Do it all for me
or
Make the decisions for me
Are you so fed up with your clutter that you'd like:
- Instant results
- Someone to come and just do it all for you - so that you can just go out one day and return to an immaculate, organized home
- Someone to make the decisions for you - they come and tell you what to keep and what not to keep?
Are you sure?
You're intelligent, right?
Then you can learn how to do it yourself which is not only cheaper, but it's also a guaranteed solution that will last way beyond this Thanksgiving. And you want any de-cluttering and organizing you do to last until and beyond Thanksgiving, right?
It's great that you've reached the point of wanting and seeking out help - it would suggest that you've realized that what you're doing isn't getting you the results you want and need and are ready to accept help, advice and support from someone who works with people who have clutter every day.
What you need is an expert who can:
- ENABLE you to get back control yourself
- TEACH, HELP and enable YOU to make the decisions about YOUR clutter and YOUR home
- SHOW you how to get from where you are now to where you want to be
- SUPPORT you as you go from where you are now to where you want to be, as it's likely to take more than a day to get there
- GIVE you examples of what other clients have done or tried and has worked for them so you can use or adapt as appropriate for YOU
- GIVE you ongoing support as you repeat a new way of doing your clutter clearing and organising so that, over a short period of time, you can get the home you want
After all, do you really want a complete stranger to make judgments about you, your home and your life? That's what happens when people do things for us - they think they know what's best for us and although sometimes they're right, how many times when you were growing up (or maybe still now) did you tell your parents that they didn't know what was best for you?!
The only way you're going to be able to maintain a clutter free and organized home is if it's one that you've created yourself, with our help and ongoing support of course, works for you and is a home that you truely, deep down want because you know it's going to work for YOU.
Someone coming in and telling you what you 'should' or 'shouldn't' do in YOUR HOME isn't going to give you a long term permanent solution to the current problem, and isn't the same as creating and taking ownership of an organized home both now and in the long term, even if you get nice, short term results.
The Hotel Standard
It's the equivalent of going to a hotel. It's great, isn't it, when you go to a posh hotel. Your room looks lovely, clean, immaculate. The beds are changed daily, the bathroom cleaned daily, the maids probably spend about 15 - 30 minutes a day cleaning, dusting, perfecting. They do what they 'should' do because someone has told them to do it.
Try to maintain the same standards in your home. I doubt you'd have the time, energy or inclination to maintain a posh hotel standard. Besides, those maids get paid to do what they 'should' do as defined by someone else. You probably don't or wouldn't get paid to maintain the standards set by others in your homes. I know I wouldn't.
Besides, people staying in a hotel are usually out all day doing much more interesting things than cleaning and perfecting their rooms. Your home is probably constantly changing - people, kids or pets coming in an out of the home on a daily basis, jobs, hobbies, things to do all the time. Do you really have 15 - 30 minutes per room per day to dedicate to maintaining a standard that someone else says it 'should' be at?
So if you don't have the time to maintain a posh hotel standard in your home, how are you going to maintain a standard or system that a Professional De-clutterer has said you 'should' have in your home?
We have the experience, knowledge and skills to enable you to find a standard and system that is going to work for YOU in YOUR home. Using our experience and examples we can find a solution that YOU can maintain - saving you time and money both now and in the future.
5 questions to ask yourself....
.....if you still think you want someone to do it for you or make the decisions for you.
1. Can you to trust a complete stranger who knows nothing about you, your life, your past or your home, to make decisions about YOUR belongings?
If you want us or anyone else to make judgments about your clutter, you've got to put an awful lot of trust in them. After all, they may decide that a piece of paper amongst your clutter is rubbish - yet it may be that it's a last letter from a loved one and has huge sentimental value to YOU.
Can you really trust a complete stranger - even if they are a 'Professional De-clutterer' with a minimum of 7 years experience of working with people like you - to make those judgments and decisions for you?
2. Do you really want someone to tell you what to keep and what not to keep?
When people call us and tell us they just want someone to tell them what to keep and what not to keep so they can get a quick, instant result, we ask them how they would respond if we told them to put all their clutter in a skip. After all, that would be quicker and cheaper than getting a Professional De-cluttered in to help.
