A photo of a smiling woman Helen Flanagan in her dressing room
Episode 344 – Helen Flanagan talks clutter, ADHD and managing a home with a young family

Helen Flanagan is best known as an actress, model, TV personality and social media influencer. She started out her acting career at just 10 years old as Rosie Webster on Coronation Street and has been a regular on our TV and phone screens ever since. But to me Helen is a passionate and dedicated Mum, who shares the same struggles and stresses as the rest of us. 4 years ago, Helen became a Clutter Fairy client and we have been privileged to help her take control of her home and her life ever since. I think Helen would agree that she’s a sharer so I’m so excited today to have an open and honest conversation about clutter, ADHD and the transitions that have happened with family life.
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Transcript of this podcast episode
Speaker 1  00:00
Four years ago, Helen became a clutter fairy client, and we've been privileged to help her take control of her life and her home ever since. I think Helen would agree that she is a sharer, so I'm excited to have an open and honest conversation about clutter ADHD and the transitions that have happened with her family life. You music

Speaker 2  00:26
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.

Speaker 3  00:42
You Hello

Speaker 1  00:47
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 I 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. Hello, Helen, welcome to the declut hub podcast. We are so delighted that you're here today. I'm excited because it's been a long time, hasn't it? Helen, tell us a little bit about how we know each other.

Speaker 4  01:40
So I've been working with the clutters since three over three years now, yeah, yeah, three years. So, yeah. I mean, I love the clutter fairies. I work with Karen a lot at the moment. Don't actually comes to the house and, yeah, it's just something that I really love. I love my sessions for clutter is it just kind of makes me feel more together, more organized. So, yeah, I really, really do. I first got, I first got in contact with the clutter fairies when I moved house. So the house I've been living in at the moment, I've been here for, I'd say, nearly four years, which is quite a big thing for me, to live in a house that amount of time, because when I was with my ex fiance, he was a footballer. So we moved so much. We were always moving to different cities and always moving house. I actually can't tell you how many houses we lived in together, because we just move house so much together. We lived in Cheshire a few times. We lived in Swansea, we lived in Scotland, we live in Birmingham, we live in London, lived in Bath. We just yeah, we've basically just lived everywhere, London, Scotland, just everywhere. So we would move house for fun. It almost seemed so yeah, when we actually kind of settled finally, into our own family house, because we would rent everywhere you see. So Scott would go to different football clubs, and we would rent, and we would just kind of like, pack up all our stuff and go, basically. So it was really nice, really, to have finally, like a, like a family home, which was nice. I mean, obviously it didn't go how I wanted it to go. But, yeah, it's been lovely to have the family home, especially when we I moved into the house when Charlie was, I think he was about three months old, so it was nice then to have our own family house and not be renting when we had the kids. You know, I

Speaker 1  03:35
think I remember that very first phone call, really, from you, and you were like, I'm here. I'm in my kind of forever home. And, you know, I just want to sort it out, and I've just got stuff everywhere, and you were sending me pictures of your rooms, and like, it's complete chaos. Come and help me. So tell us a little bit about how what were you feeling at that time? Because I think the thing is, for me, Helen, of course, you're an actress, you're a model, you're an influencer, but literally, you've got the same stuff going on as everybody else in life, right? But you felt overwhelmed, right? I think is the word that we would use. So how did you feel? Tell us a little bit about your clutter, where it came from, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 4  04:10
I mean, I think I actually packed the house so badly. So it was very sweet, really, my my ex, Scott, he he bought me the house I'm in now as a surprise, because we eventually moved back to the area that I'm from and bought this beautiful house for me as a surprise, which is very sweet, but I don't know. So actually, if it was a really timing, because I recently, you know, Charlie was only about three months old, I was struggling postnatally, and I had, obviously, the two little girls, and I probably needed a little bit more time. And then I think it was like a rush to move into the house in two weeks time. I was thinking, this house up. I don't know how I did it, to be honest, it was ridiculous how I packed. I mean, I couldn't even find a hairbrush. And then. And basically, you know, we had a removal company, and I just packed really badly and I couldn't find anything. I remember going into school, and one of the schools mum said, Helen, you need because you can see I was struggling with the three young kids in this house. So she was like, You need to founder a decluttering service for people who hold the cutter fairies. This will be amazing for you. And then the rest is history. Cutter fairies come to house all the time. Oh, no,

