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[Herald Interview] How to declutter home and simplify life

Professional organizer Yoon Sun-hyun shares tricks to keeping tidy home

Aug. 11, 2020 - 11:37 By Kim Hae-yeon

Home is where most people start their day and wrap up the night. Yet, keeping your living space clean and tidy is no easy task. Remember how often you were instructed as a child to keep the space around you clean, but how you always found it terribly difficult, if not impossible?

By now, you might have given up and forgotten about getting your house organized -- until you move to a new home. In a new abode, you and your family might be tempted to declare “a new beginning,” but after a few weeks, your settlement turns into another chaotic mess.

From clothes hanging on the sofa like clumsy ghosts, and dishes stacked in the sink like a leaning tower, it seems home is not the most pleasant and comfortable space after all. Do we still have a second plan to try out?

Yoon Sun-hyun is a professional organizer and CEO of Verygoodlife, a firm in Korea that initiates consulting for individuals and families who become worn out after failing to keep a tidy space.

The company has handled more than 2,000 cases so far, with over 80,000 participants. Most of the clients say active on via social media and its community page, feeling motivated and satisfied with the work Yoon has done.

As the first in the organizing business in Korea, Yoon came up with the idea in 2002 when he was working at a private company. He realized at one point that career achievements and financial stability would not bring happiness in life when you cannot manage your own time and space.

Reading books by authors such as Julie Morgenstern on time management as well as Peter Walsh and Karen Kingston on the importance of decluttering, Yoon quickly grasped an understanding of how skillful organization could grow as a business.

“You can tell a hard-to-organize house right away at the doorstep. I open up my consultation by asking how the client is defining each space. In other words, it’s crucial to exactly know how you want the space to be used. Unfortunately, the lines are blurred for many,” he said.

Yoon cited several of his rewarding experiences while working as a private consultant and how clients’ lives have changed after organizing sessions.

Yoon hopes his clients continue to update their organizational skills and share their unique styles and methods with neighbors, ultimately getting the satisfaction of not only the result, but the process of making and maintaining a well-organized space.


By Kim Hae-yeon (hykim@heraldcorp.com)