Tip Tuesday – Simplify You vs. The Home Edit, Part 1

Have you been watching “Get Organized with The Home Edit” on Netflix? In each episode, the duo Clea and Joanna organize for a “regular” person and a “celebrity.” First, I want to congratulate them for an entertaining show, bringing more attention to the organizing profession, and demonstrating their organizing processes clearly.

But I also want to highlight some of the ways my Simplify You (SY) approach and results compare and contrast with The Home Edit’s (THE). In Part One of this two-part Tip, I will address some large-scale similarities and differences in our organizing methods.

TEAMS: Both SY and THE bring teams along to get the job done efficiently.  However, we at SY seldom bring more than four skilled assistants, and reserve teams that large for very big projects. On the other hand, THE seems to bring six to ten assistants along on most projects! Remember, more people = more money invested in labor. And THE does not discount their hourly rate for assistants, as SY does.

TIME: We at SY always try to complete our projects in ONE day (with fewer people). This even applies to massive projects like basements and garages! On the show, THE often needed two days to get projects done. Perhaps this was because of filming restrictions, but with twice as many people on hand, one would hope a project would take half as much time.

DECOR: SY collaborates with talented interior decorators who choose wallpaper, furniture, and accents for our clients, generally after we have cleared and contained items in our client’s homes. On the televised projects, THE brought in new furniture, pictures, and rainbow accents on top of organizational products. THE’s decision to decorate may have been to zhuzh up television-worthy “after” photos, but we at SY leave the interior design touches to our expert colleagues.

EXPERIENCE: THE’s Joanna and Clea were probably still in college, or just out of it, when I started my business in 2003. On average, I would estimate that a Simplify You team of two (which ALWAYS includes me) would have more than double the years of experience than that of a Home Edit team of two.

CONTAINERS: I am a huge fan of consistent containers! And so is THE! In fact, THE has their own product line on sale at The Container Store, which they highlighted during the series.

LABELS: I love a good label and so does THE! However, I do like to be a bit more specific in my label descriptions than THE’s generic pre-made labels which use catch-all terms like “snacks” or “dinner.”

PERFECTION: SY aims for a “Pinterest-perfect project” and so does THE. THE’s “after” shots are often professionally photographed by Clea’s husband. Ours are done on my Galaxy S10 😉.

In summary, our approaches can vary, but I think the results that SY and THE accomplish are more alike than different! Tune in for Part Two of my Simplify You vs. The Home Edit breakdown next week, where I will detail our smaller-scale similarities and differences.