How to hire a home organiser in Bengaluru

A helper or your maid for a few extra hours sits between doing it yourself and an organiser. We found no published price for it in Bengaluru, so agree it with her by the day. She can lift and fold, but the decisions stay with you.

Four of these six budgets are under the cheapest organiser price above. If yours is too, send us your budget and photos of the space. We'll say what it can cover, or look for someone who fits it.

A day, priced by the work

₹5,000 to ₹8,000

A day with a team of four

From ₹8,999

Depends on the workload, the organiser told Deccan Herald

Four people for seven hours

How many people come: not published

Usually one or two rooms of wardrobes or storage

How many hours: not published

Priced from your photos, 10% to book, the rest when you're happy

Boxes: not published

Free return if something isn't right

Boxes: not stated

By the hour, from ₹2,500. Deccan Herald reported about that rate at two organisers, for smaller jobs. One of them puts a team of two or three, travel, a video consult, a layout plan and help buying boxes into its quote. We don't know whether the ₹2,500 is for each person or for the whole team, so ask, and ask how many hours they expect.

Which kind protects you. At ₹2,500 an hour, seven hours comes to at least ₹17,500, our sum. So paying by the hour suits a short, clear job of two or three hours. For a long day, or if you'll want to hold every sari before letting it go, a fixed price for the job is safer, because the bill doesn't grow while you decide.

Ask to see before-and-after photos of a job the size of yours before you pay.

Clearing out and arranging are two jobs. Throw out first. Arranging what's left comes after, and only then do boxes help. Boxes bought before the clearing just give the clutter nicer homes.

A video session suits someone who needs a plan and a push. It won't suit a bad back or a week with no free evenings, because you do all the lifting.

One person who wrote to us wanted a whole 2BHK done for ₹15,000, with the donations taken away. At ₹8,999 a day that's one full day and not quite a second. At the ₹5,000 to ₹8,000 a day another organiser charges, it's about two to three days, but that price doesn't say how much a day covers, so ask.

The kitchen has no published price anywhere here. It's the room with the most small things in it, so send photos of every shelf and ask for the days before you book.

On day one everything comes out, so the house looks worse before it looks better. Don't book it for the week your in-laws arrive, and ask what happens to the price if the job runs into another day.

What's in the price, on one wardrobe

Tap a number to see what it is and what it costs.

123456

1. 1

   Sorting, folding and hanging

   From ₹3,299

   One firm's Bengaluru page, a seven-hour job, shown beside a 'Hyderabad First 20' offer label, so it may be a Hyderabad offer: ask. Priced from your photos

   Add to my request: Sorting, folding and hanging
2. 2

   Storage boxes and baskets

   ₹99 to ₹749 each

   At a cheap online shop and at IKEA. One organiser bills them on top of its fee at cost plus 10%. Ask for the list and buy them yourself

   Add to my request: Storage boxes and baskets
3. 3

   The loft

   Ask for the price

   One firm leaves the loft out of its wardrobe job, and the loft, overhead and under-bed storage out of its full-house package. Ask, and ask whether they bring a ladder

   Add to my request: The loft
4. 4

   The locker: jewellery, cash and papers

   Ask for the price

   The same firm's wardrobe job leaves out valuables and papers, and its full-house package documents and gold and silver jewellery. Take them out before anyone starts

   Add to my request: The locker: jewellery, cash and papers
5. 5

   The innerwear drawer

   Ask for the price

   Left out of both of that firm's packages. Sort it yourself before they come

   Add to my request: The innerwear drawer
6. 6

   The bags going out

   Free, or a scrap app pays you

   One organiser's page says it doesn't do donation drop-off. The city's Dclutter app picks up bulky waste free. Question 7 has the rest

   Add to my request: The bags going out

Will they judge the mess? It's the job they came for, and every home they see starts out like yours. One man who hired an organiser for his new home told Deccan Herald he was hesitant to let someone into his personal space, and quickly felt at ease after speaking to the team.

You don't have to sit there all day. Be there at the start to say what matters, and come back to decide on each pile marked to go. If you'll be out, say what may be thrown without asking you, and what never is.

Tell the society first. Some buildings want names at the gate for a team of three or four, and a lift booked to take the bags down.

From a cheap online shop

About ₹1,250, our sum

From IKEA

About ₹4,000, our sum

2 hanging pocket organisers, ₹99 each

2 large zipped storage cases, ₹699 each

3 foldable baskets with lids, ₹299 each

1 hanging shelf with 6 compartments, ₹749

1 rotating tray, ₹149

2 boxes with compartments, ₹599 each

1 drawer divider, ₹699

Measure after the clearing, then buy. Much of what's in the wardrobe may leave, and the shelves that are left decide the sizes. Bought before, the boxes are often the wrong size or too many.

Ask for the shopping list. Buying through the organiser saves you the trips, at 10% on top at one organiser here. Buying from the list yourself saves the 10%. Other pages don't say whether boxes are in the price, so ask.

Sort into piles as you go. Clothes to give, scrap to sell, bulky things for the city's pickup, and rubbish. Bags left on the balcony for a month undo the whole job.

Check the app for clothes. Reports differ on whether Dclutter takes them.

Ask the organiser on the first call who takes the bags out of the house, and book the lift if your building needs it.

The mover prices the whole move by the size of your home and the distance. At that mover, a 2BHK within 20 km is ₹9,000 to ₹18,000, and a 3BHK ₹15,000 to ₹27,000, before 18% GST. That pays for packing, loading, the truck, unpacking and the furniture put back together, and it clears the packing waste. Filling the cupboards is the part you do yourself, or book an organiser for.

Clear out before the packers come. There are fewer cartons to pack, and fewer to open at the other end. One organiser here gives the same advice.

Write the room and the cupboard on every carton. Whoever unpacks, you or an organiser paid by the hour, finds things faster. Set up the kitchen first, so you can cook on the first night.

Set the kitchen up for the hands that use it. If a cook comes, the shelves have to suit the cook, or everything soon goes back where it was. Have your maid and cook there for the last hour, when the organiser walks you through where things now live.

What the organisers offer. One organiser's quote includes staff training where it applies, so ask for it to cover your maid and cook. Another comes back free if something isn't right with the work.

Ask about a check-in. Ask whether they'll come back in a month to see how it's holding up, and what that costs.

Look before anything goes. Check sari folds, coat pockets, books, steel dabbas and the back of the almirah's locker. Organisers may leave papers and jewellery to you anyway, so this part is yours either way.

Take photos of the home as it was, room by room, before the clearing starts, because you'll want them later.

If Amma or Appa is moving to one room, measure that room first, and choose what fits before the flat is cleared.

When to start is your family's call. There's no rule.

Hiring for it. No organiser here publishes a price for clearing a home. It's quoted like any other job, by the hour or the day (question 1). If a brother or sister abroad wants to see things before they go, ask whether the team can work with a video call. Question 7 has where everything can go.