Ian:

Welcome to episode 196 of the Confident Live Marketing Podcast.

Lesley:

So decluttering is . Very emotionally led.

Lesley:

It's all about the emotions that we have and what we feel.

Lesley:

It's about that emotional connection to the stuff that we have.

Lesley:

And we need to understand what those emotions are.

Lesley:

And we need to build up, from the more simple emotions through

Lesley:

to the more complex ones.

Ian:

So do you feel like your life, business and

Ian:

everything is a bit of a mess?

Ian:

How do you declutter your life, your business, and everything?

Ian:

In this episode, we're joined by professional declutterer, Lesley Spellman.

Ian:

We'll discuss how you can organize and declutter your working environment,

Ian:

so you can focus on being more productive and growing your business.

Ian:

Let's go on with it...

Ian:

right now!

Ian:

Well, hello, hello, hello!

Ian:

Welcome to episode 196 of the Confident Live Marketing Show.

Ian:

We're talking about organization and decluttering today.

Ian:

This is the first live show of the new year.

Ian:

If you're listening to the podcast, you've listened to a few in the new year,

Ian:

so far, And if you haven't come across the podcast, do go to iag.me/podcast.

Ian:

We're coming up to episode 200 and we've got a really exciting few weeks

Ian:

ahead because well, we're going to do a special 200th episode, more

Ian:

information about that in the future.

Ian:

But it is time to bring in my special guest of today, who is Lesley Spellman,

Ian:

who is one half Of Of the Declutter Club.

Ian:

She and her partner the Ingrid Jansen are two professional organizers

Ian:

and declutterers from the UK who pride themselves on promoting a

Ian:

fun and enjoyable decluttering journey with realism at the core.

Ian:

Ingrid helps clients one-to-one in London as Organise Your House, and Lesley is

Ian:

in the North West as the Clutter Fairy.

Ian:

As two great friends with a like-minded approach to decluttering, they

Ian:

joined forces as the Declutter Hub to bring their expertise to a

Ian:

global audience in the online world.

Ian:

Their highly successful Declutter Hub podcast, do check them out,

Ian:

is much loved with hundreds of thousands of downloads worldwide.

Ian:

They also provide tailored support to people all over the world in

Ian:

their membership with a roadmap, step-by-step courses, regular Q&As

Ian:

and everything their members need to declutter and organize successfully,

Ian:

welcome to this show, Lesley.

Ian:

Great to have you here.

Lesley:

Oh, thank you so much.

Lesley:

I could not have said it better myself, Ian.

Ian:

Oh, well thank you.

Ian:

Thank you.

Ian:

I managed to just about get there.

Ian:

It's great to have you here.

Ian:

We met back in October.

Ian:

So I was doing my Confident workshop so you attended that, but

Ian:

also you were, attending Courageous Content happening in Newcastle.

Ian:

So, that's how I met you and Ingrid.

Ian:

I was instantly happy excited, to find out that you were both

Ian:

declutterers because it's something I've been thinking about for a while.

Ian:

And I know my audience are interested in this or interested in digital

Ian:

organization, but I think they're also interested in decluttering their

Ian:

lives and their environment as well.

Ian:

So tell me how you got into decluttering, because I'm sure you haven't done

Ian:

this for the whole of your life.

Ian:

Tell me how you got into it?

Lesley:

No, I mean, I haven't done it for all of my life.

Lesley:

Basically about 15 years ago, I bought a house, a very derelict

Lesley:

house, in Manchester, not very far around the corner from you, Ian.

Lesley:

And it had been lived in by a hoarder.

Lesley:

And by that, I mean somebody who was a clinical hoarder.

Lesley:

So we're talking that about somebody who couldn't get into his front door,

Lesley:

couldn't get on the stairs because there was so much stuff as somebody

Lesley:

who clearly had a mental health issue.

Lesley:

And the stuff that he had was stopping him from living the life

Lesley:

that most of us would feel is normal.

Lesley:

And so basically when I bought the house, the house it was completely empty.

Lesley:

Somebody, they had spent nine months clearing the house, after this guy died.

Lesley:

And what I found was that people were so excited because it had been an eye sore in

Lesley:

the community, the house that I lived in.

Lesley:

And people were so excited that this house that had been an eye sore for so long was

Lesley:

being renovated and was looking all nice.

Lesley:

But people were very, very judgmental about this guy and the

Lesley:

that it had had the community.

Lesley:

And there seemed to be a real lack of understanding about his journey

Lesley:

and his mental health issues.

Lesley:

So that was the first thing that got me started about how people are judged

Lesley:

very much for clutter or hoarding.

Lesley:

And so, I started to look into the business of professional organizing.

Lesley:

Up here in the North West it wasn't really a thing then.

Lesley:

There weren't many of us around, and it was quite sort of groundbreaking

Lesley:

to do it up in the North West.

Lesley:

Starting my business back in 2009, and I've never looked back

Ian:

Oh, that's awesome.

