Organizing Without Agonizing

I remember when I first started working with Debbye Cannon on organizing my home and family. My life was like my house – it was chaos. It was piles of to-do lists and rooms filled with clutter. In less than a year, I barely recognize my own life. To begin with, my home is manageable and orderly. The result of that is that many things I had only hoped for in my life are either in process or have been accomplished. Somehow, it all began with a few simple changes that seemed to have nothing to do with hopes and dreams at all. It started with clearing out my laundry room. We all know what life looks like on paper – and how distant it is from reality. Here’s the snapshot:

The Life I Deserved	Day-to-Day Reality
Working in a challenging and rewarding career	Endless hours at a so-so job, plus commute
Being a great spouse and enjoying my partner	Emailing each other just to stay in touch
Raising great kids	Feeling like an absentee mom
Keeping up a beautiful home	I’m lucky if I have time to shower
Having free time for friends and hobbies	Friends?
Having a savings and a retirement account	Spending so much on takeout and crises, that there was nothing left to save

Debbye began to gently offer a few simple life skills to help me start to organize my life. It started with clearing away the clutter that had taken over my laundry room. Old cans of paint, half-finished projects, clothes I meant to give away – you name it, it was in my laundry room. With Debbye’s help I started with two boxes and a bag, and three hours later, it was done. “Why did I live in that chaos for so long,” rang in my ears. The feeling of accomplishment every time I walk into the openness and clarity of that laundry room is fantastic.

Then I bought Debbye’s book, “Organizing Without Agonizing,” and I started to put more of her simple tips and solutions into action. Room by room, my house became a home to be proud of. From the back yard to the hall closets, I parted with enough stuff to fill ten homes. This is where the story gets really interesting: The room that this created went FAR beyond empty space. It spelled, "Welcome Home, Mary Agnes Antonopoulos."

Because I had a new, fantastic meal plan, we were able to STOP eating fast food and save a good deal of money – a WIN WIN. With the simple calendar technique Debbye taught me, we no longer ran around apologizing for appointments missed or buying expensive gifts on the way to a party (along with a $4 gift bag). Everything was accounted for, and last-minute was a phrase I threw away with the old paint. I was simply not playing catch up every day of my life; I had created breathing room, and this quickly became room to grow. Here’s what life looks like since I started using the Organizing Without Agonizing solutions:

My Peace-full life

I work from home as a freelance writer (a life-long dream)

I have LONG beautiful conversations with my husband, and we have “date night” once a month

I spend oodles of time with my child – we even prepare healthy meals together

My home is my haven, a symbol of the peace and serenity in our lives

We have great times with friends and entertain at our house often

We have saved for a great vacation, and have a plan and the beginning of our retirement savings underway – PLUS a college fund for our daughter

Now none of these things happened overnight. Some of them took hard work and planning. Some were just the natural course of embracing a more organized, less chaotic life. I still visit Debbye’s website often for tips and reminders. And right now, the most exciting event on my calendar is Debbye’s upcoming Serenity class. I signed up to be part of her teleseminar -- eight weeks of concentrated tips and life-changing skills. I KNOW the freedom that organizing my life and home brought to my family. Getting to join the small group that Debbye is offering this class to is the best choice and investment I could make today. It is an investment that not only lasts a lifetime, for us, it has simply built a life we love to live.

If any of this speaks to you, or if you need a hand with organizing your home and life, feel free to visit Debbye Cannon's website: www.TheShortcutExpert.com or www.OrganizingWithoutAgonizing.com