It’s All About Relationships
Part III — Excerpt from URI Magazine, “The Emotional Power of Tidying Up”
Lindemann says her ideal client is anyone who calls her and asks for her help.
A lot of people fit into that category. Many have read Kondo’s book. Some have stacks of books about organizing. They are retired, recent grads, couples, singles, families with children. With families, Lindemann works with each person individually—including the children.
“This work is about relationships. It’s so personal. Trust—and the absence of judgment—are essential,” says Lindemann. “People are trusting me to be in their homes. I take that very seriously. It’s a privilege to help remove clutter so that they can live more meaningful lives. I’ve experienced this myself and I’ve seen it repeatedly with my clients.”
Kerri Leonard is one of them. She lives with her family outside Boston, runs three businesses, and is a mom of two. Leonard, who discovered she had attention deficit disorder when she was in her late 30s, says her home and family life were defined by chaos. Concern for her children is what brought her to Lindemann. How was growing up in such a disordered household affecting them?
She had read the Kondo books, but knew she needed help. “Somehow Laurie knew exactly what I needed. She’s intuitive. There’s a depth there. She understood the emotional impact of the work we were doing,” says Leonard, who stresses Lindemann’s empathy, endless energy, humor, and her ability to know when it’s time to take a break, which is important because, says Leonard, “this is exhausting work.”
Leonard says her children have enjoyed working with Lindemann—and have learned from her. “They see the improvement in their lives. I feel a lightness in them when there is order in the house,” says Leonard. “It has a calming, freeing effect on them.”
As a business person, Leonard says the paper category was most difficult for her. “I had paper from the 1980s. It felt like a hill I was never going to be able to climb. Now that I’m on the other side, I feel less burdened,” she says. “I didn’t realize how much pain and grief it was causing me to be buried in so much paper. That’s where I really learned to let go.”