Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to another episode of Chicks in Construction! This episode goes deep into the transformative power of home organization. Joined by special guests Maria Butler of Clearly Organized and custom closet designer Sarah Tiani, the discussion highlights the benefits of hiring professional organizers. The hosts share personal stories, including Mickey’s journey through multiple organizers and the impact of finally finding the right fit. Discover how proper organization can save money, reduce stress, and even enhance your overall quality of life. Tips, insights, and real-life examples make this an episode you don’t want to miss. Tune in for expert advice on decluttering, effective organizing strategies, and when to consider professional help. Plus, get a sneak peek into high-end custom closets and practical solutions for everyday clutter. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and visit our website for more homeowner horror stories!
00:00 Introduction to Home Organizers
00:52 Meet the Hosts and Guests
01:18 Mikki's Organizing Journey
05:04 The Importance of Hiring an Organizer
06:52 When to Consider Hiring an Organizer
11:15 Custom Closets and Office Designs
25:10 Common Organizing Mistakes
32:46 First Time Trying Caviar
33:05 Common Closet Misconceptions
33:20 Closet Pricing and Design Options
34:05 Luxury Closet Features
36:17 Organizing Tips and Collaborations
36:41 Container Store and Other Options
42:03 DIY vs Professional Organizing
46:26 The Emotional Impact of Organizing
50:02 The Benefits of an Organized Space
53:10 Hiring Professional Organizers
56:52 Conclusion and Contact Information
Submit your homeowner horror story:
www.chicksinconstruction.com
Follow on Social Media:
www.instagram.com/chicksinconstructionpodcast
www.facebook.com/chicksinconstructionpodcast
www.linkedin.com/company/chicksinconstructionpodcast
www.youtube.com/@ChicksInConstruction
________________
Love what you hear?
Subscribe to Chicks in Construction and share this episode with your friends because every homeowner, builder, contractor, and designer needs to hear this one!
MORE ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Meet Maria Butler - https://clearlyorganizednc.com - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clearlyorganizednc
I am the owner of Clearly Organized. It has long been my dream to start my own business. I have always been a super-organized Monica type (Hello, Friends). As a family, we have moved 8 times, which helped me hone my organizing and staging skills. Thus was born Clearly Organized. I love the relationships we develop with our clients. We walk along beside you in your organizing journey, providing help and encouragement.
I spent many years as an elementary school teacher and then a stay-at-home mom. I am married to my high school sweetheart and am a proud mom of two amazing boys. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, soaking up the sun at the beach, and reading.
Sarah Easterly Tiani - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahtianiclosets/
Stylish storage is self-care! I can create custom solutions to your storage challenges. Working in the triangle for 18 years.
Creators and Guests
Host
Jessica Abreu
As a social media expert, Jessica has a knack for identifying what makes each business unique and translating that into powerful, engaging content that resonates with clients and customers. From crafting tailored strategies and managing accounts to recording on-site content and boosting engagement, Jessica and her team handle it all so their clients can focus on what they do best.
Host
Mikki Paradis
President & CEO at PDI Drywall Inc. Mikki founded her first construction company, PDI Drywall Inc, in 2005 while she was still a student at NC State. After growing PDI into a multimillion dollar company, she has become an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, and advocate for innovation in business and leadership. With a passion for empowering others, she has built a reputation as a forward-thinking professional dedicated to driving growth and fostering meaningful connections. Known for her dynamic energy and ability to inspire, Mikki is deeply committed to creating positive change in her industry and beyond. Whether through her entrepreneurial ventures or speaking engagements, she consistently challenges the status quo and encourages others to reach their full potential.
Guest
Maria Butler
I am the owner of Clearly Organized. It has long been my dream to start my own business. I have always been a super organized Monica type (Hello Friends). As a family, we have moved 8 times, this helped me to hone my organizing and staging skills. Thus was born Clearly Organized. I love the relationships, we develop with our clients. We walk along beside you in your organizing journey, providing help and encouragement. I spent many years as an elementary school teacher and then a stay at home mom. I am married to my high school sweetheart and am a proud mom of two amazing boys. In my spare time, I love to spend time with my family, soak up the sun at the beach and read.
What is Chicks in Construction?
You plan your renovation with excitement, trust your contractor, and hope for the best...until things start going sideways. That’s when most homeowners realize they didn’t know what they didn’t know.
From permits that were never pulled to “contractors” who ghost after demo day, the construction world can feel like a maze of hidden costs and shady shortcuts. Too many homeowners end up confused, overwhelmed, and out of a lot of money.
The Chicks in Construction Podcast is here to change that. Hosted by Mikki Paradis, a licensed general contractor with 20+ years of experience, and Jess Abreu, a homeowner turned construction content creator, this show breaks down real renovation horror stories and teaches you how to protect your time, money, and home.
After building a multimillion-dollar drywall business and helping countless homeowners recover from construction nightmares, Mikki is on a mission to make sure you go into your next project informed, not blindsided. And Jess brings the perspective of someone who’s been in your shoes and now knows exactly what questions to ask.
Submit Your Construction Horror Story: https://chicksinconstruction.com/
22 - Chicks in Construction - Organizers
===
[00:00:00]
Mikki: Today we're talking about home organizers. You know the superheroes who swoop in and save you from drowning in Amazon boxes, Mitch matched Tupperware and
Jess: that closet full of someday jeans. Yeah. Turns out hiring an organizer isn't just about pretty baskets and rainbow colored closets.
It can actually save you money, reduce stress, and maybe. Just maybe stop you from buying that same screwdriver set three times because you couldn't find the first two facts. So grab your label maker,
Mikki: brace yourself, because peace of mind might actually fit neatly On a shelf.
Who knew?
Mikki: Hello and welcome to another episode of Chicks in Construction.
I'm Mickey Paradise, and this is my co-host, Jessica
Jess: Abro. [00:01:00] Yeah. And today we have amazing guests in the studio. Please welcome.
Maria: I'm Maria Butler. I am the owner of Clearly Organized, a local organizing company.
Sarah Tiani: And I'm Sarah Tani. I design custom closets and offices and built-ins and such.
Mikki: I'm very excited to have these amazing guests on. I'm gonna tell you a little story. We're gonna, we're gonna give you a little background, little background bit so it goes like this as we know. Uh, I am a special trash collector. Me and my husband both we're a problem. It's a problem. Um, I have hired on three separate occasions, different organizers.
Um, Maria's the third, and she's the last, and I'm gonna tell you why. So the first organizer shamed the shit out of me. Like, I walked away feeling like an absolute piece of garbage myself. Like, because she was, did you feel like special trash or just trash? Oh no, it was not special. I was not special. I was just trash.
It was just trash. It was, it was real bad. So she made me feel horrible about myself. And I think that was like her tactic. Like, I think her tactic was if she could make people feel bad about themselves. [00:02:00] Like they would stop collecting trash. But it honestly made my trash collection worse. Like out of like self-soothing.
I went and bought more trash and spite, you're like, I'll spike you in spite of her. I went just, you know, so that one's the first one. Okay. And I was like, I'm never doing this again. So then I hired another company and that was real bad. 'cause they, they really, they, they milked it. So I spent a really stupid amount of money.
For them to come move. Like one thing for them to, they, they came to organize my trash. When I wanted to get rid of my trash, they organized the trash. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then it was just like, give us the money. And I was like, so when I was realizing that my house is yet again full of the special trash, I reached out to Jess.
And what's funny is I forgot that I reached out to Jess and asked her if she knew any organizers. 'cause when Maria came to the house, she was like, oh, I know Jess. And I was like, that's amazing. And then I reached out to Jess and she's like, Mickey, I literally recommended [00:03:00] her to literally told you. So Maria has come several times and every time she, lemme tell you, this woman knows where the bodies are buried.
If you wanna know about my, my special trash shame, she knows all about it. Uh, we've so far gone through my craft area. Mm-hmm. I like that you do this. Yeah. Because it's like, it's not like I actually craft, I just collect craft materials essentially is what I'm
Jess: doing. Have like multiple projects Started.
