Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Clutterbusters
A new business is picking up in Palouse.
Clutterbusters, founded by Bonnie Doebler, is a service which helps people streamline, clean and organize their homes.
Originally from England, Doebler moved to Palouse from Spain in 2011 and hoped to continue her work here as a counselor. Plans changed when she learned her credentials were not recognized in the United States.
“I like to declutter. I like to organize. I thought, I’ll go back to that,” she said, referring to her work cleaning and organizing homes during her college years in England.
Clutterbusters began in February after Doebler started with a few friends and then put up flyers with pull-off tags in Pullman and Moscow.
She moved to Palouse to marry Tim Doebler of the WSU Fine Arts Department. They met when Bonnie came to visit American friends she met through her online counseling service.
For Clutterbusters, she charges an hourly rate to help people downsize, make a fresh-start and decide what to do with years-old unopened boxes.
“Because of my background in counseling, it’s tantamount to decluttering,” Doebler said. “There’s an art to decluttering. People get attached to their things.”
Her work usually involves separating boxes into three groups: “Definite Keep,” “Get Rid Of” and “I’m Not Sure Yet.”
From there she helps her clients further reduce and organize their things.
“It’s not one-size fits all, but for the majority, it works,” Doebler said. “With my personality, I like to make people feel happy and comfortable.”
Once the “Get Rid Of” items are certified, she hauls them away.
“The thrift stores love me,” Doebler said.
She specializes in helping people who have found themselves in unwelcome situations in which they need to downsize or are forced to make a new start.
“Generally, these situations alone are difficult and sad enough times, without the extra worry of asking, ‘Just what do I do with 14 pairs of that style of shoe/dress/pants/tools/kitch-enware, etc.?” Doebler said.
She indicated that her work is gentle but firm, sympathetic yet strong and nonjudgmental.
“You will soon find it unnecessary to live in the unhealthy or unhappy chaos of your home,” Doebler said.
Born and raised in Bristol, England, Doebler, who had been previously married, left there in 1999 after her two children were grown and moved to Costa Blanca, Spain.
In Spain she set up a “Walk and Talk” counseling therapy business, in which she held counseling sessions as part of walks and hikes in the mountains of Valle De Lagual.
Growing up, she knew a certain maxim: A place for everything and everything in its place.
“I heard it from my parents,” Doebler said.
For more information, call Clutterbusters at (509) 878-1275.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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