Hello

My Story

I grew up in an environment that was not easy.  My mother had mental illnesses and was not properly medicated for much of my childhood.  Our two-bedroom apartment for the first 16 years of my life was cluttered with packages my mom bought but never opened, books, “stuff” (/trash), animals (☹)… not like the Hoarders you see on TV but pretty close.  I learned quickly to be a “pack rat” from my dad as he was born the last son in a family of 10 children in poverty.  His mindset is to keep anything you might need in the future and not have the funds to pay for at that time.  In contrast to that, my sister and I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ in their meticulously kept clean and orderly home.  It was the picture of the nuclear family, and the expectation was PERFECT, no exceptions.  I don’t think either of these was an ideal that I (or anyone really) should ever strive for. 

For most of my adult life I have struggled with severe anxiety and depression (think panic attacks that are sometimes debilitating enough to cause full body tremors).  After my third child, my anxiety was redirected to obsessive thoughts (thankfully, no compulsions).  The year around having my son was filled with many significant health problems (for myself and my son) and it resulted in what I call a “midlife crisis.”  I had a massive shakedown of every aspect of my life: my career, my marriage and other lifelong relationships, my home, my finances.  As part of that process, I found (no coincidences) an organizing conference and I knew immediately that this felt like a calling to me.  I feverishly took over 20 pages of notes and felt myself “geeking out” because I have always done so many of these tips and tricks.  For the first time I felt like I could use the negative hand I have been dealt to HELP OTHERS.  I clearly come from a place of ZERO JUDGMENT because of the environments I have been in.  I use most of the techniques I have gathered on myself.  I use the obsessive anxiety to organize like items, label, color code, etc. I am familiar with the mental health hang-ups that can cause clutter (I’ve suffered or watched others in my family).  I’m a great listener and once I am devoted to a project, I will see it through to the end, no matter how many times I have to pause, flex, and re-start. I love learning and researching the newest and greatest systems available.

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Outside of the geek organizer, I am a re-married mom of three plus one living in Hanover, PA.  My kids are my life, and I know firsthand how intense keeping up with a full household can be.  My full-time job is a CPA in private industry, so I double geek when I get to help out with finances because I’m a numbers girl at heart.  My hobbies are reading, scrapbooking, going to concerts with one of my best friends, music of any type, and all of the “foo-foo” alternative techniques of self-care (floating, somatic activated healing, essential oils, acupuncture…)