A group of woman smiling into the camera holding various items
Episode 267 – Creating a beautifully organised home with LIFE / EDIT

How often have we got lost down a rabbit hole of social media when looking for tips to make our homes both functional and beautiful? Today I’m delighted to be joined by fellow Professional Organiser Zoe Berry from LIFE / EDIT who always manages to find exactly the right balance between form and function in her clients’ homes.

Many of the products mentioned in this podcast are available from our Amazon Shop.
Prefer to read rather than listen?
Transcript of this podcast episode
00:00
How often have we got lost down a rabbit hole of social media when looking for tips to make our homes both functional and beautiful? Today I'm delighted to be joined by fellow professional Organiser Zoe Berry from Edinburgh based LIFE / EDIT who always manages to find exactly the right balance between form and function in her clients homes.

00:29
You're listening to the declutter hub podcast bringing you tried and tested no nonsense tips and advice from the leading experts in decluttering and organizing your home. Now here's your host, Lesley Spellman.

00:51
Hello, and welcome, listeners. I'm Lesley, we're delighted you're here to join us as part of your decluttering journey. So whether you're brand new today or have been listening for ages, we want to say thank you so much for being here. It means so much to Ingrid and now that you turn up every week to listen to and support us. While we talk all things decluttering and organizing. We'd love to help more people with their quest for a clutter free home and our podcast is a fantastic way for people to be inspired to take action. We have a favor to ask. If you like what you hear, be sure to hit the follow subscribe or like button on your podcast player. share us with your friends or share your thoughts on the podcast by leaving a review. So Zoe, welcome to the declutter podcast. How are you? Hi, Lesley,

01:36
I'm excited to talk to you. I

01:40
know we're gonna talk about this for so long. And we were like, we definitely need to do something together. Let us go back whenever we talk whenever we talked to, or the Professional Organisers, we need contacts, so we need to know where we first met allow. I'll tell you my experiences of meeting you for the very first time. So So you were on a training course for APDO. I reckon I'm gonna say I'm gonna go out on a limb and I'm gonna say seven years ago, I

02:06
think it was I think it was seven years ago. Right? Because that's maybe it might have

02:11
been six or it might be six. Yeah, there was this kind of powerhouse of a northerner that came into the room who had everything, everything nailed, and I was like, she's gonna be a brilliant Professional Organiser. And true to your word, you are a brilliant Professional Organiser. So yeah, to remember to remember it. Remember our first meeting? I

02:30
do. Remember, you always say the nicest things. I love that what I remember is going on that course and coming back on the train, because I think he's in Manchester. So I got the train back to Edinburgh. And I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote all the plans that I had after meeting you enough to go on the course. And I don't think I've ever felt as sure about wanting to do something professionally in my life. And to be honest, that feeling that six, I think it was six years ago, is never gone away that passion that I feel for it. It was like I'd been I think I'd already got a few clients that I had been kind of working with in a in a kind of startup way before that course, I think. And then it kind of snowballed from there more quickly than I ever thought it would do to where we are now with life edit. And you're the time you gave me some really good advice. We had a chat over lunch. I remember that. And I just saw you as a really inspirational person, somebody who I remember thinking if I could ever get it to the stage that less these are and I know you do different stuff now obviously with a declutter hub, but I feel like your business with the clutter fairies was a real influence on where my life and it has got to.

03:39
Oh, fantastic. No, it was so nice. It was such a nice day. We used to England I used to do those courses and other people was singled on our course. Or was it someone?

03:47
Jasmine? I think it's based on South and Saatchi. Yeah. Jasmine. Jasmine has

03:51
been on the podcast a couple of times. So you will know. She used to be a fellow trainer. Yeah, we used to have so much during those training courses. So yeah, it was it. That's when we first met and so now fast forward then six years, which is what you've said, the wonderful life edit, which is a fabulous Professional Organising business based in Edinburgh. Now everybody around the world will have heard of the beautiful Edinburgh. You have some fabulous clients, don't you? And I think what I always see on your Instagram on your social posts, then which is my our window into your world and is that you go above and beyond in terms of the aesthetic. So you know I think I said in the intro you definitely marry up form and function and I think that's what's really, really interesting. So tell me a little bit about you know, you obviously wants to be a Professional Organiser. You're obviously in love it you've grown a fantastic business. So what made you want to go into Professional organizing in the first place?

