Author Archives: Mercury Organizing Professionals

About Mercury Organizing Professionals

Elizabeth Miranda is an organizer and owner of Mercury Organizing Professionals and Design Studio. I help you gain control of your environment, save you time, money, improve efficiency, and reduce anxiety and frustration levels. Helping you improve utilization; streamline filing, storage and scheduling systems, and help set sustainable organizational parameters. Mercury Organizing Professionals put clutter in its right place and create efficient systems that eliminate obstacles, minimize distraction, and allow you to function at your best!

The ADHD Parent’s Support Group-at the NPN Resource Fair 2/10/13

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Mercury Organizing Professionals sponsored the support group for parent’s of children with ADHD and participated at the Neighborhood Parent’s Network 2nd Annual Fair. An event that was dedicated to providing Chicago families, school options, service providers, and nonprofits in one place that focus on serving parents of children with developmental differences.

Our Meet-Up group in Chicago formed; December 2012, for parents of children with ADHD. This parent support group; not only shares personal experience but also schedules professionals to speak; providing resources and education on how to manage those challenges.  For more information on this support group please contact their group’s organizer: Maggi Steib via this link.

To sign up: http://www.meetup.com/Chicago-ADHD-Parent-Support-Group/

Group meets 2nd Wednesday of each month at Flourish Studios: 3020 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60657- Tel: (773) 281-8140, Email: icanflourish.com

More about Flourish Studios:
THERAPY SERVICES:
Flourish Studios® is a counseling center where adults, teens, children, couples, and families who are experiencing emotional, behavioral, or social challenges can figure out their next best steps in life. We are a group of psychotherapists, social workers, counselors, psychologists, and consultants who provide supportive and effectivecounseling and educational services to address a variety of issues and concerns.
RETAIL STORE:
Flourish Studios also includes a retail store that offers life-enhancing products for children and adults such as inspirational art, therapist-recommended self-help books, and books, toys and games that promote social-emotional development.

New resources for parents of children with ADHD

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According to the National Resource Center on ADHD. “Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition affecting children and adults that is characterized by problems with attention, impulsivity, and overactivity.  It affects between 5-8 percent of school age children, and between 2-4 percent of adults”.

For people who suffer ADHD, typical distractions can affect their lives more dramatically than those who don’t encounter this challenge. As a personal & professional organizer, I cross paths with people with ADHD often. I help people create systems in their homes so that their daily routines can become easier day by day. I value the benefits of an organized day and keeping the stress away, because without these systems, daily life can be very difficult.

A Meet-Up group in Chicago formed; December 2012, for parents of children with ADHD. This parent support group will not only share their personal experience but also schedule professionals to speak. They will educate and provide resources on how to manage those challenges.  For more information on the support group please contact their group’s organizer: Maggi Steib via this link.

To sign up: http://www.meetup.com/Chicago-ADHD-Parent-Support-Group/events/93811422/

Group meets 2nd Wednesday of each month at Flourish Studios: 3020 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60657- Tel: (773) 281-8140, Email: icanflourish.com

More about Flourish Studios:
THERAPY SERVICES:
Flourish Studios® is a counseling center where adults, teens, children, couples, and families who are experiencing emotional, behavioral, or social challenges can figure out their next best steps in life. We are a group of psychotherapists, social workers, counselors, psychologists, and consultants who provide supportive and effectivecounseling and educational services to address a variety of issues and concerns.
RETAIL STORE:
Flourish Studios also includes a retail store that offers life-enhancing products for children and adults such as inspirational art, therapist-recommended self-help books, and books, toys and games that promote social-emotional development.

Creating a sustainable business starts by getting organized.

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The first few things that come to mind when someone owns a business is how to create cash flow, or how to maintain a loyal client base. How to get everything done before the day is done. Small businesses rarely have the opportunity to look beyond and analyze one’s methods of operation. Nor does one wonder what habits they can build upon? Creating a sustainable business appears for some to be something a bit beyond their reach. However, At Mercury Organizing Professionals, we don’t think so, we work as a personal organizing coach to show you how to use simple techniques that prove beneficial to grow your business.

How can being a sustainable business help grow my business? Let’s determine what defines a “Sustainable Business”.  Sustainability means different things to different people but in most cases its a strategy that looks for ways to optimize the effectiveness and quality of one’s social and physical environment, with the benefit of a long term profitability.

When we work with a small business or individual; sustainability is on the top of our minds.  Every client has different needs and priorities at the moment. so putting their needs into consideration while we project manage the organizing is vital. Consciously choosing to work and live in a sustainable way helps you gain the focus you need to accomplish your goals in less amount of time.