Speaker 1  05:22
exactly. And I think, you know, I think it's fair to say, you know, one of the things that you do need to do sometimes, when you are moving houses that kind of pack up, needs to be quite intentional and but you just as you say, you were so struggling for time, so much, it was so speedy, that all you could do is kind of gather everything, chuck it into a box, and then hope for the best, really. Yeah. I

Speaker 4  05:40
mean, it was very sweet of my ex was surprised with his this, this beautiful house, which obviously I love, you know, very much. But it was, it was a surprise. And basically, we, we had to get out of our rented accommodation like, really quick. And it was just all very rushed, so I didn't have time to pack properly. And, yeah, obviously, I don't want a bad mouth my ex, because we get on well now, but I think, yeah, very high expectations of me to be so suddenly, you know, I mean, I felt like I had to be Wonder Woman, you know, I had two little, three little kids to be looking after, and suddenly, this massive house move, obviously, very sweet that he did the surprise for me. But it was, it was, I think it was, I needed more time, really, to be, yeah, so it took, gosh, it took, it took a while to actually unpack the house. Because what we would do is we would, we would, we would go to different football clubs, and we wouldn't really, we would sometimes just leave things in the garage. And then what we did, it was really nice. What the Coronavirus did is, when we did unpack everything, we were able to put things, you know, we really did put a lot to charity as well, which was great. So yeah, it was, it was, yeah, and it was therapeutic, really, to kind of feel more organized and more together, especially from renting for so long as well, and not feeling like everything was together. Because when you rent and stuff, you know, you can't do set things to house. You know, not everything is your home where, you know, now I have a dressing room and I have, you know, everything's got a place because it's, it's my house. But, funnily enough, for actually sell, it be nice to have a change. I think, because I was with Scott for so long as well, like, I kind of, I'm used to moving house. I don't think, yeah, now be able to stay somewhere so long. I think I like change. I love a change, right?

Speaker 1  07:24
And I think what you've been able to do with the house, I mean, I can remember so we, we sort of so Katie and I came around to see you. We had a chat. You were talking about, you know, how you were overwhelmed all this kind of stuff, and what you wanted to to do, which was to declutter some stuff. And certainly we, we everything was just a bit of a jumble, and so we needed to start zoning things. Like, okay, that room is for this purpose, that rooms for this purpose. So it was really about getting the right boxes into the right rooms and then decluttering. And I think, I think it's fair to say, Helen, you had no problem whatsoever making decisions. Do you know what I mean? So you were like, once you were on the decluttering route, you were like, Okay, this is it. I can make the decisions. Did you feel that those decisions were easy?

Speaker 4  08:04
Yeah, no. So I'm can be quite I'm quite thorough, really. So I'm a very, like, fast shopper. And when it comes to the clutter, and I know what I've got, I think what happens why my house kind of gets cluttered is because of time. So I'm very lucky. I've got a very enjoyable job. You know, I work on social media and, you know, I have got a lovely job, but I actually don't stop working. So I'm always working every day. So that becomes a priority for me, and then obviously my children, and then say, for example, we're always traveling. We don't travel as much now, because I was used to be back and forth like a yo yo to London. I'd go to London sometimes three times a week, and be back and back through the suitcase, because if that's where the work was, I'd just take it. And then obviously they would go back and forth, sometimes from their dads, who lives in Bath. So then you'd get suitcases and stuff, and then I wouldn't have time to unpack them. And then, you know what? Kids are, like toddlers, they just leave mess everywhere. And then before I know, I look around and like, my house is bomb site. Like, how is how is this? How has this happened? You know, I'm definitely, definitely not lazy. I'm like, I never had a stop. But sometimes it's more of a timing thing for me, where I actually just go, Oh, I haven't had time to I haven't had the time to prioritize decluttering, and even now, sometimes I go to myself, I really need to prioritize, especially this week, I need to do a day where I actually do do, like, a decluttering day, um, without sounding spoiled, because obviously I do, like, think I'm a relatable person. I do think I'm a down to square person, but, you know, I do have a little help, like, once a week, I do have a lady that cleans for me, which is a massive help to me, but it's almost a decluttering. A cleaner can't actually put away or organize through your stuff, because it's personal stuff. Sometimes, like your bills, like the kids stuff, like sometimes the clothes, you actually have to take the time out. So. To do that, which is sometimes I find really difficult when you've got to prioritize a job or work. So if my agent says, Well, Helen, I'll for you. You know, I have to take it because, you know, I have to prioritize what sometimes you do have to take a step back and like, wow. Like, I really need to have a day of, like, organized, like, deep, fluttery. And sometimes what I do, which I was really bad is like, if I'd go from, say, say, if I've been to London, and then I need to go away to, I don't know, Scotland, and then I would just get a bag and then put all the other stuff that I've had in, because I don't have time to deal with it right now, and then I'd have random bags of clutter just sat there, and it would be so annoying. And

