It’s been a while since I’ve posted about organizing. As most of you probably know, I’ve been working as a professional organizer since August and officially got my LLC in January. It started out with a lot of small jobs. Sometimes organizing a closet or helping someone unpack after a move, and other times helping them declutter their living space or going through their pantry. Lately though, I’ve gotten lucky enough to be able to help my first hoarder!!
It started when my assistant and I worked on her house. She admitted that she knows she holds onto things for sentimental reasons and wanted to learn how to get rid of things and how to find a home for what she keeps. We did a lot of work on her house that was mainly clearing out papers and sorting what was in her guest room. Then she asked us to do her parent’s house. The short story is that her mom and dad were hoarders (that’s how she learned the lifestyle) and when her dad died a few years ago she took in her mom without going through the house. This meant that no one had been in this house for years before us. She needed our help to go through the house and clean it up so she can move in.
We walked through and immediately got excited. I’ll share a few pictures of some of the worst rooms. As you can see, there was mainly trash and boxes of stuff. As I write this, we aren’t even close to done. We’ve spent about 5 days in the house already and zoomed through a few rooms clearing out the trash and sorting the rest into boxes or bins. This is only step one. Once we are through all the rooms, clear out all the trash, and sort through all the stuff, we will have her help us figure out what she wants to keep and find it all a home. Then we can donate the rest or give it to someone in her family.
Someone who doesn’t like organizing might see this and be a little overwhelmed… but for Abbie and me, this is exciting! Yeah, there’s trash… but that’s what gloves and trash bags (40+ already) are for. In homes like this, we can find SO many cool things and get a glimpse of what these people deem important. Last week, we found a few old cameras, some old tins that are actually from my mom’s home town, and a really old condom. Today, we found a lot of magazines from the 50s and 60s, old Disney kids books from the 70s, and this kid’s book of Snow-White and Rose-Red that we’d never heard of! Honestly, it’s one big treasure hunt AND we get to organize it after! So satisfying!! If you know any hoarders, send them my way! I can’t wait to dive into the next one
OH! And we are thinking about investing in a video camera with a nice stand or attachment so we can do time lapse videos of some bigger rooms like this. If you have any camera suggestions or software to speed it up and put music behind it, please let me know!! Thanks in advance 😊 As always, if you take any fun pictures or videos, tag me on Instagram @SmileMakePeopleWonder and use the hashtag #DandelionSmiles. Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on the next exciting idea
Dandelion Smiles 
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