Should you hire a professional to help you Declutter?
The short answer? Because decluttering is hard.
It’s hard for a number of reasons.
You’re attached to your clutter. Once you own something, you now have a connection to that item. Scientists have termed this, the Endowment Effect. The endowment effect describes a circumstance in which an individual places a higher value on an object that they already own than the value they would place on that same object if they did not own it.
Declutting is physical work. You physically have to pull out your stuff and do at least some handling of it - even if it's just to throw it in the trash bag.
Decluttering is mental work. It involves a lot of decisions, in a short period of time. First there is the decision of what to tackle first or how to even begin. Then you have the actual decision of what to keep and what to discard. And finally, you are left with the decisions of where to put things that you’ve decided to keep (this is what I refer to as organizing) and what to do with all of the things you’ve decided to discard.
Decluttering is emotional work. Our excess can represent a manifestation of perhaps bigger issues in our life. Confronting that excess stirs up some emotions, usually negative, or at the very least can feel emotionally exhausting
Decluttering is overwhelming. Usually, people wait to declutter until they’ve amassed what I call a “critical mass of clutter” and it is negatively impacting their lives. People realize this process is going to involve a lot of decisions and be a lot of work. They naturally become overwhelmed. In a lot of instances, they avoid decluttering or keep putting it off. The “critical mass of clutter” doesn’t magically disappear, it usually get bigger and bigger (and more overwhelming).
So how can a professional help you through your Decluttering Journey?
How can someone not living in your household and not knowing how things are used possibly know what is excess?
The short answer is they can’t.
But here is what they can do and why I think it’s helpful for some to hire a professional to help them address their clutter.
A professional can help you stay more emotionally neutral. As noted above, facing your clutter can stir up some unpleasant emotions. A good professional can help you see your excess for the lessons it can teach you and not just the mistakes you have made. And they can help you see how those lessons will apply to your life going forward so that you can consume more thoughtfully and break the never ending cycle of Decluttering.
A professional provides momentum. How many times have you put “declutter the linen closet” on your list of things you want to accomplish, only to find 10 other things to do with your limited time and energy. As Gretchin Rubin says, “something that can happen at any time often happens at no time.” Evaluate your track record in this area and I think you will see that hiring a professional can give you the momentum and motivation you need to finally tackle what you’ve wanted to do for a long time. And having a finish date to work toward also helps you stay motivated and focused when you’ve run out of decluttering steam (my availability and accountability by phone or text help too!).
They can be objective. They don’t have the physiological connection to your items and the bias that comes along with that. Having an objective third party on your team throughout the process is invaluable.
They can help you get rid of the stuff you’ve decided to discard. This is one less decision you have to make after a marathon of decision making. They can haul it off smaller items for you or arrange for pick up of larger items.
I think Decluttering can be a beautiful process and a great teacher for us if done with the right mindset (and doing it with the help of a professional definitely helps!).
I believe (and have experienced) that our excess possessions can show us what is no longer important to us (and by default what is actually important to us now).
For example, through the process of decluttering your closet, your clothes can teach you what colors you prefer to wear, what styles of clothes you prefer to wear, and show you what clothes actually work for your life. And when the excess is removed, I can tell you that the path forward is so much clearer. You will begin to see that you already have enough or you will clearly see where you may be lacking.
This is just one example but I know from personal experience that this can happen in all areas of our life where we choose to remove excess. Everything is easier. Everything is clearer. You have more space for living. You have more space for thinking. YOU have more space for existing and aren’t crowded out by your possessions.
So are you ready to strengthen your decision making muscles and move from a life of constant Decluttering and make the shift to more purposeful consumption? Book a 90-minute decluttering session with me!
Have a larger project? Contact me to learn more.