04:50
You know, I've got a few answers for that. Unsurprisingly, you know what I'm like, first of all, I've always liked it so my mum would say it's all because of her she used to pay me 50 P a cupboard to do our kitchen cupboards when I was little so I always liked you know that kind of creating calm and systems out of I was gonna say chaos she wouldn't thank me for that was it wasn't chaotic, but all cupboards could do with a bit of an overhaul sometimes I think. And I used to love doing that I'd put the radio on and take everything out and give it a clean and put it back in again, like for a bit of extra pocket money. I never thought that I would make that into my career, obviously. So there's that kind of which I've always liked. I've always done that in my own house. But I think there's a couple of reasons. First of all, I've always wanted to do something. And I always have worked in a sector where I felt really obviously, like I'm providing help for people. You know, like that thing where it I guess it depends on what motivates you. And what motivates me is like making making a difference. So before I had my children, I worked for the third sector, so I worked for different charities. And the the most recent one was Macmillan Cancer Support. And I always felt even if I was having a bad day, like there was a sort of bigger picture. And so that's been really motivating for me. And for me, that's the that's the biggest thing that you get out of being a Professional Organiser is that feeling that you've helped and helped them change their environment? And then I guess I have three boys who are 1210, and six. And so Jude was a baby, when I met you, he was like 10 months old, I think when I went on that course, and yeah, so he's kind of grown up with his mom being a working mom, whereas the other two boys, Matthew Daniel, I was at home with them for seven years. And I remember really clearly going to see a friend from work who'd had a baby. And I went into her house. And it was like, I mean, it was quite, it was fairly extreme, I would say. And she just turned around to me went, this is what you're going to have to get used to if you have if you have a child, and I remember thinking, I don't think I could cope with it being like this, like it was, it was I don't use these words in terms of my own clients. But it was, it was chaotic in the extreme. And I remember thinking, I don't think I could ever cope with that, you know, so I didn't want my home to feel completely taken over by all the kids stuff. I mean, it is it was it still is now you know what it's like it goes from plastic stuff and little trains and stuff like that up to like enormous shoes that take over, you know, your house, it's just as they grow, you know, your kids stuff is in the house. But I think I wanted a separation from that. From that day time being a stay at home mom having loads of kids over all the time. You know, having all the toys out the snacks everywhere. In the evening, being able to feel like things were easy to tidy away and rich. And I could have a little tiny bit of an evening when the kids are gone to bed. And I find I found that when I started saying that to people, they were like, oh my god, me too. Oh my god, like, that's exactly how I feel. And it and it's just like it really touched a nerve with people. And so I don't think I had like a really clear plan. I said, I'm not somebody who ever has a big strategy, I kind of start just doing the doing and then and then develop the strategy from there. And that's what happened. Really, I think I've never been somebody who thought I know exactly what I'm going to do. I've got a five year plan or anything like that. I just started saying to people, I'm thinking that if this helped me maybe it'll help other people. And that's when it just started to really kind of roller coaster from there that you know, surrounded by people who've got small children like you do when you're when you're being an early mum yourself. And the amount of people who said to me, oh my God, would you come and do my playroom, cupboard, whatever it will be. And so that's that seems like a bit of a perfect storm of where I was in my life. People I was hanging out with and this sort of background that I suppose I've always had of liking to create tidy spaces. You know, like even when I was at university. I couldn't study if my bedroom was a mess. Right? You know, I've always needed it. That's why it's quite funny because I'm sitting here in here in my husband's office we used to share an office right and we got on really well. I cannot share an office with him. I don't want to show you his drawers love the go off him.

09:12
So funny. You know what I find what I always find really interesting because I've since I've spoken about this on the podcast before is that you know when I'm looking for people to work on my team because of fairy or whatever it is always about the background story. So teach someone to organise I'm sure you're the same in your team. So super interesting, of course that you can start taking Macmillan for anybody that doesn't know that and outside of the UK that is a cancer charity. Big one in the UK. I think it's on a UK based right

09:43
in the UK based and it's definitely one of the biggest charities in the UK. Certainly. I think that in cancer research like the biggest cancer charities. Yeah.

09:50
Yeah. So you come from that empathetic background where stand traumatic situations where you were feeling under the weather. And that's so simple. hoping to have that empathy, but also kind of real to be a solution finder as well, you know, how do we fix this? And how do we make it better for new moms for, you know, your husband in his office, whatever that looks like. And then you've managed to blend those together seamlessly, and then gone down the kind of aesthetic route because you've got a beautiful home. So you've got a converted, it's like, All right, so your home is gorgeous and unusual. And its makeup and its shape. And it says, I'm sure there's been stuff within your home, that's a nightmare to navigate as well, in terms of, maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. But I imagine there's little quirky holes and sloping ceilings here and there. And yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, you've always had an eye for the aesthetic as well. So before we start to talk about organization, because that's what that's one of the things that I want to talk about. It's not something we talk about a lot, really on the declutter coms work, because we're very much all about the emotional side of things, practical side of things, but it's useful for us to move into the aesthetic. Let's talk about your clients. So I talked about, you know, you run a big team, don't you got, you know, most Professional Organisers are one man bands and work one to one, you do have a larger team. And some quite often your teams go out and work together. So how does that work? And how do Why do clients come to us specifically, what are they looking for? Are they looking for the emotional side of things? Are they looking for the functional side of things? They're looking for the aesthetic side of things you want to give us? I'm sure it's a combination to be fair, but it was an IDS,

