Clamp down on clutter

Get rid of extras, organize the rest

Denise DeVore photos/For the Poughkeepsie Journal In her large hall closet, Edith Kates maximizes the space through organization by grouping similar household items together.

Organizing doesn't always mean getting rid of items. Ellen Kutner of Simply Organized advised Kates to add a pantry because the kitchen did not have enough cupboard space.

Edith Kates sits in her favorite chair in her newly organized Millbrook living room. Her closets were organized and her furniture rearranged.

"My cottage was just too full of stuff," she said. "with a capital "S."

More than that, Kates is legally blind, which made it very difficult for her to look through a pile of material, sort it out and put everything away.

"I felt very overwhelmed," she said of her disorganized home at The Fountains at Millbrook, a retirement community.

Then she saw an ad for Simply Organized in Pleasant Valley, a company that helps people sort through and organize their belongings. She called the owner, Ellen Kutner, who went to Kates' home.

"We started right in," Kates said, with Kutner and her clearing out things she no longer used and organizing the things she did.

Shortly thereafter, Kates decided to move out of her cottage and into a small apartment in the community's main building. She needed to downsize so she called on Kutner again.

"I had to get rid of quite a bit of furniture -- some of which I was quite attached to," Kates said.

Even so, Kates enjoyed working with Kutner, finding her pleasant and easy to work with. Plus, Kutner took whatever Kates no longer needed, passing the goods on to charitable organizations.

"Every time after she left, I felt less burdened," Kates said, adding she's happy with her home and how it's organized.

People hang on to things they no longer need and that fills up their homes for a variety of reasons, Kutner said. Some feel guilty about discarding unused gifts, others don't take the time to deal with their belongings and some feel badly about throwing things away. The trouble is, if a home is disorganized and cluttered with belongings, it makes it difficult for a person to lay his hands on the items he needs, when he needs them.

"Most people get to a point in their lives where they're just overwhelmed by everything," Kutner said. They get tired of having to spend time looking for things and of not having enough room for the things they need. Then they call for help.

Prioritizing

Kutner begins working with her clients by helping them set priorities in whichever area of their home needs to be organized most importantly, whether it's the kitchen, a bedroom, an attic or another space. After deciding where to start, Kutner and her clients sort through the items in the room, removing whatever isn't needed.

"Ten times out of 10 -- with no exaggeration -- people have things that they don't need, don't like, don't want, doesn't fit, so there is always stuff that can go first," Kutner said.

Once the area has been cleared of nonessentials, the rest is organized. Whenever possible, Kutner "re-purposes" existing furniture to make efficient use of all storage space. Belongings used the most are stored within easy reach; less frequently used items are put in back areas or upper shelves. Kutner also groups items that work together or serve similar functions, in nearby proximity of each other.

Storage equipment is available in a broad variety of options to serve numerous needs. Multi-purpose items, such as benches designed with storage spaces or shelves equipped with cubby boxes and hooks, can be especially useful, Kutner said.

"More times than not, people are not using their space to its capacity," Kutner said. "A typical closet in any house is a shelf with a bar. You could double your capacity right off the bat by double-hanging clothes."

And for those who find it difficult to let go of unneeded items, Kutner will take her clients discarded belongings as donations for her church's thrift shop or other charitable organizations, giving them a receipt for their contribution.

"When people know that it's going to go somewhere and be used by someone who needs it, they are so, so willing to let go of things," Kutner said.

Now is the time

Audrey Lavine is a board member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and past president of the group's New York chapter. She also runs her own organizational consulting company, Life Support Systems, based in Manhattan. January, she said, has been designated Get Organized Month by NAPO.

"January is such a good time for a fresh start," she said, with people making New Year's resolutions and recovering from the mayhem of the holidays. "Being organized is not about being neat, it's not about throwing things away. It's about being able to handle the things in your life," she said. "It's not being owned by your stuff."

"If you have a system of some kind, of organizing tools implemented... where things get processed on a timely basis, then they don't pile up and you're not looking at a mountain that needs to be weeded through," Lavine said.

Karen Maserjian Shan can be reached at biznews@poughkeepsiejournal.com.