A photograph of a large group of professional organisers and declutterers
Episode 27 – What does a Professional Organiser and Declutterer do?

In this podcast, Lesley and Ingrid discuss what Professional Organiser and Declutterer is and what the benefits of of using one would be. We are Professional Organisers ourselves so have worked with many people over the years helping them reorganise their homes and often leading them through a life changing process. But is hiring a Professional Organiser the right decision for you and how would you go about finding the right one?
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Transcript of this podcast episode
Intro  0:07  
Welcome to today's episode of The Declutter Hub Podcast, your channel for super easy, no nonsense advice on how to declutter and organise your home. Please welcome your host professional organisers, Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman.

Ingrid  0:27  
Hello, and welcome listeners to Episode 27 of the Declutter Hub Podcast. I'm Ingrid and I'm Lesley. If you have clutter and want to sorted out this is to show for you. In today's episode, Lesley and I are talking about what a professional an organiser and declutter does, and why hiring a professional organiser could be changing your life. It's spring clearing week this week, and it's the perfect week to get things in order in your home. But what if you've been trying yourself for ages to get your house sorted and you're not getting anywhere? In today's episode, Lesley, and I chat through why hiring a professional organiser might be the best thing you've ever done. So Lesley, let's start at the beginning. Spring clearing week. What is that?

Lesley  1:16  
Yeah, so I'm not sure if we were spoken about APDO before on the podcast. So APDO, we actually have our own Professional Association, the Association of Professional declutters and organisers, which has been going for almost 15 years now. And so what that is, it's a kind of trade association for anybody who does the job that we do. You and I have been really actively involved in that for many, many years. You were the president was mentoring and blob lots of many things that we did. And so we're very fully involved in Abdo, aren't we? Yes. So yeah, we,

Ingrid  1:51  
I think we both really enjoyed because it really lifts the the industry, if people are in an association, and they both they all think that working together, and being a professional person is good for the industry as a whole. And we both really actively support that. And we've been very, very involved in growing the association and making the whole industry more professional.

Lesley  2:18  
I think that's it, I think that's that's what it boils down to, you know, because we have quite strict criteria, really don't worry as well as to what people have to do to be a member. And so definitely the code of ethics that we have is all about confidentiality. And you know, because we take this job seriously, and it's not something, you know, sometimes we're working with people that are quite vulnerable, maybe at a low point, not feeling their best. And so we need to take that seriously. You know, it's not just going in and chucking stuff into beanbags. That's not what it's all about. It's dealing with people's emotions day after day. And for that we need to be professional and that's why we call ourselves professional organisers, a spring clearing week, then there are two campaign weeks that actor run. One of them is in November, national national organising week, which is all about organising obviously. And then we have one which is more focused on decluttering. And that is this week. And so you may have seen lots and lots of things from our colleagues and friends and after this week, if you're heavily into the decluttering world on social media, and wondering what it's all about. And so we thought it would be a fantastic week to talk about what actually a professional organiser is, whether that won't that would be a useful thing for you, and what kind of things you should look for when you're trying to employ a professional organiser to work with you. Because it's not straightforward. It's not straightforward. You need to get the right fit for you.

Ingrid  3:42  
Yeah, completely. I couldn't agree more. I mean, we both are supporters of both national organising weekend spring clearing week also, of course, because we're both organisers in the collectors, but because because we are both trainers for the association. We both experts, people can book my mentoring calls with us. And I think it's really important that the industry is a professional industry, and that people who join the association, abide by this code of ethics, and because like you said, people are really vulnerable, and they want help, and they really want somebody that they can trust and rely on to be in their life. So why would you use a professional organiser, then Lesley?

Lesley  4:29  
I think it's really for those people who have tried and failed. Yeah, it's failure is the wrong word. Because trying is success in my in my book as well. But people who have wanted to declutter and organise their homes, and have just become so overwhelmed, that they can't see a way out, they can't see where they would start. You know, they they just feel that they need that motivation and somebody to sit alongside alongside them and champion them on really. So I think it's really it's definitely A something that you do when you become completely overwhelmed. And you can't do it on your own because a lot of people say to me, you know, I can't believe you're making a business out of being a declutter, because for many people, it's not rocket science, you know, it's just, well, I just declutter things and get rid of things. And I organised My house is organised. And I can't believe anybody is not like that. And so but for so many people, there are so many things that get in the way of our home has been our primary thing that we're taking care of. And I think, you know, it's a great idea to take that overwhelm away, even if it's just for one or two sessions, to work with an organiser to get your kind of mojo back. And then to kind of work out the process and work out the emotions that you need to deal with. And so, obviously, you and I are going to be advocates of it, because we've done for the last 10 years. The great thing, we've helped lots of people, but it can be completely life changing for a lot of people and can set them on the right path to live in a much more organised, less chaotic and less stressed life. Yeah, so I think it's definitely money well spent. Really?

