Angela’s Success Story
Angela’s Success Story
Angela started her Private Clutter Clearing Journey in October 2020 and completed it in December 2022. This means she’s cleared all her clutter and created the habits she needs to stay Clutter Free Forever.
Success Summary:
- 9 rooms and areas completely clutter cleared after 17 years:
- Hallway
- Kitchen
- Lounge room
- Dining room
- 3 bedrooms
- Attic
- Garage
- E-mail inbox now below 100 read and unread e-mails
- 74% of all the clutter she categorised and sorted came OFF the Clutter Conveyor Belt
- Over 31 black sacks of donations to her local charity shop
- 12 trees planted in her name with the Paperwork Reward Challenge because she shredded over 60 black sacks of paperwork clutter
- Angela discovered in Step 1, after completing the stock take, that she had 2 fully stocked freezers in her garage that could all be donated to food banks because she wouldn’t be able to use it all before it went out of date. She also donated dozens of cleaning products she had bought in bulk from the cash-and-carry.
- With the weekly Shopping Challenge Angela started saving over £80 / $95 a week by the end of Step 1 which covered the cost of her monthly Private Journey Membership.
- As a direct result of doing her weekly Paperwork Clutter Clearing Sesisons, by the end of Step 2 Angela had cancelled 3 monthly payments and 2 annual payment on her bank account that she didn’t know were being taken and which saved a further £350 / $420 a month:
- 1 club membership
- 3 magazine subscriptions
- 1 health insurance covered by another health insurance.
- Angela took longer to complete Step 1 of her Journey than she took to complete Step 7.
- By the end of her Journey Angela had saved enough money with the weekly shopping challenge and paperwork sessions to get new flooring throughout her house, and have fitted furniture put into her spare bedrom to create a home office.
- Angela decided on her Journey that she didn’t want to have friends and family visit her for meals, instead prefering to treat them to meals out. Not only did she find this less stressful, it also enabled Angela to turn her dining room into a craft room. One wall has her craft supplies neatly organised, and where a dining table once stood, she now has a large craft table and workbench. She has a rocking chair by the patio windows so she can look out over her garden when she does her knitting while listening to an audio book.
Angela started her Private Journey in October 2020.
As Angela explains:
I decided to start my Journey after looking for help during the first lockdown of the pandemic. Like many, I hated being confined to my cluttered home, and for the first time in years I realised just how much shopping I did to get away from my clutter.
I found Clare and Clutter Clearing on YouTube. It was her Top Tip video about how to overcome the overwhelm which just made so much sense. So, I signed up on the website and started getting her e-mails.
I struggle with being around people who I don’t know. I prefer to get to know people one-to-one before meeting them as part of a group, which is why Clare’s videos were so helpful. She’s so open about her experiences which isn’t something other ‘experts’ can do because they haven’t actually struggled with Clutter like Clare has.
When the second lockdown came, I realised I needed to face my fear and start my 7 Step Journey to give me a positive focus for my mind and time. Because of my social anxiety I chose the Private Journey.
I didn’t tell Clare, but when I started, I could only afford the Private Journey for 3 months. I told myself I’d try it and if it didn’t work I could either give up, or I could switch to the Group or DIY Journey.
I hadn’t anticipated that even just doing the door sheet exercise in Step 1 would make me realise just how much I was spending on things I didn’t need to spend money on, and I was shocked. Doing the shopping challenge exercise made me feel so guilty for having stock-piled so much stuff that I didn’t need and hadn’t used.
I confess I was guilty of being a toilet roll hoarder during the first lockdown, so when I did the usage exercise I discovered I had enough toilet rolls to last me for years! They all went to a local foodbank.
I actually started saving money really quickly on my Journey, before I even finished Step 1.
Once I started to notice the money I was saving, I made a commitment to myself not to buy any new clothes – other than underwear – while I was on my Journey, which has saved me a fortune. I had so many clothes!
I took Clare’s advice and I now put $80 a month into a savings account for clothes. Over the last 2 years I’ve saved over $1,900 for new clothes – who knew putting just $80 a month away while on my Journey could add up to so much! It means I’ve got the money to buy quality clothes that will last, and I’ll need fewer clothes because I’ll only buy what I NEED. I’ll also have the money for when I want to buy a special outfit for a special event like my granddaughters graduation this year. One of my Goal Rewards was to book a Colours and Image Consultation, like Clare recommends, so I can be more confident when I do buy clothes.
Learning to be honest about how you want your home to be is tough. Western society (and my family) ‘expect’ you to have a dining room and use it as a dining room. Realising that wasn’t right for me, my lifestyle, and my best life, and giving myself permission to not conform to other people’s expectations was liberating. I used to be a people pleaser, putting everyone else first. I’m still a people pleaser – but the person I’m pleasing is me!
Being on my Journey and creating a clutter free home that I love spending time in has been such a challenge, but one I’m so glad I started and stuck with it.
If you’d like to do what Angela did and clear all your clutter without the need for an expensive home visit, find out more about the 7 Step Journey that enabled her to succeed: https://www.clutterclearing.net/7-step-journey/