AP Photo/Van Gogh Museum
There seems to have been an explosion of television shows recently about organization, decluttering, and hoarding. From Oprah to Clean House, Hoarders, and Hoarding: Buried Alive, there are many to be watched and reflected on. In this series, several questions will be asked to help the viewers of these programs make a more realistic assessment of their own situations at home.
Question #1: Does TV paint an accurate picture of what happens in real life when one works with a professional organizer?
Betty Huotari, owner of Logical Placement LLC in Fenton, Michigan and president of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) Southeast Michigan chapter has this to say:
"Our clients think that we are going to show up with a team of people and get the job done in an appointment and not have it take several weeks or maybe even months to accomplish their goals."
Fact: 73% of NAPO organizers are the sole organizer in their business according to the 2009 NAPO Member survey. It is true that some organizers (around 2-4%) have some individuals working for them. However, if extra help is necessary most use some combination of subcontractors and employees.
Fact: The process of getting organized at home depends on a wide variety of factors that affect time including the physical and emotional well-being of the people involved, amounts and types of objects in the space, social and relationship considerations, cognitive abilities as well as legal and financial issues. It takes time to discover and work through all those issues before the process of organizing is complete.
"Sometimes people get a little frustrated that [organizing] isn't going as quickly as they had hoped." says Betty, "Their house didn't get this way over a weekend, and therefore we can't fix everything in a weekend either. Organizing is a journey... They need to prioritize their projects, set realistic deadlines, and celebrate their organizing successes. What they see on TV isn't real life."
Stay tuned for the next part in this series-coming soon!
For more info: Betty Huotari is a professional organizer and owner of Logical Placement LLC in Fenton, Michigan. Betty can be reached at 810.348.1772 or seen on the web at www.LogicalPlacement.com .
You may also be interested in:
- Chronic disorganization impacts thousands of Michigan homes
- The process of change
- Where is the line between collecting and hoarding in a home?
Comments
I'm shocked that tv isn't just like reality - I know that the courtroom dramas are 100% accurate - NOT
LOL! Courts have been around long enough for people to have maybe visited one, been called to jury duty, etc so there's something to compare what they see on TV to what they experience. For many people, the first (and only?) time they see professional organizing is on TV even though organizing has been around as a profession for decades.
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