HANCOCK COUNTY — January is always a busy month for Dana Carney.
As a professional organizer with clients in Hancock County, Carney knows that people tend to lean toward starting good habits at the start of the New Year — but that’s not limited to just clearing out the garage or straightening the kitchen cabinets.
January is a great time to “start over” and create or restart healthy habits, according to those tasked with helping people do just that.
Chase Low, a financial planner at Forty Financial in Greenfield, said the start of the new year is a great time to get your financial house in order. It’s also a great time to refocus on your physical and mental health, he said.
“Doing things for yourself and creating good habits is very important because when you start doing one good thing, it’s easier to take more things on,” said Low.
As a busy professional with three young kids, the Greenfield native knows that making time to do more than the bare essentials can seem daunting, but he encourages his clients to take the time to focus on their fitness — financial and otherwise.
To avoid getting overwhelmed, Low suggests hatching a plan to start with small steps and building from there.
“Start out by exercising just 10 minutes a day walking up and down the stairs, or saving an extra $50 a month,” he said.
“Keep building on that and creating other good habits, and you’ll be surprised how far that takes you throughout the year,” he said.
A big key is finding a support system that makes that positive change more sustainable, said Low.
“Having a financial advisor, for example, gives you an accountability person as far as your financial plan goes — a person who can help create a path for you because people don’t always know what to do, and that’s OK. That’s what we’re here for,” he said.
Dana Carney has been helping people get organized for 25 years, starting way before professional organizing became a trend.
The Indy-based organizer — who previously lived just outside New Palestine — has shared her tips and tricks with Indianapolis-area publications and TV news shows over the years.
She’s a longtime member of the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals (NAPO), which recognizes January has National Get Organized Month, otherwise known as GO Month.
The start of each new year is an especially busy month for organizers like Carney, who is routinely called in to help harried homeowners “categorize and containerize” their belongings.
“January is the official get organized month, so really it’s just a good time to start the year out right in my opinion,” said Carney, who specializes in residential organization through her business, Organizing Indy.
“Once you get organized, you’re more organized in both your personal and professional life,” she said.
Carney helps clients with “anything and everything,” most often tackling garages, closets and kitchen cabinets.
“A lot of times clients will hire me before the holidays, especially Thanksgiving, because they want to get their house in order,” said the organizer, who also helps clients strategically pack away their holiday décor at the start of the new year.
Many clients are looking to start the new year with a clean slate, she said, which might mean cleaning out kitchen cabinets or sorting everything in the garage into neatly labeled bins.
“Typically I tell clients to focus on one area at a time, whether that’s one cabinet or one drawer, so they can stay focused. A lot of times they’ll set a timer for 30 minutes,” she said.
Sorting items into simple categories is an important step, said Carney.
“A lot of times my clients will have three boxes — one of trash, one for donating and one for items that belong in other rooms — so they’re not constantly getting distracted. If you come across things that belong in another room, set those aside and stay focused on the area you’re working in.”
Low said that same type of focus comes in handy when creating a financial plan for success.
He encourages everyone to set an appointment with a planner to create a financial plan, and to set recurring meetings to keep track of the plan and make adjustments, yet he says taking control of your finances can start out with something as simple as creating an “old fashioned budget.”
“When you create a budget, it not only tracks your spending but prompts you to go through your bank statement and credit card statements, which is important too,” he said.
“With so many people using auto-pay, tracking those statements helps you see where your money is going,” said Low.
Tracking expenses can shed some light on gratuitous expenses that might need to be trimmed down, like an over abundance of steaming subscriptions, dining out or meal deliveries.
“Most people want to build that emergency fund and start saving so you can have a decent cushion,” said Low, who often helps clients create plans to save for retirement, vacations or unexpected expenses.
“If you start throwing in 20, 50, 100 bucks a month, it can really add up,” he said.
Low believes that financial health is meaningless without overall physical and mental health, so he encourages people to focus on planning for their overall wellness rather than simply a financial plan.
“There’s plenty of studies out there that show people who are healthy and exercise tend to be savers as well. It’s just about creating overall good habits. If you’re taking care of yourself health-wise, you are typically going to do that in other areas of your life as well,” he said.
Carney agrees, and often refers her clients to professionals who can help them get organized in other areas of their lives, like fitness experts and estate planners.
“Getting organized in all areas of life really creates peace of mind,” she said.