Speaker 1  10:36
then they've got a name, those Helen, they've got a name. They're called Sweet bags, sweet bags, yeah, sweet bags. Like, sweep everything into a bag. Oh,

Speaker 4  10:46
I've got loads of sweet bags, loads of them. And then I would kind of just like, do that, and then, but then I would, like, I would, because I think as well. I mean, I do have ADHD, and I would do stupid stuff, like, sometimes put a key in there, or something random, I need, you know. So I think, I think definitely, I think when you've got ADHD, I mean, I think when you've got an ADHD as well, it can be like a superpower, because I feel like it's relatively I feel like it helps with my work, because my brain never rests. So I think it can make me productive in lots of ways, and I think it can. I think it's definitely, I think that I've got ADHD, I think it really helps me in a lot of ways, because maybe you think more outside the box, or maybe you kind of see things more differently, or maybe it makes you more creative, or what have you. But I'm not as like logic, and I don't kind of, I find it very hard sometimes to organize, because I will get bored very easily. So yeah, doing organizing a room, and what's this, which I really like when the clothes fair to come around, because, you know, it'll be like, right, okay, but this time slot, and let's do it together, and that'll keep my focus more, because I struggle sometimes a little bit more with focus. Where, say, for example, the other day, I was with Karen from the clutter fairies, and we were sorting out my bra draw, like, usually I'm very good, like, fine with things, but if I didn't have Karen with me, I would look to all these bras and just got so overwhelmed. I know what. I'm not doing this. I can't, I can't deal with it. You know? I know, it's too much for me about, well, you know, like, I feel like, when I've got Carrie with me for the clutter, she's like, right, come on. Like, we'll do this and to do that, and it's just a lot easier and better. And then she'll be like, right, okay, look at all this massive biking we've got the charity, and it's just better for me, and especially when I haven't got the time then she because when I'm working so much, it's just, yeah, I think

Speaker 1  12:45
there's, I think the the thing that always struck me Helen, because what happens at first was we, because the whole house needed to be done, and we needed to kind of get some order in the place for a year, we kind of brought a big team in at first, didn't we all work to different areas and things like that, and put some order into it. What struck me at the time is, you know, like, you know, you sort of, you're being hard on yourself there, because you, you know you had, Charlie was only, like, six months old, and so Matilda and Delilah were like, don't know three and sit five, I don't know six, something like that. What? What's the difference in age between them?

Speaker 4  13:15
So I love my age difference with my children. So there was, like, the three year age gap between all of them. So Charlie was six months, Delilah would be in three, and Matilda would be in six. Yeah. So it's a lot,

Speaker 1  13:28
and you were dealing with that. You're dealing with those while Scott was at work during the day, and obviously out of a high profile position that he needed to do. So you were kind of managing all the household. And then what sort of struck me then is, like you say, with your job, you don't know what the week's going to look like at the beginning of the week, it can change. You know, something might come in and you might have to respond straight away, right? And so works really

