Home Office
A recent survey by the National Association of Professional Organizers revealed that the home office, kitchen and laundry room are the most disorganized spaces in the respondents’ homes and that 73% of respondents would hire a professional organizer again.
We at ShipShape Organize Boston are often asked what do you actually do? Do you open people’s drawers? Do you actually look at their financial papers? Yes and yes. We wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t! It’s important to remember that every professional organizer who is a member of NAPO abides by a strict set of code of ethics which include the utmost confidentiality and respect for the client. On top of that you will find that organizers do not judge, we are there to work with you and help develop solutions to areas in your home that you are having difficulty managing.
Home offices.
It is no surprise to us that the home office is the area people have most difficulty keeping organized. People are bombarded with paper, emails, phone calls, multiple to-do’s and distractions on a daily basis. We find many clients have incurred late fees from not paying bills on time, have taken advantage of promotional offers and then find that they haven’t cancelled their subscription on time and are receiving anything from wine, magazines or tupperware items that they don’t want, have trouble finding documentation to file their taxes correctly and on time, and equally troubling they can’t find paperwork they are looking for leading to frustration and who has time to waste looking for lost things in this busy, deadline oriented world we live in.
Are you a pile-er?
When working on home offices we have found that there are those who need everything in sight. They are concerned that if it gets filed they won’t remember where to find it or what action is required. Then there are those that are very comfortable with critical paperwork being put into an action file. For those that need to see everything in site, solutions are stackable trays, shelf credenzas, literature organizers or even mail sorters. Oftentimes, these people can also prioritize work by color coding or designating the top shelf for the more critical, time sensitive items.
Or file-er?
For those that don’t mind paper being filed, we often suggest an open file top box with pendaflex tabbed files for “bills to pay”, “action”, “pending”, “to file” etc. This way it eliminates the piles on your desk top but you can quickly retrieve important documents. When you open your mail, if you don’t have time to deal with certain action items right then and there, you can put them in your action file for later.
There’s help.
Professional Organizers are a fantastic resource to help guide you with systems and solutions to help paper flow and help you retrieve much-needed documents at a minutes notice. NAPO is a resource for organizers as well as potential clients and is a good place to start your search.
We started with the bin from the early years and found special treasures; notes from great grandmother, contest that colleagues had guessing the weight of the soon to be born baby, special family drawings and notes written to Mom and Dad telling us how much she loved us. The process to get through one small box was longer than expected and the emotions ranged from laughing so hard we were crying to “Mom, why did you save this?” We all sat around the kitchen floor and what started as a small project for one person soon became a family endeavor with everyone laughing and sharing.
The immediate discards were any school worksheets, biography projects, drawings of sunsets etc. The savers were personal letters written from grandparents, a few family drawings, and funny notes. Special recognitions went right into the trash – all those trophies, gone! The box that was 17” x 14” was whittled down to contents that filled a box slightly larger than a shoe box. We took lots of pictures, sent pictures to aunts, nieces and grandparents, and even sent a picture to a friend whose son had sent a valentine to my daughter and a friend who had written a special pre-birth note. We shared, and I will always remember that grey Saturday afternoon filled with such special memories. Mementos are your friend, and cherish the special ones. Just be judicious in what you do decide to save for your grey Saturday afternoon. Our rule of thumb is one memento box per person.
