I offer a gentle and practical approach to clutter clearing and organizing spaces in your home. I enter every home with joy and loving interest. I respect the sanctity of the home and family. I do not see problems, but I see solutions and I ask open ended questions for creative collaborative work together.
When you contact me, I offer a complimentary 15 minute phone conversation or a 30 minute home visit to view the areas you would like to work on. I take some simple notes as we go, for ideas and solutions. We choose one space at a time and map out a plan of action.
I typically work in sessions of 3 to 4 hours at a time, between the hours of 9 AM to 4 PM, Monday to Friday. A typical session is from 9 to noon, or 1 to 4, as a three hour session can be quite concentrated. In the case of working in children’s spaces, I work with adults while children are away or at school, for more focused activity.
During a typical session, I bring 4 or 5 empty boxes for sorting.
We focus on one area, such as a closet, pantry or toy shelves. We take everything out of that space, and create a staging area, such as the floor, table or bed. We put everything in piles of “like things together”.
We line up boxes for things that will go “somewhere else”, such as donate, sell, recycle, repair, re-gift or trash.
Then we begin the sorting process, picking up and evaluating each item with conscious intention. This is the deep work. You will know which things you love and want to keep. You will know the things you no longer want or need and they will go in these boxes. We will explore the tricky things in the middle, those “not sure” items, with questions such as:
- do I love it? do I hate it?
- how often do I use it? when was the last time I used it?
- is it a multiple? how many are necessary?
- is it broken and in need of repair?
- does it belong to someone else?
- is it age appropriate? (for toys or crafts)
- does it bring me joy or stress?
- am I keeping it out of obligation? (a gift or inheritance, but something that does not reflect my style)
- does it reflect who I am today?
- by keeping it, am I holding on the past?
- by letting go, can I make room for something new in my future?
- is it “earning its keep”? how often does it get used? does the amount of times I use it justify its need for storage, cleaning and care?
This is when juicy conversation often takes place. Clients come to meaningful realizations about their possessions and get new clarity on what they value in their life and how they want to spend their time.
After sorting, we look at the empty space with “fresh eyes”. We look at what we have kept and put the kept things back in a way that works for you, your children and your way of thinking and using the space. I might take notes along the way, for simple to do tasks, such as purchase certain bins after measuring the space or kids making their own labels, etc.
Then we spend the last 15 minutes or so tidying up and putting the things away that go “somewhere else” such as recycle, trash or donation. I can deliver donation boxes to the Good Will and return a tax donation receipt to you.
We can then book another session and tackle another space together!
Once you experience the benefits of this work, you will want to keep going deeper! Some families have even hired me to work with their middle school kids to learn these skills for themselves, thus creating more independence and self mastery with ownership of possessions.
I encourage you to then observe how you or your kids use the space. Notice where small changes need to happen and make adjustments as you go. The biggest thing is to observe your habits, and change them one small step at a time. Celebrate every little success! You may notice changes in your consumer habits. You may find yourself saying “no” to accepting so-called “free stuff”. The best part of this work is what is called “the transference of skills”, where you begin to experience want to do this work for yourself! Many clients have enthusiastically called me with stories of “you won’t believe this, but I used the skills you taught me and I cleared out my car, or my junk drawer all by myself and I feel great!”
This work starts small and ripples out over time.
I do not work with hoarders and I only work with someone who wants to do this work. For example, I would not work with someone whose spouse wants them to declutter or get organized. The desire to change has to come from within.
Contact me to learn more. We’ll schedule a free introductory phone call to talk about your project. I look forward to meeting you and working with you!