Decluttering: Life beyond consumerism
“When we were about to move house I decided things should change, so I brought in this home organizer. I’ve found that by reducing how much I own, life has become a lot better and I’m now in a much better frame of mind.”
Because of COVID- 19 she did not get the home organizer to visit her new home, she says, communicating through the internet instead, and with the consultant’s guidance it took Liu a week to figure out how her ideal home should look.
“As I did all the tidying up I kept a diary, most of the time tidying up after the children went to bed. I was exhausted but felt really satisfied and at peace with myself once it was done.”
On April 8, the very day that the government lifted the lockdown on Wuhan, Hubei province, another home organizer, Ma Chunyan, who prefers to be called Yezi, received orders from clients.
In one day she helped three tidy up their homes. All were working in Wuhan when the coronavirus struck, and before the city was locked down they were able to return to their own hometowns in various parts of China for Spring Festival.
Some decided not to return to Wuhan so Yezi and her team packed up their belongings and forwarded them to the clients.
“Each of the projects took us about four hours. We filmed the tidying up and showed it to the clients.”
From April to June orders were mostly from people who had not returned to their homes in Wuhan, including medical workers who cared for those with COVID- 19.
One reason why orders after the coronavirus pandemic increased greatly was that “people want to put their lives in order especially after the upheavals of the pandemic”, Yezi says. “Tidying up is much more than sorting things and putting them away. The goal is to begin a conversation with yourself and reflect upon your life.”
Yezi, 27, was born and raised in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, and moved to Wuhan after marrying in 2018. Being a home organizer is something she had prepared for since she was a child, she says.
While other children would throw their schoolbags on the floor and run out to play with their friends, Yezi preferred to put her books and pencil box in order on the desk once she got home from school. She also enjoyed helping her mother fold shirts.
In 2015, after graduating from a local university at which she studied preschool education, Yezi became aware of a home organizer in Chengdu, Sichuan province, said to be earning 100,000 yuan a month from the occupation.
“I didn’t know what a home organizer was back then. I started looking into it, hoping to turn my interest into a career.”
In 2018, after moving to Wuhan, she became a fulltime home organizer. The first phone call she received from a potential client was particularly memorable because the person referred to her as an ayi, she says.
“The business is still in its infancy in China and many people still have no idea about it,” says Yezi, who employs 17 people.
“Even my parents didn’t understand what I do as a home organizer until they saw before- and- after pictures I showed them. But things are changing, and more and more people are willing to give it a try.”
Most of her clients are from Wuhan and are women aged from 30 to 40. She also trains people who wish to become home organizers.
“Home organization is not home cleaning. It’s completely different. Decluttering is not merely about getting rid of stuff and sorting things out. It’s a way of improving relationships between people, their belongings and their space, which can help lead to a tidy and comfortable life. It’s about education and bringing beauty and harmony into one’s living space.”
In addition to reading books by Kando to get inspiration she has developed many of her own ideas about home organizing.
“There’s a tradition in China of treasuring possessions. Most people aren’t in the habit of throwing out useless things unless they’re worn out. So we try to get our clients accustomed to the idea and make it much more acceptable.”