One of Clare Baker's missions is to get practical, useful, relevant advice and information out to more people. As part of that mission, Clare is committed to researching and sharing issues that are relevant to clutterholics, developing programmes and tools that can help clutterholics at a very practical and affordable level and raise awareness of the impact that clutter has on people who struggle to clear and control their clutter, being the voice of people who are suffering in silence in their cluttered homes.
Here are some facts, findings and research that is going to be of use to you as you declutter.
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Do you struggle to clear your clutter AND loose weight?
If so, you'll be interested in this blog post discussing an article in Scientific American Mind recently. It discusss the problems that people with eating disorders - eating too much and not enough - have with focusing and understanding.
The parallels with decluttering are uncanny. In essence, the article talks about how people who binge eat or have bulimia also have difficulty with focusing, finishing and self-understanding - exactly the same things that I have identified in all my clients over the past 10 years.
'Hoarders need help to change their behaviour'
An article in the Guardian in January 2012 highlights the issues and challenges around hoarding, and the lack of of help out there (they don't know about the Clutter Clearing Approach!)
Are you suffering from the endowment effect?
If you've tried to declutter and found you've struggled to let go of anything, then you need to understand the endowment effect.......
Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder
Have you seen / did you watch this programme about obsessive compulsive hoarding that was shown in the UK on Wednesday 21st December 2011?
If you are struggling with this level of clutter, then be aware that not only have I successfully worked with people with this level of clutter, I am also launching a new Obsessive Compulsive Hoarding 12 month Programme in 2012, so you may want to bookmark this website in your browser and check-in in on 1st January to see more details.
Have you reached your TRUE Turning Point yet?
In the 9 years since I started helping people de-clutter and organise their homes, I’ve noticed many things that all my clients have in common.
They asked for help because they reached a turning point in their relationship with their clutter.
Many have had turning points. You may have reached a turning point, but your true turning point is different.
You could save £680 a month
Lots of people tell Clare that they can't afford help to deal with their clutter.
Yet a recent study by an organisation that researches and advises on household waste, estimates that the average UK family wastes - i.e. throws away - £680 (US$1,100) of food a year.
That's the equivalent of 2 months of weekly 1-2-1 help from Clare......
To find out more about this issue, click on the button below.
Have you got a SAP to help you Succeed?
When you feel like you're the only one in the world who's struggling with their clutter, then a SAP can really help you make the right decision for you.
Click on the button below to watch a video of Clare Baker explaining what a SAP is and how to use one.
New Research highlights the importance of clearing our clutter for our mental health.
New research published in the Scientific American Magazine (July / August 2011) discusses the relationship between stress and the risks of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Research on twins and monkeys has led to new developments on what are contributory factors.
According to the article, stress has been known to be a factor in depression and chronic anxiety. However, it’s a new concept that it’s a factor in neurodegenerative diseases, and doesn’t bode well for those of us with stressful jobs, busy lives, the increasing pressures of the modern world, living longer and yes, clutter, all of which are causing us extra stress.
Compulsive Hoarding is set to be recognised as a disorder when it is listed in the 2012 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
As a consequence of the growing awareness of this, and as 2012 approaches, I am receiving weekly requests for my knowledge and 9 years full time experience of dealing with people who have this issue. These requests are as diverse as therapists who have clients with clutter, estate agents who have vendors with excessive clutter that is preventing a house sale, to TV production companies wanting to find out more for a new TV series.
So what will this mean for those of us working with people who have clutter?
and
When does a Clutter Challenge become a question of Compulsive Hoarding?
This will help with the impulse buys…….
Have you ever bought something because you liked the look of it and then, when you got it home or a few days or weeks later become bored or disinterested in it?
That initial allure in the shop fades and it becomes another impulse purchase that becomes clutter.
Well, according to an article in Scientific American Mind in the July / August 2011 issue, there’s a reason for that.
Our brain can’t forget the negative.
There’s an article in the Scientific American Mind magazine this month that talks about the issue of how our brain holds on to ‘false fact’s – even after they’ve been retracted.
If you’ve ever been on a jury or seen a TV dramatisation of a court, you’ll know that lawyers will intentionally say things that will be retracted or that they will be told is irrelevant, precisely because they know that once the jury has heard it, they won’t be able to forget it.
So what has this got to do with out Clutter Clearing?
An article in Scientific American Mind discusses the issue of physical pain alieviating 'mental suffering'.
As the article explains:
'We tend to regard pain as an unfortunate by-product of physical harm. ... but what about the pain we inflict on ourselves?
New research (by Brock Bastian, a psychologist at the University of Queensland in Australia) suggests that we seek out physical pain to provide an emotional catharsis for feelings of guilt or shame. More important, it suggests that such actions may work.
Guilt is what my clients are actually referring to when they use the word 'shoud'.