11:35
usually, I would say that our clients are frazzled, the word that everybody uses. And again, you'll know this more than me is overwhelmed. Yeah. Like almost everybody uses that word. And it might be they're overwhelmed. And they just is just that cupboard. And that just can't quite get to it. Or it could be, you know, art we haven't unpacked since we moved in, and we moved in seven years ago. And there comes a huge sense of like, shame around that. And I should like I always say, we're not going to use the word shut about ourselves while we're here. And I should have done that should be better should be no, no, no, no, we're not going to do any of that sort of stuff. So a lot of what we do, obviously, we do the tidying, we do the organizing the decluttering. Report the systems in place, my girls could do that, with their eyes closed. But the real I think the real gift that they all have, is really listening to the client and thinking how do we need to approach this one? Because it's different from the person you worked with yesterday? You know?

12:34
Yeah, I think that's the important thing. There's definitely not a one size fits all is there that the the skill really as an Organiser is not to do the editing and the systems and all that kind of stuff. Of course, we can do that. And that might be a gap that we fulfill for finds that more difficult. But the the sort of real real skill is in looking at what's making that person tick, you know, have they got children or the newly retired? What kind of hobbies do they want to do? What's important? How quickly do they need to run out in the morning, all of those kinds of things, that thinking the right things in the right places. So it's finding that balance and the real, as he says, Only the real, it's all about intuition, isn't it? And it's been to the client to get that, you know, the client, we can do our bit, but we can't do it without the clients explaining how their life is running, whether that's difficulties emotionally, or whether it's difficulties practically. And that's the skills weekly. Yeah, exactly, exactly. There's all of those kinds of things. So I think it's a real, you know, there'll be a lot of people listening today who are, you know, we'd like to make that leap into hiring a Professional Organiser. It's something about before, and we would urge people who need to get over that kind of final hurdle, initial hurdle, whole hurdle, you know, to me, if you've got the budget to do that, it's a really positive, positive thing to do. But there are also many people listening today who haven't got the benefit of having a professional claim, and want to learn from sort of resources like us today, and the podcasts and so on, about how they can do these things themselves. So we're gonna go into a short break, and then we're gonna come back after the break. And so he's going to give us the words of wisdom that she's got about organizing things that she puts into client's homes. So welcome back, everybody. So Zoe, before we before the break, we were talking a lot about sort of form over function, aesthetics, things like that with your clients. And we're going to delve into that a little bit deeper. But do you think that the two things need to be exclusive? Or do you think you can have one without the other do you think aesthetics is more important than foot motion to talk a little bit about that?

14:40
But it's a great question and one that I think is Professional Organisers we're constantly kind of, you know, juggling with, aren't we? First of all, I think it completely depends on who you're working with. So some people are all about function, and if it functions that that's fine, some people you know, if they need like visual prompts people, maybe who have For neuro divergence or ADHD, if you can put it away in their beautiful folder and put it in a drawer, and then they're gonna forget about it. So you actually haven't done your job if you do that, you know, that I guess it's about all the time is it's about checking in with people when you're worrying about if I do this, will it work for you sort of thing? So I think aesthetics should never override form because we're there to put systems in, aren't we that work for the client, but I don't think that they need to be separate. I think they don't need to be exclusive from each other. And I think so I am really, it's very nice, what you said about my house, it's not everybody's taste, but I really, I'm really passionate about like, the way my house looks and feels, and I like it to be a really fun place. So it's, it's quite vibrant. And it's, it's like very much at home and it's party house. And it really reflects who we are as a family. And I suppose I am quite interested in aesthetics, I guess. And I think that we all kind of have a right to a nice living environment. And I took real university I used to work from a millon cancer support the big cancer charity, when I worked with them, if you think about where you get treatment, especially if you've, if you're in treatment for cancer, it can be a really long process, you know, you're in all the time. And if you're sitting in a room, and it's not visually appealing, I mean, it can be quite grim. Actually, nevermind, not visually appealing. And Marilyn did this really incredible project called Macmillan environments, where they took loads and loads of advice from cancer patients, as well as people involved in architecture and interior design. And if you go into somewhere that they have been involved in, then it's it's it's inspiring and uplifting, and, you know, quirky and almost a bit like going to uni, if you go to like a boutique hotel, and you think, what do they think of that? It reminds me of that sort of, like, really quite out there some of the some of the design. And I think I think I've always thought about that when working with clients where, you know, we are really affected by our environment. And you know, even little things like yesterday, I was working on a bedroom with Becky and we had a conversation about how the bookcase was going to look. And the bookcase have loads of work in it for this client. And the client was like I said, How's that make you feel when you're in bed, and she was like, guilty, you know, makes me think about work. Most people were not doing work. So we put all that somewhere else. And then we made the bookcase will really aesthetic and nice, you know and pretty. And she sat on a bed when we finished and she was like, mesmerized, I feel like a meditator. And it just proves that like for her that means that that's a really, it's really easy. And it was free, wasn't it? We just we just organised it. Yeah. And it just meant that that aesthetic had a really big impression on her. So I think that they're all intertwined, but I certainly wouldn't spend loads of time on something the client is not going to get a kick out of. Yeah. But that's, again, like you said, that's just about constant communication, you know,

