The New Year has come and gone and with it your resolutions for doing a deep, cleansing purge. What has stayed, however, is the clutter. Piles of clothing, boxes of books, bags of crafts and cords.
The start of spring offers a new opportunity to clean, well, everything, including your emotional and physical connection to your stuff.
“Not everyone knows how to edit and organize. Or to make room in their lives and in their homes for a fresh start,” said Christina Fallon, 46, owner of Dream It Done Organizing, a New York City-based professional organizing company. She specializes in closet and space design, estate clearing and Swedish death cleaning, or decluttering before one’s own death.
“People get lost in the different chapters of their lives,” she said. “Spring puts people in a mood to take charge and action.” We asked Fallon how she approaches decluttering and how nonprofessionals can tackle their own homes.
Q: What makes people hire you?
A: Usually, they’re in the middle of a transition. They’ve lost a loved one and don’t know what to do with that person’s belongings. They’re having a baby or getting divorced and starting over. They’re working from home now and need to create an office. Or they’re overwhelmed by the chaos and amount of stuff they’ve accumulated. Many are stuck mentally, emotionally and physically.
Q: Why can’t they reorganize with a friend or partner?
A: I bring fresh eyes, a neutral energy. There’s sensory overload and emotional clutter attached to their physical clutter. I present solutions while holding them accountable. That’s something your friend, sibling or partner can’t do. They might be biased, and say, “You have to keep that dress. You wore it when we went to this or that event.” I don’t have an attached memory or emotion to your belongings.
Q: Do you dump and deconstruct, or go room by room?
A: I start in the bathroom because people don’t tend to have an emotional attachment to their expired NyQuil. Once they get used to saying “toss it,” and they’ve started to build a purging muscle, we move on to harder things.
I don’t pressure anyone to get rid of anything, but I do shake up their home like a snow globe so I can put it back together. People decide what to keep, throw out, give away or donate. We look at usefulness and the feeling an item gives you. Say someone owns multiple pairs of stilettos from their 20s that they haven’t worn in 10 years. Maybe we keep one or two pairs and give away the rest. We are editing and curating for the version of you now.
Q: What room is most telling?
A: Closets are the heart of the home. They show you people’s lives, what they collect and what they’ve shoved in the corners: art supplies, memorabilia, gifts they plan to regift. Things that belong in different rooms get stuffed into one space. They close the door and forget about it.
Q: What do people have difficulty parting with?
A: Books and souvenirs. Most people are sentimental and hold onto things, especially if they are attached to a good memory — a trip they took, a concert they went to, their kid’s artwork. They worry that if they give something away, that memory will fade. I suggest people take photos of these items and then let them go. We tend to make museums out of our lives.
Q: You also do Swedish death cleaning. How does that work?
A: Swedish death cleaning is the act of setting clear intentions for where your belongings will go once you pass away, which includes organizing and categorizing things to appraise and sell, charitable donations, gifting to friends and family and tossing. Usually I do this with an older person or someone with a terminal illness who wants to get their belongings in order and not burden their loved ones with managing their possessions after they’ve gone. Younger people have started hiring me because they’ve gone through the process for their parents and realize they don’t want to burden their children.
Q: Tips or advice?
A: Don’t use the dining room table as a storage unit. Things you use often, like coffee mugs should go above or next to the coffee maker. Shop for your space; for me, that means no Costco. I value the real estate in my apartment more than the deal on 30 rolls of paper towels. There’s the 20/20 rule: If you can get an item in 20 minutes for under $20, and you’re thinking of getting rid of it, get rid of it. We only use about 20% of our wardrobe, so if you haven’t worn or used something within six months, you’re probably not going to use it.