Friday, March 19, 2010

dear aby

Have you seen those shows on TV where a professional organizer comes into a home and radically changes the family's life? Well, that's what has been happening at our house the past three or four weeks. Think Clean Sweep minus the hunky handyman and the yard sale!


Jeff and I recently contacted Aby Garvey of Simplify101 and asked her to help us jump-start our operation organziation. For awhile now, we had been finding ourselves overwhelmed by stuff and determined once-and-for-all to take back our space. No small feat after nearly eight years of living with clutter.


Enter dear aby who has changed our lives for the better. I had heard a lot about her and the online organizing classes she offers from a number of bloggers. After checking out her website, we knew she was the gal for the job and invited her to tour our home and develop a plan to conquer paper clutter and complete some projects that would make life more enjoyable for our entire family.


And that she did! Along with several "aha moments," Aby helped us find under utilized areas, establish new habits for handling the paper that comes and goes from our house, harvest low-hanging fruit and use it to earn some cash, befriend the kitchen timer to manage the precious time we have to declutter and organize and helped us fall in love with our house all over again.


I wish that I had taken a BEFORE photo of our master bedroom closet. Let's just say it could've landed us a spot on one of the aforementioned TV shows! I cannot tell you just how happy it makes me to open the door and see this. All thanks to dear aby!



We are learning what is most important to us and how to make our home a refuge. Check out Aby's website for more info about Simplify 101 and the online courses she has to offer.


P.S. My beloved handyman hung the additional shelves in the closet. Eric Stromer has nothing on you, Dad!