Hiring a Professional Organizer

[RealLifeMama]

I want my life back! I am so sick of not being able to live the life I want and my children need because of my lack of organization and messy house!
I really need help, and I have been saying this to DH for, oh, since DD was born.
It just isn't happening and I just get farther (further?) and more behind every day. I can clean, but putting things away is just awful!
DH told me, finally, to look into it and let him know the cost.
Anyone know approx. how much it would cost to have a professional come help me?
I talked to someone I know that does it, and she said about 50 dollars an hour, but how many hours does one usually need?
I am thinking like 40! I can't afford that!
Any ideas?

[crunchymum]

:hug2 ITU where you are at... i've been there. :hugheart

my bf is a professional organizer (actually, adrienne is going to be working with her! :heart ) and i think it will be one of the most important things you will ever spend your money on. :yes

as far cost, i think it will vary depending on where you live. i think steph charges $60 per hour and works in 4 hour blocks of time. how much time you spend will depend on how much there is to be done, and also how much you are willing to do yourself... if you do a lot of the initial stuff (for me this was turning my disorganized mess into an organized mess), and work alongside the organizer, you won't be spending as much as you would if you just hired someone to get your house together (which i wouldn't recommend - i think it's extremely important to be involved as much as possible in the process). i think meeting with an organizer will give you a better idea of how many hours it might take. and maybe you can break it up into chunks of time as you have the money to do so.

here's my friend's website, in case you want to poke around there... she's probably too far away, but it gives you an idea. http://sunshineco.net/ she will travel anywhere, but you would have to pay for airfare, so...

quite honestly, i would try to set aside maybe $500 to start. pick the rooms you absolutely have to function in, and start there.

[tempus vernum]

:hugheart hope and pray it works out for you. I admire you so much -- wish I lived close and could help or hang out with the kids while you decluttered :hugheart

[greendelight]

I think this would definitely be an investment.

A little OT, but I taught the child of a mom who was a pro. organizer. I heard from everyone how wonderful she was at her job, and I don't doubt it for a minute. The only problem was that she was the most disorganized mom I've ever seen. Always losing permission forms, turning in things late, never knew what was going on (when I sent out 4 or 5 bits of communication a week!), etc. It was crazy!

[something glorious]

from what i have gathered, $60 an hour is about average in major metro areas :yes ask me how i know? i am putting serious thought into starting a professional organizing business :grin too bad we're not closer...i'd give you a GREAT deal to help build my portfolio :yes

[crunchymum]

from what i have gathered, $60 an hour is about average in major metro areas :yes ask me how i know? i am putting serious thought into starting a professional organizing business :grin too bad we're not closer...i'd give you a GREAT deal to help build my portfolio :yes


ooo, i wish i lived close, too! i need more help for sure... :yes

[something glorious]

jen, any cheap southwest flights between our 2 cities? DH owes me a weekend away ;) :kiss

[purstrength]

from what i have gathered, $60 an hour is about average in major metro areas :yes ask me how i know? i am putting serious thought into starting a professional organizing business :grin too bad we're not closer...i'd give you a GREAT deal to help build my portfolio :yes


I've found $60 to be about average here too. And I've also been giving some thought to starting a business too! :rockon I'm just trying to figure out what skills I need some work on first. :think

[AdrienneQW]

I sooooooo know where you're coming from. :hug I just took the plunge, and I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

As Jen mentioned, I hired her friend Stephanie just last week. (with a big :kiss to Jen for the referral - Steph is a peach!) She came out for a two-hour consultation where we walked through the house room by room and she listened to me talk about what's working, what's not working, what we do in each room, what we'd *like* to do in each room, etc. She asked lots of questions, but mostly just wanted to hear me talk about the space and my vision. I hired her immediately, she gave me some homework, and our first work-session is tomorrow (woohoo!). She works in 4-hour blocks at $60/hr and she offers a special where you get $100 off for booking two sessions (so including the initial consultation it's 10hrs total for $500 prepaid).

I can totally see doing it in chunks - having someone come in to do an intial consultation and set up a "game plan", then doing the lion's share of the work yourself and just having the organizer come in for check-ups and modifications to the plan. I've done a ton of work since Steph was here last week (she's going to flip when she gets here tomorrow! :rockon) and I can't tell you how much *easier* it is because I'm not just swimming upstream, doing the same ol' same ol'... I have a PLAN, and I have SUPPORT. It makes all the difference in the world, and to me it's truly priceless. :yes I told DH I don't want anything for Christmas except the go-ahead to spend the $$$ to get the help I need organizing our home. And I'm earning part of the $$$ for the project by selling things on Ebay (decluttering AND funding my project, woohoo!)

