Is Virtual Organizing Right for You?
What Is Virtual Organizing?
If you are a do-it-yourselfer decluttering your home, you may wish you could get support and guidance without bringing a professional organizer into your home. Nowadays, you can work one-on-one with an organizer virtually, through video chats, phone calls, or email.
Many professional organizer now offer virtual organizing services where they can work with people around the world. If you’ve read the book or the blog of an organizer and you like the way they describe how they work, you may be able to work with them through video chats or phone calls to guide and support your efforts. Check out their website for details.
Find More Options for Creating Order at Home
Working on Your Own Is Key
Virtual organizing probably isn't a good fit if you have difficulty working on your own. Your time with the expert is limited - and, they offer advice, not hands-on help.
The Benefits of Video Meetings
Virtual organizing services are ideal for individuals who desire an extra level of privacy they couldn’t get if they were working in their home with an organizer. Also, if working three-to-eight hours during the professional’s hours and days of availability would be a struggle, virtual organizing sessions are much briefer which adds in flexibility.
Many professional organizers limit their phone or video chats to no more than an hour, sometimes followed by a briefer follow-up phone call or a few emails. If you can physically handle the work of sorting through your belongings, you can save money by using the expert for consultations as opposed to hands-on work.
Keep Your Home Private
Embarrassed by Your Mess?
If you're nervous about having friends and family visit, you may dislike the idea of having a stranger walking around your home. You control where to aim the camera and can tell the professional that there are areas you don't want them to see. They should understand.
Create a Plan of Action
If you are overwhelmed by the prospect of decluttering your entire home and you can’t imagine where to start, a decluttering specialist can help you clarify your goals and identify a timeline for doing the work.
Some experts will ask you to send them photographs of the rooms and storage spaces in your home and then meet with you through Skype, Google Hangouts, or a phone call to ask you questions that will help them better understand what you want from your home and what difficulties you’ve had with staying organized in the past.
After you hang up, they’ll create a plan of action, detailing where to start and what to do in each space. They may suggest that you purchase organizing products to create and maintain order in your home.
They’ll email the package to you which offers direction for how you can declutter and organize your home. You do the work on your own, or with the assistance of your family. The pro may offer additional coaching services if you get stuck or lose motivation.
Make a Change
Even if you are normally organized, clutter can build up during busy times in your life. Or, you may seek help converting a storage space to a guest room, craft space, or hangout for your kids.
Get Support while Decluttering
Some organizing packages involve you working one-on-one with the organizer as part of a video chat. You set your phone, tablet, or computer in a spot where the organizer can observe and interact with you as you working.
The individual will help you stay focused while you declutter the area. They can also provide some emotional support if you are having difficulty letting go of possessions by reminding you of the vision you have for your future.
If you have questions and want advice, the organizer is right there to question.
Video sessions aren’t as lengthy as in-person sessions and so you won’t have the organizer with you throughout the entire decluttering and organizing process. This keeps costs down. Oftentimes, the organizer may ask you to continue doing some work on the project and then email them with your results to keep you accountable to your objectives.
You can schedule multiple video sessions, perhaps once or twice a week, or less often if you desire limited guidance, depending on your reasons for working along a certain timeline.
Focus on Areas You Want to Declutter
Work with a Coach
The decluttering expert might also be able of offer coaching services where together you both create the plan of action and make decisions, as opposed to relying on the professional’s judgments. This can give you the opportunity to learn how to declutter, organize, and maintain order so in the future you won't need to need to hire help.
Coaching may involve video chats, phone calls, or emails with the length of time determine by the pro. Depending on the organizing coaching package, it may be most useful for individuals who have a series of specific questions or needs that can be addressed during the scheduled time.
Identify Challenges
What room or area in your home needs the most organizing help?
Is Virtual Organizing Right for You?
If you can do the physical work of decluttering and moving things around your home, working with an organizing specialist through video chats, emails, and phone calls is an option to consider.
A big challenge in working on your own is, well, working on your own. If you have difficulty staying focused or adhering to a schedule that you set, then bring up this concern when consulting with a virtual organizer and find out how they can support you and keep you accountable to the tasks you’ve identified as part of your goal.
Do an Internet search for ‘virtual organizing services’ or ‘virtual organizing packages’ and check out what different companies offer until you find what you’re looking for and then reach out to the business to schedule a consultation.
