1. So – a professional organiser. What precisely does that mean?

In my case, I’m a residential organizer, which means I work exclusively in people’s homes. I’m hired by individuals as a consultant, in the same way that one might hire an interior decorator or personal trainer. I work alongside my clients to help them shape their living environment into one that supports their needs and goals. In practical terms, this means that I’m guiding and supporting their decision making process about what to do with their stuff. There are a few different types of professional organizers. The National Association of Professional Organizers has a useful page on the subject.

2. What sort of person employs an organiser?

Jewish women with cats. For a few weeks at one point, all my clients were Jewish women with cats.

Seriously, anyone can benefit from the services of an organizer – even organizers sometimes hire other organizers to help them with their own blind spots at home or work. My clients have been male, female, and transgendered; ordinarily-abled and disabled; from age 5 to 60-something; in bad neighborhoods and affluent areas. I have worked for hoarders in dirty and dangerous living conditions, but also people who agonized about a small stack of mail sitting out on a kitchen counter. The one thing they have in common is that they aren’t happy with the relationship they have with their stuff, and need some outside help to transform it.

3. How does it work?

First, I always do a free phone consultation. The client tells me what she needs and I tell her what I can offer. If it sounds like a go, we make plans for me to come over. I also have a form I email the client to fill out, which tells me more about her situation: what seems to be the biggest problem, what works, what doesn’t, how other people in the home figure in, and so forth. I also encourage her to set some goals:

What sort of a home does she want to have? Everything we do has to be pointing toward those goals. When I come in, we do a walk-through, then we sit down and talk about strategy.People often think the question of where to start is of paramount importance (and this is why they get stalled), but in my experience it’s mostly important just to start. Sometimes, when the clutter is so extensive that it has become dangerous – such as blocking stairs, hallways, and exits, or growing mold or housing infestations – we focus first on getting things back to a safe situation. Another strategy is to go from the public to the private areas, or to start with the home office or desk, or to attack areas in order of how annoying they have become to the client.

The usual sorting technique is to go through each item together and decide whether it stays, gets thrown away, gets recycled, or gets donated to charity. If it stays, we decide if it belongs in this room or another, and stuff goes into boxes or piles to go to other rooms. We don’t run around the house distributing things; we stay put, to conserve time and energy. The general rule is to start with one distinct area and expand that area as you go, so we do half a kitchen countertop, or a corner of a room, or a shelf of a closet, at a time.

The process depends a lot on how cluttered the space is. If there is visible garbage, that goes first. Of course the sorting process is slightly different if we’re working just on paperwork, or just on a bedroom closet full of clothing. But the basic principle is the same – does it stay or does it go, and then, how does it stay or go? We may also talk about storage options in terms of furniture or containers, make some changes to the way the space is utilized, and address big picture questions that come up for the client: Who am I? What stuff do I need, use, and love? What does my stuff say about me?

At the end of the session, we talk about what the client is going to do on her own before the next session (whether that’s actual homework, or just a commitment to keep the organised space the way it is). I make sure that everything we have taken out is put away, and we schedule the next session. I usually go to my car with a few boxes or bags of donations to go to charity.

4. If you were to give two tips for helping someone get organised, what would they be?

1. Own less stuff, any way you can. Ditch what you have. Choose quality over quantity. Say no to freebies and “deals.” Find other sources of emotional gratification besides retail therapy.

2. Think in terms of “real estate.” Whatever you use most often should be in the best real estate in the house – in other words, the easiest to access. Your coffee maker could stay out on your kitchen counter, your pens on your desktop. Things used less often should go into decreasing qualities of real estate. Your clothing can be inside a dresser, and the old tax returns should wind up way out in the slums (like the back of a closet or a crawl space).

5. Confession time – what area of organisation do you find most difficult personally?

Time! Physical stuff, I can handle. But I have a difficult time pacing myself or knowing how long things will take. I manage to be on time for things, but that’s only as a result of fairly compulsively checking my watch. I’m also not great about prioritizing my time, and I procrastinate too much. I’m trying to get better about it, though.

6. Where can people find out more about you?

My organising website is at http://www.findyourfloor.org (the org is for organising!).

7. If people are not local to you, is there any place to look for organisers in their area? Organisers United, or something?

NAPO, the National Association of Professional Organizers, is a good starting point. It’s mostly American, but there are members all over the world (and that’s why they’re thinking about changing their name to something more “international,” so stay tuned). The website will allow you to search for an organiser in your area.

8. Tell us three interesting facts about you!

1. I was a writer and editor before I began organising. Among other things, I wrote four books on NeoPaganism, two of which are still in print!

2. I’m an artist. I work in collage and decoupage with “found objects.”

3. I have chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

http://www.jenniferhunter.com has links to my books on Amazon, and to my art website.