Zen and the art of clearing your head space
A new band of professionals is bringing peace to people's minds as it declutters their homes
The instant Wang Zehu stepped into the apartment in downtown Shanghai she knew she had her work cut out for her. Before her stood a mountain of clothes, under which she would eventually find cleaning products, facial masks, hand sanitizers and disinfectants. That was in addition to the chaos that seemed to inhabit almost every wardrobe, cupboard and drawer of the home-all this mess packed into a relatively small 90 square meters, the living space for a family of five.
Wang, who uses the name Sica professionally, is more than your run-of-the-mill ayi, those blessed souls who seem to spend their lives cleaning up other people's mess; she is a home organizer and decluttering consultant who, with two others, spends six to nine hours a day transforming disorder into order.
"During the coronavirus pandemic in particular, many people have hoarded a lot of stuff, including supplies, which is totally understandable," Sica says. "Still, what I came across in that home was a real eyeopener.