A Good Sort

I hired A Good Sort to help me with what I felt was a monumental task in starting the ball rolling for a move that I will be doing in 2 months. I will be moving from a 4 Bedroom home I have lived in and filled for 15 years into a 2 Bedroom home. Although I am very excited about this move I was completely overwhelmed on how to even begin the daunting task of sorting, clearing, purging etc. Olwen & her team arrived, jumped in and helped guide me thru the process. It’s amazing how easy it was for me to get rid of things that had been stored away in boxes that I had said for years I would go thru....I will book another session as well for the last purge before her team actually does the move and set up in my new home. The weight (literally & figuratively) that’s been lifted and accomplished with A Good Sort is invaluable!! Thank you Olwen & your team

I love the way my house look and feel like. Everything has a places, Olwen really helped me optimize my space.

I have too many good things to say about Olwen. She truly is A GOOD SORT. (BTW brilliant name.) She can do the work to remove clutter and organize. Better yet, like a doctor, she can diagnose the problem and offer long-term solutions that you can implement yourself. Unlike other services providers, she in not invested in creating dependent clients. She is clever, non-judgement, engertic, and highly efficient. I strongly recommend her to help you get your home and life in order. Plus, she's very pleasant to be around!

It went better than one would have expected because of her expertise, hard work, and indefatigable spirit. She is a hard worker and did not waste a minute throughout the entire day's stint.

She made doable what felt like an impossible task, offering her support and sharing her experience and matter of fact tips. She is the consummate professional. I wouldn't hesitate to hire her in a minute! She charges an hourly rate which varies depending on your requirements.

We spent a total of 8 hours working together. We split 4 hours on two different days.

It was really helpful and made a difficult experience more pleasant to have Olwen by my side. She is support, honest, straight forward and very kind. I really appreciated her help. She even was able to recommend a solid & professional moving company to help me move into my new place. That was about a year ago. Grad School has since taken over my life and I intend to call her back up to help put some more order back into my hectic life.

Fantastic! Olwen has moved me 4 times in the last 7 years. And every one of those moves (including this one) has been effortless for me. All because Olwen orchestrated them from beginning to end! Olwen is a masterful at organization--in every respect. As a busy writer/producer, I depended on her, completely. Olwen hired all the staff, supervised them, and made sure that every item was perfectly packed and EVERY item was perfectly unpacked and placed beautifully --on the other end. In short: Olwen is the Mary Poppins of Organizers and Move Co-ordinators. I can't recommend he highly enough. Book her early!! There is nothing Olwen cannot do--so ask her!!

Olwen did a terrific job in difficult and overwhelming circumstances. The project is ongoing and requires multiple visits. She is helping a special needs family organize and move a home lived in for 9 years. Olwen is punctual, helpful, caring, and efficient.

It was great! Olwen is always punctual and arrives ready to work. She works steadily but in the process of working, shares options, suggestions, and ideas on how to make a space functional for you. She has ideas on how to use space wisely and how to make a space work for you rather than just making it work. She has her own way of sharing some of life's lessons along the way that make you think about how to organize your space, your mind, thinking about how to keep the space or area organized once she leaves. She has changed how I think about my space and what it is used for. She has taught me just how much you an do in ten minute intervals through out the day. She has emailed me suggestions for closet and drawer organizers that would make keeping things organized. This is on her own time. Olwen was very helpful in loading her car and taking things to donation centers and thrift shops. She does it all. She has been invaluable to me since my mother and father passed away and helping me to sort through some of their memorabilia which was very difficult. Yet, she was so kind and patient with me. You will find no greater "Organizer" than Olwen. She helps to organize your "soul" (which is your mind, will and emotions). She is a comfort and helper. She is so understanding and non judgmental, which was helpful for me. Olwen is a comfort and makes you feel even more at home in your own space. Thank you Olwen.

This visit fine tuned the office and improved the office system that A Good Sort created last year which was very helpful; there were updates that I needed like a more product oriented filing system and an overhaul to my "at-hand" supply wall of container folders that came out of using the system for a year and sharing the feedback with Olwen. She has the best insights to making tweaks! Also we did a quick round of maintenance on the rest of the house which she had created the several years before just to see how well everything was holding up and making a few adjustments where needed. A Good Sort is a life saver! Our home and home office are running so smoothly and efficiently; It's just a pleasure doing the work with Olwen too!

I can't say enough good things about Olwen Turtle at A Good Sort. SHE IS WONDERFULL! I am so glad that I hired her to help me with my move. Moving long distance can be a traumatic event but her calm and professional manner of doing things helped eliminate alot of stress for me. Because Olwen is extremely organized and very efficient at what she does, it made this part of my move much easier. She is very dependable, honest, trustworthy, knowledgeable and has a great sense of humor and style! Olwen is a true professional and a very sincere and caring person and very, very good at her job. I also had the pleasure of hiring Olwen a few years back to de-clutter and re-organize my clothes closet. She did a fantastic job and I was very impressed and very happy with the job she did. That is what prompted me to hire her again !!

