More about Clare Baker,

Specialist Clutter Coach

What is a Clutter Coach?

A coach is used whenever someone wants to create a specific change in their lives. A Clutter Coach is therefore used whenever someone wants to change their home and their lives by clearing their backlog of clutter.

A clutter coaches job is:

To enable the Clutter Clearer understand more clearly their needs, motivations, desires, skills and thought processes to help the Clutter Clearer in making real, lasting change.
To guide the Clutter Clearer through a clear, specific process
To observe, listen and ask questions to understand the client's situation or challenge.
To Use questions and examples to help the Clutter Clearer to identify solutions and actions to solve a particular challenge or come to a decision about a particular item, rather than tell them what to do. Support the client in setting appropriate goals and methods of assessing progress in relation to these goals.
To apply Clutter Clearing tools and techniques to help them clear the backlog of clutter and which involve one-to-one training and support, either in a clients home or via the telephone or skype.
To enable a Clutter Clearer to overcome the procrastination and complete their Clutter Clearing, thereby enabling the achievement of a Clutter Free and Organised Home, and ensure lasting personal growth & change.
To ensure that the Clutter Coach provides a safe, supportive and non-judgemental environment for the Clutter Clearer to be able to express and share their views, lifestyle and aspirations which will enable them to progress quicker.
To ensure that the Clutter Clearer develops the skill of how to Clear their Clutter and make decisions that are right for themselves, as opposed to developing an unhealthy dependency on the Clutter Coach.
With every Clutter Clearing Session that a Clutter Clearer completes with the Clutter Coach, to evaluate the outcomes of the process, using clear measures wherever possible to ensure the relationship is successful and the client is achieving their Clutter related goals.
Encourage and support Clutter Clearers to continually improve their skill through Assisted Clutter Clearing Sessions to achieve their goals.
Possess Coaching qualifications and Clutter Clearing related experience in the areas that skills-transfer coaching is offered.
Manage the relationship to ensure the Clutter Clearer receives the appropriate level of Support and that all 1-2-1 help is neither too short, nor too long.

Clare is a trained and qualified NLP Coach which means she has the necessary skills to guide and support you to achieve a clutter free home and understands, at a practical and emotional level, the importance of NOT making decisions or judgements for or about clients and their belongings.

Clare decided to combine her formal NLP training with the issue of cluttter when she herself struggled with clutter that was out of control and preventing her from moving on with her life. Her refusal to accept someone coming into her home and making judgements on her belongings and life led to her seeking to learn what skill it was that she was missing, consequently discovering and detailing the process used as the foundation of all the help and support she and her team provide people who are equally determined to declutter and get organised for the last time.

Clare works with individuals, couples, families, people downsizing, people moving home, people going through separation and divorce, counsellors to provide a package of support to clients, and corporate departments having strategic declutters before moving offices.

Clares' 12 week Success Programme, new for 2011, is enabling her to help and support even more people around the world, at a very practical and hands on level, know what it feels like to be in control, organised and save time by being clutter free.

A more personal look at Clare….

Hello. My name is Clare Baker and I founded The Clutter Clearing Consultancy in 2002 when I had clutter of my own that was out of control. I had no idea how it had got out of control - my job was a project manager, I'd always been organised and clutter free before then and I felt like a failure for not being able to keep it under control.

So I set out to find out what skill it was that I'd lost. If I had been clutter free before then clearly there was something I wasn't doing that I had done in the past - a skill that I had lost for whatever reason. After all, I could be organised at work, why had I lost that skill at home? It's why I know myself how awful it is to have clutter that's out of control - feeling overwhelmed, out of control, like a failure. I also know how good it feels when you've cleared, sorted and know how to control your clutter. There's nothing quite like having a good clear out, is there?!

So I modelled people who were good at being organised and clutter free, tested it on some people who had clutter and realised that I had found a process that I could teach to people, or give to them to learn themselves, to get their clutter back under control.

The important thing was that it wasn't based on a 3 sort 'keep, throw away, charity' principle. What I had learnt was that when we tried to be 'ruthless' and stick to only 3 or 4 categories to sort out clutter into, overwhelm, panic and fear all fought back and rendered people less likely to let go, more likely to hold on tighter to their clutter.

So the process I identified that non-cluttered people used to clear and organise their clutter was based on it being 'OK' to not be sure, OK to give yourself some time to decide, and focusing on what life will be like when the clutter is cleared and organised.

