Listen to a brief audio message
from Ariane!
(You may need to click twice to hear it.)
Have you tried to get organized many
times but it just doesn't stick?
Have you cleared your clutter only
to turn around and there it is again?
Are you really tired of feeling like
your life is spinning out of control?
Is clutter and chaos causing tension
with your loved ones or colleagues?
If your ability to enjoy life is being destroyed by disorganization and the emotional and physical clutter that comes with it, you've come to the right place! I am here to help you take back control of your life and discover how to organize YOUR way!
By investing in professional organizing and coaching with me, or my business partner Eileen, you are investing in yourself, your future, your relationships, your career, and your physical, mental, and emotional health.
You will gain insights, knowledge, skills, habits and
processes that will empower you to
get and stay
organized and start taking action immediately to live
your best life!
We not only help you to clear
clutter and get
organized, Eileen, who is a Certified Interior Redesign Specialist with over 10 years of professional organizing experience can help you redecorate
and optimize your space using the furnishings you already have. Rearranging and redecorating your
space as you
organize helps ensure your space is
efficient AND a place you like to spend time in. When
you truly enjoy being in your space it significantly increases your chances of maintaining your new organizing systems.
Ariane founded NEAT & SIMPLE LIVING™ to help people transform their lives and experience the life-changing positive energy, stress relief, self-confidence and self-esteem that comes from discovering they CAN get reasonably organized!
Organizing is a set of skills you CAN learn. I know because I wasn't born organized either. I'm a natural sentimental packrat. I had to learn the hard way to change the way I relate to my things and release clutter to make room for the future I truly wanted. Because traditional complex organizing methods never worked well for me, I had to learn how to organize for my creative personality style - using extremely simple and creative approaches. It changed my life! I was able to change my own bad habits and move forward to have the life I always wanted.
It's not easy to do on your own, but it CAN be done. Having support from someone whose only concern is making your life better and helping you reach your personal goals makes the process, easier, faster and much more enjoyable.
My greatest reward is helping people go from feeling overwhelmed and defeated to feeling confident and empowered - like they can let go of clutter, organize anything AND maintain it! Even if they have been painfully disorganized for most of their lives and are convinced there is no hope for them.
Why become organized?
Because being organized allows you to live your life the way you choose to - not as a slave to your stuff and to other people's priorities and expectations!
You don't have to be perfect or rigid about it. Just being reasonably organized enhances your self-confidence, self-respect, and overall well being. Letting go of clutter and becoming more organized DRAMATICALLY lowers stress and improves your physical, mental and emotional health! Effective organization allows you to have more time and energy for the things that matter most to you, like spending time with family, pursuing hobbies, eating healthy, exercising or just hanging out with friends.
I think of it as "passion-based or values-based organizing." The idea is that if you aren't passionate about what you want, or clear about what you value, where is the motivation to get organized going to come from? If you are stuck, frustrated, and procrastinating and unclear about where to begin to get organized, coaching with me will help you sort it all out and find your passion. Once you are clear about what's been holding you back and where you want to go, you will have the motivation and drive to overcome all the other obstacles.
If you aren't making progress on your organizing goals because you have a hard time making decisions or are unsure of how to go about it, then we'll guide you to the right decisions and teach you how to make organizing decisions more easily in the future.
What is NEAT & SIMPLE LIVING about?
Finding the balance between “NEAT” and "SIMPLE LIVING”
that is good enough and works for you! 
It's about using neat ideas and simple organizing strategies to keep things just neat enough so that you can enjoy your space! It’s about having more time and money for what you really love doing! But most of all it's about feeling good about yourself as you are and get over trying to live up to other people's standards.
Neat & Simple Living is NOT about being perfectly tidy all the time.
One of the great myths about being organized is that you have to be perfectly tidy all the time. Many "tidy" people are actually quite disorganized. They may focus on making things look good, yet their closets and drawers are stuffed to the brim with stuff they can't find when they need it!
Neat & Simple Living is NOT about buying lots of fancy containers.
Yet another myth about organizing. Containers are great! I love them! They are needed for many things, but the containers don't organize you! You do the organizing and then find the right container for the organized things.
If you don't buy containers with a specific purpose in mind, they just become more clutter. In my experience, clients rarely need to buy a lot more storage containers, you just have to use what you already have efficiently!
Although some people have the opposite problem. They are so afraid of not buying the "right" "perfect"containers and storage that they just don't buy any! If you need storage, we'll help you choose the right storage for your organizing needs AND organizing style.
Organizing Tip
ASSESS & MEASURE : Before buying containers, assess how much you have to store in them now and over the next year, then measure the space where they will be located.
AVOID SPECIALIZED UNITASKING CONTAINERS. When buying containers, the less specialized they are, the more likely you'll be able to re-purpose them when your needs change!
