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Downsizing your home without losing your mind

Posted January 30, 2019 by

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5.0

Based on 37 reviews

LET'S MAKE ROOM, LLC

5.0

Lynn Berg

19:36 02 Dec 22

I really cannot say enough good things about Lis and her team and the impact they have had on my life. From totally managing my move into my house, to periodic organizing projects along the way, they have helped me develop a sense of peace and order in my home. With their optimistic, insightful, and highly experienced perspectives, they have helped me gain confidence and life skills that have made my life richer and more productive. I have worked with many organizers over the last few decades and Let's Make Room is by far the best group I have ever worked with.

Shelly Flynn

18:15 20 Nov 22

I recommended Lis to an out of state client selling a family member's home in Oakland through probate. She jumped right in, organized every aspect of this project, communicated consistently and took a tremendous weight off the shoulders of my client and I am most grateful. I would not hesitate to recommend Lis again.

Steve Siegelman

00:48 09 Nov 22

Lis and her team turned my cluttered basement nightmare into a dream come true. I wanted to tackle the big decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of, and Lis gave me good advice about that. When she and her crew showed up, they sorted, boxed, bagged and left everything organized for the haulers, who came the next day and cleared everything out. Everyone was professional, prompt, kind, fast, and efficient.

Michaela

18:50 03 Oct 22

Dearest Lis,I’m so grateful for the time you took with me on Zoom as it helped in a way I couldn’t have anticipated and leaves me with a container to keep light and peaceful. About 8 bags of clothes, books and things were taken to good will, 3 bags of trash and a bunch of things set aside to give specially. I’ve been here almost 20 years and my closet had become a catchall. Friday and Saturday I reclaimed my closet and it feels absolutely blessed! So much love is coming your way. Hope you realize what a gift you share and how it brought grace and beauty back into my life.Here is a before and after so you can feel the lightness restored to my prayer space.

Ed and Cindi

23:36 18 Jul 22

For anyone considering Lis and her team, I have two words of advice - DO IT!!! I felt compelled to leave this review because of how kind and helpful Lis was to us in spite of the fact that we live in OH & Lis, of course, is in the Bay Area - CA!!! I stumbled upon Let's Make Room doing a google search for help managing movement of contents in preparation for a remodeling of sorts of my elderly Mom's home. Lis graciously extended her (30) min 'free' consultation knowing it would not be possible to retain her services. The time I spent on the phone with Lis was amazingly helpful. She was professional, empathetic and listened intently. In addition to providing sound advice and recommending an approach, she actually took the time to locate and suggest professionals in our area that can help us. What impressed me the most about Lis is her willingness to do what she could to help when she not only did not have to, but did so willingly, with a smile in her voice, and knowing there was really nothing in it for her considering we live 2,500 miles away. We are so grateful for her and only wish a person of her caliber and professional credentials lived a whole lot closer to our home!!!

Erik Gulseth

01:05 22 May 22

Lis and her crew are the best. They take care of everything. Having to empty out the house you grew up in after your parents are gone is an emotional roller coaster. Lis and her team are caring, compassionate and meticulous.100% recommended!!

Janet Carlson

21:57 21 May 22

Excellent service. Highly recommend.

Melissa Winn

21:54 11 May 22

I couldn't recommend Lis and her team more highly! We had a VERY complicated move that included going through everything in the house and separating items for initial move, final move, leave for staging (we are selling our home) and then donation and trash. I honestly could not of done this without her. They were at our house for 3 days and we went through everything (her technique makes this so easy). She helped and managed the team that came to haul away items for donation vs trash (they sort this at their own warehouse so that they don't throw anything away that can be donated) as well as the non-profit crew that came to take the furniture that we donated. That process was complicated and took A LOT of management and Lis handled it professionally and efficiently. By the time they left I had everything in its place for the staging, and everything separated for the movers vs the items we'd be taking with us. I know this review does not do justice to just how complicated and exhausting this process was. At the end of the 2nd day my mom called to check in on me (because she knew how stressed I had been) and I was so upbeat because of how incredible Lis and her team were. I truly cannot recommend her more. They are worth every penny and my life is better because of them!

