Unpacking the Power Purge
When people begin a decluttering project, they go in with the best of intentions. They imagine that just a little motivation and some bins and labels will surely solve almost any organizational problem. But all too often, aspiring organizers skip the most important step of all: The Power Purge! Reorganizing the objects without getting to the heart of the problem—that we all have Too Much Stuff—is just a temporary fix. It’s more like a Band-Aid than true healing for your cluttered home. If you don’t go through the process of saying goodbye to your excess clutter, you’re just moving stuff around, which still takes time and effort but gets you no closer to having a peaceful, clutter-free home. Unless you’ve recently fully organized a space and therefore are just maintaining your good work, any decluttering effort will benefit greatly from careful consideration about which items should stay in the space, and which items should be removed. But how do you choose which items should remain and which items to set free? Thankfully, as professional organizers, we’ve developed a tried-and-true process that can help bring clarity to this series of overwhelming decisions. As you touch each object that currently lives in the space you are organizing, ask yourself the three key questions of the Power Purge. Don’t think about this process as getting rid of things that are important to you; instead, think about it as an opportunity to make room for the people, activities, and things that you love! 1Does This Item Make Me Happy? If the item you are focusing on makes you smile or brings back a wonderful memory of someone you love or an adventure that you had, keep it! Don’t feel pressured to throw away things that are meaningful to you. As you go through this process, some items will have obvious happy emotions tied to them: family photos, precious gifts from a loved one, that perfect sweater. Other items will bring you joy for reasons that you can’t put into words and that is fine too! To be able to keep an item, you don’t have to justify why it makes you happy—just feel the positive emotions and keep it! But not everything that you think should make you happy actually does make you happy. The magic of the first key question of the Power Purge is that it gives you permission to let go of items that you or others think should make you happy, but don’t. You have the permission to let go of memorabilia, or old collections, or things you purchased that you regret. You don’t need to hold on to things just because you feel like you should. This is your home and you get to choose what is lifting you up and what is holding you down. Just because something doesn’t make you happy doesn’t mean you should necessarily get rid of it! Also, never forget that there is sometimes a middle ground in these decisions. For example, instead of keeping the entire 64-piece set of your grandmother’s china, keep a special tea cup that you will use or put on display as a reminder of her. We keep most items in our homes not because they make us happy, but because they serve a function. That brings us to the second key question of the Power Purge. 2 Is This Item Useful Now or in the Near Future? Just like in the first question, if you answer YES to this question, it’s a no-brainer that you should keep it. It’s up to you to decide what “regularly” means for you, but our Bees advise that if you are using it every year, that’s likely enough to warrant keeping. So if you have been holding on to that fondue pot for that “someday fondue party” for the past five years, either plan the party or ditch the fondue pot and borrow one when you get around to planning that party. Keep in mind the 80/20 Rule as you’re simplifying: We only use 20% of our items 80% of the time. Things get more complicated when you answer NO to the question “is this item useful.” If you are performing the Power Purge on your closet, there’s a very good chance you will run across clothing that you haven’t worn in years…or even decades. If the item doesn’t make you happy (and especially if it makes you feel a negative emotion like guilt or regret), and you aren’t using it regularly, now is the right time to let it go and move on. Letting go of items that you don’t use regularly (and that you don’t love) can sometimes be extremely challenging. Getting rid of the item means admitting to yourself that it was a wasteful purchase in the first place—or that you bought it for the wrong reasons. Sometimes, it means facing the fact that you did not stick with that hobby you bought the equipment for or that the one dress you are waiting for a chance to wear may have already gone out of style. It’s natural to feel the occasional strong emotion as you sort through items. Don’t let the emotions surprise you—and BEE sure to give yourself the gift of self-compassion and a judgment-free zone as you feel your feelings. This work of purging what is no longer useful or meaningful to you will give you more room in your life for clarity and joy! 3 Is This Item Valuable or Irreplaceable? You’ve made it to the third key question! As you consider the item you are focusing on, you’ve already determined that it does not make you happy and you do not use it regularly. The answer to the third key question will help you figure out how to best deal with this item. If the item is valuable, you will likely need to take more care in figuring out how to part with it. In this context, valuable items are those that either cost a significant amount of money when you originally