Simple Spaces Simple Life professional home organizing service for South Shore, MA residents

Portrait of Ann Hieser Professional Credentials and Affiliations

Member, National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO)
Member, National Association of Professional Organizers-New England chapter (NAPO-NE)
Co-Chair, 2008 NAPO-NE Get Organized Month

Background

I'm an expert in life changes. Since I graduated from college, I've lived in 20 different homes, each with a different floor plan–and I remember them all. So by the time my husband and I moved to Massachusetts, I was a real pro. In just nine days I staged my home, put it on the market, packed up the car, and left Michigan. Two months later I returned to supervise the movers and to close the sale of the house.

I've lived in four different countries and five states. In Switzerland we had no bedroom closets. We did have them in Japan, but they were for the bedding, not the clothes. In Japan we also had a 900-square-foot living space for three people: myself, my husband, and our daughter, who grew from an infant to a 10-year-old while we were there. Each stage of her growth created new reasons to use space creatively. In her tiny bedroom I mounted storage places for diapers and other things all over the walls. I even used a small bookcase to hold clothes. When she became a toddler, I took her bookcase and flipped it on its back as a toy chest. When she reached school age, I flipped it back up and finally used it for books!

My background is in science and computer science–I look at everything as a puzzle to be solved. Even as a child growing up on a farm, I tried to figure out how things (like clouds and stars) work. Years later, as a science teacher, I took joy in transferring that fascination to my students. And because I was teaching in expatriate schools all over the world, I learned how to communicate with people of all backgrounds–from my students to the high-level executives whose companies sponsored the schools. I also learned the patience and skills required to listen well.

I sharpened my organizational skills as a teacher and not just by organizing my subject matter into daily lesson plans. In Zurich I worked with 75 students to organize a hands-on science fair to which 300 people attended. In Japan I helped organize a progressive dinner for 100 adults–no easy task to figure out how we'd get all those people from house to house!

Today, happily settled in Plymouth, I continue to hone my organizing skills as a professional organizer. As a former teacher, I know that–as with all things that are worth doing well–learning never stops.