Christa Wagner

Christa and the Professional Organizers of Canada will be at Booth #1670 at the Vancouver Home + Interior Design Show, which takes place on October 15-18. If you haven’t already, buy your tickets now and get to know the many businesses that will be at the Home Show. See you there!

Tune into Shaw TV, Channel 4 in Vancouver to see professional organizer Christa Wagner in action with her local client Nicole Turcotte.  Christa and Nicole have been working on her home office for about 12 hours and we have made a huge dent in Nicole’s paper piles. 

As a new Mom and business owner, Nicole has a lot on her plate.  Not to mention, she had her beautiful baby girl six months ago and then moved into their new home one month later .  What do you often do in that situation?  You stuff things wherever there is space, right?  Well, now Nicole wants to find a practical, logical home for things and most importantly her home office which is piling up and only getting worse each day.

Nicole’s office is like many others with tons of paper on the desk, many boxes of old, outdated, paper, no file system in place and no motivation to get started.  That’s where a professional organizer comes and we have made amazing progress.

In the time we’ve been working together, we’ve set up a FreedomFiler for Nicole creating a home for paper she needs to reference again in the future.  We’ve created action files for Nicole’s desktop providing a home for all the paper she has to act upon in the future and we’ve discussed time management.  (Want to create your own action files, purchase our eBook Conquer Paper Clutter). 

You can see it all on Shaw TV (Channel 4, Vancouver) on the show called “The Express.”  Here are the times:

• September 22 at 3pm, 6pm, 10pm
• September 23 at 5:30am, 10am, 11:30am, 2pm

Check it out and contact us with any questions at 778.839.5792.

Last week on the Today Show, I learned about an interesting new website called Supercook.com.  I know one of the challenges of “what’s for dinner” is not having the ingredients in your fridge or just not knowing what to do with them if you do.  Maybe, you don’t have the time to review a recipe book. 

Our Meal Planning Made Easy System Helps You Get Dinner On The Table Every Night

Supercook.com allows you to “Open the fridge and pantry, type your ingredients into Supercook.com, and stand back. Supercook looks through its database of 300,000 plus of recipes and spits out the ones that match. The result? You start cooking right away, using food in your kitchen that would otherwise spoil. It’s a great way to find new recipes and economize at the same time.

For more help getting dinner on the table use our Meal Planning Made Easy system with step-by-step reminders to make meal planning and shopping easier for busy people.  For less than the price of take out, you can get dinner on the table every night.

As Vancouver Professional Organizers, we bring the plan, the products and the know-how to get organized and stay organized. We help you decide what’s important and make sure you have the right tools at your finger tips.  Contact us at 778.839.5792. 

It goes without saying we are thrilled about our new duplex home and we could not have done it without realtor Mike Rampf.  Here is a recent testimonial I shared with him:

Mike-

“There aren’t really words to express quite how excited we are about our new duplex home.  I think when I hugged the stove, that said it all.  Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for negotiating like a rock star ensuring the house came in within our budget and for all the other strings you pulled in our favor.  I highly recommend you to anyone buying or a selling a home; you are professional, a competitive sales person, compassionate and thorough.   I knew we would be in great hands, but you exceeded my expectations.  

Christa & John Wagner

If you are buying or selling contact Mike Rampf and you will be in great hands.  If you would like a personal introduction please contact me at 778.839.5792 and I would be happy to do so.

Yesterday, I gave a workshop called Simplify Your Life and Kick Start Productivity for the staff of Langara College.  It was fantastic and I was honored to be selected as a speaker for their continuing education courses for their staff. 

At the workshop, I shared Five Organizing Tactics to implement to start living a more organized life.  One of them was “Manage Your Email” and the topic turned into a really healthy conversation about email overuse. 

Nearly every attendee was complaining about how much email they had; they said it wasted their time and bogged them down from getting the more important tasks accomplished.  This is all true, which is why we must learn to manage our email to more effectively.

A question that came up was what to do with all the “Thank You” emails you receive.  You know the situation, it happens many times each day, when you send something to someone and they respond just to say “Thank You.”   Or even worse, when you send a group email (which should be avoided at all costs) and everyone responds to say “Thank You.”  These are very common after an event of some kind, like a holiday party.  Everyone agreed the emails were polite, but completely unnecessary and just adds to their already full inbox. 

I shared with them two tools you can use to reduce the amount of “Thank You” emails you receive.  Of course, this may take some training and you will want to let your recipients know how these tools work so you all can use them properly. 

• NRN = No Response Necessary:  Place these words or this acronym at the bottom of your email, near your name or closing.  It implies, the person only has to read the email, but does not have to respond. 
• NTN = No Thanks Necessary:  Place these words or this acronym at the bottom of your email, near your name or closing.  It lets the recipient know you do not expect a return or thank you email. 

Email has the potential to be a great tool, but with its overuse and abuse, its more of an annoyance than anything else.  We need to train each other how to use email effectively so we can start to use this tool in a more productive manner.

