October 2017

1. Wrong Containers: You decide to finally tackle that closet in the hallway that’s been driving you nuts for years. You head over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and buy some containers and a few baskets that you think will fit everything. When you get home you realize that you messed up royally. The containers don’t even fit into the closet and the items that were in the closet don’t fit neatly into the baskets or containers. How annoying, right?! So, you put everything back into the bag and decide you will return it back to the store another day and finish the closet later. Sound familiar?
2. Not Enough Time: People tend to underestimate how long it will take them to tackle a project. Especially, if it’s something that they’re really not used to doing. Let’s refer back to the closet example. Once the whole closet is emptied out of its’ belongings, it could possibly turn out to be a bigger pile than what you expected. This might make the task at hand seem overwhelming for some. When you begin sorting, those items might bring up memories and you might linger on the task longer than you expected. Fast forward a few hours…you can’t believe you’ve been at it for so long and now you have to run off to pick up the kids, make dinner, etc. Everything goes back into the closet for “some other day”.
3. You just can’t figure it out: You’ve put your mind to it and cleared your schedule. You’re going to tackle that closet today, no matter what! At least that’s what you tell yourself, anyways. Once you’ve removed the contents of the closet and have everything spread out in the hallway, you come to standstill. What next? What do I put with what? Where should I put that? How many of those should I keep? Some people just get stuck at this point and give up.
4. You get overwhelmed: An average adult makes about 35,000 decisions per day. Now all of a sudden you have to make even more decisions about all the items in that closet in a relatively short amount of time. Brain overload! It’s no wonder many people give up.
5. You simply have too much: Let’s say the closet was originally designated for the kid’s arts and crafts. Now that you’re emptying the closet of its contents, you discover that, not only does it have outdated craft supplies from when the kids (now in college) were in preschool, but it has accumulated a ton of miscellaneous items that you haven’t the faintest idea where they came from. Do you keep them just in case? Do you toss them and make room for more? How many Popsicle sticks does an average person need to have on hand “just in case” a random project comes up?

Organizing any space or area means asking a lot of questions and making a lot of decisions in a short amount of time. Most people start to organize in the right frame of mind and then something just happens. It all goes downhill and they can’t figure out why. Don’t get discouraged! It happens more often than you think. As professional organizer, it is my job to help you get through these obstacles. You don’t have to do it alone! Let us be your organizing hero. Together, we can tackle that closet, or any other space for that matter, once and for all!

When I tell people what I do, the first question I always get is “What is a professional organizer?” or “What does a Professional Organizer do?” My industry is relatively new, only being established in 1985. Every day, there are more of us out there so hopefully someday everyone will know exactly what we do and how we can make an impact on their life.

Once I explain to someone what I do, immediately there’s a spark of interest. You see, what comes naturally to us professional organizers, might seem like a daunting or overwhelming task to somebody else. Everyone that I know has that one closet or spare bedroom that they just can’t seem to get around to organizing. For them, it’s something that can be easily ignored by just closing the door. But, it’s always in the back of their mind. Maybe it will even come up as their New Year’s Resolution. “Clean Out and Organize Closet!!!” So, as soon as someone finds out that there are people, like me, out there that organize for a living (and enjoy the heck out of it!), their next question is “How long will it take?”

Professional organizers work usually work at an hourly rate and in blocks of time. The reason for working in blocks of time is because we want to make an impact on whatever area we are working on with you. Most of the time, just an hour is not enough time to sort through, purge and rearrange an area.

How long it takes or how much it will cost really depends on you. The quicker you are able to make decisions about the items we are sorting through, the faster the process will be. Everyone works at a different pace and some areas are tend to be more difficult than others. For example, organizing your linen closet might be simpler and faster than organizing family photos.

The bottom line is that at the end of the day, you will be happy you made the decision to call us. We all need help at some point. Why not let us help you tackle that problem area today so that you can relax and enjoy your home like you were meant to do. Let us be your organizing hero.