Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Bergen County
Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Ep. # 102 Organizing Your Life: Professional Decluttering with Hope Kerner
Professional organizer Hope Kerner transforms cluttered households into peaceful sanctuaries through her Bergen County business, All Things Neat by Hope. As she explains, organizing isn't merely about aesthetics—it's about reclaiming your time, reducing stress, and creating functional systems that work with your lifestyle rather than against it.
After 25 years as a personal trainer, Hope noticed a pattern in her clients' homes: physical wellness often stopped at the doorway, while living spaces remained chaotic and stress-inducing. This observation sparked her transition into professional organizing, where she now helps families tackle everything from overstuffed closets to garage nightmares. Her comprehensive services include decluttering, organizing, move management (packing and unpacking), and home staging for real estate sales.
What sets Hope's approach apart is her understanding of the psychology behind our relationship with stuff. She compassionately guides clients through the emotional process of letting go, noting that people typically wear just 20% of their clothing 80% of the time. For inherited items, she helps clients separate meaningful memories from physical objects that no longer serve them. With clear storage bins, file-folding techniques, and customized systems, All Things Neat creates sustainable organization that clients can actually maintain.
Hope dispels the myth that professional organizing is a luxury service, emphasizing that it's an investment in your home and well-being. Starting with just one troublesome area, clients quickly see the benefits—reduced stress, time savings, and even financial advantages from avoiding duplicate purchases. Whether you're a young family drowning in toys, empty-nesters reclaiming space, or seniors downsizing, Hope's team brings clarity and calm to Bergen County homes. Ready to transform your space? Contact Hope through allthingsneatbyhope.com or call 973-493-6359 for your free consultation.
All Things Neat by Hope
Hope Kerner
(973) 493-6359
Hope@allthingsneatbyhope.com
allthingsneatbyhope.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am your host, doug Drohan, brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. Today we are joined by Hope. Hope Kerner is the owner of All Things Neat by Hope. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me. It's a great Friday, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so All Things Neat. So that would lend one to believe that you do something about tidying up or organizing. So is that true? Is your business like a home organization service business? Yes, that's correct.
Speaker 3:So we are professional organizers going into people's homes occasionally a business, but for the most part homes providing decluttering and organizing services. In addition to decluttering and helping people move, packing to move and unpacking and organizing. On the other side, I think you froze yeah, all right.
Speaker 2:So what's you know what? What's um? Are you there all? I'm here. Yeah, all right. You know what? I'm going to start the open again and we're going to start all over. Okay, this is the Good.
Speaker 1:Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together.
Speaker 2:Here's your host, doug Drohan hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am your host, doug Drahan, brought to you by the Good Neighbor, brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group, and today we are joined by Hope Kerner, the owner of All Things Neat by Hope. Hope, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Doug, for having me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so All Things Neat. It sounds like you help people tidy up. It's an organization, home organization, I guess that it's at its core, but you do a lot of other things. But so you know, tell me a little bit about the company. All things neat.
Speaker 3:Okay. So we provide in-home decluttering and organizing. A lot of people have some home decluttering and organizing. A lot of people have some clutter in their homes and don't know where to get started or how to do it, or get frustrated. So they give us a call and we help them out and we, you know, go all throughout the homes in any area, declutter and organize, and we also provide full move assistance. So that would also include decluttering, packing and unpacking and organizing on the other side, whether it's local or we'll travel to wherever you move.
Speaker 2:Okay, so what? You're also helping them get a moving company and you're moving them or just packing.
Speaker 3:We don't actually move them. We provide the service for them. So we will pack them up label and pack them. We'll contact the moving company or anyone that you know, any of the vendors that they need, whether it's a junk hauler, if they need an estate sale, anyone like that organizing and do you start like, is it usually I need my basement, my kids playroom, my garage?
Speaker 2:Like do you normally start with one room and who's your typical client?
Speaker 3:I don't really have a typical client. It could be a young family, it could be an empty nester, it could be a senior, so it really varies. Lately we've been having a lot of young families. It usually starts in one room, whether it's a closet, a kitchen or a playroom and uh, they see how we work and they're very happy with when we get through with that project and we wind up going into a lot of other areas of the home and sometimes just work our way throughout the entire home, including the garage, and garage season is coming up right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, don't. I know it. So from your accent it sounds like you're a New Yorker, because I'm from New York. I'm from Long Island and I guess I lost my Long Island accent or never had one for some reason. So how did you get into this business? Like? What's your journey?
Speaker 3:So, yes, I cannot take the New York out of the girl, but I've also. When I graduated high school, I went to school in Florida and California, so I've moved a lot throughout my lifetime within each state.
Speaker 2:Where in New York are you from?
Speaker 3:Long.
Speaker 2:Island and what part of Long Island Valley Stream.
