Johanna Bard is Your Hudson Valley Organizer
Offering Clutter Solutions for Estates, Homes and Offices
By Bridgit Mulpeter
for The Hudson River Sampler
For many people, the New Year brings a desire to start fresh, and one of the most popular New Year‟s resolutions is to
get organized. Our increasingly cluttered lives often lead to increasingly cluttered homes and businesses, leading to
stress and anxiety – but where to start? Johanna Bard of Your Hudson Valley Organizer is a professional organizer
ready to help reclaim your spaces and teach you how to stay organized and clutter free.
Johanna, a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), opened her business in 2007 and
offers organizing solutions and skills for homes and offices. Why hire a professional organizer? “Many people were
never taught how to organize,” Johanna says, “Or, they have become so attached to their belongings that they are
afraid to get rid of them. It‟s a fact that 80% of what we keep, we never use. I‟m objective and don‟t have any emotional
ties to your stuff. I‟ll help you improve the quality of your life by helping you decide what to keep, what to toss, and teach
you systems to stay organized.”
Disorganization and clutter robs people of quality time and creates stress. “Clutter steals the usefulness of an area,”
Johanna says, „and organization restores it to useful purpose.” Studies have shown that the average American spends
55 minutes a day looking for things they know they have but can‟t find. That‟s about 12 weeks a year wasted on looking
for stuff! Another significant statistic shows that 23% of adults pay bills late, incurring late fees and hurting their credit
scores, because they lose the bills or forget when they're due.
It's no surprise, then, that cluttered spaces cause many of us to feel anxious, pressured and sapped of energy.
“Organization is not just about throwing things away,” says Johanna, “it‟s about finding peace of mind.”
There are many benefits to getting organized. A calm and clean space clears the mind and reduces feelings of being
overwhelmed, gaining a sense of control. Other benefits include maintaining calm, increasing energy, and helping to
create more quality time for enjoying life.
Johanna understands the sense of relief that reclaiming a space can bring. Growing up in a chaotic household, Johanna
created a haven of calm and structure in her own bedroom as a way to gain a sense of control. “It was like I flipped a
switch,” Johanna remembers, “As a teenager, I needed to create stability and order in a framework in which I could
function. I suddenly realized how much better I felt in an organized space, and all my jobs leading up to starting this
business have all required structure and organization.”
As a professional organizer, Johanna uses her experience to approach each client with compassion and respect,
remaining non-judgmental, objective, and always confidential. Many people are afraid to ask for professional help
because they are ashamed, or don‟t want to go through what may be a painful process. “It‟s important to remember that
being disorganized is not a character flaw, it‟s a problem to be solved,” Johanna says. “I‟m not a therapist, but a lot of
this work is emotional.” Johanna‟s first job as a professional organizer was helping a woman purge and organize an
entire house filled with decades of clutter left behind by her family. “It‟s been a long process,” Johanna says, “but now
the client is breathing more easily, she moves more freely , and comes home to her house more happily, no longer
dreading the chaos of clutter every time she opens her door.”
Johanna also helps her clients with short term projects like organizing closets, kitchens, offices, bedrooms, and even
desktops and getting paperwork in order. Johanna also helps people downsize from a large home to a smaller one, will
get a property ready for sale, and help sort through the contents of an estate. Downsizing for seniors has become more
frequent as the senior population move from larger homes to more manageable spaces and have a hard time sifting
through all the things they‟ve accumulated over a lifetime. “For any client, the process is not to tell them what to keep or
toss, but to ask the right questions to help them make their own decisions,” Johanna says.
Of course, organizing is not just about getting rid of stuff, it‟s about finding a home for things and creating systems that
work for each individual that works in a particular environment. It‟s not enough to just remove the clutter; you must also
learn how to maintain the structure. Johanna works carefully with each client to make sense of what is going on in their
home or business before creating a lasting strategy to stay organized. “The more I find out about a client and how they
think, the better I can help them,” she says. “What works for one person may not work for another. The more
individualized an organizational system is, the more success the client will have in maintaining the organization.”
Johanna also adds that clients can expect some backsliding, but not to get upset about it. “You are learning a new
behavior,” she says, “and creating a new lifestyle. I will always back you up and help you refocus if you need.”
No matter the size of the project, the hardest part is just getting started. A professional organizer like Johanna will get
the ball rolling. “It‟s an organic process,” she says, “Get started in one corner and it will grow from there, and the system
evolves. Having a professional to work with makes the task go quicker, helps you make decisions faster, and it‟s more
fun.”
With the help of a professional organizer like Johanna, getting organized can be easier than you think, and the skills
learned will keep you that way. Whether you are moving, need a pantry organized, a garage de-cluttered, or even
paperwork organized for tax time, Johanna‟s mission is to “provide clutter solutions for estates, homes and offices in
order to help you reclaim your space, time, and energy and to relieve your stress and worry in times of change.”
To contact Johanna, call 845-901-2445.