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| Blanka Smetana - organize your home and gain time |
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Are you running in circles looking for things in your house, trying to find that lost mitten your when getting the kids ready for school? Blanka Smetana is the one that can help you wrap your head around your house and office. Andrea Dubravsky: Blanka, you came to Canada almost 10 years ago from the Czech Republic, have a university degree in System Engineering and Computer science, how does it fit with your organizing business? Blanka Smetana: Being a System Engineer and a Professional Organizer is actually a perfect fit. Objective of a System Engineer is to create optimal solution systems to complex issues and problems. My goal as a Professional Organizer is to find this OPTIMAL solution system for my client’s homes and their offices … a system which will work for the whole family. Andrea Dubravsky: You are a mother of two so you can relate to a life of a busy mom. What do you find is the biggest problem women face and how can you help them? Blanka Smetana: Not enough time … but if you think about it, it’s really interesting. We have microwaves, laundry machines, online access to government or community services, tools that do things for us in the matter of minutes even seconds, and we still long for more hours in our day. Lots of times the reason is that we are not organized. We are trying to handle so many things … there is our family, career, school, extra curriculum activities, our household chores, the pet, and plus we need some time for ourselves to keep our sanity intact … and getting organized might be the simplest solution to all of this. Organizing is not just about keeping your home tidy, it is about finding the system that will help you manage all those things you need to do. It’s about time management, how you prioritize and schedule your activities. It is about forming new habits that will allow you to get on top of all your duties. Again, it all comes down to finding the OPTIMAL system. And it is where I as a Professional Organizer can help. Andrea Dubravsky: What can a Professional Organizer help me with? Blanka Smetana: There are so many areas the Professional Organizers cover. If you visit Professional Organizers in Canada website, you will find out that some of us are specializing in residential and home office organizing, or maybe in corporate organizing. There are speaker and writers, organizers specializing in time management or filing management. Some of the Professional Organizers have extended their education to work with ADD clients or hoarders. There is a wide range of services provided by Professional Organizers and as I mentioned the best way to find out more is to visit Professional Organizers in Canada website. Andrea Dubravsky: When you come to my house and organize it, will you move things around? I’m worried that it will take me a month to get used to the new setting. Blanka Smetana: Most likely I will move things around and yes you will need some time to get used to the new system. That comes from a nature of being human. We are creatures of habits and routines and when those change we usually need 21 days to synchronize ourselves. But, I won’t move your favorite cutting board to the other side of your kitchen just because I think it looks better there or because it’s where I keep it in my kitchen. First of all I will need to find out what your routines are, why you do things in certain way, what your goals are. By understanding that I will be able to design functional system which will make sense to YOU and to the people you live with. Andrea Dubravsky: How long does it take to get a house organized? Blanka Smetana: It depends on many factors. Obviously on the extend of the organizing project, but even more on how much time the client him/herself can invest into the process. Professional Organizer won’t make you throw things out. He or she will suggest and give you reasons why you should dispose of certain item, but the final decision is always yours. If you are working with the Professional Organizer you make the decisions right then, progressing faster, hence saving money on organizer’s fee. Other great benefit of this approach is that you have a chance to learn from the person you work with. In case the Professional Organizer is left to work alone, certain parts of the process have to wait until you make the decision on how the particular items will be handled. I’m in favor of working together with the client for the learning benefit of it, but whatever client’s choice is I respect it. Andrea Dubravsky: Do Professional Organizers have special training or can anyone be an Organizer? Blanka Smetana: Being organized is a skill that can be learned. Among Professional Organizers, you can find those that were born being organized and those that struggled with disorganization, but learned how to overcome it and now are using their own experience and knowledge to help others. So, the answer would be “Yes, anyone can become a Professional Organizer”, but there is another factor that distinguishes Professional Organizer from a well-organized person. Professional Organizer has the ability to analyze client’s situation and come up with a solution that will work for the particular client. Earlier I mentioned Professional Organizers in Canada (POC). It is an association that provides Professional Organizers with support and training and lists all their members; so you, as a client, can search for a Professional Organizers in your area. Any Professional Organizer can become Trained Professional Organizer by completing extensive training and successfully passing the final exam. POC provides us with an opportunity to meet with other Professional Organizers through Chapter meetings or at the online Discussion Forum; so we are constantly increasing our knowledge within the industry. Andrea Dubravsky: Some people really need help of a home organizer but find it as an extra expense they are not willing to take. Blanka Smetana: You are absolutely right, this is very common. But, think about what is your hourly rate at the place you work, or if you would be stay-at-home mom what your husband’s hourly rate would be, because your time you spend taking care of your home is as valuable as his. Now think how many hours you have already invested into organizing your home, how much time you spend every day searching for your wallet, sunglasses, kids’ school work, how many times you had to take off your shoes and go back to the house to get the rental DVD you are owing late fees on. Multiply that with the hourly rate and you will see that it has already cost you more than how much you would pay the Professional Organizer. The benefit of hiring one is that he or she will not only organize your home or office, but as well transfer their organizing skills onto you in the process; so you can maintain the system by yourself and stay organized. You can actually earn some of the money back by selling items that you had identified as unwanted during the de-cluttering stage of the organizing process. Andrea Dubravsky: Is there any advice you would have for us? Blanka Smetana: I have read a great book. It’s called Organizing Plain & Simple by Donna Smallin. In the chapter on staying organized she says: “Leave your ‘campground’ cleaner than you found it.”, and explains that you should never leave the room without improving its appearance. This is such a simple habit you can take on even before you start organizing your home by yourself or before you hire a Professional Organizer. Start today. Before leaving bedroom close the closet door, going through the family room, pick up old newspaper and throw it into a recycle bin. In the kitchen, place your coffee mug into a dishwasher and straighten a chair. Those little things will take you only few seconds but they will add up and soon you will see that your home looks better and it will motivate you to do even more. Have fun and enjoy your organized home.
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