Clearing the Table
When I ask clients how they’re feeling at the start of any project, many emotions come up—fear, anxiety, relief, frustration, eagerness, even joy.
The most common? Hands down, it’s OVERWHELM.
People feel overwhelmed by their stuff, their procrastination, their unwillingness to let things go, or inability to tackle piles when they are small.
I get it. I have also felt this way, and still do every so often. Even organizers occasionally need help organizing. Clutter happens.
This was the case recently when I took on a client who is newly widowed and feeling buried not only by grief and loneliness, but also mail, dishes, laundry, and other daily duties. The bills kept arriving, regardless of her emotional turmoil, and she tried staying on top of payments for things previously taken for granted: utilities, internet, cell phone, credit cards, magazine subscriptions.
Four weeks after losing her spouse of 37 years, she struggled to stay abreast of the paper stacks and incoming mail piling up. The overwhelm started months before, when her husband had gone into hospice care, and continued to grow day after day. Once her typically clear kitchen table was too full to use for its original purpose, my client realized she needed a downsizing doula and reached out for help.
Kitchen table when I first arrived
When I arrived, the table formerly reserved as a space for eating meals and socializing with guests was covered with stacks of unopened envelopes, unread magazines, unsolicited pamphlets, unacknowledged parking tickets.
That was our first order of business and we got to work, dedicating the entire four-hour session just to that table. We took Julie Morgenstern’s SPACE approach:
SORT like items into piles (junk mail, bills, cards, magazines, personal notes, flyers)
PURGE unwanted or unnecessary items (more than half, nearly all of it recyclable)
ASSIGN a home (filing cabinet, refrigerator, coffee table, trash bin)
CONTAINERIZE (folders for bills to keep, bins already in her home, desk drawers in the office)
EQUALIZE (keep filing new mail that comes in after paying bills, read magazines or pay them forward)
Kitchen table after a four-hour organizing session
By the end of this joint project, step by step, we systematically cleared, sorted, filed, and ultimately returned this cluttered table to its original state. Seeing the progress and feeling motivated to maintain the breathable space, my client fiercely guarded that sacred surface after our session. Equalizing entails minutes per day or week, rather than hours or days of work after extended lengths of build up.
When I returned a week later, the table was still spotless and we enjoyed a coffee together while seated around the same space as she shared stories about her late husband. In a small way, she was living again
We had more bills to open and go through together, but the initial breakthrough had been made and the results were tangible, allowing her to enjoy even a small corner of her home yet again.
Organizing does help create or reclaim beautiful spaces in your home, but it is so much more than that. This process helps implement systems that allow you to focus on the parts of life that matter most.
Time is precious—you can spend it living and enjoying your life rather than feeling weighed down by your stuff. 🩷
