Articles

Donations That Do Good

By Katie Fice

Martha Tobin is thrilled that her new business not only helps clients get rid of clutter, it also helps the environment by turning up a wealth of unwanted items that are recycled for others to use instead of being dumped in a landfill.

“I love that we transform lives for the better every single day,” says Tobin, who started Room2Breathe, her organizing and decluttering business, in July 2020 when COVID-19 steered her to a career change. Never looking back from that decision, she has helped countless clients throughout the National Capital region to reduce stress and feelings of being overwhelmed by helping them organize and declutter their homes.

“I decided to follow a lifelong passion and pursue organizing and decluttering,” she says. “I love it, and it’s been successful since day one.”

Tobin says the Room2Breathe team is sometimes asked just to declutter a basement, kitchen or garage but it’s often contracted to do an entire house. While helping clients get rid of excess things they no longer want or need, Tobin realized there were many wonderful and worthy items that could have a second life with others who could use them. Through this realization, the Donations That Do Good program was born.

The program decreases the waste sent to the landfill and gives back to the community by donating items clients no longer want to local charities. In many cases, clients are more willing to let things go when they realize it can help someone else through the donation program. “We are proudly committed to making a difference in our clients’ lives as well as in the lives of those in need in our community,” says Tobin. Her enthusiasm for her work and the donation program is obvious.

She explained that due to the challenges of finding places and time to drop off donations, unwanted items removed during decluttering would usually be put out on the curb on garbage day. To avoid that waste, the Room2Breathe team pack up their vehicles at the end of the day and take the items on behalf of their clients to local charities that are looking for those specific items (e.g., clothing, dishes, toys, small appliances, etc.) When there are larger items, like furniture, that Tobin’s team cannot handle, they recommend charities that the client can contact for a pickup.

“Our Donations That Do Good program is a win-win for our clients and our community,” says Tobin, “and it’s also a huge win for our planet in that we ensure that these donated items have a second life and are not going into landfills.” The charities that they can currently donate to are the Ottawa Boys and Girls Club, Immigrant Women Services Ottawa, Caldwell Family Services, CompuCorps, EcoEquitable, Bruevére, Heartwood House, Salvation Army, Diabetes Canada and Habitat for Humanity.

Tobin loves making connections with charities or other organizations that can use the donated items to raise funds or provide them to those in need. Items collected during a recent day of decluttering were donated to a garage sale for a refugee family. All proceeds went to the family, and unsold items were given to Caldwell Family Services. If you are a charity that needs specific items or you know a way the donations could help others, please reach out to Martha Tobin at martha@room2breathe.ca or 613-868-5197.  To learn more about Room2Breathe and their Donations That Do Good program, check out the website at room2breathe.ca.

If you’ve been making efforts to reduce your waste, we may feature you in a future column. Please send a short paragraph explaining how you are reducing your household or business waste to environment@glebeca.ca, attention Katie.

Katie Fice joined the Glebe Community Association’s Zero Waste Committee (a subcommittee of the Environment Committee) to learn about waste reduction and raise awareness of simple changes in our daily living that have a positive impact on the environment.

Decluttering -5 Tips & Tricks To Get You Started

by Martha Tobin, Room2Breathe 

Decluttering is a daunting task at the best of times and your feelings of overwhelm may be holding you back from beginning. Here are 5 tips and tricks to get you started:

(1). Start with one room at a time and focus on one section of that room.

I recommend starting with the surfaces and removing all items from these surfaces (ie. desk or counter top).

(2). If you find items that belong in other rooms, just put them in a box labelled ‘other rooms’ and continue to stay in and on track with the room you are working on. 

(3). For each item on these surfaces, determine if you still use it.   For items no longer used, put them in a box labelled ‘to give’, ‘to sell’ or ‘trash’.

(4). For those items that you are keeping, ask yourself about their frequency of use.  Prime real estate in that room is for items used hourly and daily (so placed within arms reach) while weekly and monthly items can be within standing or walking distance respectively.

(5). Once the surfaces of the room are decluttered, then pick another section of that room (i.e. drawers or cupboards) and repeat the above process.

By tackling decluttering one room at a time, you will not only see progress but that progress will keep you motivated to declutter other rooms.

