Testimonials: Columns
“Angela Hoxsey is an organizational Maven. She is fast, efficient and a pleasure to work with. Angela makes getting and staying organized easy with her helpful tips, tricks and knowledge of organizational products. I hired Angela to help me prior to and after a large home remodel. She helped me to declutter, purge and organize multiple rooms in my home. I loved working with Angela, she helped me streamline my home and I enjoy the organizational benefits everyday! ”
Susanne Hudson, Napa, CA
“I’m thrilled with what you helped create. It totally blows my mind how quickly you work and I love your thought process. Fantastic!!”
Dona Bonick, Kopol Bonick Photography, Napa CA
“Angela is always thinking about my organizing issues and often sends suggestions and helpful advice and ideas, even when she is not physically on the job with me. She comes up with unique solutions completely customized to my business, home and personal style—things that I never would have thought of on my own...”
“I can totally trust Angela’s taste and rely on her honesty about what’s working and what’s not with regards to my wardrobe. That said, she is always respectful—if I say I want to keep something, she respects my wishes...”
“I have a lot of “stuff”, and Angela has always been non-judgmental about my collections, while helping me to make smart decisions about how to lose things that I do not need. I value her wisdom, her experience and her perspective. She is a joy to work with, I look forward to our time together and dread to think what my home, closet, garage, life would look like without her expert guidance!”
T. Beller, Verve Napa Valley
“Angela is my dream girl! I was referred to her to help me prepare to move after living in one house for 27 years. She was fantastic in helping me get organized and declutter years of gathering too much of everything...!”
“Angela took me from panic, and an overwhelming moving experience, to an organized new home. She is a pleasure to work with, has lots of energy, while always maintaining a positive attitude. I think she is "THE BEST"!!!”
Sheila Sosnow, Piedmont, CA
“Have you ever accidentally run across someone who just COMPLETELY changed your every day life for the better? And you couldn't imagine your life without them? That's how I feel about Angela. Angela came into my fairly organized but slightly hectic life completely by chance. I wasn't looking for anyone to help me organize or streamline my life because I didn't really think I NEEDED it. And just in the same way that she seemed to just quietly float into my life, she helped me with such kindess, grace and ease.”
Lindsey Wiseman, St. Helena, CA
“Angela has a real gift for seeing what needs to be done and pulling it all together. I have worked with many organizers in the past, but none as efficient and focused as she. From my office to the garage, Angela has helped create a system that works
for the long term!”Karen Schuppert, Napa, CA
“Angela Hoxsey was the best referral that I have ever gotten. Needing to get my house ready to sell and declutter the 20 years worth of accumulation was no easy task. She was fast, efficient and a joy to work with. The best part of working with her was her cheerful yet no nonsense way of getting you to decide 'keep, trash or donate'. . . Love it!”
Cherie Melka, St. Helena, CA
“We spent four hours organizing an enormous amount of paperwork and I feel like I just got a massage!”Joanne Maher, St. Helena, CA
“Whether you are prone to chaos, pretty organized yourself, or a combination of both, Angela Hoxsey can help you bring order to your home. Yes, you could do it yourself, but most of us have so many competing demands on our time that organizing tasks easily fall by the wayside. Angela has brought her professional touch to my home, demonstrating every time
the lasting value of an expert.”Karen Saeger, Ph.D., Berkeley
“You can smell the sanity. Angela is worth her weight in diamonds.”
Masako Takahashi, artist;
San Miguel de Allende/San Francisco
Columns
Your Desk: Straighten Up and Fly Right
When you’re inspired to get some work done, it is a huge help to have your desk and supplies organized and ready. Your desk should be like an airplane cockpit, with everything you need close at hand. Here are some suggestions for desk organization basics that will make work less stressful along with a few less obvious ideas to increase efficiency at your desk.
First, you should have everything you need to do your work within arm’s reach. Your office chair should be wheeled and should roll easily to get to the things that are just slightly out of reach, perhaps a bookcase or your paper storage.
The top of your desk should be fairly clear and clean. A computer, telephone, a task light and an in-box are three must-haves. A pad of paper and a pen for notes is also essential, and for me, a labeler is never far from my desk.
Most of us have a center desk drawer, and this is prime real estate for often-used supplies. However, it easily can become a messy catchall. In what should be an active, vital area, there is usually a good quantity of inessential stuff — in a recent client’s center drawer I found ancient cough drops, 53 stubby golf course pencils and 100 expired coupons, all of which made finding things difficult.
Clean the center desk drawer out at the end of each week and limit its contents to several working pens, one or two sharpened pencils, an eraser, a ruler, a calculator, some Post-Its and anything else you need regularly in the course of a normal day, whether that be TUMS, gum or a tape measure.
Other desk drawers or nearby storage should contain extra printer paper, legal pads, extra pens and pencils, file folders, stamps, envelopes , etc. Paper clips, binder clips and all sorts of little items can be corralled in a kitchen utensil organizer or small plastic drawer organizers that snap together to customize your drawers.
You shouldn’t have to get up to create, label and put away a file. If your filing supplies and your file cabinet are within arm’s reach, you will be so much more likely to handle your filing quickly rather than let it stack up and become a headache.
Are you always too hot or too cold when you’re working? Keep an extra sweater on the back of your chair or keep a space heater close by. One of those on-desk coffee cup warmers could be a handy addition to the desktop. Also, a full water bottle at the start of each day should be on everyone’s desk — the brain works best when well-hydrated.
Think about what each item in your “cockpit” means to you and ask yourself if it is essential to your ability to do your work or adds to your work satisfaction.