If you’ve ever looked into hiring a Professional Organizer, you may have noticed that many of them recommend working in three- or four-hour increments. If you follow us on our Facebook page, you may have seen tips instructing you to set a timer for 15, 20, or 30 minutes to tackle some of your clutter. We can hear you now, “Wait a minute! Three or four hours for the professionals but only 15 minutes for me? Please explain!”

There are a few factors that explain the time recommendations and why they are different:

1. When you are faced with an overwhelming amount of clutter to tackle on your own, it is recommended that you set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes to focus on a portion of the clutter regularly, either each day or week… whatever is going to work for you. The smaller amount of time is recommended so that the task doesn’t seem so impossible. If it was recommended that you schedule four hours per week to catch up on filing paperwork or clearing out the master closet, you may decide (and possibly already have) to keep living with the clutter longer instead.
2. When you invest in a Professional Organizer, you’re not only investing in their time, you’re investing in their expertise and skill. There is preparation time put into each appointment. It’s a better investment in their time if you have their help for a “chunk” versus one or two hours. It’s also a better use of their time if they prepare for a four-hour job than if they prepare for two separate two-hour jobs. And of course it saves on their fuel cost for traveling to your location.
3. By selecting a Professional Organizer who specializes in your organization challenge, i.e. garages or paperwork, the value of those three- or four-hour sessions increases exponentially as they are able to do so much more in less time.
4. A byproduct of investing in a Professional Organizer is that you also acquire organization skills through the process.

Of course, no matter how much time you devote to getting organized, it’s better than none at all. So if that kitchen counter is driving you crazy because it’s covered in clutter, set a timer now for 20 minutes and do what you can. Or, if you’re ready to not only get the clutter off of your counter but also get your kitchen organized to avoid the clutter in the future, call us. As always, we look forward to organizing your chaos!