It’s cleaning and decluttering time

BY CLAIRE LYNCH

I’ve worked with several different supervisors during my career and some were sticklers for being organized and others, not so much. One woman in my office in particular, named Lauren, stands out in my mind as being a stickler.

One of my jobs was stocking the supply closet and keeping track of the ink, toner, mouse pads, reams of paper, etc. I thought I did a pretty good job of keeping things organized and accessible. When we needed something I could put my hand right on the item. Lauren, on the other hand, thought the supply closet could be tidier. Once a month whether it needed it or not Lauren would call me over to help straighten out the supply closet.

The first time Lauren called me I wondered what she needed. Looking around the huge closet I saw order and precision. The items were all lined up where they should be and they were visible, too, so when I entered the closet I could see what I needed - I could put my hand right on it.

Lauren thought that things could be improved, however. Astonished at first, I went with the flow to see what Lauren had in mind. She said that closet needed some organizing and I was surprised because I didn’t see any clutter at all. In two minutes’ time Lauren had reached here and there and pulled out quite a few old items that could be discarded. Pulling over a trash receptacle, we placed the items in and left that closet looking super organized. Lauren beamed with pride and although I wondered what all the fuss was about, I had to admit the closet looked better than it had in a while.

My sister, Michelle, reminds me of Lauren in that she is a real neatnik. My siblings and I laugh and say she never has to declutter her house because she’s super organized. She doesn’t let unnecessary things pile up. If Michelle buys a new blouse, an old one is removed. The same goes for sweaters, outfits, shoes, etc. She piles bags full of items that can be given to charity and Michelle lines them up near her front door to put in her car the next time she goes out.

Michelle is so organized that she keeps her DVDs alphabetized in her closet. When we feel like watching “Jumanji,” for example, one of us simply opens her closet and goes to “J” to put our hand on the DVD.

If it’s a board game, we know how to look for “Trivial Pursuit,” “Rummikub,” “Cranium,” “Pictionary” or “Do You Really Know Your Family?” We start at “A” and proceed from there.

They are alphabetical. It speeds things up, no doubt about it, but that’s not how I store my board games. It’s pretty much random in and random out. Sometimes, I admit, I’ll put my favorite game of the moment on top of the stack so I can reach in and get it quickly. In my mind that’s efficient but to Michelle, that’s not good enough. It’s out of order.

We admire Michelle’s tenacity and ability to keep things so tidy and decluttered that people comment upon entering her house. I enjoy watching them enter Michelle’s house for the first time so I make sure I’m there to see it. Whether it’s on Christmas Day or for a birthday party the guests enter, look around and say, “Wow!” They admire her roaring fireplace in wintertime, they admire her shiny cabinets and countertops plus her shelves of nick-nacks have few a few special pieces on display so those shelves look spacious.

If you ask me, Michelle’s house and closets look like something out of a magazine. Any room in her house could be photographed for “House Beautiful”

Magazine and I’m proud of Michelle for that.

Over the years I’ve tried to take lessons from Michelle about being organized so the clutter doesn’t pile up but I have to admit that my organizing skills and sorting through skills haven’t improved. She seems to have gotten the organizing gene while that one passed me right by. If I’m in a rush the mail starts to pile up because I’m heading out the door to meet a friend for dinner or go to a good movie. There is junk mail to be shredded and there are magazines that should be read - or may be read some day when I get around to it.

Michelle is the type who takes her mail inside and reads through it right away. If she happens to go out to dinner or to a party and misses reading her mail one afternoon, she will read it first thing the next morning. Keeping what she needs and tossing the rest, Michelle is the epitome of efficiency in motion.

My brother, Greg, and I are similar in that we tend to let papers and things accumulate but we stay on top of the important things. And if you ask us where something is, we can pull it right out. Need a map of New York State? It’s right here. We pride ourselves on that skill but Michelle just shakes her head and says, “This place needs to be decluttered. It’s got to be better organized!”

Anyone who is downsizing knows that decluttering is part of the process. Whether the person is a senior who is moving to a smaller home or it’s an empty nester situation sorting through not only the homeowner’s things but also the possessions of the young adults who have moved out to marry or to explore the world, decluttering is a must.

I’ve mentioned closets a few times because when it comes to decluttering, the living room and dining room can be tidy and spacious but the closets - those out of sight places, the “catch all” places - are often the worst. Decluttering means sorting through everything and although decluttering involves work, the end result is worth it - everything looks beautiful!

What’s in the back of your closet?