Episode 366 – Turning my room of doom into a room of dreams with member Emma

Ingrid: every once in a while, one of our lovely Declutter Hub members feels ready to share their story, and today is one of those special moments. We're having a chat with the wonderful Emma who has completely transformed what she used to call her room of doom into a fabulous room of dreams.

She's going to tell us all about what inspired her, how she got started, and how this project has sparked so many positive changes for her and her family. We can't wait for you to hear it.

hello, Emma. Welcome to the podcast. I'm so happy that you're here. And don't be nervous, honestly. Yeah, the first thing you said to me was like, I'm so nervous. I'm like, just, chat to me. Just chat to me. You've had such an amazing. Journey here in the Declutter Hub membership. And I'm so grateful because I approached you and I said, Emma, you're doing such great work. I would love to have you on the podcast, to tell us more about it, because you've been really on a journey, haven't you?

So why did you join the Declutter Hub about nine months ago? What happened? What, what made you go, I need to do this?

Emma: Okay, so what made me do this was I found you on. Facebook and you were offering a challenge, a free five day challenge. And I've done a few challenges in my businesses. I've done these challenges before, five day bite-sized challenges. And I thought, oh, I need to give this a go and see what happens.

And if I like it, I'll, see, how we get on. so I joined in, I think it was mugs first, wasn't it? That we started with, the mug cupboard. And then I saw more and more of you on, Facebook and the sorts of things you were saying and it really resonated with me and seeing how you could do things in such a small bite-sized chunk when you are a very, busy person.

Because I'm a single parent, I'm a teacher and I run businesses as well. It's it's a very chaotic way to live really. And so I. Joined in with the challenge because I was getting fed up of things just being left around, there was too much stuff and I didn't know how to get rid of it all or how to find the time to do it and you do have all those sentimental things as well that you keep, and it's letting go of some of them. And the more I listened, the more sense it made to me. And I thought, I need a piece of this. So I joined in with a challenge and I could see the difference straight away. And I thought this is something I could do because if it's just a cupboard.

Even if it's just a cupboard that you sort out, you've made a start and it's going to make a difference.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Emma: so by the end of that week, I thought. I could do this, I could do this, I need it. I definitely need it. I need some kind of direction of how to do it. Because otherwise you're feeling like I am somebody who flips from room to room and goes in one room and then works in another.

And you've gotta just do it room by room bit by bit, and really break it down and step back. And that is something that the way I work is I need white size chunks to be able to move forward.

Ingrid: Yeah. Amazing, So after the challenge, you were like, I'm going all in. I'm joining the membership and what you did, and I think that's something that Lesley and I always hope that the people that come into our membership do is you. Committed to doing our room by room roadmap. So we have a room by room roadmap in the membership.

We also have a day by day, but you were like, I'm doing the room by room roadmap and I'm going to follow Ingrid and Lesley's structure and I'm going to go. So where did you get started? Yeah.

Emma: So I started with the room by room roadmap as suggested in the, course. and I followed it very rigidly actually. at whatever it was said first. That's what I did first, whatever it said next. That's what I did next. and it, was brilliant because it really fitted in with my lifestyle because it's like I can squeeze in an hour here and an hour there, and then I'm being a taxi, picking the kids up, and then I'm coming back and cooking tea.

And, but it was, it really helped because, I could just do a cupboard and starting with the kitchen, it really, I could feel the difference in building up that muscle and seeing the sense in, do you use it? Do you love it? No, get rid of it then, and put it. To the charity shops and things.

that really worked for me. And that was, where I started. And I actually felt like I got the kitchen done a lot quicker than I thought it would because when you walk into a kitchen, it feels huge, absolutely huge. But then you quickly, very quickly made progress and you, it made such a difference.

Ingrid: Lovely, lovely. And you were keeping us updated as well, didn't you? In our forum, that support the members only, you were posting some pictures and you got that lovely feedback and saying, oh, you're doing great and fantastic work. So I think it really spurred you on, didn't it?

Emma: It does, and the members do encourage you and it's great when they leave a little comment on something that you put, and they notice a difference as well, and all, and taking that before and after. Really, helps you to see the changes that you have made in, in, in those spaces and things.

