She found De-clutter Me! by googling professional organizer and her zip code. We talked. She said that she and her husband are “victims of their stuff.” Their home offices, living room, and kitchen need help. Would I work with them, both individually and together? Sure!
After arriving, and checking our temperatures, she and I toured around the house, discussing the work to be done. What was bugging her most? Where to start? She quickly suggested the living room. We started around the wood stove. The area had become a dumping ground. Her husband has many cookbooks. A sideways box held some that he would purge. The chair held clothes and other items to put away. Other stuff was discarded or placed into recycling. We also cleaned behind it, next to the couch. I encouraged her to get rid of the little TV tray-type table that was a clutter magnet.
Next, we focused on the area at the other side of the couch, where her husband sits. We put some items into recycling, moved a power strip cord to make it less visible. It was creating “visual noise,” a great term I learned from another client a few summers ago. We consolidated reading materials, discarded excess pens, and otherwise neatened-up the area.
What next? She suggested the bench with storage. Should we look through the stored items? No, she could do that at another time. On the bench part, though – a few pieces of clothing, two decorative pillows, a phone book, a power strip. The clothing was set aside for the laundry, the phone book added to recycling, the power strip set aside for use elsewhere in the house. We placed the pillows back on the bench, where she now could put on her shoes. Success!
We had a little bit of time left. How to use it? She chose a slim kitchen counter and a bench below it, actually in the dining area. We consolidated a few small appliances on the counter, along with a container for often-grabbed items, and a decorative rooster. On the bench below, napkins, pot holders, muffins for toasting. Our time together used up, they were pleased.
About De-clutter Me!
De-clutter Me! offers non-judgmental, competitively-priced and confidential assistance to help clear clutter in your home and/or business. We’ve been changing chaos to calm since 2013.
