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  1. #11
    dhano923 is offline Platinum level (1000+ posts)
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    Cleaning people are there to clean, not organize. Like the others said, they don’t know what you want to keep or what to throw. She is putting the stuff in the bowl for you to say “hey, I didn’t know where these things go” and assumed you would empty the bowl and put the stuff away. Each week you leave it there, so each week she starts another bowl.

    It sounds like you need to declutter first, then bring someone in to organize whatever is left. Break it into small goals. Like “today, I will declutter the kitchen cabinets and drawers on the left side of the kitchen”. Then tommorrow, do the right side. Take those items to Goodwill as soon as you pack them. Don’t let them sit around piling up. Small goals, like doing the linen closet one day, the kids bathroom cabinets another day, your bedroom closet another day, etc. It’s not as overwhelming that way. Just make sure you are packing the stuff up as you declutter- don’t tell yourself you’ll do it later because you won’t do it.
    Mom to:
    DS 10/03
    DD 11/05

  2. #12
    SnuggleBuggles is online now Black Diamond level (25,000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by dhano923 View Post
    Cleaning people are there to clean, not organize. Like the others said, they don’t know what you want to keep or what to throw. She is putting the stuff in the bowl for you to say “hey, I didn’t know where these things go” and assumed you would empty the bowl and put the stuff away. Each week you leave it there, so each week she starts another bowl.

    It sounds like you need to declutter first, then bring someone in to organize whatever is left. Break it into small goals. Like “today, I will declutter the kitchen cabinets and drawers on the left side of the kitchen”. Then tommorrow, do the right side. Take those items to Goodwill as soon as you pack them. Don’t let them sit around piling up. Small goals, like doing the linen closet one day, the kids bathroom cabinets another day, your bedroom closet another day, etc. It’s not as overwhelming that way. Just make sure you are packing the stuff up as you declutter- don’t tell yourself you’ll do it later because you won’t do it.
    Yeah that.
    I also think most cleaning people don’t want to be accused of stealing anything so they won’t throw things away. People are weird about what they consider junk vs not.
    Whenever I need to declutter, I gather everything up and dump it on the floor in front of me then binge watch something- kind of my reward for doing the tedious work.


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  3. #13
    lovin2shop is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    Default has anyone used a professional organizer?

    I haven’t hired a professional organizer, but our nanny takes care of “stuff” on a daily basis now that both kids are in school. She comes a couple hours early each day and takes care of the stuff, plus grocery shopping and dry cleaning. We never expected to still have a nanny after kids were in school full time, but she has proven to be indispensable at keeping our lives in order. So not sure of your current child care situation, but it is so worthwhile to outsource the things that bog you down and end up stealing away valuable family time.


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    Last edited by lovin2shop; 08-12-2018 at 08:48 PM.

  4. #14
    ♥ms.pacman♥ is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Yeah, a huge "yeah that" to cleaning people are for cleaning, not organizing. And yeah, most do not declutter because they don't know what you consider trash or not.


    I have a friend who does closet organizing and helps people clean out their closets/offices etc. Does 4 hour blocks where she goes in with one of those clothing rack things and helps you declutter your closet and then hauls it off to a charity. I think she charged $100 for that. I hired her once and it was great -she left with a SUV of our old crap.

    i would ask around on NextDoor or something for recommendations. I'm sure someone will know someone.

  5. #15
    basil is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    I need to hire Krystal...

    I can’t do it by myself. I’ve tried. And I would rather get a root canal than spend my very limited free time on something like that. I just can’t stand it.

    I do understand why the cleaning lady does what she does, but it’s also annoying when she throws a hair elastic on the kitchen counter and a dirty sock from under the couch and a new electronic in a box sitting on the coffee table into a pile with toys.

    We do have a nanny, she contributes to the problem in her current form.

    I just need more than a typical cleaning person apparently but I can’t figure out if I need two people or one person who can do all.

  6. #16
    anonomom is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by basil View Post
    I need to hire Krystal...