Neat & Simple Living is about YOU taking charge
of your priorities,
your space, your stuff, your time and your life.
It's about being PROACTIVE and not just REACTIVE to all the stuff and noise out there competing for your attention and your money. For example, learning how to say NO gracefully when other people offer you their clutter. Or learning to shop for what you need, rather than reacting to advertising and gimmicks designed to "create needs" and tempt you to shop impulsively.
Neat & Simple Living is NOT about making you perfect. It's about finding the simplest, easiest organizing systems to fit:
- YOUR personal definition of "Neat & Simple"
- YOUR personality and
- YOUR lifestyle.
An organizing solution works when:
Neat & Simple Living is about truly understanding your needs and organizing style before choosing solutions.
Sometimes what holds people back from organizing their environment efficiently is not being clear about what they actually need. For example, most people don’t stop to think about all the activities and projects they participate in and what supplies they need, when, how often and where they should be kept. Activity analysis does not come naturally to us! And it is very difficult to do this by yourself without getting distracted. After all, no one is paying you to take the time to assess your needs and organize to meet them.
__________________
"Making the simple complicated
is commonplace--
making the complicated simple,
awesomely simple--
that's creativity."
--Charles Mingus
__________________
Even fewer people think about their organizing style and preferences. Most people aren’t even aware that there are organizing styles (just like there are personality types). For example, are you a natural "Maintainer" who loves to use sophisticated organizing systems? Are you a natural "Innovator / Creative" type who requires simple, non-traditional systems because even one extra step, like having to open a lid or drawer, is one step too many? Are you a visual person who must have things out in the open or do you need everything put away but easy to find?
To learn more about organizing styles, see Organizing for your Brain Type by Lanna Nakone.
I help you develop an understanding of your needs and empower you to choose the right solutions for you to get organized and then figure our how you are going to stay that way! With a solid foundation, even if you let things go for a while when things get hectic, getting back on track will be easy!
My Personal Office Before I Got Organized...
My Office in 2002
My Newly Organized Office in 2007
Read the whole makeover story and see more photos here.
See more professional organizer projects in our
Neat & Simple Organizing Solutions Photo Gallery!
Change Isn't Easy.. But you CAN do it!
We have strong relationships with our things. Even if you want to change, old habits are hard to break. But if you are committed to changing your life, and are ready to learn and try new ways of doing things - I am here to help ENSURE you succeed!
I'll help you see things you don't see anymore. You will gain insights into what's really underlying the emotional and physical clutter and disorganization in your environment. You WILL become increasingly clearer about your goals and priorities, able to make difficult decisions much more easily, and make your vision a reality.
I specialize in working creative people, people with ADD, chronic disorganization and other conditions that make organizing especially difficult.
| To Get Started Schedule a Personal Organizing Success Consultation with Ariane  |
100% confidential and nonjudgmental.
Over 25 years experience helping people and organizations
solve problems, identify the source of the problems,
create solutions that really work, and successfully implement them!
My Mission
My mission as an organizing coach and educator is to help people create a life they really love. Organizing coaches go beyond the stuff and ask questions that inspire you to look inside to clarify thoughts, beliefs and priorities so that you can let go of the stuff that is causing chaos in your life, and renew your commitment to caring for yourself.
My intention is to facilitate painless change, and make a positive difference in people's lives and build self-confidence. Through my Organizing Guides, the Neat & Simple Living Blog and my online group coaching programs , I seek to also help people who can't afford to hire an professional organizer learn to get and stay organized.
If you resonate with the Neat & Simple Organizing philosophy, I look forward to having you as a client, a friend and a subscriber to the Neat & Simple Living Blog. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.
More Questions?
Get answers to more frequently asked questions here.
I invite you to explore the
extensive organizing learning
resources and products on this site!
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1. Listen to my free Organizing Tips Recorded 11/6/08
free online community called the Neat & Simple Living Cafe. Recorded 11/6/08
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2. Read my free organizing articles or browse the
Neat & Simple organizing books and products store.
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3. Explore the Before & After Photo Gallery of
Organizing Projects!
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4. Get my free organizing e-books
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5. Visit my Neat & Simple Living Organizing blog!
- The Neat & Simple Living Organizing
and Decluttering
Blog features over 450 articles!
Interesting Facts About Clutter
We get more mail in one month than our grandparents got in a lifetime.
Many people waste 1-3 hours a day searching for things because of disorganization and clutter.
Being disorganized and having lots of clutter costs families an average of 10-15% of their income and even more!
About 80% of the clutter in your home is a result of disorganization - not lack of space.
Getting rid of excess clutter would eliminate 40 percent of housework in the average home.
Courtesy of NAPO.net
