After a lifetime of stuffing junk into closets, Mary finally decided to call in the pros to break her of her bad organizing habits. With the help of a professional organizer and input from her two daughters, she now has the home she always wanted.
Mary's Story
"Before I got organized, I was a stuffer."
I stuffed everything in closets and then shut the door. Then every time I had to go to that closet to put something away, I would have feelings of anxiety. It was overwhelming, especially after having kids, because we had just accumulated so much stuff. While my kids were playing, I was always trying to organize, in my ineffective, disorganized way.
I saw a program on TV about organizing your home and tried to do it myself. It didn't take long for me to realize that I had to first have a system that worked for me. I decided to get a professional organizer to help me get started.
"The organizer taught me tips that I had never even thought of."
What Deborah, my organizer, did was go to a closet or cupboard and empty everything out first. This way, we were getting a fresh start, which makes things easier.
Then we went to the back of my closet and my daughter's closets, where all the stuff was that we thought we needed to save. She asked me questions like, "Do you really need this?" or "Has your daughter worn this in the last six months?" Now, I ask myself those questions, and I am able to get rid of stuff I don't need every six months. Her support and what I learned from her was great.
"My kids, especially my older daughter, gets pleasure out of seeing things organized."
I want my girls to grow up with a sense of organization. It feels so good to give them good habits that I didn't have at their age. For example, one of the tools that my older daughter Sophia uses is giving everything important a home. She knows that you don't have to throw everything in the closet and close the door when company comes over if you stay organized on a daily basis. Sophia's only six, but she cares about what the house looks like when her friends come over.
I do things to make organizing exciting for my girls. We work together to give toys a new home. For instance, their dollhouse was in the corner before and we had a puppet theater that we didn't use. We got rid of the puppet theater and moved the dollhouse to be the center feature of the room, and now it's become a whole new toy for them. We also set up stations with bins for dolls, for art, and for books, and the kids love it!
"Getting organized has improved my life by giving me more freedom and time to enjoy my family."
Whenever I am organizing, I make sure to ask myself two questions:
- Do I really need this?
- Does this item have a home?
I feel like what I've learned is such a gift. My household has become so peaceful, and I'm definitely inspired to keep it up. Now, every six months I go back and reassess everything so that I never have to start from scratch again.