I also did a lot of coaching training so that I had the coaching skills to be as effective as possible when teaching people this skill - so that I could put people at ease, build rapport with them when they might be scared showing me into their cluttered homes, and so I could gain people's trust and confidence.

I put the two together after a year of modelling, perfecting the process and testing it on various people, and launched the Clutter Clearing Consultancy in December 2002 with one small advert in a local magazine, just to see if anyone out there would like to learn this new process. Wtihin a year I had cashed in my shares to enable me to invest in the first website (very different to this one!), and it all snowballed since then.

Suffice to say I still love my job, still love seeing people get back control, seeing people able to make the decisions for themselves, with a little help, and love being able to tell people that there really are other people out there who have the same challenges, struggles and issues with their clutter - people I've met and worked with successfully.

Clare's personal experience of clutter:

My clutter gets out of control from time to time just like everyone else. I'm human after all, and I have a husband who generates clutter (although he denies it of course) and a busy life, both at work and socially. Being organised is crucial to the home and work working - planning our time week by week, making sure we get what needs doing done - I practice everything that we recomend when it comes to organising our time.

I am also in the process of dealing with my weight clutter which is the result of learning bad habits (just like people do with their clutter) as a child. My top tip subscribers are following me with my journey, seeing how I apply the principles of de-cluttering your home to de-cluttering my excess weight.

Clare's experience of clutter clearing:

15 years practicing what I teach.
9 years helping clients de-clutter.
7 years of teaching it in workshops, on courses and to potential consultants.
5 years of coaching people on the telephone.
2 years of teaching de-cluttering and running your own business courses at Oxord and Cherwell Valley College.

What you're most likely to hear Clare say:

'Don't worry, you're perfectly normal'.

'I've seen a LOT worse'.

'You don't want me to make judgements on your home you're your belongings do you?'

'Who is perfect?'

‘You mean you’re actually enjoying your clutter clearing? Well that wasn’t supposed to happen, it was supposed to continue being a dreadful chore!’

Clare's passions:

People

No matter how many people I've worked with or consultations I've done I'm still fascinated by people and what makes them tick. I think it's sad how society sees clutter as something that we should be able to control. We're not all blessed with every skill which is why we help people who want to learn the skill of how to clear, sort and control their clutter.

Gardening

There's nothing quite like seeing something that you've planted and nurtured growing. Even in the depths of winter, when the ground seems lifeless and there seems no hope of life, spring arrives and the plants surprise you. You can see it in the blossom and even hear it if you have a pond that the frogs love! My sunflowers are my annual reward which I grow from seed - you can't help but smile when you see them flower, even on a miserable day!

Property

I bought the house that my husband and I now live in as a wreck and renovated it. No one else seemed to see the potential, but I relished every minute. Adding value, treating it with a bit of TLC an now it's a wonderful home to live in. I don't believe in hopeless cases - either in human beings, animals or homes!

Clare's favourite film:

Difficult one – there is no one film, it depends on my mood. I love Some like it Hot, Forest Gump, Shrek and Ice Age. Field of Dreams is inspirational, and Housesitter always cheers me up. I have all 10 series of Friends on video so I tend to watch a few episodes of them while I do the ironing – I know every line which annoys my husband no end!

Who Clare admires:

Anyone who can stay positive and focused in a bad situation or during a tough time. Anyone who can admit they need help, ask for help and then accept that help.

Clare's philosophy on life:

Everything happens for a reason - even the bad stuff – and it may be a while before we realise what the positives from the bad stuff are.

One (possibly) interesting fact about Clare:

During my 3 years at University I also ran a fund for children in 2 Day Care Centres in Guyana, South America that I had worked in during my Gap Year.

3 things Clare would take on a desert island with her

Very tricky one. I'm going to assume there's shade so I don't need sun tan cream.

I could happliy live without my mobile phone, computer and car.

So what?

My husband. It sounds corney, but he really is my best friend and we have good conversations, think alike and work well as a team.

A pack of sunflower seeds because they would bring me a sense of change and hope as they grow, and depending on how long I was on the desert island I would be able to get seeds from each flower head for the following year, so it would be a continuous cycle. One packet of seeds would bring years of happiness.

Finally, (this is difficult! I'm not a materialistic person so posessions wouldn't be a priority), a bag containing my NLP training notes, some NLP books and a couple of trashy girly novels. Reading books is my holiday habit as I don't get much time for it normally, and the NLP books would enable me to read the same book again and again and get more and more out of it each time, so it wouldn't be predictable.