the reality.

Kondo’s first magic wand was her method; her second selling a series of “joy-sparking” products  – including a $58 brass cookbook stand, a single shelf for $135, and a $69 set of three cardboard boxes for inserting in your drawers.

Celebrity organizers offer the fantasy. Some offer good advice. Most offer advice that will work if you follow it, as long as you:

  • are able to follow it to the letter
  • have the time, money, and physical dexterity to follow it to the letter
  • don’t have clinical depression, an anxiety disorder, ADHD, a traumatic brain injury, a family member who has any of these complicating issues, a toddler who likes to touch things rather than sit pristinely and quietly in the middle of the room, pets, or spouses who act like toddlers or pets…
  • possess the unerring ability to confidently make decisions without the support of others, have the resources to know what should be donated vs. consigned vs. sent to live on a farm upstate, and
  • are incredibly self-motivated to start, continue, and finish a product without any guidance, support, or accountability

Is that you? Yay! But if it’s not you, and you’ve ever felt like a failure because the organizing advice in a book or on a TV show wasn’t enough to deliver the solutions you were seeking, you’re a member of a pretty big club.

For the same reason people who work with fitness coaches achieve more than those who buy exercise videos but never take them out of the plastic (or if they do, feel so awkward that they never make it through the first viewing), not everything works well as a solo endeavor.

Just as not everything is one-size-fits-all.

Just as not every organizer is for every client.

The Reality of Professional Organizing

Professional organizers have different specialities. Some organizers are generalists. Others specialize in types of clients (students, seniors citizens, new parents) or in locations (kitchens, closets, law offices, warehouses). I think of myself as a generalist who specializes in paper management and productivity.

In 2007, under the auspices of NAPO, the Board of Certification for Professional Organizers created a certification program requiring 1500 client-collaborative hours in order to sit for a comprehensive exam. This exam spans content related to client assessments, project plan development, implementation, and maintenance, and ethics. Recertification is dependent upon continuing education.

The Institute for Challenging Disorganization has certificate and specialist credentialing programs programs for organizing practitioners who work with clients with special needs relating ADHD, chronic disorganization, hoarding disorders, and aging.

There are other formal specialities. NAPO members can earn specialist certificates in residential organizing, household management, life transitions, workplace productivity, and team productivity. In addition to being a CPO, I’m an Evernote Certified Constultant. Affiliate with our professional are Senior Move Managers and Daily Money Managers (financial organizers). And yes, Marie Kondo even has training for practitioners who want to organize according to her methods.

The thing I’d love everyone to know is that your professional organizer can have the best training, be the most compassionate provider, and excel in delivery of services and breadth of expertise. But you, the client, are the key to everything.

You have to want more than a changed result. It’s essential to change the behavior that got you to this place of dissatisfaction in the first place. You may have to set boundaries with your child or your pet or your spouse. You may have to develop skills to figure out why you keep buying your own equivalent of No. 7 miracle youth-making skin care products, whether they are blank notebooks you never use, cute outfits you never wear, or healthy produce you never eat.

(Hey, I get it. Professional organizers do aspirational shopping, too. I’ve thrown out a lot of fuzzy vegetables in my time. ShoppingJulie has more confidence in my cooking skills than DiningJulie ever will.)

So What Should You Do?

I’m not advising you stop reading organizing and productivity books or magazines. (I love a good Real Simple multi-page spread on decluttering your entryway as much as the next person!) I’m not saying to stop watching home-improvement TV shows. They can be very entertaining, and these days, darned comforting. I certainly don’t even want you to stop decluttering or creating systems.

I just want you to know that just like the airbrushed bodies in magazines don’t really look like that, the gorgeous rooms in the IKEA and Container Store catalogs and Houzz and House Beautiful don’t look like that in real life, or 92 days into quarantine, or three days after Christmas, or in the middle of summer vacation, or after the whole family has been down with the flu.

Reality TV makes things look tidy, but reality is messy. Professional organizers can help. But none of us, not even (or especially not) the celebrities, have magic wands. You have to want more than the end result; you have to be willing to do the hard work (with us at your side) to gain the mental muscles to confidently make decisions and real behavioral changes.