Ian:

Really interesting to hear that.

Ian:

I think what you said about people judging is, such a common thing.

Ian:

Do you think that it's often ourselves that are hard on ourselves?

Ian:

I know this with me, I look around at my office at the moment and it is a mess.

Ian:

And I tend to beat myself up about that.

Ian:

I think, I can never get tidy.

Ian:

Do you think that's the big problem?

Ian:

As well as other people judging us.

Ian:

How about ourselves?

Lesley:

Yeah, definitely.

Lesley:

We definitely need to start with ourselves and we need

Lesley:

to be kind to each other.

Lesley:

So if we are starting on a decluttering journey, it's really

Lesley:

important to kind of draw a line in in the sand and start over again.

Lesley:

So we right at the start of a new year and whether we want New Year's

Lesley:

resolutions or goals or whatever that is.

Lesley:

It allows us to look at things with a fresh pair of eyes and get started again.

Lesley:

And I think it all starts with saying, do you know what?

Lesley:

I have not been great at this in the past, or last year wasn't a great year, but the

Lesley:

only thing I can change, is I can change the now and I can change the future.

Lesley:

And that's what it's all about.

Lesley:

So, be kind to yourself to know that you'll be much better at other things.

Lesley:

Everybody's not good at everything.

Lesley:

Some people are better at organizing, and decluttering and

Lesley:

keeping a tidy home than others.

Lesley:

And some people are much more creative and have got different things

Lesley:

that they're fantastic at as well.

Lesley:

But decluttering and organizing can be learnt.

Lesley:

Whoever you are and whatever circumstance you're in, it can be learnt.

Lesley:

It just takes a little bit more time for some than it does to others.

Ian:

Yeah, that's such an important thing.

Ian:

We, we can't be good at everything.

Ian:

And I think I've realized that there were certain things I'm really good

Ian:

at and some things that I'm not.

Ian:

And when it comes to like organization in around the house.

Ian:

I'm not always quite so good at that.

Ian:

And I was diagnosed with ADHD last year, which probably doesn't help.

Ian:

But Lesley's going to share some tips with us so you don't have to feel overwhelmed

Ian:

or frustrated or anything like that.

Ian:

There is help available through what we're going to be talking about today.

Ian:

And of course, you might get to a point when you think, well, actually

Ian:

I just, I just need some help.

Ian:

And of course this again, something that Lesley can help with.

Ian:

and so my question to you, Lesley is Why is being organized so essential and,

Ian:

why should we bother with decluttering?

Lesley:

It's going to save you time, It's gonna save you emotional energy.

Lesley:

It's going to save you wasting your valuable time on doing

Lesley:

things to serve you well.

Lesley:

It's just really important to be organized so that we can then move

Lesley:

forward and do the things that we want to rather than things that we don't.

Lesley:

That's what it's all about really.

Lesley:

We get very frustrated when we're disorganized and we just need

Lesley:

to be able to move on from that.

Lesley:

It all starts with decluttering.

Lesley:

It moves into organization, and resets and keeping tidy.

Lesley:

It's a big cycle to get to the point that we want to be, I guess.

Lesley:

It definitely helps, definitely helps and once people go through that

Lesley:

transition of spending the time getting to that place, then they really see

Lesley:

that difference starts to unfold.

Lesley:

And it's about changing that mindset.

Lesley:

We want to get to a stage where we don't want that clutter to come

Lesley:

in in the first place as well.

Lesley:

That also helps.

Ian:

so a lot of my audience, work from home.

Ian:

They have a home office.

Ian:

And I know for me that if my mess, if my studio is a mess, I

Ian:

don't really want to go in here.

Ian:

And so I've found sometimes I'll just, I'll stay in bed and do a bit

Ian:

of work So I think having a really good environment, it just makes you

Ian:

more, it makes me more productive.

Ian:

It makes me enjoy my work.

Ian:

The environment, the emotion that comes from that, I think, is so important.

Ian:

What comes first?

Ian:

our life, or our stuff, you know, what comes first?

Ian:

Should we think about ourselves first before we declutter?

Ian:

Or should it be the other way round?

Lesley:

I think it's really important first before we even get started.

Lesley:

I think what we need to do is a) we need to think of decluttering

Lesley:

and organizing our lives and our homes as being a permanent thing.

Lesley:

And that's not something that people really want to hear that much.

Lesley:

Because people want to think of that much more as a project rather than a process.

Lesley:

So, we need to be in it for the long haul.

Lesley:

We need to look at our why.

Lesley:

So, what's our big picture goal?

Lesley:

Why do we want to be better?

Lesley:

So you've already i dentified Ian, that you want to be more productive at work.

Lesley:

That's really important to you to, to not let time hemorrhage away from

Lesley:

you because you don't want to go into your office and you feel much

Lesley:

more productive when the space that you're working in is much better.

Lesley:

So, I think we need to think about our big picture goal.

Lesley:

So, what is that?