Michael Wadman

01:20 30 Apr 22

Let’s make room did an amazing job working with my 86 yo parents to declutter and move their bedroom. Lis and Paul were so capable and delightful to work with that my parents gave them a big hug at the end of the job. I couldn’t be more happy with their work.

Heather Meeker

22:56 22 Feb 22

Lis and her team are professional, personable, and helpful. I arranged for them to clean up a storage room, and they did a great job in a single day. They were also helpful on a personal level to guide my decisions about what to keep and what to give or throw away. Great job, highly recommended. I only wish I had engaged them years ago.

Joel Drucker

11:02 17 Jan 22

After living in one home for nearly 30 years, I was about to make a big move from one part of the state to the other. It was all quite daunting to me. But Lis and her team took all the stress out of it, superbly organizing everything from pruning my home, creating a checklist of activities and then handling the subsequent packing and moving steps. Just fantastic.

Angela Kohtz

17:24 18 Dec 21

Getting expert help clearing out the jumbled mess and thoughtfully setting up our spaces is an investment, and it’s worth it. Lis and the team of Jen and Paul got right into the clutter of my accumulated Pandemic, parenting-chaos, disorganized kitchen burnout and brought a positive, diligent, and effective approach. They led the day-long task of sorting, purging, assigning [a place], containing, and equalizing each item in the kitchen. They all had in common a disarming kind, open, and friendly interest in the space, the project, and the assortment of objects, whether discarding, donating, or organizing. When they left at the end of the day, the kitchen counters were cleared, and many, many little loose ends were neatly resolved. Best of all was the encouraging effect that in the days since this process, I’ve been using the same [much slower] process myself to systematically organize with the SPACE mindset.

Simone Koga

17:39 09 Nov 21

I've worked with Lis a number of times and will always come back to her for any organization projects. I love to have an organized home, but I rarely have the time to really come up with a master plan and execute it. Enter Lis. She and her team are absolute experts. They move quickly and efficiently, they think outside of the box, and they are kind and compassionate as they help me weigh the pros and cons of keeping or tossing items. After my most recent move, I assumed I'd be able to unpack in a few weeks to a month, but after 7 months and most of the household spaces in fairly good shape, I hadn't made a dent in my own personal boxes and belongings. My personal space was stressing me out but with little kids at home, a full time business, and so many obligations, I was never finding time to unbox and was overwhelmed just looking at the doom piles everywhere. Lis and her team got to work quickly and transformed my space and my life. Now my room is functional, inspiring and most of all, a space I feel comfortable spending time in. Now...onto my garage!

Nichelle Jenkins

22:02 21 Oct 21

I reached out to Lis after months of avoiding the reality that we needed professional help to help us make room in our home. As busy home-based entrepreneurs we needed a team that was efficient, professional, and most importantly, kind and caring. It is an intimate act to invite folks into your home to help you see what you have avoided seeing. Lis is a great organizer, yes, and as importantly, also a great team leader. She assembled the right people with the exact right energy and temperament for the 2-day job. It was a pleasure - not a burden - to make room with Lis and her team.

Elean Alpe

02:05 18 Sep 21

In the past, I learned about organization through Lis. When I recently became totally stressed out and overwhelmed by a very quick out of state move, I called her asking for help. She was able to figure out what I needed and we proceeded from there. First it was a yard sale to get rid of much of my stuff, and then it was choosing a mover. Lis has been phenomenally helpful. She has been my sounding board as well as coaching me on relaxation techniques. She has guided me the entire time. I am so confident in her abilities, attention to detail, and honesty that I turned most of the move over to her. I was on a plane while she was there for packing and moving days. She kept me informed the entire time with videos, pictures, and texts. Honestly, though I felt so disorganized, she confided that I was the most organized person she has helped with a move. Anytime I felt less than perfect, she reassured me. Ok, she is better than having your mother help you, because not only is she caring, she is objective and experienced. Do not hesitate, even if you are unsure of where you need help, she will figure it out for you.

