"I'm So Embarrassed..."
By Jean Marie Herron
"I'm so embarrassed. I couldn't possibly hire a professional organizer until I clean up my house..." This common quote is from many people who meet me and ask me what I do for a living.
The whole point of hiring a professional organizer (PO) is to help you make sense of the clutter. If we don’t see the chaos, we can’t help you fix it. It’s like erasing the clues to a mystery before the detective arrives. She can’t solve the crime (clutter) without the evidence so don’t organize before the organizer comes! We need to see how your home functions in reality so that together we can put systems in place to make it functional. If your dining room table is covered with a foot of mail and you scoop it up into a box prior to company coming, nobody’s going to think you need help processing your paperwork.
A few thoughts to help you ease the guilty feeling that organizing should be an innate skill that people are born with:
- Many people are NOT taught this skill at home.
- Hiring a PO is a service just like hiring a lawyer, doctor, landscaper, financial planner or tutor.
- Both homeowners are working in this generation when it was the woman who used to stay home full-time and have all day to keep the home organized.
- Life has become hyper-busy for most with so many opportunities to claim your time; many are finding that “organizing” is the last thing on the priority list. Therefore, most are placing it on the backburner until the home is so chaotic they are overwhelmed with the disorder and need help.
- Life happens. With the death of a loved one, a move to another home, the birth of children, the start up of home-based businesses, the care giving of someone with an illness etc. these transitions cause havoc in our homes temporarily. Often you can use the help of a PO to help you get organized through these changes. It takes the technical part of “how do I do this” away from your mind and relieves the stress that goes with it.
Here are some recent statistics that might make you feel better every time you pass a pile of mail, a bag full of clothing donated to your children or boxes in your garages that you have no clue of its inside:
- According to the "ForestEthics" website at www.donotmail.org, "There are more than 800 pieces of junk mail delivered each year to every American household."
- "11 million American households currently rent storage space, an increase 90% since 1995-even as the size of new American houses has grown and the size of the American family has shrunk." Statistic from Michael T. Scanlon Jr., president of Self Storage Association.
- "Getting rid of clutter eliminates 40% of housework in the average home." (Source: National Soap and Detergent Association)
So don’t feel guilty about your clutter, do something about it instead and if you can’t find the energy, time or desire to do it on your own, give POSSE a call.
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At POSSE Partners, LLC (Professional Organizing Solutions Serving Everyone) we cater to homeowners who want one-on-one help with their organizing endeavors whether it's their space, papers or time. Besides transferring these organizing skills to our clients, we also hold organizing classes called Clutter Corrals, have a monthly forum for supporting each other called POSSE's Pen and we also give organizing presentations as well. To learn more about the author and owner, Jean Marie Herron, and sign up for her free newsletter go to www.POSSEPartnersLLC.com.