Yeah.
Mikki: Started. There's a lot of, there's a lot of things in the started and in progress section. Yes. In progress. Wait, I will say I paired it down quite a bit. Maria was very impressed. You did, did a great job. She was like, you're doing such a good job. And I was like, sweating, just throwing trash out. Like it was like making me feel nauseous.
Um, and then we went through the laundry room, which would hilariously, I haven't even told you this yet. So we literally, I have every good contractor has 75,000 random screws in 72 different jars right in their laundry room. Or maybe not [00:04:00] laundry room, just in case. Right. You never know. You never know. And this weekend we switched out some outlets and did some stuff 'cause my niece is moving and so we're like getting her room ready and Hector's like goes into the laundry room and he was like, whoa.
F First of all, the laundry room's been done for two weeks. So he didn't even know who doesn't
Jess: do the laundry
Mikki: room. Right. We know he doesn't do the laundry. So he walks in and he like, whoa, whoa. All everything's gone. Did you throw everything out? And I was like, I did. And he was like, that's okay. And he goes into the shed with his special trash shed and he finds his backup.
The backup container of screws. Yes. His backup container of screws. And he was like, I knew I was gonna need this for something. And I was like, you think Maria's not coming for that shed? And you're wrong. She's already seen it. She had no direct eye contact with it and she's coming for your shed. The
Maria: shed is on the list.
Mikki: It's on the list. It's on the list. She saw it and she goes, oh, I can't wait to get in here. And I was like, I dunno. This is the special [00:05:00] trash shed. Yeah.
Jess: Hector's gonna be very sad to lose any of his special trash. She really is.
Mikki: So the reason why we have these illustrious gets on guest on today, I know it doesn't seem construction related, but actually we have discussed that organizing and kind of co paring down, if you will, culling the disgusting trash that you might be hiding all throughout your house.
You may not be like me, you might, I don't know. I don't know. But if you have a lot of stuff, it is beneficial for you before you decide whether you need to move. 'cause we kind of discussed this already, like if you need to move, if you, if you are about to have a renovation, kind of getting a. Your stuff together, getting organized is really important.
And then Maria actually introduced us, uh, to, to the, the closet goddess, if you will. And she was like, I'm not coming on the show unless Maria comes 'cause we're a good team. And I was like, that makes sense actually, the closet and the organizing [00:06:00] goes together. So that is why they're on the show today. And I'm very excited.
I think you guys will get a lot out of it. Understanding. We're gonna definitely talk about what to look for, like when you're hiring an organizing company. Mm-hmm. And, and, and thinking about getting a custom closet. Um, 'cause there's a lot of like, things you need to consider that you wouldn't think of.
And I know this 'cause I've hired three different companies because I'm, I'm kind of a situation over here. Mm-hmm. So we're gonna get into all that. Um, I'm excited. And, uh, what, what, what else do
Jess: we got going on? So I think that's it. So why don't we start it off with, just get into it. We're not even gonna, that was the chi chat.
That was, that's all the
Mikki: chat you're getting. That's all the, you getting, just getting, we're gonna work it in. Yeah.
Jess: We're getting so much better at the chi chat. So we just work it in now. Yeah. We don't need to like, have a designated shitty
Mikki: chat. We're just gonna, we're just like multiple chats.
Jess: We're becoming so much more like normal humans.
I know. when should you consider hiring an organizer? Like at what point in the drama of your life
Mikki: in, [00:07:00]
Jess: in your life, in your home, like you've moved or you're thinking about moving or the, is it like when the kids have outgrown so much stuff?
Like when do you suggest that people really. Go. Yes. I need an organizer in my home now. I don't think there's a bad time.
Maria: Yeah, okay. Always a good time. But I will tell you an experience new home is a great time. Mm. We actually unpack and organize. Oh, get out. Nice. So we can actually come in. Maria's the real deal.
Get on this train. Unpack. Train your house. House, get it set up. We bring the product, we take care of everything. Break down all the boxes. You just show up and live.
Mikki: What a dream.
Maria: So that is a great time when you're switching houses. Um, any kinda life transitions. Kids, kids are going to school. You start a new job.
All those things are stressors. Yeah. So having an organize home. Takes away some of that stress.
Mikki: Mm-hmm.
Maria: So really there's not a [00:08:00] bad time, but definitely we see new moms. Oh, a lot of new moms. Lots of new moms stuff. Especially when stuff, when second baby comes.
Mikki: Mm.
Maria: Oh God. So lots of new moms, moms that are going back to work.
Mm-hmm. You see lots of moms that are going back to work, or maybe they've been back to work for a year or two and things are just out of control. Chaos. Yeah.
Mikki: Yeah. I mean, I don't need a baby or going back to work for those to be the situations at my house. I create the chaos. Without any external stressors.
I, I mean, I think
Jess: your dogs
Mikki: I am chaos.
Jess: Yeah. Oh, they're, I think there's four of them. Many. So they are definitely adding to the chaos. So many,
Mikki: I love that I'm adding another human to my house. As we've discussed, my house isn't even big enough for. Our dogs and us and I'm like, you know what niece? Why don't you just move here?
And she's like, all right. And I was like, oh shit. She's, she's doing it. Okay, alright. Alright. So that's when I was like, Maria, I need you to come to my house so I can make room for another [00:09:00] human.
Sarah Tiani: Well, and I used Maria both in my own home and with my clients. Oh good. And when I was moving my own child into the dorm, I was like channeling Maria.
And I was like, okay, so how are you gonna use this? Where does it need to go? Oh my. It's she really ask those questions. Yeah. You really like, have to work with somebody or it doesn't do any good, you know? Yeah. You have to have, you have to be part of the process or it doesn't I'm fine. So,
Mikki: but, but you have a ton of clients that don't like you.
You were telling me you have clients that just like let you loose and they're, they'll go be, go on vacation and come back and just like, let Maria have free reign. Listen with her, you're, you're good. I don't know about anybody else. That's an okay choice. But I think for me being part of the process, like.
I've tried it not, and then I've tried it with, and I think for me like it, that's part of like figuring out how you get the best benefit. I think out of hi, having somebody come in and help you organize is like figuring out how you operate best and how you feel the most comfortable. Where you feel like the [00:10:00] best return on your investment is.
If you're just somebody who's like, I don't wanna have anything to do with it. Literally get rid of anything. I don't care. I feel like if you're that person, I'm just gonna be honest, um, you probably don't need an organizer 'cause you're probably good at getting track. Like, well, but not everybody is a hoarder like me.
So you go, you also organize for people that don't hoard.
Maria: We, we actually, you're not a hoarder.
Mikki: I, I'm just
Maria: gonna go out her. She is not a hoarder. She is. No, we're even close to it. Not even in the top 20 houses we've seen. She's a nice
Mikki: lady.
Maria: Really? Not that bad. She's kind of blowing it up a little. She tells me all the time
Mikki: that she's like, you're not that bad.
And I'm like, I'm terrible.
Maria: No, she really isn't. But it, it's one of those things that. Some people are better at getting rid of stuff. Yeah. But they don't know how to create a system where they can maintain what they've got. Mm. So that's another part of what we do besides the helping you release and the helping you get rid of things, is we set up systems in your home.
Mm. So we set up ways for you to maintain ways for you, [00:11:00] patterns of behavior that you have to replicate every day. Yeah. So that you keep up the organization. 'cause I can come in and organize you all day long.
Mikki: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Maria: But if you don't follow the patterns and do the, have the self-discipline to put the things away.
Sarah Tiani: Yeah.
Maria: You're gonna need me back next week.
Sarah Tiani: Yeah. It's like I designed a lot of offices and I've learned, Ooh, I didn't know you did office design. Very exciting. A lot of people, like people are horizontal stackers. Mm-hmm. Or they're vertical and if you give them file drawers and they're horizontal stackers, it won't stick.