And sometimes I felt a little bit guilty because I haven't got a lot of time to spend on forums and be replying. But I will try my best to do that for others because they've given me that encouragement too. So it's like you give something back as much as you can, it's, one of those where it does spur you on and sometimes, I feel like I went missing for a while.

But I'm still in the background decluttering and gathering those photos and then putting them on later. so that you can share it with people and, and lots of people come up with good ideas as well. So you read through other people's things and it really leads from one thing to another. And, it's, it, really works.

Ingrid: yeah.

Emma: great to feel the support.

Ingrid: Yeah, for sure. What was next after the kitchen?

Emma: So then came the bathroom. that to me wasn't. Too tricky because, actually I had a load of bathroom stuff in my bedroom, so I got all that stuff out and through COVID. I'd been very loyal to one of my friends and she did a body shop at home and I had all this body shop stuff that I'd never opened, and I just thought.

I am never going to use it. We kept all the shower gels and got all those together and thought, use those first. And I thought, I'll use those. That's brilliant. But all these other things that I bought, I thought, I'm not going to use them. So I took them to one of the classes that I do with my business and they said, oh yeah, we take them for, our charity.

So, they took, even on open, like just partially used things, they will, take partially used, Like creams or something like that and, take them to share them out for, the homeless. And, that was, great because it just felt like we made a difference. so yeah, that, that really helped there.

I'm still not through all my shower gels yet.

Ingrid: I know. Think of all the money you've saved, Emma.

Emma: Exactly. And they're nice ones as well, so it's it's lovely.

Ingrid: yeah. Use it up. All the nice stuff instead of having it sitting in your cupboard gathering dust.

Emma: Exactly, and it is lovely. It's really, nice. Then I moved on to the linen cupboard and sorted out all the towels. I got rid of the blanket, the gray, they're white, but they're gray, if

Ingrid: Yeah.

Emma: and went through the bedding. I've now got piles of bedding that are like, that's for that bedroom. That's for that bedroom on child's bedroom. That's for my bed. so that's how have those sort of sorted out. And it feels great 'cause you just take out that pile and that's it. And then you put it back in and it's, so easy.

It's great. And then I did my bedroom sorting out the ward. In fact, I think I sorted out the wardrobe as part of the challenge. So that made, it easier. And as I did each room, so like when I did the bathroom, that had an impact on my bedroom because I was taking some of the bathroom stuff out of the bedroom.

So as you got round to each room, it was getting a little bit easier each time

because

Ingrid: I know, right? I know. And that it doesn't, you don't think that will happen when you start.

Emma: That's right.

Ingrid: it's exactly how we hope that it happens because then you're like, oh, there's some bathroom projects in my bedroom, but actually I can now have them in the bathroom. So you've already done a little bit of the bedroom without even knowing it.

Emma: yeah.

Ingrid: No,

Emma: So it, it really helps and you, start to see the spaces that you can use for other things as those things come out. So it's yeah.

Ingrid: Yeah. Oh, brilliant. Now, the decluttering did not only have an impact on you, but also on your family.

Emma: Yeah, more so on my daughter than my son. My son's a bit older and my daughter's younger, but she is the very messy one. She is like so untidy. It's true. She probably takes after me, if I'm really honest. But she, she started seeing what I was doing and I was taking these things out to the charity shop.

And, but she loves organized spaces as well. As much as she's messy, she does like to be organized and have organized spaces. So she started to bring things out of her bedroom that she was finished with. And at one time it was these, this pile of Baby books and she brought this huge box of books down and I was like, I'm not quite ready to get rid of these yet.

So that sort of put me in a place where it was like, I had to think about, what am I going to do with these books now? Am I going to donate them or am I going to, and I kept some of them for my tutoring and some of them I've really loved. 'cause I remember sharing them with my kids. I've kept some of those.

Then the rest have gone to charity shops and, been being donated. But it was, but it made you realize as well when you've spoken in your podcasts about planning your project, you've got to think about it. But that was like on me to there you go.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah.

