Watch Julia here

 

 

 

I love all things decluttering, so when a client recently suggested Space Maker Method – a decluttering series on YouTube (Shoutout to Mo and thanks for the reco), I was on it like bird poo on a freshly washed car.

Space Maker Method is a refreshing antidote to commercial decluttering shows which feature sped-up montages, tension and a narrative arc – therefore manufactured drama. 

There is none of those histrionics in Space Maker Method.

Who is April Scott Tandy?

The host April Scott Tandy is non-judgemental and reassuring. She also has a book entitled The Mindful Art of Space Making: How to Declutter When You’re Overwhelmed, and a website and app with membership options for more resources. April has a contagious love of her Space Maker Method and creating positive change. Based in South Korea, she travels the world to help cluttered individuals.

What is the Space Maker Method by April Scott Tandy?

The method focuses on sustainable, intentional home organisation without loads of sponsored content – although there is a little – a gal’s got to pay the bills and the process is free for lucky participants.

Space Maker is not about spending big on plastic containers or making drastic decisions – it leverages existing belongings, multiple ‘passes’ (attempts at decluttering the same stuff) and the client’s goals to create huge, enduring progress. 

The program discourages rash decisions. A regretful Space Maker will pull back and start clinging to their stuff, which is a backfire.

This is real, long format decluttering that’s relatable for all of us.

The Space Maker Method and Julia

So far I have only watched one season, and that’s Julia – a New York-based Opera singer with health problems.

Julia is a great watch because she articulately describes her foibles (being a clutterbug) and her desire to change. 

She completes all the homework April sets for her, works damned hard and has a steely determination to make difficult decisions and transform her space, despite her physical (she has chronic illness), emotional and mental hiccups. She talks about how much inner work she has done on herself and her aspiration for her outer environment to match her inner self. 

Her quote in the first episode is poignant: “Buying stuff to feel better when I didn’t feel physically well became a new bad habit.”

Jules knows, as I do – that having too much stuff can be the product as well as the cause of so much more. It’s not just about the stuff!

She is vulnerable, honest and witty as she chit-chats her way through her accumulations. And her dynamic with April is just as fun and authentic.

They go through zone by zone, putting categories together and working out where they should live. The season showcases how the puzzle pieces start to fall into place if you can persevere long enough to organise your home thoroughly.

April talks about the “during” – the messy middle of the process where everything looks worse than before you started. This part is often glossed over in other decluttering TV shows. Hang in there and it all works out, but not via magic.

Even when you get overwhelmed, stick with what you know to inject some fragments of calm, and the rest will fall into place. April reminds Julia that future passes and further contemplation during and after the process, as well as using up all her (now organised) hoard, will declutter and calm her home further. 

Sure enough, Julia has breakthroughs in April’s absence, between shooting – for example, when she finally cracks the code of her compact pantry and how to make it all work. 

When curating medical supplies, April explains how the seemingly-excessive ‘keep’ pile will run down over time. When we consolidate our stock we stop overpurchasing and use what we have because we know where it is.

The 1930s city apartment has beautiful bones but in accordance with its era, is lacking space and storage solutions.

April guides her through various strategies to minimise her stuff and maximise her apartment. Ideas include:

• • Stowing away seasonal and theatre items, since Julia is on hiatus from performing.

• • Using sliders (felt stick-ons) to make furniture and storage easy to move around and create versatile home zones.

• • A handy 3-tier trolley on wheels as a desk-adjacent stationery caddy, with a spot nearby to process paperwork.

• • Creating a ‘purse drawer’, for stocks of handbag supplies – hand sanitisers, mints, tissue purse packs etc.

• • The idea that living in a compact home means you have to sacrifice the trendy notion of buying in bulk. Costco ain’t for tiny New York apartments.

I love seeing realistic systems put in place for functional living.

They execute “The Great Switcheroo” – swapping over the two main rooms of the small abode, which is no mean feat considering the lack of wiggle room for furniture. It requires a tremendous amount of decluttering and planning.

This Space Maker Method season took two months of intensive work, which is testament to how long a thorough home transformation takes. The best home organiser in the world won’t transform a home quickly, particularly for a therapeutic and durable result.

Thankfully there is a giveaway spot in Julia’s apartment where all donations can be conveniently offered to fellow residents.

They regularly discuss a growing pile of tubs and containers, now empty due to the decluttering they have steadily accomplished. Clutterbugs have a tendency to buy more receptacles for clutter as an easy ‘solution’.

The solution of course, is to declutter.

It’s a great feeling when those containers are heavily curated in the final stretch.

Julia is frequently overjoyed that she can easily put things away as systems and zones are created.

During her recap she explains how her declutter muscle has grown and while she is ecstatic about her home, she is always thinking about what else she can get rid of. Decluttering is addictive!

She has a mini meltdown alone in Space Maker Method Ep 7 when contemplating her huge collection of pens, about her perceived lack of progress. Yep it takes a long time Jules, but you have done SO well!

And the result is terrific. Julia will never be a minimalist and her apartment will always be small, but to see it go from overwhelming to gorgeously streamlined is a joy.

Shoutout to fluffy tabbycat Sunshine, who is a constant presence in the tumultuous journey for Julia.