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Judy and her Fear of Waste
Judy had good intentions.
She had held onto newspapers, magazines and paper for 2 good reasons.
1. So she could use them for her craft hobby.
2. So she didn’t waste paper and could reuse and recycle it herself.
The trouble was that Judy was so busy that she didn’t spend as much time on her craft hobby as she would like and she was accumulating things for craft use quicker than she was using them.
She also lived in shared accommodation and it was causing serious tension within the household. Her well intentioned clutter had taken control of the communal lounge and dining room and was creeping towards the rest of the house. After trying to clear it herself and then with help, it was her social worker who contacted us desperate for help.
We also learnt that Judy had just got out of hospital from having had treatment for cancer – a debilitating, exhausting and emotional time for her, so it was down to the social worker and Clare to do the lifting and shifting while Judy concentrated on the category cards and decision making.
On day one the other residents at the shared home were cynical about what would be achieved. ‘She’s done this before’ they said. ‘She’s even had family members come down from up North, but she never gets rid of anything. We don’t think you’ll make any difference to be honest’.
Thankfully Clare knew that the process we use would work. We don’t just focus on the doing – we focus on the reason for doing as well. It’s just as important, if not more so, to make the doing easier, quicker and to keep the motivation going.
Every time Judy got distracted Clare reminded her of what her room would be like, how she’d feel and how much better she’d get on with the other residents.
Judy discovered that her reasoning was logical. She didn’t like waste and there were many magazines and newspapers that had something of interest in them which she would look at later. The trouble was that not only did she keep the whole magazine or newspaper, but also later never came. Interestingly Judy felt that keeping it all was helping to save the planet – not realising that by not putting the paper into the recycle bin meant that in fact more trees were being cut down to make up for what she wasn’t recycling.
Clare spent a total of 3 days working with Judy and her Social Worker. As with anyone who has a considerable amount of clutter, it took Judy a while to see and feel a difference, but the constant repeating of the process, the bit by bit approach and the focus on her end goal meant that after 3 days she was in a position to be left to continue on her own with the social worker. It just goes to show that everyone has a good intention….!
After one day of help in the home:
