What Organizing Services Can Do For You

Did you know that: organized individuals save time and money, reduce their stress and frustration levels and on average earn more money than more disorganized people? If this sounds like a life you would like to live, organizing services can help achieve this.  They deal with everything from your paper to your professional responsibilities and give you parameters to help you with decision making on what to keep, what to toss, and where to take action. Find out what they can help you with and what you can expect from an organizing service.

What Professional Organizing Services Can Help You With

The average general population is unaware of the professional organizing profession and understand exactly what it is.  The profession is relatively new and very few organizing services were in the business before 1980. 

Professional organizing services, provide a variety of services including:

• Organizing and purging bedrooms, closets, kitchens, storage areas, attics and garages, etc.
• Remodeling closets and storage to be more space efficient, helping clients find items faster and easier
• Rearranging living space to be more pleasing and efficient
• Personal coaching, goal setting
• Planning, packing and unpacking for moving
• Garage and estate sales
• Organizing kids and teenagers, teaching them life skills that will help them become successful in the future
• Errands and personal shopping
• Computer organizing and training
• Setting up filing systems and developing paperflow systems
• Information management systems
• Sorting through paper piles
• Developing systems for paying bills to reduce the cost of late fees
• Setting up recordkeeping systems
• Filing
• Accounting and bookkeeping
• Developing procedures manuals
• Preparing medical insurance forms
• Event and meeting planning
• Disaster preparedness
• Photo and memorabilia organization
• Time management training
• Seminars and public speaking

Organizing services work with a wide variety of types of people and organizations, such as:

• People in their homes
• Small businesses
• Large businesses
• Clients with attention deficit disorder
• People with chronic disorganization problems: "packrats"
• Individuals
• Groups

Some organizers are generalist and touch upon many of the above areas, whereas some specialize in one or two selected ares.  The things that organizing services DO NOT do are cleaning or clerical work.  If this is what you need help in, it's better for you to hire a cleaning service or a secretary. Hiring the appropriate services for your needs would save you money, as cleaners and secretarial hourly rates are lower than a organizing services rates.

Who Are Professional Organizers?

Professional organizers that provide organizing services, come from an array of different backgrounds and professions. Some have previous big corporation experience, some are professionals who made a career change and some are individuals who have chosen professional organizing as their first career. While the individual's experiences and business models may vary, there are some skills and qualities common to all prosperous professional organizers:

• Ability to ask the right questions to comprehend what a client wants and needs
• Ability to listen and interpret what a client means
• Ability to customize organizational systems to meet client needs
• Ability to advise and transfer basic organizing skills
• Ability to visualize spatially and see the ultimate result the client wants
• Ability to break goals down into smaller more manageable steps
• Ability to categorize and plan ahead
• Ability to use technology to support organizing efforts
• Physical, mental and emotional endurance
• Compassion
• Responsibility
• Accountable
• Professionalism

What to Expect from a Professional Organizing Service

Most organizers begin with a needs assessment to help you identify what you need help in.  Some do it over the phone, while others will come visit you on location.  The professional organizer evaluates the areas to be organized and devises a strategy.  Some will include a written organizing plan of action, and may charge you for this.

An experienced organizing service provider will start to get to know you by asking a lot of questions: your work style, what you are looking for and the issues you think have sabotaged your best attempts to get organized in the past. They are not negatively prying.  This is part of the communication process in order to get to know you, understand your objectives, and determine if there is a good fit between your personalities and beliefs. Your professional organizer is part of your team. An organizer cannot perform effective services for you unless they can identify what is important in your home or office and how that space functions. It will benefit you greatly to be as open as you can and clear about the results you want to achieve.

Prior to the organizing service provider conducting the needs assessment, you may want to think about what you want help in and the extent of the efforts you want to put in to get the job done.  Do you:

• need help in sorting and purging?
• need advice on where to store belongings that you want to hold on to?
• have an idea of where you want to put the items that you want to keep?
• know what you want to do with the items you want to remove?
• need help with the entire task or do you just need help with getting a "jump-start" with a little bit of direction.
• think you will do "homework" on your own, if assigned to you?

After the needs assessment is completed, the organizing service provider will help you decide what you should keep, donate, sell or get rid of.  Once all is sorted out, a customized system and if appropriate, some organizing products will be introduced to you to help you keep the space organized on a permanent basis.

The length of time that an organizing service provider will work with you depends entirely on the size of the project and how quickly you are able to make decisions.  The professional organizer will guide you in the direction you want to go in order to achieve your goals, but ultimately it's your call on what to do with your things.  Very small projects can be completed in a day; whereas, bigger jobs may take multiple sessions over weeks or months.

Find out how to hire professional organizing services and the importance of the professional organizers and client rapport.

Inquire to find a professional organizer in your area.