Busy, Busy Businesswoman
Thank you so much for coming in the office to help me get organized with all the speaking engagement seminar topics, advertising, marketing, membership/organization, donations/trade and my Full Brain Marketing Author files. When we first went into the organization, it seemed so overwhelming and then you helped me finish and wrap up with your professionalism and systematic way of filing.
My files are in such perfect shape and so organized! I can find anything I need in seconds by your use of color coding and titles and division of files with main topic titles. Wow! What a difference this makes for me as a business owner who is very busy and in charge of so many different types of files for my company. Thank you so much.
- DJ Heckes
Founder/CEO of EXHIB-IT! Tradeshow Marketing Experts
Author, Full Brain Marketing for the Small Business
New Mexico’s Small Business Person of the Year for 2007
Now I am Really Organized
I bought the FreedomFiler® from Elizabeth last year thinking I was very organized. Well to tell you the truth, NOW I am organized. This system is so simple to use, even my husband can find copies of bills that we have paid. I would recommend this system to anyone as everything is in one place and the convenience it provides at tax time is phenomenal.
- Julie Matt, Shaklee Distributor
Home Office Makeover
I had the opportunity to work with Elizabeth to better organize my home office. Elizabeth is a thoughtful, creative woman who understands people very well. She offered suggestions based on what she knew I would be comfortable with doing in my office. She is highly skilled and was a tremendous asset in helping me create a space I could use more effectively. Her gentle nature and tireless approach to my clutter problems still leave me impressed and very grateful!
- Brenda Petty, Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Options Acupuncture and Accutonics
I Can Craft in My Craft Room!
I have been a fan of Elizabeth’s simplified filing system, FreedomFiler® for a couple of years. I hired Elizabeth again to help me organize my craft room. My craft room is a tiny, unusual shaped room and I am a scrapbooking supply collector. Elizabeth was able to get ALL my crafts into the room in an easily accessible forum. I have the ability to go into the room and work on any craft I desire without set up/take down time. Most importantly, I had expressed my desire to have my sewing machine up and available for use. Elizabeth listened to my preferences and made it happen.
- Cathy Rypma Dixon, Owner, Solutions Accounting and Financial
A Beautiful Bedroom, Working Quilt Studio, and Finally an Office
I had the pleasure of working with Elizabeth Tawney Gross after a change in my life that meant consolidating an entire house into three rooms. I had tried for years to organize it, but it just got worse. When I was on the verge of striking a match to the whole mess and watching it burn, I found Elizabeth at Organizing for Everyday. Contrary to my fears, she assured me it was not hopeless, and we jumped into the fray.
What a pleasure! She discussed with me everything I wanted to do in the rooms, and then presented suggestions on how it could work. Some I liked and some not so much, but she always listened to my concerns and came up with alternatives when her first idea didn’t fit with my work or lifestyle. Other people with whom I had spoken were selling a “system,” and were determined that I was going to need what they sold. Elizabeth had no such agenda – she used whatever worked for me and, if she could re-purpose something I already owned to save me money, that’s what she did.
Once we decided on a plan, Elizabeth went to work. Each time she came, she sorted, consolidated, rearranged, and left me with “homework” to complete before her next visit. The good news was that the homework was reduced to bite-sized chunks that I could handle, rather than the overwhelming piles of stuff begging for a match! It wasn’t a quick fix but, as she said, it had taken me years to get it into that state, so spending a little time reclaiming it only made sense.
At the end of the process, I had a bedroom I actually could sleep in, a gorgeous quilt studio where I could find all my fabric and tools (rather than continuing to re-purchase what I knew was in there somewhere, but had no idea where!), and an office that only had the papers I actually needed – and I could find them. Not only was it beautiful when she was done, but it was so practical that it has stayed functional since August of 2007. Okay, sometimes it still gets messy, especially when I’m in the middle of designing a quilt – but it only takes minutes to restore it to its former glory, rather than days, weeks, or never!
In addition to being a great organizer and designer, Elizabeth is a teacher. She taught me a bunch of techniques (ask her about hanging your hangers backwards – it’s a fabulous technique for keeping control of your clothes) which have made maintenance a breeze. And, she’s also extremely handy – she installed my shelves and even a light fixture herself. Whatever needed to be done, she found a way to do it!
If you’re faced with a seemingly insurmountable jumble, call her! You’ll get the whole package with Elizabeth Tawney Gross and Organizing for Everyday, and I can’t recommend her too highly!
- Heidi Nesbitt, Assistant Director, Not for Profit
How Organizing for Everyday has helped me.
My house used to have mounds of paper on every flat surface that wasn’t a shelf, and too few shelves for all of the other stuff, even though there were shelves in front of the windows, as well as along the walls. I had trouble keeping track of bills and other important documents. Organizing for Everyday evaluated my home and came up with a multitude of wonderful ideas for creating more storage space, making things easier to keep clean, ways to keep track of the important papers and make everything else easier to find. All of these suggestions were written down in a comprehensive plan.
I am about halfway through implementing these suggestions and I am amazed at how much more quickly and easily the house can be put back in order, how much nicer and more spacious the rooms look, and how much more quickly I can find anything I need! I have been able to find just the right place for most things already and yet I’ve been able to take down the shelves that were in front of the windows. I’m really eager to see how much better the house will look once the rest of the changes are made.
