Photo by Emily Featherston.
Getting organized is a popular goal for the new year, but professionals stress the importance of taking things one step at a time.
While getting healthy takes the top prize for the most common New Year’s resolution, getting organized frequently follows as a close second.
According search data from Google, there were over 33.2 million searches about getting organized in the 2017 new year, which, though down about 7 percent from 2016, was still well above the rest of the common search terms.
But for many people, “getting organized” is a monster task, and often leads to frustration and an even bigger mess.
“I think people have this big notion that it’s going to be huge and time consuming and overwhelming, and they’re going to be bored out of their skull,” said Ruthann Betz-Essinger, a professional organizer and consultant.
Essinger, a Vestavia Hills resident and owner of Just Organized, LLC, was the first professional organizer in Alabama to be a Certified Professional Organizer.
Essinger also serves on the board of the Institute for Challenging Disorganization, where she has earned certifications in specialized cases of organization, such as hoarding, seniors and adults with Attention Deficit Disorder.
“I like the really challenging people,” Essinger said.
“It just makes it really fascinating.”
After a career in marketing with Southern Progress Corporation, Essinger decided to become a professional organizer at the encouragement of her clients, and now she works with everyone from small business owners to homeowners preparing for a move.
Essinger said she always begins by talking with clients about what they are looking for, because “organization” can mean vastly different things for different people.
And while there is obviously physical work involved, it’s the mental hurdles that she said she sees the most.
“It’s a very personal thing,” she said, but noted that she has found some common themes.
For example, many adults with ADD struggle with controlling paperwork, especially mail.
“Paper and mail is going to be one of their biggest issues,” she said, because either they don’t know what is important enough to keep, or have never found a filing system that works for them.
For others, she said, it’s finding a way to give oneself permission to let go of things.
But the biggest hurdle, she said, is the one that usually derails those looking to get organized in the new year: Taking too big of steps at a time.
“I think they bite off more than they can chew,” she said. “They say ‘I’m going to get my whole house organized,’ and that’s overwhelming.”
Instead, Essinger suggested folks try to find one area or item to focus on, such as a closet or drawer. Then, once a system emerges, take that and move on to the next area.
“Once you start to learn the way that your brain works and the way that organizing works best for you, then you can translate that to other areas of your house,” she said.
Another trick she has found useful is having a client take a cardboard box around the home, collecting items he or she knows for certain are unwanted or unused.
“People think that removing one item out of one room is not going to make a big deal, but it really can make a big deal,” she said. “Once you make that first decision of letting go of something, it’s not so hard to make that decision again. And each time you make that decision, it’s good.”
