Consumer Case Studies
Professional organizer helps client trust more, hoard less
A self-described clutterholic who learned to stockpile needless stuff from her mother, Linda Swenson made a practice of having more things than she had room — or use — for. “My mother was a bag lady who lived in a house and she had her whole house to fill with stuff,” Swenson said. “She was one of those horror stories that you hear about.”
It didn’t take long for Swenson to realize that the horror of a disorganized home had taken over her life as well. But, more than messy living quarters, Swenson’s issues stemmed from the inability to part with objects. She would not discard newspapers because a bill might be tucked inside. And throwing away old bills was unheard of. Her closets were brimming with glamorous clothes she could no longer wear. “My house was full of clutter, full of things that I didn’t use,” she said. “I’d have these little paths that you could walk on, but there’d be newspapers or clothes.”
NAPO professional organizer to the rescue
When she could take the mess no more, Swenson reached out to a NAPO member for help in de-cluttering her home. Because of her ongoing battle with clinical depression, Swenson had trust issues that the organizer had to work through before headway could be made. “It was a matter of gaining trust,” Swenson said. “That probably took months so that I knew she wasn’t going to throw out something.”
Since the NAPO member regularly works with clients who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder, she was up for the challenge. “It took us a while to get that bonding issue going,” she said. “I had to really let her know that getting rid of anything was strictly her decision, not mine.”
Work began in the foyer of Swenson’s two-story home and continued, room by room, over the next three years. With her house now in good order, Swenson recently undertook a remodeling project. Next, she will look to the organizer for help in sorting and disposing of papers and mail that arrive on a daily basis.
“Having an organized home is kind of emotionally freeing. I didn’t realize that I was tied up with these things,” Swenson said. “It felt like I had a nest. It was hard getting rid of the nest, but it feels like now I’ve gotten away from that.”
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