They hire a Professional Organizer! That’s right, I hired a Professional to help me with my mess of a basement. Cathy Lehew of Space Matters was kind enough to assist me.

I set up the appointment about three weeks in advance. I didn’t think much about it until the day before. I was having such a crazy week with work… I was dying to cancel. I had so many other things that were more important to do. I was so frustrated that I had to take time out of my day to organize my basement!!!!! The day of my session Cathy came to my door, and she could tell, I was not happy.

I moved into my home in September and everything in the basement had not been touched since the day we moved. It was full of tools, equipment, gardening supplies, paint cans, left over bathroom and kitchen tiles, the dreaded tennis stringer (that has not been used in close to two years), and then some. As Cathy and I walked downstairs I was giving her the rundown. It was so amusing to be explaining my mess. I mean, I am the one usually doing the listening. I caught myself saying things like, “I have no idea what’s in that bin” or “why is this down here?” or “how did we acquire 7 levels?!!!!!” Cathy and I shared many laughs.

Immediately Cathy started explaining the zones that we would break the basement into. She was full of ideas I never thought of. Since it was my basement and my stuff, I had lost the ability to see it any other way. I loved that she was making the decisions and taking charge. Which was a HUGE surprise. My biggest worry having her help me was that I would try to control things. Believe it or not, I can be quite bossy. But ironically, I didn’t want to be bogged down with decisions. I just wanted to get the basement organized. Cathy told me what to do and I did it. When I was done, I asked her to give me another task. It was much less overwhelming.

As we worked together I also realized I didn’t feel any guilt. If I had asked a friend to help me organize my creepy, grimy, bug infested basement, I would have been concerned about them and how they were doing. Because I was paying Cathy and knew she was a professional, I could let her do her thing and I could move forward with my tasks.

After about three hours of work, I was so ready to quit. I begged Cathy to leave my house!!!! She insisted we finish up the final hour. Sluggishly, I did menial tasks so I looked like I was working. And then finally, time was up!

We weren’t able to complete the project, but my basement has been completely transformed. I now have an area for bulk storage, garden tools, and my husband actually has a great area to work on projects and store his tools. It felt good to be productive and see the results.

Then our session was complete… thank God! Cathy left and I crashed.