New Year's Resolutions should be for life, not just for January

All those of you who have dreams of changing something about your life – for example by decluttering or getting more organised - please raise your hand. 

 

Keep your hand up if you plan on making a New Year’s Resolution to make that change become a reality next year. 

Now keep your hand up for at least two minutes (preferably three) if you honestly believe with all your heart and soul that you’ll be able to achieve your goal of achieving that resolution next year. 

Difficult isn’t it?!  If you managed it, very well done indeed – I applaud your resolve and unwavering willpower!

It’s easy to get swept away by the media excitement and glamour that New Year’s Resolutions brings, and feel pressurised by the annual publicity machine about making resolutions – sometimes making us believe we might be the odd person out if we DON’T make a New Year’s resolution. 

Some people feel that New Year's resolutions are an utter waste of time (and often money), whilst others feel they put artificial pressure on us to conform/follow trends and achieve goals that can be unrealistic and difficult to achieve.  

That feeling of embarrassment that we’ve not done what we’ve told our support network we would do makes us feel despondent and frustrated so that our resolutions become burdensome and weigh us down with guilt and sadness.  Our energy gets sapped away and we end up making the situation worse that we set out to change in the first place. 

• “I can’t lose weight so I eat more because to cheer me up because I’m feeling miserable”, or
• “I’ll move this pile somewhere else so I can’t see the clutter, or split it into smaller piles so it doesn’t look so daunting”

If you’re one of those people who kept their hand up and is determined to make a New Year’s Resolution to declutter and getting organised, my suggestion is to make a few smaller resolutions rather than one big one – so that they are more achievable, and you stay motivated. 
 

And whilst you’re making your resolution, set yourself a special reward at the same time, so that you can celebrate your success.  This should help spur you on, encourage you to keep going and keep on feeling good about yourself.  Isn’t that what life’s about?  And we only get one shot at life, so make it a good one. 

Sorting out your handbag or a single drawer one step at a time is a great place to start, as they can easily become muddled - and remember to take before and after photos to prove to yourself how much progress you've made.

Then re-visit what you've done often, to make sure you're maintaining the organised momentum, and calculate how much time you've saved by doing it!

Another tip is to play your favourite uplifting music quietly in the background whist you’re decluttering or getting yourself organised, to inspire you, provide “virtual” company and keep you calm and relaxed. 

At the same time, place a couple of drops of Rosemary essential oil in an oil burner to help keep you focussed – or perhaps a touch of Peppermint oil to clear your mind and keep you uplifted, or Basil essential oil to keep you calm.

Finding someone sympathetic to your cause to help you – whether it be a supportive impartial friend, one of the Rainbow Red team or a fellow professional organiser from The Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers UK (apdo-uk) – can make an enormous difference to keeping you on track and make what can be an emotionally draining activity fun, especially if you’re a team person and prefer not to work alone.

Finally, why if you live in Surrey (UK), why not attend one of Rainbow Red’s decluttering workshops, so that you can interactively  learn about things like:

·         Overcoming decluttering challenges
·         The decluttering & organising process
·         Where to get help

Maintaining the resolution beyond January can be challenging, so don't be too hard on yourself.  Try the little-and-often principle - rest assured, it WILL work, if you're determined enough!

To find out more, please:

·         LIKE us on Facebook
·         Follow us on Twitter - @RainbowRedUK
·         Email us with your enquiry: cherry@rainbowred.co.uk

Or phone us on 07931 303310 to book a workshop or discuss your decluttering/organising/project management needs.

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.

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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

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