Professional Organizers
When do I need to call in a professional organizer?
You need to call in a professional if you feel that the job is just way too big for you to tackle. If you feel that you don't have the time to tackle it, but you really want to become organized, you need help in doing it, then an organizer is like any other professional that you would call in. We're there to guide you, to give you a jumpstart, and sometimes we're there to just do it for you and help you set up a system so that you can maintain it. You need to determine whether or not that's something that is important to you. To have a professional come in, or you want to tackle it yourself. I also think that a lot of times when I come in, it's because someone just wants somebody there to help them. They want someone to guide them, and they're more than willing to do the work themselves. In fact, they want to do it themselves because they want to feel that sense of accomplishment. But, they also want someone to say, "That's right. Let's do it like this." Or, now, "let's do this." I see myself more as a coach in those situations than as someone who's really coming in and taking charge and doing it all myself.
What does a professional organizer do?
What I do as a professional organizer is I come in when someone calls me, and I have a consultation with them. I sit down with them and I talk to them and see what it is that they want to have happen. Generally, I'm being called in because there is a situation. Something's out of control, out of hand, somebody wants to get a grip on something. I sit and I talk with the client. I look at the space. I talk to them about what it is that they want to have happen, what they want the space to be, and what they see the issues as being. We then formulate a plan together as to what we are going to do. What are we going to tackle first? What are the priorities? Is the kitchen the priority? The bedroom? The closets? The kids room? We determine what that's going to be, and then we figure out a schedule for how we're going to work together. I then go out and I buy or purchase all the things that I think I need for that particular job. Then I go in, and we start tackling it piece by piece. A lot of times I need the client's assistance in certain points, whether that's the point where we're going through things and determining what needs to be kept and what needs to be got rid of. That's something only a client can do. It's their things. I then start the process of putting everything back together. I rip it all apart, and then I put it all back together, which is why I like to do one space at a time, even if it's in the same home, because I am actually creating chaos before I can create order. That's basically what a professional organizer does. Everybody works a little differently. Some people don't have as much of an assessment process as I might have, and they go in and they just start the cleansing and the purging, and the restructuring process, but it really depends on the individual and on the client.
Can a professional organizer help me maintain my organizational systems?
I have a number of clients that I do maintenance for. I go in every six months or so and do a little "touch up," as I like to call it, on certain things, and I can see what's working, what's not working. Most of the time or if they have staff, I'm making sure that their staff understands where everything goes and how all of that works. For the most part though, I think that I like to touch base with my clients every few months just to see how it's working for them, because if it's not, I feel like I want to do something about it. I want to make sure that the system is working for them. I have one particular client that is a graphic designer, and I organized his office and he likes to work in "functional chaos," as I like to call it. And so, we designed a system that really was functional chaos with a lot of file folders and... He just likes to be surrounded by all his work. So we designed a system, and frankly I wasn't completely sure that it was all going to work, but it's been a year and a half now and it's been functioning great and he loves it. But I check in with him every few months to make sure that it's all still moving along.
How do professional organizers charge for their services?
For the most part, professional organizers are paid by the hour and they are reimbursed for whatever the materials are. Some organizers charge you, and they'll come in and they'll look at your closet. They'll then give you a flat rate for doing the whole thing including all the containers and such, but for the most part it's an hourly rate.
Do professional organizers provide estimates?
I can come in and I can look at a space and I can give you an approximate idea of, pretty close, I'd say, within a couple of hours of how long I think it will take me to organize a space. I can look at a kitchen and tell you, you know, if it's really a large kitchen, I can tell you that's a two day job. I can look at a closet and say that's going to require, you know, 14 hours. And really, you get a sense just by looking at something what that's going to be. And that helps the client to determine whether or not they want to spend the money on doing the space.
