Local woman de-clutters the spirit

A little less mess and lot more spatial freedom are good for the soul says Elinor Warkentin, who grew up in a Mennonite family of 10.

By Roxanne Snopek

Elinor Warkentin says a cluttered life can have all kinds of negative spinoffs.

Elinor Warkentin of Vancouver is very familiar with people like me.

She's one of approximately 2,000 North Americans who make their living as professional organizers. Through her business, Goodbye Clutter, she helps people simplify their living and work spaces, welcome news for people like me.

A natural talent

"I've always been an organizer, enjoyed spatial challenges, and had an eye for the aesthetic placing of items," explains Warkentin. But she only recently realized there might be a market for this ability. In 2000, while traveling in Wales she helped a new friend reorganize her bedroom. Severe health challenges kept this woman from doing even basic cleaning. Warkentin did a top-to-bottom, wall-to-wall cleaning of the room, removing six bags of trash and unwanted items. After, the whole family was amazed at how much better the atmosphere in the room felt. "I realized that what was natural to me was not necessarily common to others," she says.

"I returned to Vancouver looking to change careers and wanted to work with people, to assist them in their spiritual journey, or in some way help them be free of the past."

The result: Goodbye Clutter! Consulting and Organizing Services. Her tagline reads: Live in the Luxury of Order!

How people really live

Born into a large Mennonite family, Warkentin's desire to help others comes honestly. "Mennonites not only value working hard but 'working good' so quality of work and craftsmanship is very important," she says. "I would say my top business values are having integrity, and being compassionate and nonjudgmental with my clients."

Without such acceptance, clients might hesitate to expose their vulnerability. After all, Warkentin's services include everything from developing filing systems, organizing storage space and setting up a home office, to planning a move, preparing for Christmas and purging closets. If there's a skeleton in that closet, it's bound to pop out at some point!

The Inside-Outside Connection

In her workshops, Warkentin asks students to visualize two rooms, one neat and well-ordered, the other with piles of paper, dust-bunnies, and all manner of clutter. Then she asks them to describe how each room affected them.

"Their responses were very clear," she says. "In the first one, physical discomfort in their stomachs, wanting to get out, depression, disgust and confusion. In the second scenario, they described comfort, serenity, happiness, focus, no physical discomfort."

It doesn't take a great leap to connect inner spirit with outer environment. "A cluttered floor and clutter at low levels brings our energy down," explains Warkentin. "Clutter crowding shelves at the tops of closets or in the attic weighs on us like an awful responsibility."

Nobody intends to live surrounded by clutter. "Clients often say they don't know where to start with their clutter, they are unfocused and unable to think clearly amidst the chaos."

Warkentin encourages clients to think about the deeper implications of their surroundings. "I help people find the emotional or psychological connection to their clutter, help them understand how this is affecting them."

As Warkentin reorganizes, she also helps people discard internal baggage. "Sometimes a discussion about clutter will bring up very raw emotions," she says.

"An article can be connected to a past event or relationship that is still effecting the person. Purging an item that has many unpleasant memories can allow the person to let go of what has been holding them back in that area."

Warkentin says that after her sessions, clients report feel lighter, happier, freer. "'It feels sooo good' is something I hear a lot," she adds, "and one reason I love my job."

The clutter continuum

But it's possible to go overboard! Too much order can act as a barrier to others; it can also hide the personality of the dweller. We've all been places so tidy a forensics team would leave empty-handed. It's just as uncomfortable as chaos. Excessive order can symbolize spiritual problems of a different sort, perhaps a desire to control others or avoid intimacy.

The key, according to Warkentin, is balance. "Creative people often function well with some freedom and disorder in their lives. They feel hemmed in if their environment is pristine and sterile."

My desk usually leans towards the 'freedom' end of the scale but I recognize the edgy feeling that means it's time to deal with the little tasks I'd rather ignore. So I pay the bills, dust the monitor, move the magazines and return the library books and voila! I can write again!

In his book Care of the Soul, theologian Thomas Moore describes the importance of attending to clutter, however it manifests itself. "How you spend your working hours -- what you look at, sit on and work with -- makes a difference," he writes, "not only in terms of efficiency but for its effect on your sense of yourself and the direction your imagination takes."

Elinor Warkentin can be contacted at: elinor@goodbyeclutter.ca