Dear Martha,
My partner continues to order online or bring home more and more purchases but we
have so much ‘stuff’ that we now have piles everywhere because we have nowhere to
put everything. The more stuff he brings home, the more stressed I feel. Any words of
advice?
Signed,
Ready for calm
Dear Ready for calm,
You are completely correct – an excess of stuff does cause stress. Here are 3 practices
that may help from Sarah Nettleton’s book, The Simple Home – The Luxury of Enough:
(1). Look around your home and celebrate the ‘good choices’ that you have made
when bringing something into your home (i.e installing shelving in your garage or adding
a few woven baskets on a shelf in your entry hall for keys, sunglasses and masks,).
(2). Consider the elimination of non-essentials by reviewing each room’s contents
(start with the surfaces) and determine for every item if it is practical or emotional.
Practical items are kept because you need them while emotional items are kept because
they are sentimental. If an item is neither, consider letting it go (donate, sell or trash).
(3). Celebrate restraint. If you do bring something new into your home, let something
else go that you no longer need or want. Home’s only have a finite amount of space so
by applying a ‘one in one out’ rule, you will be respecting the equilibrium of your home.
“Homes that nurture us are not fortresses of exclusion, but rather clearings in a busy
world that help us to dream new ideas and to be creative in our own way.” (Sarah

Nettleton)

Dear Martha,
My home has too much stuff but how do I determine what to let go of and what to keep?
Signed,
Unsure
Dear Unsure,
Here are 5 questions you can ask yourself to determine if you should keep something:
(1). Do you love it?
(2). Do you use it regularly?
(3). Is the item in working order?
(4). Do you have space for it and does it have a logical ‘place to live’ in your home?
(5). For items of clothing, determine if it still fits and if it still suits your current lifestyle.

Take a look around you and start with a junk drawer, your linen closet or your bathroom
cupboard. Ask the above five questions about each item you come across and if the
item is no longer serving you, let it go. A life well-lived is about experiences not things.

“Removing clutter makes room for a life focused on the things that matter most.
It opens up physical space in our home and mental space in our mind.” (Clear the

Clutter -Donna Smallin)

This past month’s tips and tricks focused on storing suitcases. I recommend the ‘Russian doll approach.’ Keep three travel bags per family member (preferably only for those family members currently living in your home). Consider keeping a large wheeled one (international travel), a small wheeled one (domestic travel) and a medium sized day bag/backpack or duffel bag (weekend travel).

Using the wooden nested Russian doll sets as your example, place the smaller luggage inside the larger luggage. If you no longer need some of your luggage, take a photo and the measurements and put them on a Buy Nothing online marketplace group.

Dear Martha,

Our basement is literally chockablock with stuff. We have multiple bins of baby clothes down there (and our “kids” no longer live here). We also have more suitcases than we’ll ever need, more tools than we’ll ever use and inherited china that has not entertained anyone since it arrived over a decade ago. I know we need to do something about our basement, but I am so overwhelmed. I have no idea where to start or even what to do with all the items we no longer want. Can you help?

– Overwhelmed

Dear Overwhelmed,

You are not alone. Basements are one of the key areas in a home where organization goes to die. It’s usually where we keep items we’re just not ready to part with, like baby clothes and other keepsakes. Problem is, items that are not seen regularly are forgotten – out of sight, out of mind. That’s complicated by inaccurate bin labelling and, in many cases, lack of any labelling, which leaves you with mystery bins.

The best approach is to open the bins and take stock of what’s inside. Commit to bringing up a few bins each Saturday and take a look through them while sipping your morning coffee. Not only will you have a wonderful walk down memory lane, but you may also realize you are now ready to pare down the baby clothes and other keepsakes. Keep only those items that evoke the strongest memories. As Ruth Soukup says in her book, Unstuffed – Decluttering Your Home, Mind and Soul, “if everything is special, then nothing is. Let go of the guilt.”

In addition to purging, reorganize the pared-down items more efficiently (i.e. maximum one keepsake bin for each family member) and label them accordingly. No need for any fancy labelling machines. Remember that simple organizing systems and solutions are always the best ones. A roll of masking tape and a Sharpie will serve you well.

For suitcases, I recommend the “Russian nesting doll approach.” Keep three suitcases per family member (preferably only for those currently living in your home). I recommend a large wheeled one, a small wheeled one and a medium sized day bag/backpack. Place the smaller luggage inside the larger luggage, like Russian dolls. If you no longer need some of your luggage, take a photo and measurements and put it on a Buy Nothing online group.

Regarding tools, I can almost guarantee you’ll save time and effort the next time you need a tool if you donate some that you never or rarely use. You will no longer be digging through a variety of screwdrivers just to find the one that you use 90 per cent of the time. By donating excess tools to an organization like Habitat For Humanity’s ReStore program, you’ll be giving them a useful second life.

