What Does a Professional Home Organizer Do?

Whoops! You’re tripping over things you intended to put away weeks ago. Or maybe you’ve lost another item in the chaos. If you feel as though your stuff is everywhere and you can't catch up, a professional home organizer could have the magic touch you need.

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A professional organizer’s job description includes providing hands-on help with decluttering and creating organizational systems to keep your home tidy and functional.

What Is a Professional Organizer?

Professional organizing services help people declutter and reorganize their homes and offices. These professionals often have diverse backgrounds. They may have experience in education, social work, interior design or psychology. Others simply have a knack for creating effective organization systems and have built a business around this talent.

Understanding the Professional Organizer’s Job Description

Home organization professionals do more than just clean homes. While they can help with big cleanup jobs, they’re also tasked with designing long-term storage solutions and helping their clients learn the skills needed to keep a home organized.

What Does the Professional Organizer Do?

Home organization services are meant to be more than a one-time cleanup, and the services provided depend largely on each client's needs. A professional organizer's duties might include helping organize an entire home or working on a single problem area such as a kitchen or basement. Home organizers typically start with a consultation to find out exactly what a client needs. Organizers might suggest the following services:

• Decluttering. Home organizers work with clients to decide which items to keep, sell, donate or throw away. Some may help clients work through emotional attachments to belongings or help determine which items are useful.

• Moving items. If items need to be moved, thrown away or sold, organizers can help with logistics and physically moving things. They might arrange for items to be donated or schedule a bulk trash pick-up.

• Implementing functional storage. Organizers design storage solutions to fit your individual space. They might use bins, shelves, labels and other tools to help organize your home. They can help you find storage systems to match your aesthetic, budget and personal needs. An organizer can also help source and install storage solutions such as new shelving.

• Teaching strategies to meet individual needs. Good professional organizers have experience and training in how to manage space, and they understand people have different needs. They'll teach you how to maximize the usefulness of the system they set up so you can maintain a tidy home.

Organizers may also offer ongoing services or virtual appointments so you can check in and get advice to help you achieve long-term success.

What Are Some of the Strategies Professional Organizers Use?

Professionals may use various strategies to help you get and stay organized so you avoid the need for repeated major cleanups. These strategies might include:

• Sort to declutter. This is also known as the four box method. Bins or boxes are marked "Keep," "Donate," "Throw away" and "Move to another room." Items are quickly sorted and placed in the appropriate bin. This method lets you declutter faster than repeatedly carrying individual items to other rooms.

• Vertical storage. Organizers use shelves, stackable bins or cabinets to maximize floor-to-ceiling storage space, which is especially beneficial in apartments or other smaller places.

• Clear bins and open shelves. If you tend to forget what you have or struggle to find stored items, these storage tools let you easily view stowed belongings while keeping them organized.

• Time management and maintenance routines. Professionals teach organization routines to fit your schedule. These might include always putting items in their designated spot or committing 10 minutes per day to tidying up. Home organization pros suggest strategies such as a “Sunday reset” in which you make sure everything is put away each Sunday.

These are just a few examples of strategies used by home organizers. You can implement many of these on your own, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed or you don't know where to start, hiring a professional organizer may be helpful.

How Could Professional Organization Services Benefit Me?

Many organizers help people with homes that have become too full, cluttered or messy. They can also help when a major life transition requires reorganizing, downsizing or reconfiguring your living space. A professional organizer could help you prepare for:

• Getting married

• Having a baby

• Starting a home-based business

• Moving far away or to a smaller space

• Creating a more manageable space for aging parents

• An estate sale

A professional organizer's job description also includes helping people with more specific tasks. Maybe you need to streamline your closet so you can access your complete wardrobe. Or perhaps you have years' worth of documents stacked up and need help sorting them. Whether you want to reorganize your entire house or figure out a solution for a specific problem, a professional home organizer can help you get started and put you on the right track for long-term success.