Jamie Novak Offers Hope For a Cluttered World

Writer and speaker Jamie Novak will be offering hope to people who find their lives overcrowded by stuff Sunday.

Novak will be leading a workshop entitled “Learn How to Clear the Clutter and Store the Stuff!” at the at 2 p.m.

The Scotch Plains resident explained that clutter is “anything we are not using that is taking up time or space that could go to more useful items.”

“Like refusing to rid your closet of a pair of jeans that no longer fits or spending too much time playing Farmville on Facebook,” Novak said.

Her goal is to help clear space in homes and schedules. But first, people have to want to get organized.

“The term organize has such a negative connotation and it can appear to be a stuffy concept,” she said.

Novak said that clearing time and space allows clutterers to try new things and alleviate stress. To get there, she said, clutterers have to adopt the axiom "progres over perfection."

“I find that many of the worst clutterers are perfectionists," she said. "They will sit and talk about what the best system is to organize and what you should do, but does it matter, for example, whether you fold or roll the bath towels? Isn’t it important that the towels are put away?”

Novak said she got her start as an organizer when she was young.

“I guess you can say I was born with a desire to organize,” she said. “When I was growing up, I always had my toys grouped by size or color.”

Her current vocation came about thanks to a previous job as a secretary to the chief of emergency medicine at a local hospital.  

“My boss’s wife wondered if I could organize their closet the way I had things organized at work,” Novak said. “So I did that, and then one of their neighbors needed assistance in organizing their kitchen. I did that and then I helped organize that same neighbor’s garage and then word spread.”

She began going into the homes of other clients and she began teaching workshops and writing books about it.

“The goal of this is to bring sanity back into your life,” she said.  

One of the ways to do this is by grouping similar objects together.

“For example, if people have their coffee or tea set up, it makes sense to put all the items in the same spot on the counter or in the cupboard. You have your coffee, your tea, your mug near the coffee pot and coffee filters. This is just a small way to save time,” she said.

Speaking of saving time, her next tip for completing a project was to use a timer while working. Novak has found that working in 18-minute increments works well for her. She said that a 10-minute period was not enough time, and working longer than 18-minutes she lost focus.

“By the end of the day, you have blocks of time where your work has been accomplished and that is what you want to see,” she said. “But you have to work with what works for you.”

At the Paramus Library that is what she will discuss. In the meantime, she said looks forward to working with the residents of Paramus who attend.

“I have found the crowd in Paramus to be enthusiastic and receptive. I can’t wait to come back,” she said.

For more information, visit her web site here.