The project: My basement
I have an unfinished basement in my home that is largely used for storage right now. I had organized it probably 3 or 4 months ago, and I was really proud of myself for doing that. I currently stay home with my son full time and those of you who are reading and are mothers understand how exciting it is to get a task like this done while caring for your kids and your other regular tasks. It took me probably several days to a week to get it where I wanted it.
Unfortunately, it started getting overwhelming again very quickly. Why? Well, as a first time Mom I didn’t realize that when you get something for your baby they probably only use it for about 2 to 4 months before you need to store it for your future babies. There were a few other contributing factors that led to the overwhelm;
Where I chose to store the baby stuff downstairs, (which was close to the door) didn’t make sense anymore because the pile was growing and growing and it started bleeding into the walkway.
I also started buying more back stock for the home.
Additionally, I store my organizing supplies for my home (and clients) on a shelf in the basement but, I rummage through these supplies so often that the shelf was starting to get really cluttered and dysfunctional.
After camping season, we move all of our camping supplies downstairs so I had even more items to deal with.
Lastly, the quick cleanup I did on my own wasn’t really 100%, it was definitely an improvement, but what I really needed was a thorough reset.
It was time to call Erica!
Erica is a home organizer friend of mine, and she was SO excited to help me out!
The day of the project, I of course had my son with me. I laughed because he had fallen asleep for a nap before we started the project, and 30 minutes later woke up. I thought about how if I was doing the project by myself, I would have already had to stop. I did work side by side with Erica for probably 80% of the project, but I was still able to care for my son. The peace of mind knowing that the project was still moving forward was so valuable.
For years I’ve said (in an attempt to relate to my clients) “even I would benefit from hiring an organizer” Why? Because organizing is a creative and trial and error process and there are so many different ways to approach a space or category. What I didn’t expect was how much more this statement became true.
I never thought I would want or need to hire an organizer because I love organizing, I do it in my free time, and I was never really in a position that I couldn’t handle the project on my own. But, now that I’m a mom I look at paid help differently. I knew that I would get the project done more quickly, and that I wouldn’t have to sacrifice time with my son or my husband when he’s off work to get the project done. I also knew that it would be a lot more fun. Basically, now that I’m a mom I have less time for doing things that I enjoy even if it is organizing… especially if it’s a large project.
Most of my clients for the last 7 years have been Moms and now being a Mom for over a year I can truly relate to my clients in a new way with the overwhelm that can happen.
I already felt very comfortable with Erica, I’ve known her for about 8 months, and we talk almost daily, but I understood more what a client would feel with inviting someone into their home. I could see how it would be so vulnerable.
Read on for some other very interesting things that became much more clear to me after our time together:
First of all, I was surprised at how it took 3 hours to accomplish the project even though 3 things were true:
1. I had an exact plan of what I wanted/needed to get done.
2. We are both professional organizers so we are obviously skilled in this area
3. Most of my stuff was already sorted and organized; it was just needing a reset.
I spent a lot of time towards the end of the session just processing with Erica on what the experience was like. I had no idea how profound and insightful it would be for me. During and after the session I had such a new understanding of how valuable professional organizing is.
Another thing, I always knew it was helpful to clients to have somebody to verbally process with, but I literally got to experience that myself. It was easier to make decisions when I had somebody to listen to as I talked out loud about the item in question. I also found it super meaningful to be able to share things about my life that we’re joyful or sweet. I knew that it wasn’t necessary for the task at hand to share, for example, that the metal trucks in a bin were my husband’s when he was a little boy and we are saving them for my son when he’s older, and my mother-in-law kept them all this time. But, it was so fun for me to share that with her.
Those conversations made the process feel less like a chore and more like a meaningful experience.
It was also really funny because there were things that came up that made me realize how quirky I am outside looking in. She stayed with me an extra hour so we could also tackle under my bathroom sink, and I knew there were things under there that I could get rid of. What was really funny was when she would ask something like “what is this?” And I would just start laughing because I realized that the answer was so silly when I went to say it out loud. For example, I use a natural deodorant but to me it is pretty pricey. When I get to the end of the deodorant stick I scoop out the remaining deodorant and put it in a glass jar to apply to my underarms with a wooden spatula.