Vicki Samo

02:07 27 Aug 21

Lis and her team came into my very disorganized and cluttered home and worked magic! I feel a whole new optimism. They took away TONS of items I wanted to donate, and then organized and labeled the rest. I am very very happy with the service, knowledge and friendly support I received throughout. This is a great company.

Helene Hoenig

20:34 19 Jul 21

Lis is great! She helped us through the purging/curating process with our big closet, and stayed until the job was done. She even took the closet dimensions in advance and purchased possible storage we could use, and then returned what we didn't end up using. Lis also took all our discarded items with her, so she donated the items we no longer needed, and our trash and recycling was also taken care of! The closet looks awesome, and our place was fully returned to its original state (if not better) before she left.

Joe Imwalle

00:04 15 Jul 21

Lis and her team pulled off an amazing feat! We have been talking for years about setting aside a chunk of time to pull everything out and go through stuff to donate or throw out and put it all back in an organized way. It was a major project and one that would have taken us over a week. That magical week of free time never arrived and so we hired Let's Make Room. They made the whole process so much more efficient and were brilliant with how to get it all back in the spaces in an organized way. We now have space to store our bikes and easily get at all our outdoor gear and holiday decorations, etc. And in our garage/laundry space, we now have it set up as a sewing studio, a music recording nook, and an art space for our daughter! Dream achieved! This is all in addition to a space to wash and fold laundry. Well worth the expense! We've just added amazing new living space to our home! A major quality of life boost!

Jeff Streiffer

03:15 24 Jun 21

Lis, Nanette, Holly, and the rest of the team were absolutely fabulous, and essential, in helping my spouse and I downsize and relocate from California to Hawaii. They provided emotional support as well as literal heavy lifting in making our dream come true. Perfection from conception to execution. I would unqualifiedly and without hesitation recommend Let's Make Room to help you get where you need to go!!!

Jennifer Bell

14:43 24 Apr 21

I can't recommend Lis McKinley and Let's Make Room highly enough! We hired her to help us downsize from a four bedroom house will a full basement and garage in California to move to a two bedroom apartment in Philadelphia. We had lived in our home for over thirty years and it showed! Lis and her crew helped us downsize efficiently and within our time frame. She also organized and managed an online auction which yielded us a nice profit. Additionally, she managed our move, including obtaining and negotiating quotes from moving companies and being there on the packing and loading days to make sure everything went smoothly. There is no way we could have downsized and made the move without LIs' help and expertise!

Elizabeth Richard

21:25 08 Feb 21

I attended Lis' 90 minute Declutter Group via Zoom on February 8, 2021, and I'm so glad I did! Lis encouraged me to set clear goals for our time together, and she walked me through the decision-making process of decluttering. Her methods for approaching organizing items and papers were extremely helpful, and I was struck with how much more efficient and effective the methods were than if I had just "attacked" the pile on my own with the intention of putting things away one at a time. Lis is supportive and kind, and I appreciate the time and care she took in answering my questions about organization. I also appreciate her flexibility--I have two young children, and she was patient and understanding when my attention was divided. I gained a lot from this workshop, and I highly recommend working with Lis.

Dianna Henderson

04:38 26 Jan 21

Lis and her crew made my move as smooth and organized as possible. It help make the transition easier for my family. Lis also organized my closet. It not only looks great but is it is functional and easy to maintain. I highly recommend Lis and her team.

