Drop zone clean up

At the beginning of 2020 I worked with a client who was very hesitant to get organized. She is a classic Conventional who you would never know was a clutter queen. Her house was spotless, everything very tidy and clean and in perfect place. I was hired by her on a whim. She recently retired and knew she needed to get her house organized before it was too much for her to do on her own. She quickly learned it was too late, she didn't know where to start or even how to start. Insert me, and my cute organized bag with my label maker, trash bags and rubber bands just to name a few, and my trash/donate/keep/maybe bins. She was nervous, she asked if I wanted to start with a cup of coffee and right away she started pointing out where she was "a mess", behind her cabinets while looking for sugar, fridge while looking for milk... I told her not to worry, I am not here to judge and once she finds the value in being organized behind doors she will be able to work on all areas of her house little by little and soon enough her house will be complete. So while we drank our coffee, I changed the subject and talked about me some, and asked about her family, and we just got to know each other.~ I like to take the approach of being a safe person to organize with. That might seem a little weird you might not thing of a professional organizer as a person you need to trust. But it's true, we will come across items that may trigger happy, angry or sad emotions. I want you to be able to trust that I will not make you feel judged in how you react. I want you to be able to make a trusted decisions when it comes time to deciding on trash/donate/keep. For people who have really hard time making those decisions need a little hand holding. They need time to think about why they have that item, they need time to answer if they are ready to let it go.~

Before

  We finally made it over to her space. I had already seen pictures and had discussed what she wanted the space to do for her. I had a plan, we opened the door, she was a little hesitant. She didn't know where to start. I said pick a shelf and together we will get through it. Looking back now I'm glad we started where we did. It was the most cluttered shelf, but the least amount of items that had so much emotional attachment. She was making SO MUCH PROGRESS right away. Throwing things like empty envelopes, and wrapping paper that was folded away. She had so many piles of wrapping paper that had been sent to her from charities that she had donated to. She kept them just incase she needed them, but as she was deciding to keep them or not she realized that she will never use the folded paper. She loves to wrap presents and doesn't want creases in the paper on the present. She was able to really fly through this shelf. Gift bags that were crinkled where tossed right away, she knew she wanted to keep cards that she had purchased for special occasions but some of those occasions had passed and the card didn't get sent because she couldn't find it. She would keep them in the brown paper bag when she bought them to keep them neat, but then they would get lost in the clutter. She had a really nicely organized bin for all of the cards she had purchased for the moments when she didn't have time to go to the store. But she couldn't pull it out and find the right card because so many other things would fall out with it that it wasn't worth the time. We had gotten that shelf clean and she was feeling confident in her progress. Then we got to a shelf of her husbands things, and I quickly learned he also has a hard time with letting things go. They have very different reasons for keeping all that they do, but are quickly learning that they are running out of space to keep EVERYTHING. So we took everything out of that shelf and put it in a basket for him to go through later and decide what he wanted to do with them. I trusted this task with them because I know they don't like the clutter to be seen so I knew they would go through it, even if some of it did end up in other parts of the house. In order for them to understand why it is important to be clutter free, they need a space that is clutter free and working for them. This closet needed to be free of all of the things that they thought could be valuable or someone else would need. She wanted this to be where she would go to get household items, be able to wrap, and mail a package or card, and some storage. It was not a place for old digital cameras or flip phones. The next couple of shelves were a little harder for her to make decisions on whether she would keep them or not. I think this is where she learned a valuable lesson that will change the way she looks at clutter from now on. She came across a basket that a long time friend had made for her about 25-30 years ago. She had it shoved in the back of the closet on a bottom shelf. No one knew it was there. She picked it up, and held it and commented on who had made it for her, and how she really treasured their friendship. I asked why it wasn't out in her living space. She said it didn't fit her style any longer but she just couldn't let it go. I asked does it still serve a purpose for you any more, she replied no, it doesn't but I can't let it go, she made it for me. My next comment was what really make her brain click- I said " Just because you let go of the item does not mean you are letting go of the person or the relationship." You could see how some weight was lifted from her shoulders, she was hanging on to so many items because she didn't want to let that person go. She truly values time, and other peoples time. The fact that someone would take their time to make her a gift was invaluable to her. She wanted to honor that time spent by always holding on to the item. I taught her what Marie Condo says to do by thanking the item and letting it go. So she thanked it and put it in the donate pile. It took a few breaths to feel comfortable again in moving on, but we just sat and I let her breathe. We had come to another object that was still wrapped in paper and bubble tape, she had no idea what it was, of course as soon as she opened it it brought back wonderful memories. Again I asked why something so special wasn't out. She again said well, I don't know where I would put it. I made a suggestion about it become a game with her grandkids that would keep the memory she had as a little girl ongoing with her young grandkids. I have yet to hear if they have started hiding it to be found and hidden again. I had only scheduled our meeting to be for 4 hours and it was almost time for me to go and we hadn't even gotten to the other side of the closet, nor had anything gone back into the clean shelves. Luckily we had had many talks of her style and what types of bins she liked and would work for her that she had already purchased somethings she wanted to use in there. I took the Keep bin into the living room, and the new empty bins and laid them out. I just started organizing things by like and put them into the bins she had provided.

After

All of the post it notes, pens and markers into one. Packing tape, envelopes, mailing boxes into another. I did give her some homework and asked her to go through her cards and pick out the ones that didn't speak to her anymore, or maybe were just outdated. I gave her a box for "memories" things that didn't really have a purpose any longer but she wanted to keep. we put the computer paper in a pile to go onto the shelf. We made a shelf for the home items she needed like coffee filters, and paper towels and things like that. Then we took it back to the closet and started to make sense of the shelves. Even though they were already sorted into like items, we then put like item bins on the same shelves. A shelf for gifts; gift bags, ribbon, cards, and mailing supplies, one shelf. Things for the home, one shelf. Things in boxes that are keepsakes but don't have another place to go just yet, another shelf. She couldn't believe that everything had a home now. A happy home, that she wouldn't be embarrassed if someone went to open it.

Before- closet 1/2 she was going to tackle

After- She did a great job!

 I told her I would come back and help with the second half, I couldn't stand to leave a job unfinished, but I had to get my kids from school. She promised me she would get it done. She felt good about being able to do it on her own. In less than a month I received the after photos of both sides. She had done it! She used the tools I had taught her and got rid of her clutter. I had been sending little tid bits here and there encouraging her to keep at it, and that even an hour here or there could make a big difference. She is now ready to take on her organizing 2020 goal! And of course at anytime she is feeling to overwhelmed she knows to contact me and I will be there helping her with whatever she needs!