Speaker 3:Okay, all right, and so I worked my way back into Manhattan and then lived in the city a few places and then moved to New Jersey and so I've become an ace packer very efficient at it, and I guess I never collected much stuff, so it made it easier. And even when I raised my family and had a large home I didn't have a lot of clutter around. So I guess eventually one thing led to the other. I was a personal trainer for 25 years, going into people's homes.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And I saw a lot of clutter in people's homes and the gym business changed and one thing morphed into another and I realized people really needed help in their homes. So I went from helping people with their bodies to helping them in their homes. Okay, and I love what I do. It really brings a lot of joy to people. I say I bring them hope and really see people's faces light up with what we do. It's really cathartic. Yeah, so that's you know. We make people feel good about living in their homes. It brings a lot of stress. Well, I was going that's you know. We make people feel good about living in their homes. It brings a lot of stress.
Speaker 2:Well, they're going to say when you're a trainer, most people hire you because they want to Right exactly. So you're helping them de-stress as a fitness instructor and trainer. And now you're, you know, help them de-stress in another way reduce stress with the decluttering and organizing. Yeah, and in another way reduce stress with the decluttering and organizing. I mean, there's Marie Kondo, a famous organizer in Japanese. There was, I don't know if it was kind of a movement that she helped jump on board to, but I know that, personally speaking, when I can organize and declutter because I come from a family of well, my German grandfather and my well, my German great grandmother and then my grandfather, they were not your typical Germans, they had stuff everywhere.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know, I hear stories about my mother growing up in Ridgewood Queens of how the German women would be outside sweeping stoops and keeping everything clean. But my grandfather, when he passed away, was like holy cow, the house was just a disaster and my parents' garage five kids growing up. You've never been able to fit a bicycle in a garage, let alone a car. And my parents are still alive. They live in Florida, they're 90 years old and when they moved to Florida it's like, oh, this is a chance to declutter. They just brought it all with them.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, I wouldn't say my mom's a hoarder, but she has a tough time getting rid of stuff and she likes to buy things cause they're cheap, not necessarily because we need them, but it was only a dollar for that golf club and I'm like, yeah, but I a bargain. Yeah, yeah, she's. You know, she grew up during the depression, so I get it. Um, but so for me, um, I let things get out of control, but then when I can declutter, it's like man, it's such a relief, it feels so good to. You know, I just did my closet and then my wife saw what I did, cause I bought these like organizer baskets, and she's like, oh's amazing, get me some of those. And you know, now the closet looks so much better and it just gives you peace, you know it will organize once things are organized.
Speaker 3:It also saves people time, energy and money because, time wise, a lot of the wasting time looking for what they're trying to find, they wind up buying duplicates of the same thing. So they're saving money by not having to do that and they're saving energy because they don't have to waste the time looking for the things and it just things run much smoothly, whether it's for kids who can find what they want with their toys or adults.
Speaker 3:It's easier for everyone. It's really less stressful. But going back to having to let go of things a lot of people have a problem letting go of things. They inherit things and then they don't use them. They take up space in their attic or closet or wherever and they don't want to let them go. But it's taking up valuable real estate. So we try and encourage people to let things go.
Speaker 3:It's okay to let things go, you don't have to keep things forever, you know, you have the memory of it. You can have good memories about the person but, you don't need to hang on the thing that you're not using, you don't want, you don't even like it yeah, you feel like you have to keep it, so yeah, it's a push-pull. Sometimes we have to put things to the side and then revisit them and hopefully they'll eliminate them.
Speaker 2:Now, that's not the only thing that you do. I mean, you mentioned organization, you mentioned moving, but you also mentioned, like, estate services. So tell me a little bit more about, or tell us a little bit more about, the other services that you offer that I work with so we can refer them to someone who does provide the estate sale services.
Speaker 3:But a lot of people think that the things are worth more than they are. And you know the reality is most people don't have things that are really that valuable. Everyone thinks, oh, I bought it for, let's say, $5,000. The minute it leaves the store it's worth $2,500. The longer you have it, the value diminishes, unless it's truly something worth. And the reality is most people don't want your stuff anymore, your kids don't want your stuff and everybody else has enough of their own stuff.
Speaker 2:Really really, it's the truth.
Speaker 3:But you know, we can put them in touch with someone that provides the estate sale services and then they'll go into the home and they'll provide that service for them. But in terms of when people pass away, we can handle the estate that home and we can declutter it, eliminate items that they no longer want and get it ready to put up for sale. So in that sense we can help them with that. So you know, working with realtors or families of deceased family members, we work with them.
Speaker 2:Right, so that's, it's not just estate people selling, it's anybody who's selling their home, getting the home ready for, you know, for staging, almost yeah.
