BEFORE
AFTER
More often than not when I am called in to help someone with their clutter and disorganization, it's not because things have become slightly disorganized and cluttered, it's because people are drowning in it. They are at their wits end, overwhelmed, stressed out and fed up to the point of almost giving up on the idea they will ever be organized. With their last shred of hope, they reach out in desperate search for a solution before they have resigned to the fact that there is none.
Or maybe their lives have been one thing after another of mishaps, setbacks, tragedies, accidents and being put through the ringer. As a result, not only did they suffer in their personal lives but their homes have taken a direct hit and reflected the misfortunes they've had to endure.
BEFORE
AFTER
Such is the case with this client. A personal friend of mine who for years wanted me to help him and his family of four get organized. But, every time he was ready to commit, something else would happen that would consume his time and his life. In the meantime, the clutter in his home continued to build and his frustrations would continue to grow. He recognized this could not go on and understood what it was doing to his state of mind, his emotions and the impact it was having on his family. At last, he finally got to a place where the bad stuff was behind him and he was ready to address the clutter and disorganization in front of him.
A very large home sitting on a spacious chunk of land clutter was everywhere, indoors and outdoors. He was fully ready for the transformation. However, his partner was somewhat resistant as she did not know what working with an organizer entailed. Would she make me throw everything away? Will she judge me for all the clutter? Will the process take a lifetime to complete? Can I even handle going through this? These are the typical questions of those that have reservations about going through the organizing process.
But, she was willing to put all of her uncertainties and fears aside as she too also recognized that they could not go on living this way. And more importantly, they didn't want their children to grow up living this way.
BEFORE
AFTER
I advised it would be best to let me do a large amount of the work without their physical involvement in the process. This is often a strategy I use when the clutter and disorganization is so out of control that having the client involved will slow the process down dramatically because of the overwhelm they will experience, the control they will try to have and the amount of fears that will need to be managed while working. Surprisingly, she agreed to being completely hands off and allowed me total autonomy over the project.
To get her comfortable with allowing the help and manage the vulnerable feelings she may experience by having a stranger in her home, my friend and I agreed to have me start with the detached garage and the outside of the home. We concluded that once she got use to me being around, can see the progress happen before her very eyes and felt assured she wasn't going to be judged for the clutter, she will feel more comfortable with letting me inside the home.
With that, I started with the garage. A three car garage, there was so much clutter that not one car could be parked in there. Along with random items scattered about, a significant amount of space was being taken up by larger items including an infrared sauna, an hockey table, a motorcycle, truck tires and cover, furniture, a mattress and gym equipment. With the help of his gardeners all the bigger items were moved out to be either sold, donated or repurposed somewhere else around the house. After about a week's worth of sorting of items to be purged later, rearranging the shelving, organizing items on the shelving and moving additional gym equipment from another space we transformed the garage in to a gym, garage storage, kid playspace and a project area for his partner to create to her heart's desire.
