How to get organized
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Sandy Linville has always had a passion for organizing.
“Some people garden, some people cook. This is always what I’ve loved to do. I’ve done it for friends. I’ve done it for family. When all those shows came on HGTV, friends said I should do this,” Linville said.
“I didn’t realize it was marketable,” she said.
She also didn’t realize that many people either couldn’t get organized or didn’t want to do it themselves. She took business classes and joined the National Association of Professional Organizers.
The field of professional organizer is growing. Here are three of them.
SOS Professional Organizer
What started out as a part-time job has turned into a family business, SOS Professional Organizer. Linville’s husband, Mike, an engineer, quit his job and now works with her full-time.
Linville doesn’t have any written rules for organizing. She tries to help people see where they can put things that will be easy to find when they’re needed.
Four people with the same kitchen will organize it four different ways, she said. “This is not about me. This has got to work for them when I walk out that door. I’m constantly asking them: ‘Will that work for you? Be honest with yourself. Are you an open-a-drawer, or a pop-it-in-a-basket kind of person?’ If I’ve done my job of figuring out their personality and they’re honest with me about what will work, we set up the best style to set them up for success.”
If you want to organize on your own, Linville recommends starting with something small, such as under the kitchen or bathroom sink or in a hall closet.
“We’re looking for immediate success,” she said. “Don’t have a binge weekend. You’ll wear yourself out, and you’ll hate coming back to it.”
The most important advice is to put things in their proper places and keep them there. When a client asks, “Where should I put this?” Linville questions back, “Where will you look for it?”
With Time to Spare
When organizing consultant Sue McMillin of Georgetown, Ky., started With Time to Spare in 1982, most people confused organizing a home with cleaning.
“They thought I’d come in and clean,” said McMillin, who now conducts training seminars across the country. “I had to educate them in what I did as well as sell them on hiring me.
“A lot of people say to me, ‘How do I know when I need to hire an organizer?’ I ask them, ‘Are you going through your work to get to your work?’” she said.
A professional organizer can provide four immediate benefits: space, time, productivity and money.
“I will come in and analyze their space and talk with them a little bit about what they do and how they do it,” she said. “And based on their personality and their process, and the arrangement of their existing desks, I will show them how to set up systems for files, paperwork and supplies so that they can access their information and equipment in seconds, thus gaining efficiency and productivity.”
McMillin shared ideas for organizing an office, although the same skills can apply to your home.
Start with something small, such as a desk drawer, following these steps.
Remove: Take everything out of the drawer.
Sort: As you take things out of the drawer, sort it by placing pens, rubber bands, markers, etc., in piles.
Eliminate: “If you have 844 paper clips in your drawer, take some back to the storage unit,” she said.
Contain it: Put pens and paper clips in the drawer tray.
Return: Place the drawer back in the desk.
A simple way to organize loose paper is to have a stackable letter tray. Organize papers based on the required action. Label trays: “Do now,” “To call,” “To read.”
To keep things neat, devote a certain portion of your day for maintaining order.
You have to accept that organizing is part of your work day, she said.
Organizing is nothing more than a skill, said McMillin, who teaches corporate seminars, small groups or individuals. Her fees range from about $200 a person a day to about $600 to organize a complete office.
McMillin makes surprise return visits and finds that about 60 percent of her clients stay organized, she said.
Profound Perfection
Linette McGuire, owner of Profound Perfection, thinks everything has its place, but there’s a fine line between organizing and being obsessive, she said.
She teaches clients the basic organizing skills so their lives can be easier. Having an organized home or office doesn’t mean you have to spend all your time cleaning or putting things away.
Here’s a tip she offers:
•Limit the time you work so you do not become overwhelmed and quit. Work two hours and take a break.