– Rhoda Winters, Artist, Homeschooling Mother of three
You Have Been so Easy to Work With
Elizabeth never judged me or made me feel bad she just gently helped me see what the problem was and how I could work on correcting it. Every time she came to my home I know that by the end of the day I would feel like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
- Camille Smallwood, Albuquerque Homeowner
Ironed Out the Problems in my Iron Business
Elizabeth came into my business and was able to quickly see ways that our current systems were hurting profitability. She was able to give us concrete suggestions to solve our problems. I enjoyed working with her and would recommend her to other business owners.
- Don Best, Owner, Barnett Aldon Ironworks
An Answer to Prayer
Learning about Elizabeth and Organizing for Everyday from a neighbor was the answer to a prayer. Getting rid of clutter was first priority. Then my husband’s health began to fail. He had always taken care of our financial affairs so I was quite concerned about paying bills on time and keeping good records. The FreedomFiler System has done that and more. Elizabeth set up the most important files in a rolling file cart and found a spot for them where I would see them every day. Having them close by was a reminder to “do it now!” Preparing our income tax for the first time, my son had most of the information he needed in those files.
Elizabeth is an organizing professional, warm, compassionate, and able to assess a client’s needs and come up with a workable solution. I highly recommend Elizabeth Gross for all your clutter control.
- Virginia Carr, Homemaker, Advocate for the Hard of Hearing
A Changed Life
My life has been like the movie “A Perfect Storm”. At the end I was really hoping that the coast guard would show up and rescue George Clooney. He would stand on top of the boat that was about to go under and miraculously grasp the helicopter line in just the nick of time. Or how about “Titanic”. That’s really a better depiction of my life and home. The ship is going down and I am going to take it ALL with me! And survive!
But we all know that’s not possible. There’s no rescue for me if I take it all with me. It would be like driving many u-hauls behind the hearse carrying my coffin. That’s pretty sad. I have been unhappy for a long time and haven’t known how to rescue myself. That’s because I can’t.
When I finally – after almost 50 years – reached out for help, Elizabeth became my little light at the end of a very long tunnel. A tunnel that was going to leave a legacy of sadness and shame because I couldn’t get my life together- not even for my husband and children. No visitors, no holiday traditions, no Christmas tree, no dinner at the table because it was piled with junk.
How this could happen to me? I’m intelligent, likable, creative, educated, have good relationships and I love my husband, children, and parents. I started out with all the right ideas and really tried to do it well, but it just got worse as the years have passed. It feels like my life’s biggest failure and has literally buried me family in stuff.
I didn’t know much about Professional Organizers but I had watched a program that mentioned a National Organization that trains them. So I looked up that organization, researched the training and education required for the different levels of certification. I was hopeful when I saw the training including helping people with ADD, mental health issues, the chronically disorganized, people with certain family and emotional issues and…… the time proven methods for creating order out of chaos while teaching the client how to achieve it and maintain it. What a tall order! It sounded so good. I was skeptical but desperate!
50 years of chaos and misery have certainly left some heavy duty habit patterns burned into my brain. How could this change?
So I went onto the NAOPO website and looked for Professional Organizers in my town with the education and training that addressed my issues. Elizabeth came up as the only organizer with the specifications I wanted. I went to her website. I was hesitant. I very much wanted someone who cared about my situation and who I could be myself with. I needed someone who could look at my situation honestly and give me direction. But I also needed someone who wouldn’t judge or look down on me. I didn’t need to feel worse about my life; I needed someone I could trust.
So I called her. I could tell right away that she was ethical, professional, and kind. We set our first appointment. She arrived on time and prepared. We went over the entire house and she wrote notes, carefully listening to me and my husband. We set up an overall plan in that first appointment.
I knew then that she was exactly the person I was looking for. The first sessions of organizing were fun and educational. We laughed a lot. I started to feel relieved from the massive burden I had been carrying. After all Elizabeth is an expert with my problem. She actually has a gift for what she does, and enjoys working with people like me! The best workers are ones that love doing their jobs. She has cared and understood how hard life had been for me. She was armed with encouragement and a label maker! She assured me that I could learn new habits and that there was a path for my success. I could have a nice home and live in it normally. Every area would become organized and then we would set up an easy way for everyone in the family to keep it working. She has been direct and honest in letting me know the behaviors to change and HOW to change them so this will work. She has also taught me basic skills in organizing with short term and long term strategies.
I am learning how not to sabotage myself, how to have quicker results, and how to systematically focus on each small task to produce a completely functional, attractive, family friendly room. I really didn’t think this was possible. It’s not easy, but it’s not nearly as difficult to do as I thought it would be. It’s like learning to drive a car, the skills learned stay with you and become more refined as time goes on. It will take some time and effort on my part and it will take change. I think being ready – to change and stop the behaviors that have created the problem-is one of the keys to success. Trading in my misery for effort and change is a no-brainer to me.
Eventually my entire house will be organized, attractive, functional and clean. Even my garage. Now that’s a huge light at the not so long tunnel for me.
I’m glad I didn’t wait one more day to do this. I have done many difficult things in my life and achieved success in other areas. When I soon have mastered this it will be one of my biggest achievements. And I can let go of the past. I have a new legacy to build for my children and a new life to live.
A changed life. I’m glad it’s mine.