Lesley:

And if, if we're talking about a normal domestic arrangement, it you

Lesley:

know, I've got a dumping ground of a spare bedroom and I'd love that to

Lesley:

become a home office, that I can move out of my dining table for example.

Lesley:

It might be, I've got a room, I'd love my grandchildren to come and stay over.

Lesley:

And that's just not happening at the moment.

Lesley:

So, they don't come.

Lesley:

I'd love to be able to invite people in my home, but I'm in a crazy panic and

Lesley:

every time someone says, "Oh, I'm just going to drop in five minutes", and

Lesley:

you're like, "No, you can't do that."

Lesley:

Be in cause I'm just not ready.

Lesley:

And so different people have got different reasons why they want that to happen.

Lesley:

And it's important to work out your why, because that's going to be the thing that

Lesley:

motivates you forward to make progress, and to help you to create smaller

Lesley:

goals that are much more about action.

Ian:

I think the smaller goals thing is really important because I tend to

Ian:

think big and I just want to blitz.

Ian:

I want to do everything now.

Ian:

And it's just not going to happen.

Ian:

You got to start small.

Ian:

So how do we get started?

Ian:

we've worked at our why We know that we want to put some order into our lives.

Ian:

We want to declutter, we want to become more productive.

Ian:

It does seem overwhelming.

Ian:

that that's why I've never started, So how do we get started with

Ian:

all of this if we are wanting to declutter and become more organized?

Lesley:

What I'd like to do in this is I'd like about how to get started

Lesley:

first rather than how to to Yeah,

Ian:

I do.

Lesley:

because this is a mistake that a lot of people make.

Lesley:

when we think about the clutter in our homes, our minds automatically take us

Lesley:

to some of the most difficult places.

Lesley:

So if we've got a room of doom in our house, and we all have

Lesley:

something, or a cupboard or a room.

Lesley:

And we know where that is, our garage, our loft, our spare bedroom.

Lesley:

It takes us to that place because that's the thing that bothers us the most.

Lesley:

It might be if we're nervous about decluttering, we're like, "Oh, you're

Lesley:

not touching my DVD collection", for example, that somebody might

Lesley:

have said to you, "Oh, that's just clutter, you need to get rid of It."

Lesley:

And so, we automatically go to the most difficult place in our minds.

Lesley:

And what we need to do is we need to start with the simple stuff first.

Lesley:

So decluttering is very emotionally led.

Lesley:

It's all about the emotions that we have, and what we feel.

Lesley:

It's about that emotional connection to the stuff that we have.

Lesley:

And we need to understand what those emotions are.

Lesley:

And we need to build up from the more simple emotions through

Lesley:

to the more complex ones.

Lesley:

So, it's not difficult to work out whether something is going to

Lesley:

be, useful, whether we need it.

Lesley:

But it is difficult to work out whether we're ready to part with something from

Lesley:

someone that we've lost, for example.

Lesley:

So that range of emotions is complex.

Lesley:

It's big, and we need to start with the simple stuff first and then build

Lesley:

our way up to the difficult stuff.

Lesley:

But what a lot of people do is jump straight into the most cluttered

Lesley:

room, the most difficult area.

Lesley:

The thing what we feel has got the most clutter in it, or the sentimental

Lesley:

stuff, or the photographs or the wires, for example, if it's a business.

Lesley:

And so we automatically go to the difficult things first, and what We

Lesley:

need to do is, Start with the simple stuff, start to make progress and

Lesley:

then we go, okay, that wasn't too bad.

Lesley:

I'm happy to do another 10 or 15 minutes and do another area.

Lesley:

And then we build it up that way and all the while, while we're going through this.

Lesley:

We are making progress and we are feeling that success, which spurs

Lesley:

us on and motivates us on forward.

Lesley:

So, break it right down into something that is small and start

Lesley:

with the less emotional stuff first.

Ian:

That's . Such a good tip because, emotion is such

Ian:

a big part of these things.

Ian:

Things like photographs.

Ian:

I'm awful at, at chucking birthday cards and anything to do with

Ian:

kids and anything like that.

Ian:

, It's just, "don't start with that!"

Ian:

For me, I'm focusing just initially on my studio, my office.

Ian:

And I think for me, that's really helpful.

Ian:

I know it's not necessarily the simplest part.

Ian:

But I think what you're saying is, is so true that if we focus on maybe the

Ian:

slightly easier stuff, that's going to make us feel a lot happier in ourselves

Ian:

because we've actually achieved something.

Ian:

So would you say it's that, that side of things.

Lesley:

Yeah.

Lesley:

definitely.

Lesley:

It's It's all about achieving something.

Lesley:

A home office is a little bit more complex Ian because there isn't

Lesley:

actually a little bit more complex Ian because there isn't actually that much

Lesley:

in it, that big range of emotions.

Lesley:

You've just got to work through things one category at a time.

Lesley:

One of the easiest places to start actually in a home office is quite

Lesley:

often if we've had a room with stationery in it for years and years.

