I love the new Public Storage commercial that just came out about how a family’s junk drawer grew to take over a now crowded closet, then mushroomed into a cluttered and unusable garage. Many of my clients tell me they don’t know how things got out of control so fast and I think their ad agency hit the nail on the head. And then they try to sell you a way out — find freedom from your clutter by renting a storage unit.

But here’s the thing…you’ve already spent so much money on the stuff that’s cluttering your home, why waste more money on a monthly bill to store stuff you’re not using anyway? In my area, a 10′x10′ unit (which supposedly holds enough to furnish a 1 BR apartment) runs anywhere between $75-$135/month!!! On average, that’s over $1260/yr…EVERY year!

A cheaper and more effective long term solution is to hire an organizer. We help you figure out what’s really imporant to you, get your space organized, then coach you how to prevent being overwhelmed by clutter in the future. That’s a potential savings of over $6300 in storage fees over 5 years and some significant cash!

We start with identifying your goals and what it is you’d like to achieve with both the function of the space, and your lifestyle goals.

Then we begin the sort & purge process and ask our clients questions about why they’re really holding on to things. Sometimes it’s an easy decision to find another home, donate or trash items and sometimes it’s a little more difficult to let go, but we’re trained to help; we know what questions to ask and when to challenege you to help you reach and maintain your goals for a clutter-free space.

After we’ve identified what’s important to keep, see how much you have, and figure out how you “tick,” we can pick the right organizing solutions to fit your lifestyle and space. We help you store your precious items properly, then we figure out the best way to maintain it.

And throughout the process, we give advice and “tips & tricks” to help coach you how to live a more organized lifestyle that will prevent the clutter from overwhelming you and your spaces again.

So although storage may seem like a quick and easy option, it’s not a long term solution. And it’s been my experience that once people have a storage unit, they keep filling it up until they have to rent a bigger and more expensive unit. Hire an organizer instead and use the money you save to do something fun.