    I can’t do it by myself. I’ve tried. And I would rather get a root canal than spend my very limited free time on something like that. I just can’t stand it.

    I do understand why the cleaning lady does what she does, but it’s also annoying when she throws a hair elastic on the kitchen counter and a dirty sock from under the couch and a new electronic in a box sitting on the coffee table into a pile with toys.

    We do have a nanny, she contributes to the problem in her current form.

    I just need more than a typical cleaning person apparently but I can’t figure out if I need two people or one person who can do all.
    I'm going to sound like a fanatic, but I identify really strongly with what you're saying, and I'm telling you that hiring an organizer was totally worth it for me.

    DH and I like to joke that we're "second generation slobs," both of us having been raised in messy homes with piles of stuff all over and rooms full of junk. I tend not to see the clutter until it's at a point where I can't ignore it, and then the idea of getting into it is overwhelming. Plus, I hate to clean/neaten -- literally every other possible task comes first before I voluntarily clean anything. I'd try, say, emptying out the linen closet to clean it, but then a kid would need something or it would be time to make dinner and the task never really got finished. And my "donate" pile would sit in the hallway for weeks until eventually it all kind of got mixed in with the laundry and I'd find myself putting it right back into the closet. I remember one time when I walked into our mudroom with the intention of cleaning it, and then turned around and walked right back out again because I couldn't even begin to know where to start. That's when I hired an organizer.

    I won't lie, the process wasn't fun (and full disclosure, I'm a SAHM so I had plenty of time to do this). I worked like a DOG for a good 15 days, but the organizer was there every step of the way, keeping me on task and actually physically helping. For example, for that mudroom, she set me up at the kitchen table with boxes, and then started bringing me everything from that room. My only task was to sort -- throw out, donate, keep. Next, we looked at the keep pile, she'd ask me how I used something and where I wanted to be able to find it, and we decided what really needed to be in that room and what needed to be elsewhere. And then she helped me figure out where and how, exactly, everything that lived in that room should be put. She'd leave with all of the trash and donations, and come back next time with the bins/organizers/etc. that I needed to maintain that space according to the plan. But, critically, the sole focus was on how I, personally, wanted to use each space in the house. We worked to find ways that I could keep things neat, not how some hypothetical organized person would.

    I could in theory have done all of those tasks myself, but (a) having a second person helping made it much easier, and (b) the organizer helped keep me on task and made sure everything actually got finished. It's a little embarrassing to admit that I don't have that discipline by myself, but I really don't.

    I'm still a slob, and I still hate cleaning/decluttering. But over two years later, the systems we set up still work and they're easy enough that, for the most part, I actually use them. The organizer was worth every penny I paid and every moment of the hard work I put in, even if it was a drag at the time.
    DC1 -- 2005 DD -- 2009 DS -- 2011

  7. #17
    basil is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    Anonomom - that’s exactly what I need!! I have tried and failed these projects many times as well, for similar reasons as you.

    Where did you find this person?

  8. #18
    anonomom is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by basil View Post
    Anonomom - that’s exactly what I need!! I have tried and failed these projects many times as well, for similar reasons as you.

    Where did you find this person?
    Someone on our local FB page had used her. I'm pretty sure that there is a trade group for professional organizers, though. You may be able to see if they maintain a list of folks in your area.
    DC1 -- 2005 DD -- 2009 DS -- 2011

  9. #19
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    Hi,

    Coming to this late. I haven't read most of the replies.

    I used an organizer during a few different periods of my life - I try to make those times very discreet with a beginning and end and I work hard to organize between our sessions, all so that I can keep the cost of using the organizer down. . I found them very helpful.

    A cleaner basically just cleans - and maybe does laundry. And I REALLY appreciate that. But I do find that sometimes after a cleaner comes, it feels like my place LOOKS nice, but isn't so functionally nice in the sense that... the cleaner might just pile things in one place, and in doing so pushing all different books in one place, giving me the extra job of sorting through a pile that I wouldn't have had to before she put them together... or folding clothes and putting them in drawers on top of messy / unfolded clothes, thereby making it an extra chore for me to step in and take all clothes items out of the drawer and re-fold everything...

