Community Highlights: Meet Pam Holland of Mindful Decluttering & Organizing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Pam Holland.

Hi Pam, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
After being let go from a job, I had an opportunity to reevaluate my business direction.

A friend said, “I think you should organize people!” My reply was “Do people get paid to do that? This was back in 2005 before Marie Kondo and the Home Edit were in the news.

So, I made a little homemade flyer and put it up in three local places: A restaurant, a video store, and the local food co-op. The first person to call was a man. I told him that I did not do the heavy lifting and he said “I didn’t expect Bruno the organizer” which made me laugh and feel less nervous.

In 2008, I began to teach workshops and after that, my business took off. A woman in my yoga class asked me if I ever hired anyone to help, which I had not done, so I agreed to train her. Eventually, I had about 5 organizers, and during the pandemic, a few of them decided to not continue to focus on their children.

Just before the pandemic, my husband and I moved from the DC metro area to Colorado. Before we moved, I studied virtual organizing. This was wonderful as when the pandemic hit, I was prepared to jump right into teaching virtual courses and seeing individual virtual clients.

I now connect my 3 compassionate and caring organizers to clients in the DC metro area, while I see some in-person clients here in the Denver metro area as well as continuing my virtual offers. The STORY! I don’t recall a white light, or anyone calling my name, but surely there must have been butterflies.

On a sunny day in April, an elementary school teacher read a story of Monty the butterfly to a circle of 1-3 graders. The butterfly asked, “Am I dying?” A hush fell over the school, followed by the sound of sirens. Or so I am told. My body lay slumped over my desk in the school office, but my spirit had flown away. To where, I do not know.

My mom and my two brothers flew in to say goodbye. My 8-year-old son, Adam, played at his friend’s, unaware that I, like the butterflies in the classroom, was in a state of hibernation. That young boy, Adam, had more clarity of purpose than I. In fourth grade, he picked up a pencil, wrote a story, and knew his destiny. For me, purpose was more elusive.

After my cardiac arrest; feeling joyously happy to be alive, I wanted to make the most of life and finally uncover my life’s purpose. Organizing came naturally to me. A dear friend encouraged me to explore helping other people through organizing. As I transformed my life, could I use my gift to help others transform theirs?

My friend Peggy saw my gift before I did. I was attached to my old self, but change was already happening. I was the caterpillar in the cocoon. The caterpillar doesn’t know it will become a butterfly, or what kind of butterfly it will be. I cautiously explored professional organizing and discovered quite quickly that I could indeed help people transform their lives by releasing attachments to their “stuff!”

How do butterflies feel as they transform from one state of being to the next, without conscious thought, following some path mapped out for them long before? My purpose – to assist folks in creating ease and flow in their day-to-day lives – remained hidden, incubating, before emerging, blinking, into the light of day.

Helping women overwhelmed by clutter create calm and clutter-free spaces in their homes through mindful decluttering and organizing. | Professional home organizer and productivity consultants | Decluttering guide.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Often when I do an intake call for people in the DC area, they are disappointed that it will not be me coming out to work with them.

It can be a struggle to keep my organizers busy enough to make it worth their time to put their availability on the shared Google calendar when things are slow. And then matching the organizer’s availability with the client’s availability is not always seamless. But mostly it works out.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Mindful Decluttering & Organizing, LLC?
Our unique service is to support folks in decluttering their lives with mindfulness.

Decluttering your home is sacred work. Your home is as unique to you as your fingerprints, and the objects you keep in your home are there for a reason. But some of these “reasons” might have outlived their usefulness and could be keeping you from living your best life or being your best self.

Folks often hold onto things that once had usefulness or meaning due to lack of time, not knowing how to start, indecision, or other unpleasant feelings. This is not something to beat yourself up about; our relationship to our things simply changes over time. If you’re in such a situation (and let’s face it, almost ALL of us are in some way or other!), be gentle and compassionate with yourself as you work through unsettling feelings.

Here are just a few ways that decluttering from a mindful perspective can bring more ease and joy into your physical and mental space and even open doors for you: You can let go of remnants of an old job or relationship and create space for new relationships and opportunities to flow into your life.

You can feel comfortable letting go of objects that remind you of painful periods in your past and let go of the past to feel freer. As our wise friend, anonymous, once said “The past is a good place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.” You can make peace with your current weight and physical abilities and let go of the clothes that no longer fit or the camping gear that you know deep down you will no longer use.

You can find joy in passing things on to someone else who can appreciate and use them (even if you don’t know who they are!).

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I love to listen to audiobooks, mostly about feng shui, decluttering, and self-help.

For apps I use Trello, WhatsApp (my VA is in the UK), Acuity scheduling, and Mailchimp and I have a WordPress website with very robust SEO due to a content marketing strategy (Lots of blogging with carefully selected keywords).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://clutterfreenow.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterfreenow/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clutterfreenow/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pam-holland-96747530/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/clutterfreenow
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mindfuldeclutteringorganizingl
• Yelp: Note: I have two Yelp pages ~ MD Yelp page: http://www.yelp.com/biz/mindful-decluttering-and-organizing-llc-takoma-park. Colorado YELP page https://www.yelp.com/biz/mindful-decluttering-and-organizing-colorado-broomfield.
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/clutterfreenow/