Speaker 4  13:48
well for me with having ADHD, because I love that. I love the fact that, oh, this week, what's this week going to be? You know, I really enjoy that. But, yeah, I think it's interesting having different. I definitely, I don't have the brain. I don't think for organized, but I'm, I'm great in other things. But, you know, organization, I don't think like is my thing. So I have to kind of like, and as a mum, as well as three, you have to be organized like, it's all, like, their school uniforms, all their clubs, everything, it's but I do feel like when you are organized, it does make you feel better about yourself. And you feel like, I think it's really good for your mental health as well decluttering. I remember, I think it was this time last year I wasn't very well. I had bad reaction, bad reaction to my HD medication. So I was absolutely heartbreaking because I couldn't do a thing. I couldn't do a theater tour. I was devastated, and I couldn't work for that time. So a lot of things, what I did is I did, like, lots of exercise, and I did a lot of, like decluttering, because I felt like it was good for my mind as well. And that was a that was a really nice. Thing for me to do, but yeah, I definitely feel like decluttering as well. It's really good for your mental health. And I think when you kind of declutter something, and then you see it look lovely after, you feel like you've achieved something, and it's, yeah, it's good for you.

Speaker 1  15:12
So talk to me about, you know, so talk to me about your ADHD a little bit more. So what? Because, obviously, it's all about getting those strategies in place, really, isn't it, and trying to work with them. So you see it as a fantastic thing, absolutely it is for so many people, and that creativity and that spontaneity and all of those things, absolutely fantastic. But it does come with all the things like hyper focus, like getting distracted all the time, all of those kind of things that anybody with ADHD can relate to. But it's really about obviously, you've got medication. You said he had a bad reaction to that, which is hard as well. My son was on the podcast a few weeks ago because he's got ADHD as well, talking about his meds and how he takes it on some days and doesn't take it on other days. And that's quite an interesting podcast, if anybody's not listening to it already. But what sort of strategies do you feel that since you worked out, when were you diagnosed? Helen, if you don't mind me asking, with ADHD 16.

Speaker 4  16:01
I was diagnosed with ADHD at Coranation Street. And I think, yeah, I don't think I was like a joy from my mum was

16:09
enjoy at 16,

Speaker 4  16:13
but, you know, I was definitely so, yeah, I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 16, but my brother also has ADHD. It's just that's in my in my family, I don't see it as, like a as a bad thing as well. Would never change, you know, like it she at all, or what have you. But, yeah, I think it's just those kind of things, like, say, for example, I'll tell you what, like, I end up collecting, like, parking tickets and fun and, you know, I actually, I've got all the intentions for paying them, but then I'll forget, because I'm busy with the kids. Do you know what I mean? So then I'll have to go, oh. So sometimes what I do, actually, sometimes the cluster is used to, like paperwork, yeah, but like, with paperwork, I find it all a little bit overwhelming, yeah, um, don't get me wrong. I'll, you know, I'm very good at paying my bills, but I, when it comes to, like, paperwork and stuff, sometimes I find that, like, a little bit more overwhelming going through stuff like that. Yeah, so that kind of paperwork stuff, what?

Speaker 1  17:10
How's your, how's your time management? Helen, so do you think, do you think that you have got something where you're like, right? I've got to use a timer. Look at a clock on the wall. You've got any of those sort of standard ADHD strategies that you use to try and keep yourself on track? Or do you just go with the flow

Speaker 4  17:27
a little bit? You know, I kind of just, I never stop. I'm always productive with my day. I kind of write lots in my like, notes and stuff. But, yeah, I just know. I mean, obviously you know yourself as a busy working mum, there's always you know things to do, stick a lot in the fridge to remind things. But yeah, no, it's you know. I think it just been like a moment of working as women. And we never we never stop. There's always something to think about, isn't there exactly, exactly,

Speaker 1  17:59
right? Let's pop to a break Helen, and we'll come back in a moment, and we shall carry on talking about your home and how it's changed since working with the clutter fairies. So welcome back, Helen. Thank you so much for being so open and honest about your home. Your house moves your ADHD, I'm interested to know what's changed so you've been working with us for three or four years. Obviously, the house is hopefully less cluttered than it was before. You've let go of a lot of stuff. How does that feel, and what is still a struggle for you in terms of, you know, keeping on track of your home?

