Five years ago, my husband and I were blessed with a third child through adoption.  We call him our “tiebreaker” and as early as 2 ½ years old, he had a family vote on where we went on vacation or out to eat.  Little did we know how a third child would change our lives at home.  Time flew by. My husband and I were exhausted.  Clutter piled up.  Outgrown clothes were relegated to the closets to be donated at a later time.  Toddler and preschool toys were added to the baby toys in the basement playroom.  Nothing was thrown away.

Before we knew it, five years after his birth my husband and I were again blessed, this time with his retirement.  We were so excited at the prospect and started researching a move away from the Midwest dreary winters and humid summers.  I took a trip to Tucson to look at homes and fell in love with the sunshine, fresh air and cool nights.  I came home and my bubble popped.  How were we going to move a family of 5 across the country from a 3000 SF two story home with a basement to a ranch on a slab?  I started talking myself out of it. Then I saw an ad for a Clutter Coach while perusing a magazine in my chiropractor’s office.  I called and set up the free presentation meeting.  I was excited.  I had watched DIY Mission Organization for years always thinking “That’s what I need!” and then Jane Carroo fell out of the sky!!

Gradually over five short visits, Jane helped me de-clutter and organize my house in preparation for putting it up for sale and our move to Tucson.  The entire family atmosphere changed.  I thought “I should be having trouble sleeping at night" due to this decision we had made.  Yet I wasn’t .  I was calm during the day and sleeping like a baby at night.  Subsequent trips to Tucson to look for a home became easy because I knew I was getting prepared back home.

Once Jane started coming, I became inspired to do more and more myself with the family’s help.  One weekend, I had my 1^st grade daughter make up four signs which we taped on the wall above bins in the basement.  They read “KEEP”, “TRASH”, “DONATE” and “??”.  I turned to my three children and husband to explain what we would do next and they had already started putting things in the bins!!  Toys were donated,  and old instruction manuals and broken parts were tossed away. Within an hour we had to stop to bag up the trash, it was so  overflowing!!  By the next time we met down there, we had the basement so organized, it was unbelievable.

Another time as Jane and I were decluttering our final project, the master bedroom and closet, I emptied my five-year-old son’s clothes hamper on his floor to use to collect old clothes I was going to donate. He wandered up to see how I was doing and became upset when he saw his dirty clothes lying on the floor of his recently decluttered and organized room!!  He brought them in to my room in his arms asking “What about these, mom?”, only to see us using his hamper temporarily for our current project.  I reassured him that he could put them back where they belong as soon as we were done.

All this while we are negotiating on a home in a real estate market so HOT that we almost said forget it twice.  Yet we pushed along despite this.  Looking back now I can say that what kept us going was knowing I was getting the house all ready.  Before we had decided to move to the Southwest, my husband and I had met with an architect to remodel our upstairs to get more room for the kids and a nice new master suite for ourselves.  After Jane and I were through, I said to my husband that if we stayed  in this house I no longer felt the need to remodel because I had so much more space!!

I found working with Jane worth every penny I spent due to the time and aggravation I saved had I tried to do myself what she helped me accomplish this Spring, 2005.