Organizing Cynthia by Mary Ann, Bev, Cynthia and Barbara

In late 2015 Cynthia announced that she wanted to put her Sierra Madre house on the market, and the realtor had advised her to "declutter". We don't remember which one of us decided that the team was needed at Cynthia's, but Linda, Mary Ann, Beverly and Barbara flew out to declutter. Our plan was to work on the house for four days, and then have a weekend tag sale. Each person took an area of responsibility. Mary Ann spent days on the linen closets. By the time she was finished, the few remaining sheets and towels were organized by color and type; Cynthia continues to mourn the loss of her sheets and towels. You have never seen a basement like Cynthia's: we unearthed at least three unused tents, enough Christmas ornaments to decorate five trees, all kinds of sports equipment, and furniture to outfit yet another house. After we hauled out the "trash" (always a debatable term between the owner of the house and the declutterers) from the basement, Linda set about organizing things into departments. We had the electrical department, the furniture department, the cooler department, etc. etc. Her Christmas wrapping paper center was amazing. She used bungee cords to suspend the paper and ribbons, created a flat surface to wrap, and furnished the area with tape and scissors. It was truly remarkable. Bev and Barb worked on the kitchen, dining rooms and main room. Items identified for the tag sale, were taken out to the tag sale area. Every evening when Cynthia came home, quite a few of those items returned to the house. Linda had to return home before the big weekend of the tag sale, and that's why she is not in the photo. The tag sale went on for two days, and was very well attended (particularly by the nosey neighbors who wanted a tour of the house). Cynthia got into the spirit of the sale: when someone admired her pool furniture, she priced it to sell. We made a lot of money...but probably not as much as Cynthia spent, taking us out for meals and bar visits. And as a ps to this: Cynthia promises to return the wrapping station to Linda's vision as soon as Christmas is over.