Juliet Bonczkowski

23:11 11 Oct 20

Lis and her whole team are absolutely fantastic. I had a basement room of storage doom - as I was calling it - stuffed full of a mix of every possible thing and I felt very ill equipped to deal with it. It was something I had tried to sort and organize over and over with very little positive traction. The room was something that made me feel defeated and bad whenever I saw it.In comes Lis and her wonderful team and over two days they pulled everything out, allowed me to make decisions and then made the donations go off and away, trash and recycling sorted and prepped for pick up -- and then most importantly all the things I decided to keep were handled with due care, put in proper storage bins with labels.My basement room now feels like a shopping experience for the things I love, want and need. Camping? I go to my camping shelf. Crafts and sewing projects? Just head to my craft and sewing supplies. My Costco overflow of paper towels and such? They have their own shelf too. All my gardening tools are hung up and ready for easy retrieval. The room makes me feel so happy now.Thank you Lis, Andrew, Nanette, Lisa, Holly, Tiffany and Leigh!!

Yana Tulynina

23:45 01 Oct 20

Thank you very much, Lis! I had a wonderful experience working with you and I really appreciate your great help!

Maureen Ladley

00:20 06 Aug 20

Downsizing and moving during a pandemic is far from ideal, but Lis and team at Let's Make Room helped me overcome all obstacles and get it done. Lis has all the connections and resources for every situation. There was nothing I faced that she didn't have resources and someone to call. To help us pack our donations (oh, so many books), we planned the right way to use her team member, Leigh, so that we had all the safety protocols in place. Leigh was a joy to work with: cheerful, tireless, and a great challenge-solver. Whether you are making life changes mid-pandemic, or moving and organizing during regular times, I highly recommend Lis and the Let's Make Room team.

Sue

17:33 16 Jun 20

When I decided to move I knew I would need help. I did a lot of research for a company that could help manage my move from start to finish.I got a few proposals and Let's Make Room had the most logical and well priced.The owner Lis was hands on from start to finish. She helped me every step of the way. What I thought I wanted was a company to help manage the movers and pack and unpack. I was surprised because in actually hiring a professional organizer I got wonderful advice on organizing my new home!!I was settled in very quickly thanks to Lis and her team. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a move manager and or organizer!

arlene hale

04:56 25 Jan 20

I had a great experience with Lis McKinley and her company Let’s Make Room. I recently moved and had two houses to empty and didn’t know where to start. With Let’s Make Room, they made it smooth and easy. I highly recommend them. They are very helpful and professional. Fantastic. 😊. Thank you Lis and Let’s Make Room. Couldn’t have done it without you.

Attica Alexis Jaques

00:23 15 Dec 19

I hired Lis and her team at Let's Make Room after interviewing several professional organizers. Her work is outstanding. Honestly, the gift of organization is life changing. After going through a cross-country move with my husband and young son, having someone who is highly skilled in finding the best way to organize for how you live your life is priceless. It gave me immense peace of mind. While I only had Lis help me with the kitchen, linen closet and office, my only regret was that we didn't do more with her. I hope to have her back soon for a yearly "refresher". Thank you Lis for your exceptional work!

Jennifer Crandall

23:52 19 Jun 19

I knew things were going to improve by hiring Lis, but couldn't have guessed by how much. She completely reorganized our walk-in closet and now everything is completely organized, everything is placed somewhere that makes sense, and all is so thoughtfully structured that the closet has remained that way since she left. It's now so easy to maintain and keep uncluttered.Lis was so wonderful to work with. Patient, understanding and thoughtful as we worked through the decision-making and of what to keep and what to part with and why.SO great.Thank you Lis!

