Procrastination + Chores

Hey Collectors!

What's going on?! You putting some things off? Are you procrastinating on your chores as usual? What makes you put them off? Are you distracted? Would you rather be doing anything else?

I get it it. You associate your chores with negative feelings. Feelings that stemmed from childhood, old feelings. Household chores = yucky. You might be reminded of being made to pick up as a child, or as many of my clients, you were never shown to pick up, so you don't really know how. Maybe your parents hated chores and you are imitating them subconsciously. Maybe your stomach turns at the thought of doing chores because your entire being associates chores as being painful.

It's time to shift the way you think. Chores = happiness. You can finally have people over, you can find things easily so you are not late, you save money so you are not buying duplicates.
Messy = yucky. Messy equals guilt, embarrassment, shame, always running late, having to buy duplicates.

Let's define the word "chores":

Dictionary.com definition of the word "chores", 

the everyday work around a house or farm.

The word "everyday" is super important, as being organized requires a conscious steady effort. You have to maintain your routine in order for it to last.

Instead of moving towards happiness we stay in the land of procrastination, watching tv, surfing the net, and doing anything else possible. Avoiding. Procrastinating. Staying in a rut. Stagnate. No forward motion.

Do you want to be unhappy not doing chores? Or actually be happy by maintaining your nest?

At what point does being unhappy sitting in a mess become worse than actually picking up?

Ask yourself these questions Collectors. Stop procrastinating! You deserve to be happy!!

Rachel Seavey
Professional Organizer
Blogger

Do you need help getting back on track?

Do you want help establishing new systems and routines? 

Hire a Collector Care Professional Organizer today! 

Reclaim your happiness! 

www.collectorcare.com

925-548-7750

help@collectorcare.com  

4.5 Reasons You Should Hire a Collector Care Professional Organizer

Hello Collectors! A bit nervous about hiring a professional organizer? Worried about letting someone in? Being judged? Pressured to throw things away? I know this all too well, I hear it all the time.
What I hear after we have worked  is "why didn't I call you a long time ago?!".

Would you trust your neighbor do your dental work? No, you would go to a dentist.
Would you let an 8 year old drive you home? No, you would call a taxi.
Would you hire a school teacher to do your plumbing problems?! Of course not, you would hire a plumber. So when clutter has got you down, why would you not call a professional organizer? It makes sense folks.

We are trained to be extremely thorough, efficient and professional. We handle your stuff with the most delicate of care. We are smart, funny, energetic and non-judgmental. Collector Care Professional Organizers are NAPO members and ICD subscribers. We train our staff on managing client expectations, working with clients with disabilities, and teaching OSHA standards. We pride ourselves on our work, and are always learning new methods and techniques.

Need more encouragement? Here you go Collectors!

1. Misc. clutter builds up. You find yourself overwhelmed and don't know where to start. We come over, with a methodical plan and we organize your belongings in a functional way.
2. You have a bunch of stuff in your garage/attic/kitchen/basement and you want it gone through, organized and/or hauled away. We have all the tools and skills to help you do this efficiently.
   Bye bye clutter!
3. You can't have repairs done in your home due to clutter. We will help you get your place up to par so those repairs can happen. We are not state mandated. We won't call your landlord.  We won't call the police. We won't post your pictures on the internet without your consent. We really want to help you.
4. You are limited by your disabilities.  We work side by side with our clients to develop custom systems that work. We have clients with Chronic Fatigue, Lyme Disease, ADHD, and Clinical Depression (just to name a few). We create a pleasant and healthy work space to help you feel comfortable during the entire process.
5. You don't want someone bossing you around and being in control of your stuff. Wonderful Collectors, YOU are in charge of the entire process. You say what stays and what goes. We donate to the charity of your 

Did I mention we are licensed, insured and bonded? Ok Collectors, I hope that gets your wonderful minds going. Thank you for reading this blog, most of our clients are knowledge collectors and I love hearing that you follow us on our blog and social media (hugs!).

Rachel Seavey, Owner & Blogger of Collector Care
Collector Care specializes in hoarding disorder, chronic disorganization and professional organizing. We  love what we do, and  provide realistic expectations and timelines. Please visit our website at

www.collectorcare.com  or call 925-548-7750

Tweet us on Twitter : Like our Facebook page : Pin with us on Pinterest

Random Rant On Plastic Bins - from a Hoarding Specialist's Prospective

Howdy Collectors! It's time to corral up all of your plastic bins. They could be clear, many of them are a solid color and some of them have patterns.

The one thing I will tell ya, is they all have DIFFERENT SIZED lids! What is up with that??? Why are lids not UNIVERSAL?? Lids should not be PROPRIETARY! How am I supposed to be efficient while searching through lids for that perfect fit?

Much love to our #hoarding and #ocd clients who know exactly which lids goes to what with the quickest glance.

Collector Care Before & After Photo's : Project Single Parent

Hello Collectors! We love when our clients allow us to use their photos for our before and after showcase. Below you will find work that we did for one of our North Bay clients and his family. This client was a level 2 on the ICD clutter hoarding scale, and we knew with a little bit of Care we could turn this house into a home again.

Bedroom before.

Bedroom after. Note, there is still homework for the client to do, such as continue to sort surrounding bins.

Hallway before

Hallway After

Daughter's room before.

Daughters room after.

Son's room before.

Son's room after.

Living room before.

Living room after.

