Cost of decluttering help?

[Anonymous]

I definitely need to declutter and I have seen decluttering/organization services but I have no idea how much any of it would cost? Has anyone done it and was it helpful? About how much did it cost?

[Anonymous]

Anyone? I saw this website but I'm guessing this would be very expensive https://www.creatingspacedc.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw2uiwBhCXARIsACMvIU3fQynh33cOHPen1V6lsXOjI6TXKS5Y2TOJVVrsrUPsWw2LhU5fcsAaAg2vEALw_wcB

[Anonymous]

Don't quote me, but I think it was around $200/hr to have 2 organizers help with my friend's estate clean out? I think the final bill ended up being $2K for their fee and they also had junk people come so another fee for the junk haul off as well.

That's of course different than decluttering. Usually place will do a consult and then quote you out am estimated fee for the project.

[Anonymous]

I just did this. I'll give you all the info I can. The organizer I hired is $1200 a day for a team of 2, and $1500 a day for a team of 3. The day is 7 hours, but they haul away everything for you that is a donation. It took a a whole day with a team of 3 for my kitchen. I'm pretty disorganized and had a lot of stuff to get rid of, but I'm no hoarder, so I think a day for a kitchen was about average, YMMV on that.

This was the bad part -- my organizer has a deal with The Container Store. And she basically organized my kitchen in such a way that she could sell me as man plastic bins as possible. When all was said and done, it was over $500 of "storage solutions" in addition to the $1500 fee. Did I need all of those bins and plastic lazy susans? No, in fact they are annoying and I got rid of a good number of them.

So I'd say to avoid anyone who is shilling for the Container Store or somewhere similar. Because 1) it will cost you an arm and a leg for a bunch of plastic you don't need, and 2) things aren't actually organized optimally, they are organized in whatever way lends itself to selling you as much plastic "organization solution" crap as is possible.

But all said and done, I'm glad I did it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just did this. I'll give you all the info I can. The organizer I hired is $1200 a day for a team of 2, and $1500 a day for a team of 3. The day is 7 hours, but they haul away everything for you that is a donation. It took a a whole day with a team of 3 for my kitchen. I'm pretty disorganized and had a lot of stuff to get rid of, but I'm no hoarder, so I think a day for a kitchen was about average, YMMV on that.

This was the bad part -- my organizer has a deal with The Container Store. And she basically organized my kitchen in such a way that she could sell me as man plastic bins as possible. When all was said and done, it was over $500 of "storage solutions" in addition to the $1500 fee. Did I need all of those bins and plastic lazy susans? No, in fact they are annoying and I got rid of a good number of them.

So I'd say to avoid anyone who is shilling for the Container Store or somewhere similar. Because 1) it will cost you an arm and a leg for a bunch of plastic you don't need, and 2) things aren't actually organized optimally, they are organized in whatever way lends itself to selling you as much plastic "organization solution" crap as is possible.

But all said and done, I'm glad I did it.

$1500 for just a kitchen clean out? What exactly did she do for that fee? Were your things even worth that $1500? You could have dumped every thing other than fancy cookware in the kitchen in trash bags and bought new stuff for that price.

[Anonymous]

PP again. How big is your house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just did this. I'll give you all the info I can. The organizer I hired is $1200 a day for a team of 2, and $1500 a day for a team of 3. The day is 7 hours, but they haul away everything for you that is a donation. It took a a whole day with a team of 3 for my kitchen. I'm pretty disorganized and had a lot of stuff to get rid of, but I'm no hoarder, so I think a day for a kitchen was about average, YMMV on that.

This was the bad part -- my organizer has a deal with The Container Store. And she basically organized my kitchen in such a way that she could sell me as man plastic bins as possible. When all was said and done, it was over $500 of "storage solutions" in addition to the $1500 fee. Did I need all of those bins and plastic lazy susans? No, in fact they are annoying and I got rid of a good number of them.

