Junk--Mail and Otherwise

My friend, Radiant Organizing's Sara Caputo, and I were recently talking about junk. In her work with people's business and home space, she and her clients unearth a lot of junk. A great deal of this junk is in the form of junk mail. Sara talks to her clients about the junk, why they still have it, what pieces need to be saved, how to dispose of the rest of it, and, most importantly, how to avoid bringing more junk into their lives. She is a very talented expert on time and space management.

When I work with my Santa Barbara Wardrobe Wisdom clients, I also encounter junk. In clothing it takes the form of outdated, ill-fitting, torn and stained clothing. Sometimes the clients themselves don't even like their junk, but they are reluctant to part with it.

Another kind of junk is fabric from beloved clothing that the client imagines turning into a pillow, a blanket, or cutting up to use in a quilt someday. Now, I am all for being thrifty and have seen creative people make beautiful things out of castoff clothing. However, by the time I am invited into someone's closet, that pile of dream remnants has been gathering dust for a long time. What do I suggest?

First, I ask the client how realistic it is for her to tackle a project, such as making a quilt, in the near future. This helps her to look at that stack of old clothing with fresh eyes, and she usually finds herself relieved to chuck a lot of it. The remaining items have sentimental value and are boxed up and are stored in an attic or garage--out of the client's main closet.

When the junk is cleared away, whether it is papers or clothing, our vision becomes sharper. We can see what we really need, what treasures we already possess and how we can make our lives less cluttered and stressful.