Professional declutterer, any thoughts?

[Relocatiorelocation]

I'm seriously considering becoming one...
Has anyone used one? Or would anyone like one but doesn't for whatever reason, what's stopping you? How much have / would you pay?
Any opinions welcome

I use one. It is worth it to have been able to free up rooms for guests to stay or just to have emptied a load of boxes after a chaotic house removal.

I think the MH angle is really helpful. I was really dreading someone judgedy, but she just turned up and got on with it (occasionally asking questions about what I wanted to do with certain items).

What have you got to lose? As with any type of free lancing, it might be feast or famine at times, but you won’t have many overheads!

There's an Association of Professional Declutterers or something like that so it's definitely a thing. I know someone on social media who advertisers herself as a professional home organizer/Declutterer, but her house isn't a good advert at all!

Yanbu. I was set to do this before covid. Have you looked at the association of professional declutterers? www.apdo.co.uk such an enjoyable job!

Yes this is my problem too.

Hoarder here. Yes I have paid a professional declutterer. I loved it! Once she told me what to do, another day she decluttered for me and with me.

If you want to work with serious procrastinators and hoarders you need to be non judgemental. She told me that someone's dh paid for her to help his wife clear out her wardrobe. The wife took everything out and looked at it but decided she loved it all and had the room. The declutter accepted that.

I'd love a company to come in over a week to do more as one bigger job. We're not all self unaware and happy with out shit. But starting is painful, doing nothing is safe and easy

I think you'd have to deal with lots of emotions so maybe a counselling course would be good.

It's not just going to be like putting things into boxes neatly. It's going to be all the other emotions that goes with it.

I have thought about getting some one in to organise me.

my Problem is my clutter is clothes and papers.

Papers are personal to work / it has gotten worse since working from home became a thing. But only I can manage it.

clothes maybe easier - but just needs some to launder, dry clean and organise my dressing room.

there is a shame issue here too. I am a successful person career wise / but am embarrassed by the mess of the dressing room etc. it’s all clean (thank to the cleaner) but it’s disorganised.

I think if you called yourself an organiser, rather than declutterer, there would be a bigger market. People that want to organise their wardrobes, kitchens etc, and streamline their belongings, rather than just getting rid of the junk!

I got less precious about making money selling items that had been sitting in a cupboard or wherever for years, or keeping it because it might be worth something and I will probably won't sell it at some point.

I now have a routine of keep, recycle bin, charity bag, throw away and tackle small areas at a time - usually drawers or cupboards. And the wardrobes which breed junk, I'm sure of it.

I don't think I'd pay a professional declutterer but I did get a few pals round for a Wine and Why Are You Keeping That night and we got quite a lot of crap shifted out of the dumping ground spare room.

I did pay a professional decorator to transform the room once it was cleared though. It is now a lovely yoga room/occasional guest room.

I have 2 friends who tried to hire someone to go this. So there clearly is a market.

I am surprised by all the replies suggesting that people who live in clutter like it or will avoid help. My house is stuffed. Literally heaving with stuff. We have tons of space but every drawer is full to bursting, every cupboard is overflowing. Much of it is crap. Literal useless nonsense that we have stuffed in a place to get it out of sight so as not to have to deal with it.

I personally would LOVE someone who could come in and review these spaces. Sort into relevant piles - junk, recycle, charity - and help
us wade through the sheer enormity of the task. At the moment genuinely I open doors and I can feel my chest tighten. We aren’t dirty or lacking in capability. We don’t have mental health issues. We moved house badly twice and then had kids coupled with then being endlessly busy. It’s all too much

Where are you based and can you start Monday? I'd LOVE this so much and so many disabled people would benefit

I would love a professional declutterer - as PPs have said, to get rid of decluttered stuff and also to suggest storage & organisation solutions.

I disagree that people with cluttered homes ‘love clutter’. That’s just bullshit. Many of us have busy jobs & complex caring responsibilities that preclude sparking joy all the livelong day.

I'm really jealous that people have money to burn on stuff they don't need...

Out of interest how do you afford to have a house stuffed with pointless crap?

