There are rooms you never go into, the doors are kept shut, and visitors are warned that they’re entering at their own risk. Like entering the Bermuda Triangle, they may never be heard from again. This is Clue #1.
#2: You allow few people into your home, only a small handful of trusted friends. They love and accept you for all you are, and have known you forever. They don’t judge you, but others will, so you hide away in your secret shame, thinking you missed out on the “home gene” for setting up the cute houses you see on TV shows.
#3: Your basement is filled corner to corner with furniture, boxes, random crap, and other people’s stuff. You haven’t touched these items since you brought them down. You haven’t cared about any of it for decades. You’ve wanted to move or downsize but the idea of dealing with the mayhem has filled you with dread.
#4: Something happened that rocked you to the core and you fear you’ll never be the same, that you’ll never fully recover. Your home reflects your state of mind: a kind of benign neglect. Your home isn’t a place of refuge. Inertia is your refuge.
#5: You moved into this place a year or so ago and never really made it yours. You unpacked, put things away and never gave it another thought. It doesn’t look like home. It doesn’t feel like home, either, but then, nowhere does. This is it for now and something needs to change.
#6: You tell yourself you need to “declutter” but you don’t know where to start. So, you don’t. But you need to. And you can’t. So, you don’t. Round and round you go.
#7: You’re using your garage to store boxes, furniture, and other random items, and can no longer fit your car in the garage.
#8: You have clothes that fill: three dressers, two bins that roll under the bed, the guest room and your daughter’s clothes closet, the laundry room drying rod, and a rod in the basement suspended from the rafters.
#9 You have too much of something: Fiestaware, clothes, computer parts, Santas, paper piles, costume jewelry, fabric, unfinished projects, kids’ toys, books, tools, ideas… and not enough space. You can’t fully enjoy it, and you can’t move, so here you are, surrounded by your favorite things, yet overwhelmed by it at the same time.
These are classic signs you’re a stuff hostage. Your stuff owns you, not the other way around.
Maybe you read a book about decluttering—or started one, didn’t like a methodology, found something ridiculous about the advice, and punted the entire book.
Maybe you joined an on-line group of like-minded folks. Though you like reading their words of encouragement for others, you haven’t really done anything about your own situation.
Maybe you bought some bins and tried to organize, but it only partially worked.
Now you’re thinking that this is the way it is for you. You’ve given it a lot of thought, and you’re convinced there’s no other solution. We’ll all just have to learn to accept your idiosyncrasies. We all have them, and there’s no crime in having clutter. This is just who you are.
If that works for you, great. But if it doesn’t, and you’re tired of being STUCK and unhappy about the state of your home, this is where I can help.
I meet you where you are, without judgement. After working with over 9,000 homeowners, I’ve pretty much seen it all.
I also know that you have gifts and life experiences I will never have, let alone master. I’m not beating myself up about not being gifted in preparing my own taxes, or changing a faucet, or smoking a turkey for Thanksgiving. I know who to call and where to go for these things.
You see, I believe we all have something of value to bring to the play-date. You have your gifts, I have mine, and we’re supposed to fill in each other’s gaps. There’s no shame in asking for help.
What I do is help get you unstuck. And you may not have considered yourself stuck until this very moment. Maybe you’ve lived this way for so long, you’re experiencing Stockholm Syndrome with your own home!
My goal is to bust you free from your self-imposed hostage situation, guns blazing. Okay, not really; there are no firearms. I simply take it all in, see patterns, ask questions, and listen. I take a peek under the hood, then offer new ways of thinking that you’ve never considered before. We create a plan that you can execute. I can also spend time with you to get you started, if that’s what you want. And I’m here for support along the way.
All this for the cost of an expensive dinner out. Seriously, a meal that lasts 12 hours in your body, then gone. Or, an investment in yourself where you gain something you never had before:
The keys to freedom.
Empowerment.
The ability to make decisions, quickly.
A skill you will own between now and dead.
Peace, in your own home.
A gift for your children.
You’ve already been uncomfortable in your own home, so consider a tiny bit more discomfort in finally learning something new, something useful. What if, instead of feeling overwhelmed you could feel the thrill and peace of knowing you’ve got this? What if you’re not missing a “home gene” but simply an easily learned skill set?
If you’re ready to unlock your cell and step out in freedom, don’t wait another day. Reach out right now, while this is in front of you, and let’s chat.
Life is too short to live disappointed in yourself.
You might also like: How Renting Storage Units Help Us Procrastinate
Copyright © 2022 by Cynthia Gentry Black, Home Staging by Cynthia, LLC in Kansas City.
All rights reserved. No portion may be shared, reused or republished in any format without express written consent of the author.