Are you wasting energy? Are you buying things over and over just because you can’t find them? Are you piling paperwork and can’t find important documents? Ask yourself what perpetual habit causes you to create clutter or to become overwhelmed with excessive non-core tasks? Its what you do in the first place that takes you to a level of conscientious choosing. Creating a sustainable business means you value the process as well as the result.

 

Making a home safe for children.

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Young children just learning to crawl create a new challenge for parents.  Parents don’t want to restrict or limit their child’s ability to explore their world, so the question on how to create a safe environment comes up. A parent’s concern to keep the home safe for their little ones can be daunting. Luckily, there are some easy safeguards like safety door handles, safety locks and socket caps.

 

One of our clients, however, experienced an additional challenge.  Our client who owns and plays an upright bass, keeps it in their home. He found it necessary to secure the large and potentially dangerous instrument from his baby.

Our organizing & design studio team found a solution to keep this part of their home safe. Our first thought was to purchase one of those guitar braces, but we couldn’t find one large enough to keep the soft case and bass together. We ended up designing one and installing it in their home ourselves.  Our welder put it together and installed it easily in the part of the home where children won’t play.  Now, their lil’ one is free to roam without the threat of hurting himself.  Mom and dad can feel assured that they did their best to secure their house and make it a learning environment instead of a obstacle course.

  

They’re making an impact. A kid’s project in Northern California

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I just got this great message from a librarian in Northern California saying that her students have been working on a project and came across our links and resources page. They found it useful and said they will be sharing it with their community. Here’s what they wrote:

“I just wanted to take the time to send you a quick thank you note on behalf of my library class and myself for providing the resources on your page (http://mop-ds.com/Organizing-links-and-resources.php). They just put together an environmental outreach project for the community, and found your page to be such a great reference – so from all of us, thank you for your help :) ”

 

I have always wanted this resource to be helpful to people. I am so grateful as well that they are able to use it as it is intended. Here’s my reply to Ms. Potter and her students.

“There are so many ways to start organizing. Clearing out clutter is the first step. Learning how to Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse is a great skill to have. I find that most people just don’t know what to do with their unwanted “stuff”, so they let it build up to the point it becomes a problem. I am happy that your students are working on this. They will have an advantage by knowing what to do when they are ready to donate or recycle. Thank you for your efforts as well.”

These students will make an impact on their community by teaching others while also saving our environment by protecting it. What more I can say to them? but say “Good Going”.

We launched the Mercury Design Studio Gallery today

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I love art so much and from time to time will come across an artist’s vision with whom I make a connection. Their work will move me in some way that turns me to a loyal promoter. I decided that I can’t sit still without letting others know about them.

This season Mercury Design Studio is featuring Atlanta Photographer Jerry Maschinot. His work is currently showing at the Ravenswood Art Walk in the Northcenter area. in Chicago. In the Ravenswood corridor at 4001 N. Ravenswood 3rd floor. Maschinot’s current work is from his Auto Series, 11 medium and large-scale prints of car ornaments, truck doors, and detailed auto parts. Each print is highly textural and highlights the rust, blue, green and gray patinas of a weathered junkyard.

“River of Rust”

Maschinot’s early work was as a ceramicist, working with Raku vessels and forms. His Auto Series prints make use of his ceramicist’s eye for three dimensions, and for variations in subtle colors.

He is based in Cave Springs, GA (near Atlanta) and has shown his work in Chicago, Atlanta, Kansas City, Birmingham, Cincinnati and other cities across the U.S.

 

We met somebody fabulous today! updated…

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Finding a favorite consigner is like finding your favorite electrician, handyman or something like it. A consignment shop you like can be like finding a new best friend. What a better way to make room for new things in your life then to get rid of old clothes. Some people confess to us that they just don’t know what to do with these unwanted items. They know they have good quality clothes but they may just be tired of them. Giving away responsibly is really their only challenge.

A consignment shop like “The Haute Spot” in Chicago is a great resource to put these clothes in a consignment arrangement.  In addition, if they don’t sell,  The Haute Spot will donate them for you and give you the tax sheet for your records. How cool is that? We find this service to be very helpful to our clients. As an organizer who wants to save our clients time and money, we are happy when they can earn some cash back in the process. Cha-Ching! Did you just get cash back for your next trip to the mall?

The Haute Spot has been nominated this month in the Time Out Chicago magazine. Check them out and vote for your favorite consignment shop.

UPDATE: Reviewing the Oct. 25th, 2012  issue of Time Out Chicago and discovered that our favorite Consignment Shoppe was selected in the Best of Chicago’s Consignment category. Congratulations Haute Spot!