    This is not to say cleaners are bad. I like them a lot. I just think they are a temporary solution, more like the bandaid metaphor which covers, but does not rectify, some of the deeper house organization issues.

    The organizers that I have used come in and, at least in my case, have always worked with me to go through things - ie throw out vs. give away vs. put away vs. make sure if very accessible. And she (it's always been a she for me, and I have never met a male organizer) helps set up a system.

    I have always dreaded their arrival, but been elated once they left and energized to do more organizing myself.

    I also worked with someone who called herself an organizer, but she was really more of a 'helper' or 'personal assistant'. She would basically do things on my 'to do list' that I dreaded, from buying gifts online to paying bills when I hadn't set up online accounts, to working out various issues such as decreasing my phone bills since my needs were less than the plan I was being charged for, working out an issue with my professional organization's bill when I had paid and they had not accounted for it, and tons more stuff like that.

    The organizer and personal assistant were both really good and just different in what they offered.

    I usually paid by the hour. I lived in a very HCOL area, but at the time, I found someone for $25 and she was incredibly helpful. Within 4 or 5 years, though, her business had grown and she gradually raised her price to up to $65 an hour with a four hour minimum. I switched and found someone great on Craig's List who charged $30 an hour if I bought a package of a lot of hours. Then her business took off, and she went up to $70 an hour! Luckily, she generously kept her rates to $30 for me if I continued buying a package.

    There are also HS and College students who charge more like $15-25.

    Now that I've moved, around here, still HCOL, but a bit less so, most professionals are $50 - $100, which I find insane. If I'm going to spend $100 on an organizer, I'd rather throw EVERYTHING out and just use that money to buy new stuff! I once had an organizer who told me that she was hired by a woman to go shopping with her and the organizer's job was to keep the woman from overbuying (I think for a camping trip). I find that fascinating. I can't imagine paying someone $50-100 an hour to NOT buy things! Wow!

    Also, a head's up - there is an organization professional group, but many aren't in it. It's early on for that profession and most people just decide to call themselves organizers and don't necessarily have experience, education in it/classes, or affiliation.

    Last thing I wanted to say is... I really make sure I like the person. For me, there is nothing worse than being stuck with someone I don't like talking with for hours on end while I'm going through my stuff! I also like to make sure people respect boundaries and don't talk about me to others or others to me. Even without my/their name. I have had organizers kind of talk negatively about clients and - even though I will never find out their names - I find that rude and don't want the organizer to talk about me to anyone else, even without my name, so usually stay away from them.

    One last thing - I once asked if an organizer (whom I knew pretty well) wanted something - I can't remember what it was now, but it was a sweet little trinket and I would have given it away had she not accepted. But she said she liked it and did. Later that night, I was in my apartment and went to throw something out and saw the trinket stuck in the garbage chute and I felt sad. She could have declined, but accepted. Having accepted, the least she could have done was to take it home before throwing it out... it just seemed weird to me.
    Last edited by magnoliaparadise; 08-18-2018 at 02:42 PM.

  10. #20
    vonfirmath is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    Quote Originally Posted by anonomom View Post
    I did, about two years ago. It wasn’t exactly what you seem to have in mind — I hired her for a set number of hours and she helped me de clutter and set up systems of organization, but she didn’t put everything away on a recurring basis. It was very hard work, but I recall her saying that she had other clients for whom she did all of the work.

    But the best thing about using an organizer was that she helped me get to a point where it was easy for me to put things away. First, because we literally had less stuff (every day when she left, she took all of the trash and donations with her). And second, because she and I actually talked about and thought through how we used the space in my house, and made sure to make systems that i’d actually maintain. And by and large, they were very sustainable.

    I found my organizer through our local FB mom’s group, but before that i’d just googled.
    I have a lady like this coming out on Thursday to give me a quote and assess our place. I want her to help me set up systems I can keep going on my own.
    Married 3/04
    DS 8/07
    DD born 8/11

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