An image of guest Anna Burns smiling into camera

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

Every once in a while one of our lovely Declutter Hub members feels brave enough to share their story on the podcast. Anna has been with us for 6 months now and is making incredible changes to her home and her life. Today we’re here to talk about what it feels like when you’re spinning 10 plates and how our membership has helped.

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Transcript of this podcast episode

00:00
Every once in a while, one of our lovely declutter hub members feels brave enough to share their story on the podcast. Anna has been with us for six months now and is making incredible changes to her home and her life. Today, we're here to talk about what it feels like when you're spinning 10 plates, and how our membership has helped.

00:31
You're listening to the declutter hook 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, Ingrid Jansen,

00:54
hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid. If you're new to the declutter hub podcast, you're so welcome. What you'll find is that we try and find the fun factor in the serious business of the cluttering. And if you've been here for a while, you know exactly what we mean. So thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to get involved in conversations related to this podcast. It all takes place in our free Facebook group, so come and join our lovely, warm and supportive community. Go to declutter, help.com forward slash group to find out more. Well, hello and welcome listeners to this brand new podcast. And Hello, Anna, thank you so much for being here. Being a guest on our show,

01:37
it's a pleasure. Thank you very much. We're excited to be here. Thank you. Oh, it's

01:41
so lovely. I'm so excited because you have been making incredible changes in your home, in your life, and we're going to talk about all of that here in this podcast. But because you've only been a member for six months, and because, of course, I check all these things right before we start recording, I'm like, and I was like, I was convinced you were with us like, a year, because you've been so good at and I was like, wow, she's only been with us for six months. This is absolutely incredible. So I'm really excited that you're here today to tell our listeners how it is to go on a decluttering journey. What's changed, why you ended up in a membership and all of these things, but just first of all, tell me a little bit about yourself. Just give me a little snapshot of who is. Anna,

02:27
okay, so I live in Hampshire in the UK. I've got a married to my husband, and I've got one older son, Thomas, who's turning 12 soon, so he's getting more independent now. Yeah, I've, I run my own little business. I do holiday boarding for pet rabbits and guinea pigs, and I've been doing that for about 15 years now. I do a lot of voluntary jobs as well. I volunteer for the scouts. I'm, I run squirrels, which is a new section for scouting for four and five year olds. So I do that on a Monday evening. And I'm also the district squirrels coordinator, setting up more squirrels groups. Got two pet dogs, so they need lots of walks, so we like getting out as a family. I'm into crafting, and been making my own jewelry and selling it online for a couple of years as well. But, yeah, but it's, you know, always like to keep myself busy, so there's always lots, lots going on.

03:27
And last year, I believe you completed 50 marathons as well, didn't you? Yeah, I did.

03:34
I did, yeah. I was inspired by a cousin I've got who he's amazing. She's done over 100 marathons. And in the UK, we have something called the 100 marathon club. It could well be worldwide thing. And so she's been very involved in that, and I've just been inspired by her journey. So I was inspired to sort of start one, and then I think it was on about marathon number three that I was behind a lady celebrating it being her 40th marathon by the time she turned 40. And I thought, well, I'm, you know, 42 now, you know, can't do it by 40, but could I do it by 50? And so spent the next part of the race thinking, you know, how could I get to 50? And, and I've done it in, you know, in january 24 I made a date and said, right, this is going to be my 50th, 50th marathon. Wow. And I worked, I worked to that. So, yes, I'm being walking, some being running, you know, bit of both. But, yeah, it's been an incredible journey. It's taken seven years and nine months to get

04:28
there. Yeah, absolutely inspirational. That ball in itself, because, you know, a marathon is a whole different ball game. So that alone is just so impressive. And I'm also glad you're saying it took you like, seven or eight years to do? Yeah,

04:41
definitely, there was, there was some marathons I did. So I walked from London to Brighton. So I sort of counted that as two some I did. That were three, three marathons in three days. So, yeah, that was, that was tough.

04:56
Wow, incredible. Well done. Sounds amazing. So. So you know what it always makes when you joined us, you said you were at a pet holiday border. I didn't even know there was such a thing. Wow, I've never heard about that. So you take care of guinea pigs and rabbits in hutches in your garden, if people

05:16
go away. Yeah, built, built, purpose built, two buildings. They've got long, sort of long and narrow, kind of, not that narrow, but sort of two foot wide, 11 foot long. They've got lots of space, so for a short term holiday. So yeah, it was something that my husband and I, when we got married, we took a year off and went traveling around the world for a year. Had two rabbits. Thought, we don't want to give them back to the rescue, you know, who can look after them for us? And came across a lady who did boarding, and I was just so inspired by what she did that when we came back from traveling and when we were able to buy our own house again, we thought, oh, this, this is a great job, and it's been brilliant. It's been a really good fun. Been really enjoyed.

05:53
Oh my gosh, I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it. So, wow, lots to dive into then. So how, what happened? I mean, I can hear you have a super busy lifestyle. You, you know, you your home, your your your son, you love to travel, your pets, your your your scouts, which I love. We're probably going to talk about that a little bit later as well, because we have a scout connection here as well. So that is, I think, fantastic. So why all of a sudden, were you like, this clutter ish, just what happened? Was there a turning point? Was it maybe when you finished your 50 marathons, you're like, we're looking for a new project or something? Or what happened? What on your

