Hazel’s Organizing Stories

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

By Hazel Thornton | May 25, 2015 |

Imagine my surprise when I sat down to read a blog post by a friend who had received a Very Inspiring Blogger Award….and saw MY name listed as someone to whom she wanted to pay it forward! This award recognizes bloggers “who work hard to keep the blogosphere a beautiful place”.

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Once a Client, Always a Client

By Hazel Thornton | April 9, 2015 |

I miss my clients…some more than others, of course…after I’ve spent a lot of time with them in their homes and offices. It’s hard not to form a bond when they have confided in you, and trusted you, and you have laughed (and maybe cried) together. Sometimes the break is sudden and complete, such as…

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Born to Organize*

By Hazel Thornton | March 17, 2015 |

People ask me all the time how I became a professional organizer. Here is my story: ONCE UPON A TIME in Los Angeles… after earning degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Drafting, and Fine Arts… I worked as an Integrated Technology Planner for the local telephone company. (If you really want to know, it was the portion…

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7 Surprising Things I Found While Organizing…At My House

By Hazel Thornton | February 19, 2015 |

    As we sort through their possessions together, deciding what to keep and what to purge, my clients constantly find things they didn’t even know, or remember, that they owned. Well, guess what? It happens to me too! I was recently sorting through some of my own stuff and found a few things that…

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Does Your System Need Tweaking Like Mine Did?

By Hazel Thornton | January 21, 2015 |

In Six Organizing Systems Everyone Needs I asked questions designed to help you create the RIGHT systems that will work for YOU. I also stated that every system needs to be re-evaluated periodically, and adjusted as necessary. Because things change. Here is an example of a system that worked for me for many years…until it…

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8 Motivational Quotes for an Auspicious New Year

By Hazel Thornton | January 1, 2015 |

Rather than telling you what I hope…I mean, resolve…to accomplish in the New Year, I want to tell you how I plan to keep myself motivated. It’s easy for me to set goals, even S.M.A.R.T. Goals, and then forget later why they were so important. (It is just me?) I even have an entire New…

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Buy the best. Forget the rest.

By Hazel Thornton | October 20, 2014 |

I’m pretty frugal, but perhaps not in the same ways you are. The definition of frugal that I like best is this: Spending money on the things you value and saving on everything else. I don’t have the best of everything, but I am willing to spend money on things that are important to me.…

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I Can See Clearly Now…Can You?

By Hazel Thornton | July 13, 2014 |

I was driving to a business networking luncheon, admiring the blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and Sandia mountains with my brand new eyes (post cataract surgery), singing the old Johnny Nash song (“I can see clearly now the rain is gone…”), and it occurred to me that cataracts are just another form of clutter.

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Why Am I Organized and You Aren’t?

By Hazel Thornton | May 8, 2013 |

The first thing you should know is that I am not a psychologist and this is not a scientific paper. I’m just a professional organizer sharing some personal observations. The second thing you should know is that I’m not organized in every possible way at all possible times! And my standards (what “organized” looks like,…

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How to Pack Like a Pro

By Hazel Thornton | April 29, 2013 |

Want to know how to pack a suitcase like a pro? A professional organizer, that is? Well, I can’t speak for all of them. OK, it’s just me. Want to know how to pack like me? Here is my philosophy of packing, to paraphrase comedian Steven Wright: You can’t take everything. Where would you put…

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Hazel's Books

Cover of " What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy"

What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy

Cover of "Go With the Flow! (The Clutter Flow Chart Workbook)"

Go With the Flow! (The Clutter Flow Chart Workbook)

Cover of "Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror"

Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror

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