To hire a professional organiser/declutter

[UnionistMum]

Due to the current pandemic, I have found myself working crazy hours( working from home in employment law), often until late.
I also have a toddler and to be honest, I’m struggling to keep on top of housework/ organising.
In the past, I have hired a cleaner to help with deep cleaning. She comes in every other week and does a good job but obviously, she is here to clean. I asked her if she would be interested in doing a few extra hours and organise my/ my daughter’s wardrobe but she didn’t really seem interested.
My question is, would you/ have you used a professional organiser?
I have checked some websites and it cost about £30-£50 per hour.
Is that a reasonable price?
If you used this services, how much did you pay?
Should I just try and make a bigger effort and do it myself?

Bump

This is my absolute dream job. I think the hard thing would be ensureong you can keep up with the system try implement. When I organise anything o have to give me husband a tour and explain the rules. He doesn’t always follow!

If it will help you, do it. You have a huge amount on your plate, and it's completely normal, not lazy, not to be up to having a big sort out after a full day of work and wrangling a toddler to bed.

My worry with it would be someone is not going to be able to just do it for you - I think you hire them to do it with you because you need to make all the decisions on what stays and what goes. So personally I would spend the money in creating time to do it yourself. Buy in extra cleaning hours, or treat yourself to takeaways or ready meals for a few days, or take a day's leave, or buy a DVD your daughter will be glued to one Saturday.

Kids' clothes are not too bad once you get going. Bag them up by size and store or give them away. With your stuff I would suggest doing the Marie Kondo thing of piling everything on your bed. It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. I would suggest you don't try to sell anything as that makes it all take a lot longer and you don't have time. Focus on getting rid of stuff as quickly as poss.

I am absolutely not saying just get on with it. I'm just saying there might be better ways (for me personally) to ease it, than by getting someone in to organise. But if what you really need is a bit of a boost and a hand hold, then book the organiser.

I don’t think they can do it alone though, you have to do it with them as they won’t know what to keep or not

Friend did this and found she made back a lot of the fees through the junk she sold.

I'd considered it per Covid; wish I had!

You should definitely outsource this, OP. You could try a virtual session first if it feels easier for you. A professional will be able to work much more quickly than you can, and will have experience in creating systems that work for you in the long-term. £50 per hour seems the going rate for virtual sessions, but you might be able to find someone locally to do them in-person for less.

My former cleaner (she's now sadly retired) did one session a week for us cleaning, and another where she either deep cleaned an area or organised. It was amazing - the kitchen cupboards were all neat and arranged, all the socks were paired, laundry folded/ hung up and put away, ds's clothes were organised. She didn't do my wardrobe, but I know she'd colour sorted and clothes type sorted for other clients.
The great thing was she just got on and did it, so taking mental thought off my plate, and it was an ongoing process.
Maybe look for a cleaner/housekeeper, and up it to an every week slot

Hi all,
Thank you so much for the replies.
I have actually found someone who has done a stunning job yesterday evening.

What I did was, before I booked the organiser, I had a chat with her and she explained that she could either stay with me and help me organise, or a could just see what I didn’t need and put it to one side and she would organise the remaining stuff.

Before her visit( late at night, toddler in bed) i took all the items I didn’t want and put them to the side, leaving only what I wanted for the organiser to sort out. Took a bit of time but in the morning, she came in and organised everything by colour, season etc.
She also brought some drawer organisers (paid extra) and she said helps to keep stuff organised long term- I really hope it does!

I’m happy with the result and feel much more balanced.
This was really causing me mental block, knowing that there’re was this big lump of mess that needed to be sorted.

@ CMOTDibbler,
That sounds like a dream!
I might look into finding someone who does this.
Do you think a lot of cleaner would be willing to do this?
I know most cleaners clean only.
Would this be more of a housekeeper role?
From some job role I have seen for housekeepers, the role focus more on cleaning, making beds, washing but not really “organiser” type stuff.

@ MammothMashup.
Thanks for the tip but I am absolutely hopeless at selling stuff.
I have items on sale and no takers. To be honest, I haven’t the patience to “market” the items.
I have two of my daughters toys I wanted to sell but she’s currently playing with them...
It’s in really good condition bit one of the items is already lost.

Fabulous, well done! That was super-efficient.

@suzespencer
I’m quite curious to find out what your comment was.

Was is maybe on the lines of: “ Why don’t you do it yourself! You lazy, pretentious princess.”

I’m far from lazy and not pretentious at all.
I work hard and I just thought it would be nice to bring someone in to help me.
As I previously explained, my job is in employment law( I’m not a solicitor nor barrister, so not well off at all) and I have a bigger picture of how the pandemic is affect jobs.
So to get some help would help me but would also help someone else with extra income.

Great update, OP - so glad that worked for you. Sometimes hiring someone is a great way to get some accountability, a small push in the right direction!

@ Murmurur, I didn’t want another week of mess. Or possible another year 😂

@ HouseyHouse21.
Absolutely agree.

@UnionistMum, no the professional de clutterer did it for her! That's the best bit ;)

I think suzespencer's comment was in support of getting help, as she's a professional organiser herself. It may have been seen as self-promoting though, hence deletion.

OP, great that you got a result! The comment from suzespencer was a lovely one, no judgement at all. It had a link to her website on it, so I assume that’s why deleted. Not a nasty comment at all.

@NoSquirrels and @HouseyHouse21.
Thank you for saying this.
@suzespencer, my apologies!

I think it’s great. What a positive update!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and insight.
My first weekend without the “lump”, and it feels amazing!
So relaxing

When i called to enquire, the organiser said she was getting quite a lot of bookings due to the end of the year and that some clients were already beginning to work on their New Years resolution( the whole new year new me, new clothes, weigh loss, organised house etc type of resolutions) and that she might not be available until around mid Jan- bloody hell!
I thought I better book her now before she’s fully booked.

Sounds fab. I have just spent the weekend reorganising my kitchen.

Being able to see the surface of my kitchen island again has brought me so much peace.

I too have been working really long hours during covid and have started a lot of craft projects but not finished many which is causing a lot of clutter elsewhere. The state of the house was really affecting my ability to function.

I"m so glad you were able to buy in the help you need. Personally I'm like @KatyN I love decluttering and organising. Just need the time to do it though.