18:06
yeah, and I think that, you know, to make something look nice, doesn't necessarily need to cost a lot of money. There's so many fantastic solutions out there on the market. And with you that I'm you know, I'm definitely all about function, but I also like to have a nice home and so I'll try and marry the two together, I'll try and find something that's really gonna work, you know, because I've got interior design clients myself as well. And I'm all about trying to get the best value for them at this sort of, you know, trying to get good quality but crazy on price because it's out there to be had, you know, so many fantastic things. Can you use talked about some of those now, I think, I think you're right, it's so important to think about aesthetics and think about how that makes people feel. That's one thing you know, and that's where we're form comes in and overwrites function a little bit. So we you talked a little bit about you know, a lot of your clients are like your team in that their moms to kind of navigate all that that brings with it and so I always find that the most impactful place in a home for families, but one of the most impactful is your hallway because that's kind of kind of what they call it like Mission Control or something like that. All traffic goes through there and things get dropped left and have to find things and so on. And so I wonder if you've got any kind of hints tips and solutions for things in a hallway so because I think they're really difficult to organise aren't then get right because often spaces and a lot of traffic and a lot of stuff passing through.

19:45
And you're absolutely right. And I don't think that's really talked about as much as like the kitchen being the hub of your home and all that sort of stuff. We've gone through the hallway to get the kitchen, haven't you? Yeah. And the amount of times we will have heard as Professional Organisers. You know, my heart drops when I when I put my key in the door. because they know what they're going to be confronted by. So I guess it is about what I've got thing that I quite like, which is okay, it's like a key cupboard. So all the bazillion different keys that we've got for everything, just get hung up in the key cupboard. So they're not sitting on a surface from come in, I think it's vouchers. And that's what I decided to buy from the shop for that, because I just knew it was gonna, you know, it's functional. But again, it looks nice and quiet like a quite often say to clients that they could just have like a bowl sitting on the hallway table, and it might have in it, you know, that's where you put your keys, if you don't have a cupboard, that's where you put, you know, in the COVID days, you might put your mask in there, you might put your lanyard from work, you know, and everything just goes in there. So you're not wandering off, and then it gets put in a different part of the house. And then the real big sticking point for all people, I think, especially with young families, is the shoes and the coats. Because kids just come in. I mean obviously minder, do this, because they are clearly absolutely perfect. But they just come in and like drop her bag, and they coat their shoes, and you're like, you know, every day would ask you not to do that. So if you've got somewhere I quite like I've got three, which means that, you know, I'm not, I encourage you a bit of independence with them. So they have got a peg where they put their stuff when they come in. So if you can have someone at child height, yeah, and you know, dude, who's six, he knows to come in, he's actually the best one I have to say out of all of them. He'll come in and he'll take his shoes off and put them in the We the shoe. I've got a conference called you know, the shoe unit that everybody's got from IKEA that one, they put some in there. And then he puts his bag and it's in his coat up on his little peg. And his brothers is higher up because he keeps his brothers taller me. So he can reach that. And it's just about if you've got a place, then everybody has got a responsibility, I think to put them away. Why is the mum or indeed the dad. They're here for them. So having to buy the shoes and the coats and the bags can go is just a key. It's

22:01
so interesting now that you're talking about that shoe cupboard? Because we did. So we're like, I don't know Tilden 70 podcasts in. We've never spoken about shoes because they're so difficult to come up with. Yeah, it's really hard to find a solution, isn't it for most people. Yeah. And one of the things that we did talk about and it was only like a few podcasts two or three podcasts ago was that meaning would have a pet Hey, have those IKEA shoe covers that you're talking about? Are you talking about little the thin ones that get slotted in? So tell me why you like it because I hate

22:34
them. And like if my kids don't like it to me, right, okay, I don't use it.

22:39
I just feel like the shoes always fall over. And I'll see you do let me so that's why

22:45
I don't I mean, three. I'll be quite honest with you, Lesleyap. I'm not looking in it if the children are putting their shoes now in the wearing shoes to go to school. Hi, I'm not liking it. I don't you mean, I think that they can get really overcrowded as well. So I see people. Yeah, and then the shoes get all like crumpled. But for the kids. That works for them. You can't put your shoes in there because he's got size 10 feet, even those 12 which is a plus. But the other little ones, you know, like Daniel plays a lot of football, a lot of sports. I don't not want those all lying around in the park. So yeah, they put them in that. And I think they've got a place. I don't think they are a solution for everybody in every space. I like them because they're thin, you know, and you can almost ignore them when they're against a wall. I don't mind that. So one thing that I think is quite good is I always say to people, if you put something, someone who looks intentional. So like on my dressing table, I've got like a little it's like a white tray. And it's like quite pretty again, it was really cheap. And that's where I put my perfumes. Right. And because they're on a tray, it's like they're supposed to be there. I've just left them on the on the top. Do you sort of mean?

