sPring cleAning

by leslIe a. WestbrooK

My 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 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 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!

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, accomplishments, confess their “sins” and generally commiserative 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” accomplishments 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,

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!