Ingrid  6:03  
Yeah, I think so too. And what I see a lot is that people don't know where to start anymore. That's, I think, a very much the sense of, I just can't believe how I got here and how I didn't see all this stuff grow around me. And as suddenly, it seems like almost the blinkers have fallen off, they look around, and then they get into a state of panic and go, Oh, my goodness, what do I do now. And with an extra pair of hands that can motivate and coach and support people in making decisions. And a lot of times we've talked about it before, clutter is delayed decisions. But that's all nice and well that you know this, but if you're by yourself in a room that's completely chaotic, and you get to a bit of state, do you think oh my gosh, how am I going to do this? Where do I even start, I think that's where a professional organiser really shines and can really help people.

Lesley  6:58  
Definitely. And then there is another sort of type of person that we help as well, which is just somebody that's just got so many things in their life that they need to do every day, that organising their spare bedroom just never comes to the top of that list. And so they just need to get it in the diary, and make sure it actually happens on that day. So sometimes the person is perfectly fine making decisions know what they need to do know where everything wants to go. But it's just never getting done. Because they make we all make choices, don't we what we do with our time. And that's just not a choice that they're making. And it gets to a point where they're kind of, I need to make this choice today, I need to get somebody until it actually gets done. So, so yeah, so that's why I think it's a it's a great thing. And it can be you know, and it's we're so lucky on where you know, to work with people and to be part of that process of, you know, a lot of people come to us if people have got a little bit overwhelmed, sometimes a little bit depressed, but we're often on, they come to us on their way up. So they made a decision that they want things to be better. And we're part of that process of change. And that's really, it's really lovely. And we don't take that lightly. Do we, you know, to be part of that journey for a lot of people,

Ingrid  8:05  
not at all. And I mean, you can see really people you change people's lives, because a lot of clutter creates a lot of clutter in people's heads as well. So when you start to declutter their house, you, you see that they can start to sleep better, for example, and that is already life changing. Sleep is so important. And when people sleep better, they feel they can handle more, and they, they start to feel that they can get on top of things and they can make better decisions. So it's such a positive thing to be part of and to be a part of that journey in helping people is is wonderful. And I think one of the main reasons why we both for nine and 10 years have enjoyed being a professional organiser so much. So. Okay, so how do people find the right organiser?

Lesley  8:56  
I think getting the right organiser, because there are some that you and I both know, because we've trained a lot of organisers that have come through. And so we see, there are so many different styles of organiser and people who focus on different things. And so it's finding and we you know, we're very collaborative with an actor, a lot of people work together on on projects and things like that. So there's no sense of competition here between organisers, but it's finding the best fit for you. You know, do you want somebody who's more focused on business organising? Do you want somebody who's more focused on time management or is more life coach or you know, there are so many different ways of attacking this really. I would say the first thing you know, we are advocates of Abdo. And I think it's really important to go to the App Store website to find somebody and it's really easy, isn't it? You just go to app down there's a thing on there, find an organiser, you put your postcode and you can find an organiser that's close to you. And so that's obviously if you're not in Austin or Manchester, because then you'd come straight to us obviously. So yeah, go to Abdo and Find an organiser. And you can find and what I'll do is I'll throw up a five or six or 10, I think it is, isn't it organisers that are close to you. And then you can go look at their bios, look what they're saying and look where they're what they're saying on their bios resonates with you. Because you will get that, you know, you'll get that connected feeling with somebody. And that's the most important thing, follow it up, make the call, send an email, you know, choose a couple that you like the look of that feel as if they're going to be that, but I would, I would expect to get a call back as long as it's not the weekend, certainly within 24 hours from from a professional organiser, because I think it's important for us to realise that people, some people have waited for months and months to make this decision. You know, it's not an easy decision to make to ask someone to come into your home. There's lots of feelings of guilt sometimes and shame and things like that embarrassment. And so it's a big deal, you know, for people to pick up the phone. And as organisers, we then need to respond to that effectively, and in a timely fashion. And so I would say within 24 hours that colonists be coming back unless you're on holiday, or whatever. So yeah, expect to see the response, and then some kind of chat, you know, consultation, it might be a phone consultation, it might be a virtual consultation on Zoom or something. But the most important thing is that that organiser is listening to you. So they're not coming to you. And they're not saying right, this is how we're going to do it. This is what I think your home should look like. And this is what I do. And this is the number of hours that I do you know that at no point during that consultation, should there be any kind of dictating from the organiser, what they're going to do and how they're going to do it. Because that consultation is all about you and your home. And you saying this is how I'm feeling. And this is what I want my home to look like. So that is what your expectation should be the first time you make that you have that communication with your organiser, which we're creating grid.