23:53
Sense? See what you mean? Absolutely. Yeah.

23:55
Like the intent intentional placing? Yeah,

23:58
I was down at that we've got a flat in London and try to kind of not get that involved in it. And I'm not saying that I don't get involved because I do. But it's kind of Steve's flat where he lives during the week. And I was down there this weekend. And we've kind of moved into a different bathroom, we just kind of move it around a little bit. And he's got like, what I've noticed is any love stuff, right? My husband, so hey, oh my God, oh, don't even try and protect his privacy. And that's as far as it goes. Let's just say that he likes his stuff. And so I was looking at all of his, you know, deodorants and all that old stuff on the side of the thing kind of neat, but I was like, all I want to do is put a tray underneath. Yes, yeah. And then it'll look fine. I'll just do it next time. I'm down there. So I said, Bob, I think I'll just go I think that'd be really nice and a little tray.

24:48
But my husband called see when I do that when he's living his life quite happily. And he's that sort of say, if I came when I put a trail box he calls it when I add value. He's saying in a loving way, stop adding value to this thing. But there's a there's a common what's called the key might be called a bag mark or something from IKEA. And it's a, it's a black mat because a couple of quid. And if you put that by your front door and you say to the kids, when you come in, put them on that it's like they're in a place that not just kicked off a really, really cheap solution, you know, if you want me

25:27
against me so so what is it? It's literally

25:29
like a black sort of rubberized mat and why I'm doing this it doesn't really show you anything else. But it's, it's you can fit easily fit three or four pairs of kids shoes on it, I would say, Okay, from Ikea, you put it by you for is easily washable, all that stuff. So they come in, even if the comb is really muddy boots, and if you just say put them on there, then they're there for them to put on the next day as well.

25:53
And it feels intentional, rather than just kicking them off and leaving them. Yeah,

25:57
I think what you don't want isn't?

25:58
Exactly definitely and I think you know, hallway, it's got such high traffic and it would the shoes. I mean, I'm a big advocate, particularly of a kid shoes, taking the barriers away a little bit and just go in, just make something easy, because if you put a shoe rack, you know we're having this debate on the podcast really? Well. I love a shoe rack. I'm like yeah, but that's because you're an organised person, and you'll put things on the shoe rack, and you'll go in, and you'll reset that shoe rack. But if Yeah, yeah, it's just a barrier for lots of people, isn't it? Okay, so some great hallway solutions. And so let's talk about kids bedrooms now. What sort of things have you implemented in kids bedrooms that work? Our

26:36
love kids bedroom? So do you know what you find the same problems in our kids bedrooms, don't you it's a case of the older they get, the smaller the toys get. And so you know, when they're really tiny, and it's like really big, like, I don't know, ride ons, or like musical instruments or whatever, anything off crack this, and then they get older, and everything's tiny, but very precious. And so it's about finding solutions for different size stuff, isn't it? So I feel like I'm sponsored by IKEA with you talking about this at the minute. But you know what they do? Well, they do really well, I think, a Kalex unit in IKEA, which is, as we know, like the square unit with the polar boxes, you can get the really cheap ones that I put in kids play rooms quite often are the fancier ones. And they've got some really nice kind of wicker rat on ones at the moment that can look nice in a sitting room. And those boxes, they're called drone boxes, I think. And they're great for bigger things. So we use this all the time. And it's like she has all the Barbies, here's all the dinosaurs, you know, here's the train set, that sort of that that sort of thing, easily identifiable. There's different stuff you can do about labeling, you can do normal labeling, you can get the clip on every scene, there's clip on ones that go over the box, and you can either label you can write on it. Or sometimes we get kids to write on it so that they've been involved in the process of picture of what's in there, so that it's even easier for really little kids. That's a picture of my Barbies and my Barbies are in there. And then for smaller things, it's about smaller storage. So I think sometimes what people do is they'll buy like a toy box and put everything in there. And realize all you're doing then is creating like this hideous thing where everything is just gone to the bottom, and the child is playing with it. Because it's not sectioned out enough. It's too much to ask them to say it's another barrier, isn't it? Yeah. Go in and pull out and work out what's

28:36
what is too much. And so when you have got those toy boxes, which are fantastic for some things, we would use them for kind of soft toys like big, you know, to mean or maybe like the musical instruments that we're talking about for younger kids and stuff like that. That I don't even know. So what we would do as Professional Organisers if we didn't have a Calix unit if I were to be frank, what would we do? Storage? Well, unless you really know everything. Absolutely. CD thing. Yeah, players. You know, everything and they look really nice. I'm gonna strip them out my house a little bit, but I've got I've had loads over the years. Yeah, I mean, yeah, stairs, but the fantastic for craft, you know, I mean, yes, absolutely brilliant. You know, it's just sort

