HOME & DESIGN
Spring cleaning:
To organize, declutter or minimize? All of the above
By Leslie A. Westbrook
M
y father “the collector” became a hoarder as he aged. He told me he came by it “naturally” blaming his mother who, while neat and tidy and organized, did have a lot of china tea cups and saucers, salt and pepper shakers, family photos and more in her home. Yet her collectibles did not rival his 10,000 records, 4,000 CDs and 33 speakers, among miscellaneous other items. (Pop, did you really need five new pairs of tennis shoes and a ton of cleaning products that I didn’t really find evidence of use?). Hence my penchant for collecting (art, antiques, books, journals and yes, even quite a few of those inherited CDs) has created a sense of wrath, terror and fear that I too might leave a plethora of “stuff ” behind for some poor sods to have to riffle through. It wasn’t until the lockdown – and my feet being firmly planted in place for a year – that I faced this daunting challenge head on. I have hired professional organizers who have helped with that task, but not enough “stuff ’ ever left my house. My Covid lockdown solo decluttering, organizing and minimizing journey began with viewing a few Netflix episodes of Marie Kondo’s “Does it give you joy?” tidying up series. While folding t-shirts and panties ‘just so” my dresser drawers became magically transformed. Joy! Oh joy, for tiny victories. But that didn’t address the surfaces: boxes of papers, more art than wall space to hang it on, my dining table that morphed from uncluttered to cluttered (more than often). It wasn’t until I signed up for Joshua Becker’s 8-week online decluttering course “Becoming Minimalist” (the best $89 you will ever spend if you are serious 34
FOOD + HOME
about this) that I began to make real progress. There’s organizing – which basically means you are NOT getting rid of stuff, but just putting it in order. This was a helpful step for me to sort “like with like” in order to toss, donate or in a few cases sell (as in art). When you discover you
But it’s all the in-between stuff that needs cheerleading. And the magic ingredient in Joshua’s course – in addition to his sage advice and weekly directives — is the Facebook group page where the decluttering group post before and after pictures, shares their setbacks,
complishments can include cleaning out your car, clearing your living room and transforming your bedroom into a clutter free restful space, before moving on to more difficult tasks like your wardrobe or paper piles and photographs. Take it slow and easy and give yourself permission to feel tired,
have 20 lip balms in various places or 200 pens scattered about…. well, you get the idea. (or.. it makes it easier to toss). Although I hired an organizer to help me with my closet before lockdown and donated a ton of clothing, somehow more wardrobe items seemed to magically appear and rise up like quicksand! Sure, I could suggest the wellknown advice that you make three boxes, one each for trash, donations, stuff to sell. Or that you take the 30-day declutter challenge that begins with #1. Empty out one junk drawer; lands in the middle with #16. Clean out your linen closet and ends with #30. Clean! Get your newly organized house all sparkly!
accomplishments, confess their “sins” and generally commiserate with one another. I found this very helpful – plus it’s fun to see other people’s clutter and newly cleared spaces, as well as their cars piled up with donation boxes. A few things I learned from “becoming minimalist” and other sources. Find your motivation – and post it on your bathroom mirror. Take tiny steps to begin with. Grab a huge garbage bag and walk through your house and clear out what you can and put it in the trash. Use another bag or boxes and fill them with items to donate. Begin your journey with tasks that aren’t too hard. “Easy” ac-
overwhelmed, even scared. You didn’t get here in a day – so you probably won’t get rid of your consumerism ways in a day. Change takes time. During the course, when I felt like I was falling behind, my mantra was “some progress is better than no progress.” While I may not have reached the pinnacle of minimalism or the promised land of decluttered to my complete satisfaction yet, at least I’m more than halfway up the mountain. Soon, I hope everything will be mise in place (everything in its place). Then, perhaps, I can reward myself and start planning to travel again— maybe even to France! Au revoir le confinement! W W W. F O O D – H O M E . C O M