Emma: so yeah, it's, but it had an impact on her and, she just really took to it and managed to organize her own spaces and.

Yeah, it is. It's great. So

Ingrid: that's incredible, isn't

Emma: be untidy. It's maintaining it now for her, that's her lesson that she needs, but,

Ingrid: of course. But isn't it amazing that when you model that behavior, the kids, it trickles in slowly but surely. And how nice is it that she then herself started to go, okay, this, I wanna be a part of this? probably she didn't probably say, I want to be part of this, but suddenly kinda going, actually, here's a few things, mom, that I, no longer want or need or use, or.

And I no longer want them in my room. How fabulous is that, she was the one who got on board?

Emma: she did. And also as well, there was, I remember she got this cot thing for her dolls and she's 11 now, so she's between, or I know I was 12 when I stopped playing with dolls, so I was thinking she's between, anyway, there was this travel co thing and it took up a lot of space.

And, at first she said she wanted to keep it, but then when we came back to things again, she said, I'm finished with it. Now it can go. she's been on that journey of having that attachment to something, but then realizing actually I don't play with it anymore and I don't want it, and I don't think I'll miss it.

So that, and that didn't come from me. She just said, oh, I'm finished with it now. It's, okay.

Ingrid: So.

you donated a lot to charity, right? So did you in advance already know which charity you were going to support, or did you just do a charity that was handy for you? How did you decide how are you going to do this? That exit plan I.

Emma: Okay, so the charity shop, the toys was easy because we've got a Bernardo shop in our village, and so I just took those. There and they are in our village. They're very good at supporting each other with their charity shops, so they will take certain things so you can go to the different ones in the diff in the location to take all the different kinds of items.

So all the children's stuff went there, including their clothes. And then I had another charity that I'd take all. My clothes too. and other bits and pieces as well. But sometimes as well, if it was like we were going, we were going out one day to another town and I would go and donate them to a charity shop that I knew was there as well.

I've spread them out quite, quite a bit. But it's just making it work with, your lifestyle. And because the village is convenient for me, they just go in my car and I can take them. And quite a few of them are open on a Sunday as well, which is my probably prime time for being able to, do decluttering.

So yeah.

Ingrid: definitely. Tell me about the donation station then, what, that was also a, big, had an impact on you, didn't it?

Emma: it did. Yeah, because I. When you, are decluttering your things, sometimes it's like, there's lots of little bits and it's things like, like gels not, I keep talking about gels and I don't think, gels really. It's Toiletries. There we go. We'll say toiletries and things like that, that you can pop in and know that somebody else can make use of them.

And then I can take them out the house and either talk to one of my customers who I know runs a charity and say, can't you have, do you have any use for this? Or But also as well, my daughter saw me putting these things in a box. It was just somewhere to put everything. If we weren't filling a whole bag,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Emma: somewhere that we could put these little bits.

Then know that we can take that to the charity shop at a later date when it was full. it was just somewhere to put some of these bits and pieces and then go through it and say, they're going to the children's charity shop that's going to that charity shop and, sort it out that way.

yeah.

Ingrid: And your donations have raised a lot of money, haven't they?

Emma: That was the real, highlight actually was one day I got back from work open this piece of post and it says, the donations of your, goods of, it was over a hundred pounds. So I was like, that's amazing for that charity. And that's just one of the charities we've donated to. So there's the small that I don't dunno about, so it's, yeah.

But, that was, that made me feel really warm. Inside to know that you've helped people.

Ingrid: Yeah. Now you've had, you've been with us since about September last year, and then in January. So you've been working through, you indeed have a busy life, but you've been plotting on and working through, and then in January you set yourself three goals. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

Emma: So I set myself three goals. this is part of some business training that I've been doing is to set goals and we have this wheel that you look at and that you choose three, three areas that you want to work on, and one of them was going to be my business. another one was, my own health because I was feeling overworked.

I wasn't seeing people, socializing and things. And then the third one was to, was my environment, because I think, I'd got to a point where I felt like I need to keep going with this Declutter Hub. I need to make myself a goal and see if I can get through like the garage and start, on that next and see how far I get.

