Archive for July, 2016

Hire an Organizer, is That for Me?

Posted on: July 8th, 2016 by Open Space Organizing

How do I know if I need to hire an organizer?

On average it can take up to six months to decide to hire an organizer.

Top Five Tips that you need an organizer:

  1. You keep saying you are going to get organized and somehow never do.
  2. You have rooms, spaces, or areas that are unusable.
  3. You spend time, more days than not, looking for lost items.
  4. You dread the task of organizing.
  5. You are too busy to find the time to start.

If you are still reading you are probably considering and have been considering hiring an organizer for some time. What I often hear after an initial work session with a client is “why didn’t I do this sooner! This is awesome!” The time and the money spent are well worth the investment of both.

Lost time can be one of the most stressful results of disorganization and clutter. To view how much time you might be losing go to Simplyorderly.com, by Donna Dubinsky.

 

Common Concerns:

What commonly stops you from taking that first step forward and making a contact to hire? For many it is feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work that needs to be done and not understanding the process of how an organizer will work. For others it is family and friends who comment “why don’t you just do it yourself, you don’t need an organizer to help you.” And still others feel shame regarding how their space looks, fear being judged and have a mistaken notion their space is the worst the organizer will ever see.

Answers to Common Concerns: 

An organizer works by partnering with you to tackle that mountain of stuff you have accumulated. Together you will make a plan to move forward effectively. You will not be alone to try to figure it all out. If you had  the expertise and time to tackle it all yourself you would have done so already. An organizer has seen many spaces in disarray and is there to help you organize and reclaim your space, not to judge it.

Take that first step, move forward, contact Open Space Organizing and hire an organizer today!

630-453-2582

 

Open Your Space; Declutter

Posted on: July 5th, 2016 by Open Space Organizing

Declutter your way to Open Space

 

Decluttering is the Number One tool to use to open up your space, save your sanity and organize your home, office, car, schedule and life. Without it no amount of putting like with like, labeling, straightening, binning or tidying will make sense or make much of a difference in decreasing your stress or increasing your efficiency. The trouble with too many items in a space is no matter how you have stacked it or arranged it you will need to keep moving it and rearranging it in order to find, or get to anything. You will waste precious time again and again. The average person spends 25 minutes each and every day looking for lost items. Is that how you want to spend your time?

Why can it be so hard to let go of items? There are 2 common reasons.

Fear of the future can be related to feelings of anxiety. Will I have enough and will I have what I need when I need it? If these are your thoughts and fears acknowledge them. Is your fear realistic? Is your fear exaggerated? Consider the what ifs. What if I got rid of my paper plate collection and then needed a paper plate? What would I do? Well…you could use a regular plate, or use the good china, or go to the store and buy some new paper plates, or borrow paper plates from a neighbor who has a surplus. The point is most items can be replaced and storing a surplus can take up space which can be better used.

Difficulty letting go of the past is typically about attachment to events, memories and people who are gone. The things you are saving become representative of that person or event and can become extremely hard to let go of due to feelings of grief, loss and sometimes guilt. The memorabilia can be heirlooms/antiques or common items. Also within this category are pictures which can be a decluttering challenge unto themselves. The question is how can you honor a memory without being buried in stuff?

Tips to declutter an area:

  1. Take black and white pictures of the area. Then step away. After a break come back and look at the pictures. Black and white pictures can help you to see your space and items in a different light, assisting you to see the piles and clutter with fresh eyes.
  2. Consider how you would like to use the area. Will it be a craft room, an office, a play room, etc.? How much space will you need, how much space do you have, what items belong in
    the space and what does not fit? What needs to happen in the area to make it more
    functional?
  3. Approach the area you have designated to declutter with a mindset to purge and make
    space. Make a commitment and set your priorities here. Do you want to store Aunt Martha’s
    doll collection or do you want to make a space that you can use!
  4. Begin to remove items that are broken, out of date/out of style, no longer used, no longer
    necessary or you have multiples of.
  5. Set up boxes/bags/containers for sorting items to be tossed, donated, recycled, or kept. If
    possible gather together all of one item and pick the best of the bunch. For example, gather all your baseball hats and pick one or two favorites.
  6. If you are doubting whether you need to keep it or toss it, err on the side of tossing it. Repeat over and over to yourself, I deserve space…I deserve space…I deserve space! If you
    accidentally toss something and then need it or want it later chances are pretty good you can obtain it again.

*** Remember to effectively declutter you must be ruthless! Really look at what you use, what
you need, how you want to use your space and how much space you actually have!!

Begin your decluttering process, open your possibilities and contact Open Space Organizing to get started!
630-453-2582
Cathy@openspaceorganizing.com