Coffee Break #62

As I shared in this Coffee Break, last year I hit burn out so badly that I had to fully step away from online content creation. But after 13+ years of sitting behind my computer and working for myself, I suddenly didn’t know what to do with myself. On a whim, I applied to work for a local organizing company, as I’ve always wondered what organizing other people’s homes would be like. How does it work? Who are these people? Would I enjoy it? I’ve now been working on an organizing team for the last 6 months, and I’ll tell you this: it is interesting…in all the ways! For today’s Coffee Break chat, I thought you might enjoy a (very) quick peek behind the “professional organizer” curtain! 

1 – You Don’t Need to Be Embarrassed

On pretty much every single job I’ve been on, I’ve heard some sort of the following:

• “Oh my gosh, I’m so embarrassed.”
• “I can’t believe I had to hire you.”
• “I am a nervous wreck about today.”
• “I can’t believe I’m showing you this space.”

I understand these sentiments…quite intimately actually. I think we all feel similarly when we are exposing the parts of our homes (or lives) that aren’t quite what we want them to be. Or think they should be.

But here’s been the fascinating part, now that I’m on the other side.

You really don’t need to be embarrassed.

We see a lot of homes. We see a very wide range of clutter, excess, disorganization, and yes, even dysfunction.

I would imagine it’s like doctors seeing medical issues or dentists seeing bad teeth. They’ve seen it all.

We’ve seen it all too. And it doesn’t really phase us.

We aren’t bothered by the mess. We don’t even really judge or wonder how it got so bad. We’re simply there to wade through your stuff and make it better.

And we’re usually really excited to get to work. Because this is our thing!

Key Takeaway

Don’t be embarrassed asking for help, whether it’s from a professional or even a friend or family member. If that person is excited to help you, they probably don’t care about how it got that way. They’re just ready to make it better.

2 – A Fresh Perspective Can Change Everything

Some other common phrases we hear at the end of jobs (when everything is all clean and put away) is…

• “I never would have thought to put that there!”
• “Why didn’t that occur to me sooner?!”
• “Well, that was an obvious solution, why didn’t I see that?”

And most of the time, we didn’t do anything earth shattering. We just saw the situation with fresh eyes and came to the table with fresh energy.

One of my very favorite aspects of this job is the collaborative, problem-solving nature of it. I feel like I have a knack for “cracking the code” on most organizing problems. But when I can’t figure something out, one of my co-workers usually can. And solving the problem together typically results in something better than had we worked alone.

Key Takeaway

Seeing a setting with fresh eyes brings new solutions to the table. If you feel like you just cannot make sense of a space or get your arms around a particular problem, often-times an outside perspective can get you unstuck!

3 – It’s a Bandaid – Not a Cure

My favorite jobs are the projects where it’s less about the mess and amount of stuff and more about the lack of good systems. These are the projects where I feel like we truly make a difference. Like…now that we’ve shown a client the way, they’ll be good to go for a while.

But there are other jobs where I leave with a little sense of the blues.

Because, while we swooped in as a team, cleaned up the mess, and created a “dazzling” transformation…I can tell when the work won’t stick. And in time, you’d never know we were there in the first place.

Because stuff…and the client’s relationship with it…is sometimes bigger than an afternoon project.

Organizing is not a “one and done” thing. Organization is a way of life, not a quick fix.

It’s something that needs to be committed to, day in and day out, in order to maintain it. It takes honest, consistent hard work. Like a diet. Like a budget.

This job can sometimes feel like a “quick fix” rather than the hard work; and I can’t help but wonder if we are truly any help at all.

Key Takeaway

Hiring a service or a team can be an awesome jump start. But that’s the point: it’s a start. It can be a lot of wasted time, money, and effort if you’re not ready to commit to the lifestyle changes necessary to keep it that way!

Fun Hacks I’ve Incorporated Into My Own Organizing

Color Ordering

For a long time, I’ve color sorted books and craft supplies. But professional organizers take color sorting up a notch by extending it to clothes, shoes, wrapping paper…everything! I’ve started putting our clothes in rainbow order a little more proactively and love the pleasant surprise every time I walk into my closet or open my drawer!

Wrapping Up Cords

My co-worker keeps this little roll of Velcro cord ties in her pocket and ANY time she sees a dangling or messy cord, she quickly tidies it up. It makes such a difference that I’ve now started rolling up all the loose cords behind the furniture in my own home!

Alternating Shoes

When storing shoes on a shelf, sometimes you can’t get them all to fit. But if you flip one shoe around (so that the shoes sit on the shelf toe-to-heel), you can fit SO many more! Plus, sometimes seeing both the heel and toe makes it easier to find the pair you want!

Using What You’ve Got

As a blogger, pictures are everything. So I am usually pretty particular about finding matching bins that look juuuuust right. So it was a big shift for me to just use whatever the client has. And you know what: it always seems to work out!

Even if the bins don’t match, even if they aren’t the perfectsize for a certain spot, it’s amazing how much order you can create just by corralling loose stuff into something, anything bigger!