Because that felt like a big task, with all the stuff that's in it. yeah, so I set myself that goal to make things feel better at home for me and keep, me going and keep me moving.

Ingrid: Yeah, I think it's really important. I think, we talk about big picture goals of, as a lot here in the membership. why are you decluttering? What's your why? What, is the main reason? And of course, the decluttering has changed everything for you, right? So let's go for a break.

And after the break, I would love to know from you because you had an epiphany and I want to know more. So let's go for a break and we'll talk to Emma some more.

Hi everyone. Welcome back. We are talking to Declutter Hub member, Emma, who's being brave and has stepped up to share her journey with us. And before the break, we talked a lot about the kind of the structure, the things that she's done in the membership, the rooms that she's been doing, and we talked about the three goals she set herself, and one of the them was for her business and her home and her self care, but.

All those three goals came together one night, didn't they? Emma, you, had a bit of an epiphany, so tell us all about it.

Emma: So initially on my goals, it was to get through the next three steps in the, roadmap. That was my initial plan, but then I was on, Facebook and I was browsing and I saw this video of somebody who did some tutoring in a summer house, and it looked really, lovely. It was really, nice and I loved the way that it was all set up.

And tutoring is something that I've been doing anyway at my dining table at that point. And, I thought, do you know I could have a really, nice space, a really nice space, and it, knocked me completely off the roadmap because I looked at my room of Zoom. Which was like, it was an office and it was a playroom and it was supposed to be a place that's like for gaming and things like that, and it just really didn't work.

It really didn't work. We've got toys there. We'd got bits of paper everywhere. there was no system in it, I'd got no shelving properly plot in it. I'd got loads of drawers full of stuff. But there was no proper system to it and it wasn't a space that worked because it's also a thorough fare to the garden as well from the garage.

So it's, it was, just not working. But when I saw this summer house, I thought this could make a fantastic room for tutoring, for group tutoring. 'cause so far I've done one-to-one and I want to make it bigger so that I can impact more children through group tutoring. So I thought, that's really exciting, I want to grow. I want to grow this business. And that became my why and that became my vision. And I measured out the length of the room to see how many tables I could get in, what, how big tables were that I would be buying, So I did all the measuring and thought this could work, planned my layout, and then just had to get there.

Just literally had to get there. I'd got, a break from my teaching coming one of the holidays and I thought, I've got no kids. 'cause they're going to their dad's. So I've got a few days to make an impact on this room and see how far we get. But I also knew as well before my kids went to their dad's, they had to get some of their stuff outta those drawers and out of the house if they could, or we had to decide what they were going to keep and what, how I was going to, have to adapt the room a little bit.

But it also had an impact on my dining room because I'd got stuff in there that I wanted to come out so that I could put some of the, like my daughter is a bit of an artist, so I could put some of her arty and crafty stuff in a separate space where she would be able to access that and use it. So all these ideas were bubbling and bubbling and it was a massive, motivation.

I thought, I've got a week off work. I can get this. Or at least the back of it broken. And I did, I kept working on it and I went through every drawer to start with all the stuff out of the drawers. Found lots of sweep boxes and bags you've had people over. And I thought, oh gosh, what a nightmare They are.

so worked through those as well. bit by bit, and it was just, it was long and it was a hard slog. Eventually when you get through that really messy middle bit. And the middle bit was super messy, you're literally climbing over everything. and, but, stuff was leaving every day and, it just gradually became a space where I could move the furniture around.

And I actually bought three new tables. So you're not supposed to buy more stuff when you're decluttering, but this was for a different purpose. And I bought these tables, planned what sorts of chairs I was going to make sure I measured that these chairs would fit two in each table, and it just took shape.

It very quickly took shape. So I ended up with this beautiful room and it was just amazing. I'd done it, I'd done it. I got the layout of it done. I decluttered and repurposed. and it has worked. I've had children who have tutored in here. My children come in, they sit at it and they will do their homework at these tables.