As for inherited china, unpack it and use it. As Erma Bombeck wrote in her infamous 1979 “If I Had My Life To Live Over” column, use items that are important to you. “I would have burned the pink candle that was sculptured like a rose before it melted while being stored,” she wrote. Take a good look at all your “good china” and ask if it evokes positive memories. If so, why not use this china as your everyday tableware? Or keep a couple of key items, like a sugar and cream set, and donate the rest to local refugee committees who help set up homes for new arrivals in Canada.

Whatever your clutter, the key is always no waste. No wasted time looking for items, no wasted rooms taken up by unused items, no wasted items in landfills and no wasted days. Just being alive is cause for celebration and thanks. Use the good china and celebrate every day that ends in ‘y’.

For so many of us there has been unparalleled change over the last year; some of it good and some of it not so good.  As a family we were only just getting our footing back after recovering from some big losses when the pandemic hit.   The passing of Mike’s father, my mother and brother all within a few short years left big holes in our hearts and palpable gaps in our lives.  And like so many others we also felt the horrible sting of confinement when our brother in law died unexpectedly in Newfoundland and we could not be there to grieve with family and to honour his life.   

We have spent much of COVID doubling down as a family.  We have kept close.  Very close.  Very scared.  We have zealously protected our family as the thought of one of us going alone into hospital is unimaginable.  

And now one year later with vaccines for all imminent, there is finally hope. And yet, our post-pandemic reality brings with it other anxieties and worries.  How can we alter the future of our planet so that it is healthier and our communities are more connected?  What will our ‘new normal’ look like?  How will we move forward as a society?  How will we recover with so much job loss, so much unemployment and so many industries decimated?   

We are all excited to live in an unmasked, hug-friendly world again but we’re all coming into it as different people now.  We’ve had a long while to take stock of our lives and to think about our ‘reset button’.  We are excited to move forward, blessed to still be here but we recognize that we have been impacted by the pandemic and we want to move forward with a new sense of purpose and intention. 

The younger generation like our daughters have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic in general and the required isolation in particular.  When the schools closed last March our daughter, Meagan, who had been working part time at the Wild Oat, was graduating from Canterbury’s fine arts program.  Sadly her grade 12 lost all of their well-deserved celebrations that would have brought closure to a formidable high school experience.  The prospect of university residence in the fall of 2020 buoyed her spirits.  But by late summer that dream was sunk when residences were closed and our deposit was returned.  

Like the parents of other university students we grappled with the weight of wondering at what cost we let the pandemic determine the mental and emotional well-being of our children. In the end we decided that Meagan needed a university experience so with mixed emotion, we rented her an apartment in downtown Montreal so that she and her good friend could have some semblance of autonomy while attending Concordia’s Fine Arts and Design program virtually.  We have no regrets and she has blossomed from this tip of the iceberg encounter with university life. 

Our daughter, Emma, in Grade 10 at Glebe Collegiate has also been impacted by the pandemic and like so many other high school students she has had to juggle her days between school online and in person.   And she’s had to become accustomed to only seeing friends either online or outdoors.  The great thing about youth though is their resilience and through it all Emma has grown and adapted.  Knowing where her strengths lay, Emma recently took on the role of Room2Breathe’s social media manager and her support and computer savvy have been a welcome addition to our growing team. 

Supporting each other became paramount for Mike and I too as we were now together day in and day out, working side by side in our home office.   While my career of 31 years was rapidly dissolving, Mike’s career became more relevant and urgent than ever before.  

With planes grounded and new legislation surrounding the closure of our nation’s borders, 

Mike’s work as a senior consultant on contract with the federal government required long hours and many virtual meetings.

On the other side of the career pendulum, my long standing career in the promotional products industry came to an abrupt halt when the schools closed and conferences, conventions, trade shows, AGM’s and golf tournaments were nixed resulting in clients cancelling orders. 

Fast forward a few months and after much soul-searching I decided to follow my passion for organizing and decluttering and started my company, Room2Breathe.  Although commencing any company during lockdown seemed perilous, it was the only option that kept calling to me so I took a leap of faith and happily have never looked back.  And certainly ‘Covid confinement’ has made many realize how much ‘stuff’ they have so that’s certainly kept us busy.

We are a family that likes to be kept busy so living in the Glebe has been an amazing experience.with the Rideau Canal close by and skating, running, walking and biking right on our doorstep.  

Mike and I were both raised in close knit neighbourhoods with Mike coming from Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and me from Montreal West and we wanted that experience for Meagan and Emma.  And certainly we’ve gotten that in spades from the schools and community center to Brown’s Inlet block parties and outstanding neighbours. 

Interestingly enough it was at the Glebe Running Room that Mike and I first met so it’s even more special for us to live in this exceptional area of Ottawa. 

