declutter – Starfish Organisers Limited

We received our Riverford box this week and the message from Guy was about waste veg. Having been responsible for the waste contract of a large restaurant and pub chain I’m always interested in what’s next and how we can reduce waste as it’s scary what volume is thrown away on a regular basis.

This then got me thinking about gifts (tenuous link I know) and how gifts can be wasted. Why do we buy gifts?

It’s Easter which means chocolate. I know Easter doesn’t mean just chocolate but unfortunately that’s the first thing that the commercialised world thinks about. Back in the day I was given a CD from someone instead of chocolate and now my tiny human is given cash. Don’t get me wrong, this is lovely but how has it got to this, why do we feel the need to buy presents.

Birthdays and Christmas are difficult. How often do you get too close to the date and panic about what to buy people. There are some people who you will find easy to buy for – everyone thinks they are easy to buy for but they are wrong, some of the time anyway!

When you have that panic, what do you buy? How much thought goes into it? Maybe you resort to a voucher? To me a voucher is a bit last minute and to some of my friends, thoughtless but just think you can literally buy anything with an Amazon voucher and when I say anything, something you actually want.

This is the problem with gifts, some of them become clutter straight away in your home. I’m not ungrateful but, think back to what gifts you have received which you don’t like or have never used. I come across this so often when working with someone, they want to keep something just because they were given it – they don’t even like it but feel guilty about throwing it away.

My suggestion to this is to try and sell said item and use the money to buy something you love then, there’s less guilt as technically they have bought you something you would use and enjoy and you have less clutter in your home.

My advice to the gift buyer, if you’re not sure what to buy someone should you be buying them a present? Controversial question? Not really. When I spend time with my friends and talk to them – face to face or facetime to facetime I get an understanding of where they are, what they’re up to and what they need. Don’t get me wrong, I am not the perfect gift buyer (I’m envious of those people) but I like to buy people what I think would be useful to them. If you’re buying for the sake of buying then would a card or other gesture be fine instead? What would you like to receive?

Alternatively, buy someone an experience. We’ve started this in our family and we are off gliding in the Summer – when would you have ever done that?!

The P for procrastination, Pinterest. Not heard of it? It’s the app to look at whilst you make yourself a cup of tea for 10 minutes, then the next thing you realise, your tea has gone cold and at least an hour has gone by…….. but, you’ve found your ideal home, every room in your home, planned every birthday, Christmas and halloween (even though you’ve never celebrated halloween in your life!)

Now, for home stuff when searching (if your home is anything like mine) you need to add “small” in the description as being mainly American you need a ranch or house in one of those cheesy family films to have rooms the size of the whole of my downstairs! I started with a “house” board and now I have one for every room the only problem is actually getting stuff done. It was different when having a tiny human as we had 9 months, a deadline and a plan for the room which gives you a bit more motivation to get the room how you would like it.

In normal circumstances you have the ideas and pass the room or job every day and just think you should really get that done, without a timeline, push, help, things don’t always get done, plans are not followed through and tasks are not completed. This is where a personal organiser can help. If you were building a house or a large extension you would have a planner or project manager to ensure tasks are completed and the job finished to your satisfaction, an organiser does this but on a small scale to work with you to ensure your home is finished to the standard you would expect – and make it your home!

We can declutter, tidy, put your possessions in order and find homes for things so you can find them again but we can also organise tradespeople to finish tasks, put up pictures and finish those small annoying jobs which you walk past everyday. It may even be that you no longer notice them and have forgotten that the door handle will fall off it you pull it too much or until a visitor comes you realise you have to explain how to turn flush the loo properly.

Make a cuppa and grab a pen and pad, walk around from room to room and make notes in each of what tasks need finishing or doing full stop, what annoys you when you are sat in the bath or when you’re making the spare room up for guests write it down. Alternatively, if it’s something that will take 5 minutes, do it straight away. Once you’ve got your list, give a personal organiser a call to talk through. We can give you an idea of costs and timelines to make your house your home and your sanctuary.

Feel like you can relate to this and need some organisation, get in touch via phone – 07772 773992 or e-mail – sarah@starfishorganisers.com If I am unable to help, I can find someone who can.

We provide an initial free consultation via phone or Skype or, visit for an hour for £25 + mileage which is redeemable against your first booking.

Tag: declutter

Why do we buy presents?

My ideal home is on Pinterest, if only I could create it in real life – and not a Pinterest fail!