lightening up

The summer is really starting to heat up, and whenever the hot weather comes, my knee-jerk reaction is to get rid of some stuff. Less clutter and more space in my rooms somehow makes me feel cooler.

I've been wanting to get rid of a few pieces of second-hand furniture for a couple of weeks, but it took me that long to really commit to no longer having them in my life. My name is Michelle Lynne Goodfellow, and I have a chair fetish. Also: I covet worn things.

But tomorrow is garbage day, so out to the curb I took everything this afternoon. Luckily I live in a neighbourhood where curb surfing is not only tolerated, but expected.

Above and below are two chairs I found while curb surfing myself last year. I really like them, but one is kind of loosey-goosey, and I haven't been able to fix it with my Lee Valley Chair Doctor set, so it's kind of dubious seating. I have plenty of working chairs in my apartment that I like better.

I think the guys (my cats Tear and Guy) are going to miss them, though. Here's Tear taking one last sniff.


I'm also getting rid of a lectern I found at a church rummage sale several years ago. It has seen me through endless hours of singing practice, and when not in use as a music stand it made a great place to display coffee table books. But I don't really have room for it anymore, so it's going too. (For pics, see my junk style blog, here.)

Having trouble getting rid of some of something? Ask yourself these questions:

Do I really like it? (In the case of my chairs: Yes.)
Do I actually use it? (Yes.)
Do I have too many things just like it? (Yes.)
Is it broken? (Yes.)
Will I feel better without it in my space? (WAY yes.)

If you still can't bear to actually part with it, put it in storage for six months to a year. At the end of that time ask yourself: Do I miss it? If the answer is no... get rid of it!

creating beautiful work spaces

My social media guru, Leesa Barnes, just posted a new Marketing Fit video that talks about creating or finding beautiful spaces to work in.



I was inspired to post pictures of my own home office, which I have created to nourish and uplift me as I work at my computer every day. Enjoy!


This is my desk, which is really just a cedar door on top of three filing cabinets. I need LOTS of space around me when I work, and I also love the clean, uncluttered look of the bare wood. (And check out the vintage oak office chair, which a former client gave me.)



Adjacent to my desk is a folding table that I use when I'm working on large sewing, craft or art projects. If I ever need more floor space, I can always fold it up and move it elsewhere in my apartment. I also served dinner parties on this LONG combined surface.



The room has a gorgeous southeast exposure, and when it's not cloudy (like the day I took these pictures!), the sunshine pouring into the space is absolutely amazing. This small sitting area is a great place to read journals, drink tea, visit with friends or watch videos on YouTube; the standing lamps provide task lighting when the room gets dark after sunset.



I love the mis-matched charm of "junk style" or "shabby chic"; I found this simple chair at the side of the road on garbage day not too long ago. Once I brought it inside and cleaned it up, it looked pretty good! Now it's a place to set magazines and journals, and can be used as extra seating in a pinch.



I also love natural elements in my rooms - I'm forever bringing home branches, nests and other bits and pieces from my daily walks. Here's a maple branch that I found after a windstorm this winter; propped in a corner against a pale wall, it adds a calm, zen-like touch to my office.



I found this antler in the woods recently, when I was helping a local farmer set up the saplines in his maple sugar bush in preparation for maple syrup season.



A large metal locker holds art supplies and tools, and is a great surface to stick magnets onto. Here, a large rare earth magnet from Lee Valley Tools holds a gorgeous recycled-paper calendar from Avalanche Publishing Acquisition that features photos of trees - yet another natural element for my office.



Behind my desk is my infamous wall o' shelves, which everyone always comments on whenever they see the space for the first time. Yes, I'm a professional organizer; no, I don't always remember where I put everything!

Creating your own inspiring workspace is easy, once you know what pleases and refreshes you. I know that I prefer wide, open, clutter-free spaces in order to work most effectively. Having a place for everything, and putting things away when I'm done with them, helps me keep my space organized.

the niggly stuff

I have recently been faced with a problem that I often see with my clients - the inability to get rid of the tiny, niggly little stuff that has no immediate use.

The above shot is a photo of the inside of the medicine cabinet in my bathroom. I don't own much make-up, so the three shelves are filled with essential oils, dental floss, toothpaste, bath salts and the massage oil that I add to my daily baths. I keep the oil in a beautiful glass bottle, and until recently the bottle cork was topped by a lovely wooden ball.

The wooden ball has come off.


Now, I love wood. You'll find wooden objects throughout my apartment. It pleased me to no end that my oil bottle had a wood-topped cork.

But that wooden ball is now non-functional. It's so impregnated with oil that I could never glue it back onto the cork again. (Which is probably how it came unglued in the first place.) I have no other use for it.

But could I get rid of it? Not for several weeks.

First I tried shoving it back onto the cork, hoping they would stay stuck together. Then I got irritated every time I tried to uncork the bottle and the wooden ball came off in my hand.

It's just so beautiful. How could I throw it out? Indecisive, I kept it on my medicine cabinet shelf.

I see this with organizing clients all the time. They can't make a decision, so they don't make a decision - not realizing that they have just, by default, made a decision. To keep it.

My advice? Just get rid of it. Find a good home for it if you can (reduce, reuse, recycle), but if after several days (or weeks) you find yourself paralysed by not knowing what to do with it, just get rid of it.

