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The Ashby Village Decluttering Team
By Karin Evans
 
Who hasn’t been there? We stack a few papers and bills and books on the dining room table, get behind, and before we know it we can’t see the table. Or, we look at what our grown children have left behind in their childhood rooms and can’t bear to throw out their art work, their school papers, or the deflated volleyball signed by all their team mates. Or we have a particular passion—for cookbooks, say, or statues of dolphins. But one day we realize we haven’t looked at a cookbook in years, the shelves are sagging, and we have no energy or desire to dust the dolphins.

In short, too much stuff can become a burden. But, what can you do?
 
Enter Ashby Village’s relatively new collection of heroes—the Decluttering Team, headed up by Jean Goldman and Jean Hoehn.  

Jean Goldman has been working at the downsizing business for some time, with her company Goldman Transitions. Jean Hoehn got involved with the idea after listening to her children and their contemporaries, people in their forties, who were sharing their concerns about parents who were growing older and clinging to a lifetime’s accumulation of material things. “Older people are warehousing their children’s memories,” says Hoehn, “when the children have no place to put them and a lot of the stuff the parents are attached to don’t fit their lifestyles.”

An active Ashby Village volunteer, Hoehn realized a lot of people she knew were in the same boat. Yet paring down belongings can be an overwhelming prospect, both emotionally and physically, and few people can tackle it alone.  
 
So the two Jeans (“We’ve decluttered our names and use the same one,” quips Hoehn) put their heads together and came up with a plan. They developed workshops for Ashby Village members, “to help them embrace the idea of decluttering.” In the workshops, Jean Hoehn noticed, there was a lot of initial enthusiasm. “Everyone was filled with joy and excitement and most knew what they wanted to address.” But about midway through the workshop, something happened. “There was a drooping, a sagging,” she says. “People suddenly realized the physical and emotional energy that would be necessary to get this job done.”

So the two took the next step, and developed Decluttering Buddies. They got some volunteers interested in the project and created a training model. Last year they launched the project and it was highly successful.
 
Here’s how it works. A member calls, and spells out a need. Paring down a beloved collection of books, say, or clearing out the kitchen, or deciding what to take and what to leave when moving to a smaller place.

 First, the Decluttering Team pays a visit. The objective is to clarify the member’s goals and desires. They have worked out a very practical system, always visiting a member’s house in a team of two. It takes two, says Jean, because a lot of emotional and physical energy is required. There are many decisions to be made, and the recipient of the service needs support and understanding as the process goes on.

(There’s also an Ashby Village Home Safety Assessment Team which can identify conditions that post safety hazards to members, and need to be remedied. If needed, HSA team members may assess the site, too, and recommend what needs to be done.)
 
After the site visit, the two decluttering partners consult and make a plan and get back to the member. They assess what needs to be done, and how best to do it. They set up a series of two-hour visits, breaking the work into short bursts because it can be exhausting, and starting in the morning when everyone’s energy is higher.
 
Over time, the team has developed what they call their “Toolbox,” a very long list of verified businesses and agencies which can help with moving items, arranging to sell them, if desired; or finding appropriate approved charities which would appreciate donations. They have found, for example, a wonderful book appraiser who will come and go through collections, respecting the members’ wishes for each book.

Almost always, there are doubts along the way, says Jean Hoehn. During the initial meeting, it might seem like a good idea to sell the piano, but after thinking about it, a member may have second thoughts. At that point, the team would talk more about that with the member, helping clarify the goals and offering support to stay the course. “It can involve a kind of gentle consoling,” says Jean Hoehn.
 
When team members Jean Hoehn and Cecilia Placzek responded to AshbyVillage member Ingrid Kepler’s request to help her organize and pare down a massive collection of books, Celie spent a lot of time sharing Ingrid’s deep love for each of her books. As Ingrid leafed through each one, she had a story to tell about the author, or a memory about what the book had meant to her. The collection was huge, covering every wall and surface of the house. But slowly, Ingrid and the visiting team succeeded in making decisions and streamlining Ingrid’s collection. It was Celie’s first experience as a Decluttering Buddy, and she loved it.

There can always be snags, says Jean Hoehn, but all in all, “It’s really quite a beautiful process.  One member called with a desire to do some clearing, but when the team got there, they found that the amount of accumulation was, in fact, a fire hazard. In that case, the team jumped into quick action, returning within 24 hours to remedy the situation.

During the decluttering process, the member who has asked for help often goes on a bit of an emotional roller coaster as the work proceeds. First, it seems like a great idea. Then, halfway through, maybe it all feels too overwhelming. Doubts arise. Progress continues. And before long, the newly cleared spaces actually begin to feel good. “The member sparks up,” says Jean Hoehn. “They even begin to feel like a new person.”

When the team paid a visit to Jeri Cardoza, for example, they helped remove a collection of material that posed a fire hazard—a task that was far too much for Jeri herself to tackle. They worked on several parts of her house, and they cleared off her dining room table which had become piled too high to use. Afterward, volunteer Laura Mahanes and Jeri sat and had a cup of tea on the newly exposed table.

Usually a project involves four or five two-hour visits by the team. If more is required—and there may be cases that are too big for the volunteers—the group can refer a member to a professional agency that can help. “I always say to my team members, you can anticipate four or five two-hour visits and call that a reasonable volunteer offering. After that, we need to have a dialogueand help the member to decide if they want to continue, and if so, it might be time to have a managing service. At that point, we have a list, all vetted by Ashby Village.”

But even for average jobs
 right now the team faces a challenge. “We need more volunteers,” says Jean Hoehn. “We can’t really offer this to as many members as we would like until we get a large volunteer pool to help. We need to get people excited about the joy and the rewards of doing this, and getting them to sign up. ”

If you are interested, here’s how it works. First, team members need to have gone through the regular Ashby Village Volunteer application process, vetting and training. Once cleared, Jean Hoehn will schedule an orientation session (1-2hours) to get a sense of what the decluttering program entails, the Decluttering process and whether it’s a good fit for them. Next, a new volunteer accompanies a buddy to a member’s home and is guided through the first project by an  experienced member. After that, they can join a team and guide others.


"The program has tremendous potential," says Hoehn. "It's a new and exciting program, but we won’t achieve our goals unless we get a good pool of volunteers.”

If you are interested in joining the Decluttering Buddies, contact volunteer@ashbyvillage.org
 
And watch for a future article by Jean Goldman on “The Art of Declutterng.”
 
Photo Credit: Richard Bermack and Celie Placzek
 
The two Jeans enjoying some down time.



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