Yep. It won't stay. No. Yeah. They, you'll have to meet people where they are. Exactly. That is,
Mikki: I will say, she's doing a really great job with meeting me where I'm at. So we're we're, we spend a lot of time, like I was like holding this one washer in my hand and she was like, do you even know where that washer goes to?
And I was like, no. She was like, why are you having such a hard time with this one washer? And I was like, 'cause it's heavy.
Maria: That's true. It's so true. But it, but it's, it's what you're connected to. I dunno.
Mikki: I [00:12:00] said, I literally said, Maria, it feels substantial. She did. It was said that, I think I said that like two or three times because like she wasn't buying it.
And I was like, but it's substantial. I just supposed to throw it away. And she's just looking at me like, what that mean?
Maria: And I'm like, so we, we try really hard to give you a reason why you're keeping something and make sure you're keeping it for the right reasons. It's substantial. Is not a reason. Keep a wash, not okay.
Keeping that washer or happy
Mikki: because it's substantial. It was a nice washer. She was like, what does it go to? I was like, I don't know. She's like, what will you need it for? I don't dunno.
Jess: It's so good. Just put it in the shed with special trash. I, I'll
Mikki: put it in the special trash shed so you don't have to
Maria: see it until you come for the special trash shed.
I think we might need negotiations with Hector before 5%.
Mikki: I think you need, like, Hector needs to be present for it, so he has to feel [00:13:00] what, when you're like, so what does this go to? And he'll be like, I don't know.
Jess: Yeah. But Hector's gonna be like, but you know, in three days I'm going to be getting something.
And this could go to that. Oh, 100%. He, uh, he's gonna, he's gonna talk his way.
Mikki: Yeah. So I personally feel like Hector needs just to be there physically when you are decluttering his special trash shed. Because like, listen, I'm going, I'm with you for every room in the house, I'm like, at least you could show up for the shed.
He'll do it. He'll, I feel like Hector will use his Hector charm on Maria though. We're gonna find out. But Maria has, you have what? Two sons? Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. So, I dunno. I dunno. We're gonna find out. I'll report back to our findings when Hector has his Maria session. Bring your little violin out to the shed while he's like, I know what to.
So Hector bought me a miniature violin because I'm constantly playing a mini violin for people, like on job sites. Like I'm like, hold on, lemme get on my [00:14:00] mini violin. So he was on the TikTok and he saw an adverse meant for a miniature violin that plays music and he immediately purchased it and it was the best gift I've ever been given.
So that is special Trash Maria can't throw out No. Yet we won't throw it out. Not yet. We'll, it will eventually be special trash when it stops playing music that we'll just use for fridge scaping. Do you have clients that fridge scape, have you heard of this? We talk about it now on every episode. This and
Jess: um, tell me you think it's ridiculous?
Mikki: Yeah. Oh, thank God. Yeah. Jess is like, we, I need validation from someone in the industry. I wish I had that life. Same where I could
Maria: put pictures in my fridge. Yeah. I didn't need it. Why we
Jess: can't. We're poor. We're poor. That's
Mikki: why poor people can't fridge scape because we don't have a backup fridge for actual food.
Food. Yeah.
Maria: I, I had one client that sort of did that and she, she, ouch. But she, what she did is she put goal pictures of what she wanted her weight to be in the fridge. Okay. Oh. And did it that way. Made the inside of her [00:15:00] fridge very pretty. So it wasn't truly fridge scaping, but yes, I've seen it in, it's almost like weight shaming fridge scaping.
I kind of, yeah. I kind of equate that to the K Chloe Kardashian. Putting your Oreos in the container perfectly around. Oh, okay. So that you, um, have them in your pantry looking really pretty. Yeah. But then you have to
Jess: eat the whole row around so that it's always So next thing you know, you downed
Mikki: an entire thing Oreos and you, well stop
Jess: even has to look, right.
Yes. It's gonna look weird. If you have like a few missing off a row, turn the drawer around
Sarah Tiani: or nobody likes the, what's in the orange pouch that completes the rainbow in the pantry. Yeah. Tell me more about this. People do the rainbow order for their snacks and stuff. Oh. And it looks really cute, but I don't feel like it's realistic.
Mm.
Mikki: Yeah. I, listen, listen, if I even have snacks in my house, that's, that's a feat. 'cause that would require going to the grocery store and I, which I'm not gonna do. Uh, so yeah, we don't even have [00:16:00] snacks. We just have a house full of special trash who needs eat. And our projects. When you're a, when you have abundance of special trash, you're just like, this is great.
I've, I don't have everything I need. Uh, okay. So you're talking about when, when people are moving, when they have any kinda life change, any other, like, this is the best time to bring in an organizer? I think anytime they're overwhelmed, that's when, that's what I did. I think
Maria: overwhelm is huge. Yeah. And I think we're so guilty of.
Comparing ourselves. Oh God. Yeah. So like I said, young moms, we get a lot of young moms and my kids are older. I've been through this. My kids are 22 and 19. Mm-hmm. And I'm so glad I went through it before we were so entrenched in social media. Yeah. When mom were really little. Mm-hmm. Because these moms are like, all they see are these perfect homes.
I'm gonna tell you, they're not all perfect.
Mikki: They'd be lying. It's a lie. Lie. It's in lie versus reality. It's not real. It's a lie. We're in
Maria: hundreds and hundreds of houses and it's a lie. Yeah. They might have one little perfect space. [00:17:00] Yeah. But they do all their filming there. It's kind of like, I don't know.
I love friends. It's like my favorite show. And there's a episode where Monica is in the house and Chandler finds her closet. Oh. And is all the junk in there. And Monica's house is perfect. Mm-hmm. Everybody has a junk area. Everybody has a junk drawer, has an area that they're kind of embarrassed about.
They don't want anybody see, of course we're gonna put our best up on social media,
Mikki: right?
Maria: Mm-hmm. Yeah. But you just gotta keep that in mind. So that's one thing we really talk about with moms is you have a 2-year-old, you're gonna have toys all over the floor. I imagine it's reality. Yeah, it's reality.
It's life. So let's work with, you have a 6-year-old, a
Jess: 7-year-old, and 8-year-old, a 9-year-old, a 10-year-old. You're still gonna have toys, 8-year-old history. And you never, you never learned how to do life. You're gonna have toys all over the place. Toys everywhere, guys.
Maria: So that's where we kind of take, you know, my background's an education.
So that's where we kind of take that and talk about, okay, how can we make it doable? How can we make it so there's a happy medium between this perfection? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And utter chaos. So we [00:18:00] kind of, you know, what, what's age appropriate for your kids to learn Is the 2-year-old gonna be able to clean up an entire playroom for full of toys.
0%. But is your six or 7-year-old gonna be able to know to pull out one thing and put it, put it back mm-hmm. Before you plot something else? Absolutely. So let's talk about that. So let's work with that. Let's work within the kids' natural tendencies, within the mom's natural tendencies to get a system going that works for them.
Mikki: Mm-hmm.
Maria: Not a system that's gonna be perfect.
Mikki: Yeah, that is very true. I, listen, listen. If you're shooting for perfection, don't, don't try to be my friend because I just listen. I'm just trying to, one, keep everything in my house that's alive. Alive. Which is quite a thing. Quite, it's a lot. Mm-hmm. Uh, and maybe not live in filth.
That's a hard maybe though, like some days it's freaking filthy. Uh, and I can only imagine adding a 22-year-old to the mix. It's we're, it's, listen, you're here for the ride. I'll keep you [00:19:00] posted. It's gonna be a whole thing. I will say, as far as closets go. Hmm. You think you don't need somebody who knows about closets?
You do. You're wrong. Let me tell you why. So when we renovated our house, so we, the current, the current house, um, the layout was real weird and it didn't have like a true master bedroom. So we took one of the teeny tiny bedrooms that like a actual human couldn't live in, turned it into a bathroom, and then like created a master suite.
