Expert advice - Home organization
Have boxes marked “Donate,” “Repair” and “Needs to be returned”: Put items in appropriate boxes. Mark calendar for exactly when you plan to take care of items in each box. If, after a month or so, nothing has been repaired or returned, put item in the trash or move it to the donate box.
Don’t know where to start? Try the bathroom. It is easy, manageable, quick, something used daily and offers visible results.
Before you buy something: Think where exactly are you going to put it. If you can’t see in your head where to put it, don’t buy it.
Papers and that "to read" pile: Accept that you cannot read everything. Get rid of papers/magazines that are piling up. There is always more paper coming into your life. If you feel you have to keep something to read, set a time (a week) and dispose of it even if you haven't read it.
That piece of inherited furniture you don’t know what to do with: Find someone that will love and use it. Before you let it go, take a photo.
COVINGTON — As a child, Alicia Miller was known as the family organizer.
As an adult, she’d organize her good friend’s refrigerator and kitchen cupboards, just for fun.
What has been a lifelong natural talent for Miller has turned into a career during the past decade.
With Cut Your Clutter, a professional organizer business run out of her Miami County home, Miller helps people deal with their possessions.
The profession has received growing attention, thanks in part, to television shows about hoarders trying to deal with possessions that have taken over their lives.
Miller has specialized training in working with hoarders, but said most people just need some guidance in how to gain control of possessions, paper and space.
Miller was working in IT when she first heard about the emergence of professional organizers in the late 1990s. She teamed with a professional organizer who took her under her wing while she read extensively about best practices for getting organized.
Today, Miller is a member of groups such as the National Association of Professional Organizers and the Institute for Challenging Disorganization. She is a Level II Chronic Disorganization Specialist and a Level II Hoarding Specialist.
She’s worked for TV’s Hoarders program, hired after the show was filmed to help a woman who had to get her possessions under control before she was allowed to return to her home.
Miller spends the vast majority of her time helping people who have busy lives, got behind, and have, for some reason, realized they need assistance to clear the clutter.
“They are busy, they are professional, and they have kids. I work mostly with the general Joe who got behind,” she said.
Miller compared the decision to turn to an organizer to that of engaging a personal trainer.
“You have to be in that mode to say, ‘I have to incorporate this in my daily life.’ You try and fail. Finally you pick up the phone,” she said.
For some people, the minimum visit of three hours with an organizer is all that is needed. For others, several visits are on tap and for some, maintenance visits every quarter or so are needed to keep them organized.
Success story
Lou Ann Albers of Anna has been working with Miller on organizing her home from a bedroom to closet, her laundry room and an office.
Albers’ children bought her time with an organizer as a Christmas gift, something she was happy to receive.
“I was never taught how to do that kind of stuff. It wasn’t in me,” Albers said.
Miller helped her sort through sentimental items and use plastic containers to store possessions that had been scattered around the house. She also encouraged her to put a basket in the closet in which to place clothing items she doesn’t want so they can be donated.
“She assured me I am not a hoarder. I just like to keep too much,” Albers said with a laugh.
Miller said people today have more possessions thanks to bigger houses and Internet shopping. A main question for any person is whether they own the stuff or the stuff owns them, she said.
“It doesn’t become a problem until you can’t find items in a timely manner or it is affecting your life in some way,” she said. “Are you not having people over to your house because of your stuff, because there is not room for anyone to sit down or you are embarrassed by the stuff? Are you not working on hobbies because you can’t get into your craft room, find your stuff?”
Organizers aren’t overwhelmed by clutter.
“I can walk into a cluttered area, look around and know where to start,” she said. “Your nightmares are my dreams.”
People can get frustrated as they tackle the clutter.
“I remind them they hired me to help them meet their goal. Sometimes I have to be tough, but that is what they hired me to do. Just like the personal trainer,” she said.
For more information, visit www.CutYourClutter.com.
Contact this reporter at nancykburr@aol.com or (937) 339-4371.
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