So I'd say to avoid anyone who is shilling for the Container Store or somewhere similar. Because 1) it will cost you an arm and a leg for a bunch of plastic you don't need, and 2) things aren't actually organized optimally, they are organized in whatever way lends itself to selling you as much plastic "organization solution" crap as is possible.

But all said and done, I'm glad I did it.

$1500 for just a kitchen clean out? What exactly did she do for that fee? Were your things even worth that $1500? You could have dumped every thing other than fancy cookware in the kitchen in trash bags and bought new stuff for that price.

Hoarding is a spectrum, ime. Or like, sometimes better self-managed than not? Anyway if you’ve ever known someone with hoarding tendencies you know it’s really hard for them to throw things away and they might genuinely believe they have a reasonable amount of stuff and it “just needs to be organized.” So hiring someone, if it helps them cull the pile, can be worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just did this. I'll give you all the info I can. The organizer I hired is $1200 a day for a team of 2, and $1500 a day for a team of 3. The day is 7 hours, but they haul away everything for you that is a donation. It took a a whole day with a team of 3 for my kitchen. I'm pretty disorganized and had a lot of stuff to get rid of, but I'm no hoarder, so I think a day for a kitchen was about average, YMMV on that.

This was the bad part -- my organizer has a deal with The Container Store. And she basically organized my kitchen in such a way that she could sell me as man plastic bins as possible. When all was said and done, it was over $500 of "storage solutions" in addition to the $1500 fee. Did I need all of those bins and plastic lazy susans? No, in fact they are annoying and I got rid of a good number of them.

So I'd say to avoid anyone who is shilling for the Container Store or somewhere similar. Because 1) it will cost you an arm and a leg for a bunch of plastic you don't need, and 2) things aren't actually organized optimally, they are organized in whatever way lends itself to selling you as much plastic "organization solution" crap as is possible.

But all said and done, I'm glad I did it.

$1500 for just a kitchen clean out? What exactly did she do for that fee? Were your things even worth that $1500? You could have dumped every thing other than fancy cookware in the kitchen in trash bags and bought new stuff for that price.

Hoarding is a spectrum, ime. Or like, sometimes better self-managed than not? Anyway if you’ve ever known someone with hoarding tendencies you know it’s really hard for them to throw things away and they might genuinely believe they have a reasonable amount of stuff and it “just needs to be organized.” So hiring someone, if it helps them cull the pile, can be worth it.

I'm the PP. I'm a hoarder too but I wouldn't spend that much to empty my kitchen. I have a lot of stuff but honestly I don't think any of the extra stuff besides expensive cookware would be worth even $500 and I would balk at spending $1500. If it was for whole house, sure but just for kitchen I would dump it all myself

[Anonymous]

I hired someone years ago from Clutterbusters. She came for a four hour time period and worked WITH me to declutter my basement. 4 hours was about what I could manage before getting tired. She didn't try to sell my any storage containers. I can't remember what I paid at the time but I see now hourly rates are in the $85/hour range

https://clutterbusters.com/services/?gclid=CjwKCAjwoPOwBhAeEiwAJuXRh_CV0q9H1VFeTI6vogOpBbIA_--_euMYbqItC8sCRsAKYP9schmvURoCIKQQAvD_BwE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely need to declutter and I have seen decluttering/organization services but I have no idea how much any of it would cost? Has anyone done it and was it helpful? About how much did it cost?

I'm the PP again who hired Clutterbusters. I think they are great for someone who basically wants to declutter but just needs a lot of handholding and cheering on. I could see calling them, say, once a month for a few hours at a time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just did this. I'll give you all the info I can. The organizer I hired is $1200 a day for a team of 2, and $1500 a day for a team of 3. The day is 7 hours, but they haul away everything for you that is a donation. It took a a whole day with a team of 3 for my kitchen. I'm pretty disorganized and had a lot of stuff to get rid of, but I'm no hoarder, so I think a day for a kitchen was about average, YMMV on that.