Upon contacting her, she was very responsive and flexible with regard to scheduling an initial consultation meeting which had to be changed several times do to our busy schedules. At the initial consultation she walked through areas of concern in the house and garage, looked at our current storage areas, and asked questions about what worked and what didn't, after which she came up with a plan on decluttering the garage to create more usable storage space. She gave "homework" for us to do between the meetings, with specific tasks on how to reduce paperwork, what to attack first, etc. At the first "work" meeting she came ready to work with us, directing the declutteringame and sensible organization of the garage. At the end of the 8 hours, the garage, which previously was stuffed to every corner and could barely be walked into, had more space than we had seen in 10 years. She didn't just direct us, she got down into doing the work of moving, sorting, collating. Olwen helped us decide what to keep, what to sell or donate, and even took away ewaste to dispose of it responsibly. She took notes and gave us suggestions on next steps to take before the next meeting. She was great at directing us without creating unrealistic goals that wouldn't work with our lifestyle or time constraints. She was also great at making suggestions for storage while being sensitive to our budget. She does not push any specific storage system nor try to get you to buy any products that are not necessary. We still have another session left, but are thrilled already with the initial results.

I have had the pleasure of working with Olwen, of a Good Sort, for over 6 years. Olwen comes yearly to update my office files; which also includes sorting out paperwork for me to use to prepare my income taxes. She also organizes a numerous amount of items for donation, prepares an inventory; & delivers items to the charitable organization. My family always looks forward to Christmas at my home because Olwen decorates several rooms, taking out the stored Christmas decorations, as well as taking them down after Christmas. Olwen has helped me with many varied large and small organizing projects throughout the years. She is so easy to work with & very creative in finding organizing solutions. She is motivated, energetic, focused and trustworthy and I highly recommend Olwen, a most professional & dedicated organizer.

I have had the pleasure of working with Olwen Turtle and her Company, A Good Sort, many times and on varied projects over the past 5 years. I always rely on Olwen and her services because of the exceptional professionalism and skill she brings to every task and her utmost trustworthiness. Home Office Organization: Because of several serious life events I experienced last year, my home office, personal paperwork and filing were badly neglected. I asked Olwen's help to sort/organize piles of papers stacked throughout my office. She reviewed all -- sorting, filing or shredding as needed; and updated my existing files to accommodate all the paperwork. It's much appreciated that Olwen works with you to create a method tailored for you to handle incoming documents and mail. Taxes: Olwen also assisted me in getting organized for taxes. I explained the categories of information I would need to make the tax preparation easier for me; and she responded by suggesting using a designated file box for these documents. She made a special trip to purchase the needed storage box; and then helped me retrieve the necessary documents from the files; organizing them into the requested categories, and filing them into the box. As this tax season approached I enjoyed the luxury of peace of mind because I knew I would be able to access all my tax docs in one place. Closet: Because I needed more space for my clothing, I also asked Olwen to re-purpose a hall closet, close to my bedroom, from a Utility closet into a space for my wardrobe. She easily found places for the utility items by moving them to the garage. Olwen also helped me evaluate the unneeded items; some of which I elected to be given to a special charity over 20 miles from my home. She packaged and took pictures of these items; and I much appreciated her personally volunteering to take them to the charity. Holiday Decorating and Storage: As Grandma I have the privilege of hosting the Christmas family celebration in my home; and love to turn it into a Christmas wonderland for my family to enjoy. This deed takes a lot of energy and time; and Olwen has assisted me over the past several years with this task: in putting up the Xmas decorations in every room, and also decorating the 8" Xmas tree. Olwen takes great care with all the decorations and treasured Xmas tree ornaments, as many of them are decades old. To facilitate access to all these Xmas decorations, she purchased see-thru boxes; numbered and labelled boxes with the enclosed decorations; and transferred this information onto a notebook for easy reference to locate all the decorations. Whenever I need assistance with any special task or project the first person I think of is Olwen because I know when she takes on a project I will not have any worries. I admire the pride she takes in her work; and her dedication to helping people bring order into their lives. She is respectful of your privacy; is always on time; has a gift for finding solutions for the thorniest storage issues; and her friendly disposition is greatly appreciated. All these qualities are the reasons I've engaged Olwen's services for many years; and I highly recommend Olwen and her services to you.

Excellent. Olwen is the best. She helped us, and she was a Godsend. I would hire her again in a heartbeat!