Speaker 4  18:34
Well, at the moment, I definitely need to have a day where I am doing a decluttering day, but it's something that really helps. We did this, I think it was a few months ago. Was the garage. So garage, a big garage, and it had lots of unpacked boxes, you know, from from mine and Scott's stuff. So yeah, that was just like a lot to kind of go through. But yeah, obviously, sadly, me and Scott separated, which was really hard. I think it was about a year after being in the house, so that could be tricky. And I think kind of obviously this, some stuff hit, some stuff that he has, but it's nice now, because we have, like, a nice relationship, and we get on now, which is nice. And he, he's just, he went yesterday because he'd seen the kids and stuff. So yeah, so there's still stuff of his that he needs to go through, but I've gone through everything of like the children's and everything of mine and and all that kind of thing. But yeah, gosh, it's crazy that I've actually worked with a cut of fairies for as long as I have. Yeah, definitely. But the

Speaker 1  19:38
house has changed a lot as well. Helen, you know, you've had lots of renovations done. You've got that wonderful, wonderful dressing room, if no one's seen it on Helen's socials, it's absolutely gorgeous. It's like a dressing room to die for. Karen's like, Yeah, I think I'll just go and do the dressing room again. And she loves it in there. And you've got that wonderful utility room. Talk to us about your utility room,

Speaker 4  19:58
yeah. So I've got a beautiful. Pink utility, which I absolutely love. But yeah, no, I kind of, like, got it designed. And when I was designing it, I'm sure that I spoke to you about how to do, like, how I would, like, design it and stuff, and because there was just that kind of, like, mess everywhere. But yeah, it actually makes me sad that I'm going to be leaving this town soon, because I actually put so much effort into it. Because when we moved, you know, I did, I put, like, a lot of, a lot of my savings into, like, doing the house up and stuff and and making it look really beautiful. The room that I'm in now, like the dining room that I'm in, I mean, this was actually the house that that we're in. It's in, it's like, in a beautiful village in Lancashire, but it's a big house. It's an eight bedroom house, which is obviously really hard to keep on top of. I mean, I feel really lucky to live here and, well, soon to have lived here, because it is gorgeous, but it's a lot to like keep on top of. So, yeah, the dining room here, this is, I think the original owners built it as like a, like an annex, like their parents, and they didn't even have, like, any flooring of it or anything. It was just like concrete. Then, like a lovely dining room, which is great because my kids use it all the time, like for their tutoring and for homework, and I use all the time, like for work. And then the playroom as well, which is a great thing, because it's my kids would just have so many toys, where, originally, when we were just renting so much, we never had a playroom. You know, it was just kind of toys all over the lounge and and what have you. So it's, it was really nice to have this space. I think I'm going to struggle to obviously, when I do, because obviously I will be downsizing so much. I think it will feel from living in such, you know, really what this makes me sound really down to earth, because, because I am, you know, I don't want to make me sound a certain way. But I think because I've been living in a house that has been bigger than it will feel weird. Obviously, I'll get used to it, I'm sure. But to it will feel weird to target them to downsides everything, because I'm going to have to get rid of so much more because, for example, like all my beautiful furniture that I bought, it's designed for this house. It won't fit in my new house, you know, which I'm fine. I think it'll be better when we actually exposed you to live in a small house, because I think it might be more manageable for me.

Speaker 1  22:05
Yeah, you have to make different choices, won't you, I think. But I mean, I think you'll definitely still need you. So I remember one of the things that we did early doors was put that lovely playroom in for the kids, wasn't we just, you know, just put Cal Access in and all that kind of stuff. And it was a bit of a game changer, wasn't it for the kids and everything, yeah,

Speaker 4  22:23
but I definitely need to, I will obviously be downsizing, so say, for example, like, even a sofa that I have, it's a really massive sofa, like, I'll, I'm going to set, I'm going to sell everything, actually, privately, like, for my Instagram. So because the furni travel bought and it's really beautiful, yeah, but it won't. It won't fit into I haven't chosen my new house, so I'm not too sure this thing my brain is always going to be miles an hour, like I don't actually know where I want to where I want to live, Lesley. I'm not too sure, because I'm living, obviously, like my hometown in Lancashire, but I don't know where I actually want to live. I've always wanted to live in London. Always wanted to live in London. I think it would be amazing for work. But then I think it's just like, is such a price difference as well living in London and, you know, it's, it's, you know, but it would be amazing for work. But then I don't know if I'm best because, you know, because it's not that fun. The trains just keep commuting. But I kind of feel like I want a fresh break. I don't know if I kind of want to stay in my hometown. I feel like I want I could change because, you know, even everything's great now, it's been a really, kind of quite happy few years for me. Bona Fauci, you know, I was kind of sad at the thought of leaving this house where I think it'll be a really lovely, fresh change and fresh, yeah, I