06:38
journey? I think it was definitely the sense of overwhelm. You know, it started in the new year, in January. I just thought, I just reflected back on the year and just thought, Gosh, I don't think I can have another year like that. Just doing too much. I just got the sense that I was putting myself out, not for the benefit of me, for the benefit of the other people. I was being too flexible, perhaps with drop off times, even for the rabbits, or, you know, it would, it would always be sort of to the detriment to myself. And said it with the volunteering, you know, three volunteering Jobs was a lot, you know, beavers was on a Friday night. Monday was, you know, squirrels was on a Monday. So that really took out my weekend sort of planning, and just felt I was giving too much. And it wasn't really the clutter, I think that I noticed. It was time management. I started in the year thinking I've got to do all these things. I feel like a juggler, spinning, you know, 10 different plates at once, keeping them all up, firefighting, just trying to do the minimum to get by. I've also got a few few food allergies, and I'm always interested in healthy cooking. So, you know, cooking everything from scratch. I can't often buy, you know, processed meals. I'm allergic directly, or it's in everything, so I have to cook a lot from scratch. So that was something else. That was another time consuming thing. So I just thought, you know, what can I do? And actually, friends for years have been saying, Oh, I don't know how you fit it all in. I don't know how you do it. Or one of the other friends and my husband had even said, You need to start saying no. And I think being a people pleaser, wanting to help others, you know, being a caring person, I would always, you know, I would always be flexible and, you know, see what was possible and help. But yeah, I did think, all right, I am going to have to start saying no, because, you know, there are other things that I want to do. I, you know, feel, you know, it was feeling like I wasn't getting making much progress in any one area. So, yeah, so I think I found the did cut her podcast by looking for time management solutions. You know, cleaning out the rabbits actually is a great time where I can listen to podcasts. So I was thinking, yeah, what? What can I listen to? And came, you know, came across the declutter hub, and it just all made sense. And I was thinking, This is it. This is my solution. This is what I need this year. You know, I think I did your online quiz, and I was a happy heaper, because every time I come out from a scout session, you know, I've got about three bags so, you know, they will get left, and they wouldn't get emptied until the next week. You know, it cause, you know, being a messy person, I think I've always been a messy person. I've always thought I was, you know, it's like organized chaos. My husband's quite different, and he does like a bit of order, so it would cause problems. And a weekend, you know, Saturday morning, he would get up and, and he would take all my bags and and put them, put them away, put them, you know, in the Understairs cupboard or something. Hide, hide the clutter, hide my stuff, you know, instead of actually being tackled. So, yeah, I just started to get into the idea of, Oh, I've got to, I've got to put things away. Everything's got to have its place. And then you can find thingy things easily. And it has made such a difference, such such a difference to allies, actually, our whole household, by doing some decluttering, by, you know, putting in place the resets that you suggest, by getting top of laundry, that was a big issue for me. I could start to see by listening to their podcasts. I could start to see that there. Problems in my in my laundry cycle, and that there were times where, you know, places around the cycle, where, where things built up, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's,

10:08
it's very interesting, isn't it, because so much that you say resonates with me as well. I'm also somebody who finds it really hard to say no. Always want to help everybody else, and that comes as a detriment to myself sometimes, because I just don't get enough rest. So it actually really resonates with me as well, because we are prone to being very helpful and caring about others, and we always think, oh, yeah, we'll make it work for somebody else, right? But at one point you have to put your own oxygen mask on first and go. But what about me? That you can only juggle so many balls? And you know, doing three volunteer roles within scouts alone, you know, indeed, you know, doing the beavers, doing the squirrels, and doing a district role. That's a tremendous amount of volunteering. And and I know because my husband also helps in the scouts. My son was in, there was no squirrels yet, but he started in beavers. Did cubs, did scouts, did explorers. And over the years, my husband is, is he, and he's still the treasure of our local scout group, although my son's now gone since last year, he's still volunteering, and he can do that because it's, it's in his expertise. You know, he's in finance, so he's something that he's very good at. It's very manageable time wise. But once you start to do this leader, because he was a leader at one point, but couldn't combine it anymore with work and trying to be there on time. So then said, Okay, I can't be a leader, but I still want to volunteer. So I'll do, I'll do the finance of the local scout group. And they're, of course, they'll, they're so happy that he's still there. But you know, the leader role takes up a lot of time and energy, and you work with young children, so you know, you have to be on your A game.

11:59
Yeah, if they get bored, that is it

12:03
exactly, exactly. So you actually came here in, well, actually via the podcast, because you were looking for time management solutions, and then did you kind of get this light bulb going? Actually, it's not just the time that I'm short of this bit more going on here. So what kind of clutter did you start to realize that you have? Yeah,

12:25
I think it was all, it's a sense of being out of control and that I need to be in control with something, yeah. So I think I just started looking around and thought, oh, you know, there are, there are clutter hot spots. There are all my bags that come out of scouting. There are all my craft things, you know. I mean, during during lockdown, I went a bit craft crazy. And, yeah, I did start making a lot of jewelry, buying a lot of things. So, yeah, there were, you know, the my, yeah, but craft organizing has taken up too. We had to buy a second dresser. So that's taken up a lot of areas. I love clothes and, you know, so managing my wardrobe, space, jewelry, you know, I've got a lot of lot of things are, you know, quite hidden away, but, yeah, but there are drawers. I mean, we've lived in this house for 15 years, and there's lots of drawers, you know, we haven't opened and and sorted through. So that has been amazing to start doing this,

13:21
yeah, yeah, yeah. And you also, you only did not only make jewelry, you also did a lot for charity as well. Didn't you Yes?