And, when I'm not tutoring, that's what they do. and it, works. Not perfect yet, but, 'cause I've got other things that I need to do with it. But it, works. but it was just having that vision and knowing where I was going and knowing that I needed to do this step first X, emptying the boxes, move some of the furniture out, get rid of some of it out.

'cause I've got too much, far too much in it, far too much. and I also as well sold a big desk. I sold, I sold a sideboard, I sold, a sofa, so all the big things. I just sold those, the restaurant, charity, so it was, yeah, all the tip.

Ingrid: Incr. Incredible. Incredible. And I think what I love so much, there's so much in that, right? So you did the learning in the roadmap. You build up your decluttering muscle, you really thought about it, your. You, planned your projects, you thought about your exit plan. You realized that your furniture that you had was just not fit for what you wanted to do.

Some of it you donated, some of it you sold, but I love it as, as well that you got your children involved as well with their toys, with their, did you do that with them or did you go here's your stuff and go through it? Or did, was it like a kind of a family project?

Emma: we did it bit by bit because. They, I mean my, they don't concentrate for too long. And so we use things like, we use timers and do bits together, and then we think, do you like it? Do you love it? Do you not? and, they were very good about it and things that they wanted to keep.

They just put it in one box and then everything else went in a bag. and to go out of the house, and actually when it came down to it, most of the stuff was actually mine. So because I got so much paperwork that I'd kept from being a teacher, you were, you're such a hoarder as a teacher 'cause you think I'll need this, I'll need this.

You don't. And I, managed to get a rid of a lot of stuff at that was actually mine as well. And, it's funny when you get to that point because you think it's everybody else's stuff, it's all theirs. And then all of a sudden it's actually this is mine.

Ingrid: So the sweep bags and boxes. what did, could you see themes in them? What was it?

Emma: It was just bits of stuff. It was just like pencils, rubbers, bits of paper that, posts that I hadn't dealt with. That's all the sorts of stuff that was in there. And I've still got now, I confess, I've still got piles of paper that I am working through, but they are all in one place. They are now on my dining table where I used to tutor.

'cause we have, we are lucky we have a breakfast bench. That's where we sit and eat our meals. And I will get this dining table cleared, and I'm doing that bit by bit because it takes a while to get through the paper. so I've been working on that. And those child, those piles are going down now, which is great, and any post that's coming in, I'm dealing with it as soon as I can straight away.

So it's not being added to at all.

Ingrid: yeah.

Emma: being kept like

Ingrid: and again because the room, you're sitting in now is the room that we're talking about. But because stuff from your live, from your dining room actually went into the room, all the rooms now have a defined. there is defined purpose now, right? The, so the, you freed up space now in your dining room.

So all of the stuff that's now is now in your, formerly room of doom. And now, so now you can do the paperwork project in your dining room because you need a flat space for that to sort it all out and lay it all out. It's like a little puzzle, like one of the little puzzles that you have to move the tiles one by one.

If I wanna do that, I need to move that one first, and then that one frees up. And that's how it all feels. It's, coming together, isn't it?

Emma: And that's exactly what happened. That's, and it is happening, because that dining table will become a multipurpose area. My daughter's art stuff will be there so that she can freely go and paint. So whilst I'm tutoring, she's not inhibited by, I. Not having a space to do her art and things like that.

So she'll be able to do that. And we've got some nice big boxes for her to keep it all in so that when she's finished, it's all tidy.

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah,

Emma: it's a system that will work. and I think as well, when I moved to this house, I'd come out from a divorce and I took with me lots of furniture that was designed for a bigger house than I've got now.

and it's letting go of those things and putting in new systems and being able to move, to change. you change your house around in that respect, it's, I don't think the only things I have bought additional were my tables, and that was for my business. I haven't bought anything else.

It's all, just being repurposed or sold you, I've got rid of it,

Ingrid: How do your kids feel about it all? How are they now? af especially after you've changed your whole kind of room of MNA into this fantastic tutoring room, how do they see it all happening? I.

Emma: I think, they just, I, it just feels like we've got more space, we spread out more, or, we have times when we're together and we've got purposes for each room, so we know. Where we need to be for each activity that we're doing, if that makes sense.

