ever hired an organizer?

August 2, 2005 7:50 AM

Followup to this messy neurosisfilter, has anyone here ever hired a professional organizer?

I understand what they do, but I would like hear firsthand anyone who's benefitted (or not) from their services.

posted by cloudscratcher to home & garden (5 comments total)

I haven't, but I'd love to. They just aren't available in my area. The only ones I've seen are on the TV shows that deal with this topic. I've spent one year and eight months organizing my home (dejunking and making a place for everything else) (slow going because I have a baby one year and seven months old). Based on the amount of time I've spent and the frustration I've felt over failed attempts, I'd say the money for a professional organizer would be well spent.
posted by LadyBonita at 10:18 AM on August 2, 2005

The wife did professional organizing in the past. Success really depended on the client. Those looking for a magic solution are generally disappointed. Those willing to emotionally invest in the process and make changes in their behaviors tended to be really happy with her services. If you're of the latter type, you would likely benefit. It's sort of like dieting, I suppose, in that to succeed you need to either eat less or exercise more (or both). To be organized you need to either simplify or exert more effort (or both). To that end, she really helped me pare down and then coached me on getting the most effeciency from my admittedly meager organizational efforts.

On the flipside, really interview the PO before hiring. A good PO listens to your goals and acts as your organizational midwife (so to speak). Basically s/he helps you identify where your own attempts at organization break down and then helps you evaluate ideas for overcoming these problems. A bad one sells you on pre-fab solutions.
posted by Suck Poppet at 1:04 PM on August 2, 2005

My wife and I hired one to do our kitchen (and pantry) as well as our walk in closet and the kid's closet several months ago. She was just starting out, and had no formal training but did a very good job.

While I tend to be a very good declutterer, every time I tried to tackle the kitchen I just couldn't make any headway and tended to give up fairly quickly. She got us to part with several boxes of plates/cups/baking pans/unused appliances etc.. that hadn't been used in ages. She rearranged where things were stored and helped us get rid of 3 huge garbage bags of expired dried goods. To this day, the kitchen is still in good shape.

As for the closets, that was more my wife's wish. Basically, she designed a new set of shelving in both closets and helped us purge clothes that hadn't been used in ages.

We considered this a treat to ourselves, so we don't feel guilty about spending the money when we could have done it ourselves. Using her services saved us time and money as well (her husband spent 2 days installing the new closet systems). One more thing, we are now in the habit of saying "What would Erin say" when thinking about savng something we don't need. That and "Erin would be so proud of us".
posted by smcniven at 1:06 PM on August 2, 2005

A good PO listens to your goals and acts as your organizational midwife (so to speak). Basically s/he helps you identify where your own attempts at organization break down and then helps you evaluate ideas for overcoming these problems. A bad one sells you on pre-fab solutions.

I second this. Some friends almost hired a PO who has a great reputation locally after meeting her at a home show. On her first visit to their home, she started pointing at things saying "well that needs to go..." "and that" "and I'd get rid of this right away" even before she had asked them anything about their needs or the scale of the project. Unfortunatley (for her) she made two errors -- one being that they didn't want to her to "reorganize" the living room, just some upstairs storage space, and two being that the first thing she pointed at was an ugly but much beloved coffee table which is the only link my friend has with his deceased grandfather (a house fire destroyed all the other photos and mementos). The entire visit left my friends with a bad taste in their mouths about people who do this sort of work.... So my advice to you would be "interview carefully".
posted by anastasiav at 1:20 PM on August 2, 2005

yes. do it. the peace of mind is worth the money. you can find one here.
posted by radioamy at 10:29 PM on August 3, 2005