My wooden ball went into the garbage this morning.

a new day

For the last several months a substantial shift has been going on in my life, and I've finally decided to let my blogs reflect it. Just over six months ago, I accepted the position of full-time Artistic Administrator for The Nathaniel Dett Chorale - a professional choir dedicated to the performance of Afrocentric music of all genres. To say my life has been turned upside-down is an understatement; this new job has taken hold of me with the passion of a calling, and yet at the same time I have been continually challenged to learn and grow as a human being, and it's not always been easy.

I'm still passionate about professional organizing - the original subject of this blog - as well as my other professional interests, for which I also created blogs: eco-friendly cleaning and consulting, freelance writing, visual art and design. Realistically, I just haven't had time to attend to everything in the months that I've been with the Chorale.

In the interests of simplifying my life (see, the professional organizing is always lurking there somewhere beneath the surface!), I'm consolidating most of my professional blogs into this one, and channelling my non-professional interests into one personal blog, http://www.emelgy.blogspot.com/.

The process may take several weeks, but from now on you can expect that this blog will deal with professional organizing, eco-friendly cleaning, and other wholistic living subjects.

The drawing at the beginning of this post was created with a mug full of Crayola Twistables crayons at a pub in North Toronto this past last week. I hadn't coloured in weeks, and was inspired to create something that symbolized a new happiness unfolding in my life.

the story of stuff

I gave a talk last night on the subject of green organizing to the North GTA chapter of Professional Organizers in Canada. Today's post was going to be an overview of the points I covered in my talk, but then another organizing colleague of mine sent me a link that takes precedence - and actually explains - even better than I could - some of the ideas I was trying to share last night.

Check out the twenty-minute animated video on this website called The Story of Stuff. It's entertaining and extremely informative. I'll add my own two cents in a day or two...

extreme purging

Are you inspired by reading about organizing and organization?

One of my favorite books about the voluntary simplicity movement is by author Elaine St. James. In Living the Simple Life she tells the story of a family who lost their home in a fire. When the time came to begin replacing their possessions, they suddenly realized how few of their former things they really needed.

They had experienced a shocking loss, yet were able to see the silver lining in their tragedy. They got a chance to start all over again, creating a life (and a home) that was a true expression of their values.

If your house was on fire and you had only moments to escape, what would you take with you?

Most of us have at least a few irreplaceables: photos, mementos, family heirlooms. But stop a moment and think. How important are those things, really?

What I've found as I've done layer after layer of my own purging is that there is really very little that I can't live without. I'm fond of my favorite possessions, yes - but my life will not be diminished by their loss.

There's something very freeing in this attitude. If my things don't matter, I can spend more energy on the stuff that does - like friendship, and joyful activities, and personal development.

I moved last fall, and I've helped others move in the months since. Every time I lug a box full of stuff that I know won't get unpacked for months - if ever! - I question the sanity of our culture (and my friends and clients).

Sometimes I entertain a fantasy: What if I moved to Europe? What if I couldn't take more than a couple of suitcases with me? What if I lived my life with everything I needed, packed into a carry-on bag?

This is extreme purging. And I'm feeling the pull. Every time I let go of another thing I once thought I could never live without, I feel like I've lost 20 pounds. (Do I smell a reality show somewhere...?)

simplicity

In my line of work I am constantly faced with the rampant consumerism and materialism of our society.

Whether it's a Depression-era client who can't let go of a collection of rubber bands, or a young urban professional who can't let go of a wall full of videotapes, we are drowning in stuff, and most of us can't appreciate how meaningless are the things to which we cling.

When I'm working with clients, I walk a fine line between supporting and encouraging people's passions, and really putting the screws to them as far as their clutter is concerned. The trick (or art, if you want to think of it that way) is knowing when people are ready for change, and when they just need some gentle nudging.

As far as my own philosophy goes, I espouse simplicity - even austerity. The older I get, the more impatient I become with my own clutter. I spent years acquiring more and more and MORE... now my constant refrain is: How few [fill in the blank: clothes, books, CDs, etc.] can I get away with?

And I have to say, each layer of my life that I shed leaves me feeling lighter and freer.

There is a whole movement devoted to this. You may have heard of it: Voluntary Simplicity. One of my first introductions to the Voluntary Simplicity movement was nearly 20 years ago, through the "More with Less" books published by the Mennonite Central Committee. Living More with Less by Doris Janzen Longacre became my favorite bedtime reading one summer when I was cooking for a treeplanting camp in northern Alberta.

A few years later I found Janet Luhrs' The Simple Living Guide, and it fueled my downsizing dreams for several months. Then I ran across one of Elaine St. James' books at a client's house, and there was no turning back.

Simplicity means different things to different people, but at its core is the desire to lead a life that has meaning and richness, filled with connection to others and to one's own deepest desires. To live deeply implies that you spend much time on few things. Too many possessions become a distraction: They require constant attention in the form of cleaning, care, storage (or working to pay for storage), and organization.

My own attempts at Voluntary Simplicity are a work in progress. If you're inspired to read more, check out the website The Smart Woman's Guide to a Simple Life by writer Gretchen Roberts. She lists many other current resources for simple living.

copyright 2007, Michelle Lynne Goodfellow