How can a Professional Organizer help you? Here's what I did for one of my clients

I have been so fortunate to have Kim Rocke of New Leaf straighten me out!  My office/craft room had become the catch-all for all the household clutter – if it didn’t have any other place to live, it came to my space.  And took over!  I dreaded walking into that room, seeing piles and boxes filled with “stuff.” I felt I didn’t have my own space anymore and my creative spark was smothered by the mess.

I consider myself a relatively organized person but I was overwhelmed by how much I thought I needed to tackle to get it under control. Kim and I met and discussed my distressing situation, I outlined my goals and desires for the room, Kim offered a plan of action and we went right to work.  Kim made it so simple and clear to get started, move forward and maintain the action plan.  Her ‘system’ was easily tailored to my needs and within 2 hours I had my desk workspace back!  By the end of our 4-hour session, I had a distinct and achievable vision of what the office would look like and a follow-up plan to get there.  And, most magically of all, Kim whisked away all the trash and donation items, to keep them from becoming yet another pile in another part of the house.

My space is my own again.  My creative spark is rekindled and I can attack any project with a renewed energy.  In fact, I’ve been going through my house, pinpointing all those trouble zones (like junk drawers) and addressing them, using Kim’s ideas.  Every area I clear out, the lighter I feel.  It’s a fabulous feeling.

So fabulous I wanted to share it with a dear friend who had a milestone birthday coming up. Her close friends wanted an unusual and different gift for this birthday and I suggested a gift of Kim’s organizational services.  Our friend was quite stressed out by the state of her guest room/home office/craft room. A professional organizer is something our friend would never indulge in herself, so we all pitched in and our friend now has six hours of Kim’s practical, effective and stress relieving services.  Our friend declared it “the best gift ever!”  I am so looking forward to hearing about their progress!

Kathi Dirkse

Organization Can Make Preparing Your Taxes Easier

This past year I decided to hire a bookkeeper and can I say what a smart decision that was! I hired Teresa Middleton of Middleton Bookkeeping.


I met Teresa a couple of years in a Heartlink Networking Group and she is such a good fit for me and my business.

I keep all my receipts in labeled folders for each category, such as networking memberships and dues, marketing and website work, supplies, resource materials like books and magazines. I send Teresa an email with my expenses listed and my banking statements she enters it all into Quickbooks. She can do this so much more quickly than I could, so her fee is very reasonable. Plus at the end of the year she gives me a simple profit and loss statement that I hand over to my Tax Preparer.

By having Teresa take care of my bookkeeping and by keeping my receipts organized through out the year, I literally gathered all my tax papers together in less than half an hour. Organization really can save you Time!!

Stop Clutter & Disorganization Before They Start

I've been following this newsletter from Emily Wilska for awhile now. This is exactly what I spoke about at Association of Women Entrepreneurs on Thursday. So since I couldn't have said it better myself, I'd like to share this newsletter so you too can stop clutter before it comes into your life.

Benjamin Franklin wasn't talking specifically about organization when he said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," but his words apply perfectly to keeping disorder and excess stuff at bay. When it comes to organizing, we tend to focus on clearing out existing clutter, trying to juggle an over-full schedule, or recovering from being overwhelmed by paper, possessions, or tasks. But what if we turned that model on its head and instead focused on ways of preventing clutter and disorganization before they become problems? Here are 5 straightforward ways to put Ben Franklin's words to work in the organizing realm.   to read more