I was also excited because probably a year to a year and a half ago I had bought something on Amazon that you use to make your hair into a bun, but I had never taken the time to figure out how to use it. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep them, but I knew that I had to confront that with her there. I found the item on Amazon while we were organizing and she actually helped me figure out how to use it, and it turns out that I really liked it! I ended up giving her two of them because I had four and didn’t need that many…so it became a fun experience and I learned how to use an item that I had been avoiding. I have done things like this with clients before i.e- help them find what they own, figure out what it is (if sometimes they don’t know, figure out how to use it and figure out where to store it) It made me realize how much more goes into organizing then initially seems on the surface.
I got rid of two trash bags of donate. (Which is more than I was expecting to)
Another really meaningful part of the experience was having somebody to celebrate with. It was really motivating to have somebody excited with me about the progress we made and were making even while we were working
I remember asking Erica, “Do you know the ting that was the hardest for me to let go of today?” I laughed when she answered correctly. The hardest thing for me to get rid of was some bed risers I had been keeping with my organizing supplies. Let me explain:
Basically, and this is where we laughed a lot together was I told her that as a new mom something that was really important to me for my son was to have a bassinet that was non-toxic. So my aunt who paid for the bassinet got one that was about twice the cost of a regular one, it came from sweden. What I didn’t know until after I had assembled it was that beds in Sweden are actually lower than ones in America and to use the bassinet safely you want it to be able to go at the same height as your bed, well instead of admitting to my husband that I picked the wrong bassinet I tried to problem solve how we would fix it and I impulsively bought some bed risers on amazon. Well, they came and I realized that that wasn’t necessarily safe either because now the bassinet could fall off of the risers, so I convinced my husband that he could screw them into the bottom of the bassinet legs and that would be great… this of course never happened, and I put the bed risers downstairs with my organizing supplies thinking that maybe I would find some other use for them but I never did. So, when Erica “confronted” me with these items I struggled a lot to admit that I spent money on something I never ended up using, and I basically wasted my time and money. But, in an interesting way I told her that the bed risers also tied into my identity as wanting to be a good mom, and that layer of emotion also made them interesting to talk and think about.
They were a failed attempt to make a non-toxic bassinet (imported from Sweden) work with our American-sized bed. Even though I knew I’d probably never use the risers, letting go of them felt like letting go of my effort to be the best mom I could be.
The risers weren’t just objects—they symbolized my desire to provide the best for my son, even if the solution didn’t work out. I’ve always recognized this emotional attachment in clients, but experiencing it myself was incredibly eye-opening.
I understood why clients often struggle to part with seemingly trivial items. Our things often represent a sense of resourcefulness, a memory, or an ideal version of ourselves.
I realized keeping something because we spent money on it makes us really feel like we didn’t waste our money, even though technically we did when we bought them
I understood more deeply how the things that we buy, the things that we keep, they tie so much into the kind of person we want to be or hope to be, and it’s almost like those items in themselves are what we think is going to make us that kind of person
The other funny experience that I wasn’t expecting to have was that when I was deciding to get rid of something, I would do the same thing that my clients do to me and offer it to Erica, and part of me really wanted her to want or need the item. I’ve always known that people like getting rid of stuff more if they know that it’s going to a good home, and to know that it was just going to go to the trash made it even harder to get rid of
I also understand now why clients max out around 3 hours in most cases, we worked together for 4 hours and even though I walked away from the session energized and really excited, I also knew that it was a lot of work.
I also already kind of knew and expected this, but now it makes even more sense why when a client gets comfortable with a specific organizer, they want to work with that one every time. Because it does take a level of vulnerability to let somebody into your space and talk about your most meaningful stuff. I didn’t really experience exactly what a client does in this way because I already know and trust Erica and have spent quite a bit of time with her, so I didn’t have the awkwardness of just meeting somebody new
I understand now more the value of the service that we offer clients, because I invested in basically the same way that I’m asking clients to invest in us. In fact I did this literally by paying her exactly what I charge for my time as an organizer showing up solo.
As organizers, we often become our clients’ cheerleaders, and experiencing that encouragement from the other side gave me a greater appreciation for the role we play in our clients’ lives.
Why Hiring an Organizer Is an Investment, Not an Expense
This experience solidified my belief that hiring a professional organizer is an investment. It’s not merely about paying someone to declutter your home; it’s about investing in peace of mind, time, and well-being.
As a mom, I value the extra time I can spend with my son and husband rather than stressing about a cluttered basement. The money I spent was not just for a cleaner space; it was for a lighter mental load and a better quality of life.
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