Overcrowded much?!   If you woke up tomorrow to find that the Organising Fairy had paid a visit…   …your home was magically organised and clutter-free…   …what next?   What do you wish you had room for?   If you had space…   …what would you do?   Crafting?   Entertaining?   Dancing?   Organising all the old family photos?   Maybe there’s some thing you’d like to have…   …but there’s nowhere to put it right now.   Maybe it’s not so much about what you’d do or what you’d have…   …but more about how you’d BE.   Peaceful ..read more

“Why am I so SLOW at decluttering and organising?!   Does decluttering and organising take you FOREVER?!   Do you ever wonder why it takes you so much longer than (some!) other people?   Over the last couple of weeks…   …as I’ve worked full steam ahead, to launch my Digital Declutter video course by the end of March…   …I’ve shared a couple of things I’ve learned about tackling a major task.   And as I enter the final straight (23 lectures uploaded, five to go!!)…   …I’ve noticed something else.   Because Top Dog (ak ..read more

“Fail to plan and plan to fail” Benjamin Franklin Last week, I shared that I’d made a mental shift …   …which had led to me dedicating enough time to completing my Digital Decluttering video course by the end of March.   And I promised to share another (relearned) lesson this week.   This will be my fourth video course (following Declutter Paper and Paperwork, Declutter Your Bedroom and Declutter Sentimental Stuff.   And I have to confess…   …producing each one has followed the same pattern.   It looks something like ..read more

It takes a mental shift to make a major change.   When you take on my 10-week Decluttering Programme…   … I ask you to make a commitment…   …to regular decluttering sessions.   The 21 Day Declutter…   ..involves a 30 minute task every day for three weeks.   Why?   Because, when it comes to something extra…   …a new thing to do,…   …particularly if that thing is challenging…   …unless you consciously build time into your schedule…   …it ain’t gonna get done.   You know this, right?   Me too!   And yet we fool oursel ..read more

Do you observe Lent?   And did you eat pancakes on Tuesday?   Whether you did or not, you probably knew it was Pancake Day…   …more properly known as Shrove Tuesday.   In many Christian traditions, Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) is the last blow-out before the privations of Lent…   …40 days of fasting in the lead up to Easter.   When I was a child, I would give up chocolate for Lent…   …or sugar on my cornflakes   (yes, a bowl of cornflakes with a sprinkling of sugar was considered a healthy breakfast!)   And sometimes ..read more

How’s your bathroom cabinet? Organised bliss with everything you need readily to hand? Or a chaotic jumble of leaking bottles with everything you DON’T need tumbling out when you open the door? Do you know what’s in there? Is it full of gazillions of bottles of bubble bath, old tubes of toothpaste, out of date medicine and a whole load of dust? Organising your bathroom cabinet is one of those jobs that you never get round to… …but which pays dividends every day. The half hour it’ll take to declutter and organise ..read more

Wait for me! Overwhelmed? I’ve been writing recently about the broken window theory… …and how we can use it to overcome the way we feel overwhelmed when we can’t keep on top of everything. Last week, I wrote about creating systems for the things that we most need under control for us to feel sane rather than overwhelmed. But what about when even those systems aren’t enough? What about when a “window” gets “broken” anyway. Like with me, right now. Months ago, I told you I was starting work on my new video course. Cons ..read more

You’re decluttering. You’re sorting your stuff into piles. Stuff you’re keeping. Recycling. Rubbish (for landfill). Car boot sale/eBay. Hmm…can we take a look at that last pile again? When I help clients declutter, my watchword is not, as you might expect, ‘ruthless’. It’s ‘realistic’. Being ruthless isn’t a great idea. It tends to lead to you getting rid of stuff you later regret. Being realistic is the key. Are you realistically likely to lose enough weight to feel good in that dress again? How realistic is it to expect that you’ll ever get around to reupholstering that chair? Is it realisti ..read more

The thin end of the wedge Last week, I wrote about The Broken Windows theory… …that visible signs of low level crime and anti-social behaviour, like graffiti, broken windows and litter, encourage more serious crimes. While addressing them makes a safer, happier community. And I wrote about how the broken window theory applies in our homes. How, an unmade bed, cluttered surfaces or certain jobs not done make us feel out of control… …disempower us… …and start the slippery slope to chaos and disorganisation. I asked you to tell me what were your “broken windows”… …and I was inundated with respon ..read more

Is the writing on the wall? Have you heard of The Broken Windows theory? It says that visible signs of low level crime and anti-social behaviour, like grafitti, broken windows and litter, encourage more serious crimes. And that, when a community addresses these relatively minor issues in a timely manner, it promotes a safer, more law-abiding culture. Where’s the writing on the wall in your home? Perhaps it’s your bed unmade… …last night’s washing up still in the sink… …running out of crucial supplies like bread or milk… …not getting dressed all day… …unopened post/mail. What are the clues tha ..read more