13:31
We did yes for the past couple of years, my son and I, I think it was since the war in Ukraine, we thought, what can we do to help? And my son and I started making little clay models of snails. We call them shelter snails, and one of our favorite charities is shelter box, who are an international disaster relief charity, and they work all over the world, not not just in Ukraine, but we started making clay snails and selling them. So we made 221 snails in the end, over two years, raised 1700 pounds. And I mean, that was something else. Unfortunately, I had to say no to carrying on with because it, you know, the story was with my son doing it, and he seemed older and started getting hobbies again. It was a time thing, yeah, yeah. So there was that, and then that, you know, promoting that, having an Instagram page for it, managing that. So, let's see what's another one of my my plates that, yeah,

14:23
yeah, yeah. Well, but amazing again, you know of doing something, raising funds for such a worthy cause, and feeling that you've really contributed. But I think sometimes, what happens if people do a certain project or a volunteer role, that doesn't say you have to do it for life. Yeah. And I think sometimes we can kind of stuck into this thinking, and I see that so much with the lovely people in our membership, the people in our Facebook group, my own clients, they feel they can never step back from anything. And I know how hard it is. I mean, I myself was, was president of the Association of Professional declutter and organizers, and I committed originally for two years, ended up staying nearly four years in total. Volunteered for six years, and it was so hard to step back. But for me, at one point, I was like, I've given everything that I have to this. At some point you need to know when your end point is, but because you feel that everyone around you relies on you, and you know is happy that you're there, you're doing so much good, it's hard to step back, but you have to at one point exactly what you did at the start of last year. Go. What is going on here. I'm just doing too many things. And I think I feel I'm doing everything just not the way I wanted to, because I've got so many things going on.

15:52
Yeah, definitely, definitely, yeah. I think, you know, I've got a significant birthday soon. So it was, you know, thinking, you know, what do I want my future to be like? You know, am I really, you know, have I, you know? And I want a nice house. I want a nice, organized house. I want a nice garden. You know, the garden was something else that, you know, just felt wild and overgrown, and it would always be the last thing we would want to do, you know, the weekends. You know, my husband worked hard and, you know, the weekends we would want to go out, so we're not wanting to spend time in the garden together at the weekends, really. So where, yeah, yeah, occasionally,

16:30
yes, but not all the time, because you actually have a stream go through your garden, right?

16:36
And that makes everything grow water.

16:40
Yeah, it's incredible. It's incredible. It's incredible. So looking back now, how would stuff come into your home? You say you love clothes, you love craft. Is it something that just be you try to maybe find bargains, or do you love shopping? Or are you trying to be a savvy shopper? And would you just kind of get things because on a win sometimes? How would stuff come in? Well,

17:06
definitely sort of trying to be sort of eco friendly. And that was another little little business I had where we husband, I took a took a year off, went traveling around the world for a year, came back, and we were also inspired by things we saw around the world. And I set up a little online shop before I started the bunnies selling things made of recycled material. So I've always sort of had like an eco, you know, any you know, want to buy things as eco friendly as possible. So, yes, charity shops for sure. You know, browsing charity shops, looking at, you know, second hand books for my son, second hand books for, you know, the squirrels and beavers, second hand clothes. Done quite a few car boot sales, and that's that's been, well, you know, quite a good way of decluttering, but, you know, there is a risk of buying everything back. So, yeah, so second hand things, you know, we are, you know, we shop online a lot as well. Of course, you know, Amazon and another sort of online shopping. It's so easy to do, so that is the source of things coming into the house. Yeah, yeah. But then, of course, making things as well, sort of, you know, when I started in lockdown getting into making jewelry, because I loved doing it as a teenager, when I started to get back into that within a month, I'd made 100 pairs of earrings. Well, I can't wear that many. So, you know, what do you do with them? What do you do with them? So it was, yeah, yeah. So

18:31
you start to review things. I think that is true. I think once you start to get to significant birthdays, 4050, you start to think about. And I think we see that a lot with people after the summer holidays, right in the September time. We see people kind of re evaluating after the summer break and the kids go back to school. You see people reevaluating. We see it a lot about December and January time, you know, what are my goals for this year? And that's what happened with you as well the start of last year. What do I want my life to look like, and how am I am I going to do this? So anyway, you were looking for time management podcast. You came across the dick photograph podcast, listened in for a while, and then why did you decide to kind of take, okay, I need to actually take this to the next level, and I want to become a member. What happened? Well,

19:20
I think I'm a person who is better off on projects working with other people. I love the team theme, you know, all in it together, you know. And so, yeah, listening to lots of your lots of your podcasts, I really felt that. And I really, you know, really related to people's stories. So, yeah, so I thought I'm going to definitely, you know, take this to the next level. I think I listened for about five months before I joined the membership, yeah, and I found it brilliant. I have found the whole team ethos. You've got so much information there. And love learning as well. And somebody likes, likes taking on new, you know, new hobbies and things, but, but really learning something. So, yeah. I was really, yeah, really enjoyed working through your roadmap and learning a lot about it. It's just everything's made total sense. It's revolutionized.

20:12
And just to clarify, listeners, because we're going to talk, of course, a little bit more about Anna's journey within the membership. You're not being paid to say, oh, it's nine things, right?

20:24
No, no, I tell everyone about it. I tell everyone. I just, oh,

20:29
thank you. Thank you. So you became a member. Where did you start? What happened?

20:35
I started the room by room, so starting on the kitchen and going through fridges, the pantry, looking at food and, you know, finding very out of date things in there. So that was an eye opener, and then working my way around the kitchen. And, you know, I think, Oh, the kitchen can be done very quickly. But now, I mean, it took a month. It really did, and giving everything a real clean as well. And we do have a we do have a cleaner very lucky enough to have a cleaner who comes once a week, so everything's, you know, always clean anyway, but this was a kind of deep clean, you know, at the top of the cupboards, things that just hadn't been done for a long time, evaluating whether we needed stuff. One of the phrases that I've learned from you is aspirational clutter, as well as in my crafting, which I really have to look at that what's aspirational, you know, you know, things in my kitchen are as well, you know, I've got a dehydrator, a juicer, a rice cooker, you know, I've got all that sushi, you know, making kit, ice cream, making kit. So, yeah, it was just really, really evaluating whether I am going to do these or not, or whether I need to let go of things and make space. You know, just make space, not make space for more just, just make space and enjoy having cupboards that aren't crammed. It's frustrating when you can't find things because your cupboard is so jumbled you just can't find what you want. And also, you know, I was starting to find duplicates of things. So of course, you know, decluttering can save you money because you've already got it, it's somewhere in there, and it's just finding it.

