Expert: Jan Hayner - 10/5/2008

Question
Hi..our situation is we have a small house now and too much stuff.....We need someone to come in and help us to build shelves, and organize things.....Where can I find someone who is knowledgeable on how to live in a small space and organize stuff, without having to get rid of all of it.....Thanks...Angie....Does an interior decorator do that type of thing....??

Answer
Hi Angela;
No interior decorators are there to decorate, that is all. You need a Professional Organizer. That is my line of work.
You can go to Faithful Organizers.com or Napo.net to find one in your area.
You already know what the problem is, now you need to find the solutions
1. Go through and get rid of everything that you don't need, use, is broken or faded, is too small or out of style. Now, donate it, give it away or give it to the junk man.
2. All of the things that you don't use but want to keep that are taking up space need to go into boxes with 'like' things and be labeled and stored.
3. If you have book shelves or storage shelves, keep those, they can serve more than one purpose.
4, Organize everything that you own. Find a place (a home) for it in the area that it will be used most often.
5. If you don't want to purchase storage containers, use boxes and decorate them with contact paper.
6. Don't forget to use hidden storage areas such as under beds, closets that you can add shelves to etc.
7. Goodwill and salvation army stores are a great place for finding storage cabinets etc, repaint them and add designs to blend in with your home. This way you are not spending a lot of money and can see what changes you can make to improve your life and get better ideas of where you want to go next.
8. Don't forget to think about storage areas up and down a wall, around washer and dryers, in the corners of closets etc.
Go to my website for some more ideas http://www.organizingyourlifetheeasyway.com and if yous till need help, contact a professional organizer in your area, you will be glad that you did.
Good Luck and Happy Organizing and cleaning,
Jan Hayner