29:26
of thing. You know, there's ones where it's like, instead of the full box, you can get the little drawers so like the half drawers. So even if the only thing you can fit in a room with a couch, you can even make the boxes smaller and put smaller things in there by using the smaller drawers. Yeah, so yeah, they're amazing. So it's such a simple design that's so useful for so much stuff. You can use them for clothes, can you if that's how you can get in there as well. The Trofast unit as well I think is really good for kids rooms. And again, like they've just changed the products up a little bit in IKEA. It's not just the plastic boxes for Trofast anymore. They've got like nice wider ones. So if you know some people don't like too much plastic so that that's an option, they could look a bit more grown up if you can use them like in a teenager's room. I think the main thing with kids bedrooms, as you know, this is what we talk about all the time with clients isn't it is like less is more for kids. Yeah. You know, like, often I think that the anxiety about what they won't cope, if it's not their comes from the parents thinking that, you know, the child will be bereft if some of the stuff goes out of their room. But, you know, I've only been doing this for six years, but six years in January, but every single time, even when there's been like a really significant clear out that we've done, the child comes in, you know, how they don't like, they haven't got any the social niceties. And they come in and in front of the parents, they're like, I love this, I can see what I've got, I know what I've got, you know, all my stuff is organised, I can invite my friends into play. And that is really, that's my favorite thing. I think that's my favorite kind of feedback that we get when kids come in, and kind of tell you how they really feel. Because sometimes, you know, especially like these days, you just get so much stuff like kids that you can go to a party without getting, you know, party bags and stuff and things. And it I think they get overwhelmed just like we do. And so having a really good clear route. And then just, I think the thing is, again, just keeping stuff in categories, and it just keeps them right. There's no, yeah,

31:33
categorization is everything. And I want to come back to something that you said what I thought was a fantastic idea as well. So we were talking about the Kallax unit. And you talked about the fact that you've got these like clip over sort of label that you can use. And by the way, we'll we'll pop some of these links to the IKEA products, because I know most people around the world have got access to an IP, IKEA, even if it's, for some of you, it's 100 miles away. But you can order online now from IKEA and things like that. So we will drop things into the shownotes. So you've got ideas of what Zoe's been talking about. One of the things that I loved was this idea that you've got the child to write on their boxes themselves, so give them ownership of it. Yeah, yeah, that's a really powerful move, isn't it psychologically, them feels like they've got ownership of it. When you say that we talk a lot about you know, and we could talk a long time about toys and, you know, parents involvement in that and all that kind of stuff. But I think it's so important to allow the child to make decisions about, well, if you want to put a Christmas list together, that's fine, but what's gonna leave in order for those new toys to come in? You know, so we need to be, you know, encouraging the children from a really young age. Yeah. decisions for themselves and scroll have their own relationship to stuff. And

32:48
it's a nice like segue into it, isn't it? If they say, Oh, those ladies came, and we did a picture on the front of the lake. That's maybe what they'll remember, rather than on you, what you don't want is all my stuff left in bags. Got a new bedroom, and I got to draw a picture of my teddy bears. I'm not saying and it's just a nice little tiny, first step that they might really enjoy. Yeah, I love that. And they can always draw better than we can. Yeah.

33:15
I'm gonna be stealing that one from you. Yeah, so we could talk for hours on all of these things. But we need to roll this lovely podcast, we're close. So before we leave, let's talk about sort of budget tips that you've got the nice and have you got anything? You know, a lot of us I mean, to be fair, the IKEA systems are really quite low cost. To be fair, you get some fantastic stuff for good, good value in IKEA. But other Is there anything else that you can think of? That you'd like to share?

33:46
Yeah, you know, the first thing that you can do that is completely free, is do some decluttering. Yeah. So if you decide, right, I'm going to start really small with this nicotrol or just in my in the office at the minute. So I'm looking at like, you know, your drawers in your office, if you do this system that will do just take everything out, categorize it, decide what you want and don't want and then put it back again, that you've given yourself a gift there is no money. And so that's the best the cheapest thing that you can do. If you do want to and also you know, there's other there's actual products you can use, it's not going to cost you anything. So if you look around there, I'm sitting here now which is this is bad, but I can see some boxes which I've ordered with things and that have come all the boxes. So Rich's office, I love to add value onto that surface right over there. Yeah. And you know, like boxes, when you order stuff from Amazon on my expenses or whatever. Often they can be useful as well. I found boxes, shoe boxes. Yesterday we were looking at I really hate gift wrapped solutions. I always feel like they never quite work. And I just think the best thing you can do Use get your really long gift wrap and put it into a container and stand it up. Yeah, that's just me, I've got a bit of a thing about that. And we got a box, which was, I think it was a JoJo mama baby one. And it was just a box, and we cut the top off. And he's really thin and it fit right into this place. We wanted to put the gift wrap in, and it was free and it was environmentally friendly. Brilliant. So looking around your house and going have I got anything that is box shape is tip number one. Don't go shopping yet. Do that first. And the second thing is like this stuff that we use. I think I'm saying we you me because I think we probably do all the time. Like the very era boxes from IKEA. Yeah, have one here look like I'm on QVC

35:45
if you're on YouTube, you can watch so it and see the very error box. I don't think we've ever shown that before. I've got loads of them. I've got them sitting behind me. I've got the magazine file versions of that if you're behind me. These ones as well. full of stuff. It's not close properly. boxes. So it's just a fantastic. You know, yes, it's plastic. But it's the colors right in that very area. Right. So

36:11
I think they only do white through there.

