Can You Make Decluttering a Party?
Can you make decluttering your home into a party? Why yes, of course.
So many of my clients will say to me, “I could do this myself, but I don’t. I’ll do it when you are here though.” For most people, decluttering and organizing are social activities. They like having someone around to talk through their thoughts as they go.
Why is this?
I think it has a lot to do with the emotional attachment that people have with their items. They need to replace that attachment with the items with an attachment (all though temporary) to a human being. I think it makes the “declutterer” strong enough at the moment to move forward.
If you have tried to get organized, but have failed, maybe it’s because you didn’t have the support you needed while doing the work. This is one way a professional organizer supports clients through their projects.
For most people, decluttering and organizing are social activities. Click To TweetMake it a little bit fun.
Making light of things, joking around, playing music and just generally chatting can make the process seem so much easier. I worked with a client who turned the music up loud and sang to her favorite tunes while working. (She had a great voice by the way.) Once she got started, she worked like gang-busters while the music was playing. It was great!
This can get out of hand.
A professional organizer will make sure that you stay focused on the task at hand, by discussing the goals for the day and making sure that the work moves along so you meet those goals.
Delcuttering doesn’t have to be boring. It can be fun by working with someone else and playing a little music. You can break out the drinks and snacks as a reward when you are done.
Check out these additional blog posts on decluttering:
Subscribe by email
Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
[…] Can You Make Decluttering a Party? (basicorganization.wordpress.com) Share this:FacebookLinkedInEmailMoreTwitterLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. This entry was posted in Personal Organizing and tagged Holy Spirit, Inspiration, Life, Organizing, Personal Organizing, Professional organizing.Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment […]
I definitely think that decluttering is easier when you are not alone. It is easier to bounce decisions off of someone else, to tell a story “one last time,” and simply to make it feel more like a party and less like a chore. I love putting on music. Not all clients are into it, but if someone wants music, I’m all about it!
I think it’s funny how we love what we do. Often times, when my team is leaving a job one of us will say something like “Wow,that was so much fun!” and we all agree. It’s hard for the client not to feel the same way. It’s contagious.
For many clients, decluttering works best with others because of the social aspect and energy that another person can bring to the “party.” During the pandemic, I started offering virtual organizing services. I wondered if the “social” part would translate in the same way that in-person visits do. To my great delight (and my clients too,) it does. Having the support, focus, and presence of that other person can make all the difference between being stuck or moving forward. While I haven’t used music during the virtual sessions, it was something I did in person. My clients and I would often break into song or dance as we decluttered and organized.
We haven’t done much virtual organizing, so good to know of your experience. I think the passion we have relates to the fun we have when working and the client catches on to that. It hard to not have a good time when others around you are happy and having fun.
For those of us who love it organize, it’s hard to understand how others might think it would be boring.
Yes. We love what we do and hope that we make it fun for our clients too.