I met my friend Julie nearly five years ago when I organized a series of programs about sustainable living for our local library. Julie runs a green home organizing business (www.nowirehangersbiz.com) that helps de-clutter homes without filling up landfills with unwanted stuff. There are always other people out there who might need our excessive belongings, and she is an expert at finding them; if she can’t, she will find the best way to recycle the unwanted items.

Over the years, Julie has helped me out on several occasions, recommended women’s shelters for extra toiletries and make-up, www.41pounds.org to get our junk mail stopped, and when I asked her what she’d suggest for my old 35mm slides, she took them herself and made a beautiful arty lamp out of them. Because so many people have so much stuff and because Julie is so talented at what she does, she has not only made a good living as a green organizer but last year, talk show host Conan O’Brien even hired her to clean a co-worker’s very messy office on his show (http://teamcoco.com/video/jordan-schlansky-hoarder). The segment is hilarious and gives a great idea of what she has to deal with regularly.

Julie and I have been in touch on and off over the year. I recently bumped into her walking along the lake and she was very pregnant. We caught up quickly on our various projects and her plans for the coming baby. Her daughter was born a couple of weeks ago, and I can only hope that she will be able to protect her home from much of the clutter that comes with having children. I wanted to give her something for the baby, but ideally something that won’t become clutter. I had kept a couple of the hand-knitted baby blankets friends had given me for Theo when he was born. Since we won’t be using them for him anymore, I decided to give one to Julie. Today, despite the intense heat, I dropped it off at her place, knowing that it will eventually come in handy a few months from now. And if the blanket does eventually become clutter in her life, I am confident Julie will find another good home for it.