Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nancy Peham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Nancy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

Being a Professional Organizer for the last 20+ years has been a really rewarding experience. There are so many stories to tell, and so many successes for my clients and I to be proud of. One job that stands out took place just before the pandemic. I was contacted by the adult children of an older couple who wanted my help with a huge undertaking. Their parents could no longer stay in their home of several decades, due to declining health, memory issues, and the challenges of home upkeep and maintenance. Our goal was to clear out the clutter so that repairs and upgrades could take place, and the house could be repurposed to provide rental income for the parents in their new residence.
This job took place over a few months and touched almost every aspect of my skills as an organizer.
The biggest hurdle and the one we needed to address first was the accumulation of about 40 years of paperwork. This included bills, financial information, family history, and work-related documents from the time the husband was raising his family. He was also passionate about his faith and had been involved in outreach and ministry to incarcerated men. He had a room full of inspirational reading material and books he applied to this cause.
There were shelves, file cabinets, desks and drawers overflowing with paper in several rooms. There were boxes stacked on each other and piles upon piles of dusty paper. As you can imagine, it required that I wear a face mask and gloves for a big part of it. This was before the pandemic but when COVID came I was already in the habit of using PPE.
One of the daughters that I worked with early on let me know which documents to be looking for and which could be tossed. We probably filled over 50 boxes of recycling and many more to be shredded. The records to be kept were sorted by year and category, and then boxed until they could be downsized again. I also set aside all the family history, letters, photographs and anything else that might be of interest to the family members. Of course, we found cash in clothing drawers, and blank envelopes so it was important to be meticulous as we went through the papers.
Next, I created a working filing system so that current bills and policies could be paid, expenses tracked, and medical information easily accessed. This allowed the family to manage their parent’s finances going forward.
The next huge challenge was to empty the attic which ran the entire length of the home. It was full of toys and memorabilia that had belonged to the 3 adult children as they grew up. It also contained holiday decorations, furniture, framed and unframed pictures and paintings going back to previous generations. There were tools, empty boxes, and everything else you can imagine finding in an attic after 50 years.
With the help of the siblings and their kids on a long weekend we created a bucket brigade and emptied the entire space, sorting and tossing as we went. The family had rented a dumpster which we used over the long period of decluttering to keep the trash moving out the door.
Each sibling’s personal items were boxed for them to look through, and household goods were divided among those who wanted them. We also filled a room with items that might be sold and set up donation pickups for the rest. Meanwhile the house was being repaired and the yard cleaned up.
Once the major decluttering was done, we worked in the kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms to clear out cabinets, clean and line cupboards, empty closets, and dispose of the contents of the garage freezer. I wrapped all the fragile items from the China cabinet, and everything else that required an experienced packer.
In the end it was necessary to rent a storage unit for all the things that couldn’t be taken away in the immediate future. This included the boxed files that were determined to be important, furniture and belongings of all the siblings, family memorabilia and other items. This allowed the family to get the house on the rental market quickly.
I was able to purchase and assemble portable shelving in the storage unit, label and separate each child’s keepsakes, wrap the art for safekeeping, and organize everything for easy identification. I made several trips to the unit with the more manageable items and worked with the movers to deliver the large, heavy furniture that remained.
Throughout the long process I got to know several of the family members on a level that doesn’t always happen,
and felt proud that I was able to help them through such a major life transition.

Nancy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Sure, it was about to be the start of a new millennium and after 16 years in the IT field I decided it was a time for change. One of my natural talents is a knack for organization. I love the sense of order and calm in my environment that comes with being organized, and I enjoy helping others find that same peace.

My company is called Helping Hands Personal Services, but you can call me Helping Hands. I work mostly in North Dallas and surrounding areas and offer three main types of services. These are general home organization, home relocation services, and paper-related tasks.
On the organizing side I can help you in any area of your home. I particularly enjoy organizing master closets/baths, and kitchens/pantries because they are such important areas for functionality and beauty.
When a client is moving, I will pack, unpack, and help them set up their new home from scratch. Although I usually focus on packing kitchens, China cabinets, fragile decor and smaller artwork, I have had clients who hire me to pack the entire home. Just so you know, I don’t have a team of helpers. It’s just me.
And finally, paper. Whether its piles of mail everywhere, a new or updated filing system, or setting up your office, I’m your gal.
In my 20+ years doing this job I have met the most interesting people, seen things I would never have seen in any other profession, and have helped countless clients reach their organizing goals. I’ve worked with many of the same clients over the years and feel like they are my extended family. I love my job!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Before I started my organizing business I was working in IT as a computer programmer. I had been doing it for 16 years. I entered the profession based on someone else’s idea that it would be a good career for me. The person told me I would be able to find work easily and the pay would be good. Both of those were true, but my heart wasn’t in it, and it wasn’t a good fit for me. I had always been interested in the arts, studying dance for many years, following my passion, never sure what I would do in life to earn a living. In hindsight, I am grateful that I did have a good career, but I am so happy that I quit my job when I did. One day, while at work I looked at my calendar and decided that I would quit just before Easter 2000 and begin something new. It would be my “rebirth”.

Nobody ever told me it was a good idea, but I believed that if I jumped, a parachute would open, and I’d float to the ground for a soft landing. It wasn’t quite that easy.

It actually took almost 2 years before I figured out that I was an organizer. At first, I took any work I could find, like pet sitting, house checking for people who traveled frequently, banquet work, and even multi-level marketing. None of them were right. Then one day a friend asked me to help declutter her house, and voila, I knew it was the job for me.
It took me a long time to build a clientele, but after 20 years I now have a large pool of repeat clients and new ones calling me on a regular basis.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

For me, the lesson I needed to learn was to trust myself. When I started my business, I really wasn’t sure how it should look. Did I want to do both business and residential organizing? Did I want to work with a team of other organizers, have employees, or hire contractors? Did I need to do a lot of expensive advertising? What kind of networking would be good? Should I reach out to realtors? Work with the aging population, or maybe young families? How would I judge my success? Would I sell products? Offer to speak to groups about organizing? Write?
It turns out I tried most of these.

Some were a good fit and others were less so. And over time each has had peaks and valleys. What I’ve had to remember is that there is no right or wrong way. I find certain types of jobs are more fun for me that others, and that’s ok. I don’t need to be like any other organizer. I don’t feel the need to compete. I just do what makes me happy and my clients happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.helpinghandsps.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nancypeham/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelpingHandsPS/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-peham-1123706/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NancyPeham/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/helping-hands-personal-services-dallas-3

Image Credits
Nancy Peham