The life of a professional organizer in January
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Before and after. Photos: Courtesy of Sort It Out SD
As the calendar turns to a new year, many people find themselves wanting to clear out their homes and get organized.
The big picture: January is the peak season for professional organizers, especially in San Diego, where small homes and irregularly shaped closets mean space is a hot commodity.
New year's resolutions plus hangovers from holiday abundance can translate to an urgent need to purge our homes and return to minimalism, Jen Jeffress, a professional organizer and owner of Sort It Out SD, told Axios.
- "When you start taking down the holiday decorations, then it's like the satisfaction of seeing nothing," she said.
By the numbers: Sort It Out SD works in sessions of five to six hours and does one session a day.
- They charge $160 an hour, which is mid-range for San Diego professional organizers, Jeffress said.
- Miss Organized, another local company, charges $1,125 for four hours or $5,050 for 20 hours and sends a team of three organizers.
How it works: When a professional organizer team arrives at a home, they start with pulling everything out and sorting it into categories, Jeffress' partner Tori Penick said.
- Then they bring in the client to decide what to keep and what to trash.
- Miss Organized founder Tracy Paye has clients make three piles: yes, no and maybe, so they don't get stuck on deciding whether something stays or goes.
"It looks a little daunting, but once we've sorted and then the client purges, then we can figure out how to store the remaining stuff," Penick said.
Can't let go: Many clients want to cling to things because they think they're valuable or they might be used in the future.
- A professional organizer can gently cajole someone into realizing none of that is true, Jeffress said.
- When that fails, they give the client a deadline to use something or sell it.
- Otherwise, it goes in the trash.
What's next: When all of that sorting and purging is done, then it's time to buy bins and think about an organizing system, Jeffress said.
Yes, but: She cautions that being organized looks different to everybody.
- It doesn't have to be Pinterest-perfect with color-coded bins and matching labels on everything.
- "It really is about functionality, things are where they are supposed to be," she said. "Everybody knows where something is. That is being organized."