purchased it—or are likely worth a significant amount of money now. (You get to decide what a “significant amount of money” means to you!) Sometimes, people hold on to an item for no other reason than because it is valuable. The third key question in the Power Purge is your reminder that just because something is valuable doesn’t automatically mean that it deserves to take up space in your home. If the item is not useful to you and it doesn’t bring happiness to you, now may be a great time to sell the item, give it to someone who would love it, or donate it to a cause that is meaningful to you. Check out your local Facebook “Buy Nothing” groups, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and other websites to find a variety of options for giving your items new life. The second part of this question asks you to consider whether the item is irreplaceable. If the answer to this question is YES, but the item does not make you happy and is not useful to you, all this means is that you may need to take more care in deciding where it goes after you’ve decided to part with it. There’s a chance that one-of-a-kind items mean more to someone else than they do to you, and it might make sense for you to check with them before disposing of the items. For example, perhaps you have a crate of Kindergarten art from your grown child taking up space in your guest room. It’s completely reasonable to sort through it and keep the ones that make you happy and then decide that you no longer need the rest. But since the items are irreplaceable, it might make sense for you to share the contents of the crate with your adult child so that they can decide if they too want to keep any of the crayon masterpieces. The same reasoning holds true with all those photos you’ve collected over the years. Give yourself permission to dispose of pictures that don’t bring you joy, are of poor quality, or you cannot name the people or places. For large framed photos, take a picture and let it go! Digitizing photos and photo albums is a great way to eliminate the actual items. Remember that just because something is irreplaceable, it doesn’t automatically mean that it gets to take up space in your home! You’ve done it! You’ve thoughtfully considered each item in the space you are decluttering, and you’ve (hopefully) given yourself permission to part with so many of the things that were weighing you down. The great thing about the Power Purge is that you can’t find a loophole in the line of questioning. These three questions were designed to press you and make you be honest with yourself. The more you do it, the better you’ll BEEcome. Removing all of the extra items will make organizing what’s left go so much more smoothly. As you work to transform your space, let happiness and usefulness BEE your guide, and savor the sweet nectar of a decluttered life! If you need a helping hand to get started, reach out to the Bee Organized location nearest you—our Bees are ready to give you the compassionate, confidential, and judgment-free service you deserve!
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Should I Hire a Professional Organizer?
Many of us can relate to the anxiety and chaos of an unorganized home. It happens for many reasons, ebbing and flowing throughout the year. Some people are naturally messy. Some people cannot organize their thoughts and don’t know where to begin. Some just cannot focus on their space and see it in different ways. No matter the reason, struggling to organize your house, and keep it that way, is a challenge for many people. You are not alone. Whatever the reason for your struggle, hiring a professional organizer like Bee Organized to organize your hive might be the right solution for you. 6 Questions to Determine If You Need a Professional Organizer It may be tempting to go the DIY route for your home organization project. Saving money by doing this project yourself is appealing. The idea of a finished project is appealing, too. For many people, finishing an organizational project, and learning to maintain it, is the hardest part. This is what makes professional organizers worth the cost. Our Bees are pros at teaching you how to organize and maintain clutter, even when life gets hectic. If you are struggling with one of the questions below, it is time to consider hiring a professional and Bee Organized would be HONORED to help! 1 What Is My End Goal? Asking yourself this question is a great place to start when considering house organization companies. A professional home organizer is your partner in this process. Think of us as accountability partners. We are there to listen and coach you through the process. The process of organizing your home is a team effort and you are an important part of that team. We work with our clients every step of the way. Staying organized is a life skill–and a commitment. Working alongside an expert gives you the opportunity to create a home for everything and learn tips and tricks from some of the best in the business. This also helps you develop a system of keeping things organized that works for you. This goes a long way in helping you maintain the work long after the initial process is complete. Learning how to organize your space has some other benefits, as well. Roughly three in ten women report that their mornings are less stressful when they have an organized closet. That feeling can carry over into many parts of your life. When you are in an organized, stress-free space, it is easier to carry that attitude out into the world with you. 2 Do I Feel Stuck in the Process? Feeling stuck and overwhelmed is common when facing a large project. Maybe you don’t even know where to start. If you are standing in your own home feeling unorganized and overwhelmed, it may be time to start searching for a professional home organizer in your area. A professional organizer will help you take that first step, or maybe a giant leap feels more appropriate. If you find yourself feeling stuck, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Professional organizers come into your hive with a fresh perspective. They are not emotionally attached to your things in the same way that you are. Our Bees can see things you can’t and envision ways to organize your space you may never have considered. 