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.