I’m excited about the Clutter-Busting Jump Start service I’ve just launched. It seems I never mention it in conversation without someone saying either that they’d like it themselves or they know someone who would.
I’m looking forward to doing my first one on Tuesday and have already had the set-up conversation with my client. I talked her through a visioning exercise to get clear what she’s creating, gave her guidance on which area of her home to choose for us to work on, and explained what she needs to have ready when I arrive (six boxes/bags to hold different categories of clutter as we sort through her stuff).
At an art show last night, I got chatting to someone I recognised. She’s a friend of a guy that used to rent a room to someone I used to be in a relationship with about ten years ago. Make sense? 🙂
Turns out she needs help clearing her attic and we arranged to speak this week.
Being car-free creates an extra fun challenge. A Clutter-Busting Jump Start includes taking the actions we identify as we sort through the client’s stuff. Listing things on Freecycle/Freegle/ebay/Friday-Ad. Taking stuff to a charity shop, a recycling point, the municipal household recycling centre…
We take the actions the same day because I’ve noticed that some clutterholics have a pattern of sorting out stuff to go yet never taking the actions. The bags of sorted-out stuff sit around their homes, continuing to be clutter and sapping their energy.
Clutter doesn’t stop being clutter until it leaves the home for good.
An attic-load of stuff though might produce more than we can shift by hand or on my bicycle. I’m going to see if I can borrow a car from a friend for the day. Otherwise I’ll use Whipcar or Streetcar and pass on the costs of the car hire to my client.
I can only do five Jump Starts a month because I need time to develop coaching materials for the online/telephone green decluttering coaching/support which will be the main service I provide. And to create promotional materials.
Apart from gaining me more valuable experience (and the fact that there are few things I love more than green decluttering), I’m intending that providing Clutter-Busting Jump Starts will generate testimonials and before & after pictures for my website and promotional materials.
Roll on Tuesday!
Thank you for this! I think the cluttering offer looks great, but the main thing you’ve solved for me is the car thing – the Whip Care offer looks like just what I needed! Affordable care rental from the little person – I’ll always go for the small company over the large!
PS your Clutterbug service – will send a note to my friend who live in Brighton and ask her to put the word round to her mates as well 🙂
Whip car even – 3 touch typing courses in the 90s was money ill spent! 🙁
Thanks for spreading the word for me Jenny. I’ll travel too so clients don’t need to be based in Brighton.
WhipCar is great, isn’t it? It’s perfect for when I need a car to deliver a Clutter-Busting Jump Start.
We are in the process of doing a big declutter and I’d be really interested in seeing an article on how to use freecycle painlessly. Last time I tried it was an agonising experience with people not turning up when they said they would and having to deal with an overwhelming number of e-mails. I’m sure I could refine things with practice but would be interested in hearing from a pro!
That’s a great idea. I’m sure lots of people would welcome guidance on that. And (you won’t be surprised to hear that) I’ve got loads to say about it. That’s this week’s blog topic sorted. Watch this space.
This looks great. I’m going to post it on the LinkedIn ‘Brighton’ and ‘Sussex Business Community’ groups. You should look into joining these if you haven’t already.
Thank you. How kind of you. While I will travel to clients, it’s always great to work locally.