I think a lot is just acquired over the years. Sentimental stuff from children, gifts, gadgets that get forgotten about.

It’s not stuff I have purchased. We aren’t talking piles of x-boxes. It’s endless, endless stuff gifted. Two different independent individuals moving in together then bringing their worlds into one house. Poorly! Lifetimes of crap/belongings/heirlooms all stuffed into one place.

babies born where grandparents didn’t believe there would be babies hasn’t helped probably.

it’s nothing to do with spurious spending

It doesn't necessarily cost anything (or much). Some people keep every receipt they ever get, every Christmas & birthday card, anything inherited (whether useful or not), clothes that are full of holes but "might be useful when gardening / decorating" etc etc

Maybe a wee bit spurious. Not all. Just crap organisation

receipts! Yes. Every user manual. Cord. cable.

Wow you're judgemental bonzaitree.
Some people have physical disabilities that make bending and clearing out drawers and cupboards difficult, and carrying heavy boxes. People get old and frail. Some people inherit stuff from grandparents or have to clear out their parents' house. Some people have trouble letting go of sentimental items or have learning disorders that make prioritising difficult. Not everyone is necessarily the same as you you know!

Ach what is wrong with Mumsnet ATM? You can't even have a thread about someone setting up a decluttering business without some posters using it as an opportunity to to judge others harshly. The sneeriness is starting to ruin almost every thread atm!

Just realised I didn’t answer the other questions.
What’s stopped me hiring a declutterer:

1. I knew someone once who became a professional declutterer and she was really bossy and overbearing and never stopped talking. The idea of having someone like that in my home, helping with a fairly intimate task, appalled me. My ideal declutterer would be calm, reassuring, professional, compassionate, and appropriately boundaried.
2. I couldn’t find anyone operating in the niche between house clearance for severe hoarders and staging a house to sell.
3. My husband (source of much of the clutter) would think it was bonkers when we could just do it ourselves (in our copious free time 🙄)

As for what I’d be willing to pay - it probably depends on what the service included / how long it would take, etc.

I would pay more for a package where I had less interaction time with the decluttering team & they could take the stuff away and get rid of it responsibly & they could recommend storage & organisation solutions for the newly decluttered space.

I think I would want to see before and after pics from previous jobs before I took the leap. Bonus points if you could demonstrate good links with local reuse centres / charity shops / refuges etc

OP, I imagine you're getting a picture here that there are a variety of things different people are looking for. Me - I've been meaning to try to find someone who can do a combination of cleaning and helping me organise. Lack of routines, and lack of systems, is my biggest problem. Things don't get put away because they don't have a place that they belong.

I'd probably be willing to pay £30/hr for an organiser to come and work with me a few times (SE, not London); higher rates would probably mean I'd have to make it a once or twice only. I definitely need the work-together model, not the go-through-and-present-it-sorted model.

Good luck finding a business model and niche that will work for you and where you live. I agree that if you've experience in mental health, especially if you've any counselling experience, that will help immensely.

@mynameiscalypso

Dana K White - listen to her YouTubes. She even has a couple dedicated to house moving.

@Relocatiorelocation I looked at doing this a few years ago. I think where you live could determine how well you do.

if you decide to, best of luck.

I find it can actually be worse if you have less money. Because you get given things and feel compelled to keep them even if they aren't quite right, or save them in case you need them in future. You can't afford to buy good quality so end up with either broken stuff that you plan to fix or stuff that half works and can't be replaced yet. You feel like you can't get rid of things you don't use in case you need them in future and can't afford to replace them.
All that 'only keep what brings you joy' stuff is only relevant if you own stuff that brings joy. I'd happily get rid of every item of clothing I own, I don't particularly love any of it. I could replace it with half the amount of decent clothes if I had the budget. So I keep all the crap clothes, because they're all crap.

Agree with PPs regarding the disposal being a huge barrier. Having a decluttering service that takes the stuff away and recycles it or takes it to charity would be perfect. I'd say £200-250 a day would be reasonable, as you'd also be spending time getting rid of things afterwards and planning beforehand (a consultation visit would be sensible).