Carol and her Endless Spring Clean

Carol couldn't face ANOTHER year of de-cluttering all spring............and summer, and autum, and winter.

Her de-cluttering had turned into an endless annual cycle of failure.

At last Carol had found affordable, practical and 1-2-1 help to deal with her clutter challenge. And because she'd had her clutter for more than 10 years, Carol was realistic and knew that this wasn't something that was going to be dealt with in one day.

Instead, she knew she needed and wanted to learn the skill of how to do it herself, thereby enabling her to keep practicing the skill, eating the elephant bit by bit, and getting that feeling of control back for good.

'I admit it' Carol said when she contacted Clare.

'I can't do this on my own. I need help - and thank goodness for your Assisted Clutter Clearing Sessions.

No more well meaning offers of help from friends and family that rapidly dissolved into frustration, anger and falling out that she had experienced in the past!

Carol booked her first two Assisted Clutter Clearing Session knowing that for her procrastination was a huge issue and that she needed to know, after the first day, that there was another one booked in the diary that she couldn't procrastinate about.

As is often the case with the Assisted Clutter Clearing Sessions, Carol expected it to be tough.

'I couldn't believe it after the first 30 minute session' admitted Carol.

'I was expecting trauma, regret, Clare telling me to just throw things away.

I never imagined I'd have a 'not sure' category and that by having 7 categories that I chose myself I'd be able to make decisions on each and evey item in that 30 minute session.

I hate to say this - but I actullly enjoyed that!'

The process worked perfectly for Carol, and by the end of the first day she had de-cluttered her office to such an extent that she had her desk area de-cluttered and organised, a bag of un-used stationary that she knew she would never use that could go to the local school, she knew where the magazines she wanted to read were, and she could sit down at her desk and get her knees under the table - a previously impossible task.

'This may sound dramatic' admitted Carol, 'but I haven't been able to use my office desk for years, literally years.

I've dreamed of being able to sit here and feel organised and efficient, and it's rather emotional to have achieved that in just one day.

Why couldn't I have discovered this oh so simple process years ago?

I could have saved myself untold frustation, anger and time!'

By the end of the second Assisted Clutter Clearing Session Carol had de-cluttered and organised the whole of her study, and felt that she was sufficiently confident to descale her support down to half days.

'I love the fact that Clare can do a half day of support in the evening' said Carol.

'I work during the week and I don't want the de-cluttering to take over all my weekends.

At least I know that I can come home from work and have Clare help me from 6:30 - 10:30 and then my reward is to collapse into bed after a good, productive day! And she's absolutely right when she says that the more you do it the easier it gets. I'm not nearly as exhausted after 4 hours now as I was to begin with.

If in doubt - become a Success Club member and have your first Assisted Clutter Clearing.

I now know that I've broken my annual clutter cycle, and I know that this time next year the clutter won't be here because I've learnt how to do it myself.

There's no words to describe how that makes me feel.