Dinner is served!

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I spoke at Dream Dinners on Damen In Chicago last week along with a friend who helps people organize and balance their financial life. The theme was creating a balanced budget. Some of the key points we discussed were the following: create a plan, avoid unnecessary spending, get organized, clear clutter, clear distractions, focus on your goal. Our tips and helpful perspective were hopefully beneficial to our guests. I think they left with some great ideas to take home to implement into their lives. When I was asked to be a guest speaker last week, how could I refuse? You put two of my favorite things together; food and organizing, and you have a happy person in me.

Dream Dinners

The real star of the evening, however, was Dream Dinners on Damen. They have a wonderful menu and offer and a whole new concept that helps an individual or family save time and money. Their concept is to provide you with an environment where you can prepare all fresh and healthy ingredients for a fabulous meal to take home. It’s as simple as that. You take home as many meals as you can handle. Once you get hungry and ready to eat, all you do is cook the tasty meal you prepared. You skip the shopping, the storing, the prepping and go directly to cook and eat. I really enjoyed this experience and having an option like this is so helpful in our crazy, busy lives. Did I mention how delicious our meal was? Dream Dinners is nationwide check out their website and see for yourself.

Top 10 tips to win the paper chase

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Last month we were the guest blogger for Zealous Good; a not-for-profit organization helping others to give and receive donations.  They are promoting spring cleaning and asked us for a few tips. We find that gaining control of the unruly paperwork is the top most difficult challenge our clients encounter so we shared our top ten tips.

“If you don’t have a system you’ll always have that overwhelming feeling that you can’t catch up. Take charge of that information overload because it won’t stop until you decide it stops.

1. First, back up your computer as many times as you can afford. Burn CD’s. Use www.carbonite.com or www.backblaze.com. Back up to an external hard drive.

2. Stop mail. Cancel catalogs, make a request at stopjunkmail.org, use the PaperKarma App to have them stop junkmail for you.

3. Reduce your mail. Have bills, bank statements & financial statements emailed to you instead of snail mail. Banks offer online bill paying services.

4. Don’t Print. Save documents as a .doc or .pdf files & keep in an labeled folder.

5. Take it to the cloud. A cloud is a service that holds your data online. Try dropbox or MS Live.

6. Make time to process your mail immediately separate documents from envelopes.

7. Recycle envelopes as soon as you open them.

8. Remove any shredding piles to either do yourself or take to locations that do this for you.

9. Bookmark it: Try Delicious, Diigo. Save your notes and lists in Evernote, or others like them.

10. Save pictures in Google’s Picassa, or Yahoo’s Flickr. Why not create a book of all your favorites to make as a keepsake.

Now that you will have all this unused extra paper and office supplies lying around, you will be able to create more space by donating your excess to charities. Zealous Good is a great way to give when your business only has these kinds of supplies to offer.

These simple tips are an example of a few online services that are not only time savers but are going to help you reduce your carbon footprint in your home. “

Today is Earth Day!

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Its Earth day! This time year we dedicate a conscious effort to help the planet. We are borrowing this earth from the next generation and we should leave it better than we found it. Consider your carbon foot print not just in the larger scale but in the simple things we do at home.

Here are the top 10 things you can do.

  1. Save energy at home. Choose energy-saving appliances if they’re available. Look for Energy Star!
  2. Buy locally, or grow your own! Reduce air pollution caused by food and goods transport.
  3. Dispose of solid and liquid wastes and medications safely. (Are there paint cans sitting around?)
  4. Reduce. Cut back on the amount of ‘stuff’ that could later end up as waste.
  5. Reuse. Upcycle! Take something that is disposable and transform it into something of greater use and value.
  6. Recycle metals, plastics and paper.
  7. E-cycle. Recycle and/or properly dispose of electronic waste such as computers and other gadgets.
  8. Don’t litter! Properly dispose of trash and waste.
  9. When purchasing goods, opt for sustainable, recycled or reused resources. Choose items in less packaging.
  10. Pass on gas! Take public transportation, carpool, plan your day to reduce trips and vehicle emissions.

Where can you go to shop local? Try a garage sale, Second hand stores, Estate sales, Antique shops, Community Resale Events, Shop at Etsy.

Don’t think that our efforts won’t go unnoticed. Its important to know that every little bit helps.The more planning in your home or office you take to process through your paperwork and “stuff” you own, you’ll discover that you’ll have less to sort through on a daily basis. Why not dedicate Earth day to an effort that benefits you and your family. This will save you time and money as well. We can’t just think that it is a corporation’s obligation to find a solution for a better environment, we can take it seriously and do what we can as well.