Action
Since finishing work, I have moved systematically through the house. I have decluttered, organised, catalogued, thinned out every cupboard, every filing cabinet, every room, including our groaning loft! I know exactly where everything is! I have had an amnesty on electrical cables, labelled them all, and established one home where they will all live, I have brought items together with like items, instead of having them strewn throughout the house and I can now find things in record time! Yes! Time wasted searching for things has been reduced to seconds, rather than, sometimes, days! And, my Amazon bill has dropped significantly, because I no longer need to rebuy urgently needed items, that I could not find quicker than amazon could deliver a new one! It’s been a revolution!
My goal, now, is to share my expertise and learnings with you. If you have come to this point in my story, I assume that something of what I write has resonated with you. I want to help. I want to work with you, not for you! I want to offer you tailor made support and guidance that is personal to you and your situation. I see this as a partnership. You describe your situation and needs to me and we will proceed together. At each stage, I will advise. You can decide!
I cannot magically create more time, but I can attempt to free up time for you. I can help you to declutter and organise; I can suggest strategies and approaches which may help in enabling you to prioritise what is most important to you and your family, without the mundane and, possibly, the unnecessary, completely dominating your world. I can also help with time management strategies, which may, just, enable you to achieve that crucial extra hour's sleep. When we’re in the thick of it, it can, sometimes, be really hard to see the wood for the trees. I can help you to strip out all that clouds your view. There can be blue skies amidst the storm!
General Decluttering
Do you feel possessed by your possessions?
Items usually arrive in our houses at times when they are most useful They serve a purpose but, when they are no longer useful, or have been superseded by a newer model, we often relegate them to a cupboard, or the loft, or under a bed 'just in case' we may need them again. Why do we really keep them? Well, most likely because they were a part of our lives, so we are unable to just discard that element of our history. Recognise it or not, it is a misplaced form of sentimentality that, subconsciously, prevents us from moving on items for which we no longer have any use.
Each item has a story, but I can help you navigate this . I can guide you through the decluttering process, ensuring that those items which really do need to stay, are the only ones which do stay!
Household Organising
A cluttered environment, is a cluttered mind!
Following on from the decluttering process, I can support you in finding and filling appropriate storage solutions for all the belongings which have a good reason to stay. Through this, you will create a calm, ordered environment - an environment which is quick to clean, as well as one in which you can source items you need within seconds. In my opinion, time saved searching for items, and the mental clarity achieved from the decluttering and reorganising process, is as rejuvenating as a weekend minibreak!
Wardrobe Reorganisation
It has been said that we only wear up to one third of the clothes we have in our wardrobe.
The number of garments, which sit there untouched, year after year, can often make the search for what we actually want to wear rather tricky and time consuming!
I can help you sort through your array of outfits and assist in your deciding which to keep and which to move on to pastures new. I can help devise and source storage solutions, which will make the process of finding items of clothing far less onerous, and prevent your cupboards, drawers and bedroom floor from resembling a jumble sale!
Paper Management
'Drowning in paperwork' ?
This is a phrase I have heard more times than I think I have had hot dinners! I think it resonates, because it is something to which so many of us can relate. The thought of wading through piles and piles, with the aim of organising, filing, cataloguing and thinning down is an incredibly daunting task. This is where I can help! I have a tired and tested method, which, once you are in the flow, can assist in motoring through the overwhelm in record time.
Thereafter, a very simple filing system will mean you will never have to climb that mountain again!
Moving Home
Having grown up in a military family and moved no fewer than 18 times in my life, I am no stranger to the chaos of packing and unpacking! One blessing, it gave me a great excuse to have a good clear out every two years. There was no point in moving unnecessary kit; it just boosted the removals bill!
Moving home can be an incredibly stressful time and, especially if one is trying to hold down a day job too, it can be an incredibly tiring experience. I can help. I can help with pre-packing sorting and decluttering. I can then help with packing and unpacking at the other end (if your new destination is close enough!), as well as help in sourcing storage solutions, which will work in your new home. Starting as you mean to carry on, in a new home, can be lifechanging!
Bereavement
This is a life event none of us wish to consider. It is a time, when we are forced to address issues we would never choose, at a time when we have the least headspace or will power to embrace them.
Wading through paperwork, trying to understand a loved one's financial affairs, sorting their belongings in their home, and making decisions about what to do with items that are full of treasured memories involves a lot of emotion. This can be incredibly draining.
I may not be able to help with the detail of financial affairs, but I can help you to prioritise. I can help to create structure for you, enabling you to eat the monumental elephant with which you are faced, one bite at a time. I can help you to focus on what is most important at each stage of the journey which has been thrust upon you, and I will give you whatever hands on support and help you need to undertake the tasks with which you are faced. Again, my support will be tailor made to your needs, and my approach will be one of sensitivity, respect and discretion.
Time Management Strategies
One of the highest ranking reasons why clients seek my support, is because they lack the time to Press Reset on their own! In truth, it is usually the lack of time in their lives that has brought them to the point where they need help in the first place.
I cannot magically create more hours in the day, but what I can do, is cast a fresh perspective on how the time we do have can be utilised. I can outline time-saving strategies, which are tailor made to your unique situation and lifestyle, many of which will be inextricably linked to the decluttering solutions we introduce into the home. Additional strategies related to routine will complement the environmental set up in the home, and family dynamic specific to you.
Routines and Timetables
As retired teacher, I have 23 years experience of working within the structure of a timetable, on a daily basis. I realised that I achieved loads during the school working day, as opposed to at weekends, because, during the week, I had a timetable, which gave a space for everything!
Timetables give one permission to be doing exactly what they are doing at exactly that point in time. They make time for all that is important, including family and down time, without the guilt, or the feeling you should be doing something else..
I will help you to work out a routine that enables you to hit all the bases you hope to hit. If that means writing a tight timetable at your busiest times, then that is what can happen. Remember, timetables contain down time alongside the Mundane but Necessary. In fact, the timetable ensures your downtime is protected!
Prepping and Packing for Holiday
Ever felt you need a holiday to get over a holiday?!
Preparing for a holiday, tying up loose ends at work, organising the house, ready to go away can, at times, be incredibly stressful.. The return can be just as challenging, with the washing, unpacking and post, all of which has mounted up whilst you have been away.,
I can offer support. I can help with packing, and preparing your home, ready to 'put it to bed' for the duration of your holiday. I can help with ensuring that your house is in the best possible state for your return, before you have even left. There is nothing worse than returning to reminders of the chaos that reigned, before you went off to reset!
Loft Sort Out!
What better place do we have than a loft to 'Hidey-Up!
If yours is anything like mine was, you'll be wondering when the ceiling is going to cave in. The loft is a space we are all guilty of abusing. In most households it is home to many items which have served their purpose, or become superseded, yet we are not quite ready to relegate to the 'has been' camp!
Those items we no longer use, but want to keep, we hide away in the loft!
The loft should be for items you need, but require rarely; Christmas decorations, beach toys, toys which await the appropriate time to be passed on to younger siblings all need a home, without cluttering up the rooms and cupboards, which are used on a daily basis. I will help you to clear the unnecessary from that which has very good reason to stay. I will also help you to store the items you keep, cleanly and appropriately, and crate a loft map, so you can locate items when needed, in moments.