Lesley:

We've got stationery that we have amassed from.

Lesley:

You know, somehow we get that stationery from places that we have worked and

Lesley:

we might have five staplers, loads of boxes of staples and we might

Lesley:

have little drawing pins that we've never used and we don't really use

Lesley:

that much stationery at all anymore.

Lesley:

But we still have big amounts of stationery in our drawers because we

Lesley:

think, oh, that's going to come in, you know, it seems wrong to throw it away.

Lesley:

Even though you know deep down that it doesn't fit into your current life.

Lesley:

And that's what we're trying to create here.

Lesley:

We're trying to create things around us that serve as our current lifestyle.

Lesley:

And when it comes to things like stationery, which is a good example,

Lesley:

we cling onto things from the past, thinking that they're going

Lesley:

to come in, but thinking that it's a waste to get rid of it.

Lesley:

When actually, we've moved on from that.

Lesley:

We've all moved on from those kind of stationery items that we got back in the

Lesley:

nineties from offices that we worked in.

Ian:

That's really interesting.

Ian:

I actually get quite anxious.

Ian:

I, I don't know whether anyone else watching feels like this.

Ian:

I'm sure I'm not alone.

Ian:

And I know my wife Helen feels like this.

Ian:

Whenever we get post through the door, we get anxious.

Ian:

I think, well, where do we file that?

Ian:

is it going to go into the, box of doom, never to be seen again!

Ian:

So when it comes to paperwork, have you got some tips on how we can manage that?

Ian:

Because I know I'm not alone here.

Ian:

We get stuff through the door.

Ian:

And then because we live in this so much of a digital world now,

Ian:

how do we kind of organize our post and our mail through the door?

Lesley:

I think it's really important.

Lesley:

So again, again, as with, you know, you were talking about how to do things before

Lesley:

and we definitely need to declutter first.

Lesley:

then organize and then do something called "resets" later.

Lesley:

So, we need to declutter what we don't need.

Lesley:

And again, it's about that fitting into our current life.

Lesley:

So we need to look at what we've got.

Lesley:

So I'm going to talk about domestic paperwork here rather than business

Lesley:

paperwork, which is a little bit more open-ended really, and only

Lesley:

you know what you need to keep.

Lesley:

In a domestic environment, there's very, very little that we actually need to keep.

Lesley:

But then we've got something called our comfort zone, which is, okay,

Lesley:

I know in principle that I can get rid of all of my bank statements

Lesley:

because I no longer need them.

Lesley:

I can find them if I need to from my bank.

Lesley:

I've got an app, all of these things.

Lesley:

But some people still find it very difficult to make that mental leap

Lesley:

from keeping four years of bank statements, 10 years of bank statements

Lesley:

in some instances or utility bills or whatever that might be, and go to none.

Lesley:

And so sometimes we have to think about a phased approach to those

Lesley:

kind of things and say, okay, I feel I had five years before.

Lesley:

I feel comfortable to go down to six months.

Lesley:

Let's see how I go.

Lesley:

And then in six months, I might make a different decision.

Lesley:

I might go paperless.

Lesley:

And so it's all about gathering like with like with paperwork,

Lesley:

looking at what you've got in those.

Lesley:

Those, the depths of the filing cabinet or in those lever arch files,

Lesley:

going through them and thinking, I really don't need that anymore.

Lesley:

Letting go, trying to challenge your comfort zone a little bit that

Lesley:

you've lived with for many years.

Lesley:

Letting that go and then reorganizing and keeping digitizing however you want

Lesley:

to do that, and finding a great filing system for the stuff that you're keeping.

Lesley:

But it is all about categorization and decluttering when it comes to paperwork.

Ian:

Business growth ready says inch by inch.

Ian:

Makes it a cinch (kind of), yard by yard are more hard.

Lesley:

Yes.

Lesley:

Love that.

Ian:

Love that one too.

Ian:

And Paul says (The Grammar Detective), he says, for 10 years teaching

Ian:

English at a language school, I'd inadvertently bring home a pocket

Ian:

full of paper clips every day.

Ian:

and, Nicola says the Declutter Hub membership have a fantastic paperwork

Ian:

course, which has helped me so much.

Ian:

I had stuff back to 1983.

Ian:

Now, only have a couple of years.

Ian:

So let's talk about organization.

Ian:

How important is digital organization?

Ian:

For me, I find digital organization a lot easier for some reason

Ian:

than the physical stuff.

Ian:

It's a lot easier to create a folder and put stuff into that, but I still

Ian:

know I've got a long way to go to make my digital life organized.

Ian:

so what are your thoughts on that?

Lesley:

Whether it's digital or whether it's, physical stuff.

Lesley:

We need to create a structure.

Lesley:

We need to find a framework that's going to work for us.

Lesley:

And so, you know, if we're talking about paperwork, obviously a lot

Lesley:

physical systems, actual paperwork that mirrors the digital system as well.