We took a chunk out of one of the bedrooms to create the master closet. Yeah. So we did it factor in what it would actually be like with clothes in the closet. So once we were done, we could actually only use one side of the closet. Oh no. Then that's, I'm a licensed general contractor. So I'm just saying sometimes you need an expert when it comes to like [00:20:00] functional closets.
So do you have like any tips like, Hey, here's. Here's what having a professional closet built like the Benny's, what's right, what's the pros and cons? Well,
Sarah Tiani: definitely like a lot of times too, people think, oh, it's not that big of a closet. I don't need a professional. Yeah. But most of the time you need a professional more when it's a small closet.
'cause there's a lot of ways to do it wrong. Oh my god. And there's a lot of ways to make it look good with nothing in it, and then have it not function when stuff's in it. That's my life. Yeah. I see trim carpentry closets all the time that are beautiful construction, but the rods are crisscrossed, so you can't hang things on both sides.
Like it's not, you know, I've been doing this for 18 years, so. Road status. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But there's not, like, there's only a few rules. It's just most people don't know them and Trim Carpenter don't know them. But
Mikki: yeah, you, we would, you would've thought that, I would've been like, Hmm, we should measure what it's like with a shirt on that hanger.
I didn't, [00:21:00] I didn't. Oh, so the rod, the shirt hangs
Jess: too low?
Mikki: No, the, the, like the rods are too close to each other, so like, once there's clothes on both sides, you literally can't get into the closet. Um, so yeah, you need a professional. I'm just saying other thing like everybody, if you're building a new house, if you are, like, if you have a tiny closet, if you are living in, like if your closet is chaos mm-hmm.
The solution might be bringing something in. No. Do you have like a minimum size? Like is there just like, Hey, don't, it's probably not worth your time if your closet is this tiny or is there a, I don't think I've ever seen amount seen a single one
Sarah Tiani: where I'm like, it's not worth doing something. So, you know, she's, she's never come
Mikki: across, across a closet that she couldn't make better.
But pretty, I pretty much true.
Maria: Well, what's really great about working with a closet designer is, I know from my perspective, we don't always use our closets just for clothes. Yeah. Especially when you have kids or you have a closet like what's in your office slash craft room. [00:22:00] That's real life examples y'all.
Yeah. It's, I mean, it could benefit from shelves. Yeah. And what I love about Sarah is she will come in and actually talk to people Mm. And say, what are you using this for? Yeah. And if it's a client that we share, then the three of us will have conversations about what the use is. And she kind of knows now, 'cause we've been doing this long enough together that um, I like certain depths for certain products and depending on what those things are.
So it is really helpful to me because I can send her a picture, this is how good she is. I can send her a picture. Of a closet and some dimensions and in 15 minutes I have a drawing. Ooh, that's awesome. Nice. Talk about
Sarah Tiani: amazing. That is amazing. Well, and one of the things that I see the most when people are requesting like referrals for either of us, is that people are embarrassed.
You know? Oh God, you were saying, my God, today. Really disappointing to hear that you had two people, you know, make you not feel good because it's, people will be like, I wanna hire an organizer. Mm-hmm. But [00:23:00] I'm a, you know. I don't, I want someone who's non-judgmental and it's, if you have an organizer that's judgmental, then oh yeah, there's a problem.
But it's, you know, but I come into spaces too, and like Marie was saying, with shelves, it's, people will be like, I'm so embarrassed. My shoes are all over the floor. And it's like, you have no shoe shelves. What are you supposed to do with them? And it's, you know, just, I would say for both of us, nobody ever invites us over when things look amazing.
Yeah. So it is like, if you're not walking in and being mm-hmm. To the
Jess: chaos, right. You're like, why am I here? Right. So can you take a closet that is completely filled with all the clothes and bins filled with more clothes and the, the bottom? She's talking
Mikki: about my
Jess: closet, not hers. No, it's mine. I don't have fancy drawers.
I just have like the wire shelves. Oh yeah. And then I put the bins that are supposed to go in those like. Nine by nine things.
Mikki: Mm-hmm.
Jess: On there. And then there's all the shoes on. They have, I have a couple shelves for the shoes. Like, Jess wants [00:24:00] you to be impressed with her. There's no like, can you then like, like it is stacked to the gills.
I, there is no more space. My husband has taken most of his clothes now and put 'em in the guest room closet.
Mikki: Nice.
Jess: You're
Mikki: you're
Jess: taking over the whole thing. You're taking over the whole thing. Well also, like, he works from home and sometimes he has to be on camera. So he has now put a stack of shirts in his office closet.
So this way when he has to be on camera, he just goes in and is like, what shirt did I, oh, let's just put this one on over. His t-shirt and his shirt. Oh, hysterical. He's living
Mikki: the dream. He, so he comes in, he is like in his, in his like swim trunks, but he has like a business cash shirt on for his meeting.
And I'm like, you on camera today? You're like,
Sarah Tiani: sir, don't stand up. During COVID, I had an infinity scarf, so it'd be my pajamas, but I'd be like. That's a move. That's a move. You're like,
Mikki: I'm, I got dressed today. The, this isn't hiding anything. Right. It's
Sarah Tiani: fine. But I would say like almost every closet I come into, there's at least 30% wasted space.
I mean really, you [00:25:00] know, usually the racks are too low and you've got space wasted up to the ceiling. You know, if you set things up properly, it's almost always
Mikki: What's the, this is for both of you. What is the most common like mistake that people make in their closets or mistake that people make in like trying to organize that you see kind of repeated over and over again?
I see two things.
Maria: Okay. One, too much stuff. Well, thanks. Talking about me, you have X amount of square footage and you have X amount that will fit in said square footage. Yeah. Beyond that. There's no more space. There's no more space. Whatcha gonna do? Stop. Mickey. Yeah, Mickey. Um, and the other thing is, and, and please know, we are all including self guilty of this, go in and buying the really pretty containers.
Oh yeah. And then they don't fit or they don't hold what you want it to hold or they don't function like you want them to function.
Mikki: Yeah. My clear first, my mistake Yeah. Is, is getting the [00:26:00] bins that conceal things, I actually have to have clear bins. Mm-hmm. So I can't hide my shame because when I try to hide the shame is when I keep stacking it up.
And that's
Maria: a big thing about that we talk about with clients. Are you, because we all are different, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. So are you a person that you need to see
Mikki: Yeah. What's in there? Your stuff, or you forget
Maria: you have it and so you go buy more? A hundred percent. Or does that, seeing all those clear bends make you stressed out?
Mm-hmm. Oh, see what if you're both you describing, I was like, oh no, I don't like that. That stresses me out. But it's true. Most people fall one camp or the other. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And if we have the, well we label regardless, because I think labels are like the best thing you can ever do. And so we label either way, but most people fall in one camp or the other.
Yeah. And they can't handle that visual chaos. Mm-hmm. They need that clear, you know, seamless look. But then you've gotta, now you've gotta go look in the bin. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And that's a challenge to look [00:27:00] in the bin, to see what you have.
Mikki: I'm telling you the psychology of like collecting special trash. Uh, I feel like I could be, if anybody's doing any research, they need a candidate.
I'm here for you. Like, I wanna understand this, what's wrong with me more than anybody else. But the whole concept that, like, when you're working with somebody, them understanding that everybody's different, I think is really important. Because if, if you have this like one size fits all mentality towards organizing, then, then that is only gonna work for mm-hmm.
The one, like the, the percent of the population that falls into that category. And that is that, that was why my first two attempts were so unsuccessful because they, like, they weren't taking into consideration how I function. So I think that's the thing that I, that I love so much about working with Maria is the.
The level of like her asking me questions about what works and what doesn't. Mm-hmm. And she really adapts her [00:28:00] whole, her whole, you know, offering to fit what I, what I actually need versus even I think what I'm asking for. 'cause like, I think I want one thing and then she comes in and she's like, well what about this, that?
