I picked a new photo for this page. I liked the previous one, but it was me three years ago and I wanted you to see me now. It feels fresher. Plus I'm outside in the sunshine, my favorite place to be.
Yesterday I did my first video iChat clutter bust. It felt like a clutter busting video game. It was fun to search for clutter clues through the screen. My client showed me the closet in her living room and there it was. She had a big black three tier filing cabinet stuffed into a tiny closet. It felt like a tomb.
She was apprehensive about venturing into this clutter casket. I had her open the top tier and take out one file at a time and tell me what was in it. It was an old client file from two years ago. I asked her if she needed it. "Nope." It turns out a lot of the files were deadwood: they were filled with papers that were unnecessary for her business and life. She said, "You know, I always assumed that I needed the files that were in here, that's why I never went through them."
It was great watching my client on camera because it was really obvious when she didn't need things. I clearly saw her scrunch her face, or purse her lips, or frown. A person's immediate expressions often say more than words.
She cleared out the filing cabinet in about an hours time. I asked her if she would let go of the monolith and she gladly said yes. I had her put the small amount of files that she wanted to keep in a small plastic file holder that fit well onto a shelf in her now spacious closet.
Then she turned her computer's camera towards her bookshelves. I saw her slump next to her towering collection of books. She looked so sad. I asked if she reads books. She said no as if she should be. She's a very dynamic person who writes and interacts with lots of people, but reading just isn't a part of her life. She revealed that she grew up in a family where books were treated as a sign of wealth. But then she realized that even though her family had lots of books, they rarely read their books. She saw that this particular way that she was brought up wasn't helping her life be a better place to be. So she loaded up all the books into boxes and called a charity to come and pick them up, along with the filing cabinet.
Overall the video clutter bust was a success. I was able to clearly see and hear what was going on, and I helped my client let go of some heavy duty clutter. If you would like to set up an iChat or Skype clutter bust with me, email me at brooks@clutterbusting.com. I'm excited about doing this because it will allow me to help people clutter bust anywhere in the world.