There have been many dark moments during Covid but one of the bright spots has been running into friends out walking and enjoying the beauty that surrounds us in this community we now call home.  

“The purpose of life is to live it.” (Eleanor Roosevelt)

My COVID career change was not so much a leap of faith as it was a good hard shove out of one career and into another.

The day schools closed last March was the beginning of the end of my long career in the promotional products industry. Over the next couple of months, as all conventions, conferences, trade shows, AGMs, golf tournaments and gatherings were cancelled, a huge segment of my business went completely flat. Completely changing gears was not an option but a must.

As it turned out, my catalyst for change came in a book that I was re-reading. The book was called What Colour Is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles. As I followed along with the exercises, the penny dropped and I awakened to the realization that my next career would involve organizing and decluttering.

Organizing and decluttering has been a lifelong love of mine. Books, shows and magazine articles on the subject of home design or organizing and any related before-and-after photos have always been my “go to” for unwinding and enjoyment. I am more relaxed, more creative and more in control in rooms that have a calm orderliness to them.

Turns out, though, that organizing and decluttering is a skill and we all have different skill sets. The same way I don’t have a natural affinity for languages, others are not successful with organizing and decluttering. No shame there. Just different strokes for different folks.

When it occurred to me that I could help people who didn’t have the time, energy or inclination to organize and declutter, I reached out to some friends and offered them pro bono work in return for their honest appraisal of my value in this area. Happily, I got an enthusiastic thumbs up and so with equal parts elation and trepidation, Room2Breathe Organizing & Decluttering was born.

Unencumbered by the weight of clutter and unfinished projects, people can be more productive, creative and calm in their safe haven. Purging the “stuff” that no longer owes us anything is liberating and we grow when we are not fenced in or weighed down by our things. By creating space, we have room to breathe and possibility is once again within reach perhaps in the form of a new library or craft room where once resided only dusty boxes and an unused desk. Maybe while decluttering, you unearth your travel journals and a European trip is once again beckoning.

For my part, when I “let go” of the familiarity and dependability of my 31-year career and stepped into uncharted territory to pursue my organizing and decluttering passion, I never would have imagined how closing one door would have opened up another that has completed me, fulfilled me and empowered me to be the very best version of myself. As Maria Shriver writes, “Choose you, and when you do, know that you’ve made the best choice you can make.”

It’s never more obvious how much stuff we have until it’s time to move. As Donna Smallin writes in her book, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness, “Clutter is what you end up with when you have more stuff than you need”.
Although daunting, decluttering to sell is a priority for several reasons:
-It creates space and buyers pay a premium for space.
-Too many personal effects become a distraction for the buyer.
-A decluttered home is easier to sell than a home that is packed to the gills.
-With home sales you only get one chance to make a good first impression.
-Buyers these days are looking for ‘move in ready’ conditions

Below are steps to keep in mind for decluttering to downsize:
–Start early; by starting early you reduce the stress of being rushed at the time of your move
–See yourself in your space: Consider what your lifestyle will be like in your new home/residence. Think about what you’ll need there (i.e lawn mower, full dining room set)
–Plan your new space: create a floor plan of your new space so you can visualize the rooms and what you hope to put in them
–Declutter one room at a time: start first with your least used room and then move on to the other least used rooms.
–Sort all items in each room into these categories: Keep-Use Now, Keep-For New Place, and Items to Purge.
For items you want to purge you have a number of options:
-Yard sales
-Online Community marketplaces
-Consignment and second hand stores
-Estate sale/auction companies.
-GIVE SHOP app: online marketplace with proceeds directed to local charities of your choice (i.e. CHEO, Humane society, The Mission etc.)
-Donations: allows you to donate items that ‘no longer owe you anything’ so that they can have a second life with someone who needs them (i.e. old electronics to Compucorps, linens, appliances to Refugee groups, toys to Boys and Girls club, etc.)
-Green disposal of items: stores like Best Buy, Lowes, Staples etc. accept back batteries, paint, lightbulbs, electronics, print cartridges, Pharmacies accept back old medication.
-Trash: last resort for purging your items.

–Remember to clear out closets: Buyers will look inside cupboards and closets to ensure there is adequate space for their ‘stuff’ so the less clutter, the better.
–Declutter and organize the garage: Buyers want to know they can park their car(s) in this space so purge what you can and move items to the side so that they can visualize this.
–Declutter and organize the basement: even if your basement is unfinished, ensure items are neatly stored along the sides so that the buyer can envision what they can do with the space.
–Create a moving binder: A moving binder is a great strategy for staying organized during a move and keeps all moving related items and tasks in one easy-to-find place (i.e checklists, receipts, utility company paperwork, etc)
–Number each box: as you pack your boxes, make a list of what each box contains. Assign a number to each box. This will help you keep track of your belongings and will help with locating your items upon arriving at your new home.