Bros Ivery

19:12 05 Dec 18

It has been a year since I was fortunate to find Lis to help me organize my mother's belongings after she passed away. I have sat down on several occasions to write her a well deserved, raving review but each time I do, a wave of emotions wash over me while I try to get out how much she did for me at such a trying time in my life, with such love, consideration and care. She came in with a delicate yet efficient hand and helped me sort through a large amount of treasured items, helping me decide what to keep or donate and then arranged for all of it to be thoughtfully moved to various places. After this, she helped me move into my home, unpacked our boxes with a great sense of design, and then did a thorough basement organization. I cannot emphasize the amount of stress this relieved for me. If you are lucky enough to use Lis for any type of organization needs, you will never regret it!

judy

16:18 20 Nov 18

We cannot thank Lis and Her team enough for helping us move back in after our remodel! They accomplished in one day what would have taken my husband and myself several weeks to do.The team was not only efficient, but had extremely creative and innovative ideas for organization. We would highly recommend them to anyone who needed help with their home!

Anne Shoppell

17:22 15 Nov 18

Lis and her crew assisted my mother who moved from Texas. We couldn't have been happier with the services. Lis, Leesh and Tiffany were friendly, upbeat, and skilled. This move represented a significant downsizing for my mother and was daunting to her. Lis exuded confidence and made the unpacking and organizing as painless as it could be. We highly recommend Lis and her crew.

Karin Kelly-Givens

05:29 10 Aug 18

Lis and her team cleared out my garage and laundry room, organized all the stuff so I could make decisions about whether to keep or not, and then re-organized the spaces. I think about 2/3 of all the stuff was donated or going to bulky waste. Now I have a really nice looking and organized garage and laundry room. This team worked very hard on a hot day, and got the job done. They were great and the result is something I will have for a long time to come!

Lynn Berg

00:32 24 Aug 17

I trusted Lis with completely managing a household move (on short notice) and was beyond satisfied with the results. Since I was going to be out of town for the day of the move, Lis was tasked with choosing the movers, helping declutter before the move, overseeing the movers the day of the move, and unpacking the house after the move. When I returned from my trip I was amazed to walk into a tidy, peaceful home and to be able to get a good night's sleep knowing there was a sense of order and logic to all that had been unpacked. Beds were made, clothes were hung, towels ready to use--there were even power strips by each side of the bed so we could charge our devices easily!Lis approached the project with energy, intelligence, and good will. She clearly put our needs and desires at the center of the planning, but did not hesitate to help us think through things in new ways that helped with efficiency and a smooth transition. Lis has been ferocious in her dedication to protecting our interests and possessions during the move.Lis's team members were hard-working, polite, and artful in their organization skills. Every drawer in my bathroom has a clear purpose and it continues to be very easy to find things weeks later. The same holds true for my kitchen. And my garage is impeccable. It feels so great and saves so much time.I definitely recommend making the investment in getting Lis to manage your next move. You will NOT regret the decision to let her handle all the details of what can so often be a stressful experience. I am continuing to work with Lis with office organization and task management and am equally impressed with the outcome in this arena.

Rita Largman

20:55 20 Jul 16

I want to enthusiastically recommend Lis Mckinley from Let’s Make Room for help in moving from one house to another. Moving is so incredibly stressful and Lis eased the stress enormously. I had been wondering whether to use all the services (packing, unpacking allocating items for donation etc. ) I am so glad I chose to have Lis help with all aspects of the move. She was extremely conscientious, competent, organized and hard working. She made several trips back and forth from my old house to my new one to help with furniture placement. (at one point she drew a map of my new house) She had a team of 5 people for three days to help unpack and they worked from 9-6 to get my new house in order. If I couldn’t find something, Lis knew where it was. She helped me chose a mover and had two estimates. Because of her reputation, one moving company charged a very reasonable fee to keep Lis referring to them.If you have the money to do this, it’s worth every penny for relative peace of mind. You can do no better than Lis. Currently, I will be hiring Lis to help provide a system for organizing my paper work. I’m sure I will continue to hire her for general organizational re-dos as things accumulate and deteriorate in my daily life. In short, Lis is a gem. (I don’t write many recommendations like this and am a pretty picky consumer!)

