Living Magazine “Ask the Expert”
BY DREW ANDERSON
For most people, life can almost always be described as chaotic. Our schedules are packed with appointments, meetings, chauffeuring our children or a million other responsibilities that consume both our time and energy. Cathy and Danica, a mother and daughter tandem from Arlington, know the feeling well. They have both experienced the “not enough hours in the day” lifestyle. The biggest secret they discovered to surviving that lifestyle and the chaos of a crowded schedule is organization. This discovery led to the creation of their business, The Uncluttered Life, Inc.
The Uncluttered Life offers decluttering and organizing services to create an environment that maximizes your time, money and energy. What they offer goes far beyond straightening up a pantry or tidying a closet. Their goal is to not only provide relief, but also to instill knowledge that helps their clients develop life-long organizational skills. According to Cathy, “what people don’t understand is that your organizational system, or lack-there-of, is the foundation of your home and how it operates. People don’t realize how big of an impact your space has on you”. A study done at UCLA found people with cluttered and unorganized lives had higher stress hormones and were more prone to feeling overwhelmed or exhausted. Through The Uncluttered Life, Cathy and Danica aim to break bad habits and help their clients remove burdens. “Clients have repeatedly told us that since having us do their spaces, they feel calmer, happier, and more energized”.
Currently, The Uncluttered Life offers three main services:
In-Home Organizing: The professionals do the heavy lifting of decluttering and organizing anywhere from one room to your entire house.
Remote Declutter Coaching: Virtual meetings with a “declutter coach” to help you formulate a game plan to tackle the areas in your life causing you the most difficulty. Available in individual, hourly consultations.
Digitizing: Consolidating and archiving all your important paperwork. Everything from medical records to children’s artwork can be digitally backed-up onto a maintainable system. Digital clutter is a real source of stress for many people. They also focus on digitizing photographs. They particularly like Chatbooks, which makes order out of the chaos of old (and new) photographs.
Cathy and Danica both offer unique skill sets that make them an organizational dream team. Cathy, who is one of only 50 people worldwide classified as a Marie Kondo KonMari Method® Certified Master Organizer, has been organizing people’s homes for over twenty years. She also specializes in organizing medical paperwork, having earned multiple graduate-level degrees in Patient Advocacy and Health Policy and Law. Danica graduated from UC Berkeley with an inter-disciplinary major combining fine art, visual studies, media, communications, history, and sociology. She has also studied photography and college-level art. According to Danica, her education and a passion for interior design “allow me to look at life from a visual perspective in my approach to organization.” She specializes in creating unique, functional spaces with a designer look.
Cathy and Danica started The Uncluttered Life as an organizational company. Their passion, however, is in helping their clients find their focus in the present. They want to help you streamline your life so you can focus on the things that make you happy without getting bogged down in the messes of the past. For more information, visit theunclutteredlife.com.
Ask the Expert
What is the difference between decluttering and organizing?
Decluttering means to remove clutter by donating, recycling or discarding, not packing things away, giving them to others, or moving things from room to room. Decluttering is the first step to organizing a home. Once you have decluttered, it is easier to organize.
Often confused with decluttering, organizing is the step that comes after decluttering. Organizing means creating a plan for an area of your home, such as a closet. Decluttering and organizing save you time, money and energy, with the end goal of creating a functional and peaceful environment in which to thrive. Most people like the organizing aspect of decluttering and organizing because they enjoy purchasing storage containers from the likes of Target® and The Container Store®. If purchasing storage containers first, organization is more difficult. Cathy and Danica show you what you need to purchase to store your things rather than the other way around.
What are the physical and psychological effects of clutter?
Clutter can increase cortisol, the “stress hormone.” A study by UCLA found a link between a high density of household objects and elevated cortisol levels. Messy spaces signal the need for future cleaning, and the mental weight of this increases stress. According to the UCLA study, clutter mentally and physically affects women more than men. And the Mayo Clinic suggests that clutter can decrease your ability to focus and be productive. Existing in a cluttered environment taxes your brain because the cluttering objects compete for your attention. Further studies by St. Lawrence University and Princeton University show people with cluttered homes tend to suffer from insomnia or exhaustion because the stress of clutter affects their mental energy. Read here to learn more about the connection between clutter, stress, elevated cortisol levels and anxiety.
What should I keep/discard when I declutter?
Keep the things that reflect who you are today, not who you were, or where you anticipate being in the future. In other words, your external and internal environments need to match. Many people hold on to things from their past, such as clothing that no longer fits or is outdated. They frequently ask themselves the “what if” questions, “What if this comes back in style?” or “What if I want this again in the future?” These questions can be paralyzing during the decluttering process.
The real purpose of decluttering is to surround yourself with the things you love, give your life purpose, and reflect your true self. Life changes, and decluttering focuses on letting go of things that no longer serve you. By surrounding yourself with what you love, your mood is lighter, and you feel less overwhelmed.
Can I declutter by myself?
Having help in the decluttering process makes letting go of items easier. Many people get anxious or have difficulty making decisions about what to keep or discard. With the help of a professional who brings an objective perspective, decisions flow more easily and help you feel more confident in your choices.
Isn’t hiring a professional organizer expensive?
In the long run, hiring a professional organizer saves you time and money. When you’re organized, you know what you own, reduces overbuying, rebuying, and allows you to live with less. By living with less, you create a life of more. Not only does organizing free up time, money, and resources, but it also allows you to feel happier. Hiring an organizer is an investment in your future, and your physical and mental wellbeing.