22:11
Yeah, I think it's interesting. What you say it's like just not having cupboards that are crammed to the rafters, but you can actually find something, we wouldn't. And I think you would concur with this, Anna. We would never say, Oh, you need to have you can only have five things in your kitchen and everything. But we say, make it work for you, but make sure that that you've got accessibility visibility. That is logic. That because when something is in a logical place, when you want to look for it, you know where to look, and if it's not there, you know that you don't have it. And I think that is something people always think that decluttering is about decluttering, but it's so much more, isn't

22:52
it? It is, it is, it's the organizational side of it, yeah, you know. And that was something that I was surprised to find, you know? I was, I was coming into it thinking, Oh, I just need to get rid but no, it was organizing as well. I'm now the proud owner of a label maker. You should see my bathroom, it's all the covers is labeled. But it's brilliant, because we can find everything. And people putting things back, you know, looking at duplicates. So, you know, after the kitchen, it was the bathroom, and we had, you know, we would easily have four or five bottles of shampoo on the go at one time. Well, then you're not getting through one. So, yeah, I've been learning to actually put some away. We've got another drawer where I've got all the bathroom overflow things and only one out at a time, or one or two, you know, given them, yeah, have a choice, but, but, yeah, but to stop having duplicate products on the on the go at any one time that immediately gives you space. Yeah,

23:50
yeah. Well, fantastic. Loving this so far. Let's take a quick break, because, oh my gosh, you've done so much more in these six months. So let's take a break, and we'll come back after to hear more about all the areas that you've done. Hi everyone. Welcome back. After your quick break, we're talking to Anna, our wonderful declutter hub member, about the reasons why she joined the membership and all of the things that she's done and what she is learning. And before the break, she talked about how aspirational clutter really resonated with her in her first room, that she did her kitchen, and that she's also been working on her bathroom, and she's really realizing that having five shampoos out is just too many. One or two is fine to finish them up and then to be able to go, I'm now going to go to the next one, and that you don't need to have a stalk of five or six or seven or eight, because it is just too many and it clutters up all of your cup. But she's even a proud owner of a label maker. So you're, you're completely on track, and that you're, you're being, yeah, it's. You're in the mindset, you're in the club, the clutter mindset now,

25:02
yeah, definitely. And another as well as the term aspirational clutter, another term that I learned from you was thinking about your future self. That's that's been really important to think about my future self, you know, I've never felt I'm an organized, planned type of person, yeah? Now thinking about my future self, you know, I plan. I do meal planning. You know, we start at the week we, you know, as my son starts to get more independent, you know, we've got a family calendar, which using more, you know, to put down who's where, you know, who's having dinner tonight, or who's out. And, yeah. So it is all about your future self. So resets, kitchen resets, you know, you you and Leslie have taught me to, you know, clear my kitchen every night. So it's a non negotiable, I clear my kitchen, clear all my dishes, and in the morning I make up a tea and I'm putting things away that are washed in the dishwasher or on the side. So now my kitchen default is clear work tops, clear surfaces, rather than the default being a load of Crocker that needs to be washed. Also taught me to, you know, tackle my laundry with with doing at least was one load a day laundry was interesting, because that's been a it's always been an issue. My husband's always, you know, I still have to try not to get him to do this, but he he will do a load of washing at a weekend, so he'll do four or five loads on a Saturday, but then there's nowhere to dry them. Yeah. Well, I go into it now thinking, no, no, we need to think about the end before the start. And actually, we've got a whole basket of things that need to be sorted through and put away socks that need to be paired up things that need to be ironed. So it's tackling the end of it. It's easy to just put a load in the wash, in the washing machine, yeah? But it's further down the line that it was becoming a problem. You know, we continually had a clothes mountain, as I've called it. So, yeah, that that's been a real learning curve for me. The good

27:00
thing about about you, Anna, is that how you log all your progress as well. And I think the laundry was, people think that laundry is easy. It's exactly what you're saying, right? You just put it in the washing machine. But there's seven steps after that, and if one of those steps breaks down somewhere, then you're gonna create a problem. And then, of course, what happens? You do four or five loads over the weekend all at the same time, but then if you don't want to put everything in the dryer, if you don't have a dryer, if the rain of the weather is rubbish and you can't hang it outside to dry, there's immediately, there's there's a breaking point, and then it starts to build up. So because I think it ended up having dry laundry all over, drying laundry all over the house, which is then, like, Ah, yes, right,

27:50
definitely, definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah. So just a

27:53
system that, I think, because we have a whole course about laundry in the membership, and I think you really took that on, and you were like, you identified that laundry was a big problem, and you really looked at it. What? What's happening? Where is it only the fact that my husband does five loads of laundry that he hangs in everywhere? Where is in the process? Are the pitfalls from me? And you've tried to work on that. It's not happened overnight, but over time, you've really worked on that, and you've really kind of nailed it now, and in the end, you bought a couple laundry baskets, and that was the thing that kind of made it all work, didn't it? Yeah,

28:30
yeah. We had, we just, we had three laundry baskets, which you think is enough, but if you've got one down the end of the garden, by the washing line, one by the tumble dryer. You've got the one left, which actually might be full of dried clothes, so the dried clothes get sticked out on the floor to fill it up with more dirty clothes to be washed. So, you know, this is what was happening. So I thought, actually, we need two more laundry baskets, and that's really working for us. That's definitely helping. Also, I'm putting time aside to do a load of ironing. Our cleaner, very kindly does an hour of an ironing for us a week. But an hour is not enough. I think I still don't understand friends who say I never iron anything, because, like, most of my things still be ironed, you know, so, but yeah, so I spend time doing ironing, but, you know, actually look forward to it, because I can listen to another podcast or get the laptop, and I'm, you know, looking working through the road map as I'm doing it, as I'm doing it.

