AboutJan Hayner Expertise I can answer any questions on Home organizing, file and paper management, organizing for parents, kids, senior citizens and on housekeeping and cleaning solutions.
Experience I have been a Professional Organizer for 9 years, I am considered an expert in my field on the internet and have written several informational books on organizing.
Organizations I am an active member of Faithful Organizers (An International Association of Christian based Professional Organizers, a past member of NAPO (the National Association of Professional Organizers)a member of an association called Women in Management, a member of Money Smart Wisconsin-Sheboygan and was a business owner for over 25 years.
Education/Credentials A high school graduated a the rest of my learning capablilities came from making a lot of mistakes in my lifetime and learning from all of them.
Question I inherited my grandparents house from my Mother when she passed away last April. In short, in a 1150 Sq.Ft. house and 1.5 story garage we literally have 3 households worth of stuff. We have 4 children and LITERALLY no room. We already have last summer filled a 20 yard roll off. We will be getting another this summer. There are alot of knick knacks, antiques, etc. Stuff, Stuff and more stuff in and out. We need help, suggestions, ideas. I also have no siblings to pass some on to. Thank You
Answer Hi Heather;
believe it or not, your nightmare, is my dream come true! Sounds crazy right? But it is so true, if there is anything that I like, it is a real challenge and YOU have it!
I know all sounds like you are living a nightmare that will never be over, but it can all be dealt with. I sure do wish that you would live near me, I would be over in a jiffy!
Okay, here are some tips that will help you to deal with some of this. I don't want to scare you, but it is going to get worse before it gets better. Now that I have totally upset your life, let me tell you why that will happen. Once you start to sort, you have what is called an 'organized mess'. This is when you have things in various stages of completion, but there is junk all over. Yes, worse than you have now, but it won't last long and you will start to see large improvements in a short amount of time.
1. Make enough room, even if you have to pile boxes to the ceiling, so that you have a working area.
2. In this area you will have several boxes that will be labeled: Donate, Sell, Give Away, Throw Away.
The hint at this point is to make a decision on every piece that you touch. Don't say, I have to think about this, or I will deal with it later. Decide, Apply and Disperse.
3. Now take a box and start to sort it. Everything in that box has to end up in one of the boxes that are labeled.
4. As a box gets full, get rid of it. If it is garbage, put it in your garbage area, if it is donate; put it in the car and get rid of it at the earliest possible time, if it is Give Away; call whoever is going to get it and make sure it is gone by the end of the day at the very longest, a week. Don't let it take up space. If it is for a rummage sale, mark it and box it, mark the box rummage and find a designated area to pile these boxes.
Go through the entire storage area. All boxes that are empty should be pulled apart, folded and put out with the garbage. You may keep three or four for organizing or dividing things, but that is all.
Make sure that if you are keeping things for yourself, that you also organize it according to categories and label the box. Don't just put 'kitchen items' label WHAT ITEMS are in the box. Then find a designated area for these items. For every item that you keep, you have to get rid of an items that you already have.
A fun project would be to have your room set up and then have your siblings help you to go through Moms things, that way they can take their things home right away and you don't have a big mess left. Call it 'Moms Memory Weekend' and go through her memories and forward them on to someone else to make happy memories in their lives. It will make you all feel good by knowing that her cherished possessions will live on in someone elses family.
I hope this gave you a good start and that you find that it won't be as bad as you thought. The hard part is to get started. Then throw in a little laughter and organizing and it will be dealt with in no time.
Happy organizing, Jan
