Combatting Clutter
THRIVE – VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6 – APRIL 2008

Sunny Schlenger is featured in this April 2008 article on Thrive.

“Penny, rest her soul, has been dead for at least 25 years. An extreme case of clutter-itis, maybe. But most of us can relate on some level — that closet we just keep throwing stuff into and closing the door, the drawer in the kitchen with its hodge podge of contents, the magazines stockpiled in the garage. Don’t wait 30 years to get organized, start now, advises Sunny Schlenger, professional coach and organizer and author of “How to Be Organized in Spite of Yourself” (Penguin/Putnum)…”

read the whole article

Quoted in the John Tesh Radio Show Newsletter
From the Family Circle, January Issue

Sunny Schlenger was quoted for the January issue of Family Circle, and quoted from that article in John Tesh’s Radio Show newsletter.

“Organize your environment. If every flat surface in your house is piled with papers and junk, watch out. Sunny Schlenger, author of Organizing for the Spirit, says you can tell how well you’re dealing with life by what your environment looks like. She points out that clutter can overwhelm your spirit, and disorganization causes constant, imperceptible stress. The fix: spend 10 minutes every day de-cluttering one spot where things accumulate. And stop trying to find places to store what you don’t really love or need. Give it away or haul it to the curb. With less stuff to take care of, you’ll have more time to devote to the things that really move your life forward.”

Cut the Clutter
By Christine Richmond

MarthaStewart.com in Body + Soul, Green Living
September 2006 It doesn’t seem so bad at first. A stack of bills (or your kid’s latest artwork) sits on the kitchen table, and some old photos amass on the floor by the bed. Somehow, these innocent-looking piles proliferate, as if by their own free will. In mere days, a few contained cases of clutter morph into utter mayhem—and you have no idea how. (more…)

How to Make Those “Sweeping” Changes
By Natasha Hunter

The Harvard Resource: News and Information
for Harvard University Faculty and Staff
July 2005 It’s a beautiful afternoon and you’re standing glumly in your office, staring at seemingly endless stacks of, well, stuff. When did those piles get so high? What the heck is in them, anyway? And how are you going to dig yourself out?

While the time may not be less busy, summer months can be a moment to take on special or neglected projects. Many Harvard employees choose summer to attack the previous year’s accumulation of papers, files and miscellany, in order to face the new academic year afresh. Moreover, as Harvard’s supervisor of recycling and waste Rob Gogan points out, “This is the season for moving, renovations and office cleanouts – plus a lot of dorms are cleaning out and upgrading.” (more…)

Lose the Clutter, Find Your Soul
By Kama Lee Jackson

Microsoft Home Magazine
April 12, 2005 For Janette Kincaid, clutter isn’t just taking up space in her home. It’s taking up space in her thoughts, day and night.

“I’ve got a list going in my head as to which rooms or areas I need to tackle first,” says the Burlington, Ont., working mother of two. “The other night I couldn’t sleep. I got up, went through and organized my youngest daughter’s drawers. It had been bothering me that they were so full of stuff that she can’t wear anymore.” (more…)

Special To The Record
By Delia Blackler Perretta

The Record
January 6, 2005 If you’re like most people, you probably made a couple of New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you’re planning to hit the gym every day. Maybe you’re swearing off junk food. Or maybe you plan to conquer all that clutter in your house. Those focusing on the latter may want to consider the ancient Japanese tradition of Osoji to increase their chances of success – because willpower alone might not cut it. Osoji is both a literal and metaphoric cleansing of the physical and spiritual stains of the past year. (For more information about Osoji, visit kyotoguide.com/e-p01-interview).

But if you think you’ll be able to reorganize your entire house in a weekend, even with Osoji’s help, think again. (more…)

Are we overdocumenting our lives?
By Alyson Ward Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Fort Worth Star Telegram
October 24, 2004 Our relatives send us 500 photos to sift through online. If there’s an event, we have a videotape of it. Technology makes it easier and easier to catalog our lives — but does that mean we should?

Jill Caren saw a storage-space shortage in her future.

Her 2-year-old daughter, Rachel, has started using crayons and fingerpaints and glue. The result: lots and lots of art projects, too many for the refrigerator door.
(more…)

Finding Meaning in Clutter
By Marlene England

Johns Hopkins Magazine
September, 2004 Life can get pretty messy at times. Just ask Baltimore native, best-selling author, and life coach Sunny Schlenger.

A professional organizer for 25 years, Schlenger’s seen it all. Bedrooms filled floor to ceiling with papers and knickknacks. Grocery bags overflowing with unopened mail. Executives paralyzed by a fear of filing — and drowning in a sea of papers. Families too busy to share meals, let alone conversation.

Schlenger believes there is hope for the messes — and their makers. And she’s determined to tackle the time and space challenges that can make life seem so overwhelming. (more…)

Girl Zone
September, 2004 There’s only one you. Your individuality should be driving everything you do. But, sad to say, many of us end up being someone other than who we really are. Whether we haven’t discovered our uniqueness yet or we’re trying to please someone else, we’re not living as authentically as we could. We’re settling for lives that are absent the challenges and contributions that rightfully belong to us. We need to learn to live with integrity, be comfortable with our authenticity, and rediscover our person passions before we can truly be who we are.

Baruch Spinoza said, “To be who we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end in life.” But what, exactly, does it mean to be who we are? One place to begin answering this question is to observe your personal style, not just your style of dressing, but everything you do. Personal style is the outward manifestation of your inner self. It showcases your natural preferences and expresses what you truly love. (more…)

Organizing Your Life as a Means to Self-Discovery
by Sunny Schlenger

New Living Magazine
June, 2004 Is the way you’re spending your time and energy the way you want to be spending it? Are you connecting to the “stuff” of life in a manner that energizes and empowers you, and enables you to live life to the fullest? Too often, our attempts at organization work backwards. We buy a day planner and bring it home, set it down on the table, and wait for it to organize us. Or we purchase a book, place it on the shelf, and prepare to somehow become better organized through osmosis. It’s a decent effort but ultimately not very practical.

If you want to be organized throughout your entire life, you need to look at organizing not as something separate from yourself, but rather as a tool to discover who you are at each stage in the process.For instance, when organizing, it’s hard to determine where something should go if you don’t yet know whether it should go anywhere at all. The decisions you make about your belongings are actually decisions you’re making about yourself and what you value – what you’re allowing to consume the minutes and hours, square feet, and square yardage of your home. (more…)