And I'm like, oh, that's a smarter ideas. Well, we
Maria: always kind of look at it as our job is not to make you get rid of stuff. Yeah. Believe it or not, I don't feel like that's my job. Um, my job is not to bully you or pressure you or anything. My job is to make sure whatever you have left with in your home Yeah.
You have a reason for keeping it and you love it. Yeah. That those are the, that you're keeping things that matter. You know, I can't tell you how many times we've gone in and somebody's had something in a box, in an attic, and they're like, oh, but it's my grandma's. You know China? Yeah. So, okay, great. Let's put it out somewhere.
Yeah. Let's see it. Yeah. You use it then let's use it. Let's, if it's this important. Yeah, let's do it. And, and it comes from life experiences. My background is in teaching and it's the same way in teaching. There is no one solution to teach a child how to read. Mm. There's [00:29:00] no one way. Yeah. You have to have a toolkit full of ideas and full of ways of doing it.
And it's the same thing with organizing. We don't go into any project with, okay, this has gotta go here, this has gotta go here and this has gotta go here. Mm. It'll never work. Mm-hmm.
Sarah Tiani: It's an
Maria: impartial third party.
Sarah Tiani: Yeah. Who's not attached to the washer. Yes. You know? And can, even if it is, we waity, we just did a job, even if it's substantial.
We just did a job together with, you know, something in the closet that was not clothing. It was a craft product. Okay. And, you know, I made a plan for the closet to be a closet again, and then Maria sent me pictures and the craft products are back in the closet and, and actually I have a couple of shelves in my car to make the hanging section a shelving section.
I was like, I love that. Oh, they stayed in the closet.
Maria: Okay. She decided last minute that she. Love the joy of having this particular craft in her room where she could get to it. Okay. And now because of the closet and the flexibility and the [00:30:00] design, we are able to adjust. We're able to add, what, $30 worth of shelves?
Yep. And she now has this amazing. Clothing slash craft closet in her bedroom where she can take some time at night when her kids are in bed and enjoy doing this craft that she wants to do. Everything's laid out. If we done
Sarah Tiani: in your closet, we could take out the rods. You'd be like, put shelves in so you could actually walk in your closet?
Mikki: Mm-hmm. Like so do you measure things or No, I don't. So what is in, what do you see like the most common mistake in closets that people make?
Sarah Tiani: You know, it's really generally not. I, I feel like it's generally not the homeowner's fault. It's poor setup's. Okay. So it's the design. Something that was, you know, the builder threw in $30 worth of wire racks and Yeah.
They filled the space and made it look interesting when it was open and then you put your clothes in. Mm-hmm. And things don't fit right. That's what we did. Hanging stuff. Crossing, hanging stuff. I, I will say too, almost everybody thinks they can fit an island in. It's [00:31:00] kind of entertaining to see into their closet how small closet people think they fit an island in
Jess: island.
I know. Well, a lot of people want an island. I mean, it's 'cause we're poor. It's 'cause we're poor an
Mikki: island. So just, just to give you guys a reference here. So we follow those, I follow. And so, and now I get sent a bunch of mees, my language is sending, sending reels on Instagram. So if you don't get 75 reels for me, then you're not in my inner circle.
Just so you know. Uh, me and Maria don't follow each other on Instagram. If we did, she'd get. Too many reels for me. That's my love language. So one of the reels that I send Jess all the time is this guy, he's like British, but he's also Indian. So there's, it's a, it's a nice mix. Mm-hmm. And he is always like
Jess: wrapped up in a towel naked.
He's a bra in a
Mikki: snuggie laying down naked. And he lays down and he just watches video. And he is like, oh, do you know why you can't do that? It's because you're poor. Like, I think the, I think the one that I sent last night was like, somebody packing lunch was packing lunch for their kids. Mm-hmm. And it was caviar [00:32:00] sa like smoked salmon.
Mm-hmm. Cream cheese and like fix. Yes. And he was like, oh, you don't, you don't bring, you don't pack
Jess: your kids. Caveat, caveat lunch. It's because you're poor. And it had special pellet ice. Oh, you don't put pellet ice. Oh, you don't put pellet ice in your kids' lunchbox. It's because you're
Maria: poor.
Jess: And I was like, listen, my kids are getting cheese balls, some tomatoes that's quality and um, some crackers and some pepperoni and.
Slap a cover on there with ice pack done. She's
Mikki: keeping it cool. That's more than even I got. I mean, listen, if I got lunch, that was a miracle, but if it was cool, I'd have been like, somebody's inhabited my mom's body. Right. So Jess as a really good mom though, Jess as mom game is very strong. Yes. But my kids are not getting caviar.
They're, they would, they also would open that and be like.
Jess: I,
Mikki: I think I had caviar for the first time when I was like 40. Uh, like, did you like it? I don't think so. It was very salty. You guys ever had caviar? No. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's a we're too poor. [00:33:00] Yeah, we're too poor. We work in the trains. We're too poor. We can't afford that.
What are you talking about? Um, so the most common is there's like people thinking that they can fit more in there than they actually can. Just that things aren't
Sarah Tiani: set up to fit the things that they have. Mm. You know, it's inefficient use of space usually.
Mikki: Mm-hmm. Now here's, listen, I'm just gonna ask, I'm just ask the question.
Everybody's thinking how much does it cost on, like, is there a square footage price, or is it like, what your, what you're, what you're into? Like how do, how can you tell if you can afford to do a closet
Sarah Tiani: that's, you know, like I get. Through my Instagram and Facebook requests a lot for pricing. Yeah. And if somebody sends me dimensions and what they generally want, I will send back a design in 15 minutes.
Maybe not, maybe not 15 minutes. She doesn't wanna over promise and deliver, being able to see it. But, um, you know, it's the biggest determinant is if they just want hanging in shelving and then we can do a walk-in closet for probably 1500, $2,000. Okay. If they want drawers and [00:34:00] doors and lighting and stuff, you know?
Mm-hmm. I've done closets up to, you know. 10,000. Your most expensive closet. 80,000 for a closet? Yeah.
Maria: Was it just a closet?
Sarah Tiani: It was just a, did it have an island? Those people were, did have an island? Did it have, have room? Did it have a champagne fridge? Had a,
Mikki: did it have a champagne? Fridge?
Sarah Tiani: Ladder. And in a gold ladder.
No fridge, but a washer and dryer.
Mikki: Shut your whole mouth. Wow. The whole thing. That's amazing. I'm like, they were not poor. They were not poor. They were not poor. They
Sarah Tiani: weren't electronic locks that you could set from your phone. What, what,
Mikki: what was in their closet for them?
Sarah Tiani: Tools? Because
Mikki: they obviously had tools.
Oh, did they have fancy purses? The whole diamond lives in their closet.
Maria: They have to keep that locked. Obviously. They don't want the help taking their jewels
Mikki: and their bing bags. No, I'm sure they're lovely people. I'm sure they're delightful. Lovely. Humanly wonderful. Absolute. Yeah. Wow. I don't mind, I'm not trash tracking if you're the person.
What that had the [00:35:00] $80,000 closet. I just wanna be your friend. I just wanna come see, know what that's like. Can
Jess: I, can we come? Can we have a A party? Can we tour your closet? A little. A little party
Sarah Tiani: in it. It should probably be totally game.
Mikki: Yeah.
Jess: She's
Sarah Tiani: like, come do your whole podcast of my closet. And I'm like, done.
Can I try kick off? You're coming with us. We're going to the closet. Show the studio. God. He's gonna set up this whole thing in somebody's closet. It's
Mikki: gonna be
Sarah Tiani: amazing. I feel like y'all would just be on the ladder.
Jess: 100%. A hundred percent does it move? Oh,
Mikki: oh, oh God. That
Jess: would
Mikki: be Bell from Beauty and the Beast singing and dancing on that ladder.
And then Joe would be like, I'm never, you guys are fired. He's like, I'm quitting you. That's amazing. Okay, so islands in the closet. That's all the rage.
