Meet Cathy Orr

By CANVASREBEL

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cathy Orr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cathy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I have been practicing the art of simplified living for many years. In the course of doing so, I became a professional organizer through Marie Kondo (KonMari Method®). I have also paid a lot of attention to and follow Karen Kingston. Karen is focused on decluttering and the effects decluttering and letting go have on a person’s energy. I followed up by researching studies at Johns Hopkins and UCLA about cortisol and the way clutter affects people, especially women. I am a yoga practitioner and have been for the past twenty years. So, in essence, all this goes together for me. I realize that energy has a huge impact on the way we lead our lives.

The defining moment is watching the change in energy people experience after a decluttering session. I believe that people hold on to many things they no longer want or need, but have trouble letting go. When my partner and I come into people’s homes, sometimes they are anxious. Sometimes they cry. Sometimes they are overwhelmed and don’t know how to express the way they’re feeling. We have techniques to help them work through these feelings and get the decluttering process moving. We’ve seen our work help woman and men.

As professionals in this field, we know how to work with these feelings and get a client’s life back on track. Or at least help them take the first step. From this knowledge, we have designed a deck of cards called Declutter Deck®. It helps people who are interested in moving forward through the decluttering process get comfortable with the idea of living with less. It gently guides them through the home decluttering and organizing process. In the process, they are able to let go of things that no longer serve them. We sell them on our website www.theunclutteredlife.com. They are also great for people who have ADHD and stuck in repetitive patterns that are ineffective. The cards are great for those who work in the mental health field with those who struggle with ADHD.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a Certified Master in Marie Kondo’s KonMari Method®. What that means is that I am one of about 50 people worldwide who has as many decluttering and organizing hours and skills as I do. I studied with Marie Kondo in 2019, and since then have helped a great number of people get control of their lives. I believe that living with less is so important. Excess brings us down. We have to manage it, store it, and step over it while we’re trying to get on with our day. I see that many people’s lives could be simplified if they could only let go of that which holds them down.

In addition, The Uncluttered Life, Inc. has partnered with Inspired Closets DFW to provide services to those who purchase an organization space of $10,000.00 or more. As a gift to their clients who meet the criteria, they offer four hours of our organization services free of charge to get a client’s new space in order. The services can range from decluttering to putting their things away in the space they have purchased. We find that people are relieved to have a professional come in to organize their space once it has been installed.

As a spin-off of our organizing services, we developed a line of card decks called Hack Decks™ that help simplify a person’s life. We offer five decks, one of which is the Declutter Deck®. Hack Decks™, sold on the website www.hackdecks.com, is about health and wellness. They are also about simplifying life and working through some of life’s most difficult transition periods. We offer the Declutter Deck® on both our www.theunclutteredlife.com site, and on the www.hackdecks.com site.

In addition, on the www.hackdecks.com site, we also offer four other decks. These include: Date Deck™, which helps people find more fun in their lives; Dorm Deck™ for college-bound students to help them organize their new living environment and make an easier than normal transition to college life; New Mama Deck™ for the transition to motherhood; and Random Acts of Kindness Deck™. We believe that everyone has the ability to help others. The decks sell for $19.95 and make a fantastic gift for those who are making these transitions in life.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think the most important thing we offer is compassion and understanding during the decluttering and organizing process. People are so overwhelmed by clutter. Sometimes this embarrasses them and they try to hide their feelings. Other times, their feelings just pour out and they start crying the minute we walk in to help them. This can happen for a lot of reasons. For example, maybe our client has just sent their child off to college for the first time, they want to organize, yet they feel a loss. Maybe they have just become empty nesters. Or, maybe it’s the overload of toys that comes with being a new mom. Others may have just lost a spouse. Whatever the circumstances, confronting clutter is also about confronting life and the changes people go through as their households change.

We understand that a lot of times this is painful and people are stressed or upset. For this reason, we offer compassion and empathy through the decluttering and organizing process to help people manage their feelings. Our clients ALWAYS have a backstory, and we work with them in a compassionate and caring way.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Actually, my business partner is my daughter. My daughter lived an organized life since she was small. I have always been very organized and throughout her life, she saw how much I could accomplish because I didn’t have clutter in the way. As she became a new mom, she saw what I had been trying to teacher her throughout her life. If you deal with what is directly in front of you rather than procrastinating or collecting excess, then you can accomplish more, and be more productive. Even find a little time to yourself and be more present for your children!

Having a young child, toys are everywhere. I’ve seen her work to change her living environment so that her son has more space to play. I’ve also seen her teach him to put his toys away after he’s finished playing so that he learns responsibility for the things he has. This was a lesson I taught her. The upside is that he knows where all his toys are and that helps him feel in control of himself. He’s only three but he knows how to find and put away his things.

Another thing that is important to point out is that people go through periods in their lives when excess is part of the growing process. This includes teenagers. As an organizer, it’s important to understand these periods and make adjustments so that the growing process takes place. Recently, we helped a teenagers with ADHD get his life in order. It was so gratifying to see the smiles on his face as he found things he had been missing. When we work with teens, it’s important for us to help them learn to take charge of themselves and their environment. These skills will be important throughout life.