A Day in The Life of a Professional Organizer

A professional organizer is someone who helps people to organize their space, time, and belongings. This can be done in both residential and commercial settings. A professional organizer will work with their clients to declutter, create systems, and develop habits that lead to a more organized life.

Professional organizers typically specialize in one or more areas, such as:

The common duties of a professional organizer vary depending on the needs of their clients. However, there are some common tasks that most professional organizers perform on a daily basis. These tasks may include:

The hours of a professional organizer can also vary depending on the client’s needs. Some organizers work with clients during regular business hours. Others may offer evening or weekend appointments to accommodate busy schedules. Ultimately, you’ll be the one to decide what works best for you!

Your job will revolve around helping your clients declutter and organize their homes or offices. But this can be a physical and emotional process for some people, which is why it’s important that you possess a few key traits.

For instance, you’ll need to be patient and have a compassionate demeanor. You’ll also need to be able to think on your feet and come up with creative solutions to unique problems. After all, no two organizing projects are the same. So, you’ll need to be flexible in your approach.

To put this into perspective, here are some up-to-date annual salaries for professional organizers, based on some example countries:

This is a great question! A professional organizer’s toolkit will vary depending on their specific organizing specialty. However, there are some common items that every organizer should have on hand, such as a:

Many professional organizers run their own business. This means that they typically have at least one day per week (if not more) where they’re working from their home office.

On these days, you can expect to spend a good portion of your time working on administrative tasks, such as:

On project days, you’ll get to leave the confines of your home office and go out into the real world to help people get their stuff together!

The first thing you’ll do when you arrive at a client’s home is assess the situation. This usually involves walking around with the client and getting a feel for what needs to be done. Once you have a good understanding of the scope of the project, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work!

This might involve:

Project days might also involve wrapping up loose ends. This part of the job can include:

In the world of professional organizing, you will also occasionally deal with maintenance projects – rather than projects where you and your client are starting from ground zero. Maintenance days are typically done with past and/or repeat clients.

On these days, you’ll be responsible for coming up with new ways to keep the client’s space organized and functional. This might involve:

On days like this, your duties might include:

You may also have days where instead of working with your own (individual) client, you collaborate with other types of businesses. Some common examples of this might be moving companies, professional organizing companies, interior decorating companies, etc.

Let’s circle back to something extremely important for a moment… When discussing “office days”, we briefly mentioned paperwork. But that’s a very broad term, so let’s clarify that a bit!

There are also several forms and checklists that every organizer should have at their disposal. These can be used to help streamline the organizing process for both you and your client. A few examples include a:

When putting together this form for your clients, you’ll need to include blank sections for the following information:

This usually involves walking around with the client and getting a feel for the space, as well as discussing their goals for the project. After the assessment is complete, you’ll sit down with the client and review your findings.

Never written a business contract before? No problem!

Here are some pieces of information you should ensure to include when developing yours:

By including all of this information in your contract, you can help avoid any misunderstandings or disagreements down the road. And that’s always a good thing!

We hope this article has given you a better understanding of what it’s like to work as a professional organizer! If you’re thinking about starting a career in this field, we encourage you to do some additional research and reach out to other professionals for advice.