I have worked with Olwen in the past not only for myself but have referred her to several of my clients. I am an Interior Designer and it has been great to have Olwen and her team go into my clients homes to either organize them for a major move or help them begin or maintain and manage various aspects of their home. This can be anything from once a season purging to downsizing their home to a smaller property, therefore helping them decide what can realistically go into their new space, etc. (she happens to be really good at staging a home for sale too) She is currently working with a client of mine who will be moving into a new home. This client loves fashion and has an abundance of clothing, shoes, accessories, etc. Olwen is helping her de-clutter by only taking to her new closet, things in which she really loves, wears and enjoys as opposed to everything she has hanging and folded, filling and spilling over the shelves and drawers. This type of organizing requires a bit of special treatment. Olwen is amazing at helping the client get to the point of letting go...which by the way does not mean throwing out everything and starting over...she is very patient yet extremely efficient, professional but sensitive in regards to each persons "stuff", which of coarse we all love our stuff. At the best of times this can be challenging but Olwen always rises to the occasion and keeps the eye on the end results that we all want to achieve. It so helps to have a fresh set of eyes that is not emotionally attached but somehow understands that we are. (She may have been a therapist in a past life) In all honesty and sincerity, Olwen and her team are trustworthy, efficient, professional and so organized that what seems in the beginning to be unbearable ends up being completely tolerable and and a bit of fun at the end of the day. I highly recommend her and know that your space will be better after she's been in it!!

Olwen and her assistant came in and directed me back to the original system she started and set up. She came, she assessed and conjured!! i have learned to have her company every 3-4 months to keep me on top of all the piles.

Olwen is a dream to work with. It took less than four hours to unpack the boxes and put the stuff away.What I especially appreciate is her ability to guide the process. She works hard - there were many, many boxes - and she took care of the empties while suggesting places to put my stuff. The entire process took three hours. She's efficient, friendly and a joy to work with. She's very hands-on and a true partner in the process. I have one bedroom that could us her magic touch, but I'm not quite ready yet. When I am ready, you can be sure I'll call Olwen. As it happens, I was taking a class in declutter and organizing which prepared me for Olwen's return, but as a side note, several other members of the class asked for Olwen's information and I suspect one or more of them will be calling her.

A good sort indeed!!!! Owen showed up with clarity, energy and unwavering stick-to-it-ness combined with an empathic and kind ability to guide the overwhelming process of sorting through everything from a lifetime of memories to long held junk. I can now actually use my garage and have space to spare. Thank you Olwen, you are a good sort, actually the best sort of human. xo Marcia Cross

Olwen was wonderful. She helped me get rid of 'stuff' that had been taking up space in my garage, not to mention, weighing me down emotionally and mentally. She is organized and efficient. It's not easy going through someone else's memorabilia, but Olwen did so, all at my speed, and with respect and patience. I highly recommend Olwen to anyone needing a little help with old memories, and old junk.

Olwen never made me feel bad for having such a mess she just dove in and got to work. She has wonderful ideas on how to set things up so they stay organized and never takes offense if you don't use her ideas. She even took the items we donated for us so we didn't have to. She made every single step easier and less stressful than I thought it would be. So if you have a messy desk or you are a hoarder and there is no room to sit anymore or anything in between call Olwen.

I've met with Olwen twice and she was perfectly prompt and professional. She's an "organizationally challenged person's" whisperer. She quickly noticed some of the habits that led to the disarray in our home and communicated them to me in a courteous and sensitive manner. She also made practical and effective suggestions to help me prepare and make our next meeting as productive as possible. She seems flexible with regard to the variable needs of each client.

Great! Olwen was self sufficient and was able to get our kitchen, playroom and bathrooms all set up and organized.

Olwen first came to meet with me to find out what kind of organizing help I needed. I took on the responsibility this past year as trustee for my late uncle's trust as well as financial and healthcare duties for my ill cousin. Trying to stay on top of that work with all the paperwork generated, as well as my own records, was overwhelming. Olwen worked with me during three visits of four hours each. I had complained to her that I often spent excessive amounts of time searching for papers that I knew I had seen but could not remember where I had filed them!! We came up with better labeling for my files, more specific labels, so that I could see at a glance where something should be filed. She suggested some "To Do" or "action" files for the things that needed attention soon, as well as better ways to handle incoming mail and all those things that fall into a "pending" type of category. I had no less than nine writing tablets on my desk when she first started working with me - each one partially filled with notes on some aspect of the work I do. We came up with file folders for all those notes, properly labeled, and I was able to put away the tablets in a cupboard instead of storing them on the top of my desk. My desk top is now clear when I finish my work each day. The things that are pending go into a proper file until I am ready to work on them again. With Olwen's encouragement, I have switched to paperless billing and have greatly reduced the amount of paper coming into the office that I now no longer have to find a place to store. I still have work to do to organize some of my household files and will be asking for Olwen's help with that. She has helped me greatly - I feel much less stress in my office - and I am so grateful that I found her. I recommend Olwen without reservation.