My client's kitchen was so filled with stacks of papers that there wasn't room for her to prepare or cook a meal. She said that most of the papers were work related. I said that nothing precedes the importance of our need to properly feed and nourish ourselves.
I told her that she deserved to put herself first. It was her home, she's in charge and she gets the final say of what stays and goes. She can say yes to herself. She started to cry. I think we sometimes need permission to take care of ourselves. We often get rewarded for the work we do, or what we've amassed in our life, but we're not encouraged to be kind and nice to us. That's essentially our job.
So I worked with her to clear the counter by her sink. There was a lot of junk mail and other useless paper that went into the recycling bin. Then we went through cupboards and she discovered that she didn't care for a lot of her old plates, glasses, and coffee mugs. Some were from her college days. She let those go. Then we cleaned out the over stuffed drawers. There was a lot of miscellaneous crap. Then we tossed out old food from the cupboards.
When we were done, I had her open all the decluttered cupboards, and drawers. I had her take in the now open counter space, and the freshly open storage spaces. I asked her how the space felt. She cried and smiled.