 My client, Jenny* has a pristine, beautiful home. If you walked into her house, you would never think that she'd have any need to work with a professional organizer. But open a drawer, cupboard, or closet and you will discover Jenny's secret. She is a stasher. I have a deep understanding and sympathy for stashers because my mom was one too. If she had something she didn't know what to do with, she would stuff it into a cupboard or drawer, thinking she could decide about it later. If it was something she thought could be useful, then she saved it “just in case.” It was hard for her to let go of things, so it was just easier for her to stash them away and never give them a second thought…until the drawer was so packed that she couldn’t open it or the contents of the closet came spilling out onto the floor. Use my free downloads about LETTING GO to find your pain points and learn how to take action. Questions for Letting Go Keys to Letting Go
 I had just come home with a bag full of new yarn, excited to start knitting the sweater my daughter had asked me to make for her. All I wanted to do was cast on and start knitting.
 “Is it normal to be really nervous?” asked Rebecca* as she greeted me at the door. “I don’t know what to expect!”
Yes, it’s common to feel anxious the first time you have an Organizing Session with a Certified Professional Organizer.® Maybe you’re worried I’ll judge you because of your mess. Definitely not! Far from being judgmental, I’m impressed when someone takes the step of hiring a professional to help them get organized. Nerves also stem from being unsure of what exactly we’ll be doing. Will I be directing or doing the work with you? How exactly will we tackle your project? Let me demystify the Organizing Session by telling you exactly how it works.  After 8+ years of helping people organize their homes, you can bet I’ve seen it all. One of the things I love most about being a professional organizer is that every project is different, with varied homes and unique clients.
While each client has a specific reason for needing my help — just moved in, about to move, busy family life, inheritance, downsizing, new baby, and more — I’ve noticed some organizing errors that crop up in just about every home.  “How long will it take for me to get organized?” As a Certified Professional Organizer®, I get this question a lot.
Remember, your home didn’t get disorganized in one day, and it’s not going to get fixed in one day! How long your organizing project will take depends on 4 factors. 1. HOW QUICKLY DO YOU MAKE DECISIONS? If you need to reminisce and tell the story of each item before deciding whether or not to keep it or where to put it, the organizing process is going to go pretty slowly. If, on the other hand, you set some pre-decision guidelines, your project will pick up speed.  As we wind down 2023 and look ahead to a new year unfolding, I looked back to see which of my blogs resonated the most with readers.
Turns out, the 3 most popular blogs had a similar theme: helping you develop the mindset and give you the steps YOU need to tackle ANY organizing project. Each of these blogs will help you finish 2023 STRONG!  Barbara* and I were sitting at her kitchen table considering how to tackle several stacks, baskets, and folders full of old papers. “Do you know what my therapist said to me?” she asked. “She said, ‘What’s the worst that could happen if you just shredded the whole pile?’”
“But I just can’t do that,” she said with a wide-eyed look of horror. “I just CAN’T!” Barbara likes to be on top of things in her life, but in the past few years, she had lost a loved one, moved into a smaller place, and weathered the pandemic. Understandably, the paperwork (bills, receipts, tasks, notes, etc.) had just gotten away from her. “Well, technically, you can, right?” I gently asked Barbara. “I mean, you’re physically capable of throwing them away. It’s really that you don’t want to." "You’re a very conscientious person and that pile represents things you feel you should do, know about, or save. You want to be a person who takes care of your incoming papers, but life got stressful and the papers piled up. Now you have a backlog to deal with and you’re anxious about handling it the right way.” Barbara nodded. “That’s right,” she said. “I like to take care of things in a certain way. I like to be aware of what’s coming in and make sure I’m doing things the right way.” “So,” I asked, “If you don’t want to throw all the papers away without looking through them, what do you want to do instead?” |
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