29:28
Yeah, you've done lots of other changes in your house as well, right? Because you've not only been decluttering and labeling and but you've also been doing DIY in the process, haven't you? You've changed some furniture around. You've been decorating. You've actually taken quite a lot on, which is interesting because she said, I don't want to have so many plates spinning, but I think it's really inspired you to do all these projects that you've been meaning to do for years. Right? It

29:57
has, it has, it's definitely had a knock on effect. Perfect, yeah, you know. And for my husband as well, it's, you know, it's really helped sort of organizing things and thinking, actually, what were, you know, looking assessing, really, what works for us and what doesn't. And, you know, we had a quite nice sofa, but with a separate chair. And before that, we used to have a corner sofa. We've gone back now to having a corner sofa in the lounge, because it used up the space a lot better. You know, for years I've been knocking my legs on a coffee table. It's been rectangular, and it's just, you know, it's just, no, this is not working for us. We've now got a round coffee table, and so that that works a lot better in the space that we've got. So, yeah, we changed our wallpaper, and it's a lot cozier now in the lounge, in the dining room too. We've got it was interesting. In the dining room, got two pieces of old furniture. One is nearly 100 years old, and that was my great grandma's, yeah, my granddad's mums. And, you know, there's, there's got a very old photo of it. We've got the receipt for it. It's not valuable at all reading, well, I hope it's not because we've revamped it, but so yeah, no, I got a really good friend who revamped revamped furniture, and so she's taken both of these two pieces for us and has totally transformed them. And they look brilliant. The dining room is quite a dark room. We built an extension of off it, and so it's made the room darker, and these furniture look dark, and so we tried to lighten everything up. And so these pieces of furniture have been, you know, they've been made a lighter, sort of white, creamier kind of color, and transformed with, you know, wallpaper in the back of it? Yeah, they look super we really do them.

31:44
Yeah, I know you, you know, I think you're very, you know, you should be very proud of everything you've achieved, because you've really taken it a next level, right? And it's interesting, because we see that a lot with people who've got lots going on and have clutter, whether it's visual or hidden, it's all these things they never get around to, but they still niggle in their head. Because you've been saying for a long time, I wanted to do something with those two pieces of furniture, but you didn't have the the mental space, the capacity to kind of go, how am I going to do this? And I think going through this quite structured it's really, you're not only doing the decluttering, the organizing, the labeling, the donating, but you're now even taking it step further and going into the DIY, the changing some bits as well, which is, which is so lovely to see you've got amazing taste as well. Which I've, I think, is, you know, it really, you know, you can see that the things you pick. I'm like, You should be an interior designer, but that's a whole different story. But I'm not giving you any more ideas to do. You first have to finish what you're doing here, but I think it's really so what's your next steps? I mean, you've talked, you know, you've done your kitchen, your bathroom, your dining room, your lounge, your craft, clutter, laundry. What are the next things on your list? What is like? Okay, that's what I'm going to do now, New year, new start. What's on the plan?

33:11
Well, the so the lounge is, is ticked off. That is done, apart from putting pictures up, we need to decide on on some pictures in there. The room is, there's some of the craft areas are halfway through, and so finish those off the office paperwork that all needs to be gone through. Asking for help is important as well, because we, you know, we're not handy people. We can't do all these things ourselves. So we've got a gardener who's recently started, and he's making super progress in the garden, so that that will be good to see that that take off. And we're thinking about contemplating taking on chickens, at the moment, rescue chickens, because I'm putting down the amount of rubbing and guinea pig boarding I'm doing next year. So you know, we'll you do a little bit less of that, so I'm going to free up the space and have have some hens. So yeah, the the attic and the garage haven't even been started yet. They are huge areas, you know, they, you know, they are just, they're hidden away. Well, the garage, we use quite a lot, actually. We can, we can walk through it, but it doesn't function as it should. So it'd be great just to have a functional space where we can walk in, find what we need, instead of clambering over things. And same with the with the attic as well, there's a lot of lots of stuff up there, you know, we've got, you know, we've been here 15 years, and we've even got boxes. I'm pretty sure we haven't opened them in 15 years. So, yeah, we need to those are definitely two areas close the office, under stairs, cupboard. So if these kind of storage areas now, yeah, are the next things to tackle. And I

34:52
think you've done it the right way, because you have to start. And I think that's so lovely that you mentioned. I'm following the road map. And, yeah. Have to do those, you know, basic areas first before you can start to tackle those storage areas, because you have to create space and see what have I got currently. So then when you're doing your garage, your attic, your under stress cover, you can go, actually, no, that's needs to go into another place. And because you've created space there, now you can either move it or know it's in the right place, but I've learned so much more because you've really build up your decluttering muscle over time as well, and being able to think through which decisions Am I making, and do you always do the learning? I know you love the learning. So do you watch the course and then kind of go, Okay, I need to learn from less in Ingrid. How am I going to do this?

