Working Moms
katiegal
member
Professional Organizers...are they worth it?
katiegal
member
in Working Moms
Has anyone ever hired one? If so, could you please share your thoughts and also the cost? Thanks!
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Re: Professional Organizers...are they worth it?
Well...I can & can't speak to it, as we hired one who didn't show up not once but twice (never even called or anything after the second time, we never heard from her again, wth?). She was highly recommended by a coworker of MH who had also relocated recently and I think she really helped her unpack & organize her closet & kitchen & whatnot right after she moved in, which is what she was going to help us with... But as far as price, she was $25/hr. She had a 'helper' who would come sometimes but I'm not sure what that increased the price by...
I think if you have someone who has great references and if you have certain spaces that need a lot of help/work, they would be great. I would personally want someone who would come more than once, once to evaluate & give tips on items I need to buy to organize (or would even go get them/provide them herself (at my expense of course), even better) and then come back & do it on the next visit. The one we were supposedly hiring was going to help us organize closets/cabinets, etc and she was going to 'recommend' some products afterward...I was sort of eh on that.
GL!
If you find one who works with your style instead of imposing his/her style on you, absolutely.
"Get organized" is a pretty vague goal. Can you pick two or three things that would make your day-to-day life easier and present them to a professional you're considering? Things like: I want to open any of my kitchen cabinets and not have anything fall out; I can't stand having all this opened and unopened mail all over the place and I need a system for filing and paying my bills on time; there's all this wasted space with the top closet shelf and I need to figure out what goes there.
If you like what the organizer does with 2 or 3 tasks, then you can strategize further on the next set.
My rule is to do the least that you can get away with. I have a friend who, I swear, has a folder for every.single.thing. That would drive me crazy. I just want to have relatively easy access to what I need instead of tracking it down through 4 different desks/mail baskets. I have a file labelled "Utilities 2012", and all electric, gas, and water bills go in there. Ditto Mortgage 2012, Cell Phone 2012, etc. Some folders - like Household Repairs/Maintenance - have so few yearly expenditures that I just add to what's already there and don't bother with a year designation.
It depends on how bad you need one. Not having a place for everything was the biggest source of contention in our marriage for my husband and i so it was totally worth it. I moved from a fully furnished two bedroom apt to my husbands one bedroom condo when we got married so we had a lot of stuff. I am totallt adhd when it comes to organizing and my husband stresses out when things are out. After a year and a half of not eing able to do it ourselves we hired someone. I wanted someone who had experience working with adhd adults, and the woman we found also had a psyc degree. We live near nyc and this area is expensive so we paid about 1000 for 15 hours. She was also a certified organizer which cost a little more too. My husband and i fight much less now and we have lots of space for the baby's things. Here are the main things i learned:
If both parties aren't involved and form new havits the results won't last. Both need to be present to make the decisions.
Learning how to categorize is key. Its ok if there is a space dedicated to several categories.
Certain areas, like the kitchen, will constantly be shifting, so you have to be able to be flexible.