Ingrid  11:47  
Yeah, I think the vision is very important. You know, why? What's the plan? Because, as an organiser, we might have an idea and think, for example, oh, we would love to start in the kitchen. But maybe you as the client thinks to yourself, Well, I think for me, the spare bedroom is really important because I need to create a home office or I'm going to have people over for the weekend or so you need to talk that through with your organiser and decide what what is the best plan to work together and explain to you, you need to explain to them what your vision is and where you want this to go. Because clutter I think is a very relative principle, you know, the amount of clutter and how you want your house to look is different for everybody. Some, some people want to have a completely streamlined house, want to declutter everything because they have decided that minimalism and having nothing in their house is the way for them. But other people think you know what, I just want to make sure that I get my laundry done and that I get laundry in my cupboards and that people can find fresh clothes in the morning. And that I know where my keys are in the morning. So it depends on every client what it is that they want. And you need to as a professional organiser, that's what you need to figure out and need to be very clear about from the start.

Lesley  13:07  
Yeah, and I think it's all about it's all about the client's level of tolerance, isn't it and where, where they want to go with that. So sometimes it's fair to say we walk into some homes where on first glance, we look and think I'm not quite sure what we're going to be able to do here because there's, it's looks tidy, it looks organised, there's not much clutter, and then both, if that's making that that person overwhelmed, and they want to be better, you know that that's more getting towards the realms of perfectionism. And of course, you know, these days, we look at Instagram, look at Pinterest, and everything is looking so perfect. And a lot of people want that look, and we're there to help them create it. So yeah, and then we've got all the people at the other end of the spectrum that are so overwhelmed with clutter that they can't see a way out of it. Yeah. So it's important to find somebody that's going to really work well with you. And that's going to ask the right questions. During that consultation. The most important thing is that you need to feel comfortable. Yeah, organiser, and you need to feel that you can trust them. This is going to be a relationship entirely built on trust. And that's what you need to to work out straight away. So if you if the gut feeling is that this is not going to work, and then move on to the next organism. Yeah,

Ingrid  14:15  
I always advise people you know, indeed what like exactly what you said, typing your postcode look at your 10 nearest organiser, if they're not in my area, and I redirect people to the Abdo website, I always say have a look at different websites, you know, when you think oh, she looks nice, or she comes across and this is what what I really really want in that person and and contact them and talk to them. And if you definitely do a consultation either online or in person, and if the gut feeling is good, then you're on the right path because you know, it's personal organising is very, very personal and you go through through stuff together. So you need to make sure that you really like and trust somebody Yeah, absolutely. So what else? Would you expect an organiser to sort out with you in the consultation? Or either virtual or in person? I mean, of course, you know, you need to figure out how they work. Do they do work with you? Or are there organisations out there who do the work for you? I mean, I always work with my clients, because that's I think, for me the most important part of my job, I absolutely love working with my clients. Do you need to take care of the stuff yourself? Or will the organiser, bring it to the charity shop for you? Do you need it? There's lots of stuff as well than yesterday shorted, isn't that? Yeah,

Lesley  15:40  
yeah, you need to look at logistics. And and also, at that point, you'd like to get some kind of feel for how long this process might take. But what what an organiser will or should never do really is give you a kind of, it's going to take five hours, for example. And it's going to cost you this much, because both you and the client, or the other way around you or me, or as organisers don't know how long how fast, it's going to take you to how sorry, how quickly you can make decisions, or whether it's going to be difficult for you exactly what type of clutter there is whether you're going to suddenly find 75 boxes of paperwork under the bed that you would not seen. And so there's no guarantees, and there's no promises. And so what you're unlikely to get is a defined price at that stage. But what you should get, you should get a feel for how much it's going to cost per hour. And a kind of broad, I tried to give my clients a broad feeling for, you know, it's going to take between three and five sessions or seven and 10, or one and two, or whatever that might be. So just trying to work all that kind of stuff out. Because budget is really important, of course, and we had this has to be affordable, and has to be within your within your budget. Really? Yeah, try and find out and you know, it's important to they bring their beanbags with them, or do I need to source those, you know, all those kinds of practical things. But the organiser during that consultation should go through all that with you.

