When I tell people I’m a Professional Organizer, I’m met with a few different reactions.

Some say, “Ooh. My house is a wreck! I could use you!”

Others say, “Do people really do that?”

And some might say, “What exactly do you organize?”

While the idea of a Professional Organizer (PO) may be a new concept to some, the words themselves prompt curiosity. Sure as a PO, I focus on getting your stuff arranged so that your homes and offices work more efficiently, but honestly, there are tons of other valuable nuggets a PO brings to your space and life! Here are just a few.

1 – Decluttering Expertise – You have papers piled on the corners of your kitchen counters. Your pantry looks like a bomb went off on the snack aisle of your local grocery store. Your garage looks like your kids took every outdoor toy they could find and piled it right in the space where your car should be parked. If you trip over one more Thomas the Train, you are going to absolutely lose your mind! Sound like your house? As a PO, your stuff doesn’t overwhelm me. Together, we will decide how you want your spaces to function and set a plan in motion to keep your problem clutter spots from being perpetual gathering places. We’ll assign all of your possessions a specific home, a place where they belong!

2 – Motivation – Decluttering isn’t rocket science to most. Usually clutter happens over time. The longer you leave it be, the more it grows and the move overwhelming it becomes to you. You know the process of combing through the piles is going to be exhausting so instead of decluttering, you watch the latest season of Ozark on Netflix. Am I right? One of my clients commented one morning that hiring me to help her was good motivation. Inviting a PO to your home with the specific task of tackling your clutter forces you to set aside that period of time to address your clutter. An appointment on a calendar motivates!

3 – Space Planning – Large homes with great storage are a blessing and a curse! The problem with lots of storage is that you are able to fill it up in no time at all! You end up with cabinets filled with items you don’t necessarily need or don’t use in that room of your homes just because you had an empty shelf! In order for your laundry room to function as a laundry room or for a pantry to function as a pantry, you need to remove the items that don’t belong there! Once you’ve relocated the excess, you can put laundry detergent within reach or have a space cleared out to store a laundry basket or the iron. You need your rooms to function efficiently! A PO can walk into your space and help you figure out where items should be housed that make the space work better for you. A PO knows which tools, bins, baskets, shelves, etc., will give your space the most functionality.

4 – A Different Perspective – Do you simply have too much stuff? Are you afraid to get rid of your things for fear that you may need them again some day? Do you have a sentimental attachment to an item or does it provoke a memory, yet, it just doesn’t have any purposeful use in your life currently? A PO can ask hard questions! A PO doesn’t have a sentimental attachment to your things. You may need someone to remind you that the memory involves the person, not the thing. You may need someone to ask you if you really use all 10 of your 4 qt sauce pans or how much you bake because your 5 bags of flour taking up space in your pantry is a bit much.

5 – Extra Hands – A task that might take you all day to accomplish can be completed more quickly if there are more hands doing the work. “Many hands make light work.” More hands emptying, sorting, and restocking a space makes the work happen much faster. Instead of a job taking your entire Saturday, with the help of a PO, you can get that job done on a Saturday morning.

6 – A New Friend – Opening your home up to someone who is going to touch your belongings and walk in without any judgment about your excess stashes of stuff makes you vulnerable. It can be a little embarrassing, even, but a PO isn’t going to judge you. He or she is there to work along side you! In the process, you’ll naturally share intimate details about your life. Your stuff tells a story! Clients become friends. This is a blessing to the client and to the PO!

Do you need some motivation or decluttering expertise in your life? Consider reaching out to a Professional Organizer to see what he or she can do for you. You’d be surprised at the richness the work of a Professional Organizer can bring to your life!

If you can no longer place a cup on your kitchen counter or if your closet doors no longer shut because you keep hiding stuff there, give me a call or send me an email! You may just need a couple of extra hands to do some tweaking on a space that isn’t a disaster, but could use a little help! Contact me! Let’s get your life back in shape together.