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! We are here to help you take back control of your life and discover how to organize YOUR way!

By investing in coaching with Ariane, or professional organizing with 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 becomes a place you love 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.

We think of it as "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 and stay organized going to come from? 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:

You really enjoy using it AND looking at it

Putting things away is just as simple and easy for you as
dropping them on a surface

You can clean up for company in less than 20 minutes!

You know what you have and you can find most of your things
in less than a few minutes.

It fits your personal organizing style - a key factor in STAYING
organized

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.

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"Making the simple complicated is commonplace--
making the complicated simple, awesomely simple--
that's creativity."

--Charles Mingus

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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.

We help you develop an understanding of your needs and empower you to choose the right organizing solutions for you. Then we work closely with you to figure out how you are going to stay organized! With a solid foundation, even if you let things go for a while when things get hectic, getting back on track will be easy!

Ariane's Personal Office Before Becoming Organized...

Office in 2002


Newly Organized and Redecorated Office in 2007

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 - we are here to help ENSURE you succeed!

We'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.

Our Mission

Our mission is to facilitate painless change, build your self-confidence, decrease stress, and make a positive difference in your life.

If you would like to have personal organizing services in your home or business, Eileen will be happy to provide with a complimentary consultation!

New Jersey
973 • 582 • 0686

If you prefer to learn how to organize on your own, or through organizing classes / coaching groups, or if you can't afford to hire an professional organizer we have lots of other resources developed by Ariane!

• Organizing Books and Guides written by Ariane
• Neat & Simple Living Blog
• Organizing classes and group coaching programs

Ariane specializes in working creative people, people with ADD, chronic disorganization and other conditions that make organizing especially difficult.

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