Lisa Calico may be the Dr. Phil of spring home improvement.

It’s not that she has a TV show, but she believes in addressing the past, and – well, letting go of it.

Especially that dadgummed 27th pair of shoes dating back to the disco days. Admit it – you have at least one pair.

Calico knows clutter management, and as owner of A Cleaning Hand, she also knows how difficult it can be to toss the old to make room for the new.

“The hardest thing is getting people to let go of their stuff, to let go of their clutter,” said Calico. “We call it ‘clutter cleanup.’”

While the idea may seem simple, she admits it’s easier said than done.

“You have to get down to what you need,” said Calico. “So many women say, ‘Oh, I might need that some day’ – purses, shoes. I say if you don’t use it in a year, throw it out.”

And doing that throughout the year – getting rid of an old pair of shoes in place of a new one, or for guys, passing along that old hammer for a new, shiny claw – eliminates the need to take a weekend in the spring and work so hard.

Calico believes just about everyone has some form of unneeded clutter. As a mother of four, she herself has other employees of her cleaning service work on her home.

“As a mom, we sometimes want to keep those poster or whatever our children made at school,” said Calico. “But we need to keep maybe the best one from the year. That’s a way to get rid of so much stuff. Take pictures of the others and store them on a computer.”

Local resident Linda House found useful ways to rid her home of unnecessary items by helping others.

“Neat and tidy I’m not,” said House, “but I do get that spring cleaning bee in my bonnet every year. I do find it hard to throw things away, but we pass along our best ‘junk’ to others who want or need it.”

She and her husband, Harry, volunteer at the Hands of Grace warehouse once a month, and take clothing and household items there for single moms, those who may have lost a home to fire, and others. They also save items through the year for the annual Republican Women rummage sale fundraiser.

“I think it’s sad when people hang onto so much stuff they’ll never use, cluttering up their homes and even renting extra storage units for it, when others are doing without,” said House.

When it comes to individual projects, she admits her method may involve as much mess as she started with.