I am so excited my husband and I are moving to the Commercial Drive neighborhood in Vancouver.  But now, its time to organize our move and we all know what that means.  Moving can be such a stressful time; on top of packing, letting go of stuff we don’t need, use and love and purchasing items needed for move in day, we also want to enjoythe Kitsilano neighborood as much as possible over the next month.   It’s important to me to have all my ducks in a row in order to make this most stress free move possible. 

So over the next month (moving day is September 30) I will be sharing the steps I am taking to accomplish just that.  If you have any move suggestions that have helped you in the past, please pass them along and use my posts as a guide to help you move or get organized as you move into Fall.  It’s a busy time of year and a great time to evaluate your things before more comes in from school and over the holidays.

• step #1is to decide whether we want to do the packing ourselves or hire professionals to do it all.  John and I discussed this and based our budget we will pack ourselves using Frogbox; and eco-friendly packing tool that reduces the amount of cardboard used to move. 
• Step #2:  Select a mover.  I have contacted several movers for estimates and credentials and now we must decide who will work best for us.  I need to show them what we have in order to get a fair estimate and confirm the time of arrival on moving day. 
• Step #3:  Make a list of  the things we want to do in our neighborhood while we’re still here.  Not that we won’t be back, but you know how it is and when you move you start living in a new area.  The first thing in my list is a romantic beach fire. 

That’s my plan at the moment.  Once these two steps are finalized I will move on.  This is a very exciting time and although moves can be stressful and energy intensive, I know we can have some fun at the same time. 

Savvy Solutions provides personal organizing solutions in Vancouver, BC.  We offer Speaking Engagements and Workshops, Paper and Information Management support, Time Management and Email Management.  Contact is at info@savvysolutionsorganizing.com. 

Back to school and fall is a busy time of year.  Be sure you are ready by attending this workshop, our 5th Annual Taming Family Chaos – Back To School Edition.  The class will be lead by Vancouver Professional Organizer, Christa Wager of Savvy Solutions.  Attendees will learn 10 family organizing secrets you can use to simplify your life and take control of your home.  Keep in mind, your kids will learn a life skill that they will use throughout school, work  and life.   Call 604-257-6976 to register. 

** Every participant will receive a copy of Christa’s Audio Magazine – Live A More Organized Life **

Title: Taming Family Chaos

When: Aug 25, 2009 6:30 PM

Investment: $22

Where: Kitsilano Community Centre, 2690 Larch Street, Vancouver, BC

Register: Call 604-257-6976

Christa Wagner is a Vancouver Professional Organizer and owner of Savvy Solutions. As a professional organizer, we bring the plan, the products and the know-how to get organized and stay organized. We help you decide what’s important and make sure you have the right tools at your finger tips.

Attention Busy Moms and Families:   If Household Clutter is Driving You Crazy, Take Our Summer Organizing Challenge.   

Share Your Success: Week #2
 
We are week two of our Summer Organizing Challenge and we want to hear how things are going?    Your homework was to walk around your home or office and identify areas you want to organize or clutter clear  Then create a list and a timeline to complete the project(s).  How did you do?

So sometimes when we are organizing or working on any project, we can lose our steam.  One of the benefits of working with an organizer is that I am there to keep you going when you want to give up.  So how do you keep motivated and stay on track?  My advice is to look at your list and start working on the thing task or activity will make you feel the most amazing if it were completed.  Perhaps, it’s a clearing the dining room table, or creating a grocery list (we recommend using our Meal Planning Made Easy System to help), or maybe its getting all your kids toys off the floor.  What is going to make you feel great and motivate you to keep going.   Set the timer and start working on this task for activity.  You are going to feel like a rock start when its done!

Dont’ deal with the clutter for one more day – let us know how the organizing challenge is going and contact us with any questions at info@savvysolutionsorganizing.com.  Being organized gives you more time to do things you love  you can be outside enjoying the sunshine.  Get Organized and Get More Out Of Life!   Best of luck on your organizing project.  We look forward to hearing about your success!

Christa

p.s.  Tell friends about this post and invite others to join the Organizing Challenge - its for anyone you know who wants de-clutter and get organized.

p.p.s  Hiring an organizer will cut your organizing time in half and increase your likelihood of success.  We have organized hundreds of offices, files, kitchens, closets, bedrooms and kid’s rooms.   Bring it on!  If your in Vancouver, contact us today at 778.839.5792 to ensure you organizing success.  Outside of Vancouver, check out our organizing products to help you organize on your own.

I recently received my POC Talk newsletter and was shocked and thrilled to see that I have been nominated for the 2009 Harold Taylor  Organizing Award.  What an honor and a surprise!!!  Thank you so much to whoever nominated me.  I did not see this coming and am just thrilled to be apart of such a distinguished list of organizers. 

Nominees are the people who have been recognized by their peers as having given something back to POC, its members, and the organizing industry. The winner will be announced at the National POC Conference in Calgary this November.  I will be a speaker the conference am looking forward to meeting many organizers. 

Thank you for this honor.  I am proud to be apart of POC and have always wanted to give as much as I can to other organizers and the organizing industry.