So if they're doing the homework, they'll be in the room.

They just automatically do it. if we're playing a card game, we go in the living room, it's,

Ingrid: yeah,

Emma: they, it just, it works. It just feels like it works. We, we can have space between us, but we can be together. it's, nice. Yeah.

Ingrid: yeah. So that big project was done during your week or two weeks of being a teacher. What now? What's like the next steps? Now? What, do you, what are you going to do with your business? What are you going to do? What do you still have to do in the room? What's, the plan?

Emma: So the plan is, and this, is how much it can impact being, having done the Declutter Hub, I realize how much an impact that has had on my life because I've actually just, I. if this is June when we are recording this, I have just handed in my resignation for my teaching job because I can see that I can grow my tutoring business by having groups of children come to this room and have some tutoring.

So it's, enabling me that space to be able to grow my business.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Emma: Forgotten what your question was again.

Ingrid: That's okay. That's okay. I just, you know what, it's such a massive impact and please don't, write in that we've lost a great teacher. Emma is on her own path here, but

congratulations Emma, because would you ever envisaged when you started all of this, that this would happen?

Emma: No, not at all. Not at all. it was. I knew I needed a purpose for the room, but I never thought it would be something that might earn me a living. And that's how it's, that's, the impact it's having. It's going to help me to earn a living in a way that I would like to earn that living, it's in a different way,

Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. So from that one night, waking up, having an epiphany, you've now changed your career. You've decided to, resign as a teacher so you can fully focus on helping children at home in your, former room of doom. And it's going to change everything for you and your family. And it's just incredible and, People don't realize, I think how overwhelming clutter can be and once you start to declutter and things start to fall into place, you just start to have more time to think right, and to plan and to look further ahead and to go, what are my next steps?

Emma: Yeah, that's what I'm really looking forward to when I have finished my teaching job. 'cause I'm still in the thick of it at the moment. In our busiest, time is, I am really looking forward to having that space and being able to establish routines of resets and things like that with, and, be able to.

Have vision in my business and move it forward. in both businesses actually, because a lot of what I do in my second business, there's a lot of behind the scenes and office work involved with that as well in moving it forward and growing and having that growing space.

Ingrid: So what's your second business, Emma?

Emma: It's a dance business, so it's for dances, for, dancing for under five years old,

Ingrid: Oh, the little ones?

Emma: which is very sweet.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Emma: but in during the summer, which I think is probably when we're. Maybe I might be listening to myself now, but I intend to decorate this room now. So it's given me the opportunity to be, able to decorate the room and actually feel comfortable about it as well, because you've gotta move all your stuff out.

So I've got space to move my stuff out of this room to get it painted, get it decorated, and get some shelving put in and things 'cause. I know I'm going to need that for, being able to file pupil's work and things like that and get their activities ready and have my resources ready. So it's, yeah, it's going to make a big difference.

Ingrid: Amazing. Amazing. So of course the big question is you used to always call it your room of doom. and you said, I need to find a new, name now for this room. So I know me and also the other members have been going, we've given you lots of suggestions. People have been brainstorming with you like, because.

A room, when it's called a room of doom, it's really easy to then keep dumping things in it. So I love it that you're like, I need to find a new, name now for this room because, it's so much more positive than isn't it? And I can say that's the bedroom, that's the living room.

That's the dining room. So drum roll. What is your new name?

Emma: Okay, so there were lots of suggestions. This going to be a long drum roll. So there were lots of suggestions and some people suggested that I linked it to the hub,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Emma: the Declutter Hub. So they came up with, how about you call it the hub? And I really loved that. I love that because it is a big inspiration.

And then I started thinking about can I incorporate my kids' names into it? we make this a, a family room that's, got kids' names into it. But then, I realized the name of my business, some name of my business is called Leaps and Bounds Education, and it, I took the initials of it.

And it's become the lab, because it can be the learning lab, it can be the study lab, it can be the, growth lab. so I, stuck with the lab, but I do have to say, I've got a 14-year-old and an 11-year-old, and they're like, mom, stop it. It's they're like, don't, and it's like, Nope, it's the lab.