35:44
It's very much the case with the kitchen, yeah. So watch your, you know, your video on glasses, and then then go and do my glass cupboard, yeah. And I think as time has gone on, there's been a few more challenges that I've been involved in that you put on, like the pantry challenge. I've gone, you know, a few months after I already did the pantry, I've gone back to doing the pantry again. Yeah, same with the clothes as well. I sort of went back and had a second pass. I started clothes declustering right at the start of last year. And so I've gone back, you know, to that. But yes, there's a lot more to do. And the I like, the I like the the week by week, part of your road map as well. You've got to live admin skills. And you know that, like I say that the food planning, the meal planning, I never would have thought of doing that, really. And now I'm doing it, you know, opening posts and things, tackling things, you know, as they come in, sort of, I've gone digital with my calendar. So no more, no more paper diaries for me. And I, you know, that's been something that I've been inspired by, by you to do that. And I've also got an electronic to do list, because I think for years I've just had it all written down on paper. And actually, I'm using the notes function on my phone now to do it, and I'm finding that really works. So it is, is just about, you know, new ways of doing things. So, yeah, so it's, you know, I definitely recommend people in the in the membership, to sort of try and do both roadmaps at the same time. Yeah,

37:18
yeah. I think it's very interesting, right? Because we indeed have the courses about the different rooms in your home, but we indeed have also we talk a lot about, okay, what are the things that you need to do daily? What are the things that you need to do weekly, your weekly meal planning, your weekly cleaning, your weekly shopping, your weekly admin. Because it's nice when you see rooms kind of coming together, and everything starts to get more organized. But then, of course, you have to do that maintenance on a on a daily and weekly and also seasonal. You're not there yet. You're still in the in the weekly part, which is amazing. But I think you're really putting all of the things in place. And I think what you're seeing is that you're now creating more time, because you're not clambering about in a mad rush to get everything ready, because you've got it more organized. Definitely, I

38:09
definitely feel like that. I feel like things are a lot more in control. Yeah, you know, probably have always been somebody who's been spurred on doing things last minute, you know, but, but now I'm not, I'm I'm planning a lot more, and, you know, I'm trying. You know, another function of the the membership I really like is doing the live success sessions. And those success sessions, so, you know, you can do a live one where you join with other members and for 50 minutes you focus on your task, that, whichever it is you're doing, everybody just goes away and does their task and comes back and compares notes. And then you've got the option to do a solo one as well, and that, if I'm thinking, right, I'll do some ironing. Okay, I'm gonna, you know, pull on the solo timer. Makes it a game, doesn't it good? No, definitely. That's, yeah, you're like,

39:01
a changed woman. Anna, do people around you really kind of go, what's going on there? Yeah,

39:07
the cleaner loves it, because she comes every week, and so she's like, Oh, what have we done this week? You know, what changes have been made? So, yeah, yeah, they do. My husband's really impressed, and I hopefully inspire my son as well. We need to sort of tackle his bedroom as another area we haven't done yet. Yeah, there's a few storage wardrobes in his bedroom that, yeah, mostly are things that, rather than his things, in there. And we need to go through those, those, but yeah. But then, you know, he starts getting to the nostalgic stuff, yeah, in there. But yeah, with this decluttering muscle, I can really, you know, I really feel like I'm I'm being more assertive about making decisions, not thinking, Oh, well, I'll just put it aside. Actually, no decide there and then, ah, interesting to do

39:50
with it. Interesting. So, do you see your home with like, different eyes? Now? Do you see things do? Differently

40:00
I do definitely, yeah, definitely. And I keep saying to my husband, there is no way I would be sorting this drawer out now if it wasn't for being part of the dick lesser hub. But yeah, because you really see the benefit of having things in the right place, to find things easily. You know, I did my junk drawer in the kitchen not so long ago, and that hadn't been tackled for years. But now I've got a place where all the elastic bands go, you know, and all the batteries go before they go to be recycled. I've got my donation station set up in the hall, you know, because I'd been somebody who piled up things. That was another area where I noticed that I'd always piled up things by the front door that needed to go out. Well, actually, now I put them in the donation station, and I think I divide up my donation station a bit with things that need to go off in the post or go back to somebody, or things that need to go to the charity shop. So yeah, I feel a lot more organized, in control of my time.

40:56
Yeah. And although you've always been like a super, you know, mindful shop, probably going to charity shops and things like that. Do you feel that you've changed, also that your mindset has changed about that?

41:10
Definitely. I mean, I think they do. You know, I read a quote the other day saying you spend the first half of your life buying stuff, and the second half of your life getting rid of it, and now, you know, coming up to 50, and I really feel like I don't, I just don't need all this stuff. I don't know, you know. So yeah, it is whittling out the things that you love, that they Macintosh quotes, and, you know, useful and beautiful. And so it is only having those things that you think are beautiful or you find really useful. And I don't, I don't hang on to clothes that don't fit anymore. That's been something, you know, I've always had, sort of closing your slim into that, you know. And you know, when I don't, I don't really have a seasonal wardrobe either. I very much have, you know, just, just all my clothes in the in the wardrobes that I've got, so I don't, don't tend to. There's few things that I've put away for the summer, but not many. Yeah, yeah, yeah, interesting. So

42:11
if you look at it now, I mean, could you ever have imagined all the things that you would have done when you started back in, you know, July and became a member, if you look back now, how incredible you have done. Would you ever thought you would get so far? Not at all. No,

42:34
no. I think things, things would not have changed. Just nothing would have changed. Everything would still be, you know, kitchen drawers would still be jumble, you know, jumbled up. I'd still be frustrated because I couldn't find things quickly, you know. So, no, everything's so much more organized. Now it's just not like me, you know. But it is like me. Now I'm a new person. I really feel that I really have learned a lot and see the benefits now, yeah, things in a different way, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's amazing. And I think building up that muscle to tackle the garage and tackle them are going to be big jobs. Excited about it now, yeah,

