Here at The Box Room, we’re all for helping out the time-poor. Heck, Boxman – the good folk behind your very own virtual spare room – went into business almost entirely to slash the hours wasted driving to a self-storage outpost. So we were intrigued to hear about professional organisers, a relatively new breed of lifehacker that take your time (or lack of it) very seriously indeed.
The rise of the professional organiser – or declutterer, as some prefer to be known – seems almost a reaction to the age we live in. ‘The amount of stuff that we have now, compared to what our parents or grandparents had, is just unbelievable,’ says Ingrid Jansen, a professional organiser working in and around London under the name Organise Your House. ‘We have to realise that you don’t need all that stuff to be happy. It’s really in our experiences that we find happiness.’
‘For me, it’s all about being productive, happy, calm and focused in your environment,’ suggests Patty Cruz-Fouchard, AKA Organised & Simple, a professional organiser based in North London who echoes our own ethos very closely. ‘Whatever help you need – whether it’s time, space, information – a professional organiser can help you.’
Not that it’s easy getting these points across to the public at large. Aside from common semantic difficulties (‘People assume I organise events!’ laughs Patty), a common misconception is that a professional organiser is simply a glorified cleaner – an error the industry is keen to put right. ‘The difference between what we do and what a cleaner does,’ says Patty, ‘is that a cleaner will make your mess look pretty. It’s for the eyes only. There’s no real thought process, and no logic to how things are put away. For us, it’s not about making it look pretty. It’s about functionality.’
‘The real skill is in redefining and organising the space as storage solutions, filing solutions, room layout and design ideas come into play,’ explains Jon Ramsay of Clutterbee, working in London and the Southeast. Without wanting to disparage the humble cleaner, there’s a keenness to underline the thought process here. ‘I always emphasise the organisational aspect of the work,’ he confirms, ‘as opposed to just the decluttering.’
Now that we’ve defined what they don’t do, perhaps we ought to highlight what they offer. This is similarly challenging, however, as APDO (the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers) acts as an umbrella to a number of different disciplines. The organisers that we spoke with tend to work for professionals and families, but others deal with time management for growing companies, small businesses that need to construct an efficient set of processes and systems, young parents dealing with a sudden influx of clutter, and a host of other time-related conundrums. And don’t make the misassumption, as we did, that this is a service only open to the wealthy. ‘I have a client who is funded by the council,’ explains Ingrid. ‘She has MS, so it’s difficult for her to use her hands and move stuff around. They’ve seen the benefit of me organising for her and so they pay for me to come to her house.’
Patty explains that, to begin with, she’ll typically spend a little time getting to know her clients and their situations. ‘We sit down together and think, “What’s the vision? Why are we doing this? Why are you going through this change in your life?” There’s always a change – always something going on.’ From there, she’ll start comparmentalising what she’s working with, so that the client can see what they’ve got to get through and apply each item’s necessity to their lives post-organisation. It’s not nearly as easy as it sounds. As Jon explains, ‘I normally start with an area that’s particularly bothering them or that is easier to cope with, so they don’t get disheartened. It can be very stressful for them, and – for some – mildly embarrassing that they’ve called someone in to help.’
This mild embarrassment is a common problem here in England, say Ingrid and Patty, and it’s one of the biggest stumbling blocks that the association of professional organisers has to overcome. ‘I think the stigma of hiring a professional organiser is slowly weakening,’ says Ingrid, ‘but British people will never be like Americans, who tell their friends, their neighbours, their family about their professional organiser. In America, it’s like having a cleaner or a dog-walker. It’s part of the package.’
‘Ten years ago, people assumed that if you had a personal trainer you must be rich,’ surmises Patty, ‘but now it’s more accessible. And I think that’s where we’re going to be going with the professional organising industry. It’s like having a therapist, in a way. I get one when I need one, and I see the benefits in my own wellbeing.’
To find out more about how professional organisers can bring benefits to your life, check out the APDO website. For more on Patty, Ingrid and Jon, head to their websites at organisedandsimple.com, organise-your-house.co.uk and clutterbee.com.
