Oh, how fondly she remembered those days.....

Sunlight streaming through her freshly washed windows….

Her scrupulously starched and ironed curtains fluttering in the breeze…….

(Okay, now she was just being being silly. A) She didn’t own any starch B) she didn’t iron. )

And a carpet of a beautiful deep maroon hue.

Oh how joyously, and with what careless abandon she would utter the words “Hey, why don’t you and Jerry come for the weekend?”

And she felt ready! She was on top of the world!! Invincible! “Come one, come all!” she wanted to shout from the rooftops. “I’m on my game! Just walk right in folks, and make yourself at home in my spotless guest room!! I’ll never be caught unprepared!!”

But that was long, long ago, it was a magical time in her life…..before...... (Cue some really scary music...) “The Disaster” struck.

It happened slowly and insidiously…,

An old pair of shoes here…

7 boxes of unused tissues there….

20 dresses from a garage sale……

Piles of clean unfolded laundry…..

Until one day it hit her!

Her beautiful room had turned into a cliché known as “that which shall not be mentioned in this home” (or “twsnbmith” for short.)

Laughter and camaraderie departed, replaced by loneliness and tears…

The only guests occupying the guestroom now were Melancholy and her younger, thinner sister, Sorrow.

Gone were the guests who had once danced merrily over her front doorstep.

Aunt Betty and Uncle Moish? They now spent their vacation time banished to their dingy one bedroom basement apartment in Queens (utilities not included), instead of visiting her every summer for a week.

“The Disaster” had vanquished it all!!

And then, THE PHONE CALL!!! Bubbie was visiting for Rosh Hashana!!!!

It was the phone call that changed her life, that gave her back what had been lost so many months earlier under a mountain of clutter!!!

And how was was she able to return her guestroom to its former glory?

All she did was read my “5 steps to decluttering” blog, and she aced it!

Let me review the steps she took to reach her goal:

First, she got some supplies together:

1. White garbage bags

 2. Black sharpie

 3. Pen and paper

 4. Timer

And then, in a burst of “Ready! Set! GO!!!” She was off…

A. She set the timer for 15 minutes.

B. She pulled out three garbage bags and wrote:  “1. Garbage 2. Giveaway 3. Return to room” on them.

C. She picked up the first item she saw in the room, and asked herself one burning question:  "Is this garbage, a giveaway item, or does it need to be put somewhere else in the house where it belongs?” Once she figured out the answer, she put the item in the corresponding bag.

D.  She worked until the timer beeped after 15 minutes.

E. Once the timer beeped, with heroic grit and tremendous perseverance, she finished up her duties for the day.

She:

1)Threw out the “Garbage” bag.

2) Put the “Giveaway” bag by the front door to be taken to a donation center

3) Walked around the house with the "Return to room" bag and put everything back in its place.

She then repeated this process every day for 15 minutes, and in no time, the guest room was ready to receive Bubbie, who came waltzing in happily on the eve of Rosh Hashana, smelling faintly of lavender soap and mothballs.

And that’s how you can do it as well, my friends. Just 15 minutes a day, and you’ll get it all done!!!

I hope you enjoyed this fascinating story, and if you need any more information about Bubbie, or to find out if you are related to Betty and/or Moish, feel free to ask me for their contact information in the comments below.  I can’t tell you much,  but I heard that Moish’s grandfather owned a butcher store on the East Side in the early 1900’s.

Best, Tanya

As a professional Organizer and public speaker of 'all things organizing' serving the Pikesville, Owings Mills, and Towson neighborhoods, Tanya Klein at Precision Organizing /Facebook, specializes in residential and home office organization. Tanya’s experience allows her to quickly asses the needs of her clients, and teach them how to best use systems to handle the “stuff” in their lives more effectively. Tanya can be reached by phone at 443-956-2522 or email tanya@PrecisionOrganizing.net.