A lot of people procrastinate cleaning up clutter because the idea of even starting is stressful. Many people accumulate clutter because work, relationships, or other important priorities get in the way of maintaining the house. It’s important to get this cleaning done, however, because clutter can cause fire hazards, air quality complications, and restrict emergency service access to the home. If you don’t know where to begin, here are four main options for how to approach a large cleanup project. 
Option 1: Doing It Alone
The most cost-effective option is to do the clutter cleaning yourself, but this is also the hardest way to get the desired results. Some of the most common mistakes people make when trying to declutter include trying to do every room at one time, or trying to tackle everything in one day. Approaches like these often lead to feelings of frustration and make people so overwhelmed they quit. Depending on family and friends can be helpful, but many people are too busy to organize themselves, let alone help another person. If you do find loved ones to help, this means trusting other people to make decisions about your belongings. You can’t be everywhere at once and your helpers may throw away things that are important or valuable.
Option 2: Junk Haulers
Junk haulers are a good option for those who have successfully cleaned up alone or rallied family and friends to help. Once the clutter cleaning portion is done, junk haulers will come in and remove designated items or trash out of the home. They will not help you sort or organize your items, or discern what has value and what doesn’t. The point of clutter cleaning is not to get rid of everything, it’s to determine what’s functional and find a place for it in the home. Junk haulers aren’t qualified to make these decisions and they often end up selling items taken from the home with no profit for the original owners.
Option 3: Professional Organizers
The third option for clutter cleaning is to hire a professional organizer. Professional organizers, if certified through the National Association of Professional Organizers, can be very effective for clutter cleaning. However, these organizers tend to only achieve the desired results on smaller jobs. One reason for this is because too much clutter in the home prevents them from sorting through everything in a timely manner. Professional organizers usually charge by the hour and depending on the amount of clutter, costs for their services can snowball into an unreasonable amount quickly.
Option 4: Clutter/Hoarding Cleanup Company
The most advantageous option for clutter cleaning is a combination of these services. A clutter or hoarding cleanup company like Address Our Mess combines the skills of all of these professionals and gives you the most successful and cost-effective results. These companies will have insurance, professional organizing credentials, and trained teams with means of large disposal. Teams understand the need to sort through belongings recover items that are valuable and/or sentimental. They will use discretion at your home to not bring unwanted attention, opposed to a fleet of vehicles with “We Haul Junk” on the side.
Whichever option you ultimately choose, it is important to carefully weigh the pros and cons and make the most informed decision possible. Address Our Mess is available with teams of trained professionals that will provide all the services of a hoarding cleanup company to help you turn cluttered and disorganized chaos back into a home with usable living space.