Entry #89, May 14, 2010
You may or may not NEED a professional organizer!
When first reading this blog post title, you’re thinking I’m going to talk you into why you need a professional organizer. Am I right? What if I told you that you may not NEED a professional organizer, in fact I believe everyone has the power to accomplish tasks on their own. I started a new area of Stagetecture called – Do it Yourself (D.I.Y). It will start showcasing resources that I feel will help you tackle your own projects.
I ran across this article from Apartment Therapy, that speaks to a professional. I think the article is important because it puts organization into perspective. – Stagetecture
We consulted a professional organizer, Kim Stetson of Project Organize, to help us understand when to do it ourselves and when to hire a pro.
“I think it is a better use of money, on a limited budget, to pick individual projects to focus on, and set up a home organization schedule (like the sample below).” This approach, whether done within one year or over a longer period of time, will break down the overwhelming projects you may have in your life.
“The professional organizer can help you with the things that you dread, but are also causing the biggest time-suck in your life. Kitchens
Start your own checklist and pet projects
are a big one that I think people don’t realize they lose time in, as well as the obvious home office and clothing closets. So I’d set up an organization schedule, and then tackle most of it on your own but hire the professional organizer on the bigger, more overwhelming projects. Each of these ‘projects’ can be scheduled throughout the year, and should only take a weekend for each one (basements and attics might take longer if they haven’t been cleaned out in a while!).”
Professional organizers are akin to a coach – helping the client not only tackle specific areas to arrange but also establish systems for remaining organized and preventing future clutter from accumulating.
Below you’ll see a sample chart of how to start the home organizational process.
Sample Project/Sample Date
Kitchen/January
- Clean out all cupboards, drawers and the refrigerator.
- Remove expired food.
- Remove unused dishware and extra/duplicate cookware.
Basement/February
- Clean out unused items such as furniture, toys, exercise equipment, etc.
- Donate/sell unused items.
- Clean and organize basement.
Photos/March
- Upload photos from your camera to the computer.
- Organize photos in albums and electronically.
- Write captions, order prints, upload to Flickr or other online photo site.
Home Office/April
- Organize, label, and store files.
- Organize electronic files.
- Recycle and shred unnecessary papers.
Clothing/May
- Go through each clothing closet and remove Fall/Winter clothing that was not worn the past winter.
- Remove clothing that does not fit.
- Organize closet for Spring/Summer clothes.
- Donate discarded clothing.
Garage/June
- Clean out unused items such as tools, patio furniture, gardening supplies, etc.
- Donate/sell unused items.
- Clean and organize garage.
To read the rest of the year’s organization projects, visit Apartment Therapy.
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Great question, Ronique. Wow, your site is taking off beautifully. I hear the Stagetecture buzz everywhere. Your interview at Copy Doodle is wonderful. It was so nice to read about how it all started for you. Also your poignant advice for bloggers is gold. I’m so happy to be a witness to this great business development.
And, yeah, thanks a million for including me in your blogroll. Much obliged – Gosia
Thank you Gosia, your comment touches me deeply. This blogging ‘thing’ started as a hobby, and it’s grown to feel like my ‘first born!’ How fortunate I am to have built relationships across the globe through this wonderful tool – the internet. I pray that my wisdom and passion will keep me growing, and learning everyday! Thanks again Gosia – (keep up those beautiful photographs that keep me smiling everyday!)
Great way to help people see how to spend tight money. The balance of using a professional and knowing when to do it yourself.
Like life and business coaching it is good to know what is the right investment where. Tough when ya want to do a great deal and there are limited resources.
This is an amazing life lesson to explore. Taking time to discern where, when and how to make investments of time, effort and most importantly passion.
So many lives are in shambles these days and this simple insight could help so many. I spend a great deal of time week to week with my coaching clients sorting out these issues. There is much to weigh as the resources become more and more dear.
Allowing each resource to be used to it’s fullest potential requires a willingness to spend intellectual, emotional and spiritual capital. Looking beyond the surface as to what drives decisions, is a treasure trove of wisdom and insight.
It is the diving into the emotions that will yield the greatest results as we endeavor to allocate the right resources to the right projects.
This is my favorite kind of work. Just recently a client was deciding to take on a new project from a potential client or not. As we weighted the options of the ROI of the project from many views, she realized the effort it would take, would not bring the return she needed to make it worth while.
She realized through the exploration that if she took on the work, a project she was passionate about would suffer. The project we were looking at did not allow her to use her greatest skill and hence would be far less satisfying work overall.
It was a huge insight to her to realize she had the option to say no to work that empassion her. It was a huge turning point to her as we shifted to looking at accomplishing the current project, and the emotion it ignited as we sketched out the plan for completion.
She moved to setting the plan to action and completed her goal on time, with a huge amount of fun and satisfaction, at seeing what her priorities are.
WOO HOO, Love when the insights are so rich and inspiring.
Thank you Florence for your comment!I think people these days are caught up in the hard sell. Instead of empowering people to do it themselves! I love your example you gave about your client – I’ve been through a similar experience before! Ugggh.. we all have! Thanks again.
Thank you!