PATRICIA VISITS WITH NJ COUNTRYSIDE

A visit with Patricia Diesel, professional organizer It’s not just 12-step groups that forgive and welcome back. The calendar does too. Every January it gives humans another chance to start fresh and really get it right this time. Fortunately, there’s help. Professional organizer and life coach Patricia Diesel of Basking Ridge reveals her methods and offers some tips on how to finally chuck all your clutter and improve your life. Her business, which includes workshops and teleclasses, is called Keep It Simple Now, a clue to her approach. We sat down with Pat while the self-improvement urge was still upon us.

Tell me about your typical client. When people call or email you, what’s their mood and what do they say? They’re overwhelmed, stressed. They feel they’ve lost control, that the clutter is taking over. They can’t find anything, they’re depressed, they don’t know where to begin. They want someone to throw them a lifeline. And that’s what we do.

Getting organized really does seem like a 12-step program. First you have to admit that you’re powerless over clutter, then surrender to the process of making changes. What are the next steps? I meet with the client. We discuss their needs and determine goals. Together we figure out how and where we can best begin to declutter their life and set them free.

You’re saying that if a person’s office or wherever is organized, they’ll feel free? Absolutely. Clutter weighs you down. It’s depressing. Without the emotional freight that clutter creates it’s easier to achieve your larger goals. You can then look at your life as a whole and decide whether there are other aspects that are weighing you down, perhaps a bad relationship, an unsatisfying job. Getting organized is one of the top 10 goals each year, and if you stick with it, it creates a personal transformation. You feel free and in control. People need that feeling.