Ingrid  17:03  
Yeah, I agree with you. I, I, I, I try and estimate during a consultation how long I think something will take. But I always say, Listen, until we started working together, it depends on on the speed in which you can make decisions as well. So I tried like you, I'd say, you're probably looking at two sessions here, three sessions there one session here. But I keep it very open. because it all depends on how quickly the client can make decisions. For example, if I think a kitchen can take one or two sessions, I kind of say, Okay, I estimate two sessions. But of course, it depends on when we open the cupboards and everything comes out, then you can really kind of see how long it will take. The only thing I do not estimate is paperwork, because I think that is very, very tricky to estimate. But I think

Lesley  17:53  
the important thing for us is that we give the client the time that they need to make those decisions without being overwhelmed. You know, the last thing that we want when we're trying to take the overwhelm away, is to be rushing people through decisions, because we've made promises about the fact that this kitchen is going to be done in four or five hours. Yeah. And we have to take it at the client's pace. And that's the important thing to remember with an organiser does come to you and are being a little bit kind of not exactly been clear in how long it's going to take. That's the reason why.

Ingrid  18:21  
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, what, I've had clients who have said, okay, you know, you're feeling comfortable. Now you're growing, you're, you know, you're feeling more comfortable and making decisions. Let's see if we can speed up your, your your knee a little bit. But there have also been clients that have said, Okay, you're going so quick, you need to slow down, because I really want to make sure that we make really good decisions here. Because once it's the decision has been made, you know, is it staying? Is it going? And if it's going, where's it going, then I don't want to keep changing around for that all the time. And I think that's really pushed out exactly what Lesley is saying, if sometimes it's hard for an organiser, to say how long it will take this is why?

Lesley  19:08  
Well, I think we've kind of covered everything really, you know, the most important personal points of what's, what you should look for, and what you should expect, you know, what you're going to expect at the end of that process is you're going to expect your house to be organised in a way that suits your family life. Yeah. So every every house, so it's a bespoke process. And so by working with the with the organiser and client relationship is going to mean that all the time going to be questions about right, you know, what's important to you? What do we need in your own stairs cupboard? What do we need close to the front door, you know, that's going to be different if you're an 80 year old couple or a mom with three kids that have got to get out of school in the morning. And so it's very much about creating this bespoke system. And that is why you as a client needs to be involved all the time. And you can't just say well, you organise it the way that you think, because we could do that but then it's not necessarily going to work for you You. So it's really important, but that's what you're going to expect at the end of it, you're going to expect that organiser to have created or worked with you to create that vision that you had in the big. So and that vision might be, I want my grandkids to come and stay over in my spare bedroom, because they can't get in there at the moment, because it's a dumping ground. It might be, as you said, Before, I just want to get on top of my laundry and find a system that's going to work for me, that vision doesn't need to be I want my house to look like it's on, you know, Grand Designs. To me, every person's home is different. So that's kind of what you you might expect. Now, I think it's important for us to say, You know what, what we're not trying to do here is to sort of we are trying to promote professional organiser, because we believe in it as a profession. It's clear also that as well as being the clutter fairy for me and organise your house for you. We have also done in line work while the online world of trying to sort of pass our information across to you. Why did we do that? Because in the last 10 years that we've been working, there are so many people who for whatever reason, can't have a professional organiser in their home, they would love to, they would love nothing more. But let's be honest, this is not a cheap option, you know, we think well worth it in terms of our financial outlay. And many people will say it's the best home improvement when they've ever spent. But not many people can afford that. There's a lot of people out there that can't and we are desperate to help as many people as we can. And so what when Ingrid and I were chatting about this a year ago, we were like, how can we do this, it's got to because the most important thing about us as professional organisers is always been there, and always being there to motivate us being there to educate, and so on. And so we felt that a lot of the courses and things that are out there are kind of you know, it's kind of a push, you know, this is what you need to do what you need to do. So what we've tried to do the day caught up, and what we're working on at the moment, is, you know what you've seen so far, have you seen our podcast, you getting to know us a little bit more, getting a feel for whether or not you like us, and it's important that you Well, I mean, you might not but we don't you to. And but it's important for us to get ourselves across his personalities for you to see, you know, our good and Lesley somebody that could help me through my process on my own at home. And so just to give you a feel for what we're working on at the moment, and it should be coming soon. Do busy making podcasts aren't able to write courses at the moment, we've got a slight delay. But anyway, so we're writing courses. And what these will be is step by step going through every single room in your house. And it breaks it down. And it gives you every single thing that we know as organised as is in there, isn't it Ingrid, we put videos in there. And we talked through things. So we've got courses, which are brilliant and very insightful, I think as well as to the important things. We talked about psychology, Savarna, and everything. And so what you might expect that's going to be in our members area soon. And the other thing that is going to be the alien thing is that every two weeks, there's going to be q&a sessions, live q&a sessions with Ingrid and I, where you can ask us anything. So that's the point at which you, you know, if you're going through the kitchen course, for example, you might say, well, well, you said this about the kitchen course. But I can't quite make that work for my house because I've not got that corporate door, blah, blah. So some things that we've maybe not thought about if you've got something unusual at home or something that you just need a little bit of extra help or motivation with. So yes, we love being a professional organiser. And we love doing that. And we would absolutely advocate if you're stuck. And you can afford that. To hire a professional organiser to come and help you even if it's one session. absolutely go for it. But you've got the second option, which is Ingrid and I are helping you through within the members area, which is coming soon. So we just wanted to talk to you about that we've not really spoken that much about it have we about what we're doing and why we're doing or why we're doing all this. So that's, that's coming that's coming soon. And we're right in the middle of the courses at the moment. We're excited, aren't we?

