She was 17, sweet, and helpful. She was the child of a friend of a friend and I had never met her. She was no professional organizer though she said shyly later on, “I like to clean.” But when she left my house two and a half hours after she came on this Saturday morning, my office had been transformed.

I had been looking for a teen to help me get over an organizational hump in my house. I had tried to do the job on my own. In the past I had made little vows. I had set aside time to do it. I - well what does it matter what I had done to try to get the office cleaned up. It was still a mess.

The fact is the job had gotten too big for me to tackle alone. Like many who give in to avoidance, I had let my office/store room/cat litter box room get out of control. The rest of the house was feeling it. Papers that I should have filed were in a pile in my bedroom because it was easier than negotiating the way to the filing cabinet.

I had been trying to get started for some time. Visitors are often the catalyst for getting on the organizing ball. Now my son and family were coming for a four day visit. Because I am The Organizer Lady^® I knew where a big part of the answer lay — bring in outside help.

I wanted her for three hours but her mom got lost driving her to my house so our time was shortened somewhat. When we first stepped into the office I reverted back to my old panic mode. And then I mentally switched into a place of power. I called on the organizing approaches I had learned as I had clawed my way into order and finally become (drum roll, please), “The Organizer Lady^®“!

Rule Number One - Have supplies ready. I had two “magic white boxes” made up, a bag for charity giveaways, and a trash bag. (See a picture of them on www.organizerlady.com products page.

Rule Number Two - Recall that the goal is to clear surfaces. The biggest surface is always the floor so I started there.

Rule Number Three - Get started. So as I directed she recorded giveaways for tax deductions. I got rid of several “good” things that were no longer good for me, like a label maker and a calculator with paper that recorded on paper. She threw away great stacks of paper like magazines, a journal I had written years ago and moved on from, newsletters, and the like. I’m sure they were wonderful but not as wonderful as the space and control I derived from discarding them. None of us can keep everything that is “good.” She placed Valentine decorations in a white box and stored the rest in their proper places in the office.

After the floor we attacked the surfaces of the desk, file tops, and the like. When all was done I set my little Roomba™ vacuum to work on the floor to finish up the job.

She did all the foot work. I did all the decision making. (Not easy. I had to take a ten minute refreshment break to catch my breath.) In that two and a half hours we made giant strides including hanging three pictures to get them up off of the surfaces we were clearing. Now the room is presentable for my family and I can clear the pile of papers in the bedroom.

Maybe rule number one is really: Do whatever it takes to get overcome disorganization even if it means calling in outside help. When organizing techniques meet an appointment with a fresh-faced teenager, wonderful things can happen.

It’s not easy to do the organizing deed. But it is even harder living with the deed undone. Getting help is the key. Whoo Hoo!

Bad times, sometimes tragic times, come to all of us. How do we face mundane tasks such as organizing our houses in times of loss and devastation when we are distracted by our trauma?

First we give ourselves time to grieve and to recover from our shock. We cannot expect to be able to go on with business as usual when we are experiencing a personal or family tragedy.

It helps to recognize that under stress, weaknesses become exaggerated. In our case, messiness gets worse. Situations like this are when automatic habits come into play. It is beneficial to try to stick to our habits and routine. There is no benefit to us, our families to let things fall apart in our own lives and houses just because things are falling apart elsewhere.

In times of stress, order and serenity in our homes becomes even more important. Organization gives us the support we all need so that we will be able to function in the ways necessary in times of trouble. Participating in mundane tasks can be soothing. We cannot control world events but we can take care of things around the house.

We need to keep our priorities straight. As a concept, organizing is not nearly as important as many other things in life. What it delivers often is.