It is the lab.

Ingrid: I love it. I love it. I think it's an absolute fantastic. It's a great name. I love the lab and especially because it's, great, wordplay on your business as well. remind us again, what is your tutoring business, called Emma.

Emma: It's called Leaps and bounds education. So if you're in the northwest, have a look

Ingrid: the northwest of the uk, just to clarify the northwest of the UK near Liverpool. Fantastic. absolutely brilliant. last thing I wanted to say be, I wanted to ask you is because you also, you mentioned, that your parents have also really seen a big difference and I think it's so nice.

So what were their comments? what did they notice?

Emma: they just, they come up and help with the children. Sometimes they live quite a distance away, so we can have long gaps where we don't, where they don't come up. so they came up and they were like, wow, this is I. It's, working so much better. it looks clearer, it looks better than it has done in a long time, is what they said.

which is really nice. It's lovely.

Ingrid: yeah.

Emma: yeah.

Ingrid: it's almost like your house now fits for where you are in your current lifestyle, right? It's not holding you back. It's really working around where you are with your businesses, where you, where the kids' lives are. It's really for the current you, and I think that's really. You look, oh, so happy Emma, and you should be absolutely so proud of everything you have achieved.

And I know you know, you, I know you're going to paint that room and decorate it. And I know you know that's going to happen. And I'm incredibly proud of you because, finishing a, career as a teacher is a, big. A big leap, but you've got a plan in place. You've got the structure in place, you've got the systems.

And yes, tweaking can be done. Yes, things can be improved. There's still rooms on the roadmap that you still have to go, you already said I've got my paperwork to do. we've got three amazing courses about paperwork. And that, you can pick that up. You know when, your room is in order and then you can go, right now I'm ready to move on and now I can do the garage and I can do my paperwork and I can do, That's the nice thing about the roadmap. It's we guide, we suggest, but we say, you can take a bit of a scenic tour to another room. You can go for a little, Drive along the countryside. You don't have to stay on the highway the whole time. And that's exactly what happened with you.

And it's had such a massive impact. And, we're incredibly proud of you, honestly. And you, of course, you were member of the month, I think last month or the month

Emma: it was in April, wasn't it? It was in April. Yeah.

Ingrid: Because, you say, you also looked so well with little videos. All the work you were doing and such an inspiration to go, you know what, when, you give a room a purpose, it really changes so far beyond what you ever think is possible.

So well done.

Emma: Yeah, I think it's also being able to let go, isn't it? Because it's so hard sometimes. I remember a time when I was a mom at the first, I was like, I'm going to hold onto every toy and all that sort of thing. And then you realize, no, you've just gotta let them go. It is,

Ingrid: Yeah.

Emma: so it's, yeah.

Ingrid: Yeah. Well, done. So last question then from me. So what's your favorite bit in the Declutter Hub membership? What's the thing that you say, Ooh, that I really, like that, or, that's worked really, well for me. can you share with us?

Emma: it's not in the membership, but I really enjoy listening to all the podcasts. They really keep me going because it's like there's so much valuable information in those podcasts that like really resonate with you. So I really like that. I do I like the bit by bit. I think that's my favorite thing, that it's small bite-sized steps and when you are ready and the concept behind think evaluating, like you can keep things, that's okay.

You can keep it, it is just why are you keeping it? And I think that's been a big, yeah, that's probably the one. It's the bite size and it's, yes, you can keep it.

Ingrid: Yeah.

Emma: Just think about why

Ingrid: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. thank you, Emma, so much for being a guest on our show. It's been absolutely phenomenal to talk to you. So listeners, have you got a room of doom and that you're thinking to yourself, you know what, I want to have a room of dreams. I wanna have a lab. I want to change these things.

I want to know more. Reach out to us if you wanna know more about the declutter of membership and go on this, on the journey that, Emma's been on as well. So thank you, Emma, for being a guest today. It's been great talking to you.

Emma: Oh, thank you so much as well for having. Having me, it's been brilliant.

Ingrid: it's been a pleasure. So thanks listeners for listening, and we'll see you next week.