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Is It Okay If I Look In Your Knicker Drawer?

Decluttering, organising and supporting clients with downsizing means they share a lot of personal information with me.  It’s important that we have a mutual respect and trust to get the most out of every session.   During our time together I find out a lot about clients and their families and friends and how they live their lives, and I often see very personal things.    I ALWAYS ask if we can look in drawers and cupboards before we do, and we NEVER take it ...

Heat Pumps – A Smart Choice for Older People

This month’s guest blog is written by David Lyons Whyte from Switched On London.  As we get older, comfort, safety, saving money, and environmental considerations become more important in our homes. That’s why more and more older adults are turning to heat pumps as a modern solution for heating. Heat pumps are energy-efficient systems that keep your home warm when you need it, without the high costs or hassle of traditional heating systems. They work by extracting ‘free’ heat f...

National Best Friends’ Day

Yes, we know, there are probably too many national awareness days, but this one piqued our interest because we know that people who are lonely in retirement have a significant risk of dementia with some studies showing as much as a 25-40% increased risk.  As we get older, it is more and more important to make sure we have community around us and people that we share our thoughts and feelings with to help mitigate any risk factors.    If you have a best friend, celebrate them ...

Safe calls to your bank 

Spoofing is a deceptive practice where an attacker disguises their identity or the source of a communication to appear as a trusted entity, often to gain access to sensitive information, steal money, or spread malware. It involves impersonating someone or something else to mislead victims and gain their trust. This can happen through various channels like email, phone calls, and even network protocols.  The most common is calls from someone pretending to be your bank.  Thanks t...

“Oh, but that was a gift from…”!

When decluttering we regularly have conversations with clients about the fact that they can’t give an item away because someone gave it to them.  I understand.  You worry that the person will know what you’ve done.  But actually, will they?  And more importantly, will they mind? You know they thought of you when they gave you the item, and you were grateful when you received it.  But you don’t have to keep it for ever.  If when you get the item from ...

Food waste part 2!

Food waste is caused because the vast majority of people don’t plan their food consumption and so much therefore is left over.   There will always be those times when we buy something that spoils before we expected it to.  That’s not your fault, so don’t worry about that.   But we will all find that we buy, say,  coriander, and have some left, or a large pot of Greek yoghurt (because it’s cheaper than small).    We need to train ourselves to t...

Food can be clutter too!

Did you know that food can be clutter too?   70% of UK food waste comes from households, that’s 6.7million tonnes.*  The average household spends £470 on food each year that is thrown away.   These statistics are crazy! During declutter sessions we are regularly identifying unwanted food which we are giving and throwing away.  We give to foodbanks where we can, give away on Olio where we can’t, and throw when it is no longer possible to rehome it. &nb...

World Password Day - Guest Blog

This week’s guest blog is written by Richard Fincher from Room 101.  For the last 700 years, at the Tower of London, at around 10pm, something similar to the following refrain is heard during the changing of the watchman's shift: "Halt! Who goes there?' 'The keys.' 'Whose keys?' 'Queen Elizabeth's keys.' 'Pass Queen Elizabeth's keys, all is well.' What's the point of a tradition like that? Most traditions can seem pretty pointless and quaint, but they ma...

Setting a declutter schedule

If you are downsizing or just feel that your home is a bit overcrowded with possessions, one of the great ways to get started is to set yourself a schedule which can be popped into your diary.  This way you are setting time aside for it and you are also holding yourself accountable to do it.  It is okay to do something else instead in that time, but you must help yourself by rearranging it for another time before the next one is scheduled.  If something like ill health gets in the...

National Haiku Poetry Day!

As it is National Haiku Poetry Day today,  we asked AI for a bit of help for some relevant haikus, and we love them.  Here they are: DownsizingSorting cherished thingsMemories packed with careNew beginnings bloom.Later lifeSilver strands whisperFootsteps slow but hearts still danceSunset glows warmly.DeclutteringGlass crowding the shelvesWaiting for flowers to comeDust fills them instead...

Treasured memories

This month’s guest blog is written by Rosalind Furlong, a professional photographer, who captures people and memories for a living and shares here how she wishes she had dealt with her children’s memories.  My name is Rosalind and I am a hoarder. I’m not quite sure how it started. Perhaps it was being brought up by parents who lived through the deprivation of the second world war and who took the attitude that something might just come in useful someday. Maybe it was watching Blu...

Because it might be useful…

When I was 10 years old, my parents got divorced.  My dad, like many men, kept many screws, nuts, bolts, etc, ‘because they might be useful’.  We moved to a more suitable home and I suggested to my mum that the shed-full of these items wasn’t needed - my father had moved abroad, so wasn’t going to take them himself.  She insisted they came with us.  20 years later, she downsized, to a flat.  No shed.  How many times had those screws come in useful?  Alt...

