Several years ago, when I was looking through a Southern Living magazine, I read an article that described how we feel if our living environment is cluttered: mess distress. Those two simple words describe it all. Yet, decluttering can also be a stressful job, one that keeps homeowners paralyzed from taking action. I can help.
I’ve been through it myself. When my adult children moved away from home permanently, I made the move to downsize my life. Rather than live in a 2,000+ sq.ft. home, I consciously choose downsizing in order to live more simply and in a smaller home. This required an overhaul: a home edit. Home editing takes into account all the stuff that you’ve let into your home and determines if it adds to your quality of life.
- Do those five sets of coasters add to your sense of well-being and comfort?
- Or, the artwork from a friend’s garage sale 10 years ago?
- Or, that collection of stamps you inherited from a second cousin?
A home edit is an opportunity to reassess and bring clarity to the things that bring you joy rather than clutter up the place where you spend the most time, your home.
Decluttering and downsizing begins with an objective assessment. That’s how I can help. I bring a third-party perspective to organizing your material possessions. You may have lived for years looking at the same stuff, in the same room, and never realized that you can’t see out the window because of the stacks in front of it, or that the decor may feel out of date, or that you just don’t like spending time in a messy space. More than likely, there’s just too much stuff to deal with or you feel guilty about parting with great old Aunt Tilda’s fine china, even though it’s been in a box in the garage that you haven’t open in 20 years. It’s okay to let go, organize, and declutter for good. I give you permission.
Here’s an example. A friend, recently divorced, needed help making his living space, well, more liveable. He had many interesting possessions, and decluttering was not a priority until he lived alone. There was a sense of inertia that had fallen on him in his new stage of life. I helped him make decisions, organize, and edit out the furniture and miscellaneous items that keep his home from feeling warm and cozy. Before, his rooms had no form; after a home edit, he had inviting living spaces.
In another for-instance, a client wanted to move from a 4-bedroom, 1,500 sq.ft. home she had lived in with her two kids and four pets, and when her children launched, she cut her possessions in half. I helped her stage her house, and she moved into an 830 sq.ft. bungalow. We worked not only on downsizing and decluttering her life, but also staging her family home so she could get top-dollar on the resale.
Where is clutter seizing up your life? In the guest room? A garage? A storage unit? Organizing and downsizing begins with knowing where your problem areas are, and in some cases, admitting that there is a better way to live. I’d be happy to show you more examples of how I’ve edited a home and downsized for clients with refreshing results. My help is gentle and supportive. Pure and simple. I ask questions that will make you think about whether to keep items or find them a new home. Downsizing isn’t about creating trash; it’s about decluttering your life and making space for a renewed sense of well-being. I truly have noticed that clients feel lighter, more organized and in turn become more productive in their lives. They seem to recover the ability to focus on what really matters to them.