Ingrid  24:01  
Oh, no, it's so nice to be able to, to write everything that's in our heads, you know, and all this experience that we have. And you know, I mean, I'm touching on 900 projects that I've done now. So I've done so much work with clients, and I really want other people as well, to be able to get that knowledge from me and not only the clients that I work with on a day to day basis, and we both love decluttering and organising so much and we've done so so much work to professionalise the industry. And now we really want to help people who, who can't have an organiser in their home. And that's why we're writing the course to make it really affordable for people to get all of that experience from us. So stay tuned for for announcements on that and on our wonderful members area. So yeah, I think that said let's listen. Is there anything else we need to add?

Lesley  24:57  
I just think it's really so just to jumped back to what we were talking about the moment this week is spring clearing week are all of our lovely actor members who do loads and loads of stuff. They're doing radio, they're doing blogs. So go out there be inspired by them. You know, tell us about it and tell us something that resonated with you. So spring clearing week is there to motivate and educate you to clear your home's in spring. So it's not spring cleaning, it's been clearing. Apparently people don't do sprinkling spring cleaning anymore, because they just clean the house also. Yeah.

Ingrid  25:29  
I advocate more a little bit often. So I'm not going to spring clean my whole house. But of course, in the in the April half term when the kids are off school, I will be doing some jobs around the house that that need doing that I think that I like being doing in April when it's hopefully, hopefully the sun is shining, and I can use my outside washing line. Let's see that would make me very, very happy.

Lesley  25:54  
Exactly. So and we were almost at the end of our 40 days, 40 items challenge as well in the decluttered community I so if anybody's not part of our declutter hub community, please come along and take a look. So we've set that up. We've got a closed Facebook group. So you can tell us everything that you want, you can share your photo, share your stories, and it's been really good fun. So we've been doing a 40 day I always get it wrong down I 40 days, 40 items challenge, where we've been decluttering one item every day, Ingrid and I have been going live on Facebook to show what we've been decluttering and why. And all of our lovely members have been doing that as well, haven't they? So, so yeah, so that's that's us done now. Yeah.

Ingrid  26:35  
So listeners, are you ready to take the next step? Have you realised by listening to this podcast that you need help, and hiring a professional organiser is the way to go for you. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen today. And like Lesley said, if you would like more tips and advice, please follow us on social media. We're on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and we have the Facebook group community where we check all things clutter, literally. And we'd love to see you there. And of course, if you don't want to miss the next weekly episode, don't forget, subscribe to the declutter podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher. Thanks for listening. See you next time.

Outro  27:16  
Thanks for listening to this week's episode of the Declutter Hub podcast. Check out declutterhub.com For more inspiration, and don't forget to tune in next week.
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