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She is taking the fight against hoarding in Thorold

Julie Stobbe's lectures teach seniors to downsize and homeowners to be more organized
julie stobbe
Julie Stobbe has been working as a professional organizer since 2006. (Photo: Ludvig Drevfjall, Thorold News)

A basement with a narrow pathway between the stack of moving boxes that havent been opened for a decade and old shelves filled with ancient cookware.

The garage that once provided well-needed winter parking space but that now is home to old paint cans and wood for a treehouse that still wasn't built when the kids graduated from college.

A home office where papers cover every surface, and probably those reading glasses you just can't seem to find.

While these situation probably sound stressful for just about anyone, it's Julie Stobbes passion.

From her home in Lincoln she runs Mind Over Clutter, a professional organizing company on a mission to help people organize their homes.

A job she has been doing since long before Netflix-sensation Marie Kondo's "Spark Joy"-philosophy of minimalism became a world-wide sensation.

She had been working as a teacher and gymnastics coach when she found her way to the job that she does on her own.

"I am naturally organized. Some organizers are like that and some come from the background of figuring it out and want to help others. I come from the organized stream", she says.

"You have to move furniture around, take donations out, lift, carry and assemble things. The physical nature of the work and the teaching degree came together, that is why I like doing it"

The profession is not regulated, but there is a national organization which oversees a training and examination of professionals.

For Julie Stobbe, it took around five years before the business started picking up enough to do it full time.

Today, her clients come mainly through her website and social media, and they come from all walks of life with varying degrees of chaos sidelining their lives.

Recent numbers estimate between 2 and 6 percent of Canadians might suffer from hoarding, a disorder where a person becomes unable to throw anything out, resulting in uncontrollable amounts of clutter and sometimes also safety- and health issues due to the sheer amount of things.

Julie Stobbe says her clients can range from people with hoarding problems to busy families where the parents work long hours with little time to devote to organizing their houses.

"Sometimes they don't know what to do, for example with papers, 'I don't know what i need to keep or file'. The children grow out of their toys, they don't leave the house and don't get donated. Sometimes people keep bringing in appliances. Kitchens have become overwhelming because you get appliances that only does one thing. I have seen people with five different types of coffee makers".

In those situations, Julie goes over and assesses the situation in a free consultation and then start to form a plan with the client on what stays and what goes - and more importantly - where it goes.

Her website shows messy offices with furniture haphazardly placed among cabinets and stacked shelves turn from chaotic maelstroms to clinically calm.

Recently, Thorold ended up on Julie's radar, and she has begun doing speaking engagements at the Thorold Library on the topic of downsizing for seniors, a sometimes challenging clientele.

"People that are seniors now have generally come through the depression and World War 2. They learned how to be very frugal and use every useful part of everything That was a necessity and those ideal and lessons were learned. Some seniors are very reluctant, they are worried about their memories", Stobbe says, but continues:

"The other 50% are more 'i don't want to leave all this stuff that my children will have to clean up'. You get both sides".

The next "Mind over Clutter"-seminar will be held at the Thorold Public Library on Tuesday February 11th at 6 PM.

The event is free, but registration is required.

Call 905-227-2581


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Ludvig Drevfjall

About the Author: Ludvig Drevfjall

Ludvig Drevfjall has been the editor of ThoroldToday since January 2020. He has worked as a journalist in Sweden, British Columbia and Ontario
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