If you are overwhelmed with clutter, are chronically disorganized or have issues with hoarding - there is help! We love the warm fuzzies we get with helping you transform your space. Not only do we address your "house" problem, we  help you understand new ways of thinking. We give homework for our clients to do in between sessions. We follow up thoroughly. We are not going to clean out your home and never talk to you again. Unless you want it that way :) Most of our clients appreciate the maintenance we offer and the suggestions we have. We have kids so we understand the mess that comes with them! We have pets ... we get it! Let's come up with solutions that work that are custom made for you. We offer honest timelines and pride ourselves on our efficiency. Go ahead, give us a call - we offer free estimates!

Rachel Seavey, Professional Organizer (and blogger) For Collector Care

Collector Care specializes in hoarding disorder, chronic disorganization and professional organizing. We  love what we do, and  provide realistic expectations and timelines. Please visit our website at

www.collectorcare.com  or call 925-548-7750

Tweet us on Twitter : Like our Facebook page : Pin with us on Pinterest

Collector Care Interviews Organizing Expert Regina Lark - A Clear Path

In doing research on the upcoming 7th Annual NAPO Organizing Awards, I came across the name Regina Lark. Holy cow, what a remarkable human being. Just like the songbird, her name sang quietly in my head over the last month. How could I approach this amazing woman for my blog? What would I say? How would I do it?! 

The words came right to me when I was left with an extra ticket to the actual event. Knowing no one in the NAPO LA Chapter, that beautiful name sang once again "Reg-iiin-aaa". 

I decided I would reach out to Regina in hopes to find a good home for my ticket. One week away from the awards, on a Saturday afternoon, Regina responded immediately. What a relief! Besides being prompt upon her response, she was pleasant and kind, finding the perfect home for my ticket.

While I had her hooked, she kindly obliged to be featured on my blog ... but first a bit about Regina!

Regina Lark is founder and president of A Clear Path: Professional Organizing for Home, Work, Life. 

Regina Lark, Ph.D., CPO®

As a Certified Professional Organizer she specializes in working with people with chronic disorganization, ADHD, and hoarding disorders, as well as the folks with way too much stuff!

She chairs the Education Committee for the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and serves as Professional Development Director for NAPO-LA.  

Dr. Lark is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer on issues ranging from hoarding to time management. Her book, Psychic Debris and Crowded Closets: The Relationship between the Stuff in your Head and What's Under your Bed is due out February 2013.

Collector Care Interviews Organizing Expert Regina Lark - A Clear Path

Rachel: What is your favorite thing about working with people with chronic disorganization?
Regina: What I enjoy most about working with the chronically disorganized is helping clients believe that change is possible.
A lot of my CD clients are women with ADHD. They have fallen victim to the "super mom" or "super woman" myth of what it means to be female in the U.S. As a result, really smart, well-educated, successful women are shamed, embarrassed and bewildered by the fact that they have a really hard time getting it together at home. I get a lot of pleasure "meeting people where they live" so I can come up with systems to organize for their brain type (and not mine!).

Rachel: What is your ideal client?

Regina: My ideal is client is the person ready to commit to making big changes in their lives -both behaviorally and cognitively. I want to help them picture their ideal life so we can get there together. My ideal client is also working with a therapist who is knowledgeable about CD, or least understands the relationship between how one thinks about their "stuff" versus their relationship with their stuff.

Rachel: Can you tell me a little bit about testing for ADHD and ADD? Some of my clients are concerned that they may suffer from one of these, how can they find out?

Regina: The only way an adult or child can learn if they have ADHD (see note about ADHD below) is by testing with a mental health professional who can assess, through a series of in-depth questions about time-management and relationships (with people, stuff, environment). It's a relatively simple process. Knowledge is power, for sure, but what one does with the knowledge is where the power really comes into play. The acronym ADHD is the what is used for the diagnosis, not ADD (which became the 'short-hand' over time).  The official diagnosis is Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with Hyperactivity or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder without Hyperactivity.

Rachel: What do you do to relax after a long job?

Regina: Oh jeez... I'm such a type-A personality (without the high blood-pressure!) so after a long day in clutter I can usually be found at my desk creating the next workshop or tele-seminar. I love marketing and I'm usually networking at least 3-4x/week.

Rachel: What hobbies do you enjoy?

Regina: I happened to be born with a good singing voice and sang tenor with a chorus for a few years. Now I'm learning how to country-western dance. Working out at Curves, and riding my bike to the beach are also fun and good for my overall emotional and physical well-being. And, while not really a "hobby" - I journal every morning about, well, everything!

Rachel: Local knowledge - What are your 3 favorite restaurants in LA?

Regina: Gaby's Mediterranean Cafe; Kabuki Sushi, Maria's Italian Kitchen

More fun facts about Regina!

Regina ran for the office of Lt. Governor in California in 1998, and she earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Southern California. Her doctoral research will be published this winter. For fun, she teaches U.S. History at Los Angeles Pierce College.

For more information, visit her website: http://www.AClearPath.net

Regina Lark, Ph.D., CEO

A Clear Path: Professional Organizing for Home, Work, Life

PO Box 241941 Los Angeles, CA 90024

	Watch Dr. Regina Lark on A&E's Emmy nominated show "Hoarders" - Select episode 44 - Billy Bob/Jean

Rachel Seavey, Professional Organizer
I am located in Pleasanton Ca, and serve the San Francisco Bay Area.I specialize in Hoarding Disorder, Chronic Disorganization and helping the overwhelmed with clutter. I love what I do, and I provide realistic expectations and timelines. Don't suffer in chaos any  more. Every breath is a new beginning! Please visit my site at www.collectorcare.com
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