Their reaction is usually one of horror, or a comment such as 'I couldn't / can't do that!'.
So what makes them think someone coming in and telling them what to keep and what not to keep, which is the equivalent to someone puting it all in a skip, is the answer to clearing their clutter?
Legally, morally and practically it's not the answer.
A professional de-clutterer is not an antiques expert. They can't possibly know the financial value of every item ever made in the world. So if they were to decide to throw out what turns out to be something of great monetary value, you'd probably want to sue them.
Add to that the fact that they certainly don't know the sentimental or emotional value of YOUR belongings to YOU, and you will understand why any Professional De-clutterer and organizer who has any experience of helping people clear their clutter will know that telling someone what to keep and what not to keep is not the answer.
3. Do you have a lot of money?
If you had someone come and do it all for you then it's going to take them a bit of time.
Let's say, on average, one room per day if it's 25 - 50% cluttered.
- How many rooms do you have that are cluttered?
- How much money do you have to spend on your clutter problem?
- If 1 day costs US$900 and 2 days costs US$1500 (including 6 weeks of ongoing support), how much is it going to cost you to get someone to do it for you?
4. Do you have enough time to de-clutter your home in one go?
If your clutter has taken you more than an instant to accumulate and become a problem, it's probably a little unrealistic to think that it's going to disappear in an instant - even if you get in a professional de-clutterer to do it for you.
If YOU can't clear it in an instant, or by the end of one day or a weekend and you are at least familiar with the contents of your clutter when you see what's in it, what makes you think that someone else can make an instant decision on things they've never seen before?!
Professional de-clutterers are experts in their field, not miracle workers and they don't have a tardis in which you can fit all your clutter to solve the problem.
You need to clear your clutter a bit at a time - after all, how do you eat an elephant? A bit at a time.
A professional de-clutterer and organizer who has experience and knowledge about clutter and it's effect on people will know that you need ongoing help and support so that you can learn how to clear and control the clutter in the long term, rather than having a short term quick fix which requires expensive help again in the future.
That's why we don't stop helping you when we leave your home on the last day - we give you 6 weeks of weekly ongoing help and support when we help you in your home.
5. Do you want to clear the backlog of clutter AND prevent it accumulating again in the future?
There are 3 areas that need to be dealt with when you're de-cluttering and organising.
- The backlog of clutter that has accumulated over time
- The backlog of 'things to do' that are in the backlog of clutter
- Control and clearly defined homes for the new, incoming potential clutter
We know that, unless you deal with all 3 areas, the clutter will return again in the future.
The process that we teach and help people implement deals with all 3 areas, ensuring that if they have help in their home they will be addressing all 3 areas. They will also be ensuring that whatever money they invest in help in the home with a Clutter Consultant is a one off payment, rather than help that they will need to pay for again and again when the clutter inevitably returns when you don't deal with the cause.
How can we be so confident that we can help without doing it for you or making the decisions?
Interestingly, we are seeing more and more clients come to us having sought help from other 'Professional De-clutterers and organizers' in the past - help that hasn't lasted.
The most common factors that have made clients reassess the help they get is that the help they have had previously did not enable them to do it themselves, did not enable them to change their clutter accumulating habits, or give ongoing support so that they could build their confidence and knowledge over time.
We're different. to other Professional De-clutterers.
We'll teach you the skill so you can do it yourself both now and in the long term.
We'll 'hold your hand' on the telephone and give you ongoing support as long as you want and need it,
alongside on-line resources only you have access to.
We know it'll take a bit of time for it to become a new habit - that's why we hold your hand.
We know that you have a busy life so you need a process that you can do a bit at a time when you have a spare half an hour here and there. As long as you can do one 15 minute Clutter Clearing Session a week and one thing on your associated to-do list each week, you WILL clear your clutter after we've been to your home or spoken to you on the telephone with our Telephone Coaching Service.
It's not that you can't do it - it's that you just need to know and follow a process that works.
If you are ready to de-clutter in a way that is guaranteed to work if you follow it and is the help and support you need right now, give us a call.