Lesley:

So we can think about what those categories are.

Lesley:

And I think that the categories relate to you.

Lesley:

So for some people, NatWest might work for other people, bank might

Lesley:

work, or savings account might work.

Lesley:

And so you have to find categories and labeling that's going to

Lesley:

work and make sense to you.

Lesley:

It's all about that logic when it comes to paperwork.

Lesley:

And so I think that is just as important, particularly leaving

Lesley:

our digital footprint everywhere.

Lesley:

People find it not as worrying unless it's kind of like, I've got 30,000

Lesley:

emails or 30,000 notifications, which are sitting there blinking at you.

Lesley:

Once it goes into a kind of email folder, then people kind of almost think that

Lesley:

it's gone, but it's still sitting there and that's going to take some time.

Lesley:

It's.

Lesley:

Quicker to deal with.

Lesley:

It's less emotional as well.

Lesley:

Digital, There are not many emotions attached with and so I think that's why

Lesley:

people find that process much simpler.

Lesley:

When we're working with people who need to declutter their whole lives, then

Lesley:

digital comes much lighter down the path.

Lesley:

Because it's important to tackle the physical stuff that's the stuff

Lesley:

that's really bothering most people.

Ian:

Oh, that's really interesting.

Ian:

And I think I kind of thought that was the case.

Ian:

but I think because I find digital organizations so much easier, I've focused

Ian:

on that Because that's the, thing that I've been able to do that I know I can do.

Ian:

do you think that our digital organization should mirror our physical organization?

Ian:

So, for example, if we've got places to put our, actual paperwork, should

Ian:

we of mirror that in folders on our computer, or is that unnecessary?

Ian:

Am I making things too complicated there?

Lesley:

At the end of the day, when you're thinking about a

Lesley:

folder structure, You thought about something that's logical to you.

Lesley:

And so it makes sense then to mirror that in a digital way, but it's not always

Lesley:

possible because things are different.

Lesley:

And particularly in a work context, we've got a completely separate sort

Lesley:

of category of things, haven't we?

Lesley:

We don't typically have those things in a physical space.

Lesley:

We just have digital stuff.

Lesley:

But we know what kind of categories are going to make us tick, and they're

Lesley:

going to make things easy for us, and whether we can work with subfolders.

Lesley:

And everybody works in a very different way, Ian.

Lesley:

And so there's no one size fits all It's just about having a structure

Lesley:

that is logical, sensible, and simple for you to use, that you are working,

Lesley:

that you are going through on a regular basis to try and look at.

Lesley:

So I'm not saying that I'm looking at my email folder structure

Lesley:

all the time far from it.

Lesley:

I've probably got 20, 30, 30,000 emails, but they're all

Lesley:

filed in an appropriate place.

Lesley:

Whether or not that's 100% necessary, some people would say well, you can just

Lesley:

click on search, and that's much easier.

Lesley:

but I think for me, having it in that folder structure definitely works.

Lesley:

And so, , it bothers me to have loose ends everywhere in the same way that it bothers

Lesley:

me to have physical clutter around.

Lesley:

And so I prefer to have a place for everything and everything in

Lesley:

its place, whether that's digital or whether that's physical.

Lesley:

And that's what It's all about.

Lesley:

It's about decluttering what you don't need.

Lesley:

And then when we get to the organizational side of things, it's like, right,

Lesley:

where is the best place for this that I can find it if I need it?

Lesley:

That makes logical sense to me and to the rest of the family.

Lesley:

So it is not just about what makes logical sense to you, it has to be

Lesley:

something that makes sense to anybody who's going to use that system.

Lesley:

So if that's a home and there are multiple people in your home, you need to find a

Lesley:

system that's going to work for everybody.

Lesley:

And of course, that system is going to evolve.

Lesley:

And so if you've got young children at home, you're going need

Lesley:

things in your hallway to grab as you're on the way out to school.

Lesley:

Whereas that system is going to be very different for a retired couple.

Lesley:

So systems evolve over the years that that's one of the things we get stuck

Lesley:

with Systems that we created in our twenties and thirties, and we get into our

Lesley:

forties, fifties, and sixties, and we're still trying to work with the same systems

Lesley:

and not moving on with the times and with the fact that our life completely changed.

Ian:

it's very much a personal thing I got somebody on Facebook,

Ian:

so I can't see who you are.

Ian:

If you are watching on Facebook I just started building my

Ian:

second brain for organizing.

Ian:

Learned about it from Erik Fisher.

Ian:

And that's an interesting one.

Ian:

That's from the, from Tiago Forte.

Ian:

Forte.

Ian:

that's something that I follow.

Ian:

This is a way of getting all the ideas from my head onto somewhere that can I.

Ian:

because I'm al I'm very forgetful to putting it down either on

Ian:

a calendar in, a, an app like Notion or something like that.

Ian:

I think that's really useful.

