Pixie Principles 1-3: A Guide

As you probably know by now, we Pixies don’t just provide home organization services. Our approach is to first determine what Pixie, or personality type you are and then go about giving you a way to organize your home according to methods which will work best for you, based on the results of our Pixie Quiz (which can be found both on our website and in our book). These should be your first steps to getting organized efficiently and effectively.

In our book, we outline seven ‘Pixie Principles’. These are at the core of why personality typing works when it comes to home organization. In this article, we’ll outline the first three principles, and focus on the rest in the next post for brevity’s sake.

The First Principle: Know and Accept Who You Are

Easier said than done, right? And are we in a therapist’s office or are we talking about home organization? Don’t worry — we are focusing on the latter. This is just where taking the Pixie Quiz comes in. Figure out where you fit and what your natural organizational tendencies (and lifestyle) are by taking this quiz. You might be surprised by the results, or you might feel that they aren’t quite ‘you’. First off, they don’t have to define you to a T. You could end up being between two types — however, we’ve made the test quite specific to avoid that outcome. If the results really don’t jive with who you think you are or how you tend to operate, take a peek at the other types and see if they resonate better. The point is not to get caught up in something that doesn’t feel authentic to you; the point is to figure out how you best fit into one of the four types and eight subtypes.

The test is purely functional, and it’s worth getting honest and figuring out how you really tick so that you can then use that information, along with the book and website (and perhaps even our services) to get and stay organized. Good enough is better — and more achievable — than perfection. So if you’re struggling to accept your personality type result (say you want to be a Type A Classic but you end up with a more free-spirited Organic), know that one of our mottos is ‘No Shame, No Blame’, and that our primary goal is not to make your house look like a magazine, but to teach you how to best get and stay organized using simple rules and tips. The finished product might not look like Martha Stewart Living, but it will feel ten times more manageable, and that is what counts.

The Second Principle: Purge It Your Way

Let’s face it: Any organizer worth his or her salt will emphasize purging excess ‘stuff’ to maintain home organization excellence. While we aren’t of the Marie Kondo club, we believe in purging as well. We also know that most of our current and past clients have tremendous difficulty with this necessary habit. So we’ve come up with different ways of purging for each personality type. From our book:

“Every personality type needs the right impetus to throw stuff out, and we can show you what impetus works best for your type, as well as what fears lurk behind your decisions to keep things others might consider junk.”

In other words, we are not going to come into your house and start tossing things into garbage bags. We aren’t even going to imply what constitutes ‘clutter’. We are merely going to start by asking you what stands in your way of getting rid of certain things that, to us, might seem somewhat irrelevant.

The Third Principle: Formalize Your Natural Organizational Tendencies

This goes along with our ‘Know and Accept Who You Are’ Principle. If you already organize things a certain way, we are not here to change that — au contraire! What we want to do for you is to take those organizational habits and methods and streamline them so that they are that much easier to follow, day in and day out.

A lot of folks believe that ‘being organized’ is a gift that only ‘neat freaks’, ‘type A personalities’, and the like can enjoy. This couldn’t be further from the truth, which is that if you can consistently find what you are looking for without hassle or searching at the time you need it, you are organized. Surprise! For many of you, this is an incredulous proposition; but we have done the research and concluded that consistent retrieval (which is a principle we will get to in the next posting) is the key to organization. So you keep your keys in the pocket of your coat? As long as you know where they are and wear that coat for the majority of the year, you’re organized. (We would suggest a bowl or keyhook in the foyer for simplification purposes, however.) Our goal, literally, is to take the organization methods you already have in place and make them look better and function better. In this way, we work with and not for you.

So here is your homework: Buy our book. Take the Pixie Quiz. Right now, we’re running a promo where if you buy our book and email us at pixiesdidit.com, you’ll be entered to win a free organizing consultation with us (valued at $200)! What on earth do you have to lose (except your keys, and we’ll teach you tricks on how to never lose those again)?