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Clear Catherine
Catherine knew what she wanted.
A room that she wouldn’t be ashamed of someone else seeing.
Given that Catherine only had a bedroom to live in (she rented the room in a shared house), it was even more important to make sure it worked for her on a day-to-day basis.
It’s more and more common, especially in big cities, for people to live in just one room or studio flat. Interestingly, as the demand for rooms and studio flats increases, so too does the number of enquiries from people who live in them who need to make the most of the space they’ve got.
Catherine was no exception. A teacher by trade she needed her room to reflect it’s multi-functional needs: a place to sit and mark papers, do work on her computer, store exam papers she marked, relax as she talked on the telephone to friends, and store all her clothes and suitcases that she used for her many travels. Not an easy task when the room was only big enough to have a double bed, a triple wardrobe, dresser, bookcase and work desk in.
Defining Catherine’s room was, as it always is, the key to making the de-cluttering worthwhile. As we went through worksheet 4, 6 and 7 in workbook 1 so that we could get a sense of what the room was like, what it needed to have in it, how it needed to work and what she wanted it to be like, Catherine started to get clearer about how the room could be. Catherine explained that one of the things she’d struggled with was feeling ashamed of how her room was, and because she didn’t have a lounge or kitchen of her own to invite friends and guests into, she had stopped inviting people round. Those who did pop round were not even allowed to see into her room for fear of gasps and comments. Catherine felt as thought she was being unfriendly, but the clutter was causing the problem. So she imagined what it would be like to invite people into a clear, organised and inviting room. As she started to imagine the possibilities, she started to imagine laughter in her room, an open door which meant that people could look in and at the same time fresh air could flow, perhaps the smell of candles.
Before she knew it, Catherine was imagining a gorgeous man in her room romancing her, picking her up for their date, bringing her drinks in her room and making her dinner. She could even imagine down to the detail of having red satin bedding – luxurious, romantic and a real reward. Now she had a really good reason to clear the clutter and get it back under control!
As Catherine commented in one of her follow up sessions:
This afternoon I walked in a shop and here it was the SATIN BRIGHT RED SET (full set...4 pillow cases).
I am so excited about it and I can’t believe my room looks and feels so great.
Result: after two days of help in the home:
