This article was published in Westwind - The magazine of Walla Walla University in Spring of 2024.
Click here to read the article on page 16, read on the image below, or in the text beneath that.
As a child, Elena Harris, a 2021 business graduate, displayed a preternatural affinity for organizing— carefully lining up her possessions and playthings by size and color.
As she grew, she “helped” her mom wrangle her increasing collection of stuff by throwing out items she had no apparent use for—much to her mother’s chagrin. And later when tasked with a seemingly unrelated duty—such as teaching youngsters in Peru as a student missionary—Harris inevitably found herself sweating the systems.
“The aspects of teaching that I was really excited about, I realized, were the organizational aspects, coming up with a plan and decorating the classroom,” she recalls.
Harris had no idea her organization passion could be a profession until she stumbled upon the work of Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing expert who popularized the notion of keeping only the things that “spark joy.” With a newfound direction, Harris pivoted her career ambitions from teaching to declutter coaching, launching her business, Elena’s Declutter, her junior year, with a fellow student as her first client.
As a declutter coach, Harris’ work is as much psychological as it is practical—she is not a housekeeper, but a facilitator, and she can only help those who want help. “I teach people how to declutter for themselves,” she says. “I'm there to help them actually take the time to do it. And when they get stuck, I help them pivot or think about it differently.”
Contrary to what you might see on home organization shows like Tidying Up With Marie Kondo or Get Organized With the Home Edit, decluttering isn’t a process that can be done in the span of days. While Harris does take on shortterm projects, many of her clients have been with her for years, making slow and steady progress as they winnow piles of stuff that have left them stressed or even unable to perform daily tasks. (It’s difficult to put on a clean pair of pants, for instance, if there isn’t a clear path to the dresser where they’re kept.)
Humans hold onto belongings for many reasons, be they emotional or financial, and decluttering years’ or even decades’ worth of stuff can feel daunting at best, impossible at worst. For those unsure of how or where to start, Harris advises gathering three containers (one for throw-aways, one for donations, and one for items to sort through) and heading for the kitchen.
“Starting in an easier place in your house or an easier category of things is really important,” Harris says. “If somebody's super stressed out by their kitchen, and there's not a lot of sentimental items in there, that's a really good place to start versus going through the garage, which has all the stuff that they haven't been dealing with for a really long time and there's probably more sentimental items, like pictures.”
Baby steps help build confidence “so then the next step gets a little bit easier,” says Harris. And when a client falters, she reminds them of their goal (a peaceful bedroom, perhaps) and what steps are needed to reach it (emptying out that overflowing bedside table). Harris is a big believer that one’s physical space is a reflection of what’s going on in one’s headspace, and her biggest piece of decluttering advice is simple: just begin.
“You can't start getting less overwhelmed until you actually start to get rid of stuff,” she says. “The visual and physical clutter makes it impossible to feel sane.“
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