After moving to Hawaii from California 14 years ago, Gracie and her husband found there were far more fun things to do than unpack.

"We planned to go through a box a day, then decided on a box a week or month. We found hula and surfing and never cared enough to unpack the boxes. If we needed a can opener, we’d just go buy one," said the North Shore resident, who did not want to be identified to protect her privacy.

Then when her husband died in February, it became difficult to let go of anything that reminded her of him.

A room in her home became a depository for boxes of expired vitamins and medications, linens, old lipsticks, perfume and other beauty products that hadn’t been used in more than a decade. Her home office was crowded with six file cabinets stuffed with her manuscripts and newspaper and magazine articles. In another room at least a half-dozen large boxes were packed with more of her writings, and five months after her husband’s death, his belongings still filled a bedroom closet and cluttered bathroom shelves.

While not quite a candidate for the reality show "Hoarders" yet, Gracie’s plea for help won the "Hono­lulu’s Messiest Room" contest sponsored by Aloha Organizers, which came to her house for a room makeover last week.

People hang on to all sorts of strange items, including expired food, clothes they don’t want or objects that no longer function, said Nancy Nino, a professional organizer and owner of Aloha Organizers. "The fear of ‘But I might need it someday’ is pervasive. When you grow up in a hoarding environment, there’s a whole shift in mindset that needs to take place because even though the clutter is stressful, it’s also the comfort zone," she said.

The "clutter" can represent unfinished projects, broken dreams and relationships, and family members who have died, according to Nino.

"When you get rid of stuff, it can feel like you are admitting failure — you didn’t finish that project or that a person is really not coming back," she said.

In Gracie’s case, Nino said the accumulated mess resulted from a combination of "situational disorganization" caused by a dramatic, life-changing event, and the "chronic disorganization" often seen in people with hoarding tendencies.

"I think a lot of the things represent her life — her success as a writer and her loving relationship with her husband — and although it may make sense from a logical perspective (to clear the clutter), purging items associated with her identity can feel like she’s losing her identity."

NINO subscribes to a holistic approach when it comes to organizing, "meaning that organization in our lives — or lack thereof — affects us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually."

She is an adherent of the SPACE (sort, purge, assign a home, containerize, equalize) method devised by professional organizer and productivity expert Julie Morgenstern. "That works in every case, from a junk drawer to a pantry to a garage," she said.

To tackle a big project, it’s important to remove everything from the space that is being organized so similar items can be placed together and groupings can be assessed.

At Gracie’s home, dozens of boxes and other items were removed from one room that had been sealed for 14 years, rendering it empty except for a few large furniture pieces. The 1-800-GOT-JUNK? crew filled up a truck with an old television, discarded furniture, cardboard boxes, packing materials and an abundance of trash that had accumulated in the room.

Items that were salvageable were separated and placed in boxes for donation. Gracie boxed up items she plans to sell on eBay and was proud she had let the dressers go, since they were sentimental reminders of her life in California with her husband.

Aloha Organizers brought in plastic containers to store the things she decided to keep and installed shelving so the containers could be neatly stacked and organized instead of taking up floor space.

The entire process took about eight hours.

Overjoyed with the results, Gracie plans to work with a professional organizer to continue the process of purging and organizing.

"It felt like another huge victory for her was getting rid of her husband’s calendars," Nino said. "They were from the ’90s, and there was no apparent use for them. To let go of those was an incredible step. She wasn’t ready to get rid of his clothes, but that one act of courage laid groundwork for her to be able to get rid of his clothes in the future.

"Every scenario is different. There is truly no case that’s the same. What is the same, however, is the stress related to disorganization. There is an incredible amount of stress and pressure that is put on people who are living in a disorganized environment."

Sources:

» Aloha Organizers: 347-7480, alohaorganizers.com

» 1-800-GOT-JUNK?: 800-GOT-JUNK, www.1800gotjunk.com