NAPO 2014 Conference Recap: The Preview

Posted on: June 13th, 2014 by Julie Bestry | 2 Comments

This past week, Paper Doll was extra jet-lagged and suffering withdrawal symptoms from sensory overload, but I’m thrilled to start sharing my excitement over having attended NAPO 2014 Annual Conference & Organizing Expo in Phoenix-Scottsdale.

NAPO2014_SplashPage

I got to the beautiful Westin-Kierland Resort and Spa a day early to participate in the Board of Certification (BCPO®) for Professional Organizer’s board meeting. To a layman, discussing the intricacies of upholding the validity of an industry-wide certification program from 7:45 a.m. (yes, really) until dinner time might seem dry, but aside from the actual morning aspect of it, the experience was enlightening.

The BCPO® program, for which I serve as the Director of Program Development, recognizes and raises industry standards, practices and ethics, and lets clients know that CPOs are committed and serious about the work being done. Speaking of serious, how serious am I about certification?

NAPO2014_Presenter-Badge-1

So serious that I was a presenter at the conference. So serious that my colleague, BCPO® president Helene Segura and I got up and presented Why and How to Get Certified, at a similarly o’dark-thirty, on Friday morning.

Julie&Helene

If that doesn’t show commitment, I don’t know what does!

NAPO2014, and indeed every NAPO annual Conference and Expo, means different things to different people. As I try to do every year, I want to share just a few of the highlights of the conference itself, and over the next series of posts, we’ll be looking at the Expo side of things, with all the neato-keen goodies. 

EDUCATION

NAPO conference attendees get to pick from among five concurrent educational sessions in each of six session blocks, over three days. Yes, that means selecting what floats your boat (or, y’know, meets your educational objectives) from among thirty different sessions.

In addition to the opportunity to select among a variety of half-day and full-day pre-conference sessions, my colleagues and I attended courses in five educational tracks, including classes designed for infusing our professional practices with growing expertise to serve our clients:

Organizing and Productivity: “Are You Listening? Really? Key Coaching Skills for the Experienced Organizer or Productivity Expert,” “Test Your Technique,” “If Only I Could Draw,” “Going Paperless to Boost Productivity,” and “Clearing Mental Clutter Makes Organizing Easier.”

Special Needs Clients: “Finding Flow: Understanding Your Client’s Style Preferences,” “Is It Hot or Is It Just Me?: Mid-LIfe Transitions and ADHD,” “Decisions, Indecision, and Clutter in Hoarding Situations,” “Exceptional Organizing: Strategies for Special Needs Clients and Their Families,” “Distracted & Obsessed: Helping ADHD and/or OCD Clients,” “Success Under Stress,” “Creating Home and Business Inventories” and “Student Organizing Tools, Apps and More.”

Technology sessions mixed subject matter that serves our clients: “Finding Digital Sanity,” “Evernote for Work: Advanced Implementation Strategies,” and “Virtual Planning for Your Digital Afterlife” with those which help us grow our businesses: “How to Write Blog Posts That Get Results,” and “Boost Your Brand By Podcasting.”

Other sessions in Business Growth, Marketing and Running Your Business focused on topics as varied as “Marketing to Therapists and Psychiatrists,” “Staying in Business a Decade & Beyond,” “Taking Business from ‘I’ to ‘We’ with Employees,” “Niche Markets for Organizers,” “Master the Sales Process,” “6-Figure Marketing on a $2 Budget,” “Do’s and Don’t’s of Successful Book Promotion,” “LinkedIn Means Business,” “How to Create Effective Policies and Procedures,” “How to Be a Kick-Ass Boss” and “List Building: The Secret Sauce of Online Marketing,“ the latter having been taught by NAPO perennial favorite, marketing expert and Spider-Man fan, Rich Brooks:

RichBrooks

Whew! And this doesn’t even count our opening and closing keynote speakers on leadership and getting out of your own way, two Ask the Organizer panels, and a smattering of exhibitor How-To sessions!

COMMITTEES AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

In addition to formal educational programs, the annual conference is an opportunity for NAPO’s many groups to meet to conduct important business. From the Education Committee, to the NAPO Ambassador program, to the philanthropic Quantum Leap program, to a wide variety of Special Interest Groups (SIGs), including those for technology, student organizing, public speaking, coaching, eco-awareness, moving and relocation, and small and multi-person businesses, the halls of the Westin-Kierland were humming.

