Charlotte’s Success Story

Charlotte started her Private Clutter Clearing Journey in March 2020 and completed it in August 2023. This means she has cleared all her clutter and created the habits she needs to stay Clutter Free Forever.

Success Summary:

• 16 rooms and areas completely clutter cleared after 31 years:
  • Hallway
  • Landing
  • Kitchen
  • Laundry Room
  • Pantry / Larder
  • Breakfast Room
  • Study
  • Lounge room
  • Dining room
  • Conservatory
  • 4 bedrooms
  • Garage
  • Attic
• E-mail inbox now below 100 read and unread e-mails
• 76% of all the clutter she categorised and sorted came OFF the Clutter Conveyor Belt
• Over 27 separate car-loads of donations to her local charity shop (where she now volunteer)
• 24 trees planted in her name with the Paperwork Reward Challenge because she shredded over 120  sacks of paperwork clutter
• Charlotte initially decided to start her Journey to give herself a focus during the first lockdown of the pandemic. She wanted to understand why she had her clutter, and originally intended to ‘just’ do Step 1 because she didn’t believe she would ever be able to clear her clutter, she just wanted to know why she struggled with it and other people didn’t. However, due to the exercises, learning and understand she gained on Step 1, she decided to keep going, always with the option to ‘give up’ at each peak or end of Step. 
• Charlotte didn’t tell her friends or family that she was doing the Journey while she was on Step 1 for fear of judgement, and because she knew she wouldn’t be working on the physical clutter and didn’t want negative comments from them about not seeing a difference fast enough.
• Charlotte was a teacher before she retired, therefore a lot of her clutter was paperwork clutter and ‘resources’ that she had kept because they represented a lot of time, energy and effort in their creation.
• With the weekly Shopping Challenge Charlotte started saving over £80 / $95 a week by the end of Step 2 which covered the monthly cost of her Private Journey Membership.
• As a direct result of doing her weekly Paperwork Clutter Clearing Sesisons, by the end of Step 2 Charlotte had cancelled 4 monthly payments on her bank account that she realised she didn’t need or use which enabled her to double her Private Journey Membership to two Private Sessions each week.

Charlotte started her Private Journey in March 2020.

As Charlotte explains:

I started my Clutter Clearing Journey when we went into lockdown because I struggle with my mental health, so I wanted something to focus on. I started as a DIY Journey member because I struggle with Social Anxiety, and my clutter actually helps me with that because it means I have a good reason not to have visitors or guest.

Within a couple of weeks it became clear I wasn’t going to get very far on my own, so I asked my partner to help me, but because he wasn’t doing the Journey himself and learning all the things I was learning, he just kept asking when I was going to clear the physical clutter. I know he meant well, but it just made me feel even more demotivated. So, because I had saved so much money during the lockdowns, I switched to the Private Journey when I reached the peak of Step 1.

When I started, because I had failed so many times in the past to declutter and because I didn’t have any supportive friends and family, I told myself I just wanted to do Step 1 so I could understand why I struggle with clutter and other people I know don’t (although I can now see that they do, it just wasn’t on the same scale as me!). I told myself that I would ‘just’ do the next week, ‘just’ do one more month, or ‘just’ get to the next peak or end of step.

Then, when I did the photo exercise and stock take exercise in Step 1 everything changed. To ‘see’ my Clutter Ghost moving things around my home in the photos (my Ghost turned out to be my partner!), to see the reality of just how much I had and realise I had become ‘Clutter Blind’ to it all made me feel very low. Thank goodness for my sessions with Clare.

When I did the stock take exercise, I was able to let go of so much that was out of date. I finally had that experience of the amazing feeling of letting go of things, knowing they are not going to ‘grow’ back. I even had some brass cleaner that I ‘inherited’ when

I cleared out my mothers house 21 years ago. I don’t even have any brass things in the house!

So many things in my kitchen cupboards, larder and laundry room came off the conveyor belt that I had 2 empty cupboards. I admit it was hard to resist the urge to just put some of the other clutter in those cupboards, rather than think about what I actually needed in those cupboards.

Knowing that I was letting go of things – including a lot of toilet rolls and disinfectant that I had stock-piled at the start of the pandemic that were either out of date or that I didn’t need to food banks felt really good, and really boosted my confidence that I might just be able to do this. It really helped motivate me to do the shopping challenge too. My husband was surprised, and I think pleased, when I started trying new recipes out on him! We’ve got a couple of new favourite meals now, just from the weekly shopping challenge.

I know why I told myself I would ‘just’ do Step 1 – because I had tried for decades to deal with my clutter and always failed or given up. How ironic that it took a pandemic to make me try one last time, try something very different – and that it worked.

You can clear your clutter fast, or you can clear your clutter forever, but you can’t clear your clutter forever, fast.

If you NEED to clear your clutter and you’re ready to accept that you can’t clear it forever FAST, click on this link and visit my Help Centre to find out how I can help you get started. https://www.clutterclearing.net/clares-help-centre/