3 Do I Have the Skills to Organize Myself? Fortunately, organizing is easy to learn. It requires some critical reasoning and thinking outside of the box, but anyone can do it. There are plenty of helpful books, YouTube videos, and how-to articles to give you ideas and tools. But if you're like most people, you're still reading this because you need help and motivation. That's when hiring a professional may be necessary. Your friends and family may have skills and want to pitch in to help, but they can sometimes be critical, which is exactly what you don't need when things are disorganized and chaotic in your home. You need a professional partner who won't judge you or your clutter. Hiring a pro is like having a private teacher, teaching you tips and better habits for an organized life, so be sure to soak in their knowledge. Learning how to be and stay organized, or teaching your kids/partner new organizing skills, might just be the best reason to hire a professional organizer. Even if you have all of the skills to successfully organize your house, a professional organizer brings you some extra support, motivation, and a gentle push when you need it. A professional organizer will work through your clutter with you, helping you decide what to keep and what not to keep. This can be an emotional process and it can be helpful to have a professional organizer that has done this work numerous times. 4 Do I Have the Time to Organize Myself? Time is a precious commodity in our modern world and many of us just don’t have the time it takes to organize our house. This is another great reason to hire a professional organizer. Time can be our biggest enemy in getting things organized and maintaining that organization. Lack of time is also one of the biggest reasons our homes become unorganized in the first place. Most people estimate that they could save up to an hour in their day if they were more organized. An extra hour of free time can make a huge difference in most people’s lives. Consider how much time it would take for you to declutter your space on your own. Most of our clients are blown away seeing how much two Bees can accomplish in a 3-hour session. When you schedule focused time with a pro, you maximize the time. Think of the synergy, accountability, and follow-through accomplished when you’re paying for an expert! A key benefit of an organized home is that once you have systems in place, you’ll save time in the long run. Simply put, you’ll spend less time looking for items as well as saving time putting things away. 5 Am I Coming Up on a Deadline? Are you having a party soon? Moving? Downsizing a family member? Deadlines are often great motivators for getting things done around the house. When you need to declutter and organize your space in a pinch, hiring a team of professionals with the expertise and the connections for services you may need, can make all the difference. If moving soon, clearing out years of accumulated 'stuff' is a process and a good organizer will discuss your goals and timeframe up front, then keep you on track and support you when making hard decisions. Bee Organized takes pride in managing your project from start to finish when time is of the essence! 6 Will I Really Finish the Project After I Start It? Are you good at pulling everything out and moving the piles of stuff, but get sidetracked along the way and never reach the finish line? We get it! Life happens and sometimes we get in over our heads. A professional home organization service can add some much-needed (wo)manpower to your project. We can offer a few extra hands and lots of experience to help you finish your project and give you the organized space you’ve been dreaming of. Hiring a professional will also help keep you on track in your project. We've seen many projects started by clients, but they become distracted and the project stalls out halfway through. If this pattern sounds familiar, and you have a habit of starting but never finishing, maybe it's time to hire a professional. Making the decision to hire a pro or DIY is a personal one. If you're on a tight budget, feel comfortable organizing and enjoy the work, then by all means dive right in! But if your superpower doesn't align with organizing, you're stretched for time, or finally ready to finish the project once and for all, give Bee Organized a Buzz today...we're ready to Simplify Your Hive! If you are ready to see what all the Buzz is about, reach out to Bee Organized, and let’s chat about how we can help you meet your organization goals. We are currently in 20+ cities across the United States. Reach out to the location nearest you to schedule a free consultation and get you started on your organization journey. It would be our HONOR to serve you!
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