Aby and I became cyber-friends over a year ago and finally met in person at Memorytrends. We’ve got a
Real Women Scrap TV interview with Aby and her co-author Wendy Smedley coming up next week so I thought I’d do a quick teaser interview to give you a taste of what we’ve got in store. There’s the three of us at Memorytrends…not the best photo ever, but it’ll do for now.
So Aby, welcome to Lessons from the Scrapbook Page. I’m so thrilled you found time to share some insight and personal information with us. First question, how did you get started in professional organizing?
I was at a crossroads in my career when my employer offered to relocate my family and me to Florida. Both my husband and I are mid-west born and raised. Moving was really out of the question for us. Having spent thirteen years in the business world, it was time to strike out on my own and get in the driver’s seat of my own career. I researched professions that would be a great match for my passion and skills…and professional organizing was an easy choice.
I love that you did the work to find out where your strengths were before launching into something new. Now that you’re a professional, are you always organized? Or do you get overwhelmed and overloaded at times like the rest of us?
For me, one of the things I have to be careful of is my innate
desire to dig out. Not surprisingly, I’m attracted to challenging
“messes” so I have to be careful not to create them for myself just for
the fun of digging out! I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. For me
the love of the process of creating order can at times be greater than
the love of being organized. I think it helps me when working with
clients…because I am good at clearing the path to order.
Great personal insight there. Maybe that’s why I make messes too…I
just love getting it all organized? Hmmm, nope don’t think that’s it. I
just create messes. No good excuse for why! Help me out here. What are
your top 3 tips to get control of clutter fast?
To tackle surface clutter, here are my favorite tips:
- Go on a scavenger hunt. Grab a box or a tote and go room by
room collecting items that don’t belong into the tote. As you move from
one room to the next, put away things in the room where they belong,
and continue collecting things that don’t belong. By putting everything
into a box or tote, you save them steps of moving things from room to
room one at a time. - De-clutter regularly. We all have a clutter tolerance. The key
is to figure out what yours is, and then stay ahead of the game by
de-cluttering regularly. For some this can mean a daily de-clutter
session, for others it can mean every other day, and for others, once a
week will do the trick. - Slow the inflow. The biggest way to get a handle on clutter is
to slow down the pace at which things come into our home. Pay attention
to your shopping habits and just buy things you really need and will
use. Avoid eating out at restaurants that load you down with kid
clutter.
Always great ideas. You know I always learn something every month from your newsletter. Let’s talk about your new book ‚ÄúThe Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker” which you co-authored with Wendy Smedley.
Wendy and I worked together to create an organized and inspired
scrapbook space in her home. We discovered so much in the process of
working on her space that we wanted to share it with other scrapbookers
and so our book was born.
Our goal was to create a book that would help scrapbookers understand
how and why they scrapbook, and then create a space that supports those
natural processes and goals. And when I say space, this can mean
anything from a kitchen table to a dedicated scrapbook studio. We also
included a workbook to help readers digest and take action on the
concepts in the book, making it simple for them to create an organized
and inspired space.
That workbook idea for your book is fantastic. I love the bite-sized
pieces of information. What else do you have going on these days?
I just announced a new teleclass on my site “Get Organized for the Holidays.”
It’s hard to believe that it’s time to start thinking about the
holidays again, already, but it is! This class will teach simple ways
to put the fun and joy back in your holidays!
Love it! Holidays always throw me out of my zone. It would be great to stay in the zone throughout the entire year, wouldn’t it?
Thanks again for joining us. It’s always a joy to work with you!
On Pinterest? 
