What a Professional Organiser Does Not Say or Do

This week I had time and energy to rearrange, deep clean and declutter my home office.

The Work

I have just got back from a longish relaxing holiday. Being a Professional Organiser, my work method is

• Clear everything out.
• Clean.
• Only put back what I needed and knew I would use.
• Donate or recycle or bin items that were not needed.

See my 5 Top Tips to Declutter here

After an hour, I had all my piles happening. I was focused and didn’t get distracted by other jobs around the house.

At 10.30am, my partner said he would make me a cuppa. Yes, I thought, great I need a break.

The Ambush

Over the cuppa, my partner (who is very analytical and minimalist) said.

“You SHOULD get rid of the old sofa bed in your office, we don’t need it anymore”.

Like most people I hate it when someone says SHOULD. It taints the next part of the sentence with shame and preconceived ideas of what is right and wrong. But mostly it is judgy.

I bristled. Who was this to mansplain me about what I do for a living? Then I remembered he is a kind thoughtful guy, who just likes the minimum in the house. He is very unlikely to change his outlook or straightforward communication style.

The Dithering

I was holding onto that sofa bed because: –

• It fit the space in my office quite nicely.
• It was useful in the past when friends or family came to stay.
• It was good to have an extra bed.
• I used the seat of the sofa to store items for my business.
• I also felt tired about the effort to get rid of a piece of furniture. It was 20 years old, and a bit worn. Furniture seems to be hard to get rid of and easy to acquire.

However

• After rearranging the room in Covid -it was going to be difficult to unfold the sofa bed if anyone came to stay.
• Our daughter has just moved out of home, leaving a bedroom and bed free for any overnight guest.
• A table would be better suited to hold all my business stuff.

Realisation

After a bit of thought, it hit me – it would be good to get rid of the sofa bed. Even though it had to be pointed out to me that this would be a good idea.

Action

I incorporated getting rid of the sofa bed, into my project to revamp my office. It was much easier to do than I thought.

A Better Set Up

My vastly improved office had less stuff in it. The area behind my desk was cleaned and dusted. I fitted in a table and a shelf to the space taken up by the sofa bed.  The sofa bed would always be bulky and awkward. I was glad to be rid of it.

Lessons Learned

My initial reaction to my partner’s idea was negative. On reflection part of it was the idea came from my partner and part of that was the WAY, he said it. It could have derailed the situation, if I had dug my heals in and got grumpy about a badly worded suggestion.

The words and actions of a Professional Organiser are carefully thought out.

• There should be no shame about the decisions to do with your possessions.
• There should be zero judgement from a Professional Organiser about what you keep and what you can let go.
• If there is a better way to store/organise your stuff, a Professional Organiser will suggest it.

Some declutter days go very smoothly. On some days, it is very difficult to release items that do not fit into the life you want to lead. Lean on your Professional Organiser to help you get motivated to declutter and simplify.

Zing Home Organising will take it slow when you want to be slow. On the flip side, we will suggest some innovative ideas to store your items. We can give solutions that are tailored to the way you want to live. Or just adjust to the life you are living currently. This can be in the season of parenthood, moving, downsizing, or ruthlessly culling. I don’t believe you can be happy with decisions based on pressure, bullying, or rapid action.

Give us a call or book an obligation free 30 minutes phone call or Zoom.