We just hired a declutterer AMA!

[drspouse]

OK a bit niche but it wasn't like Sort Your Life Out.
Our DCs are very random and the house was getting us down and we are due to spend a little while abroad with a housesitter coming in (we were thinking we might have a family come in but thankfully it's just a single adult) so we (well, I) decided to give it a go.

How much did it cost ?

Ooo, brilliant! How much? Per hour? Was she fast? I used one 20 years ago who was rubbish, moved so slowly and chartered insanely she didn’t get anything done.

What did they do? How did it work?

wow sounds amazing!! I need one in my life!! Did they throw out anything you wanted to keep? Did they do it whilst you’re home?

Oh I want to do this SO MUCH but I know I'd argue with them, I love my clutter so tenaciously. So - did you argue and if so, was she good at helping you to get rid of stuff you weren't sure about? Did the arguing process make it all longer and more expensive?

How do they know what to keep/throw etc? Won't you just be left with a huge pile of "undecided" things?

I would LOVE to be a paid declutterer!

Interested to know how you got one - what you searched for online etc. We've looked for one for a family member, but can't find anyone outside of the big cities, not working in your area etc.

What do they actually DO? How long? How much was it?
What happens to the stuff they get rid of?

Bother I just refreshed and lost my lengthy reply!

@pimplebum and @Lamelie it's around £40/hr and she took four days but not the whole day (only a few hours per day).

You have to be there and you can either help or let her do it while you advise (I helped).

She says I was very decisive (DH and DCs may think too decisive...) so I think she may have ended up in "discussion" with other clients that wasn't quite as amicable. So I think if you spent ages debating (with yourself) that might take longer @heldinadream

@KickAssAngel She leaves you with bags of "paperwork/undecided" which mainly has turned out to be shredding so after the DCs tried to help we now have a new shredder...

I was kind of expecting it to be item-based like Marie Kondo but it was room-based and we started in the cellar. We ended up not doing all the rooms (I did my DD room myself on another day, with DD helping, using the same system, I had already changed over winter/summer clothes which usually involves a load of charity bags, and we didn't do DS room as he doesn't have that much stuff though we did use some of her recommendations to give him different storage.)

@FriedEggChocolate A local contact told me about this one that works in my area, she actually came from about 40 mins away so I did pay mileage. If it's for a relative I think they'd need to be present/on board to some extent. I searched for this particular company but found another one in the region. I'm in the NW but not in a big city.

I have to dash but will check back later!

So how does it work on the day?

I follow a couple of declutters who are local to me on social media and am toying with hiring one over the summer but I don’t see how it would work as I can’t just say everything is for the bin/donation etc. I really do need to decide what stays and what goes myself.

Ah, x-posted.

Did you get rid of a lot of stuff? Di what was left get organised on the day or do you need to do that afterwards?

What did she actually do that you wouldn't have done yourself? Was it about asking the right questions/giving prompts to help you make decisions about what to bin? Or Did she give a clear steer on what she thought should go? Is it a one off thing, and now you could just replicate what she did? Or is it something you feel you'd need periodically to keep on top of things?

I’m assuming that you were in a frame of mind that allowed you to let things go, or you wouldn’t have engaged her. So my question is - what did she offer that you wouldn’t have been able to bring, given that your mindset was to let things go? Is it more of a carve time out and focus thing, or did she have good strategies too?

Did they take the stuff away and dispose of it/ donate it to charity accordingly ?
if not , does the stuff sit there bagged up until you yourself take it somewhere?
this is my big problem!! I can decide what to keep/ what to get rid of - but I want someone to come and take it all away for me so I never see or think about it again!

How many bin liners of stuff did you get rid of in total?

regardless of if it was dump or donate.

It was both of those - she had a lot of ideas for moving things about that we are keeping, worked out how to consolidate things and also asked questions I'd not thought of like "do you use this daily/weekly/yearly" and what do you have that is in an inconvenient place that you'd like in this newly empty space (e.g. we are always asking the DCs to use trays if they are taking a snack into the TV room and we found an obvious place for the trays).

I think some people hire her who are not as good at deciding to get rid of things though!

Probably 40+? Mainly charity and about 1/3 recycle/grey bin/tip.

What was the system she used?

She got me to put a car load in the car the first day, but the charity shop wouldn't take it all! I took most of it to a second shop the next day as the DCs couldn't sit in the back which was a good motivation.
Then the other days we put it all in the car on the day too but we did the basement first so that was the most.
We didn't have furniture to donate so we didn't get a pickup but I'd rather not have kept it all in the house till they came anyway.

Me too! I adore transforming things

@WhenDoISleep We still have about 3 bags of paperwork to shred but it's mainly EHCP paperwork or tribunal stuff for our DC who has SEN and I got rid of the rest of the "TBD" stuff more quickly. I've been sorting bags in front of the telly (but I can't shred in front of the TV!).
I also have one bag of bank statements that aren't mine and belong to someone I'm putting off contacting (I'll get DH to nag me to do that) and a few shelves worth of books to go back as I found damp at the back and DH has painted it today!

@Yesterda123 and @Aintshesweet I think you'd find plenty of work. I told a group of people at work about what we were doing and they were all really excited to find out this is a thing!

I occasionally watch deep clean videos when they pop up on my feed and they are all either "can't tell it needs cleaning" or "hoarders anonymous" - no real middle ground which is what our house was. I suppose most people think of a real hoarders house when they think of decluttering, it must be really challenging for someone to clear one of those.

I would happily pay you to come and do it! Do you live in Nottingham?!!

If anyone wants to come and decliner my undertakes cupboard, I'll gladly pay!