Job: Home organizer and stager, Lawrenceville
What I do: "Get organized" is near the top of almost everyone's list of New Year's resolutions. Lydia Creary can help. As owner of Let's Get Organized and Stage, she declutters and organizes houses, whether to make life easier for the residents or to help sell the house. "I love to unpack and put away," said Creary, 41.
She starts by helping people get organized, first by getting rid of the stuff they don't want or don't use, then by packing and labeling the stuff they want to keep.
Unlike the organization shows on television, Creary says she doesn't bully people into getting rid of items. "I guide them on what to take with them and help wean them off sentimentality."
She realized that customers' motivation often was a move, and that led to staging homes for sale -- making them look livable without looking too lived-in. This process also involves decluttering and hauling the packed boxes to the attic, the garage or a storage unit. The goal is to make rooms look bigger, homey and not too personal, so that potential buyers can picture their own belongings in the house. Sellers "have to make their house stand out, or it's going to be on the market a very long time," she said.
The process for organizing or staging involves a consultation and report on each room in the house. Clients either can do the work themselves based on Creary's consultation or can hire her to toss, donate to charity or pack -- always with the clients' assistance. The goal is to cut possessions by 25 percent to 50 percent.
Creary favors storing items out of sight, rather than making a display of storage containers. If a house is empty, Creary can arrange for temporary furniture and accessories. While she isn't a real estate professional, Creary has moved a lot with her husband, who was in the automobile business, and their family.
What got me interested in this: When Creary and her family moved to the Atlanta area from Ohio in 2001, she was unpacked in five days. However, she recalled, a friend took more than a year. Creary helped out, and "it gave me the idea that I could do that." At the time, Creary was a teacher, and the organizing business "fell by the wayside." But she resurrected it in 2006, when she left teaching and added the home-staging part. Now, about half her work is organizing and half is staging.
Best part of my job: "It gives me a sense of satisfaction to put things where they belong," Creary said. Her own house reflects her philosophy -- homey, tidy and certainly not austere. She also gets satisfaction during the final walk-through of a project with a client. "They say, 'I didn't think it could be done.' Their satisfaction is my satisfaction. People underestimate their own abilities."
Most challenging part: Persuading people "to let go of things."
What people don't know about my job: "The cost [of organizing services] is minimal -- not as extravagant as people think," she said. "And it can be done in a relatively short time." Creary says she seldom takes more than one eight-hour day for a job.
What keeps me going: "I don't answer to anyone" except clients, Creary said. "I'm making money at something I love.
"When I come into somebody's house, I feel like a friend called me, and I'm there to help."
Preparation needed for this job: "You have to be a people person," Creary said. In reorganizing, "you have to be gentle with people on what's worth keeping. People will get rid of what they want to get rid of."
She also says it's important to know the competition and what they charge for similar services. When staging a house, it's necessary to know what buyers are looking for.
Creary has a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Miami in Florida and a master's in education from Wayne State University in Detroit.
- By Karl Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.