Come to our decluttering workshops

SURREY LIBRARIES

presents



Click here to book your place on the Surrey Events website - tickets cost £10

 

Get inspired by our motivational step-by-step Action Plan, and local suggestions on where to sell, upcycle and recycle your unwanted items.

 

 Here's what people say about our workshops:

 

"Lynda and Cherry provided our women's group with the perfect mix of up-to-date, local information, inspiration to feel empowered, and practical advice. I would recommend their presentation to anyone. Val Bradley, Horizon Group, Fetcham

 

"I just had to write and say how much I enjoyed the afternoon, how well it was organised and my house does not know what has hit it!  I started de-cluttering the following day (only because we went out that evening).  The office took about a good week.  The utility room a day and a half and the dresser a day.  Only regret not taking photos, as was advised! Still have loads more to do but the enthusiasm is still there.

So just to say thank you for the workshop and if there is another one, please let me know as I now have a few friends interested!!!!!!!" Attendee, Leatherhead Workshop, Oct 2012

"I can't praise too highly their organsiational understanding, attention to detail and their enthusiasm for their calling  plus their empathy for those with whom they work.  If I am able to help them  in some of these future events, I would be most happy to do so."

Flip Cargill, Acting Secretary  Leatherhead Residents Association

Cherry Rudge of Rainbow Red and Lynda Wylie of Tidy Rooms are both Members of The Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers UK (www.apdo-uk.co.uk)

 

For more information, or to book a workshop for your local group in North Surrey & SW London, please contact: 

Cherry Rudge - Ph: 07931 303310 - Email: cherry@rainbowred.co.uk 

*Image copywrite: Paula Becker

Rainbow Red mentioned in House Beautiful decluttering supplement - Feb 2013

Several hints and tips from Cherry Rudge of Rainbow Red recently appeared in the 32-page decluttering supplement of February 2013's House Beautiful magazine.

The wonderful freelance journalist Jayne Dowle (who writes mainly for House Beautiful, The Times and The Yorkshire Post) also featured hints and tips from several other Members of The Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers UK (apdo-uk) in the article.

Cherry Rudge interviewed on Brooklands Radio's Fabulous Women Show - 15th January 2013

I was thrilled to be interviewed recently on one of my local radio stations in Weybridge, Surrey.

The delightful Celia Jones and Nicky Rudd - presenters of the Fabulous Women Show - wanted to know about how I became a professional organiser, asked me to share some of my experiences, and give a few top decluttering and  organising tips for Fabulous Women.

I also outlined various options of where to dispose of unwanted items, and gave examples of some of the funnier things I've come across since I became a professional organiser - when did you ever find a pair of false teeth under the soap?!  And did you know that some rugby clubs (eg. Esher RFC) often want donations of old towels to wipe their balls with?!

Listen in here (scroll down to the Life section - 15th January 2012): 

I also gave details of how to find a professional organiser throughout the UK - via The Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers website - www.apdo-uk.co.uk. 

The other guest was the amazing Mandy Hickson, who talked about how she made the transition from being a former RAF jet pilot to becoming a motivational and keynote speaker.

Decluttering workshop - Horizon Group, Fetcham

Presenters Lynda Wylie & Cherry Rudge

Several centimeters of snow fell this morning throughout Surrey, which meant the beautiful scene at St Mary’s Church in Fetcham, Surrey - was like something straight out of a Christmas card. 

So we were totally amazed that any of the lovely ladies from the Horizon Women’s Group turned up at all for today's decluttering workshop!


Lynda Wylie (Tidy Rooms) and Cherry Rudge (Rainbow Red) shared practical techniques to enable the Members to declutter and organise the valuable space in their homes.  


Attendees were encouraged to create an Action Plan, to help them focus on things like their vision for their space, their decluttering goals and zoning.

The workshop also touched on making space for spirituality, and how it’s important to take time to step back and plan your life – and your space - around your personal priorities, including - if you are religious - making space for God.

Decluttering is a very emotive subject, and there was much discussion amongst the group about their personal experiences and challenges they’d faced whilst decluttering.

The Horizon Women’s Group meets fortnightly in St Mary’s church hall, and looks at a range of topics and issues relating to women’s lives. 

There is a free crèche for pre-school children, so you can be an adult for a while and have some fun!  Meetings start at 10am for coffee and homemade cake, 10:15 informal discussion and finish by 11:15.  You don’t have to be a member of a church to join.

To find out more about the Horizon Group, either just turn up on the day, or call Julie on 01372 375000 or email her on juliedavid@stmarysfetcham.org.uk.

Future decluttering workshops by Rainbow Red:

Date:                               Saturday 18^th May 2013

Time:                               2pm – 5pm

Venue:                             The Harlequin Theatre, Redhill, Surrey

Sponsored by:                   Surrey Libraries

Booking details:                 To be confirmed

Workshops can be tailored to the requirements of individual groups or clubs.  For more information or to book a workshop or talk, please contact Cherry Rudge:

Email:                             cherry@rainbowred.co.uk

Phone:                            07931 303310

Website:                         www.rainbowred.co.uk

Decluttering - from a client's perspective

Recently I was invited to give my first ever decluttering workshop at the Leatherhead Institute in Surrey, so I asked some of my hoarder clients for comments to share with the workshop attendees.  My clients did not disappoint.

