Reclaim Your Space - Enlisting Help

 Just a quick note to announce the winner of the TAP class giveaway from this post (today is the choosing day!) I hopped over to Random.org and asked it to give me a number and here's what it spit out:

That makes Robbie the winner! Congrats Robbie - hope you love the class! :)


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* This is the second post in a six part series about how I reclaimed my studio spaces. 
* See the first post, "Reclaim Your Space - Your Mindset".


After making the decision to tackle the mess, it was time to make a plan on how to get from chaos to organization. I knew one thing for certain: I needed help.


I have tried taming the spaces and heaps on several occasions on my own (you've witnessed it on the blog) and I was not successful for a variety of reasons. If this was going to happen to the extent I needed, I wasn't going to be able to accomplish it on my own.

I chose to work with Mary Dykstra, a professional organizer. The idea for working with a pro came about for several reasons:

1. I wanted someone who, to be blunt, didn't care about my art stuff. I wanted someone who could look at a bag of scrap ribbons and not give me ideas on how to use them. If I wanted to get rid of something, I didn't want anyone trying to convince me otherwise (I'm easily swayed).

2. I needed a lot of help - especially with the labor of it. It felt awkward asking for that from a friend so I decided to remove that discomfort from the equation and work with someone who was doing it for a living.

3. I needed ideas on how to tackle this. I needed help working through the spots that would trip me up - piles, feeling overwhelmed with the scope of the job, deciding what to keep, etc. I knew a pro organizer would stop me from anything approaching a freak out and put me right back on track.

I spent a lot of time poking around on the internet before I called Mary. I liked what she had to say on her website, I liked the way she was so calm when we talked on the phone (I needed the calm) and I liked her positive outlook. No matter how bad I tried to make the situation out to be, she just kept saying, "We can fix it."

Turns out it was the best decision I ever made. She is friendly, kind of goofy (she kept us laughing through the whole thing) and she's really really really really (did I mention really?) good at what she does. Much of the next four posts are things that she helped me learn about my space and myself, I'm truly indebted to her. She left me empowered and feeling in control and kept telling me to stop beating myself up, always look forward.

I realize not everyone can hire a pro organizer. And if you can't, then consider enlisting friends to help. If working through everything in two days is not realistic for you, make a schedule. If I look at the volume of work that was done, it would have easily taken me a year to do on my own. No exaggeration.

The most important thing is that you choose someone to work with that won't judge you, won't make negative comments and will help you with the areas that you need support in. A cheerleader for this kind of work goes a really long way.

The key lesson learned: There is nothing wrong with asking for help. We all need it every once in a while, there is no need to be a superhero. :)

In the next post, I'll share my thoughts on dealing with such large volumes to sort through.