Clients tidying journey - written by my client
I had just retired, and at home had finally got round to refurbishing the main bedroom, and starting to dispose of belongings I had accumulated and inherited, but was not using. There was clutter in every room of the house, and dealing with it would, dare I say, ‘spark joy’. However, given that it had taken me seventeen years to get around to the bedroom refurbishment, I was not sure I would be dealing with the clutter in a timely manner.
I contacted Jane Fern. Jane is a professional organiser and a ‘KonMari’ (Marie Kondo) consultant. I set up an initial session with her as a mark of my commitment to the process of tidying, and we had five further meetings. The consultations were on Zoom, this being the year that Covid 19 struck: online seemed perfectly satisfactory.
In the session dealing with clothing first every garment I owned was set out, and I culled items that didn’t fit, or were damaged, or simply surplus.
Clothing: first the clutter, then the tidiness
Marie Kondo has reached wider audiences with her recent Netflix programme, and a move to the USA. Many will be familiar with her advice to declutter belongings in sequence, with the ‘easier’ classes of items first. After clothing, I wanted to whittle down my collections of papers and books.
Books
Surplus books that were given away. I now have just one bookcase. Since this I have been buying e-books.
Papers
Papers before: Four boxes of papers, and more on the floor
Papers after: After a lot of shredding and scanning, a single box of papers
Things / miscellaneous
All of my sessions with Jane were helpful, but none more so than the appointment spent sorting out the kitchen.
A lot of crockery was identified as surplus, and letting this go freed up a lot of storage space.
There was a lot of this sort of thing!
It was remarkable how Jane helped find practical ways to store things conveniently. One DIY item that had proved particularly awkward to store were the saws. When it came to making pegs for them - Jane’s idea - it was a delight to be able to find everything I needed to do the job.
Before: an oversized shoe rack in the hall.
After: a shortened and painted shoe rack, Jane’s (tactful) suggestion.
Sentimental items
I have many sentimental items, some owned for a long time, others inherited more recently. 2020 was a year unlike any other. I went back to paid work, and postponed the remaining tidying. I had the benefit of the tidying done earlier in the year, but had less time to continue.
It’s now July 2021. I have retired again, and the tidying project is back on. Thank you Jane Fern, for your skilful help with this process.