All of the emotions

Claire Edwards, Registered Nurse and Eldercare Consultant, provides independent care advice to older people and their families. She gives us her thoughts here, having read a newspaper article from a family carer.  I recently read a letter to a national newspaper, written and sent by the wife and carer of a gentleman living with dementia. The full range of emotions expressed by her made me reflect on the fact that they are undoubtedly shared by so many spouses the length and breadth of the...

Fire Brigade

Did you know that your fire brigade isn’t just there to help you when there’s a fire or a road incident?  They also help with fire prevention advice.   Fire brigades offer a home visit to make sure you are safe in your home.  Check with your local fire station to see what they offer.   As well as tips on fire safety the visit may include fitting smoke or heat alarms, and they can also fit specialist alarms for those who are hard of hearing which include strobe l...

Hacks for seniors

Getting older can be a bit annoying. If you have osteoarthritis, you can lose your grip; if you have declining eye sight, you can’t see things as clearly; and your balance may have started to falter.  So here are some easy things that might help you: Get a small rubber mat or a plastic gripper tool to help you open jars and things.  Often turning it is still hard but if you push a little to the right with the gripper and to the left with your other hand, it can become really eas...

Today is organise your home office day!

I’ve found it necessary to rent an office twice during the 21 years of having my own business. On the first occasion I needed space for staff, and on the second my home just didn’t have room for a desk. However, much more of my work now is done at my clients’ homes, and my own home can now accommodate a desk.  Having an office at home, whether you work for yourself, are employed, or need a dedicated office space when you are retired, can become a dumping ground for papers and suc...

Digital Will

Not heard of a digital will? A digital will is an inventory of your digital assets.  It can form part of a normal will or be a side letter. It is really important to have a note of all the passwords that your loved ones will need to access documents you have created and online accounts you have; also for them to be able to use your social media to let people know you have died, and even to find the location of precious photos and documents that might be required.You can create a document wi...

Caring for parents and dealing with overwhelm

This month’s guest blog is written by Kayane Watson, a certified Thrive Coach, exploring how to deal with the overwhelm of caring for elderly parents.  Do you often find yourself overwhelmed by the emotional demands of caring for an elderly parent while struggling to meet their expectations?Caring for an elderly parent is a profound act of love and commitment, but it might come with challenges that can leave you feeling drained, frustrated, or even at times guilty. Many adult childre...

Share the love

It’s Valentine’s day today and so we would like to wish you love and kindness. On February 17th, in just a few days,  it is National Random Acts of Kindness Day.  No coincidence that these two dates fall within a few days of each other.  Last year the Evening Standard gave us a fabulous list of ideas you could do on this day and we thoroughly endorse all of them.      You can have a read here. If you can do one of those things for an older pe...

Letting things go

Some people find the act of decluttering simple, and some find it very difficult.  It can be a bit like baring your soul to a counsellor - difficult at first, but rewarding as you spend more time doing it, and something that will open you up to new possibilities at home and in your life as you let go of your ‘stuff’. When we are decluttering with clients, we find that we are operating in a similar role to that of a counsellor.  We hear  so much about clients’ memories, ...

Transitioning to domiciliary care

If you are looking at getting help from a domiciliary carer for your loved one, there are some practical things to think about once you know you will be using their service: Declutter the rooms they will need to be in.  This is important because your loved one’s home is the carer’s work place and it needs to be safe for them too.  Extra equipment in the home may well be needed so there should be space for this, and for the carer and your loved one to be able to move around as ...

January 2025 newsletter

Read our latest newsletter here....

Relationship breakdowns

We are starting a series of guest blogs, once a month and our first one is written by Sapphira Gold who is an Associate Solicitor at Hanne & Co and she specialises in private family law. "As family solicitors, we often find that January brings with it a raft of enquiries about relationship breakdowns. After a busy festive period when family tensions may have arisen, this can lead to questions about what to do if those difficulties or differences can no longer be overcome and one or both...

What if the charity shop doesn't want your unwanted items?

When decluttering, which you might be doing as a new year’s resolution, we recommend that clients give unwanted items to charity (if they can’t easily be sold).  Doing so:Helps someone buy the item cheaper than they would newHelps the charity get money to support the cause/s they were set up forHelps create space in your home more quickly (if you want to sell something it hangs around for a long while before you list it and then someone comes to buy it!) But not everything can be g...

Brrr...it's chilly!

Have you ever had a broken-down boiler?  It could be caused by all sorts of things but one of the most common is a frozen condensate pipe.  And with the weather we've been having this is very likely.    But the good news is that you don’t actually need a boiler engineer to sort this out. This helpful article from Worcester Bosch can help you identify your condensate pipe and thaw it out.   https://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/heating-advice/frozen-condensateAnd ...