43:13
yeah. I think that's, I think what we see a lot with people. They always when they think about their home and their clutter, and they're overwhelmed. They think about the hardest thing, and I think that's when I think, if I remember correctly, you said it's what I need to do my love. I need to do my garage. And we were like, start at the beginning. You have to learn to break it down. You have to build up that decluttering muscle. And you did it. You've worked your way through it, step by step, and it's exactly what you I feel ready now to to do these areas, because I think you've learned so much about making decisions and that it's okay to sometimes don't know, but also to go actually, yeah, I want to keep that or no, we can actually go. And there's, there's far few items that are in the middle that you're just not sure about because you you're like, I'm going to tackle it now and not leave it for later. And I think that's also the massive mindset change, and that will help you when you're going to do those harder to reach areas. But I've complete faith that that in you, that you're going to do that. I'm absolutely certain of it, because I think you have done such a great job of logging stuff. So you've so we've gotta, like, with other members. We have, like, our own internal message boards within the declutter hub. Nobody can see that, only the members. And you did a great job from the start, logging in every room what you're doing, and you're going back to the same post to give us an update on what's happening. And some things are now done. They're finished. You know, of course, you'd still tweak your kitchen. Every once in a while you go that cover this drawer is coming a bit messy, a bit tidied up, but that's a five or 10 minute job and not a. Whole thing. So you've been so good at logging it, and I think that's what's so inspirational, I think, for other people to see as well, and to go, wow, we can really see the difference. And I know you're going to do the same in your loft and in your garage, because you I've got it down to a T now, and you're thinking about things in advance, so it's fantastic. Honestly, I can't compliment you enough. You're like, obviously a star pupil, and you already mentioned the solo success sessions. You mentioned the success sessions, the learning. Is there anything else that you really like within the membership that you said that's really a game changer? Yeah.

45:41
I mean, definitely the the accountability so, like you say, logging it, it's easy to get down and look at all the things you haven't done yet. Yeah, actually, that makes you reflect and look at all the things you have done, taking before and after photos. I often put mine side by side as a bit of a collage, and that's really good to see, to see changes. You know, you can, you can find accountability partners, you know, if you find somebody who's working on a similar thing and you can compare, I love the we've got a thread declutter, one item a month, sorry, one item a day per month. You know, there's several sort of for each different month. And so, yeah, that's a good challenge. And the OLIO app is something that I discovered through being part of the digital cluster hub as well. Didn't know that existed, I Yeah, so that's that's been brilliant to that, you know, it's an app. You can put a photograph of the thing you've got, you know, I put some napkins got, you know, sorting out sort of six napkins and two tablecloths the other day, put them on the OLIO app. Within two hours, somebody would come and pick them up off my torstep. So think, you know, you've got things that you think, oh, a charity shop might not take this, but actually can be really useful for somebody. You know, we had a laptop stand the other day, and I think a charity shop probably wouldn't have wanted that, maybe, but somebody locally really needed it. So it was great. It was a great way to help you get rid of them. You know, not just talking about putting things in the bin. Here it is, you know, things that can be useful for other people, exactly.

47:10
And I think that's really, really important for us as well. You know that when you're decluttering, you know, of course, you know, you always come first, you know, especially if you've got, if you've got a big backlog and clutter. Sometimes you just have to go, I'm going to have to put some some stuff in the trash or in the bin. But of course, what we hope for is that you recycle and reuse and reduce and give away and donate as much as you can, because there's so much stuff that we have in our houses that is unused in drawers and cupboards, never to see the light of day that somebody else can possibly really need. And indeed, I always try with every item as well. Is it a good item for the charity shop, or is it something that is better off on olio? If it's more of a kind of Yeah, random item, I'll put it on OLIO because somebody then specifically says, Yes, I would like that please, which is, I think, sometimes better, but I donate a lot to the charity shop as well. So it's finding, finding the right outlet, right, and doing goods, you know, and you sell some stuff as well.

48:15
Yes, I have sold a lot, you know, sold some license of clothing. I use the zip it app, sell some books. So, yeah, that was, that was good as well. So, yeah, sold a few things on Facebook marketplace. You know, our furniture. We sold the sofa the other day, turned it and we sold that to lovely girl. It was her first sofa she'd ever bought. You know, she just moved into a new flat.

48:39
So, nice. Yeah, exactly, because the sofa sometimes can be tricky to get rid of. And then if somebody else is starting up a first home, it immediately feels like a good place, doesn't it, yeah, helping somebody else, which is such a good feel good factor, yeah, definitely fabulous. I love it. I think it's absolutely fantastic to see keep going. Anna, I know you've got, you know, rooms to do. You've got paperwork still to do. You're following the roadmap. You're listening to our advice. You're doing it step by step. It's brilliant to see any last tips for advice for our listeners. Oh, just,

49:21
well, yeah. I mean, do what I did, and learn to say no to start with, you know, reassess it. If you need to say no, you do just say no sometimes. So to give your to prioritize yourself, you know, and just start one little bit at a time, you know, one bag at a time, one one drawer at a time just to not feel overwhelmed. You know, it's just small steps. But, yeah, yeah. Think about accountability. Think about taking it before photo and after photo so you can see your progress. Because that's been a really beneficial thing for me to sort of chart the progress. And, you know, using your forum to do that. But, but it's a, you know, really welcoming group both your. Your Facebook groups and your and your membership as well. Everyone's so supportive, and I love that. I'm just so, you know, so pleased to be to be part of it. Yeah, yeah,

50:08
sure, for sure. Well, right back at you. You're so supportive to other people as well, you know, and it's, although you're fantastic at logging, you're fantastic at at doing the work, you're also supportive to other members, which I think is fantastic because it's really like you said, we're all in it together, and we have to help each other, to to to slowly but surely, move forwards, and you're a fantastic example of that. So thank you so much for being a guest on our show. It's been absolutely lovely to talk to you. I'm really happy that you were here and that you were able to share this all with us listeners, has this interview kind of made you think and go, I am spinning too many plates myself. I need to listen to Anna's advice and just learn to say no or wow the membership. How Anna's journey in the membership it's really inspired me, and I want to come into the membership as well. Come and join us. You can find all the details on members. Dot declutter, hub.com, we would love to have you, and we would love to help you too. So thank you, Anna, for sharing your journey with us. We really love having you have having you on as a guest. Thank you very much. Thank you. It's been great. Thanks so much, listeners, and we'll see you next week.

