When Your Home Is As Stuffed As Your Post-Thanksgiving Belly ...
If you can’t find the tape, the suitcase, or the Advil, this is for you.
You know what sucks?
When you have a headache and you know where the Advil is, but you can’t get to it without engaging in a life or death struggle with your supply of sunscreens and shower curtains and 13 plastic dispensers of used-only-one-time tape.
Or when you want to go on vacation but you can’t get your suitcase out of the freakin’ closet without it being a whole freakin’ full meal deal of cursing and crying and trying not to break anything important. Like the picture frames with your sister’s wedding photos in them that you’ve got stacked on top of your “box of memories.” Or your ankle.
Or when you need to wrap a gift, but you can’t find any of those 13 tape dispensers so you have to stop gift wrapping and make a quick Target run to buy some. Except we all know that the whole “I’mma just run in and grab some tape, be right back” stuff does NOT work at Target. Especially not during the most wonderful time of the year. Your 5-minute “Keep the car running, babe” jaunt into the bullseye is gonna cost you 78 minutes, 284 US dollars, and half a fingernail. Because you couldn’t find the tape that you know you have in your house.
And you’re just like: Why? Whyyyy?
Why is it so hard?
Why do I have so much stuff?
Why am I throwing the vacuum and garbage bags full of old clothes? And now I broke the wreath and there are buckets falling down on my head?
You know you need to start dealing with your stuff, but it’s too much and it’s too big and you don’t know where you’d even start.
Which isn’t exactly true.
You do know where to start.
You’ve watched enough home organizing shows and done enough googling and maybe even spent some time with Marie Kondo’s book and you know where to start. You know that step one involves pulling everything out and Editing. It. Down. (With extra points awarded by the Russian judge for being ruthless.)
And that’s the reason you’re stuck.
Because you know what you have to do.
And it’s overwhelming.
And it’s messy. OMG it’s so, so messy.
And you know that doing just one closet isn’t going to solve your problem because you have stuff everywhere and fixing the problem in one place creates a problem somewhere else and you can’t imagine how it’s all going to go down and you’re paralyzed and you can’t breathe.
And all of that? Is scary.
You know what else is scary? Changing your life.
You’ve been stalking those cleaning-tidying up-organizing influencers on Instagram long enough to know that changing your home changes your life. Which sounds awesome, but seriously… is there anything scarier than CHANGING YOUR LIFE?
I mean … even things we hate, things that are unbelievably hard, things that drive us up the wall with sweater-in-the-summer level heat-induced sweating rage? Even these things can be a comfort because they are known to us. And the unknown is scary. Even when we know it’s going to be good.
And yet.
You’ve done scary things before. Your entire history is full of you being somewhere on the spectrum from mild butterflies to paralyzing terror and you’ve gone and done the big scary thing anyways. At this point, you’re at least at semi-pro playing-basketball-in-Europe-level ready to do the next thing you’re afraid to do, which is get your home together.
And the way to do that?
Start going through your stuff and figuring out what belongs in the life you’re living right now. And Take. Back. Your. Space.
Because the life you want to be living shouldn’t have to fight for space.
And also because when you’ve got your space back, things become possible again. Life becomes possible.
You can have people over.
You can host a holiday. Or Martini Thursdays. Every. Dang. Week.
You can be proud of the space you live in.
You can even move to a different space if you want to because now the stuff you have to move isn’t overwhelming you with the OMG, how am I going to manage this?
What if you didn’t have all this stuff holding you to where you are and making you feel anxious when you walk in the door?
What if you weren’t weighed down by everything that’s in your space?
What if you were lighter? I mean who doesn’t want to be lighter for Gawd’s sake? Is there anyone in the United States who hasn’t spent the last 4 months planning to eat their weight in cranberry sauce this week?
What if it all started with just letting it be scary and doing the thing you know you want to do that will change your life for the better.
Take what you know in your gut and what you’ve learned from all your googling and scrolling and following. And put it into action. Start with your silverware drawer. Start with your underwear drawer. Or eat the frog and start with that big scary armoire with all the random shit in it.
Start knowing that for a while it’s going to feel like you’re making everything even more of a mess.
And then keep going, knowing that in the end it’s going to feel like freedom.
Figure out how you want your home to look and feel and be.
Figure out what stuff you need in your home to make it look and feel and be that way.
And get everything else out of there.
So that you can actually live this part of your life.
Instead of standing in line at Target.
And listen. If you feel like you’re having trouble figuring it out, let me help you.
If reading this feels a little too on-the-nose? This is exactly the kind of scary-but-worth-it work I do with clients every day.
I help smart, capable, professional people downsize, declutter, and make space in their home for the life they want to be living.
I am less interested in convincing them to get rid of stuff they don’t want to get rid of and more focused on helping them learn how to make decisions about (1) what they want to keep in their home and their life and (2) why they want to keep those things.
Because you don’t need someone to come in and get rid of your stuff.
You need to learn how to think about your stuff differently.
And how to work in focused chunks so you’re not living in “everything is everywhere” chaos for months on end.
The good news for everyone who doesn’t live in my little town by the sea over here in Portugal: I don’t have to actually be physically inside your home to do this. I’ve been working with clients over Zoom for years.
If you’ve been thinking about working with me privately to downsize, declutter, or make space in your home for your life to happen?
This is your moment.
I’ve completely changed my offer suite and have both 1:1 and small group programs with spots now available for booking.
Click here to see all your virtual home organizing options.
And keep reading 👇🏼to see what happens when you book between now and midnight (GMT) on Giving Tuesday.
🎁 5-Week Virtual Home Organizing Group Sprint.
Book a spot in the January or February cohort and get 60 minutes of private 1:1 sessions each week instead of 30.
I’ll do the donation research for you so you’ll know exactly where to take the things you want to donate or recycle. (This bonus is available only for clients in the US).
🎁 Make Space Strategy Session.
We’ll spend 90 minutes (instead of 60) mapping out a clear, doable plan that gets you on your way to a home that anchors you in calm and works the way you want it to.
🎁 Weekly Momentum Reset Sessions.
If you want ongoing, weekly virtual organizing support, I’ll add an extra 30 minutes to one of your first four weekly sessions.
I still have some dates available if you want to begin downsizing, decluttering, or making space in your home in December. Or you can start fresh in January. Once you’ve confirmed your purchase, you’ll get a link to my calendar so you can schedule your session. It couldn’t be easier.
Click here for details and to book your spot. Bonuses expire December 2, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. (GMT). No code required. Everyone who books before the end of Giving Tuesday wins.
If you’ve got questions about which offer is the best fit for you, your schedule, your life, and what you’ve got happening (or not happening) in your home? Hit reply and let me know. I’ll shoot you a Zoom link so we can figure out your best option.
Your cranberry sauce stuffed home organizing mentor,
Vivian