Decluttering is physically and emotionally exhausting and can be very overwhelming. Depending on the amount of time you have before you move, the time and energy you want to devote to the task or even your age and level of physical ability, you may want to enlist some help. Family and friends can pitch in but as well you may want to look into hiring outside professional help so that they can set up a plan and keep the entire process moving towards your move deadline. As well they often have a team of experts available for any maintenance you require (ie. repairs, painting, landscaping etc.).

Whether you are moving soon or you just realize that you don’t want to leave this daunting task to your loved ones, it’s always a good idea to start the process of decluttering early. As Ruth Soukup talks about in her book, Unstuffed – Declutter Your Home, Mind and Soul, “thinking about our own possessions in the context of our own demise may help to serve as the ultimate decluttering motivator.”

“You can’t get there from here but if you prepare the here, there comes here.” (Abraham Hicks)

Ellen’s dream of a basement meditation space and workout room had been on hold for years because of all the dusty boxes that occupied that space. The boxes contained family heirlooms that she had inherited after her parents died. The seemingly monumental task of tackling these ancestral treasures weighed her down and made her dream impossible.
Ellen’s story is not unique. As it turns out, inherited items are one of the biggest culprits of clutter in our homes. There are a few reasons for this: -we are loath to part with items that were beloved by someone who has passed away.
even though other family members don’t want these items, we don’t want to break the generational chain and discard them.
-the time and effort required to determine if we should sell, donate, recycle or trash these items overwhelms us.
Here are a few tips and tricks that might help:
#1. Put aside at least double the time you think it’s going to take. Sorting through inherited items is emotional and takes longer than expected.
#2. Have boxes and bags ready for labelling with these categories: SELL, DONATE, RECYCLE, TRASH, SOMEWHERE ELSE and TO SOMEONE ELSE. Also have a box for PHOTOS and another for DOCUMENTS.
#3. Gather all the inherited items (or any items you’ve chosen to declutter) in one space. Start to sort ‘like with like’. All china, silverware, serving sets and glassware together. Furniture together. Clothing, bedding, and towels together. Tools together. Photos (slides, greeting cards, etc) together. Documents together, etc.
#4. Review each item and decide which category it falls into (i.e. to sell, to donate, recycle, etc. as per #2). Remember that an item that was once important to someone else does not determine its importance to you. Getting rid of these items is not a sign that you loved that person any less. In fact, keeping only a few cherished items will make those treasures more meaningful and you’ll be able to display them (vs. in boxes in your basement). NOTE: save photos, slides, cards and documents till last (see #7).
#5. Take the filled boxes and/or bags labelled for DONATION and TO SOMEONE ELSE directly to the trunk of your car. Drop those off respectively as soon as possible. Take bags for RECYCLE and TRASH to their locations outside your home. Getting all of the filled bags outside your home is key. For items that are going SOMEWHERE ELSE in your home, take these items to those specific places and find them a place to live (i.e. put up that painting, display that figurine on a shelf).
#6. For those items or collections that you want TO SELL, take photos and measurements. Do not rely on family lore regarding their value but rather research these items to determine what others would currently pay. TV programs like Antiques Roadshow have convinced us that our treasures are worth a great deal but often the final negotiated price is substantially less. If the time and energy it takes to sell the item is equal or greater to the price you may receive, consider donating the item and know someone else will love it.
#7. Regarding photos, slides, cards and documents, without spending time doing any review now, sort these items into their respective boxes (see #2). Put these boxes beside your favourite chair. In the next few weeks every time you sit down, commit to reviewing their contents. For any photos, slides or cards only keep those that truly remind you of the best days that they represent and place those in a labelled box. Regarding the documents, only keep what you need for tax purposes, file those and shred the rest.
Congratulations. You did it! Decluttering our homes involves more than just freeing ourselves from those things that are holding us back and weighing us down; decluttering is about transformation and renewal. As Tracy McCubbin writes in Making Space Clutter Free, “making more room for what we want to do in life – and freeing up time and space to actually accomplish those things – always has a positive and inspiring outcome even if the process of letting go can feel overwhelming and daunting.”
Creating a home where you can more fully live and be the best version of yourself, is just one way of creating your ‘here’ so that you can realize your dreams. And if like Ellen, your dream is a workout room and meditation space, they are now possible.

Room2Breathe is a local Glebe company committed to making a difference. We’re happy to answer any questions you might have.