Client #1 said:  "(on the decluttering process) - "it was nail-biting"; Afterwards: "it was a Revelation!"

Client #2 said:  "Allow plenty of time - decluttering takes longer than you'd think....."

Client #3 was more forthcoming than I could ever have hoped for, and has kindly allowed me to publish in full what he sent me.  He talks candidly about how he came to declutter, how we met and his progress - I am eternally grateful and flattered for his contribution and candour.

Are you sitting comfortably?  Then he'll begin.....

"An eremitical existence and a tendency to hoard do not conduce to an uncluttered living-space. Possessions tend to take over; it becomes difficult to move around; and even basic cleaning grows difficult and is eventually abandoned. But one’s possessions have a way of becoming one’s family. One knows where all of them came from; each has its associations pleasant or poignant. So it was only when self-consciousness about the state of my house turned to self-disgust that I began decluttering. I did not know that that was what it was called, but even I could see that I did not need five of everything. An enormous amount went via Freecycle and Freegle; one young woman left with sixty-four items of kitchenware on a single occasion. Three step-ladders went, leaving me with only two. One man took away a hundred and fifty engineering bricks in the boot of a saloon car. (I hope he got home safely.)

I have since realized that freecycling is the slowway to clear a house, but it was the way in which I met Cherry Rudge, who came to collect a four-hole punch. I confess that when I later learned that Cherry was a member of the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers, I thought she was pulling my leg, or that APDO was an association of one. Now I know better. By that stage my decluttering had slowed down. An enormous amount remained to be done; it still does. I was awed by the scale of what I had to do, and I still am. But Cherry inspired me to keep going. With her occasional (but invaluable) practical help and never-failing encouragement, I am still going, even though an unexpected return to daily commuting has robbed me of time and energy. 

There have been real dividends already. For example, I am able to sit down to a meal for the first time in years (though I still sometimes forget to), and I am close to being able to empty the kitchen completely, ready for rewiring and replastering. Then I shall be able to install the bespoke kitchen units that were made for me years ago and have remained flat-packed in the sitting-room ever since. I can even look forward to the day when I shall be able to cook for friends. By that time, I can believe, the process of purging the Augean stables will have become positively cathartic.

As I say, despite disbelief at the beginning, I have come to know that there are such people as professional declutterers, and that they do really valuable work. I know too that they do more than just help people to declutter: they can provide balm for a troubled soul and help one back to a measure of self-esteem. For that alone I salute Cherry and her colleagues, and wish today’s convocation every success."

Anonymous client, Hersham, Surrey UK

Well, I was delighted to report to my client that the feedback on the decluttering workshop that we received afterwards via the Evaluation Forms proved that the event was indeed a success.  

Unfortunately I'd only had time to read out a small part of his piece - the bit about self-consciousness, bricks and step ladders.  It featured during the section on motivation and procrastination and was certainly well received, with some people expressing shock, others seemingly able to relate to some of what he'd said.

I hope to be able to read out more of the piece at future workshops.  I feel incredibly proud that my fellow professional organising colleagues and I are able to provide help and inspiration which drive people to write with such passion. 

I thank and salute my client - and all decluttering clients.  You inspire us too you know.

+++
Explanation of terminology above shown in bold italics

1.      Eremitical existence - Living the life of a recluse or hermit

2.      Augean stables: Greek myth - the stables (where King Augeas kept 3,000 oxen) hadn't been cleaned for 30 years. Hercules diverted the River Alpheus through them, and cleaned them in a day.

3.      Convocation: A gathering for an event

Home

Decluttering Workshop - 20th October - Leatherhead Institute

On Saturday 20th October, Lynda Wylie of Tidy Rooms and Cherry Rudge of Rainbow Red gave a hugely successful decluttering workshop in Leatherhead. 
 

The event was hosted by local environmental campaigning Groups from the Transition Network(Ashtead and Bookham) - plus Leatherhead Residents' Association. 

A packed house of around 80 people learned useful hints tips about on how to declutter their homes, upcycling, repurposing, recycling, and other environmentally friendly ways to get rid of unwanted items.

Guest speaker Barbara Unsworth - Manager of the QEF Charity Shop in Shepperton - explained about the wide variety of things that the shops can recycle if they can't be sold in the shop.

Everyone took home a Useful Information Sheet which Cherry and Lynda created, and which is now available on the Transition Ashtead Website.

Delicious refreshments were served, and proceeds from the afternoon were donated to Leatherhead-based group the Friends of Teazle Wood.

Lynda and Cherry are Members of The Association of Professional Decluttererers & Organisers UK (apdo-uk), whose Members are required to abide by a strict Code of Conduct.  Cherry is also apdo-uk's Marketing Officer. 

 

Further decluttering workshops are planned in the North West Surrey and South West London area - to make an enquiry or a booking please contact Cherry on 07931 303310.

 

To find a professional declutterer near you, check out the apdo-uk website, or call 020 8123 4591(leave a message and someone will call you back).