How to Organize for a Low Stress Move with D. Allison Lee on the Staged Home Lifestyle Radio Show
Certified Professional Organizer, Deb Lee, was our special guest on the Staged Home Lifestyle Radio Show on Thursday, September 24, 2009. Deb is a Maryland businesswoman, entrepreneur, and owner of D. Allison Lee LLC, a professional organizing company that helps residential and business clients realize their goals of getting organized, increasing productivity, and reducing stress.Think of Deb as the Rolls Royce of organizing experts. Deb earned the designation of Certified Professional Organizer (CPO®) in 2007. She is active in the National Association of Professional Organizers, Washington, DC Metro Chapter (NAPO-WDC) and sits on the board as the 2009-2010 Marketing Director.If you didn’t know, moving consistently ranks as one of the top 3 most stressful things that people go through in their lives. That being said, the more prepared you are, the less overwhelming the process will be. Here are 10 fabulous tips to help you stay out of overwhelm:
1. The first thing to do is to declutter. It’s very important to move with only the items that you need so that you can spend your time unpacking at your new home.2. Create a timeline for completion, assign rooms to family members/friends, and be sure to pack a little bit every day. An inventory list is also helpful.3. After decluttering, get all the supplies that you’ll need to begin packing (e.g., boxes of varying sizes, packing paper, tape, labels, sharpies/markers, etc).4. Be sure to label all boxes. Your label should include:Destination (i.e., Kitchen) and Content (e.g., Pots & Pans)5. Decide on what your priority rooms are. Which rooms do you spend a lot of time in? Often, the top three areas are kitchen, bedroom (Note that bedrooms come with closets!) and bathrooms.6. Start unpacking the priority rooms first. Have a unpacking party and invite friends/family to help. Be sure to feed them!7. With the remaining rooms, be sure to unpack a little bit every day instead of leaving it all for one day or one weekend.8. Share the packing responsibilities with family members (when possible). Try assigning rooms to specific family members/friends.9. Begin packing as soon as possible (once it is first confirmed that you will definitely be moving or even from the moment you think about moving.)10. While people know that a move can be stressful and that it can be a lot of work, they sometimes don’t realize that they need to treat their move like any other (work) project. It has deadlines and needs to be completed on time and (hopefully) under budget.
To find an organizer in your area, visit the National Association of Professional Organizers website at http://napo.net.