Speaker 1  23:44
think they'll be amazing. And, you know, and you I think it's just important, you know, the furniture and things like that Helen, you know, yes, you're going to have to probably downsize that if your rooms are smaller, but always be focused on the storage that you're getting in your new home. Because you definitely need that, you know, because you need that for, you know, you've got three, three young kids still, you know, under 10, right? So I was still under 10, right? Actually, I was getting confused,

Speaker 4  24:09
which was, that is nine, yeah. So there's

Speaker 1  24:13
still got, still got that abundance of toys, and that will go down over time. But, you know, I think you definitely need that. And, you know, the surf is a soap. And then you're just everything will just get shrunk a little bit in size and and obviously, because of the work that you do, you need space for your clothes and stuff like that. So those are the things that you need to prioritize. But it'll be an exciting move. And you're just people. Just make different choices. You just make different choices with your stuff. If you can spread out, you can obviously make a different choice with your things. And if you're in an eight bedroom house and a four bedroom house, it's going to be different so, but I think it's exciting, and it's probably one that you're you're ready for, and we'd love to be a part of that, as well as the clutter fairies. I'm sure we'll make sure those boxes are packed properly this time for hella, so you can unpack properly at the other end wherever you are.

Speaker 4  24:54
Yeah, no, definitely. Yeah. I've kind of got an idea of maybe where, where I'd want to live, but I. Listening to my friends, like, I just don't want to put too much pressure on myself to have the answer of where I want to go to. Obviously, I've got a lovely boyfriend, and he's from Liverpool, and he has two children as well. So I just, I don't know, I don't know where I want to live. I think as well, though it's I'm very kind of like, obviously, I need to think what's, what's obviously, what's best for kids, but also what's best for work as well. So, yeah, kind of like trying to, like, figure it all out, really,

Speaker 1  25:32
yeah, because I think, you know, I'm sorry, Helen, go ahead.

Speaker 4  25:35
I think it's my mind as well. I kind of think, like, Oh, I'll move here. I'll move that. And I just take, kind of like, takes a takes a while, but I know that it will the right decision. Like, kind of like will come to me, you know, yeah. And I think

Speaker 1  25:49
it's an interesting thing. I remember when, because my husband's worked in London, you know, I'm obviously up here in Manchester. My husband's worked in London for 20 years, and there was a time when he wanted to be up near the family, and he wanted to move to Manchester. But the problem is up here, you know, any work in the in the north, then you've got to travel from to Glasgow to Edinburgh to Newcastle. It's like four hours at a time. And so, but once he, once he was in London, he could go from client to client, you know, three or four in a day. Do you not mean because it's all so close. And so that kind of, you know, that spontaneous part of your work where you got to drop everything and go to London, that'll just be part of your daily routine, and much more easy for you to manage if you are in in London as well. So you know that might mean that the days are a little bit more set, and you've got, do you know what I mean? Because if as soon as you are traveling into the mix, then it's, it's just more time, isn't it? Yeah,

Speaker 4  26:37
definitely. But I think kind of like how I've managed, really to and also, kind of, I don't know really what to kind of come separate, because I suppose I am a single mom, but I don't really see that as well, because me and Scott Co parent. So we parent together. But I think because with his job, he obviously lives like five hours away. So really, you know, he comes and sees in the children, like whenever possible, but he is working away. So really, obviously, with me, I've got the children probably more like 90% of time. So how I've really managed to do that? You know, I did. I did have a nanny at the beginning, but it just got really, it's really expensive having time. So my mom really sat in to to help me, and I'm very, very lucky for my mom, but my mom said she to move into the lake districts. I love my mom. She's amazing with my kids, like, she's an unbelievable grandma, but she did say, you know, my her and my dad, like, you know, my dad's worked so hard, and my dad wants to retire. So it's kind of one of those things where I'm thinking of so, you know, I get a lot of support here from my mom, but she did say, Look, if you stay around here, I can come and visit you and stuff. So I kind of think in London, I won't have that support from my mom as much, but I do which I need for work. But Scott's mom is brilliant, and she lives in Bath, so, yeah, well, I say bath, it's actually bath. But Sure. So, yeah. So I kind of feel like, if I did move down south to like, I would be near a Scotsman as well. So I'm just going to say, I'm trying to put too much pressure on myself. I'm just going to see what happens, where I want to live. I don't know, yeah,

