Diary Adventures of LagosMums: DALM |De-cluttering with a Professional OrganizerÂ
I needed a home office, yes I had a spare room but I had no idea how to get rid of all the junk that had piled up over all the years. I mean I still had all the baskets that were used to pack the tubers of yam for my engagement ceremony over a decade ago…what exactly was i still keeping them for? It is easy to accumulate junk if you do not consciously discipline yourself to get rid of stuff you don’t need or use.
Anyway back to my need for a home office, trying to write or research from my bed was no longer cutting it and I needed a place of my own to sit and get some work done. My answer came through when I met a wonderful lady called S – we hit it off thanks to her husband who thought we would get along. He was right we did! Anyways after meeting her I asked what she did and she said that she is a Professional Organizer! A what? I have never heard of those before. So i asked her what that meant.  A professional organizer is someone who helps to organize your space and your life (thanks to Google I found out that there is even a National Association of Professional Organisers).
It did not take much to convince me after she shared a few stories about some very satisfied clients. I figured I had no clever ideas on how to get rid of the sheer quantity of junk i had accumulated. Moreso when you combine my junk with my husbands sheer quantity of papers you can’t imagine the mountain of unnecessary clutter we had.
The day for the de-cluttering arrived and S and her partner C showed up bright and early. It so happened that I had to go out that morning so they ended up in the house alone. By the time i got back 2 hours later, all the junk, books, old toys, broken fans you name it, from this room had been put outside. I was in shock and frankly i was a bit embarrassed by the amount of stuff that had been in this room.
Now the work started, we had to sort through and de-clutter. We had to agree what stays, what was junk and what we could give out. Little by little we went through all the junk. It was an eye opener to see how much you can accumulate and forget about over the years. At the end of the day there were books that am sure i would never read again nor my husband, so we we put these in a box and sent to a home that caters to young children. There were plate sets from a decade ago – you know these are the most popular wedding presents especially if you get married in Nigeria – I guess everyone figures you will eat after you get married. We got rid of stuff, gave out some and threw some away.
Over five hours later we had successfully turned the room into an actual home office, clutter free, junk free and organized. I felt lighter and good like i had gotten rid of a weight on my shoulders. Sorry S, Sorry J I still kept one of the baskets from my engagement some keepsakes make no logical sense!
I would highly recommend them to anyone – they are professional and love what they do. I really understand that God gives people different talents and gifts. Theirs is definitely helping to make your life and home organized so you can have a better experience. If you are interested in getting their contact details do please contact us ([email protected])
See below a great excerpt of what Professional Organizers really do Lifehacker.com
Professional organizers are trained, skilled specialists who help people create order where it is lacking in their lives, so that they can make long-term improvements and keep disorder at bay. A good analogy would be someone who is not naturally good at staying fit and eating healthily. You could say, “just read a book on sensible eating and exercise” but if that were true, would there be so many millions of books on the topic? Would so many people be unhealthy?
photo source: castawaytheclutter
