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  

What Belongs Where? Free Organizing Printable.

Hello Collectors! You are on your way to being organized. You have pulled everything out of the cabinet, wiped it down, and purged what you don't need or use. What goes back in that cabinet? As a matter of fact - what goes where?! I get asked that question a lot. I get calls on my cell phone and a good share of emails. What should go in the hall closet now that it's all been cleaned out?
What goes under the sink in the bathroom?

Below I have created a guide to "What Belongs Where" - I hope you find it useful!

WHAT GOES WHERE? Download this free organizing printable today!

Need help going through those boxes? We LOVE going through boxes, bags, mystery bags, junk drawers, under the bed and everywhere else. Let us do all the heavy lifting, cleaning, hauling and organizing.We provide non-judgemental discreet help for anyone overwhelmed with clutter. We offer realistic timelines and maintenance plans. Licensed. Bonded. Insured.

925-548-7750

Collector Care: 4.5 Holiday Travel Tips for Collectors, Savers and Preppers

Happy Holidays Collectors! Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest travel weekend of the year. Traveling during Thanksgiving often requires patience and a lot of preparation.

Here are 4.5 Travel Tips for Collectors like yourself who are information junkies, prepppers, clutterers, and savers. Enjoy the humor, absorb the good tips and travel on!

1. Plan ahead. Collectors, we know you like a good deal. Take advantage of lower rates in the early fall by using social media. Sign up for sale notifications from your airline of choice on Facebook and Twitter. It’s never too early to start your holiday travel planning. 
2. Pack light/travel light Most of our Collectors have multiple travel bags, before your trip designate one specific travel bag.  Do NOT buy any  travel products, look inside your many existing travel bags and purses for what you need and consolidate. We know you have many toothbrushes, toiletries, and hand sanitizers laying about the house. Take a day to corral them all for your trip. It will save you money and a trip to the store.
3. Find your ID's and Passports. Every week our team recovers passports, ID's, social security cards, checks, check books, gift cards. Collectors, you are going to have to designate ONE safe place for these crucial items. They do not belong in the kitchen pantry under a computer. I'm just saying. If you need help finding something our Tony Leonardini is a recovery specialist and he is more than happy to come help.
   
4. Print your boarding pass at home, or have the link on your phone. We know you battle with losing papers, try your best to keep these in your "current" purse or in sight. I find keeping them in a bright orange folder helps. If all else fails, leave enough time to wait at the counter for check-in.
5. Plan a day to unpack after your trip. I have emptied countless travel bags filled with

We wish you happy travels Collectors! Do your best to not collect too many shampoos and soaps while you are traveling. Note pads and pens can be left in the hotel room. You have everything you need at home, enjoy your clutter free trip!

Collector Care Professional Organizers specialize in custom solutions for clutter, chronic disorganization and hoarding. If you need help locating documents, important identification, or money in order to travel, we can help! Our Organizers are thorough, efficient and honest. We are licensed, insured and bonded. What do you have to lose ... besides the stuff we can find?! www.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 Book Review: Buried in Treasures

Collector Care Book Review: Buried in Treasures
Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding.

By David F. Tolin, Randy O. Frost, and Gail Steketee.

Buy through Amazon using the ICD affiliate link (help ICD!)

Buried in Treasures can be read by an acquirer, a saver, a hoarder, a loved one, or a professional wanting to learn more about beating hoarding. If self-help books usually work for you, or self-help is the route you want to take at this time in your life – read this book. It offers practical methods to beating clutter with realistic timelines that work. The key point is that you are dedicated to helping yourself, and that you do not give up. Backsliding is normal, so keep on chugging. This book will help. It is easy to read, and the authors are engaging. They will cheer you along the way. These are the some of the most elite professionals in our field, this book is a gold mine. Trust in them and trust in yourself. 

If you are a family member or concerned friend, just know that hoarding can be treated! Don’t give up on your loved one. By reading this book, you might begin to understand what your loved one is actually going through.  You will be given methods to help relieve YOUR concern, anger, sadness and anxiety about your loved ones disorder. Buried in Treasures will open your awareness on how to address this issue with your loved one in a manner that works.

As a professional organizer I find this book helpful as a way to help my clients beat hoarding. The questions at the end of each chapter are much like the ones I use with my clients, in addition to many new ideas I plan to use going forward. This book is a mandatory read if you want to be an ICD Hoarding Specialist. I recommend this book to any professional organizer who is interested in hoarding.

Below are five topics from this book that I picked out and commented on. There is a TON of info in this book and I only begin to scratch the surface of all the "buried treasures" within this book.

