OrganizingLA Blog

Private Service Organizes as the IAPSP in Southern California

Last year during a trip to the "Main Line" area of suburban Philadelphia, we picked up a copy Arthur Inch's Dinner is Served: An English Butler's Guide to the Art of the Table. Little did we know it would change our life.

A 50-year veteran English butler who served as technical adviser for the film Gosford Park, Inch (alongside co-author Arlene Hirst) writes a loving and formal view of the history and traditions of fine English homes, along with explanations of fine linens, silver, table top design for formal dinner parties and etiquette for serving and dining. While the book's view may not fit precisely into our "modern day California laid-back atmosphere in a recession" current mentality, Inch's book really got us thinking about the world of private service.

International Association for Private Service Professionals:

Shortly thereafter, we were introduced to the International Association for Private Service Professionals (IAPSP) late last year. The IAPSP is a national trade association based in Los Angeles that provides a platform for developing professionalism and leadership skills in the delivery of estate service. The IAPSP draws on the experience and wisdom of its membership to define and preserve the traditional core values and ethics of service excellence, while acknowledging the importance of distinctive skill-sets and embracing new trends in service technology. The IAPSP is filling a gap where little, if any, organized vocational support has previously existed.

David M. Bertnick, IAPSP President, alongside John (left) on the "red carpet" the 2009 Los Angeles Organizing Awards last January.

Organizing and private service are a perfect match. Much of what Estate Managers, Property Managers, Butlers, Personal Assistants, Enlisted Aides, Household Managers, Ranch Managers, Estate Management Couples and other executive-level household staff do on a daily basis is systematize a property to ensure comfort, elegance and time savings. As an Associate Business member of the IAPSP, we've been able to participate in monthly networking and educational events and were honored when David Bertnick, President of the IAPSP accepted our invitation to present the 2009 Los Angeles Organizing Awards in January (see picture above).

IAPSP Inaugural Conference, Dallas, Texas, October 9-11, 2009:

We are particularly excited that IAPSP is holding their inaugural conference in Dallas, October 9-11 at the Fairmont (we'll be there!) The IAPSP’s first annual leadership, educational, and networking conference is designed to promote strength of character, superior management skills and service expertise, some of the essential elements for effective service delivery in the homes of high net worth employers.

We applaud Mr. Bertnick, the volunteers, members and associated businesses who are building such a progressive organization right here in Southern California that will serve not only our area, but the rest of the nation too. If you're attending the conference, I’ll see you in Dallas!

Read More:

The IAPSP Announces its Inaugural Leadership Conference for the Private Service Industry (PRWeb)

Two weeks To Go For IAPSP Conference (PRWeb)

IAPSP (official website)

IAPSP (on Twitter)

The Changing World of the Private Service Industry (Luxist)

If you've enjoyed this post and want to see more, why not subscribe to our daily emails (Feedblitz) or through the RSS Feed (click here)?  Or, follow us on Twitter!

Miley Cyrus Organizes Her Tank Tops

Think Hannah Montana has the ultimate, organized closet?  Think again. And what can we learn about the new "Sex in the City" star's downsizing in her recent closet organizing video?

Hannah Montana and "new" Sex in the City-star Miley Cyrus and her bff Mandy Jiroux filmed a very revealing video in Miley's closet. The video is part of the Miley and Mandy Show, a series of youtube videos that have gained an impressive, loyal following.

So while the video shot in her Los Angeles-area home is highly entertaining, it's much more interesting to watch the girls go through 16-year old Miley's closet and to downsize her extensive collection of tank tops (stripes, sequins, animal prints, dogs,bubbles, screen prints, zebra, Aztec, tie-die, beetle juice, jailhouse rock, little bo-peep, stars and the shirt she wore when she first met actor Johnny Depp).

Here's the video. If you're reading our blog on rss or feedblitz, click here to actually see the video:

As Miley continued to toss, stack and pile her shirts and unwanted clothes into a mountain, we got to thinking, is she really going through her closet the right way?  Here's a few thoughts on what you can learn from watching Miley and Mandy:

It's like a tank top:

Much of the video centers around the fact that Miley's clothes all seem to look like a tank top; they're hard to describe much less organize. Instead of driving yourself crazy organizing all these crazy pieces, we suggest she simply create a category in her closet called "knits" and put the tank tops in that category. If you're lucky enough to have space, hang your knits on huggable hangers so they don't slip off.

Use a Professional Organizer; get focused and save time:

Miley is doing a great job letting go of unwanted clothes by herself. However, she could possibly have been more efficient if she used a professional organizer (specializing in closets) to help her gain focus. Miley moves through her closet from shirts to tank tops to purses and seems to skip over things. Like most, she gets distracted, and doesn't seem to do a very thorough review job of going through everything. An organizer can help her maintain the tasks and save time.

Don't make big pile of clothes, you'll be sorry:

Once Miley and Mandy are finished, they're going to be left with a mountain of clothes to process. It would have been much more efficient for them to get some boxes, bags or laundry hampers ahead of time, place some simple paper labels on the containers and toss the unwanted clothes into the appropriate location. Now, she has to go through her clothes a second time to pull out donations, trash, give-aways to friends and resale. We bet she's going to go through the piles again, second guess herself, and decide to put things back for keeping. There's nothing wrong with that behavior, but if you're really determined to get rid of unworn clothes, out of sight means out of mind. Touch the items only once and get them out of sight and out of the house as soon as possible.

Make it fun:

We love that Miley and Mandy are making the clutter clearing more fun by doing it together. We also took note that Miley let go of items that she had outworn long ago, like the outfit she wore when she first met Johnny Depp.  Sentimentalism is a number one clutter creator. Bravo!

Images above courtesy g.n.o32 on flickr.

If Miley and Mandy were reading this blog post, what closet organizing techniques would you share with her?

If you've enjoyed this post and want to see more, why not subscribe to our daily emails (Feedblitz) or through the RSS Feed (click here)?  Or, follow us on Twitter!

Traditional Home's 20th Anniversary at Pacific Design Center

My colleague Laurie March and I just returned from an amazing day at the Pacific Design Center's Fall Preview.

Sponsored by Traditional Home Magazine, the day featured over 40 design showroom programs, open houses and industry receptions with new and innovative products, style, colors and ideas not only for Los Angeles but for the rest of the country. We met some amazing interior designers like Tobi Fairly Tobi Fairley, Shane Reilly, Madeline Stuart as well as Candace Ord Manroe, Senior Design Editor for Traditional Home and author of Uncluttered: Storage Room by Room, Storage Made Easy and numerous others.