Sarah Tiani: I think that, you know, people watch HGTV and think that's cool and
Mikki: if they have room, I love to do, I love to do an island. HGTV is the death to a contractor.
Like no contractor is happy that HGTV exists. [00:36:00] Mm-hmm. No, designers probably are very thrilled that HGT V exists works for me, but actual the people who have to actually build the things that they see on the tv. Mm-hmm. We're not excited about it. Okay. So. When you guys work together, like you come in and you're like, okay, you need Jesus and a closet designer.
I'm gonna at least bring in the closet designer.
Maria: Generally that's what we do. We give them options. Okay. So you never wanna put somebody in a position where they feel like they have to work with another professional? Right. We give our clients options. So we have a range of options. I am also affiliated with the Container Store.
Oh yeah. Which is a fabulous organization. Oh my God. And I'm one of their official organizers. Okay. Watch out. So, so, you know, I'm affiliated with them, so they have a lot of great options. Sarah is another great option. I've actually been to her warehouse in her factory, which is super cool. If you've not done [00:37:00] factory, I could probably spend $200,000 on a closet after seeing her factory.
Uh, but there are lots of options. So we try to give people, Hey, these are the, if we had our dream. Let's dream big. Oh yeah. And let's talk about what your dream would be and then let's see what reality fits into that dream. So, you know, budget and caveat dreams on a pinto budget, but we do, we try to give them options because not everyone's in a position to hire a closet designer.
Yeah. Not everyone's in a position to go into the container store and have them design it. Oh wow. It's just not always feasible. So we try to give them reasonable options to work with either what they have, or a lot of people say, Hey, who do you know? Yeah. That's reliable. And so then that gives me options to refer them to because I know like Sarah is gonna show up, she's gonna do a great job.
Her guys are great. Like I've been to her factory, I've seen the stuff, I know what kind of quality she's putting in. Yeah. So it's great for me to have these different resources. Okay. Mm-hmm. To [00:38:00] be able to refer people to. Yeah. Um, you know, and it depends what they're looking for. If they like the wire shelving, they wanna do something a little more.
Mikki: Wait, have, have you ever met anybody who liked the weer shelving?
Maria: Very rarely.
Sarah Tiani: I don't think I've ever met anybody.
Mikki: It's very, well, of course they're not calling tolerate wire shelving. Yeah. That's what everybody puts in, right? Like, like, oh my God, I
Maria: love this. It can work. And if you are in a sit, there are a lot of people that are in situations where they need something that's removable.
Mm-hmm. Because they're renting. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Or they know they're gonna sell. And so that's something we talk about our clients with is, do you wanna invest in this closet? Yeah. Stuff that you can't take with you if you know you're gonna sell your house in three years or two years. Is this worthwhile to you?
So as an organizer, I feel like my job is to give them options. I love that. To give them information
Mikki: Yeah. To give
Maria: them resources. But Sarah and I both will refer each other, but also with the caveat that there's no strings attached mm-hmm. Attached to it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. There's no strings attached. Yeah. No [00:39:00] harm, no foul.
You we're not right for everybody. No, we're not. So her clients sometimes aren't right for me. My clients aren't right for her. Mm-hmm. And it's an option. It's a resource. Yeah. So that's how we've always presented each other is here's another resource if you're interested.
Sarah Tiani: Mm.
Maria: I love that. Um, it's, well, and there's
Sarah Tiani: sometimes things you can do that aren't my stuff.
You know, like, I like container stores, create things that go on the door. Yeah. You know, and I recommend Maria on those all the time. She
Mikki: was like, okay, we're gonna have to utilize. Space we don't have go to, here's what we need. And I was like, okay, I'm on it. Yeah.
Maria: But it's great. The Container Store does have a great option for on the back of the door.
Yeah. Their Alpha system is amazing. They have beautiful closet design in there. Yeah. And they have great designers that will go in and sometimes that's a better fit. Sometimes Sarah's a better fit. How do you know which is the right
Mikki: choice? So like, I am, I, it is funny 'cause I didn't really think about the Alpha system until you, you brought it up and then I'm like, oh.
Is is that, do you, do you have a system similar, you have your own thing? Or is it just all like [00:40:00] carpentry stuff? Yeah.
Sarah Tiani: The company that I work for, we do our own product. Okay. Materials, everything. But that doesn't mean that I don't work in concert with other stuff sometimes. Okay. And people, you know, it's a totally different product than the Alpha.
Yes. You know? Mm-hmm. Totally different, you know. Bring on the competition, you know? Yeah. Gosh. Out. A couple different, come on. Come out Me hope. Come out and see what works well, and that's
Maria: where we try to educate our clients and say, Hey, we've worked with Sarah. This is really great. We work with Container Store.
They're really great. You know, here's some options. Yeah, here's some ideas, here's some things that you can do. You know, depending on your budget, depending on the look you want. Listen, that type of thing ain't
Mikki: cheap either. It like, that's the other thing is like comparative cost comparative. How does it rank?
Because like, I think I spent just on a couple of door organizers, at least a thousand dollars. So it's like, how, how does it compare? Like is it equally? It's generally higher.
Sarah Tiani: Oh,
Mikki: so alpha's higher. Yeah, [00:41:00] typically Watch yourselves now.
Sarah Tiani: Okay. I'm just saying. I had a client once that went with an IKEA TikTok hack.
Oh. You know, I've seen this. I think I generally don't see those people like they're going with their IKEA hack.
Mikki: Yeah. Listen, I love an IKEA moment. I'm not gonna lie to you. I love putting awesome together IKEA furniture because I love a challenge. I'm just like, our challenge. You only have pictures. I see you.
I see you. Uh, so I'm here for an IKEA moment, however, like I, I feel like the IKEA hacks. The Instagram versus reality is a whole moment very different because it's like how it actually turns out versus like how they show you. It turned out I'm like, eh, there's a lot of good camera angles going on. I just had
Sarah Tiani: a client that had built-ins and she said it was an IKEA situation that she had brought in a contractor to make it look good and she said she spent $10,000.
Oh my gosh. You could have had a kitchen painted and fixed up and I was like,
Mikki: oh, interesting. We just, it, it
Sarah Tiani: probably would've [00:42:00] been massive. Oh
Mikki: gosh. Mm-hmm. Wow. Okay. So that's something, we talk about that a lot on the show too. Don't DY it like the DIYing can sometimes cost you more, or like when you're trying to be more cost effective mm-hmm.
You can actually end up spending more money and that is the huge place and wasting your time. Yeah.
Jess: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Like imagine all the time it took you to go there and build the things. And then I've gotten stuff from IKEA back when I, um, I. Just, it was just me and my son, and I gutted home and I'm building everything.
Do you know that they gave me two right sides of a table? Like the legs. The nerve. So you couldn't put it together, right? Because if you put it on, the rough edge was facing out. And I was like, ah. And they don't just send you a new piece? No, you have to take it. Mm-hmm. Oh, no. So you have to take it all apart, take it back, take it back, and then go through the store, find the bin with it.
And then I realize this is why after you check out, they have the counters for you to [00:43:00] open your boxes. I didn't not know that. Oh. Because then you can see. If something's not in there or Correct. Listen, I, when I go to Ikea, it's a whole
Mikki: experience. Like I don't have the energy at after I'm done going through the mm-hmm.
75 Lowe's stores. Right. That is, that is Ikea, like I nap think that have then,
Jess: but you could just nap on one of their beds. This is a roll. I will say
Mikki: I, I had to give Ikea, Ikea a lot of credit for me and Hector's relationship because, so the, what we, we live in Raleigh are the closest Ikea, thank God to my house.
If there was an IKEA closer to my house, I, I would need Maria just to come every day. Um, so it's, it's three and a half hours away, thank god. Mm. Um, but so I had a job, I had a project in Charlotte when I met Hector, and so when. W at the end of the day, the boss would be [00:44:00] like, oh, Hector, do you wanna go with me to the bar?
