People often ask me why I don’t write a book on organizing, and this is what I tell them. Writing  a book  is a lot of hard work, and to be honest I’m far too lazy for such an undertaking. And why would I want to write such a book? The people who need help with their clutter don’t need books – they need hands on help. To press my point, I once came across a book on  decluttering  in a client’s pile of  junk. Besides, there are plenty of excellent publications out there already. One I use as a reference all the time is Organizing Plain & Simple by Donna Smallin. I believe that organizing is a verb. It is something you do, not think about, talk about, worry about or  read about. Lastly, I value my free time. Why waste it on producing something that isn’t going to do a lot of good for anybody? Of course it would be nice to go round telling people I’ve written a book, but at the end of the day, what would I have  accomplished ? Nothing. Except flatter my ego and kill more trees. I’d  far rather walk my dogs!

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My client Susan had a problem. A large crack
at the base of her favorite teapot made it no
longer fit for serving tea. The teapot had belonged
to her mother and Susan didn’t want to throw it out. 
And yet she couldn’t justify making space for something
which no longer had a purpose – Susan had far too
much bric-a-brac already. But in certain cases,
something broken can be redeemed. A small juice
glass I found in her kitchen fitted perfectly into
the teapot. Susan, who loves to arrange flowers,
was then able to turn her teapot into something
definitely worth keeping!

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