EXPO

NAPO’s Corporate Associate Members and other exhibitors came from as near as Los Angeles and as far away as Israel to share their products and services with professionals ready to learn and evaluate. You’ll be hearing more about the Expo vendors — including the various winners of the Organizers’ Choice Awards — over the course of the next series of posts. But Paper Doll would be remiss to not include two of this blog’s longtime favorite companies and their representatives, Smead‘s Jim Riesterer

JimSmeadJulie

and Pendaflex/TOPS‘ Barb Schmit.

BarbPendaflexJulie

NETWORKING AND SOCIALIZING AND DINING (OH, MY!)

Is it any wonder that with all of these members, educators, exhibitors and random organizing celebrities (of whom, more later), NAPO people took time to socialize? There were formal receptions daily in the EXPO, orientations for a first-time and international attendees, a Golden Circle luncheon (for 5-year+ organizing veterans), a CPO® celebration/reception,

BCPO2014

and more continental breakfasts that you could shake a stick at and organize into neat columns and rows.

But be assured, informal socializing was the rule of thumb for day and night. Groups of three, four and upwards of a dozen huddled on comfy couches in the lobby, in quiet corners in the pubs, near poolside chairs and on the back expanse of patio overlooking rolling hills and a golf course.

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Paper Doll with former NAPO President Stephanie Denton, current Institute for Challenging Disorganization President Valentina Sgro and Australian superstar and AAPO founding member, Lissanne Oliver. (We didn’t think about it at the time, but this photo represents just a sampling of NAPO authors, including Stephanie’s The Organized Life, my 57 Secrets for Organizing Your Small Business, Val’s whole series of Patience Oaktree books, and Lissanne’s Sorted!)

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a NAPO event without many days and nights of dining!

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LeighAnn Hensel, Hazel Thornton, Miriam Ortiz Y Pino, Paper Doll, Janet Barclay and non-organizer BCPO® Public Director Sharon Fanning at Deseo

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NAPO-Georgia friends Danielle Carney and Tiffany Poole at Tanzy

INTERNATIONAL ATTENDEES AND OTHER EXOTIC FOLKS

Every year, we’re lucky to have a number of international visitors to our conference from about a dozen nations as far away as Colombia, Brazil and Nigeria. Even a language barrier couldn’t stop these intrepid organizers, who had translators and moxie, speaking the common languages of clutter destruction and productivity. They marveled at their commonalities and discussed their differences, as evidenced by this picture of Canada’s Janet Barclay, Australia’s Kathryn Hennig and New York City’s Sharon Lowenheim (comparing our U.S. paper/linen money with their shinier, more plastic cash).

InternationalMoney

I never thought I’d be on anybody’s bucket list, but as Janet Barclay of Your Organizing Business writes in her post, My First NAPO Conference, I made it. And not only did I get to rub elbows with current Professional Organizers of Canada President Stephanie Deakin,

deakinBestry

but she continued a long-standing tradition of POC members bringing me my beloved Coffee Crisp, the best candy bar in the world, from above the 49th Parallel.

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And while men aren’t generally considered as exotic as international visitors, this year’s NAPO conference boasted an unusually large number of male attendees and presenters, including the aforementioned Rich Brooks, newly re-branded Scott Roewer, Evernote whiz Joshua Zerkel, tech-and-stuff organizer Deron Bos, paperless (gasp!) guru (and Canadian!) Brooks Duncan, NAPO-Connecticut President Rick Woods, and ADHD specialists Dr. Ari Tuckman and Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Roberto Olivardia.

In coming posts, we’ll be talking about new organizing “stuff” for paper and the other areas of your life. Until then, be assured that a good time was had by all. If you’re an organizing client, or plan to be one some day, I hope this has given you confidence in both the educational curriculum of professional organizers and the idea that professional organizers aren’t stuff. And if you’re a professional organizer who missed conference this year, here’s your motivation to start planning for #NAPO2015!

To that end, and to what I’m sure will be my eventual downfall, I share with you this year’s “It seemed like a good idea at the time” greeting, the boob bump.

BoobBump

What can I say, dear readers? It was 107° every day. Even the good judgment of organizing professionals can be melted by the Arizona heat.

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