1. What is hoarding? This book is an excellent resource for the answer to this question.  A side note states “One of the key features of compulsive hoarding is that the clutter is so bad that portions of the home are unusable.” It also goes in to the three criteria that are thought to be present in hoarding disorder.  Chapter 2 explains hoarding thoroughly.
2.  Hoarding is treatable. “Compulsive hoarding is recognized as a diagnosable (and treatable) behavioral syndrome.” This is coming straight from leading experts. Believing this is a key role in conquering hoarding.
3. “Whereas most people define themselves by what they do, people with hoarding problems often define themselves by what they have. “ Being aware of this will help you win your battle. No one said this is easy work. The more aware you are of yourself, and your identity, you will begin to define yourself in healthier ways.
4. “Try scheduling your organizing sessions during the time your brain is most likely to cooperate.” This is a huge key to organizing success. If you are not a “morning person”, a “night owl”, have ADHD, TBI, physical disabilities, etc. Plan to organize at a time when you are at your best. Get a good night’s sleep, eat and drink plenty of water before during and after your organizing spurts! Take care of yourself and do not overdo it. 
5. “If you are hooked on Saturday morning yard sales, find something else to do”. You cannot beat hoarding if you are bringing more stuff in. There are so many other things you can do with your time. How about finally reading one of the hundreds of books you own? Finally taking in that charity bag, cleaning out your car, taking your dog on a walk, taking your recycling in, etc! Enough is enough folks. If you are a shopper, you have got to take yourself out of those situations until your hoarding is under control. 

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. Please feel free to leave a comment on this blog about Buried in Treasures, or feel free to ask any questions about this book or hoarding.  If you are looking for other good books on Hoarding I suggest reading Digging Out by Dr. Michael Tompkins, any book by Judith Kolberg,  the ICD Guide to Challenging Disorganization, or visit the ICD website.

Collector Care specializes in hoarding disorder and we work side by side with our clients to improve their living standards. If you know of someone who hoards, or if you are a hoarder please don’t hesitate to give us a call. 925-548-7750. Not ready yet? Check out our website, Facebook,or Twitter.

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

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: Dr. Melva aka Doc Lashes aka Mystic Mama

Collector Care Interviews:

Rachel Seavey and Doctor Melva Talk About Single Parenting

I first came across Dr. Melva on the A&E hit series Hoarders where myself and all of her fans came to know her as "Doc Lashes". I began following her on social media sites, and really enjoyed her posts. I noticed a lot of them centered around her being alone with her son. I wondered if she were a single mom like myself. Her messages were so powerful at a time when I felt like hiding under a rock. Was it possible that a single working mother be happy and successful?
She gave me hope throughout this last year with her inspirational quotes and funny stories about her son. I wanted to know more about Doctor Melva! I was thrilled when I got the chance to meet her and do a quick interview on a whim. We got to the bottom of some of my personal pain, and I am so grateful to be able to share. Here we are below taking a pic after chopping it up.

Rachel: Is it hard for you to be a single mom? Do you miss your son when he is at his Dad’s?
 

Dr. Melva: I feel like I can’t claim the complete single mom role because my son has a wonderful Dad. It’s because I have made it a point to have such a healthy and whole relationship with his father – I don’t feel alone. We don’t make any decisions independently as it relates to him (large decisions). Even though we differ on certain ideals about what he needs or what he should have, we have a respect for each other.

My son has been gone with his Dad for weeks at times, and yes I miss him, but I value the time he spends with his father. It is something that is really important to all of us.

Dr. Melva: Are you having a hard time letting your son go?
 

Rachel: Yes I am having a very hard time. I don’t even know who I am without him. I fill the time keeping busy so that I don’t have to think about it. I wish that I could just naturally be happy about the situation but it makes me very sad.
 

Dr. Melva: Rachel is it that you miss the relationship with the three of you?  The reason I ask that is because one of the things that people underestimate the most is grief. It’s the things we do to set a pause on grief. Ill be the first to tell you I did not grieve the loss of our relationship until recently - like this year (I am a very straight person). It was five years ago that we split, I did not even think about grieving. We are great co-parents. When I drove cross country and stopped in Nashville (where we had met in medical school) I texted my sons father sitting from our favorite restaurant. I said "I am crying and the tears are pouring, and I feel like I am missing the dream of what we were once". Then I went past the restaurant, past where our son was born and the medical school and cried my eyes out, I was on the interstate crying, I realized I was finishing the grief process that I never finished before. And not so much that I wanted him back – there had been a dream. We were the perfect three piece set, and it was crushed. And I never grieved.

Rachel: I am missing the dream. Who doesn't dream of having the perfect life (whatever that may be), when it is crushed, it is hard to cope. It's hard to identify the root of the pain when so much hardship is going on around you. I am so happy to hear this perspective. Thank you  for letting me interview you. I will continue to work on accepting grieving the broken dream.

Please stay tuned for our next blog on Dr. Melva being so open about expressing her nontraditional western beliefs and which sorceress I remind her of.

Rachel Seavey, Professional Organizer At Collector Care

Collector Care serves the San Francisco Bay Area. We specialize in hoarding disorder, chronic disorganization and helping the overwhelmed with clutter. We love what we do, and provide realistic expectations and timelines. Don't suffer in chaos any longer. Every breath is a new beginning!
Please visit our website at
www.collectorcare.com or call 925-548-7750
Tweet us on Twitter : Like our Facebook page : Find us on Pinterest

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