What Do Professional Organizers Do?

Clutter is more than just a nuisance: Living in a cluttered space makes cleaning more difficult, affecting your family’s health. Statistics show that clutter can also reduce sleep quality, make us more irritable, and even negatively impact our diet and productivity. Unfortunately, because living in a cluttered home feels so overwhelming, many people find themselves stuck in a cycle of disorganization. According to research conducted by the National Association for Professional Organizers (NAPO), not only do over half of Americans have a problem with clutter, but almost 80% of them have no idea what to do with it. Fortunately, help is available from professional organizers.

What is the Job Description of a Professional Organizer?

A professional organizer's job description involves assisting individuals, businesses, or households in organizing their spaces, belongings, and systems to optimize efficiency, productivity, and overall well-being.

Take Control of Your Home: What Does a Home Organizer Do?

Home organizers provide comprehensive, one-on-one guidance on multiple home organization and time management issues. As highly-trained professionals, they can provide you with manageable, efficient strategies for how to get rid of clutter – and keep it from coming back. Even if you don’t have a clutter problem, hiring a home organizer can be beneficial for you and your family members. Professional organizers can help you create better organizational systems for your home, allowing you to make optimal use of your time and space. Many home organizers also offer packing and unpacking services, which can greatly expedite the process of moving.

To help you understand how professional organizers work, we’ve prepared a detailed professional organizer description below covering all of our most popular services:

Maximize Efficiency, Minimize Stress: Declutter for a More Organized Home

For most people, the first step to regaining control over their home is dealing with clutter. A professional organizer will work with you to create a plan to reduce clutter, find better storage solutions, and keep your home tidy going forward. (Home organizers don’t provide domestic cleaning services, so you’ll still need to perform regular housekeeping.) In practice, this process involves taking a room-by-room inventory of your possessions and figuring out what to keep (and what to let go of). Then, your home organizer will help you set up organizing systems that work best in your space and that fit your daily routine. Professional organizers can help you maintain the organizing systems in your home if clutter is a recurring problem in your home, consider asking your organizer to return every three to six months to help you stay on track.

Transform Your Home with a Strategic Home Organization Process

Home organization creates a harmonious union between aesthetics and function in every area of your home. During home organization, our experts consider the “flow” of activity through your home and streamline your home’s layout and storage to match. We also listen attentively to your specific organizational challenges and develop realistic long-term solutions. For example, if you’re struggling to keep your kitchen tidy because it’s too small, we’ll discuss vertical storage options, make sure your pantry is well-organized, and examine how to use drawers, containers, and shelves to their full advantage. We also have business partners like the Container Store and California Closets that we work with closely to help optimize and upgrade closets, pantries, laundry rooms and more.

Increase Your Productivity with Office Organization

Keeping your office in order can significantly boost your productivity by improving your ability to focus and find things. Unfortunately, offices – especially home offices – accumulate clutter quickly. Offices often collect paperwork (and other items) that we may resist putting away because they’re essential to our workflow. Also, tidying is the last thing most people want to do at the end of a long day.

A professional organizer can help you manage your office better by putting systems in place to sort paperwork without disrupting your day. For instance, we might recommend setting up an “incoming” tray for new paperwork, relying more on digital and cloud-based storage, and developing a clearly-labeled filing system. We can also suggest ways to change your office layout to maximize your productivity and create a calmer, cleaner space.

Take Back Your Days with Expert Time Management Solutions

Many people don’t realize that home organizers can also help with time management. We do this in two ways: First, we help you optimize your environment so it’s easier to get things done and avoid becoming distracted. Then, we discuss your goals, priorities, and the obstacles preventing you from using your time as effectively as you want to. Solutions may include rescheduling conflicting obligations, creating a better routine in your newly-organized home, or using professional services (such as housekeeping services) to reduce your task load.

Harmonize Your Home with the Right Storage Solutions

A well-organized home starts with finding the best storage solutions. One of the principal roles of a home organizer is to help people make better use of their storage areas, including closets, cabinets, and shelves. Our closet decluttering and organizing services start with getting rid of clutter in your closets and discussing what should (and shouldn’t) be stored in closets. Then, we’ll help you develop a system for keeping your closets tidy and organized while ensuring items are easy to find.

Make Packing and Unpacking During a Move Smoother

Moving is one of the most common ways people become disorganized. Failing to pack and label items correctly, unpacking in a hurry, or taking too long to unpack can cause your possessions to become damaged or misplaced. Likewise, because moving is so exhausting, many people fail to create an organizational system after moving in. These factors can create long-term disruption, making it harder for you to settle into your new home.

What Does an Organizer Do When You Move?

Home organizers perform multiple duties designed to make moving smoother and more efficient. We start by helping clients declutter before their move, schedule movers, handle the logistics of the move, and label all of their boxes correctly, so nothing gets lost. We unpack and set up organizing systems so you can feel at home in no time.

Harness Eco-Friendly Disposal Strategies

Do you hate throwing things out and seeing them go to waste? So do home organizers ! As part of our services, we can help you find sustainable, practical disposal solutions for unwanted items. For example, we can work with you to find charities and thrift shops in your area, then assess which items are worth donating. We also have business partners who offer a paid service that will donate and recycle your unwanted items. To discard items too worn out to donate or sell, we’ll suggest appropriate recycling programs. For many people, knowing their unwanted items are going to a good cause makes it easier to declutter.

What Are the Benefits of Hiring a Home Organizer?

Housework will become a breeze. Decluttering your home can reduce the amount of housework you have to do by as much as 40%.

You’ll spend less time looking for things. Organizing your home properly can save up to 2.5 days per year that would otherwise be spent searching for misplaced items.

You’ll feel calmer. Most people report feeling an immense sense of relief and accomplishment after decluttering their homes. On a long-term basis, living in an organized home also reduces levels of stress and anxiety.

You’ll save money. The average American spends at least $50 per year replacing items they can’t find and $80 monthly on rented storage space.

What Makes a Good Professional Organizer?

To find an excellent home organizer, look for the following qualities:

Caring & Compassionate

Above all else, a good professional organizer will make you feel comfortable, confident, and at ease in their presence. As experienced professionals, our home organizers have encountered almost every situation that can cause a person to become disorganized, and we’ll never judge you.

Approachable Personality

Decluttering shouldn’t feel like a chore or a burden when you work with a home organizer. Much like a personal trainer, a professional organizer should make you feel motivated and inspired to achieve your goals. They should also have a friendly, optimistic attitude.

Problem-Solving Ability

Your home organizer should have sharp critical thinking skills; that is, he or she should be able to quickly assess your situation, visualize solutions, and prioritize tasks. From there, they will be able to formulate a step-by-step action plan and guide you through the organization process.

Training, Experience, and Credentials

The best way to know your home organizer has the right skills and training is to verify that he or she works for a NAPO-registered company. NAPO, or the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals, provides education, training, and lifelong learning opportunities for people in the home organization, packing, and unpacking field. NAPO has over 3500 members worldwide and regularly hosts conferences, courses, and other events dedicated to home organization.

When to Consider Hiring an Organizer?

Are you ready to conquer clutter and regain control of your home? Professional organizers can provide you with the advice, materials, plans, and manual assistance needed to get the job done – on your schedule. Contact us today to discover how our professional organization services can help you create a more attractive, comfortable home.