Island Organizers

Your house is a mess. Full of so much stuff that you can’t find anything you need when you need it.

You need help organizing things and turning your home into a place where you can do your work neatly and live your life with joy, especially now since so many of us are working from home.

That’s where Karen Simon, Shinobu Kuroyanagi and Paige Altonn can help. They are local members of the National Association of Productivity and Organization, which offers courses in organizing and operates as a registry for people who are trained in the art of bringing “order and efficiency to people’s lives.” These organizers have developed reliable techniques and principles for organizing one’s home or office.

Simon is a co-founder of Island Organizers, a consulting firm that advises businesses and individuals on organizing their offices, whether at home or in a separate building, as well as tips on technology tools. With her business partner, the late Donna McMillan, she co-wrote a book, “Solving the Organizing Puzzle,” which offers practical fundamentals on organizing, based on their own experiences. The book is mostly focused on business, but there’s plenty in it that applies to home organizing as well. It was ­released during the pandemic, but Simon is planning to have public ­promotions soon.

Simon said people often confuse what being organized really is.

“People have this misconception that being organized only means decluttering and having stuff look nice,” she said. “But it’s not just about having things in their places, it’s about how you operate in the rest of your life. Are you on time? Do you plan? Do you look ahead for what’s going to happen tomorrow? There’s so many things you need to plan for.”

The book is based on four concepts, the most basic being the idea of seeing a space — it can be a physical space like a kitchen or bedroom, a space on your computer, or even a period of time — as “Million Dollar Real Estate.”

“Precious space is worth millions,” Simon said, and so it should be organized according to whatever activity takes place there. “If this is where you read, then you need to have a space there for your bookshelves, and a place to sit comfortably.”

The second concept, which is applied to a million-dollar real estate, is that “Clutter confuses. Uniformity creates calm.” Simon said a disorganized bookcase, where some books are on their sides while others are standing up, can be distracting, whereas one where books of similar sizes are lined up edge to edge “creates a calming effect, because it’s not all busy and different colors.” With the mind calm, the activity at hand should be easier, she said.

A third principle is the idea that “Everything Deserves a Home.” Part of that concept is the importance of having a “dumping zone” near the entry of a home, Simon said, a place to unload items from your day at work, as well as things like groceries that you might have picked up on the way home. The problem, she said, is that the items often stay there because you haven’t decided where they should really go. According to Simon, “Making Decisions” is principle No. 4, the most difficult concept of all because it can be so personal.

“People put things in those spaces where they do not belong, and that is how stuff gets classified as ‘clutter,’” she said.

-- Star Advertiser, May 22, 2022