Ian:

But I want to go back to, the idea of physically because I think that is

Ian:

really important for our, peace of mind.

Ian:

And, if we are trying to do this ourselves, and we've picked a room.

Ian:

Where should we start within that room?

Ian:

Do we need to think about, boxes or, organizations?

Ian:

You, you mentioned there were different stages.

Ian:

I can't remember what you said now, but you start with decluttering

Ian:

and then you go onto the next stage and then the next stage.

Ian:

Maybe you can go through those for us.

Lesley:

Yeah.

Lesley:

So first of all, if we were starting to physically, declutter a room.

Lesley:

Let's not think it as a whole room.

Lesley:

And first let's start to break it down by drawer, by cupboard, space.

Lesley:

And, and there's no right or wrong way of doing that, but just choose

Lesley:

the most overwhelming part of that room as the first thing that you do.

Lesley:

And so I think that's really important.

Lesley:

you definitely need to have all your tools at hand.

Lesley:

So you need to have bin bags, you need to have boxes for

Lesley:

sorting things like with like.

Lesley:

And sometimes if we've got a very full cluttered space, we

Lesley:

don't have a lot of spare boxes.

Lesley:

I use collapsible crates, which are fantastic.

Lesley:

And I can kind of gather like with like.

Lesley:

So if sometimes if a room's completely in disarray, and this might be

Lesley:

where, if you're talking about your home office in particular, Ian,

Lesley:

that's where those definitely are.

Lesley:

We need to kind of gather like with like, right?

Lesley:

Okay, so this is all the business paperwork that needs

Lesley:

to go back to the office.

Lesley:

I'm going to put that into one crate.

Lesley:

Here's all my stationery, here's all my paper supplies, that needs

Lesley:

to go back here's all my tech stuff, here's all my camera stuff.

Lesley:

For example, we can start to gather like with like, and it's only once we start to

Lesley:

gather things together, we can look at the volumes of stuff that we've got and think,

Lesley:

actually, I don't need seven microphones.

Lesley:

I mean, you might argue this, Ian, to be fair, that's just

Lesley:

example that came to mind.

Lesley:

I don't need all that stuff, and some of that can go.

Lesley:

And so we need to kind of confront ourselves with the reality

Lesley:

of what we've got sometimes before we can make a decision.

Lesley:

And at that point we start choosing the ones that are serving us

Lesley:

better, that we like better, that we connect better with him more,

Lesley:

emotionally or something like that.

Lesley:

Start with the tools that you need the boxes to sort things into the

Lesley:

bin bags, to sort things out to.

Lesley:

If we were talk about a normal decluttering a normal room, I use

Lesley:

different bin bags for different things so you can keep control of the process.

Lesley:

And so I would use black for trash and I use Clear bags for charity.

Lesley:

So I know that that's going to the charity, shop.

Lesley:

And I use, green bags for things that I'm going to give away

Lesley:

to other people, for example.

Lesley:

I think really important for you to keep control of it.

Lesley:

And if we just have five different black bin liners, sometimes we're

Lesley:

like, "Oh, was that for the charity shop or was I throwing that away?"

Lesley:

Then we don't feel in control of the process.

Lesley:

And then that's where it it starts to break down.

Lesley:

So I think declutter first, gather, like with like, decide

Lesley:

what's going to go at that point.

Lesley:

Get your bags ready for donation and then start to put things back into a system of

Lesley:

organisation that's going to work for you.

Ian:

That's really helpful.

Ian:

So, I'm going to be totally honest.

Ian:

next week.

Ian:

I'm very excited about this.

Ian:

So I was speaking with Lesley a couple of months back and I

Ian:

was saying, Lesley I need help.

Ian:

And, this is something that you do, you know, you uh, have a business

Ian:

where you have professional declutters that go around to people's houses.

Ian:

And next week is my turn.

Ian:

So, somebody from your company.

Ian:

is coming out It's going to help me with my office.

Ian:

We're going to focus on this first.

Ian:

And you mentioned like you might not need seven microphones.

Ian:

This is kind of part of my problem because what I like I do a lot is I review tech.

Ian:

So companies will send me out microphones and mixes and stuff.

Ian:

So I do have probably about 10 microphones.

Ian:

And do I need all of them?

Ian:

Do I use all of them on a regular basis?

Ian:

No, I don't.

Ian:

I mean, I just use this microphone, but I might need to review some of those.

Ian:

So finding a system that's going to work for me is going to be interesting.

Ian:

So, that's really helpful.

Ian:

Bin sacks and boxes, and I think this is something that I'm going

Ian:

to be doing before next week.

Ian:

Because in the decluttering stage, to it's got to go somewhere.

Ian:

So, Maybe we've got to the point and you think, this all sounds

Ian:

amazing, but to be honest, I feel overwhelmed - it's just too much.

Ian:

This is something that I don't think I can do myself, and that is totally me.

Ian:

I know.

