Discoveries made on path to an organized home

Many people talk about organizing their homes. But the few who actually do it usually have reached a tipping point.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Maureen Rabazinski, a 62-year-old nurse practitioner, who needed advice on how to get her house back. Life events had sent her two 30-something sons, a wife and three children boomeranging back to live with her and her husband in their 2,200-square-foot, empty nest “oasis.” Meanwhile, Rabazinski had started a thriving home-based telehealth practice — in a home office with a crib.

“My home was chaos,” she said. “I couldn’t find any corner I wanted to be in.”

My advice was simple: Create boundaries and give each room one purpose. We came up with a task list, which included getting rid of dust-collecting exercise equipment, reclaiming the guest room for short-term guests, taming the toy tornado in the grandkids’ room and making her office a purely professional place.

Two weeks later — a period she defined as a “whirlwind workfest” — she called to report on her progress (90% done) and the unexpected benefits. “Besides loving how my decluttered, reorganized home looks, feels and functions,” she said, “my other discoveries were even more impactful.”

In addition to a few aching muscles from moving heavy furniture around, here’s what she realized:

The direct donation impact: When we spoke, Maureen had a garage full of items scheduled for delivery to new homes. For instance, after trying to sell the barely used elliptical machine online, it’s now going to the local Boys and Girls Club. The organization, which provides after school and summer programs for youths, will pick it up, sell it and use the money to help those they serve. Toys — enough to fill two car trunks — will go to a homeless shelter, and three bags of bed linens are tagged for the local pet rescue.

“I love knowing that these unused items that were cluttering my home will make a difference in the community,” she said.

Purposeful repurposing: As Maureen was reclaiming her office, her older son was remodeling and replacing dark wood floors with lighter wood flooring. She took his old wood planks and had them installed in her home office, replacing her worn carpet.

Clearing out the room her son had been using, she uncovered two televisions and gave them to the workers installing her flooring. “The smiles on their faces was worth all the effort.”

Oh, and that crib that was taking up half her office went to a friend who had just become a grandmother.

“Though making a random donation is gratifying, giving items directly to someone who really needs and wants them is even more rewarding,” she said.

Teaching moment: Maureen enlisted her grandkids, ages 7, 4 and 2, to help decide which toys could go to children in a homeless shelter and which ones should stay. “The two older ones would say, ‘We don’t play with this anymore. Let’s give this to them.’  They learned how good it feels to be generous,” she said. “They also found they’d rather play with Gigi and PapPap than with their toys.”

Biggest difference: “The change in my home office was the most dramatic,” she said. Besides losing the crib and gaining wood floors, she moved a bookshelf into the closet, and added a chic area rug and two cowhide chairs across from her desk to create a stylish seating area. “I was seriously surprised by how much more energized and productive I feel now that I look forward to going to my office every day.”