An Article in the November March / April 2011 edition of Scientific American Mind has a very clutter relevant article in it called ‘You are what you like’(p.38).
It discusses the issue of how what we have on display in our home reveals the ‘associations between personality traits and aesthetic tastes’.
What does this have to do with people who are trying to declutter?
According to an article in Scientific American this month, ‘daydreaming can help solve problems’.
This will be of great comfort to clutterholics – and especially to my Success Club members who know that they actually have to do a bit of daydreaming as part of the process they are following to clear their clutter.
How does it help?
As a new report by the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) entitled ‘The Case for Space’ points out that ‘many feel that newly built homes aren’t big enough’, the UK’s leading Clutter Coach says she has been helping people deal with the practical consequences of smaller homes for the past 9 years.
It’s Wednesday and, for some inexplicable reason, Wednesdays are always busy for Clare Baker, a Clutter Coach who specialises in helping people clear their clutter and get organised. ‘2 - 4pm on a Wednesday is our peak time for enquiries’ explains Clare. I’ve no idea why. Perhaps people have spent the previous weekend trying to declutter on their own, failed, and can’t face the prospect of the approaching weekend’s attempts to declutter being just as futile.
Compulsive Hoarding is set to be recognised as a disorder when it is listed in the 2012 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. What's the Difference?
Do you know the difference between a Professional Declutterer and Organiser and a Specialist Clutter Coach like Clare?
The article on the BBC website about how 'our children need time not stuff'
OR The article on the BBC website about our 'shoebox homes'
OR
The article on the BBC website entitled 'The self storage craze'
54.1%
of clutterholics say they have de-cluttered before and found the clutter has come back again.
41.7%
of clutterholics tell Clare:
'I feel stuck with all the clutter / It's holding me back'
30.5%
of people with clutter say they'd use the word 'overwhelmed' to describe how their clutter makes them feel
27.4%
of people struggle most with knowing where to start when they do some decluttering
20.8%
of people have had their clutter for 10 years or longer
13.2%
of people with clutter say the word they'd used to describe how they feel is 'out of control'
The majority of people seeking help with their decluttering have cluttered surfaces, drawers, under beds, cupboards stuffed and disorganised, as opposed to mountains of clutter that prevents them from entering or using rooms.
Paperwork clutter is the second most common type of clutter that people struggle with dealing with
A cluttered spare bedroom is reducing the value of your home by
£5,000 / US$8,100
(on average) compared to a home exactly like yours that is Clutter Free.
A Clutter Free spare bedroom can generate more than £100 plus a week
(on average) if you rent to short term foreign students and provide breakfast and dinner.
A Clutter Free spare bedroom can generate more than £200 a month extra income (on average) if you declutter it and then rent it out.
A cluttered single garage is reducing the value of your home by
£10,000 / US$16,200
(on average) compared to a home exactly like yours that is Clutter Free
Off-site storage will cost you, on average between
£35 / US$ 55 and £45 / US$ 75 PER WEEK.
Thats a minimum of £1,820 / US$ 2,860 per year.
Off-site storage may seem like a quick fix solution to your clutter challenge, but remember that it is an ongoing cost to you.
This time next year you will have the same amount of clutter as you do now - if not more because you've filled the space in your home that you created with more clutter because you didn't change your clutter accumulation habits - yet have £1,820 / US$ 2,860 less money.
Interested in finding out more about the issue of clutter?
click on the tab below to find out about our Clutter Clearing Training Programme
Start Clearing your Clutter
Quicker and More easily NOW.
Get results. I'll show you how. Enter your email below to get free instant access to three invaluable videos on how to clear more clutter, overcome the overwhelm and make a difference with each and every Clutter Clearing Session that you do.
*Your contact information is safe and will never be shared, sold or spammed.
I am loving my flat, I’ve had my first dinner party in years and just love spending time relaxing (guilt free!) in the sitting room in the evening.
It is remarkable what you have helped me achieve without even coming to my home.
I'm completely clutter free after just 12 weeks!
Mary
London
When you've tried everything else on your own and failed, give this a try. It just works! If you have any doubts, pick up that phone! I was amazed at how different the living room was when Clare left. It was almost like we had just moved in, and I had just arranged things the way I wanted them.
Shannan
Hampshire
I’ve learnt a lot from having the help in the home. I’ve learnt to take things a step at a time, prioritise things that need to be done, not to feel guilty for not getting everything done at once, not to put things to the side and the fact that this system really does work! Thanks Clare.
Amanda
Bedfordshire
I didn't think twice about spending money on 'stuff', but I did about getting Clare to come and help me.
If you're struggling with your clutter don't make the mistake I did and wait 3 years. It's the best money you'll EVER spend because you'll get so much more out of it than just a clutter free and organised home.
Elaine,
Leeds
As Featured in:
and heard on BBC Radio
(Regularly featured on: BBC Oxford, BBC Newcastle, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire)
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