Upheavals in life and changes in routine are often the triggers for starting an organization process. Motivated by the intention of starting the new school year and the season on the right foot, we set out to lighten up a cluttered home office. To the rescue: the services of professional organizers.
Loving tidying up, is it possible? “Absolutely,” replies Lauraine Villeneuve-Fortin, one of the three founders of professional organizing service Symmetry, who claims to have found her “dream job.” “A lot of times people come to us because they’ve lost control and are running out of time. They are stressed and discouraged in front of what they consider to be a mountain. The reflex is then to close the door so as not to see the clutter anymore. This is where we come in. »
The kitchen, because it is the heart of the house and its organization affects the functioning of the whole family, is the room for which organization services are most often requested. Next are positions where possessions pile up quickly: closets, playroom, and paperwork. Since the massive arrival of teleworking, requests for the organization of office space are on the rise.
Organizing is not cleaning house, we must clarify. Professional organization services intervene to define effective strategies according to the needs of the client, his budget and the space he has. It is up to the customer to sort and choose among his goods, even if he can be accompanied in this process by the organizer.
The cost of the operation varies according to the space to be treated, the time invested and the equipment required. You can expect to pay between $55 and $100 per hour for this service. Add the price of storage accessories. The intervention generally includes a telephone consultation (free) to define the needs, followed by a meeting and taking measures. The organizer then assesses the purchases to be made and establishes an action plan by priority. The transformation of space takes place in a third phase.
We tested the formula with Symmetry by submitting the case of this home office mobilized for telework since the pandemic. However, the space is less and less frequented in favor of other rooms in the house. A nerve center for personal and professional paperwork, office equipment and certain hobbies, it has also become a haven for objects that have not found their place elsewhere in the house. As a result, the space is cluttered, it feels cramped and scattered.
The room is small. It nevertheless accommodates a lot of condensed material in a cupboard where the elements would benefit from being better structured and made more accessible according to their usefulness and the desires of the client to reactivate certain hobbies. The office is overloaded. It has magnetic and corkboards, but none are visible from the workstation, which is why sticky notes are piling up on the wall.
Use modular and multifunctional storage items to optimize the work area. Move furniture around to give the impression of a spacious and airy room. Clearly delimit the work space to promote concentration and limit distractions. Maximize existing shelving by adding closet bins, baskets and files to better categorize contents – art, design, crafting materials, keepsakes, business files and stationery.
“Ranger has a therapeutic effect,” notes Lauraine Villeneuve-Fortin. We agree. The impression of seeing clearly, of knowing what you have and of getting rid of objects that have become useless is the impetus that makes you want to continue the operation by sifting through other rooms in the house. The exercise forced us to do a first pruning by ourselves. The result is liberating, despite an arduous process.
Would we, on our own, have taken the time to assess the dimensions of each shelf to get ourselves the perfect storage for the situation? The answer is no. There is a satisfaction in seeing one’s goods classified in a way that is as effective as it is aesthetic. Labeling is one of the touches that our organization system was missing and one of the additions that proved to be the most useful. Since the classification and categorization of objects have been carried out by the Symmetry team, identification is all the more necessary to find your way around and acquire the right reflexes.
The transformation will have taken a few hours: an efficiency that we could not have demonstrated without help, a well-defined plan of attack and so much storage material. This wise, delicate, but unsentimental exterior gaze (a trap that awaits us when making choices), allows us to consider the space and its goods differently. Is it a luxury? Yes. But considering the tasks it has spared us, the time and energy it will save us, we consider that the investment is worth it.