Speaker 3:Because you know, the longer you live in a house, well, the more stuff you acquire. But also you become blind to what's around you yeah and when you want to sell your house, you want to take down personal photographs and religious objects and you want to make it as neat and tidy and spacious as possible, so another family can perhaps see themselves living in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So I noticed that you also offer a lot of product ideas. I mean, you don't sell them, but you point people to the products, whether they're on Amazon or something else, and that's where I got my these like baskets but they kind of fold up and I don't you know like for your shirts and pants and things like that. Um, what are the like? Okay, so I'm going to talk about myself.
Speaker 2:Um, our well, my clothing drawer is a mess. You know where I keep my? Whether it's my socks and underwear is one drawer, or it's my t-shirts and another drawer, or it's my workout clothes and another. It's a complete disaster, and I know I can't even shut the drawers, so I've got to go through them and get rid of some things, because I usually have a rule if I haven't worn it in a year, then it's time to get rid of it. Uh, what are some of the you know products that you endorse, if you will, or recommend things like organizing your clothing drawer. Organizing, maybe, like we have a drawer for water bottles, but we have so many water bottles I can't stack them because it's a drawer. Oh yeah, water bottles storage containers.
Speaker 3:There are certain things we find in every home and it's just, it's out of control. But in terms of products, so when we go into people's homes and we organize, we usually handle getting the products because it's too overwhelming for people and we're at this point where we know exactly what will work and what won't work.
Speaker 3:We'll give people options, but most people, just like you, take care of this. We find clear bins work the best. This way people can see what they have and we label things. But it also depends on the amount of closet space you have versus drawer space. Some people prefer to hang their pants. Some people like to put them in drawers, or even their exercise clothing.
Speaker 3:So we'll use drawer dividers, things like that. In drawers. We also like to file fold so you can see what's there, as opposed to stacking shirts you know seven high, and then when you go to take out the third shirt, it becomes a mess again and going through your clothing. Because people wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time, Whether it's shoes or, you know, belts or pants or sweaters. Seasonal clothing don't need to be front and center all the time.
Speaker 3:So you know, you might want to change things up, but it also depends on the size of the space that you have you know, and typically, whether you have a 10, 000 square foot home or a two-bedroom apartment, people fill the space they have. It's human nature, so it's a matter of just constantly going through it. But you know we have an amazon storefront, we recommend people, we send links and it's just easier for people again if we recommend and purchase the products for them it's one less headache for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Clear is best. Clear is best usually for any situation, so that you could see what you have.
Speaker 2:Right, okay, and then one of the services you offer is a maintenance service. So what does that entail?
Speaker 3:So we'll go into someone's house and we'll finish a project whether it's a closet or a pantry or garage, let's say and after X number of months it'll get messy and people don't have time or just aren't interested in doing it themselves.
Speaker 3:So if we've worked in a particular area in your home and you want to make it tidy again in a particular area in your home and you want to make it tidy again, we'll come back and we provide a maintenance service for you know less amount of time, but we've already done the project and the bins and baskets or whatever is is there already so we just have to make it so that they can see what they have again and find it in a timely manner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's amazing how often you know I'll tidy something up, organize it, and then six months later I'm like dear God, what the heck happened.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're the superheroes in people's lives.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice.
Speaker 3:We do the things they don't want to do, but it really makes people so happy. It's just, you know, we build relationships with our clients, we really get together with. It's just you know, we build relationships with our clients, we really get together with them. And you know, we meet the whole family and we love it really. It's just, it's a win-win for everybody. You know we just provide solutions for them and then they can run with it. It's easier that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's, you know, I'd imagine. Well here's, here's one thing I was going to say I'd imagine, but a lot of people probably don't realize. Like, is this something I can afford? Is this something that you know is really bougie, that you know only rich people can afford? Should I be ashamed that I have to hire somebody to organize my life because I'm too disorganized?
Speaker 3:So, first of all, we don't judge people. We're not here to judge you, we're here to help you. Okay, you know, sometimes, look, you hire an accountant to do your accounting right. You go to the doctor, a professional, you go to a lawyer. So we're the professionals in that area.
Speaker 3:So, we're not here to judge you In terms of affording it. You know decluttering is an investment in your home. You have to look at it that way. But you can start off with one room. You don't have to make it a giant project. You start off with one room. A few months down the road, if you want, we'll come back, we'll do another room. So we tell people we'll do as much or as little as you want. That's up to you. We try to make it affordable for everyone. We try and work things out with people. But once people see what we do for them, it makes it better for them. So it is an investment for them.
Speaker 2:Right. So you say we. So you have a team that works with you.
Speaker 3:Okay, I have a team of ladies and we will, you know, whether it's two of us or three of us, depending upon the project the four of us and we'll come in and we'll do whatever they need to do.
Speaker 2:So the first thing you do is kind of you come in and give an assessment. You kind of look it over and yes.
