Declutter for Your Health

Yesterday I organized a guest room closet for a new client.  Spaces like those often need to serve multiple purposes in our smaller urban living quarters here in San Francisco, and over the years that multi-use strategy can lead to clutter and lack of functionality.  My client was ready and willing to make decisions, so we worked quickly and got the whole thing decluttered and organized inside of six hours.

As soon as I showed her the finished closet, she exclaimed: “I feel like I’ve lost ten pounds!”

It’s not uncommon for my clients to liken getting organized to a physical feeling.  After all, the degree of clutter in our homes affects our health, even more than we might realize. 

I keep harping on this because I believe it’s so important in our image conscious culture, where people are constantly in the process of curating a perfect life on social media: the reason to get organized is to make your life better and easier.  It’s NOT so that you can feel like you live inside a Pinterest board.  Following the ups and downs of organizing trends is exhausting, but being truly organized will relax you.

My client’s closet had built in shelves and drawers that she guessed dated to before she purchased her home.  Were they Pinterest perfect?  No, but we were able to arrange items using those built-ins and some small storage items she already had on hand to make a truly functional space that serves the various needs she has for her spare room.  The most important thing is that the system works.

LMW