One of the reasons people are often hesitant to hire a professional organizer is that they feel like getting organized is something that they should be able to do on their own. They don’t want to pay someone to do something that they feel guilty they’re not getting done themselves. I’ve explained to people that there shouldn’t be any shame or guilt associated with hiring help – not everyone has the same skill set, and it’s ok if organizing is just not your thing. Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes to see the best solution. If you’ve always organized yourself a certain way, it can be hard to figure out what is going wrong when that way stops working. If you’ve never been organized, bringing someone in to help give you the skills and knowledge you need to be more organized just makes sense. When you’re moving into a new space – whether it’s a new home or re-purposing a space in the home you already have – it can be a challenge to figure out how to use the space to your best advantage. It’s insane that we expect that there are certain things that *everyone* should be able to do.
It’s also insane to think that everyone has time to do everything, even when those things are important to them. Time management is not about finding time to do everything yourself. It’s about priorities and efficiency. Just because you know that you really ought to do something about the mess of boxes in your garage doesn’t mean you have the time to do it. Bringing in an organizer can be a way of buying yourself time. Someone else corrals your clutter and you spend time on another task, or taking care of yourself, or hanging out with your kids.
I bring this up because this weekend, I met with the owner of a house cleaning service about having someone come in to clean my house.
But, but…you’re a professional organizer! How can you hire someone to come in and do in your home what you do in other people’s?
Well, for a couple reasons.
One, I am not a house cleaner. I am an organizer. Sure, there’s some incidental cleaning that goes along with organizing – a dusted shelf here, a vacuumed rug there – but if you need someone to scrub your shower, I am not your girl. It’s not that I can’t do these types of things. I just can’t do them well. Not everyone has the same skill set. My linen closet is well organized – everything is stocked, easy to find, not expired. Labels face forward, towels are folded. This, I am good at. But actually cleaning the bathroom that closet is in? I’m not so great at it. When I finish cleaning the bathroom, it certainly looks cleaner than it did before. It’s OK. But it’s not great. Cleaning is just not in my skill set. I can do it well enough to get by, but there are plenty of people out there who can do it better than I can.
Two, I don’t have the time. That’s not true. I have the time. But cleaning my house is not how I want to spend the time that I have. My free time is pretty limited – I have a lot going on, and most of it consists of things I have to do or want to do myself. I don’t want to clean, but it is important to me to have a clean house. It’s also important for me to make time for my clients, to spend time with my kids, and to devote time to other house-management activities – paying the bills, grocery shopping, getting the laundry folded, etc. I enjoy these things, and I do them well. If I want to take the time to keep my house as clean as I would like it to be, something else has to go. I’m not willing to let go of anything else right now. Therefore, I buy the time by having someone else complete the task.
I share this with you for a couple reasons. One, I think it keeps me sounding like a real person and not some mythical creature who has everything put together and figured out all the time. Two, if you’ve been holding off on hiring help, whether it’s an organizer, a house cleaner, a baby-sitter, a financial expert – give yourself permission to call someone. It’s not a failing on your part. It’s not poor time management, it does not make you a bad spouse or parent, and it’s not something that you have to hide from.
