Story Tools
Spring is in the air and so is the dust from your house cleaning efforts. But no matter how much you scrub, things just don’t feel clean until you’ve tackled the clutter that’s crept into your home. “The energy in your home or workspace will change — stale and negative energy will be replaced with positive, powerful, life-enriching energy when you declutter,” says Norma Lehmeier Hartie, author of Harmonious Environment: Beautify, Detoxify and Energize Your Life, Your Home and Your Planet (Lingham Press, 2007) and creator of Harmonious Adjustments, a combination of principles designed to make environments harmonious. “The space will feel lighter. And that good energy will make you feel more energetic and happier.”
That is why the practice of feng shui holds the shedding of unneeded items as its first principle, according to Carole Provenzale, a certified feng shui consultant based in Farmingdale. If you live an organized life, emotional benefits naturally follow the practical ones. “Clutter also relates to your mind,” Provenzale says. “If you’re looking for things you’re wasting time and not [being] as clear-thinking.” Hartie concurs. “When you know where to find your belongings, you will find yourself with more time to be more productive or to actually relax,” she says.
Where Do I Begin?
Once you’ve committed to decluttering, the question of where to start arises. “Choose the room you spend the most time in,” advises Cynthia Braun, a Lake Grove–based professional organizer who runs organizeyourlife.org. “If you work out of your home office, then do that. If you’re a homemaker, start with the kitchen. Choose whatever room you are going to appreciate the most.”
Barry Izsak, president of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and author of Organize Your Garage in No Time (Que, 2005), agrees. “A person should start organizing the area that is bothering them the most and will give them the most rewards and satisfaction,” he says.
A Question of Time
Reality TV can lead you to expect that you can organize your entire home in just one day, but setting a more realistic agenda will ultimately lead to a less harried and pressured experience. “People don’t become disorganized in one day, and it is unrealistic to tackle years of clutter and expect it to disappear in a day,” Izsak says.
Braun sets out guidelines for her clients, recommending they break their organizing into cleaning sessions of six to eight hours. Kitchens usually take one session, bathrooms half, home offices two, full basements and attics three to four, closets anywhere from one to four or more, depending on size.
Trash to Treasure
When you’re clearing out the unnecessary items in your home, your mind can easily drift to thoughts of where they will end up. Shoes a size too big that you bought anyway; an MP3 player that’s good but not as flashy as your recent purchase; rolls of wallpaper that you decided you didn’t like when you brought them home: All could conceivably end up clogging a landfill. But you can be environmentally friendly and socially conscious at the same time by donating those items.
That is the purpose behind the Freecycle Network, a global e-mail network where people give items away. It began with one e-mail in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in downtown Tucson, Ariz., and help save the desert landscape from being overtaken by landfills, says founder and executive director Deron Beal.
“Currently we are keeping more than 300 tons a day out of landfills,” he says. “In the past year alone, this amounts to four times the height of Mount Everest when stacked in garbage trucks.”
Soles4Souls, an organization that facilitates the donation of shoes worldwide, relies on just this generosity. Beginning after the Asian tsunami and spurred on by Hurricane Katrina, the group has collected and distributed more than two million pairs of shoes to those in need in the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Brazil, Uganda, Sudan and Romania.
“Many of the shoes we give away are the recipient’s first pair ever,” says founder Wayne Elsey. “This amazes me that people in their middle age never had a pair of shoes.” Elsey says he finds the response of donors inspiring. “It is as easy as cleaning out your closet of old shoes that are not being worn, or holding a shoe drive in your community. The simplicity of what we do can make a huge difference in people’s lives.”
The Community Computer Connection Program, a partnership of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Suffolk, gives computers and used technology to needy families. Courtney Russo, a social worker at the Family Service League in Huntington, says that receiving a computer through the program has been a life-changing event for many of her clients. “A computer might not seem like such a big deal to many people, considering that most homes have a computer, [and] many have more than one,” she says. “However, a computer provides not only a way to complete homework assignments, but also a sense of normalcy for a child, whether they are young or older.”
Beal has found the same spirit in the Freecycle Network.
“People really help each other in local communities when the need arises; whether a home has burned or a hurricane has blown through, the will and desire to help is mind-boggling,” he says. “One person really can make a difference.”
