Ellen, You Are An Inspiration

"Ellen" is having so much fun getting her apartment organized.
"Oh, just toss it."
"Get rid of it. I don't even want to touch it."
"The more you bag up, the better I feel."

She loves her kitchen again, and her livingroom is under control.
We move onto her coat closet and bathroom.

Ellen wanted to leave her fabrics in the containers on the closet shelf. She thought she could sort through those on her own (OK, that's her homework assignment).



I began by pulling out the stuff on the floor. If it was scrap pieces fabric, we bagged it up immediately. If it was larger fabrics, Ellen sorted through them into donate and keep, though this 'keep' was for her daughter's friend not really for Ellen to keep.

Then I pulled out each coat and she made a quick call - Keep or Donate. Carpet was vacuumed and the keepers were placed back into the closet. The trash was placed outside the apartment in the hall (black bags), along with the donated items (white bags).

When you are working on purging an area, get the stuff out of there as you work. Getting your purged items out of the working area allows you to see the progress your are making.



We then moved onto Ellen's bathroom. She hung out in her living room while I brought her stacks of towels and linens.



As we dug into the items to find her shelves, we uncovered a number of blue baskets which we used to store smaller items.

The clothing Ellen had hanging on the back of her doors was moved into her bedroom for the next project. Unless she didn't want the item, then it ended up in a donate bag. We had time to sort out the sink area and medicine cabinet, too. All meds and lotion bottles over 1 year old were tossed, everything wiped clean and keepers put away.

When Ellen walked into her new bathroom, she giggled with delight.
"You are worth your weight in gold!"
Six bags of clothing and fabric along with one box of unopened paper plates and napkins were ready for donation.

Next project for Ellen is her bedroom. I wanted to start with this room, but Ellen felt she was not ready for it. Now, she cannot wait to get in there and get it whipped into shape. Ellen is an amazing woman, quite different than when I first met her.

How has a client inspired you?