Hiring a professional organizer to come into your home and work with you is likely a new experience. One question you should answer before hiring a professional organizer is if you want them do to the organizing for you or with you?
Some clients prefer a “do it for me” approach vs. a “do it with me” approach. Similarly, some organizers prefer to work alone. In fact, when you see organizers on TV, they often get things done when the client is gone for the day.
At Emend, I require my clients to be present while I organize, because we are actually working together.
For some people — especially those who are incredibly busy — it’s not an option to be at home while someone organizes things.
A majority of my clients struggle with organization for various reasons. If we follow the EMEND process (explore, merge, edit, nest, and develop), each step is based off how a specific person uses items in a room.
For example, in one client’s kitchen, the baking items may be used daily, so it’s important they’re stored in an accessible place. But for a client that bakes once a year, those items could be placed in a rarely-used cabinet.
If a client wasn’t home for this process, I wouldn’t be able to create a system that specifically works for them. People don’t hire me because our brains work the same way; we all think totally different. So, it wouldn’t make sense for me to go in and organize a home how I would like to — it needs to be organized specifically for them and their families.
It’s also really important to me that my clients are able to use our time together to learn organizing skills. I want them to have a better chance of maintaining an organized system once I leave.
Many of my clients have struggled with organization (in some way) for their entire lives. In these cases, it is essential that they learn the necessary organizing and executive function skills that they might be lacking. They simply didn’t learn these skills when they were growing up and are now struggling to juggle the demands of life.
Part of my certification and ongoing-learning courses is about me learning to think like my clients, and not the other way around.
My goal is always to meet clients where they are, whether that’s survival mode or very neat and tidy. Sometimes, getting things organized is more about time management or procrastination and not just about where to put items.
There have been times a client has called me after another organizer has been in their home and organized things without them present. In these cases, the client may not know where things are or why things were arranged a certain way.
Having input and ownership of the process helps in the long run; this goes for children and adults alike.
Of course, if you’re already really organized, then it probably would be fine to have an organizer come in and do the work whether you are there or not.
Feel free to give us a call at 225.773.3548 if you have questions or are curious what working with us is like!
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