Or do you wanna go with Mickey to Ikea? Because I would just, like, I would wait for this dude to finish drinking with the boys, and then we'd, we, we'd travel back to Raleigh. I would go to Ikea and just like, get lost in Ikea. And so Hector would go with me and we, we were always, we always joke like, that's where we fell in love.
Like we should, we should have gotten married in Ikea. This hysterical, there
Sarah Tiani: was a snowstorm and some people got stuck in Ikea. And I was like, that might have been the perfect place to get stuck in snowstorm. Mm-hmm. That's the
Mikki: dream.
Sarah Tiani: Mm-hmm.
Mikki: That is the dream. Okay. So best times to bring in an organizer is, is anytime we're just being honest, like there's no, there's, there's ideal times, which is like when you're moving, when you're life changes, there's a life change.
Mm-hmm. I can't even imagine. Like my neighbor's actually a new mom and I'm like, oh, that would be a good gift. Mm-hmm. Is that a thing? Like gifting
Maria: organizing? So we're real careful with that.
Mikki: I'm gonna honest it a little bit a red to be, oh my gosh, you [00:45:00] guys, I'm not gonna do it now. I just, I thought it all the way through.
There you go. Just there. And I was like, oh, if somebody gifted me organizing, I would be like, that's fair.
Maria: You have to be real careful with that. And that's something that we, we've had, we've been appraised a few times, a few, several times actually. You're like, all the, and I'm like, um, okay. Does the person know, have they expressed interest in this?
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Is it something they've told you they wanted? Yeah. 'cause if they've not mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I don't wanna be the person in there. Try, Dean, who are you? I please, please don't gift me to people.
Mikki: That's just weird. Um, we
Maria: have been gifted as a Mother's Day gift, but the mom wanted it. Okay. Okay. So that actually was.
Right. Yeah. We were, um, we had clients and we were gifted to both their chil adult children. Oh. And that was great. Yeah. They were all very receptive. They all wanted it, so it worked out perfect. Yeah. But if you're a mother-in-law and
Mikki: you wanna gift your daughter-in-law, so organizing, you're [00:46:00] gonna lead that your son to a divorce.
So unless daughter-in-law has said that, doesn't be a part of that,
Jess: unless she specifically states
Mikki: we're real careful with that. Mm-hmm. Very, very, that makes sense. Oh, you're smart. Like, I, I clearly am not functional as an adult. Like, I was like, yeah, gift organizing, and Maria was like, absolutely not. We won't even do that.
It's in certain circumstances. Um, okay. So I think that is awesome. Like, I, I cannot recommend enough, like, here, here's what led to like me being like, all right, we need to bring in like Jess, who do you know? I. The mental clutter that happens when the house is so cluttered that you can't think mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Like, that's a real thing. It is a real thing. It, it is. Like, I don't know the science behind it. I'm like, somebody should study it. Listen, I'm here for you if you are studying it. Um, but it's a whole thing. So, so really it got to the point where it was like, all right, there's so much stuff in here. I can't think.
Or, here's the thing too. [00:47:00] So my office is also, so I, I have a split level. We've discussed this, my basement section, the, the, the first split is where my office is. It's also where our craft room is. My craft room is where we were filming the podcast. It was a whole thing. Like it's, it's lot of stuff. It's the everything area.
It was so cluttered and like. Crazy making in the mind that I didn't wanna go work. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's so, like, that's, so I was avoiding, I was coming up with reasons like, oh, I know, oh no, I need to go to the job site. And, and I didn't realize I was doing it until I finally was like, so far behind on like all the paperwork that it was like, okay, I need to figure out why I'm a, like the devil avoiding going into my office.
And it was because it was just so cluttered that I felt like I, eh, you, I'd go in there and immediately be like, eh, eh, eh. Mm-hmm. So bringing Maria in and, and, and help her, helping me, just, I don't know what it is. And there's, I know, you know, this is a thing. It's accountability. It's accountability.[00:48:00]
Somebody being there and like holding the thing in their hand and you're wondering to yourself in that moment, why did I keep this? Because it's substantial.
Sarah Tiani: Substantial. Well, having an organized space is self-care.
Maria: It is Well's good, it's selfcare, but it also saves you money. Yeah. Yeah. Because you're not repurchasing.
Mm-hmm. I, we did a client and I love her. She was so great. Um, she still is great. We, her mother-in-law was coming to visit Okay. And gonna stay a month. Oh God. And she's like, oh my God, I have to do something. So they didn't really have a pantry. Great townhouse. They lived in upscale, beautiful neighborhood.
There's no pantry. That's dumb. There's no pantry. Bad bad design GCs. Yeah. I, I got a few things GCs could do. Um, but that was just, so we ended up having to take her front hall closet and we turned it into a pantry. Oh. She had so much food stuck into cabinets and buried. Oh, wow. Um, they ate a lot of [00:49:00] beans, a lot of different things like that, that was shelf stable.
Mm-hmm. She texted me, she's like, I didn't have to buy anything except fresh fruit and vegetables. And meat. Oh, wow. For six. Months. No way. God, six months. She had rice, she had pasta food. She had hidden everywhere. Had these, you name it, she had it. Yeah. It was set up. She's like, I didn't have to go for six months, y'all.
That's crazy. Mm-hmm. The savings. Yeah. You know. And then, you know, we find things like people with toddlers buy lots of Tylenol. Mm-hmm. Instant Tylenol. Yep. And they'll go to Costco. Buy these big packs. It expires before your child takes it. Right. You go to the regular drugstore and just buy the little tiny packs it, you know?
And it just, so many times we've thrown out stuff that was expired. Like, yeah. Not just, oh, it expired in June and it's July expired. It expired in 20, 20 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. And you're, you know, everybody worries about, oh, you know, is it a waste of money? Yeah. It's a waste of money. Mm-hmm. But you won't do it [00:50:00] anymore once you have a system set up.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Once you have a clear organized space, you get that peace of mind back. You get that money back that you're not spending on food. Same thing with a closet. Think about how many times you go in your closet every single day. You start your day. Yeah. Mm-hmm. In your closet or in your bathroom.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. You're digging through hundreds of clothes. Yeah. So trying to get, so get the one thing that fits or that you like, or that you wear. Why are, why are you doing that? Yeah. Why are you starting your day that way? Mm. Yeah. You know. And just like you avoiding your office. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Because it's cluttered in there.
Yeah. You know what, if you are avoiding getting paid facts, I mean, she's not Right. Seriously, the paperwork
Mikki: is how the checks come. Yeah.
Maria: Yeah.
Mikki: Exactly. So yeah, that's, and I think that's just huge and, and when, one of the reasons why we brought me in is also because. We had played around with the idea of just like burning the house down and building a new one.
I mean, it was always matching. Did I say that every episode? But if my house ever catches [00:51:00] on fire, I didn't do it on purpose. I just, I just want that recorded for the record here, for the insurance company to know that I just am joking. But we were really considering doing renovation and Hector was like, Hey babe, maybe before we like literally add another wing onto the house, 'cause I was like, full blown.
Like, it's gonna be a garage with this. We're gonna tie it in. There's gonna be a, a freaking loss of things. Yeah, it's gonna, was gonna be wild. We're gonna have like a living roof. And Hector's like, what are you doing? First of all, maybe we just get rid of some of the stuff we have and we'd actually fit in our house better.
And I was like, oh. That's an idea. That's probably cheaper than just building another wing onto that. You're just gonna fill more stuff. More special trash. Special trash. Well, I mean,
Maria: think about how much we've
Mikki: gotten rid of. Yeah. Oh my God. Like, I mean, carloads. Insane. Carloads car. He came to carloads. Oh my God.
To carloads, to, to the Goodwill. And then we filled up all the trash cans. It was, Lord, it was really bad. And all the stuff
Maria: that's usable. We, we push hard. Yeah, let's recycle it. Yeah. [00:52:00] Let's take it. Somebody can use, donate it, can use it. Let's donate it so somebody else can use it. You're literally sitting on things, clothing, coats, U tools, utensils, whatever it is.
