Taking charge of the clutter
2008-11-27
Marguerite Lombard
EVERY now and then one discovers a truly unusual profession, and that of professional organiser is one of them. Then once you have had time to mull over the idea, it sounds like a godsend: like having a fairy godmother to wave a magic wand and turn chaos into order. Tracey Foulkes is a professional organiser, and is based in Wellington. She is also a founder member of the South African Association of Professional Organisers. “Sometimes it is just about getting the children out of the door and to school in the morning without having a nervous breakdown. “People often ask me: How do I organise my kids to pick up their towels, or my husband to pick up his socks? “Use an open laundry basket – it is much easier to go with what comes naturally.” Tracey started her business in 2001. At the time she was working for one of the large clothing retailers, but longing to run her own business. “One day I was watching a show on Oprah about professional organisers, and I suddenly realised: but that is what I do every day! “If I can move 350 people and their work stations over a weekend to a new location, I must be an organised person.” She believes that more than 90% of the people who seek help are perfectionists who procrastinate because they set such high standards for themselves that they are not able to complete tasks that they have set themselves. “I have learnt from experience that a ‘one shoe fits all’ approach will never work. “People are individuals, and what will work for one person, is unsustainable for another. Visual people like to keep their things in piles around them and minimalists are quite the opposite. “Being organised is not about having perfectly aligned piles of T-shirts in our cupboard, or a draconian filing system. “It is more about learning how to get things done in a different way, to be able to find things in the quickest possible time, and with the least amount of stress. “It is not about how it looks, but how it works.” One of the biggest mistakes people make is to over-complicate systems, and then getting lost within the system they created. “It is a little like creating a series of passwords to secure a computer, and then forgetting what the passports were. “I have found that there are always degrees of disorganisation. Most people are fairly organised, but find that things go out of balance for a period of time, before returning to an equilibrium. “Some people are fairly organised in the work environment, but may look for help organising their homes. “Very few people are chronically disorganised - often they are people who suffer from chronic depression or are bi-polar. “Their work space may be so cluttered that it is almost impossible to find the desk, let alone a file, or their homes may be so cluttered there is little more than a path left to cross the room.” People who suffer from chronic disorganisation can be helped, but it is often quite a long and arduous journey. “In some cases it can be a three hour session just to work through an in tray. The important thing is to know how much a client can handle in one session.” Most clients need little more than one or two sessions to put them back on track. Holidays are a perfect time to declutter. Tracey’s advice: if you don’t need it, and you don’t use it, throw it out. Remember, energy stagnates where clutter accumulates.
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