Honestly, I would highly recommend just bringing someone out for a consultation and maybe a session or two - if you're anything like me, it will be exactly the push you need. I can clean, I'm capable of cleaning, but I lack *vision* for my home. I know what I want from each room, but I have no earthly clue how to attain those goals. And I have absolutely ZERO spatial ability - I can't visualize how to put things into a space. I can't determine what kind of storage I need, what might go there, and where it belongs - I'm totally hopeless there. That's exactly what an organizer can help with. :tu

Sorry for the novel... please let me know if I can help you with any more information. I'm really fired up about doing this, and hiring Stephanie has been such a blessing. :heart If I can help in any way, please PM me! :hug

[RealLifeMama]

Honestly, I would highly recommend just bringing someone out for a consultation and maybe a session or two - if you're anything like me, it will be exactly the push you need. I can clean, I'm capable of cleaning, but I lack *vision* for my home. I know what I want from each room, but I have no earthly clue how to attain those goals. And I have absolutely ZERO spatial ability - I can't visualize how to put things into a space. I can't determine what kind of storage I need, what might go there, and where it belongs - I'm totally hopeless there. That's exactly what an organizer can help with. :tu

Sorry for the novel... please let me know if I can help you with any more information. I'm really fired up about doing this, and hiring Stephanie has been such a blessing. :heart If I can help in any way, please PM me! :hug


Oh, Adrienne, thank you for typing all that out. I just about cried reading this! That paragraph above is just like me! DH used to work for Space Planning and Management at a university, so he just doesn't understand and gets so frustrated with me. In fact, I am so bad spatially, even when I put my leftover food away, I have to try several different tupperware containers until I find the one that holds the right amount!

My DH is pretty dead set against the idea now. He was entertaining it for a couple days, but now he is against it completely. :(

Lauren and Jodi, I wished you lived closer, too. Even if it was just to share some :coffee and :oreo :)

[lavender mom]

My in-laws have an organizer. They started working with her when she was just out of school and just getting started, so they pay much less than the average rate (which seems to be around $60/hr here too.) They've been working with her for years and she does amazing work for them. Organization isn't one of my huge struggles, but I've toyed with the idea of hiring the woman my in-laws work with anyway, just because she does such a fantastic job.

[AdrienneQW]

In fact, I am so bad spatially, even when I put my leftover food away, I have to try several different tupperware containers until I find the one that holds the right amount!

Dead giveaway! And you're my long-lost twin! :hug My mom used to get so annoyed at me that I would dirty so many storage containers trying to find the right size - once as a teen I poured spaghetti sauce into FOUR different containers, thinking each one was big enough! :bag I never really realized there are some people who are more spatially gifted than others until I went on a roadtrip with some friends... I had the car all packed with everything just BARELY squeezed in, and my friend Leah took one look at it, pulled everything out, and put it all back in again - we could have fit another 6-7 bags with the space she created! And she didn't even have to *think* about it - she just looked at it, and the visualization of what it *should* look like popped into her mind. I've learned that this is the case for many spatially-gifted people... almost like having a photographic memory. They look at a situation, immediately see how it would work best, and then they can simply follow the blueprint in their brain.

Everybody has gifts - that's just not one of mine. ;) Truly one of the reasons I finally decided to hire a professional organizer was the realization that I can struggle with this endlessly, and it's not going to get significantly better because I simply don't have the capacity to make it better. :shrug Like I said before, I can clean, I can declutter, I can put things away... but without a vision, without a workable plan, I'm just putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. It makes sense to bring in an expert to set yourself up for success, right?

I hope your DH will reconsider. :pray4 Hand him a Christmas list with only ONE thing on it - the phone number of a professional organizer!

[crunchymum]

i can't wait to hear how your session goes, adrienne... i hope you post! :heart

you know, i think it's possible to "learn" how to be more spacially aware... :yes i used to be awful at it, but i think i'm so much better now. it just took some guidance and lots of practice. :) i've been amazed at how i've started to approach "organizational problems" through different eyes - it sounds cheesy, but sometimes i think "how would stephanie approach this issue?" and i actually come up with stuff! :giggle

[RiverRock]

:hugheart Organizing has been an ongoing learning curve for me, too. Just in case you can't hire a professional, Vicki Norris has a couple of books. One is called Restoring Order, the other is Restoring Order to Your Home....or something along those lines.. I borrowed her first book from the public library and I'm waiting for them to purchase the second book so I can read that too. I saw an interview with Vicki Norris on a Christian TV program. She has a company in Oregon, and a website with little video clips that might help you. She does referrals if you need one for your area.

[AdrienneQW]

i can't wait to hear how your session goes, adrienne... i hope you post! :heart

Done! AQW's organizational journey - Part 1 (http://www.gentlechristianmothers.com/mb/index.php?topic=146463.0)

Oh man... I thought I was a believer before... whew! This is by far one of the best things I've ever done. I would eat ramen for a YEAR to set aside money for a professional organizer now!!! I strongly, strongly, strongly encourage anyone who's considering it to just take the plunge - even if you just do an initial consultation and one or two work sessions, it can transform your home and your life. :yes

[crunchymum]

:rockon

[This Busy Mom]

this is one of the first things I want to save for when we get out of debt. WTG :rockon