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Marvellous Michelle
In August 2008 Clare received a call from Michelle who had spent the morning on the internet trying to find help for her cluttered home which she shared with her 4 children ranging from the age of 6 to 12.
When Clare took the call Michelle had already had a good look around the website and later told Clare that she felt comfortable and confident that Clutter Clearing could help her just by the look, feel, language and examples on the website. Clare talked through the various options and Michelle wanted a home consultation asap so they did the telephone consultation that afternoon.
Michelle had come to Clutter Clearing as somewhat of a last hope. Four years previously her husband had left her and the 4 children, and that’s when the clutter began to grow.
As Michelle discovered during the telephone consultation prior to the home visit, the lack of control with her clutter in her home mirrored her sense of lack of control in her personal, financial and home life, and on top of that the feeling she had no respect from her husband – and that with her clutter she wasn’t respecting herself, her home or her children and this needed to change.
Michelle had even been to social services to ask for help with her clutter, yet when they came to visit her they merely threatened her with removing her children due to the ‘neglect’ they felt her clutter represented, so by the time she called us she was in fear of loosing her children.
Michelle was so desperate for help - |
The practical ‘what do you want’ stage was done as a family in the kitchen. The children worked well on this and as always this helped with the practical work in their rooms. The children, who shared 2 rooms between them were each given 3 categories to clear the clutter into (toys, clothes and rubbish) while Clare worked with mum Michelle on what was going to become her new bedroom.
By the end of the first day, 10 sacks of charity shop items and 12 bags of rubbish out of the home meant there was space to think, move and see a future in their home, plus it had been decided that there was enough room for the children to have their own bedrooms for the first time ever.
This was a truly significant decision for the family.
Even by week 1 of the 6 weeks of follow up Clare had noticed a different,more positive Michelle. Getting clear about her clutter has also enabled her to get clear about her life – and move on. She finally knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to go and get it.
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