Speaker 1  28:20
and I think, you know, I think it's exciting that you've got those opportunities there you can make choices, which is fantastic. It's all really positive. But I think that you know, from from a sort of what we do realize then, when you've got a family, when you've got all these choices to make, when you're going through life transitions, you've always, it always comes back to home, where home is managing the stuff in your home and and planning for that. And so I think, you know, and the, if you can get help to help you through these transitions, then it's always going to be a positive thing. And you know, now that you've got the clutter fairies or the, you know, to help you with that, to make it a little bit more seamless than it was before, definitely,

Speaker 4  28:57
I know the only thing is the house moves as well. Is it's like, you know, when it's just you it's fine, you know, you can, but when you've got three children to think about, you know, she's going to be going to secondary school now, so wherever I move, it's not just as easy as now. Move here. This is what I want to do. I've got to think, right No, I've got to think of Matilda, and the right school for Matilda, what's going to be the best fit for her, and how is she going to be happy this way? And then I've got to think about Delilah for a primary school, and then Charlie, and then everything, because the school that they're in at the moment is amazing, their primary school. So, you know, it's this all you know. I think when you're a mum as well, it's not as easy as you know. You can't you've always got to put your children first, you know, and think what's best for them. It's, it's it's never easy, is it? So before we go,

Speaker 1  29:41
Helen, reset your home, our brand new book. I sent you a copy. You've read it. What did you think? I absolutely

Speaker 4  29:48
love it. And I think as well, for me, as well, because I've got ADHD, I kind of struggle to kind of read books. But it was, it was it was, it's an easy read, isn't it? And, yeah, in. Kind of broken down to kind of like manageable chunks. And yeah, it's got, like, great advice, especially with me, because I struggle with my organization. So yeah, I absolutely loved it. And

Speaker 1  30:09
everything that you've learned from the court affair is in one, like, in one volume, in 13 chapters, Helen, it's all in there. So, but yeah, I'm sure you still prefer to have Karen rather than the book, though, right?

Speaker 4  30:20
Yeah, no, I love Karen, yeah. That's what I kind of feel like with the clutter as well, is, you know, all really lovely ladies, genuinely, I'm not just saying that, that I've come to the house and I kind of felt, you know, you never kind of feel like embarrassed if a house is a bit of a mess, or you don't kind of feel like judged, or anything like that, which is nice, you know, really nice women that, you know, Karen, just just want to help, which is lovely. I

Speaker 1  30:46
think people get a bit nervous sometimes about professional organizers and think that a, you're there just to chuck stuff out, which is absolutely not the case, and B are going to judge you. But you know what I always say is, like, if you don't have, like, Clutter and chaos, then we don't have a job, because that's what we do, and that's what we love to do. And if we started judging our clients, then we would just be on a hiding to nothing. And I think we're just there to emotionally support anybody through through life's transitions, really, and everybody in the clutter ferry, and you know, most professional organizers just love, love, love their job, really, because we can make a difference to anybody you know. So it's just really nice and and that's what I love about having written the book as well, because not everybody has got access to a professional organizer, and so the book really takes people step by step through kind of the thinking side of it, the emotional side of it, and the practical side of doing as well. So thank you so much for reading it and being so kind. Helen, so that's it for today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you Helen, for your time, for your energy and for sharing your transitions through life, your struggles with clutter and your ADHD really, really appreciate it. Thank

31:53
you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2  31:59
Thanks so much for listening to the declutter hub podcast, don't forget to subscribe to us in your podcast player so you don't miss an episode and we'll see you next week.
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