Get It Together

Written By Barbara Pash

Patty M., a young mother of three elementary school-age children, felt compelled to keep every drawing, test and teachers’ report her children brought home from school.

Mr. and Mrs. George M., an elderly couple, parents of four grown children, were moving from their long-time residence, a large traditional house, to a condo. From basement to attic, every closet, cabinet and drawer was stuffed with stuff: the flotsam and jetsam of a 50-year marriage.

Catherine M., a single career woman, could barely walk from one end of her townhouse to the other because of the clutter. She could not sleep in her own bed because it was piled with clothes.

Frank F., a professional, loved to cook for his wife and three children. But his kitchen was so messy that he kept buying the same ingredients.

Oh, the stories professional organizers can tell. Often, say the experts, the biggest challenge is getting started.

“It’s taken years of accumulation to get to this point and people are frozen,”said Jacquie Ross, of CastAway the Clutter! (www.castawaytheclutter.com). “They don’t necessarily know what they want to do and they’re overwhelmed.”

Organization experts face such problems on a daily basis. They meet face-to-face with clients to discuss goals and to devise game plans. They use a two-step process of decluttering and organizing. Decluttering is deciding what to keep and what to sell, discard or donate. Once space has been cleared, organizing follows: in boxes, bins, closets, shelves and file folders – all labeled for easy access.

Professional organizers advise setting a deadline. Unless there is a deadline, the process can take weeks, usually one session at a time. A session, three to four hours long, can be emotionally draining for the client who, perhaps for the first time, has to make decisions. Fees for professionals range from $50 to $85 per hour.

As different as each situation is, the same enigmas turn up repeatedly, say the pros. Here’s how they solve them:

PAPER
Paper – from newspapers and catalogues to children’s school projects – is a prime problem. “For almost every client, paperwork overwhelms their kitchen. There is no system for the mail, for school work,” said Cheryl Osterhouse, of In Order for Life LLC (www.inorderforlife.com), in Westminster.

Solution: Address paper immediately. Designate a bin or box for newspapers and the rest, to be discarded on the next trash pick-up day. Set up a filing system for the mail, with slots for bills and items like insurance policies that need to be saved. Set up a separate filing system labeled “Children/School” for art, reports and papers you have to sign.

KITCHEN
The kitchen is a good place to start the decluttering and organizing processes. “You can see the results, and that’s encouraging,” says Nadine Sachs, of Organized2Succeed (www.organized2succeed.com).
She has given workshops at Carroll Community College on topics like downsizing and setting up a filing system. She works in residences and small offices.

Solution: Once the clutter is cleared out, items can be organized by cabinets and shelves. When Sachs’ client, the amateur chef, did so, he found he had multiple pots and pans and duplicate ingredients. “He had five bottles of oregano. We set up a system – all the spices in one place,” she said.

Osterhouse removes kitchen items that are not used on a daily basis. Then she creates zones – for cooking, baking and cleaning – so that items are readily accessible.

FAMILY TREASURES
I have been the executrix for two estates and participated in others. I have seen people fight over chipped china, tarnished silver plate, stained tablecloths, ancient TVs and hideous furniture pieces even Goodwill does not want.

I have had a relative tell me she “wants back” the Oriental rug she gave as a wedding gift 40-plus years ago – in her mind a priceless Persian, in reality a worn “faux” with an appraised value of $35.

Solution: Auction houses, estate sales, consignment shops and eBay are all venues familiar to the experts. “Often times they don’t even like grandfather’s chair but feel guilty getting rid of it. So I suggest they take a picture of the chair and then get rid of it,” said Ross.

Osterhouse does not recommend eliminating all family memorabilia. Too traumatic, she said. Instead, she helps the client pick an item – grandmother’s photograph, for example – for display. After culling, the remainder can be stored appropriately, in albums and archival boxes.

Grown children present another problem. They are out of the house. They have families of their own, but their stuff remains: sports equipment, doll collections, worn books and outgrown clothes crammed into closets or boxes in the basement or attic.

Ross has a suggestion: Blame it on the organizer. “I tell the client, call the grown children and say, ÔI have an organizer,’ then give them a deadline to take their stuff,” she said.

STORAGE
“If you haven’t used something in a long time and don’t plan to use it in the next 12 months, get rid of it,” said Ross. From her base in Ellicott City, Howard County, Ross serves residents in Carroll County as well as other surrounding counties.

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. One client enlisted members of her church for her move,” said Donna Eichelberger of Graceful Transitions (www.gracefultransitions.biz), in Frederick, who has 22 part-time employees and works in residences only.

“A lot of my clients are overwhelmed moms. I help them set up systems they can work with,” said Osterhouse of a Westminster-based business that works in Frederick and Howard counties and southern Pennsylvania.

“You want to be able to see what’s inside your closet, “she said. “Go through your clothes – decide what fits, what you like to wear and donate the rest. People hold onto clothes -theirs or other people’s–that no one is going to wear again,” said Sachs of a Reisterstown resident who works in Carroll County.

SENIOR ADULTS
Eichelberger specializes in working with seniors, both those who are relocating from a house to a facility and those who want to stay in their home and “age in place.”

She recommends beginning the process five years in advance; not waiting for “crisis mode,” after an injury or illness forces the senior into a facility with little or no notice.

Solution: For seniors who are relocating, start with a floor plan of their new residence, figure out what furniture fits and make the new place as familiar and comfortable as possible.

For seniors who are staying in their homes, rooms may be reoriented – a bed installed on the main floor, for instance. A safety check is imperative – installing grab bars in the bathroom and brighter lighting in hallways; eliminating scatter rugs; having a clear, clutter-free path from bedroom to bathroom; installing ramps if needed.

Eichelberger has mediated between adult children and parents who do not want to leave a long-time home for a facility. She has clients in their 90s for whom the process is so stressful that she worries about their health.

“There’s a lot of hand-holding. We sit and sort with the client,” says Eichelberger, one of whose clients collected vintage cars. “He had four of them and we sold them all on eBay,” she said.

If anyone appreciates how difficult the decluttering/organizing process can be, it’s the pros. They often get called in when the situation has gotten beyond the client’s control. “It’s reached a point where their possessions are weighing on them and they want to move on,” said Ross of CastAway the Clutter!

Sachs, of Organzed2Succeed, has a routine. After every visit with a client, she leaves with a bag filled with stuff, to be donated or trashed. One bag may not seem like a lot but, little by little, the job gets done.

“It makes clients feel so much better,” she said. “They can start seeing a difference.”