Organizer Restores Order to Home and Office

If your workspace or living space has accumulated so much clutter that you know you can’t tackle it by yourself, there is help available. In Working Order company owner Diane Ash helps clients restore order to their offices and homes.

 “What I’ve noticed is people in their offices tend to be in an everyday situation, they get used to the situation, they become complacent” as paper and equipment piles up around them, Ash said. She brings a fresh perspective on the situation and more than a decade of expertise. 

She started her business 12 years ago at a turning point in her life. 

“I had gone through a divorce, and I was (planning to) go to law school, I had four kids, and oh, my God, what am I gonna do?”

She got a job at Closet Space in Hudson where she learned how to measure and design closets and other spaces. Things snowballed from there.

“I’m friends with Tom Luck of Lucky Shoes,” Ash said, and after he learned about what she was doing, “he hired me to help organize his office.”

As with any new business, there was a learning curve. “Nobody told me how to start a business.”

She found a wholesale source of boxes and packing materials. “The first delivery I had delivered to my house. It was a  $1,200 order.” When the semi-truck arrived, the driver said, “ ‘All I need is your tow motor (fork lift).’ ” Ash didn’t have a tow motor. Her order took up half the trailer and it was loaded on pallets. She and a very unhappy trucker unloaded the freight by hand.

She lived with boxes and bundles all over her house until a friend offered some spare warehouse space. “I was living with my packing materials.”

In Working Order started out as a business-to-business enterprise, but then a client came to her with a request. “They said to me, ‘You know what, I know you’ve worked with me as part of a professional business, but can you help pack up my mother?’ So that’s how that got started.”

Since then, In Working Order has helped clients reorganize closets and it has helped move people across state lines. 

The hardest part for many clients is just getting started.

 “I always tell people, first thing, go through clothes that you’re not going to use. People always think, ‘Where do I start?’ Before you even think about moving, go through the clothes that you’re not using.  

“We also help people out through donations. If you can imagine, your mom has to go to independent living or assisted living. She’s lived in her house for 50 years. What do you do with all that stuff? I hear that all the time.”  People accumulate collectibles, antiques and sometimes piles of paper. Moving into smaller quarters forces people to make choices on what they can take with them.

Ash contacts organizations such as the Red Cross, the International Institute of Akron, and Franklin’s Furniture. The International Institute accepts donations of all sorts of items: clothing, furniture, pots and pans; anything to help families set up house. Goodwill, AMVETS and Salvation Army take certain donations. Call ahead for pickup or delivery information, Ash advises.

Franklin’s buys furniture, which can help defray the cost of moving and downsizing. There are consignment shops and antique malls. And there are auctions and estate sales.

Ash warns to make sure any auctioneer or estate sales operation is insured and bonded.

Organizing office paperwork can be challenging. Ash offers a few tips:

 • “Color coding is really great.” Payroll and bank documents: green paper. Insurance information might be yellow. 

 • “Have a system where you highlight things that have to be filled out; as they’re filled out, check them off.”

• And you have to make sure records are kept current. People get divorced, have kids and other changes in life.            

Whatever you do, Ash said, if dealing with an estate, keep receipts of everything. 

The cost depends on the size of the job and how long it takes to complete. Some jobs need only a few hours, while a house full of clutter can take weeks. If all you want is boxes and packing material, In Working Order has that. “We can beat any price in boxes.”

In a job in Copley, “we went down in the basement and you couldn’t get to the bottom of the steps, you couldn’t even see the wall. It was so packed, it took us almost three weeks.”

 Ash sums up the motto of her business: “It’s never too early to start, and it’s always too late to wait.”

In Working Order, 186 Scenic View Dr., Copley, OH 44321, 330-777-0083 or  330-815-9500.