This was the bad part -- my organizer has a deal with The Container Store. And she basically organized my kitchen in such a way that she could sell me as man plastic bins as possible. When all was said and done, it was over $500 of "storage solutions" in addition to the $1500 fee. Did I need all of those bins and plastic lazy susans? No, in fact they are annoying and I got rid of a good number of them.

So I'd say to avoid anyone who is shilling for the Container Store or somewhere similar. Because 1) it will cost you an arm and a leg for a bunch of plastic you don't need, and 2) things aren't actually organized optimally, they are organized in whatever way lends itself to selling you as much plastic "organization solution" crap as is possible.

But all said and done, I'm glad I did it.

$1500 for just a kitchen clean out? What exactly did she do for that fee? Were your things even worth that $1500? You could have dumped every thing other than fancy cookware in the kitchen in trash bags and bought new stuff for that price.

Hoarding is a spectrum, ime. Or like, sometimes better self-managed than not? Anyway if you’ve ever known someone with hoarding tendencies you know it’s really hard for them to throw things away and they might genuinely believe they have a reasonable amount of stuff and it “just needs to be organized.” So hiring someone, if it helps them cull the pile, can be worth it.

I'm the PP. I'm a hoarder too but I wouldn't spend that much to empty my kitchen. I have a lot of stuff but honestly I don't think any of the extra stuff besides expensive cookware would be worth even $500 and I would balk at spending $1500. If it was for whole house, sure but just for kitchen I would dump it all myself

If this were true you would have already done it.

[Anonymous]

When I did it, I charged $30 for regular UMC families and $50 for rich families. Half the time I was organizing things on my own, like a hall closet or a kid's clothing, and other times I worked with the homeowner who was just overwhelmed and paralyzed with indecision.

When I'd get there I'd have them walk me through what they wanted to do and I'd confirm they were not hoarders and tell them how long I thought it would take, and we'd start tackling things. I could go back and forth between working on my own and with them, as they were available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I did it, I charged $30 for regular UMC families and $50 for rich families. Half the time I was organizing things on my own, like a hall closet or a kid's clothing, and other times I worked with the homeowner who was just overwhelmed and paralyzed with indecision.

When I'd get there I'd have them walk me through what they wanted to do and I'd confirm they were not hoarders and tell them how long I thought it would take, and we'd start tackling things. I could go back and forth between working on my own and with them, as they were available.

I don't understand how you can organize someone else's stuff. It fascinates me but I guess I'm not someone who needs it. How you decide what to keep and get rid of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I did it, I charged $30 for regular UMC families and $50 for rich families. Half the time I was organizing things on my own, like a hall closet or a kid's clothing, and other times I worked with the homeowner who was just overwhelmed and paralyzed with indecision.

When I'd get there I'd have them walk me through what they wanted to do and I'd confirm they were not hoarders and tell them how long I thought it would take, and we'd start tackling things. I could go back and forth between working on my own and with them, as they were available.

I don't understand how you can organize someone else's stuff. It fascinates me but I guess I'm not someone who needs it. How you decide what to keep and get rid of?

I do this every ten years or so for my mom when she lets me. It’s easy! I get keep what she actually needs and uses, I get rid of anything else that she’ll allow, and I put the rest into boxes that I label carefully and stack. I won’t see the inside of 99% of the boxes again until her death.

She is an accomplished and impressive woman who genuinely can’t do this herself. I have no idea why. It’s like her brain sees a $3 glass vase that came from the florist in a cabinet jammed with 50 other glass vases and it just short circuits.

[Anonymous]

Hi! Professional organizer here. I completely understand the concern about being sold a lot of bins. Good organizing work should really start with decluttering and creating a layout that makes sense for how the household actually uses the space. Containers are sometimes helpful, but they should be the last step, not the first. Many organizers actually try to use what people already have before recommending anything new. The real value is often the decision-making support and having someone guide the process so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Gillian Economou, Professional Organizer + Owner of Sort it Out
https://www.sort-it-out.com/