Don't go it alone

Leading an organized life is usually an individual activity - we rely on ourselves to make decisions about how to spend our time and coexist with our stuff. (Those of us who live with others must negotiate when it comes to shared space.) When you're in the groove at work, dashing through your inbox, calendering your to do list, filing away your documents, you're usually alone and those tasks are (hopefully) habitual and manageable. But sometimes there are more intermittent organizing projects that just don't make sense to do alone, even if you feel like you couldn't possibly ask someone to spend time to help you. You can, and you should, because certain things can be tough to face alone. Some examples:

Garages. The sheer scale of a garage can be daunting. Enlist your family, your siblings, your friends to help you move bulky items and sort things into donate and trash piles. Even if it's only for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning, it helps to have another pair of hands around. And it's a lot less work than asking them to help you move!

Clothes closets. Do not attempt to do a major overhaul of a clothes closet alone. If you can actually make yourself start the project along it will quickly get overwhelming when everything you own is sitting on your bed in a giant mountain. It helps to have someone there giving you a second opinion about that lime green sweater you were never sure about.

Going through possessions of passed away loved ones. This is a personal and difficult thing to do and most of us have to do it at one point in our lives. Having a neutral party there while you sort and make decisions about things can help keep things moving and keep things in perspective.

Of course, you can always hire a professional organizer to help you with all of the above projects, and I highly recommend that you do if you want to make sure the time you spend on them is used in the most efficient way. But at the very least, call a friend and get them to give you a pep talk. You can do it, and you don't have to do it alone!

Creative Commons photo posted to flickr by MelvinSchlubman

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com