Jenny Taylor

22:21 04 Apr 16

I rarely write reviews but Lis and Lets make Room are miracle workers and deserve to have their praises sung!!Last month I moved to a new home for the first time in 12 years! Being newly single, the task seemed daunting and absolutely overwhelming - I didn't even know how to get started ! Every other move I have made in my life I rented a U-Haul truck and gathered friends and family to help me pack up and do the grunt work - but at this stage in my life that was not an option. The realtor I am working with to sell my house recommended Lis and her company Let's Make Room as someone who could manage the move for me.I don't think I fully understood what all was included when I signed on the dotted line for Lis to "manage" my move ..... Here are a few of the things that Lis did for me that I didn't even know I needed help with :1. Lis Arrangied interviews with several moving companies that she knew had impeccable reputations. She then negotiated a lower price that allowed me to afford to have them pack up my entire house for me and provide boxes as well as do the moving.2. She worked with several of her staff members to organize, sort and clear out my entire basement in three hours, a job that would've taken me three days ! All I had to do was tell her what was going to be moved to the new house, what was going to be sold for money, and what was going to be donated or taken to the dump .3 Lis then arranged to have several consignment companies pick up items that could be sold, and had donated items picked up by the Salvation Army ( or any other company I preferred ) .Lis met these companies at my house and oversaw them picking everything up and made sure I got the receipts for tax purposes or later payment .4. She sold my refrigerator for $500 on Craig's list (in 24 hours) and met the buyer at my house for pick up .5. She helped me sort through my memorabilia, photos, items from my childhood etc and separate into "keep" or "donate" very quickly -with only 2 hours of work on my part !6. She arranged for me to get "no parking permits"" to guarantee that the movers would have room for their trucks, something I never would've thought of and made the move into my new house possible since it is on NARROW winding street .7. Packing and moving day Lis oversaw ALL OF IT! (All I really did was walk around and stay out of peoples way !) She made sure every single box was labeled properly and the movers put it into the correct rooms. She made sure I kept my critical items in a well marked container ( meds, keys, checkbook etc) so I didn't lose them in the chaos of the move. Lis even split her sandwich with me since I forgot to get lunch for myself!8. Finally, after I filled my new house with packed boxes and couldn't find a thing- Lis came over with several staff members and unpacked the majority of my house and put everything away in an organized fashion. I left for work in the morning with 1000 cardboard boxes hindering my ability to move around the house, when I came home all the boxes were unpacked and my house put together ! (Lis stacked the empty boxes neatly in my carport and arranged for someone to pick them up!) She put everything away in such a logical fashion that I was able to find things easily when I got home - it was like walking into Wonderland -my entire house was transformed - she even baked me some cookies ( so that my house smelled like fresh baked cookies when I walked in the door ) and left a delicious bowl of fruit out in my kitchen!I could go on and on and on, but the bottom line is if you're questioning whether or not it's worth it to hire someone to help with a move , or even to organize your basement or office .... Don't think twice and just hire Lis and let her do the work for you !!

Zo De Muro

14:44 05 Aug 15

I hired the good folks at Let's Make Room to work first with me and then with me and my wife.Without a doubt, the most valuable part of this experience was that it was a LEARNING experience! Understanding not only how to plow through years of clutter to get to those things which are truly important, but also how to avoid being in the same situation later on, was absolutely invaluable!Let's face it, we only continue to do those things we feel will really benefit us, right? Well, making room for your life has tremendous benefits!Let's Make Room allowed me to create a baseline of normalcy and comfort, helped me understand what it takes to maintain that baseline with what is amazingly a minimal effort, and how to determine what's worth keeping and what's, ultimately, just clutter-in-waiting.Think you might benefit from this? Give Lis a call and just see what she (and you) can do!

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How to Make Room in Your Life for What Matters

Blog Posts

How to declutter a lifetime of stuff October 05, 2022
13 Confessions of a Professional Organizer September 06, 2022
Free Yourself of Paper Clutter Fear July 17, 2022
Bags and boxes are not furniture May 17, 2022

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