SUSAN THE TEACHER

If I'm honest I'd wanted to get help for a while, but the turning point came when my husband retired and the comments about the boxes and bargains were constant.

He wanted to join social groups, take up new hobbies but he couldn't do either because he had no space and we couldn't invite people into our cluttered home.

I realised I was holding him back, so I got on the internet.

When I came across your website it struck a chord.

You weren't claiming to know what was best for me and I liked that.

Others I saw and spoke to said they'd be able to visit my home and tell me what I 'should' and 'shouldn't keep', and how to organise my home.

That made me feel uncomfortable - a complete stranger claiming to know what's best for me.

So I signed up for your top tip videos.

When I saw the first one about the Clutter Conveyor Belt I suddenly realised that my clutter wasn't the real problem - my accumulation was a more immediate problem.

I took your challenge of going through old receipts to see how much I'd spent on things I'd never used or didn't know what they were for and I was shocked. It's then I realised I needed help.

I'd signed up for top tips on a couple of other websites, but their top tips had actually been impractical or obvious to me.

I don't want to know about storage solutions because, as you say, it doesn't solve your Clutter Challenge. I needed detailed, specific help like you provide in the videos.

I'd seen lots of people providing a service where they would come to my home to 'help' me.

I even got quotes from two companies, but there were so many hidden costs it was beyond my budget when I got the quotes.

I knew I wanted to learn how to do it myself. I've had enough blitz's to know the clutter returns so I knew I needed to learn how to get back control forever.

That's what makes you different.

Others would have made me dependent on them. You share a life skill.

As you say - you want people to achieve a long term permanent solution so they can be clutter free forever. That's what I want and I'm finally doing something about it.

When I first looked for help I wrongly thought a home visit was the only type of help that would make a difference, but I couldn't afford that.

Plus I knew I needed to get help that I could keep secret.

Although my husband was complaining about the clutter, he would not have approved of me paying for help which is why the 7 Step Journey was ideal -
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it has all the resources, advice etc I need

I don't need to print anything off that he can find and question how I got it

I feel as though you're helping me with my Clutter Clearing because I watch the weekly theory and weekly exercise videos and I get a lot of support from others on the same journey, using the same process with the same challenges

I can afford it and pay for it from my own bank account so it's kept secret from my husband.

For me it's the next best thing to having 1-2-1 Coaching from you.

Besides, when I can I join the weekly Online Social Gathering and the LIVE Q&A Sessions are fantastic.

If I can't join them because my husband is at home I watch the recording on the VIP Circle.

I know I'm not alone and I know everyone else really understands.

Firstly how effective the Clutter Clearing Category Cards are from Step 2 of the Journey onwards!

I was expecting the decision making to be painful and difficult, but with the 7 categories and the not sure category it became easy to make the decisions after a few sessions.

Secondly, how easily I found it to let go after a few weeks of e-mail, computer and paperwork clutter clearing in Step 2.

To begin with I was convinced things would come in useful, but when I got onto Step 3 and learnt 'how to make decisions' there was one question that I found changed everything.

'When was the last time you used it?'

I realised I hadn't used any of the teaching resources more than twice. I enjoy the creative making.

Plus, I'm retiring in a couple of years, we have a resource library and, as you say - I have all the successful students as evidence of how hard I've worked over my career, I don't need to keep the 'stuff' to prove I worked hard.

I've donated much of it to the resource library so it's still being used and appreciated by people who haven't used them yet.

It's also saving other busy teachers a lot of time so it's actually a positive to let go.