Somebody else is in need of that.
Mikki: Yeah. In
Maria: our world today, there are so many people in need. Yeah. It's sitting in your closet. Holding space causing you stress. Yeah. Mm-hmm. When somebody else actually needs it. But somebody else could use that coat to be warm this winter. Yeah.
Mikki: Yeah. So listen, that really makes me think about my coat collection.
Maria hasn't even gotten into my upstairs space. We'll get there. We'll get there. There's three levels and we're on the first. Okay. This is gonna be Maria. This is a long term relationship. Yep.
Sarah Tiani: She's gonna be all the time. And that's, I, I have her team come once a quarter. Yeah.
Mikki: Yeah. That was the thing. So I have a friend who owns an organizing company in Colorado and I reached out to her before I went on the search for a third organizer.
Mm-hmm. And she was like, okay, I think these are the things you need to look for this specifically. Um. And she was, she [00:53:00] was telling me, she was like, you know the thing Mickey, I think you're probably just gonna need to to set them up quarterly. And I was like, you know what, I accept that
Maria: and that's okay.
And that's what we try to tell people. There's no shame in that. Yeah. There's no shame in needing help. The shame comes in suffering and not saying, please help me. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's where you should be Ashamed story. Yeah. It's not the getting the help. And we have clients that are perfectly capable of doing this.
They don't have time. Yeah. You are running a construction company.
Mikki: Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's a lot. And a podcast. And a podcast. And what else? We have a lot of things on the lot of, a lot of pots on the on the stove, y'all. So, yeah. I mean, and you're not, it's a whole thing. It's a whole thing. It's, and, and so understanding, like if you're currently in a place where you're like, um, I don't ever want anybody to come to my house.
You probably need an organizer. If you don't go in your closet because it's full, you probably need a closet situation. Mm-hmm. You need, you need a little rework.
Sarah Tiani: Well, and I think the important thing to tell people is a lot of times they feel like they don't know where to start. Yeah. We do. [00:54:00] Yes. That is so true.
Like, we're gonna come in and be able to see immediately, okay, this is what we need to do. Yeah.
Maria: You
Sarah Tiani: know,
Maria: and we work through it. It is, I will tell you the most powerful thing somebody said to me while we were working with them, it's been a few weeks ago, we have an ongoing client. It is not Mickey for the record.
Uh, no, it's not Mickey to be officially on the record. It was not her. But this is a client and we've been working with her. Probably a good six months. Okay. And it's, you know, we work for three weeks. We take a little break. Yeah. We work at her pace. Yeah. Because that's what she can handle. It was not a true, like what you see on TV hoarding situation.
Yeah, yeah. But she was in that direction. Yeah. And beautiful, beautiful human being. We love her dearly. She looked at me the other week and she said, you know, when we started this process, I was cleaning out so I could die. Oh. She said, now I'm cleaning out so I can live. Oh, you're doing it. And it just that just it hit me.
Yeah. That's very serious. It, and not all of our clients are [00:55:00] like that. Not all of 'em are that desperate situation. Yeah. Some people just want a really pretty pantry. I'm, they want good with that. Good escape. I love a pretty pantry. But some people, this is. Their step back to living their life. Yeah. She's now would not leave her house, wouldn't do things.
She's got a trip planned out in the country. Get in the spring, she, we call her our little butterfly. Mm-hmm. 'cause she's just blossomed. Yeah. She's become a person
Sarah Tiani: again. Yeah. Well, and one thing that I tell people all the time when I recommend Maria is when I look at the amount of money I spent and what it's done for my life.
Yeah. It's incomparable. Yeah. You know, that return on investment is there. You know, last summer she helped me, my, we were going away for several weeks. We had a week before and a week after, and we were gone for seven weeks. And where did you go after? We were moving my kid into college, so I was like, I cannot be on our trip worrying about all the things that we're gonna have to do when we come back.
Yeah. So [00:56:00] before we left, we did it all. We packed everything. We cleaned out a baby room and made it, you know, a come home from vacate from college room. Great kid too, by the way. And it was just like when I came home from the trip, I was like, oh, I'm so glad I did this. And it was, you know, I mean, you were asking about money before.
I hope it's okay that I talk about money, but it was like $700. Amazing for like, just the, um, unbelievable amount of peace of mind. Yeah. Mm-hmm. For, yes. The work that was done,
Mikki: the peace of mind. Like I little guys, come on. Like your mental state is important. Invest in yourself. Mm-hmm. If you're in that position where you can like, listen, I grew up on them streets, so I understand if maybe you don't got money for an organizer, but when you get there, 'cause you're going on, we believe in you.
Uh, hi. Hiring an organizer and having your closet done. Treat yourself ladies and gentlemen. Treat yourself. Where can we find you guys?
So if we want to find you on socials, like where can we, how do we reach out to you if we want a closet and if we [00:57:00] want the organizing situation.
Maria: I am on Facebook. Instagram clearly organized nc um, website is, um, www.clearlyorganizednc.com. Okay. Um. I'm all over the place. Yeah. TikTok,
Mikki: you're on the talk. I'm on the TikTok girl girl gift.
First time she's getting her TikTok on. Did you do like befores and afters? Oh yeah, absolutely. That's, that's what it is
Maria: all,
Mikki: it's all our, our, our social media
Maria: is all before and afters pretty much. Oh man. So definitely, and with client permission, let me say our clients, I'm not on there
Mikki: yet, y'all, we haven't gotten there that, but eventually I'll let you know when my before and afters are on the talk.
Sorry,
Sarah Tiani: what about Mines simple. It's just Instagram primarily. Okay. It's Sarah Tiani closets at ins, you know Instagram. Okay. We know
Mikki: is, we'll put both of those down below in the show notes. Um, so that if you want to reach out to these amazing humans that are doing the Lord's work, if we're being honest, the Lord's work, uh, [00:58:00] they'll, it'll be all there in the show notes.
Um, also listen. This is that time, the weird time in the show where I ask you to like and subscribe because it's free. It's free. And help us out. I wanna be famous so bad so that I can afford an $80,000 closet. Come on guys, with an island button. I need a, like, I need luck so I can lock up my hope Jewels.
My Hope Diamond situation. The one that was on the Titanic. Come on. Help me help you. Mm-hmm. Um, so if you could like, incr subscribe, that would be, we would, would appreciate that. We leave a comment, be like, Hey, so let's talk about your special trash. Mickey. I'm here to talk about my special trash. Tell us what your special trash, what do you wanna know?
You wanna have a special trash convo? We're here for it. Not so much Jess. She's not a hoarder. Not a hoarder. Also our website. So if you have a homeowner horror story, um, here actually what I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say this. I would like it if you, you can put in the homeowner horror story. I. [00:59:00] That you don't want us to share your information, but could you please leave your real email?
Because sometimes I have questions and it's like, it would be better to come to the homeowner, like come to the show with your horror story and, and the answers, the answers to those questions instead of us just being like, I don't know. But so far, like not very many people have left their real emails. So like, when I have questions, it gets bounced back and it's like, girl, that's not a real email.
And I get it. We're not gonna put you on a list or anything. Like, we're not that, we're not that sophisticated. No. Not doing it. Uh, we just have follow up questions. So I mean, dealer's choice. You don't have to, but if you could, it would be helpful if you could believe your real email. We're happy to not put your information in.
Anywhere on the show. Mm-hmm. Jess would literally never. No. But I do have some follow up questions from time to time. So if you could go to chicks and construction.com, leave us your homeowner horror story with your actual email, uh, I would love, appreciate that. 'cause we [01:00:00] always wanna help other people live their best lives and learn the easier way, not the hard way.
Life's hard, life's complicated, help other people learn from your mistakes. Mm-hmm. So that would be awesome. And guys, we appreciate you coming to the show. We appreciate having you guys on the show and you giving us your time. And you guys have a great day. All right. Bye bye.