51:28
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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Six months into her membership, Anna Burns shares with us why she joined The Declutter Hub and how what she’s learned has made a difference in her home.

How I discovered The Declutter Hub

I started 2024 feeling overwhelmed, like a juggler spinning 10 plates at once. I was stretching myself too much between running 2 self-employed businesses (holiday boarding for small pets and an Etsy shop selling my handmade jewellery). I had 3 voluntary jobs within The Scouts Association, I was making and selling crafts to raise funds for the charity ShelterBox. I was trying to keep fit, cook from scratch, keep on top of household chores and a garden that was becoming increasingly wild. I was trying to manage the needs of two energetic dogs as well enjoying quality family time with my husband and almost teenage son. I thought I was in need of time management advice and whilst looking, I stumbled across The Declutter Hub Podcast. A few episodes in, things started to click! This was the solution I needed!

Learning how to say no

Being naturally helpful and not wanting to let anyone down, it felt like a lot of my commitments which benefitted others had started to do so to the detriment of myself. My own aspirations for a tidy, organised home and garden and a less busy lifestyle were put to the bottom of my to do list. I realised what others had been telling me for years - I needed to learn to not feel bad about saying no, to let some things go and bring some of my commitments to an end. I was able to free up some time by handing over one of my voluntary jobs, bring my fundraising project to an end, close my craft business, plan an end date for completing a personal challenge (of completing 50 marathons by my 50th birthday) and turn away some pet boarding requests.

Learning to create time and space

Time freed up, I was then able to dedicate myself to learning how to declutter by joining the membership and working through the Roadmap. Putting that learning into practice has not only freed up space in my cupboards, but it’s given me back more time. I’m now less frustrated and I feel more in control of my belongings. I know what I’ve got and where to find it. I’ve learned to compartmentalise and give things a dedicated and often labelled place. Things no longer fall out of my cupboards. I’ve learned to put things away promptly and my nightly kitchen reset has meant I start the day off on a positive note, instead of being greeted by a pile of dirty dishes. Recognising my clutter hotspots and where my laundry cycle was failing, has enabled me to put new systems in place so things don’t build up. I’ve moved my diary and to do lists from paper to simple online versions which are working well for me. I have a donation station where things that need to go out of the house are put. I now feel much more in control, calmer and less chaotic.

You are not alone

I’m social and enjoy being part of a team. Joining the membership enables me to interact with other members via Hub Huddle Zoom sessions, support each other, be inspired and in turn be an inspiration for others. In the Forum you can log your decluttering journey and share before and after photos. You can take part in member challenges such as trying to declutter one thing a day. You can work alongside each other in real time by joining a ‘Live Success Session’ or use the Solo Success Session timer function and there’s plenty of opportunity to get advice directly from Ingrid and Lesley with the Q&A and Tech Surgery sessions.

Feeling completely inadequate

I looked around at my new ‘mum’ friends – whilst their babies slept, they often talked about ‘getting a few things done’…What are they doing I often wondered? What are these things that they are ‘getting done’?! All I was doing was cuddling my baby or playing with my toddler and drinking sweet tea to keep myself awake in my sleep deprived state! In desperation I turned to ‘momfluencers’ online…These capable, perky, ever-smiling women online who miraculously seem to be able to run a beautiful and tidy home, whilst simultaneously making healthy snacks for their children and giving you ten top hacks for organising your pantry which magically will only take five minutes… As I watched these ladies enthusiastically stacking Oreos into glass jars and organising their children’s books by colour into beautiful rainbows, I finally had a moment of clarity – what Ingrid and Lesley would call a ‘lightbulb moment’. This is not real life. Or even if it is for some lucky few, it is not the reality of my family life. All I want is a home which is free from mess, where the things that my family need are well organised, neatly stored and can be found by everyone so that we can leave the house in the morning with everyone vaguely in one piece, with their shoes on and my car keys located..

‘Future self’ and ‘Aspirational clutter’

Two phrases I’ve learned through being a member are to think about making things better for my ‘future self’ – for example my future self will thank me later if I empty my bags and put away my things now. Also I’ve learned to look at an item and assess whether it is ‘aspirational clutter’ – e.g. is there a kitchen appliance that I never use (such as an ice-cream maker), can I make a plan to use it or should it be rehomed? Will I ever get round to making that craft project, or is it better donated to someone else who will make use of it?

Final words of advice

Get into the ‘decluttering mindset’ by listening to Ingrid & Lesley’s podcasts – there are over 300 so plenty of hours and they’re all free of charge. I wear head phones and listen whilst hanging my washing on the line, whilst ironing, whilst washing the dishes etc. Start small – one drawer, one bag, one shelf, one area of a room. Gamify your decluttering by challenging yourself to declutter one thing a day or by setting a timer to spend say 20 mins on a task. Create a donation station area in your home and make an exit plan to get things out of your house. I’ve found the Olio app brilliant at helping me find new homes locally for some of the things I think a charity shop might not take. We’ve all got the same number of hours in a day – how do you spend yours and what eats away at your time? If you feel you need to free more of your time up, look at where you can make changes, even if it means saying no to something or delegating jobs by asking for help from family, friends or the hired help of a cleaner, gardener or other professional who can help you get your house and garden the way you want it.

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