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Shannon McGinnis specializes in helping people get their cluttered homes and offices under control. Last week, she helped Boulder Creek Recreation and Parks District manager Christina Horvat straighten out her office, the last on a list of many priorities.  

Shannon McGinnis (left) specializes in helping people get their cluttered homes and offices under control. Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner

There were programs and classes to create, parks to rid of trash, drugs and loiterers, finances to track, fences to mend and relationships to build.

Last on a long to-do list was getting her own office organized. For 10 months, she got along with hand-me-down furniture, a clutter of boxes, a haphazard filing system and an unused mailbox on the wall inside the office.

Then along came Shannon McGinnis.

Santa Cruz County’s only certified professional organizer, McGinnis has consulted with homeowners and businesses in Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley and recently wrote and published “10-Minute Tidy,” a guide to getting and staying organized in 10 minutes a day.

Tired of wading through clutter, McGinnis sat down with Horvat for a consultation.
Horvat immediately pulled out a stationery-store month-by-month calendar listing all district programs and classes, as well as her appointments.

“Isn’t this pathetic?” Horvat asked. “It’s not very functional here.”

McGinnis offered no judgment. Instead, she kept asking questions.

Organizer Shannon McGinnis (left) surveys the office of Christina Horvat, manager of Boulder Creek Recreation and Parks District, to offer suggestions for reorganization. Lucjan Szewczyk/Press-Banner

In short order, the pair agreed that Horvat would:

• Move a lateral file and put her computer printer and fax machine on it so they are at her fingertips.

• Replace her desk and that of the administrative assistant who shares the office.

• Buy a high-quality shredder and complete a file-purging project.

• Buy a $20 label maker to make file folder tabs readable at a glance. McGinnis calls it “the key to life made easy.”

• Separate active files from those needed infrequently and keep archived files in a separate location.

• Install shelving units in the office closet for supplies to be stored in labeled bins.

n Mount shelves in a corner for craft supplies, personal items and a plant.

• Move a list of district grants from a place where she sees it all day and replace it with a scenic poster.

• Install wall pockets for class flyers instead of stacking them on a table.

• Move the copy machine to make room for a table that instructors and other staff can use without distracting Horvat.

• Reserve a file drawer for the district maintenance man’s paperwork.

“For less than a thousand dollars, you can really dial this place in,” McGinnis summarized.

“I’m going shopping today,” said Horvat, enthusiastic. “This will set me on a whole different track.”

In an interview afterward, McGinnis said a longer consultation would have involved moving the furniture, rearranging the files and focusing more closely on the closet.

“I also will do the actual filing if a client wants me to,” she said.

A consultation with a homeowner is similar to an office appointment, she said.

“There usually is some type of home office, and the kitchen may need to be organized,” she said. “The garage may also need the same kind of conversation — what to store, how to store it and where.”

Closets are a topic on their own, she said.

“Clothes are an emotionally loaded thing for some people,” she explained. “We will weed out what the client doesn’t like and what doesn’t fit. Clothes are about what fits you now, not what you bought for when you lose a few pounds. If you change sizes, then you get to buy new clothes.”

 At a glance:
WHAT: Three-hour consulting minimum, $195; “10-Minute Tidy: 108 Ways to Organize Your Home Quickly,” $12.95 at amazon.com; “Organizing Made Easy” CD set, $59.95, and “Organizing Made Easy” DVD, $19.95, on Web site
INFO: 566-0497

McGinnis provided a free consultation for this story.

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