Rebekah Haynes creates calm out of chaos through home organization business
One Abilene mom of four realized her home wasn’t operating at its best, and neither was she.
“I love to have my house orderly,” she said. “I function better that way. But with four young kids, the reality is, I can’t do that on my own.”
Enter home organizer and Abilene native Rebekah Haynes. After an initial consultation, Haynes and her team descended on the Abilene home and spent 4-5 days helping the client purge unneeded items and organize and label what remained.
“I think when I come in and organize, it makes your life easier,” Haynes said. “It takes something off your plate, so you can focus on other things. Moms who have young kids don’t need to take time away from their kids to be doing organizing projects.”
Haynes grew up in Abilene, attended Texas A&M University, and worked in Dallas in the banking industry for several years. As she grew unsettled with that career, she considered her natural tendency toward organization.
“She was born this way,” her mother, Donna Haynes, confirms. “She has always been neat and organized.”
In college, she said she was the only one of her roommates with matching, coordinated clothes hangers. “They thought I was psycho.”
She was already aware of a company called The NEAT Method that she followed on social media.
“I sent them a message on Instagram and asked if I could come work, and it turned into full time thing. And I love it,” Haynes said.
After a year as a contract employee, Haynes decided to take it a step further, and she purchased the NEAT method franchise for West Texas and moved to Midland where she services Lubbock, Midland, Odessa, El Paso, Amarillo and Abilene.
“I didn’t know that this would be a career,” she said. “At first, I thought it would just be for fun. I’m very organized and thought it would be fun to go into homes and organize stuff. But it’s a lot more than than that; it’s helping people get their lives together. I realized there is a market for it. I didn’t expect it to turn into a full-time job or owning my own franchise, but everything fell into place.”
The NEAT Method was founded by two women in San Francisco who then expanded through franchises. The company is currently all female-owned.
Although based in Midland, Haynes and her team of four contract employees travel to Abilene and other West Texas cities to provide full-service organizing. However, they also offer virtual organizing through video chat to help clients work through what to do with the space, recommend products, etc., without paying a travel fee.
The process begins when a client calls to initiate service and discusses what they hope to accomplish. Haynes recommends starting with three or less spaces in the home; otherwise, it can be overwhelming. At the initial consultation, she looks over everything and gives a detailed quote. When the work begins, it involves taking everything out of the space, sorting the contents to edit and condense, and then putting everything back together in a logical, organized way. The editing process can be challenging, Haynes acknowledges, but she eliminates some of the hassle.
“It gets worse before it gets better,” she said. “But once you’ve decided what to keep and what to let go of, we take care of all the consigning, donating, trashing, etc. That way it’s gone right away and not sitting around your house waiting for you to handle it.”
Haynes said usually women initiate the service, and often their husbands say, “Don’t touch my stuff!” But, after seeing the final product, they usually want their spaces to be organized as well.
“It’s calming,” Haynes said. “You wake up and know where everything is and don’t feel stressed. It’s something you always know you need to get done, and now it’s already done for you. It makes your life run a lot smoother. I know I have anxiety about little things like that, and it lets me breathe better with one less thing to worry about.”
After the initial organization, clients have a task ahead to maintain the tidy spaces and minimal clutter. But Haynes’ Abilene client says the overhaul makes that day-to-day job easier.
“I feel like it’s been easier to maintain,” she said. “Everything is labeled clearly. Three out of four of my kids can read so they can see where things go. If I have groceries, they can help because they know exactly where everything goes. It just makes things a lot more functional.”
Rebekah’s NEAT Notes
- Love it or lose it.
Take regular inventory of the things you own. Whether it is a collection of bags or serving platters, we should love everything we own and be willing to give up the stuff we don’t. Make sure that the valuable real estate in your cabinets and closets is only outfitted with your favorite pieces and nothing more. - Label, label, label.
Labeling really takes your organization to the next level. It helps make your “behind the scenes” as beautiful as your perfectly styled home and will ensure that anyone in your home will know where to find everything as well as where to put it away. - Tops on top and bottoms on bottom
Whether it’s your pots and pans and their lids or the blouses and pants of your closet knowing the exact placement will make you more efficient. We prefer to place all tops on top and bottoms on bottom. - Create systems.
Whether the system is amongst labeled bins or delegated roles within your family, making sure there is structure in your day-to-day will help to keep your house showroom-ready at any time. - Get rid of the “junk” drawer.
Having a place to store “junk” keeps you from placing those items in a proper home. It only takes five minutes to go one step further and keep like items together instead of corralling everything in one miscellaneous space.
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By Wendy Kilmer
Photography by Beth Dukes
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