Ian:

these tips that you are giving me, Lesley and giving us are amazing,

Ian:

but maybe you are in a situation where You just can't do it yourself.

Ian:

You're overwhelmed.

Ian:

First of all, how common is that with your clients, and what is the next step?

Ian:

Is it a case of hiring a professional declutter?

Lesley:

It is a really interesting question actually, Ian, because we've

Lesley:

been doing this and so there are about 400 professional organizers in the uk.

Lesley:

This is a very, very growing industry and in the same way that people didn't have

Lesley:

a personal trainer 15 years ago, People didn't have a, professional organizer.

Lesley:

but Now they do.

Lesley:

People are going, I need that in my life."

Lesley:

And it's all about that extra level of accountability.

Lesley:

And so you might start, you might struggle with the process, you

Lesley:

might struggle with your motivation.

Lesley:

And so what we do is the first thing that you'll be asked is what is your why?

Lesley:

What's your vision for this?

Lesley:

How do you want to create it?

Lesley:

And then a system will kind of unfold.

Lesley:

And so for example, those 10 microphones.

Lesley:

So for me it would be right.

Lesley:

Okay.

Lesley:

So which is your standard microphone that you're using, which is obviously

Lesley:

in use anyway, which is your next one, which would be your kind of

Lesley:

backup microphone, that needs to be close at hand, And then if we've got

Lesley:

microphones for review, that might come in later that you might want it.

Lesley:

That's a completely separate category of things than the microphone

Lesley:

that you're using on a day-to-day basis that needs a different home.

Lesley:

And so the system that a professional organizes it, they

Lesley:

won't create a system for you.

Lesley:

They won't make any decisions about what's going to go.

Lesley:

They will be listening to you and what your needs are, what your family

Lesley:

situation is, and they will be trying to create a system that works for you.

Lesley:

They'll think about ADHD thrown into the mix as well, which means that

Lesley:

we have to think more strongly about labeling and things like that as well.

Lesley:

That's going to work.

Lesley:

I'm going to you know, all of those things to make it easier

Lesley:

for you to find what you need.

Lesley:

So a professional organizer is a fantastic thing to have, to give you

Lesley:

accountability, to give you empowerment.

Lesley:

There's something very empowering about somebody standing next to

Lesley:

you saying, "Okay, now's the time to make a decision about this."

Lesley:

Not in a, in a pressuring way, but in a way, do you want to

Lesley:

make that decision now or not?

Lesley:

And the decision might be, I'm not ready to, I'm not ready to let that go.

Lesley:

And then it would be a keep.

Lesley:

But somehow there's something about someone standing next to you.

Lesley:

saying that decision needs to be made now, which is very empowering and

Lesley:

it makes people make decisions And so, so often we get people going,

Lesley:

why can I not do this on my own?

Lesley:

Like, it's so easy when you are standing next to me because it's in your diary.

Lesley:

It's something that you're committed to.

Lesley:

It's a little bit easier because there are two people, so there's a little

Lesley:

bit of camaraderie in there as well.

Lesley:

So it's not quite as boring and daunting as doing it on your own.

Lesley:

So for somebody that really has felt overwhelmed for a number of

Lesley:

years, a professional organizer is a great thing to have in your home.

Lesley:

Of course, we've gone to the next stage with the Declutter Hub as well.

Lesley:

So I have the Clutter Fairy which is my business in the North West

Lesley:

which Ian is, working with next week.

Lesley:

We also have the Declutter Hub, which is, our online business where we teach

Lesley:

people what we have learned, what we have learned as professional organizers online.

Lesley:

And so we have a weekly podcast that you talked about, and we teach people online.

Lesley:

We have an online membership, so that's where people don't feel comfortable

Lesley:

to have someone in their home or can't afford the outlay, but still

Lesley:

want to do it and want to learn how, you know, and we obviously, we have

Lesley:

tools and tips and techniques and all of the things that you need.

Lesley:

To empower you to do it on your own.

Lesley:

And there's something about a community you need.

Lesley:

and accountability and we, we use all of the different tools to get you there.

Lesley:

So there's different ways, but if you are struggling, life's too

Lesley:

short to be overwhelmed by clutter.

Lesley:

And to sort that out can be life changing.

Ian:

As you know, I'm, I'm totally won over by this I think when it

Ian:

comes to everything on our business, you know, we tend to focus mainly on

Ian:

business, on, on this, on this show.

Ian:

If you are struggling with something, get some help.

Ian:

It might be hiring a coach, hiring a consultant.

Ian:

If you're struggling with getting fit, this is something that I've done.

Ian:

I've hired a personal trainer and I have to admit, in the past I would

Ian:

feel guilty about this because it feels like I'm giving up and it's ridiculous.

Ian:

The new Ian thinks that's ridiculous, but the old Ian was guilty about that.

Ian:

And I think the old Ian would be guilty about hiring a declutterer as well.

Ian:

I'm so glad that I don't think like that anymore.

Ian:

And I'm really excited about moving forward.

