This past weekend I went to Canada for the Blissdom Canada blogging conference. Blissdom is held here in Nashville but this year they doubled the fun and took it international! I couldn’t resist the urge to go.

As most of you know I write for Mabel’s Labels and they are a Canada based company. They just so happened to have an extra conference ticket and passed it on my way. Thank you Mabel’s Labels!

To start off my weekend I headed to Mabel’s headquarters to organize Melissa Blais’ desk. You can read all about it here…

And, after 3 years of knowing each other online I finally got to meet my Organizer and Blogging friend Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie! I am so thrilled we got to hang out this weekend! TO all of my new Canadian friends…hope to see ya’ll at Blissdom 2011, eh!

As a professional organizer I teach my clients how to get organized and often help them deal with excess stuff. I find that we tend to keep extra stuff just because we have the space for it. Some lack the space but try to keep all of it anyways!

Take shoes for example…

How many do you own and what condition are they in?

Have you ever bought a pair of shoes, realized they didn’t feel all that great, and never bothered to take them back?

Did you go through a stage where you bought your kids shoes to match every outfit, only to find yourself with a bunch of shoes that were only worn three or four times?

You could probably easily come up with 5 pairs that have hardly been worn because you have many others to choose from. How fortunate we are to be blessed with excess.

Do you know what your excess shoes can do for others?

Soles4Souls is a non-profit organization that has distributed over 8 million pairs of shoes to people in need around the world. Currently, an estimated 300 million children and millions of adults lack basic footwear, and you can provide them with valuable protection from harmful wounds and infectious diseases.

On January 5th-9th I will be traveling to Haiti with Soles4Souls and a team of volunteers to distribute shoes to those in need. It is my dream to go on this trip and see the work that I do come in full circle. A pair of shoes we might consider “extra” or “excess”, will provide a child with their first pair.

If you would like to help support me on this journey you can do so by visiting my fundraising page. All donations will go towards the $2000 expense for the cost of travel, accommodations and shipping the shoes for the team to distribute. Your donation is tax deductible.

If you can’t donate at this time, don’t worry, you can still help by spreading the word about this awesome organization! While you are at it, make sure you check those closets for any gently used shoes and pass them on at a location near you!

[photos: top-ramadee, bottom-soles4souls]

Along side several of my Nashville colleagues, I recently had the amazing opportunity to help a Tennessee resident dig out of her clutter for the A&E TV show Hoarders with Geralin Thomas and Dr. Scott Hannan. Our show aired on Memorial Day during the season premier.

Click here to watch the full Hoarders: Michelle/Kim episode online.

For Kim’s episode I was team leader for the clothing and here are a few before and after pictures I took…

The master bedroom had three closets filled to the brim with clothing and we spent a good amount of time on day one trying to pair up shoes so Kim could get an idea of how many she really had. There were 650-700 pieces of hanging clothing items and approximately 200 pairs of shoes.

At one point in the show Kim asked how many shoes I had and I said maybe ten. I can honestly say I only wear two of my favorite pairs on a regular basis but I am also a mom of three and not out in the business world on a daily basis. So my 10 may not seem reasonable to some of you while 200 will most certainly seem excessive to the majority…or maybe not. I know some of you really like your shoes! However, the goal with the clothing and shoes was to get them down to a manageable amount, hopefully in one room and make everything easily accessible.

By the end of day two (we only get two days) Kim had parted with nearly half of the clothing and shoes. Some of the items were consigned and others with tags still on, were returned. With clothing it is best to sort everything by type and color so you can see the big picture. If you have things scattered here and there naturally it’s going to be hard to tell what you own anymore. After everything was put away Kim could easily “shop” her closet to see what she had.

As a viewer of the show I think it was great to finally see someone in the beginning stages of hoarding to give people a real look at how it can start out. If you watch the episode You will see Kim’s case paired with Michelle’s case which is obviously the extreme end of the spectrum. I think there are tons of people that can benefit from seeing how hoarding gets started. To some it may seem like someone simply not cleaning up but there are many more emotional issues hoarders are contending with that compile over time.

From an organizer standpoint working with Kim has made me want to learn more about this pivotal area in which my clients are crossing over from just having cluttered spaces to becoming hoarders. I will be joining the National Study Group On Chronic Disorganization to further gain training in this area.

If you watched the show feel free to share your thoughts below!

I have been a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers since I started my business in 2006. Last week I attended my first organizing conference and I have to say I regret not making this a priority earlier in my career. The knowledge and friendships I took away this year was priceless.

Never have I seen such a giving community of colleagues. We all have our individual strengths and weaknesses. We come from different walks of life and have different goals for our businesses. After sharing a few days together I consider none of these people my competitors but my comrades.

I was amazed to see how far this organization has come over the past 25 years and I was inspired to be a part of the growth in the years to come. This industry has grown leaps and bounds and we all have one common goal and that is to spread the word about the value a professional organizer can bring when you need help simplifying your life or your business.

There was a common theme brewing amongst the attendees and that is “We are better together.” United we can continue to strengthen this industry and watch it thrive.

I learned tons at this conference but for me the one on one connections I made meant the world to me. There is nothing like being able to share ideas with someone who has walked in your footsteps. Here are a few of the great organizers I got to chat with.

I loved that I got to spend more time hanging out with a fellow blogging organizer Megan… her business is two years older than mine and she totally gets where I am. She encouraged me to take those next crucial steps in my business to help it grow.

I already had the opportunity to work with Geralin on Hoarders but we spent some more time chatting at conference. I know when I get to the point where I need a swift kick out of my comfort zone she will be the one I call.

Allison and Brandie taught a session on giving virtual teleclasses and they are both brilliant and inspirational in the creative department.

I joined in on breakfast with Elizabeth Hagen and she presented a session on offering package pricing. I got so many ideas from her but I truly wanted to see her speak. I love how she keeps her audience captivated.

Last but not least my Nashville peeps were there and we all got to let loose and learn more about each other… meet Lisa, Liz and Cindy. (I need to get some of these ladies blogging!)

And that is just to name a few.., I met so many great organizers! Together we are definitely better!

I know, I know it looks like I dropped off the face of the earth but no, I am in Ohio attending the National Association of Professional Organizer’s 22nd Annual Conference and Organizing Exposition…. wow that was a mouth full! Yes I am hanging out with a whole bunch of organizer’s and I am loving every minute of it!

Thank you to those that have emailed to check in on me… I feel so loved! :) I actually had posts planned for this week but things got busy. In a perfectly organized world I would have had everything set and ready to go but it doesn’t always work that way. This week ended up being a busy one and I had to make sure I got plenty of one on one time with the kids before I left!

I am checking out all kinds of new organizing products here and can’t wait to share them all with you. I will be back to my normal self next week!  Tomorrow you can look for a post from Heather our very own homeschool contributor about an interesting  homeschool record keeping program she has been trying out. If you are already homeschooling or thinking about it, it sounds like a great program to get all of your info organized!

Happy Organizing all, and I’ll see you next week!