Diary of Organizing an Entire House

I am in the process of working with a client whose entire house needs to be decluttered and organized. It is a long, slow process because there is so much stuff, there is nowhere to put anything anymore. The house is full of belongings and papers -- some rooms cannot be entered because there is no pathway left; the clutter has found its way to the door.

There is no garbage or anything dirty in this house. It is simply a case of falling by the wayside because life is too full and there aren't enough hours in the day or enough energy/inspiration to keep after it all. The owners are successful professionals and have two young pre-teenage children.

So, the first step was to stop by the house and take a brief tour of all the rooms. This was just a half-hour tour to get an assessment of the situation. Short and sweet, there were boxes of items in all rooms. A full basement room was filled with boxes of papers, toys, office supplies, emergency supplies, etc. The upstairs office could not be entered because boxes of items filled the floor in no particular order.

SESSION ONE
When I went back for our first work session, I discussed an organizing strategy carefully and nonjudgmentally with my client. I explained that in the beginning of this organizing project, we were going to have to make some very broad strokes. No details yet. First, we just needed to get things up off the floor and into boxes and then stacked into "like" piles.

We decided to start in the basement by sorting and stacking and boxing all the papers and supplies into like piles. It took 8 hours. Although the room was still filled with items, it now had order.

The other smaller job we tackled that first day was the foyer. I explained that the first thing people see when they enter the house is the foyer, so it should be clutter free. We needed to designate a new spot to keep boxes of items that are waiting to be unpacked or sent out.

I was exhausted both physically and mentally when I went home that day. My client had worked alongside me enthusiastically the entire time, and I believe we fed off each other's energy, and that's what kept us going. Stay tuned for Session 2.