Ian:

So, you obviously, if you need help, you can hire a professional

Ian:

declutterer somewhere depending on where you are in the world, what

Ian:

if, people live in the northwest, obviously they can, go to your website.

Ian:

Is It's clutterfairy is that right?

Lesley:

Yeah, clutterfairy.co.uk

Ian:

the

Lesley:

cover the whole of the North West.

Lesley:

and then, Yeah, we've got the Association of Professional

Lesley:

Declutterers and Organisers which is the UK accredited organizers.

Lesley:

So we all go have a code of ethics that we work towards.

Lesley:

So if you want somebody who is accredited, has gone through training, there's APDO.

Lesley:

So, go there.

Lesley:

There's NAPO in the states and there's loads of different organizations.

Lesley:

But if you go to APDO, you will find all of the other , international

Lesley:

organizations as well.

Lesley:

And if, wherever you are in the world, of course, we have the Declutter

Lesley:

Hub which is a paid membership.

Lesley:

And we have the Declutter Hub podcast, which is a free weekly podcast.

Lesley:

And so There are loads of help out there to try and inspire you.

Lesley:

You know, some people c an do it on their own once they set their mind to it.

Lesley:

But there are a whole load of people out there who have continuously

Lesley:

struggled and just need to make that same mental leap that I have done

Lesley:

when I've hired a personal trainer or somebody to help me with nutrition.

Lesley:

I think life is just different now and we realize that there are some

Lesley:

people out there that can get us to a better place more quickly, more

Lesley:

efficiently, more effectively, and sometimes that is worth investing in.

Lesley:

And I think that's kind of thing that you're talking about, Ian.

Ian:

It is that investment, and Nicola is saying, you know, having

Ian:

that voice, is life changing.

Ian:

You are investing in yourself.

Ian:

So, so true.

Ian:

You might be able to get so far on your own, but one thing that I've

Ian:

realized, I want to get a lot further and I want to get there quicker.

Ian:

And you could argue that I'm being impatient, but as you say, life is short.

Ian:

If you want to find out more about this.

Ian:

The Facebook group and can anyone join this, Lesley?

Lesley:

Yeah, anyone could join the Facebook group.

Lesley:

So, Facebook group is lively loads of different types of people that

Lesley:

all inspire each other to declutter.

Lesley:

So Facebook group absolutely all the information is there.

Ian:

So, that is facebook.com/groups/declutterhubcommunity.

Ian:

Probably the easiest way, just get to Facebook and search for 'Declutter Hub

Ian:

community' and you can find that out.

Ian:

And of course, Lesley and Ingrid have got an amazing podcast, which I have

Ian:

subscribed to the Declutter Hub podcast, and you can find out more about that.

Ian:

It's declutterhub.com/the-podcast

Ian:

So do check that out.

Ian:

is there anything else, just briefly, that you would like to

Ian:

add to what we talked about today?

Lesley:

I just think, just go for it.

Lesley:

I think, you know, as I said, life's too short to, to have clutter in

Lesley:

your lives and it really helps you save time, save energy, you

Lesley:

know, feel better about yourself.

Lesley:

Change that mindset We don't need all this excess in our life.

Lesley:

It's, it's important to look for the environment.

Lesley:

There's 1,000,001 things where decluttering is never,

Lesley:

ever a negative thing.

Lesley:

It's always a positive thing, and it's something that if you

Lesley:

set your mind to it, go slow.

Lesley:

make sure that you don't go hell for leather but you, you see this as a

Lesley:

long-term project and it really will.

Lesley:

It can be life-changing.

Ian:

Definitely.

Ian:

Well, I'm going to try and show the before and after and I'll explain.

Ian:

what my experience has been with all of this.

Ian:

I'm, I'm very, very excited about it.

Ian:

thank you so much, Lesley How can people, you so much, Lesley How

Ian:

can people, follow you, stalk you in a nice way on, on the socials?

Lesley:

Yeah, so the Facebook group that you've just mentioned, which

Lesley:

is the Declutter Hub community, we are declutterhub on Instagram.

Lesley:

We have a Facebook page, The Declutter Hub.

Lesley:

We've got the podcast, which you've already spoken about.

Ian:

Well, thank you so much, Lesley, it's been great to have you on the show.

Ian:

Oh well, that's great.

Ian:

If you have not listened to my podcast,

Ian:

uh,

Ian:

then do head on down to iag.me/podcast It is the Confident Live Marketing podcast.

Ian:

It comes out every single Friday, it starts off as a live show and

Ian:

then we repurpose it into a podcast.

Ian:

You can also hear my silly song.

Ian:

So Lesley doesn't know what she's letting herself in for, but I will be

Ian:

singing a little song, for this podcast, because I'm just a complete nut case.

Ian:

But that is it for this episode.

Ian:

Thank you so much for listening, for watching, and until next time,

Ian:

I encourage you to level up your impact, authority, and profits through

Ian:

the power of Confident Live video.