The 4 biggest mistakes

people make when it comes to

the issue of making time to declutter

Many people mistakenly believe that they're going to have to find a whole weekend to do enough decluttering to see and feel a real, tangible, significant difference. 

They set aside a whole weekend - often a bank holiday weekend - perhaps ordering in a skip so they feel the pressure to achieve total success in a short period of time, with the clear intention of completely decluttering in that time.

They may even get friends and family to help with the lifting, shifting and decision making.

I also have clients for whom their Clutter Clearing is their lives, spending all day every day doing a little weeding, forever saying 'when the clutter is cleared..........' and in the meantime loosing friends who loose patience, loosing hobbies, becoming labeled as the 'Cluttered One' in the family, and generally loosing touch with the outside world.

It is simply not true that you need to spend large amounts of time to Succeed with your Clutter Clearing - regardless of how much clutter you have.

I work with people who need help getting started and are willing to invest 4 hours of their time to get the help they need to get started, and see and feel a real difference. Once they have experienced the process of how to declutter quickly and easily, usually through a De-Clutter Support Day, they are able to successfully declutter and see and feel a real, tangible, significant difference on their own in just 30 minutes of clutter clearing.

2.     Not enough Planning

Don't worry - I'm not suggesting you organise your time like a military exercise down to the last minute. I'm not even suggesting you plan your time down to the last hour.

All my clients and Success Club members know the value of planning their week ahead. In fact, they get a weekly planner in the post from me to help them with this - you are welcome to download a copy to use by clicking on the image on the right.

I don't believe in planning your time down to the last minute. It's a sure fire way to fail, feel guilty, avoid doing anything at all, and help the procrastination win every time.

I do believe in being REALISTIC with our time and making sure we work backwords from real life. That means thinking a week ahead, putting in what we already know we have appointments for or need to do, and then fitting our Clutter Clearing around real, daily life.

I also know the importance of rewarding ourselves for doing a 30 minute Clutter Clearing Session. When we give ourselves a pat on the back, we're saying that we've done well, we're acknowledging the effort we've made, and we're motivating ourselves to do the next 30 minute Clutter Clearing Session that we've got planned in our weekly planner.  That's why there's a 'rewards' section on the weekly planner.

When we make time to do some Clutter Clearing we're giving ourselves a choice - do some decluttering when we know we've got time, or avoid it and do something else instead.

When we decide that we'll do something else instead, or allow ourselves to be distracted, we're actually saying that our decluttering isn't a priority, or that creating a home that we can be more comfortable in is not a priority.

Have you ever had that experience where you've decided to set aside some time to do your decluttering yet, as you open the door to the room you're working on you're confronted by the memories of the last time you tried to declutter this room - maybe even visibally reminded as you see the piles of clutter you sorted through last time, without any idea about where or how to start dealing with it?

The memories come flooding back - how you felt as though you achieved very little despite putting huge amounts of time and effort into it; the arguments it caused with friends and family who tried to help; the regret you felt when you realised you'd thrown away something you later wanted or needed.

Yes, the negative experiences in the past can be a major obstacle when it comes to Making Time to declutter, we're going to find it a much less appealing, rewarding and alltogether enjoyable thing to do with our limited amount of time than something else.

That's when the procrastination sets in.

When I work with clients my intention is always clear - to ensure they have a positive experience so that they are more inclined to make time to declutter in the future.

It's hardly surprising that we're going to be less inclined to prioritise our decluttering when we've struggle with the decision making in the past. If we suspect that it's going to be an emotional rollercoaster with the constant feeling of 'having' to make a decision then we're going to avoid making time - and the procrastination wins again.

I always ensure that when I work with clients I ensure they know how to make decisions that are right for them, so that they WANT to make time in the future for their Cluttter Clearing, using the process that I have shown them.