36:14
I think so. Right? Why it's gonna be useful for most things useful.

36:18
But like, yeah, oh my god, this stuff you can use them for you can use it for dividers in your kitchen. If you've got a big kitchen drawer, you can use them for that. You can use them on shelves because they look attractive, you can easily label them, you can wash them. They last for ages because they are really hard even though they are plastic, obviously. And you can get them in their size bigger than that as well. And I just think that you use them all the time. They're three pounds 75 each, and I've never seen one break

36:45
now. So once you've got it, you've got it. Yeah, exactly. Now fantastic.

36:49
Other thing that I really like and again, you know, I have often used like shoe boxes and other form sites. But if you want if you are looking for some dividers for your underwear drawer, your T shirts, all that kind of stuff, these trusty old, they're called scub. Yeah, IKEA. And that loads of people I think listen to this will have already had these potentially not tragic enough like me to know what they're called. But they're just a set of boxes that you get from Ikea, and I think about seven quid for six of them. And there's a couple of really big ones. They're good for T shirts, jeans, blubber, that sort of stuff. There's a longer thin one and then the really little ones. And again, if you're just going to open a drawer and you want to divide it out, that is a really cheap option for doing that. They'll stick them in dark grey. And again once you've got them they just last for so long. And it's such a simple thing. So instead of having that God's Oh, that's a really good Scottish word. What does that mean? Like a real mix? You know, oh God I need to find some socks and I can't find essentially stocks in that thing that easy mix putting your clothes ways you're finding them in the morning. Easy peasy. And then I suppose I just was going to share these have just got them at the minute. But like I love these for if you're if you are like organizing an office or even in a kitchen drawer, you know the kitchen drawer do that you have the district and the blue tack and the staff

38:13
floor of organised things. We like to call it here at the declutter hub zone. Yes,

38:17
of course you do. Of course that is very, very, very good. And of course, I do not have one of my own hands been perfect.

38:24
I do actually. My Drive organise things is is a drawer of organised things. I have decided, yeah, wide. I've got space to spread out a little bit. But yeah, rubbish doesn't gravitate into there to be

38:38
for now. No, No, me neither my my drove organisms that is organised is in the kitchen. And occasionally I'll just take it all out and go, Why is that in that and somebody wants to fit in that shouldn't do. And it takes literally about two minutes. That's the nice thing, isn't it about being organised takes two seconds. But that's good, because it's like, everybody just need pens. And I don't know what else like a candle lighter, whatever out whatever is in your drawers and most things. And if you just get some dividers, again, it's the same principle you open and it feels and looks and is organised rather than a girdle taught you a new word of night.

39:13
You know what? I do know that word? I don't? Yeah. Well, one of my best friends is Scottish for a start. So I'm Yeah. But ya know, I feel like I've heard it, because it within the Declutter. People talk about terminology all the time, because people from all over the world. And so I don't know whether it's one of our members, we've got a couple of members in Scotland, as well. So it could have come from there. And obviously, it's a thing that people talk about in the organizing space, right. So but it wouldn't come straight to mind. You know what I mean? I wouldn't be using that. It was just interesting, really, because we're talking a lot about IKEA stuff. I was thinking yeah, maybe IKEA could sponsor the declutter podcast but I don't feel like Ikea really need her help in what they're doing.

39:55
You know, why would they not they are trying to like we've done some stuff at IKEA recently. I think you could you could present Yeah. Your case to them. Why not? The other thing I'd say see about like budget items is even when I first started, you really only could go to like, somewhere like, I don't know, up here we've got like HomeSense I don't know if you guys have got that. And obviously we're different in different countries and just wished we had what America has but we don't know you want to add to this

40:23
as well right? So again, absences in the States as well to combat right

40:28
is it okay? I mean, we don't have those incredible like The Container Store on target and all that stuff. But if you're in Tesco, Sainsbury's, even like Aldi, the cheaper supermarkets here, now you can get stuff which is not expensive anymore, is it to go in and get because people organising is so much more mainstream. And that's a really good thing is you can go in and see that. For example, you quite often get really good bargains in the supermarket around now when they don't want that stuff in because they want Christmas stuff. Yeah, and you can you can really look out on on organizing stuff in like normal shops now which is brilliant.

