Whether you’re nervous about hosting a holiday party or providing hospitality for holiday guests, professional organizer Lacey Nagy says she can help take the stress out of preparing your home for visitors or festive occasions. It also is a great time of year to find those things you don’t use or need to make a donation to a local charity.

Nagy became a professional organizer after helping a number of her friends move in and out of apartments and homes. “I found that I was able to find a place for everything and do it quickly,”?she says.

Nagy also is an artist and a member of the Gainesville-based art group Third Eye Spoken, which hosts poetry events that benefit local charities.

“I’m an artist and a visionary, so I’m always thinking in that mode,”?says Nagy. “I can see how things are going to function and where they’re going to function.” Nagy says she has the gift to clear up clutter and make everything work within a room. “I can do it right down to the way frames are hanging on the wall,” says Nagy. “It’s a geometric thing.”

Nagy says the service she provides is extremely different from that of a cleaning service. “Cleaning services clean around the mess,” she explains. “They leave your personal stuff alone and wipe down your counters, sweep and vacuum. They clean up the dirt and leave the mess.”

Nagy says she offers a more complete package compared to a cleaning service, because she cleans out clutter. But, don’t expect this professional organizer to just walk into your home and do all the work for you.

“I coach people,”?she explains. “Organizing is a skill. It’s not something that people naturally have. It has to be conditioned and practiced. So, I work alongside of my clients until they get to a point where they don’t need me anymore.” Nagy gives her clients a goal-list of things to do and pushes her clients towards these goals. “It’s easier for you to accomplish these goals if you have somebody you set the goals with,”?she says.

Nagy says many people become attached to “things” that they don’t necessarily use or need. “Those things pile up and pile up and the next thing you know, your home is no longer comfortable,” says Nagy. “I’m not attached to anybody’s stuff. So, I help distinguish what objects they use and what objects they just can’t let go.”

One of those people was Chris Roeder, who works at the University of Florida’s TREEO Center  off Tower Rd. “I had let my living space go for some time,”?he says. “I had to look for my birth certificate, so that I could get a passport. I had boxes of stuff all over the place.”

In five hours, Nagy helped transform Roeder’s living space. But, Roeder says the best transformation was what she did for his outlook. “She helped me clean my living space, but it was the space in my head that was causing physical and mental clutter,” says Roeder. “She found some things that I was hanging onto, but didn’t really need. She said she would donate it to a women’s shelter. That really brought home the benefit and importance of clearing space.”

Nagy says she asks all of her clients to have a trash bag to throw away garbage, a box for things they do not use (these things get donated to a local charity, such as Peaceful Paths or St. Francis House) and another box for items they might be interested in giving to a friend or selling through e-Bay or at a yard sale.

“I can always see through the clutter,” she says. “I actually love the challenge. When other people might be worried or scared, I am usually thinking, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to see what this room looks like when we’re finished.’” Nagy says she loves to see the surprise on her clients’ face when the work is done.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, call Lacey Nagy at (352)332-8579.