Anonymous wrote:I've used Space Matters http://www.myspacematters.com/ and were very pleased with them. I don't remember what I paid but it wasn't exactly cheap but it was worth it for what we needed.

We had a hurried move and as a result there were tons of boxes in our basement that had been there for two years - unopened. I had good storage there but I needed to go through everything and do some major purging and then getting the stuff on a shelf. Space Matters sent two ladies over and they worked with us for 4 hours straight - and I mean worked. We did that twice. We designated one area to put things they would take away for donation, one area for trash and another area for Freecycle (I had my laptop with me and posted it right then and there). It was nice having people who had no emotional investment in the 'stuff' to help me purge/let go/get rid of stuff that really added nothing to my life. It was incredibly freeing and they assuaged whatever guilt I may have been feeling. I wouldn't have been able to get rid of half the stuff I did if I'd been alone listening to my mother's voice echo in my head ('You can't get rid of that! It belonged to Great-Aunt Delma!).

We went through every box and anything that went on a shelf was labelled. They took the stuff for charity with them, brought their own trash bags and were honest when telling me that no one would want that old tchocke. During the second visit, we had some extra time so my DH and one of the ladies tacked the shed. It was GREAT!

Anonymous wrote:i used to be a professional organizer. if you've had two years with disorganization, a book is not going to help- you need a professional. the way i did it, I would come in for a consult, assess the space and get a general idea of what you want out of it. i liked to allow people to have particular zones that didn't have to be crazy neat, so that they would not just fail the whole house once i was gone. a good organizer will assess your lifestyle and find something truly workable.