How To Find The Perfect Professional Home Organizing Service

How To Find The Right Home Organizer While Organizing On A Budget

Things To Consider When Hiring A Professional Home Organizer

As a professional home organizer, with my own business, Organizing Interiors, my clients all have the same goals: to create order in their lives and set up systems to obtain such purposes.

Many people tend to think organization takes up too much time and money. Social media has convinced people that professional home organizing is a luxury service, and some storage essentials’ prices only deepen this conviction.

I can tell you that the truth is, it is nearly impossible to create an organizational system without containment which means having storage essentials to categorize your things, and that does cost money. A professional organizer is similar to hiring a professional cleaning service, chef, dog walker, hairstylist, or anyone doing something for you that you could handle yourself.

With that said, you can seek organizational assistance that will cost you short-term, but the benefits of long-term home order-pay dividends.

Everyone on this planet has a special gift. If yours is not home organizing, hiring someone to do this for you is a wise option because they can save you money from buying things you already have or find stuff you forgot about, which keeps you from overbuying. I have found money in purses, expensive jewelry, and family heirlooms that my clients thought they lost or did not have anymore.

The key to a successful home organizing method is to do research finding the best, cost-effective ways to go about the process. A professional home organizer is a bonus and indeed helpful if you are a person who needs that push or even to help you figure out how to start and complete a home organizing task. Many of my clients have told me that I held them accountable, and they would have never organized had they not called me.

Here are some of the best ways to seek the right professional organizer and quick money-saving tips to set you on course for a successful organizing project.

Interview A Home Organizer

Like anyone else in the service business, there are good people at their craft and not so good. Reviews, referrals, and references are king. However, they all do not guarantee that you will have the right vibe with the person and that my friend is paramount. You want to find an organizer that can teach you how to go about the home organizing process and learn how to do this independently with future projects. A professional organizer should point you to helpful books (I must plug Top-To-Bottom Home Organizing), blogs, and worksheets to help you along an organizing journey.

What is your personality type? Are you motivated by a strong personality that will do most directing, or do you like to stay in charge while working? Some people like that person who is in the middle, and that is me, by the way.

A professional home organizer willing to offer a free in-home consultation is a generous person. Usually, they are the type that can tailor a project that meets your budget. On the other hand, you can consider an organizer willing to accommodate a virtual consultation that will save you lots of time. In a thirty-minute consultation, you can obtain a good idea of the professional organizer’s personality and let your gut be your guide.

Gather The Right Information On A Consultation

Here is all the information to gather when you interview a professional home organizer

• Their hourly rate
  Can they offer a flat rate
  Do they charge for canceled appointments
  Do they charge a separate fee for shopping time
  Do they pass on trade discount pricing
  Are they insured
  Did they receive professional training
  What is their rate for donation drop-offs
  Will they arrange donation pick-ups
  Minimum hours per session
  Discounts for extended hours
  Discounts for multiple projects
  What is their specialty, such as downsizing, decluttering, packing, unpacking, & designing
  What is their photo privacy policy
  Can you get a copy of their contract in advance
  Can they furnish a couple of recent referrals
  Do they clean down the area they organize
  Covid-friendly service
  Do they subcontract with other professionals on big jobs
  How many employees do they have, and can you choose who you want to work with and set up a meeting with them beforehand
  What is their payment arrangements
  What forms of payment do they accept

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More Things To Consider Before Hiring The Right Professional Home Organizer

Many people do not know what to expect when they hire a professional home organizer, and they fail to ask any questions at all. However, home organizing is personal, and your needs are unique. Remember, these will be the people touching your articles and in your private spaces. Therefore, it is essential to convey any concerns and not be shy to ask any questions, as not doing so could lead to an awkward situation.

It is also essential to set a schedule and be firm about how long you need an organizing session to last, especially if you are helping the professional organizer. If you have never hired the services of a professional home organizer, start with their minimum package and only obligate yourself to one day. However, if you want the professional organizing service to do everything on their own, it would be necessary to receive an estimate on how long the project would take from start to finish. If a professional home organizing cannot ballpark the time and total fee upfront, move on. Of course, no one can give you an accurate number of hours a project would take, but an experienced professional organizer can provide you a general estimate.

You want to start slow if you work side-by-side with a professional organizer, primarily if you have never used one before. Only commit to a one-day trial and see how it goes. Three to four hours is generally a minimum time for a professional home organizer, so be prepared for this timeframe. Some people are spent after only three hours decluttering (getting rid of things) their personal belongings. I would say that the decluttering process is the hardest for most people because parting with things is confusing. A professional home organizer should sort your belongings into piles of similar items to see the actual amounts of particular belongings necessary for a successful declutter. In other words, a professional organizer sheds light on your current inventories. For example, eight pairs of scissors gathered together will allow you to determine that you should get rid of some, keeping, of course, the top pairs that you decide are the best, not the organizer.

It would help to clarify the working arrangements with a professional organizer before plunging into a legal agreement, and most have contracts.

Other Key Points To Consider Before Hiring A Professional Home Organizer

A professional organizer interested in spending hundreds of dollars on home organizers does not have a realistic grip of the average person’s budget. Therefore, hiring a professional home organizing service and spending hundreds of dollars on home organizers is for the rich, period.

A professional home organizer should know how to shop on any budget. They should be well-acquainted with the places like The Container Store, as well as the dollar stores. It is usually best to have the professional organizer measure and shop for you only after getting rid of everything you no longer need or want.

I always have my client gather anything with storage potential before our first session. Any unused storage organizer, Amazon shipping boxes, glass food jars, shoe boxes, and old toy containers can get used to store items. A professional home organizer should know how to repurpose something into an organizer. For example, a cupcake baking pan can get used as a well-compartmentalized drawer organizer. Therefore, the more resourceful an organizer, the better for you!

A professional organizer provides you with a service. Like any other service, if you are not completely satisfied with the result, they should work with you until you obtain satisfaction; this is upfront information before an agreement is signed.

On the last note, I recommend maintaining boundaries with a professional organizer and sticking to the service you hired them to do. For example, I would refrain from selling arrangements with a professional home organizing service to resell your unwanted belongings. It could create sticky situations where you may feel they are influencing you to part with something so they can sell it at a profit. It is a conflict of interests. Also, gifting a professional organizer your unwanted items seems innocent enough, but it establishes an intimate bond, which gets in the way of business and money transactions. So I would not cross that boundary, especially if you want to rehire them down the road.