Speaker 3:So I'll go to someone's house, I'll do a free in-home consult. I will walk probably throughout the whole house so that I can see what's going on, even if they only want me for one project. One project usually leads to another project, but again, we'll start with one project wherever the pain point is whether it's a closet or a pantry expired items or whatever. You know a pantry expired items or whatever it is and we'll take it from there. So then from the consult we'll schedule the first session, the first session. I usually need the homeowner there. We will work with the homeowner. A lot of times people work remotely from their homes, so you know we won't actually have them right with us, but you know we'll text them to have five minutes or we'll put things to the side if we have questions about things. But we do need the homeowner for the first couple of sessions, depending upon the size of the project.
Speaker 2:Okay, so when did you start this business? How many years has it been?
Speaker 3:It has been six years since I started the business, yeah.
Speaker 2:I thought about this 10 years ago. You were a full-time personal trainer and you worked for yourself.
Speaker 3:Yes, well, I worked for myself going to people's homes, and if they had a home gym it was great, if they didn't, it was fine. I was like Mary Poppins and brought, you know, my bag of goods with me, and I also worked in gyms, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So what was the transition like to leave that world behind? And now I mean so as a personal trainer. You were used to running a business. In some ways. I used to be a personal trainer. I did it on the side. Okay, I worked in the city. I lived down in Hudson County, so I had a lot of people that had condos, that had gyms or had spaces too. But yeah, to your point, I used to have like 500 pounds of weights in my car and pull up and just take out whatever.
Speaker 3:I needed Go-to battle ropes. I would go to parks with people. It was great. I still love it.
Speaker 2:But I don't think I really treated it like a business. It was a side hustle, even though I made, you know, decent money, for you know what I was doing on the side what. What has it been like to go from that to now? I have, you know, a full-time. You know all things neat having a staff. You know being responsible for. You know getting customers. You know customer acquisition, business development, however you want to call it, marketing all the things that go into running a company. What has that been like for you?
Speaker 3:It's a lot. It's a lot. I have to wear different hats and I have to actually have to hire another person, and there's a learning curve, you know, along the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:There's definitely. Owning your own business is a learning curve, networking, talking to different people. You have to kind of be an extrovert. You know, that was never a problem for me. I can talk to people, yeah you know, that was never a problem for me. I can talk to people, but it really is about, you know, building relationships and making people feel comfortable. I'm going into their homes, you know, and it becomes very personal.
Speaker 3:You know, you see a lot, you hear a lot and you have to know you know when to be quiet and when to you know get people to start talking and feel comfortable. So it's a little bit of a push-pull, yeah, but I was used to doing that as a trainer. I was in people's homes also, right, right. So in a way it was similar. The transition wasn't as difficult for me. You know, getting the sale asking for money, things like that.
Speaker 3:That wasn't my issue. You know a lot of people have that issue, so yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 2:I mean, people do have that issue about asking for money.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know they feel almost embarrassed to do that. So I've had people I've asked if they wanted to work for me. They're like oh, I can't ask people for money, it's all right, yeah, yeah it goes, yeah, and sales too. A lot of people have fun with sales, but if you own a company, you're in sales, whether you want to call yourself a salesman. If you're an owner and you have to bring in business, you're in sales.
Speaker 3:Semantics.
Speaker 2:Right If you're a doctor and you have your own practice. You're in sales.
Speaker 3:Right, so you just have to wear different hats. You know you have to be able to roll with it and you know zig and zag at times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:But it's fun and I like it, and every day is a new day and each client is different.
Speaker 2:Nice and what areas do you typically focus on? Like you're in Northern New Jersey, like do you have?
Speaker 3:We are all over Bergen County.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Literally End to end, top to bottom. Occasionally I go into Morris County or Passaic County, but it's pretty much, and even parts of, like Suffern and Nyack not that way. Rockland County, but it's Bergen County, okay. Whether it's Closter and Crestville and Upper Saddle River or Franklin Lakes. Okay, we are all over.
Speaker 2:Right, right, okay. I'm in Harrington Park, so I'm right next to Closter.
Speaker 3:One of my team leaders is in Harrington Park. How?
Speaker 2:nice, maybe we know each other.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm over that way a lot lately, so I'm getting to know her pretty well.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So yeah, so we really are all over.
Speaker 2:Nice, nice. So how do people contact you if they're interested in hiring you?
Speaker 3:So my website is allthingsneatbyhope. com and they can go onto that and fill out the inquiry form. My number is 973-493-6359. They can call me, they can text me or they could shoot me an email and we can set up a discovery call. So any way they want Nice.
Speaker 2:Well Hope. Thank you for bringing a little hope to everyone's disorganized life. I really appreciate you being on today and we're going to have Chuck close us out, but thank you very much.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. I appreciate this, doug. Take care, okay, you too.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen. com. That's gnpbergen. com, or call 201-298-8325.