Decluttering as a business?

[Cardiclutter]

Is this doable? I love organising and sorting. I'm quite brilliant at decluttering myself so I think I'd be good at it as a business but not sure if it's a 'thing' anyone would want to pay for.

Looking at decluttering websites it seems they charge upwards of £35 an hour but they're often city based.

I'd also be worried about personal safety so would probably want to just do it by word of mouth.

I guess my question is am I being realistic? Just because I'm good at it myself would it be viable doing it for others and how much would you pay?

Personally I wouldnt pay anything but some might. I think you might struggle with word of mouth only, in my experience selling any service or product to people at home means weeks of leafleting, expensive ads, a website etc etc before you get an order. Unless you have lots of rich cluttered friends of course? If personal safety worries you in that way, working in private homes is probably not the career for you.

It would work as a very part time job if you have a HE oh.

I've often thought about doing similar, but i'm not convinced that there would be sufficient demand for it.

Are you thinking of going on a one off blitz for someone, or coming, say, 2 hours a week for a set period of time?

I would love if someone could come to me for a few hours once a month to tackle particular areas of clutter and would be prepared to pay, but not £35 an hour.

What sort of decluttering? I'm not sure you'd be able to effectively decide what was a useful, and what was able to be got rid of from our household. So would you need me to be with you? That makes £35/ HR a lot.

This is my friend, who has recently set up in business. I don't know how much work she has had but I can imagine she is really good, not just at the decluttering but at the emotional side of it as well - dealing with embarrassment, shame, grief, stress. Not that everyone who needs a declutter has major problems but there is usually some kind of reason they need to call someone in.

Right, now I'll name change back so if she finds this thread she won't know who I am

I think it's a great idea but I also think you need to put together a strong marketing strategy to bring it all together. How about marketing yourself as a disciple of the Kondo method to bring calm into the chaos? Emphasise the benefits to the client's life in terms of peace of mind and removing anxiety and you may find you have people knocking on your door.

Have you ever seen the episode of the Big Bang theory where Sheldon declutters and completely organises Howard and Bernadettes cupboard ?

I always say I need a Sheldon Cooper in my life . I am so bad at organising and keeping the place tidy . I'm ok at tidying but I never have a place for everything .

It's not something I could afford at the moment but if I had spare cash it is absolutely something I would pay for

Thanks ever so much for replying! Lots to consider there and I'll come back and share more thoughts if I may. I would be with the client and I'm good at encouraging people to declutter. I was thinking maybe £20/hr and weekly if necessary rather than a big chunk.

Thanks for the link to your friend's site, it looks fabulous! I feel the same way about wanting to help people get on top of their stuff and I'm not there to judge, just to fix it.

I'm not sure about the marketing side, thanks for the ideas.

I already have a few friends I do this for on an ad hoc basis, it's just about making a leap and doing it for people I don't know that's scary!

In truth, I don't need to be able to pay the mortgage, I'm looking for a way to earn money and use what I believe is my best asset..

Whatmyfrienddoes your friend's site looks great. She comes across as very pleasant and non-judgmental.

OP the one thing that strikes me as maybe adding a bit of value would be if you could also help to organise eBay / gumtree photos and adverts, or be able to bring things to 'cash for clothes' outlets for the client.