What Do Organizers Do?

At a cooking class, I met Ami DeAvilla, a professional organizer. It’s a profession so new — 15 years old? — that I was curious what sort of problems she works with. She told me some examples:

Example 1. A woman who was 4 years behind filing her taxes. She was collecting the letters from Franchise Tax Board and the IRS. There wasn’t that much money involved — she might even have had some money owed to her. Became overwhelming and daunting. As the years went on, doing her taxes became overwhelming. She had a “fear basket”: those letters went in it. I was able to come in & open the most recent of the letters. She did have all of the info. There was a lot of fear involved. Also she had gotten divorced. Emotion of having to handle financial stuff on her own. She contacted me because she knew she needed to file but couldn’t do it on her own. Her sister found me through the website of the National Association of Professional Organizers. We met twice/week for a few hours. We did 3 years together; she did the last one on her own. Total 15 hours [Ami’s current rate is $100/hour]. One 3-hour session was about her current relationship to money, which was as important as the taxes. Just as having a heart attack can lead you to improve your health habits because it indicates a greater problem.

Example 2. A woman who for 37 years had been in same home. She needed to make a decision about whether or not to stay there because her husband’s health was getting worse. It was a two- story house. Two sets of steps to climb because it was on a hill. Not possible for him to be mobile in and out of the house. He had severe back pain and had trouble getting up the stairs. It was her home. She didn’t want to leave. She was feeling overwhelmed with the decisions to be made. After she decided to move, then there were decisions about their stuff. They were moving to a much smaller place. Moving from four-bedroom house to three-room apartment. Sorting through their entire life. Dividing belongings among all their children and grandchildren.

Example 3. A small business owner who had been in practice for over 20 years. His home-based office was a mess. People not billed. Papers all over the office. He works on site. He came to me because it was daunting to take care of tasks that needed to happen. He would hire someone to help in the office but they wouldn’t work there until it was cleaned up. They didn’t want to feel overwhelmed by the clutter. He wasn’t able to clean up his office. He was working a lot of hours, trying to balance personal life with business life. Now that he was taking some personal time, and not working all night, business things weren’t being taken care of.

Example 4. Published author, several books out. She was juggling four pressing projects and trying to start a website. Continuing on a book she was halfway into. Couldn’t make the writing work. I worked  her with for 2 hrs to help her prioritize her time. Previously she was able to manage some of this better. When the website came along it became another project that kept the writing from happening. She’d been working on the book for a year or less; she was more than halfway through, and now falling behind the publisher’s deadline. She wanted a plan, plus physical organization of her workspace. We shifted the space a little bit to help her focus on writing. She was getting distracted too much.

Example 5. A woman called me because her house was not the way she wanted it. Three people had died and she had inherited their belongings. She felt overwhelmed in her own home. She’d lived there over 20 years. It was overwhelming to go through things and make decisions about what she wanted to keep. Stuff had gotten packed in quite a bit. We went through her house room by room and cleared stuff out. Started in the kitchen. Less emotional. Not much room left on the counters. We did 4 or 5 rooms, including office space. She had been a graphic designer.

You can reach Ami at amisolutions at mac dot com.