The Time Butler Productivity & Organizing

Very professional services, highly recommended, nicest lady providing ideas of getting organized and much much more.

I met Lisa Mark of the Time Butler a couple of years ago. She helped me organize my electronic files, and that was a huge time saver! I am still using her system today.

Recently we sold our home in Livermore. We made arrangements to rent a house for 7 months while our new home was being built. We did the move by ourselves . . . BIG MISTAKE! It was a horrific experience and it took me months to recover (including from two black eyes I got in a fall).

Our new home was ready and I called Lisa. She surveyed our things, knowing that a small amount was in storage and gave us a quote. I took a big gulp, knowing that I really needed the help.

The day of the move came. She had a crew with her. They made short work of the packing and I really was there to answer questions about where things went. The following day the movers came and it was quick work because everything was so organized and labelled.

The day after that, Lisa swept in with her team and finished by the end of the day. Everything is in it perfect place. They surveyed what they were putting away and put it in the most convenient sport for use. Unbelievable.

Two days later, a neighbor came by and couldn't believe how unpacked we were. The neighbor across the street coudn't believe that we could part two cars in the garage . . . he's been here a month and still can't do that. Yes, we still have a few things in the garage, but those are artwork that needs to be hung and miscellaneous items that need to be donated.

Hiring The Time Butler was the best thing I ever did. It was worth every penny!

I hired Lisa to do a major decluttering and organizing of my home office. I had a closet full of things that had accumulated over 10 years, piles of papers and a bookshelf overflowing with books and items that were no longer needed.

In about 3 hours, we got the place totally organized, looking great and she hauled off a carful of books and other items for charity or recycling. She even took a lot of old paper to be shredded securely.

She is a consummate professional. She knows how to manage this process efficiently and made this painful (for me) processactivity fun.

I have had Lisa and her team out twice now. The first time was dealing with a major declutter of my apartment and the second time was organizing the boxes of paperwork. They will be out again in a couple of seeks to finish the job. My main reaction was something like, "WHY didn't I do this sooner?" Yes, it was scary. Yes, it was overwhelming. Yes, as the date got sooner all I wanted to do was curl up in a corner and weep. Yes, I was having strangers see my "stuff." I felt so safe with Lisa and her team. They were patient. They were caring. They were compassionate. They were wonderful!

We won four hours of organizing services from Lisa at The Time Butler at a charity auction.

We put off calling Lisa for a few months, but we eventually got around to making the appointment for a two-hour visit. I stalled by giving her a tour of the house, which took up most of the time, but she did "encourage" us to clear off the kitchen table -- we filled up a couple of bags of paper during that exercise.

She returned a couple of weeks later, and we used up the other donated hours. On that visit, we cleared out the media shelves in the family room, uncovered the coffee table, and rediscovered the desk. We also filled up several bags of stuff (books, VHS tapes, magazines, toys, and who knows what else) which were suitable for charitable donations -- and Lisa took it all away.

She's been back twice since then, helping us deal with the shelves and desk in the kitchen, all of which are organized, clear, and usable for the first time in a long time. And again, we donated a bunch of stuff to charity (as well as filling a recycle bin!).

In between visits, I got rid of some excess hardware by putting it on craigslist (most of it sold within an hour); I've also started transferring old VHS tapes to DVD (though why I needed a DVD version of King Dinosaur is a matter of some debate with the rest of the members of the household).

There's no magic to it -- we're doing all the work (well, she wields the labelmaker...) and making all the decisions. But she acts as a forcing function -- when she hands us a pile to go through, it seems silly to just put it back where it was (though "later" is always a valid decision -- and I've deferred some things by moving them to a room we haven't reached yet).

I'm happy we won her services, and happier that I finally got around to calling and making the appointment!

Lisa Marks and Andrew Rosen saved me! They approached my clutter as if it was candy for them. They did a truly remarkable job of cleaning out more clutter than you can imagine, and organizing the remains ingeniously. They did a lot of heavy lifting while I sat and sorted through things. They made the process, well, not exactly "easy", but almost enjoyable, if you can believe that. They are both delightful people and I couldn't recommend them any more highly. I plan to have them come back after the new year to tackle the basement.

The Time Butler(s) make my life much easier. My story is similar to other reviewers, and that is because the experience has been absolutely top notch. I have had the pleasure of working with 3 members of the Time Butler team and regularly with Miranda.

We have tackled everything from office clutter to our garage and closets. Like David S., I stalled in making the call and tried to avoid taking action in every way possible. But, at some point, I pointed to my desk and we started making piles. I think the first day we filled more than a few boxes with shredding, garbage and recycle. It felt great to make progress and I have had the team back on several occasions.

Clutter has a way of creeping up on us and I am glad to have the Time Butler team on my side.

Lisa Mark, the "Time Butler," is amazing. I recommend her with 5 stars. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), a highly ethical and respectful organization that helps people organize their homes, their files, their daily schedules; in short: THEIR LIVES.

For years I have had this painful nagging in the back of my mind that, if only I were organized, things would be different. Each weekend I had planned a small organizing task for myself. Well, I never did it. Finally admitting that I was in need of the organizing equivalent of a professional trainer, I engaged Lisa's services for 2 days last week.

OMG!! We went pell mell through my small apartment on Day 1. Lisa was so respectful & compassionate! She was understanding about those things that I could not yet throw away. She designated a "Keepsake" folder/box for me and that is where those things went. In just one day, my place transformed from this chaotic thing into a place of order and peace.

But the true test came on Day 2: THE EXTRA LARGE, $156/MONTH STORAGE UNIT, filled with crapola I did not know how to manage.

I cannot tell you the dread I felt as we drove together to my storage unit. I almost jumped out of the car. Once at the place, we somehow got the thing opened. My key does not properly fit the lock, but I am there so rarely that I don't address this. On Day 2, I was successful in getting the key to work in the lock.

Lisa coached me through this most horrible of tasks. She went through a lot of the stuff, asking me, "Keep or toss?" She kept me on task. While she was going through all of the big stuff, in parallel, I went through my boxes of pictures and old files. Every now and again, as I would see an old picture or read something in my files, I would groan. There were pictures of my children on days I had loved, now long gone because they are grown up. I read through old tax returns, old medical records.

I found a letter I had sent my parents when I was 20 years old, telling them all of the details about a difficult time I was having in college with a boyfriend.

Groan, groan, groan.

Lisa cheered me on. Out of the corner of her eye, she would see me slowing to a stop and ask, "Are you ok?" This would push me onward.

Organizing my stuff was far too painful to do alone. With Lisa coaching me, I am now an organized person. In this process, I found so many things I thought I had lost forever and the peace of mind it has brought me is beyond description.

There is not enough I can say about Lisa. Treat yourself well. Get your life in order. Don't do it alone. Don't let your stuff keep you from feeling free. Call Lisa.

All the best to anyone reading this,

Susan

The Time Butler is one of our partners here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We've loved Lisa's energy, smarts, and follow through. We whole heartedly recommend her as an organizer for anyone's toughest clutter projects!

I hired Lisa to pack up an apartment. She got a wonderful team together on short notice and they got the whole place organized and packed up in one day. Communication was excellent before, during and after. I recommend her highly and wouldn't hesitate to use her again. She is also a great source of knowledge about how to get rid of stuff in general. Bravo!