41:04
Absolutely. Absolutely. So the message from today is very much about you don't need to go out crazily and get loads of storage solutions. If you do want to make your home aesthetically look more pleasing. You can do that as well as it being functional. I think that's the message isn't it that's coming loud and clear from Zoey. spend a fortune you know already that other declutter, were like, keep your storage until later. You need to declutter, you need to organise, you need to categorize first, then you make a decision on what you want to do from a storage perspective. So yeah, so So thank you so much. We could sit here and talk. There's so many things that we could talk about. But we need to move on. I guess you probably need to pick up your kids from school or do

41:48
I need to see a Latin with my middle boy? Oh,

41:52
oh, that's nice. Oh, I'm

41:55
more excited than he is.

41:58
Well enjoy a latte. So for anybody that doesn't know this not in the UK, we have this thing called panto. pantomime. I think it's like just a British thing, right?

42:06
I don't think it's Panther. I think it's like the stage version of the Disney film. Okay, yeah. Trying to explain panto to people outside the UK, you realize how mad it is. Yeah, exactly.

42:17
So if you want to know more about pantomime then go and now she's just going to straight up theater of Aladdin. But as I'm sure you will have heard. So thank you so much, sir, for spending your time with us. If you want to know more about the life edit. So tell us where people can find out more about

42:32
you. So you can find us on life edit.me And Instagram is life edit home organization, and we're on Facebook under the same as well.

42:42
Fantastic. Thank you so much. We'll see you all soon.

42:46
Thank you, Lesley. I love that.

42:53
Thanks so much for listening to the declutter hop podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us in your podcast player so you don't miss an episode. We'll see you next week.
Subscribe now so you don't miss an episode
Listen on
Apple Podcasts
Listen on
Amazon Music
Listen on
Spotify
Watch on
YouTube
Prefer to watch rather than listen? Watch on YouTube
Find out about our Reset Your Home Challenge by clicking below
Useful Links and Resources
Subscribe now so you don't miss an episode
Listen on
Apple Podcasts
Listen on
Amazon Music
Listen on
Spotify
Watch on
YouTube
Want to delve deeper? Read our guest blog
Form and Function: can we have it all when decluttering?

When decluttering, the most important thing you want to achieve is a system that works for you. You want to achieve a home which has a place for everything, is calm, efficient and stress-free. That’s why you’ve decided to declutter, right?
But how do we make our home look good as well as feel good? Here are a few tips we use often when working with clients at LIFE / EDIT that you can use in your own home.
Kids' Playrooms

Do you have a KALLAX unit from IKEA that holds your kids’ toys? Most of us do (what did we do before KALLAX units?) When you’ve finished decluttering, following the brilliant advice you will have picked up from the Declutter Hub along the way, an easy way to make the unit look great is to use these labels/tags which clip on to the front of the DRONA boxes: ASTER 12 Basket Label Clip On. These look great when written on, or you can label onto them, or, a favourite of ours: use a photo of what’s in the box, or even get your kids to write or draw on them.
Hallways

Hallways are key to the feeling of a house as they are the first place you walk into. But how can we make the organisation look good too? Choose a gorgeous bowl or basket to put your essentials (keys, lanyard, sunglasses etc) into and pop it on to your hall table. Then you have all the functionality and convenience but it also looks great.
Kitchens

There are a few different things you can do to achieve the aesthetic in your kitchen. Firstly, only keep on your surfaces what you use every day. For me, that’s a kettle, a toaster and coffee machine: nothing else. I also have tea, coffee and sugar but they are in gorgeous canisters and fit with the look of the room. Another great tip is to put your oil, vinegar, salt, pepper (or whatever else you have to hand by the hob) on to a tray. This gives a feeling of intention to them (as in: they’re supposed to be there).
Bookcases

I love bookcases in a room, but without careful thought, they can look really messy as they are open shelving. A quick tip is to not overfill them. They don’t have to be stuffed full of books: consider leaving spaces between them and adding in special ornaments and plants.
Consider how you organise your books. Do you want to rainbowtise them? (organise them by colour) or sort them by genre or height? Whatever you do, take a moment to think about how they look on the shelves. Consider proportions: it looks best if you have the larger books on the bottom of the bookcase and smaller on top.
For more tips and hints from Zoe visit LIFE / EDIT.
Recent Posts
Episode 328 – How to keep the plates spinning in a busy home with Anna Burns

Episode 327 – New Year new you or New Year same you?

Episode 326 – 10 motivational decluttering quotes to take you into 2025

Episode 325 – Why decluttering is the ultimate self care with Cher Casey

Page [tcb_pagination_current_page] of [tcb_pagination_total_pages]
First
Last
Episode 267 – Creating a beautifully organised home with LIFE / EDIT

Form and Function: can we have it all when decluttering?

Kids' Playrooms

Hallways

Kitchens

Bookcases

Episode 328 – How to keep the plates spinning in a busy home with Anna Burns

Episode 327 – New Year new you or New Year same you?

Episode 326 – 10 motivational decluttering quotes to take you into 2025

Episode 325 – Why decluttering is the ultimate self care with Cher Casey

Leave a Reply

categories

want to get started right away?
