Dani Hardy
Appearances
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Absolutely. I think that clutter is something that is really contributing to people's poor mental health. You're running around trying to find your keys and you don't know where they are. Or you're in a cupboard desperately trying to find the pasta because the kids are hungry but you've got to get past all the cereal and all this other stuff.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Or your children are wanting a toy and you've got a mountain full of toys and you can't find the exact one they want.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
oh it's not good for our mental health at all what is clutter is it stuff that you just haven't used in a year that's a really good question actually and I think it probably means something different to different people the media really is encouraging us to you've got to buy this thing you've got to have all of these different items you've got to wear these clothes and I think we're just
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
been programmed to constantly keep buying things and items. And then what happens is we have all these possessions in our home. Some of them might be useful, some of them might not be useful, but they are just filling up our cupboards. And so try and look at your items in a different way. Are all of these items that you have in your house functional?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
In the kitchen, we can have so many different electrical items. A blender, you have a food processor.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Yeah, bread maker, all of those kind of things. And if you are using them on a regular basis, then that's brilliant. But if you're not, then they're taking up valuable space.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
It's incredible how much better you feel. And even when I work with clients and I've... Let's say I'm working in a kitchen cupboard. I will actually just keep opening it after I finish because I'm getting a dopamine hit myself.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
I know it was. I couldn't believe it. And so many people asked me that. They said, you're just like Stacey Solomon. And I guess I am similar in the sense I'm a professional organiser and declutterer. But I don't have a team of 15 or 25 people that are emptying the whole house out and putting in an airline hangar.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Exactly, and painting the house. So I do work with clients in a similar way, but on a much more slower basis. And also something that's really important is I work with the family as well. I think it's really important for them to have a lot of input. And also the organisational systems that I put in place afterwards, I need their input because it's got to work for them.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
I know, it sounds crazy, but there is actually an association of professional declutterers and organisers, APDO. And so for me to be able to work as a professional organiser, I have to be registered with them, and they have certain criteria that you have to hit. So I have to be licensed, I have to be insured, and I have to have specific training that I need to attend as well.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Not at all, not at all. Even though I'm an organiser and people say, oh, your house must be absolutely immaculate and so tidy. I have two young boys, so it is not tidy a lot of the time. But when it's time for us to tidy up, it's really easy for them to do that because they know where everything goes, right?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Exactly. I think that's a great comment. I've not heard that before. And I love stuff. I have a lot of stuff. I'm definitely not a minimalist. But everything has a home. And I think that's really, really key.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Oh, I'm going to take that. Definitely. Right, come on, pick a cupboard.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
It's dried mango.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
My children are addicted to dried mango. If I want them to do anything, I just say, oh, we'll have some dried mango.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
I do have a label maker and some people love labels. But with this, what I've done is I've just got all of my rice together, all of my pastas together, all of the dried fruit together, all of the nuts. We've got snacks for the kids. So when they're saying, I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I've got them all here together. I can just pull it out and just say, what do you want?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
isn't this forgive me isn't this common sense do you know what like for me it is but something that i've learned is that it doesn't come naturally to everyone and so i used to go around to friends houses and i would just open their cupboard and think gosh why have they got it like this and so i would just reorganize it and put all the yeah put all the pastas together and put all of the cans together and my friends would say tanny that's amazing thank you so much for doing that
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
And so that's actually how Danny Declutters was born. I would do that, just even just pottering around in my friend's kids' bedrooms and just tidying up and just organising things. And so that is how I decided, you know what, I've actually got a skill that comes really easy to me. I'm passionate about it. And it's something that can really help other people.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Yes, exactly, exactly. And I work with so many different individuals. So I've actually worked with people who are disabled and so they physically can't reach the stuff in their kitchen. So I've reorganised it so it's much more accessible. I've worked with widowers who want to downsize and they just need to get rid of a load of items.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
be very empathetic but also they want to tell stories you know we'll go through a box and it's got all of these different items and books and ornaments and each one has a story and so they tell me that story and they share it and then they're able to let that item go someone's heard them exactly exactly I find it very very rewarding
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Oh, so many parents just get so frustrated by the toys and the mess. And I think kids do have too many toys. But also, I think that when you go and say to children, go upstairs and tidy your room, they don't know how to tidy their room.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Yeah, yeah, you're right, actually. Yes, that's a really good sort of way to look at it. So what I do with my children and my clients is that we organise all of the toys into categories and I teach the children about the different categories. So we have all the Paw Patrol toys together. We have all of the Transformer toys together. We have all the Lego together.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
And so when it is tidy up time, they know where the items go and they also know where to find it as well. I have this thing by the door called a donation station.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
When the children are playing with their toys and they decide that they don't want it anymore, they just pop it in the donation station. I mean, I've got here some armbands. I mean, my children don't need armbands anymore.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Don't need that anymore because my children are dry through the night.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
If you want any of it, feel free to take it home with you.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
So true. Children can be quite, for want of a better word, possessive over their toys because it does. It belongs to them.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
And actually educating children that if there's some item that they no longer want and then that toy can go on to another life and be given to another child or taken to a charity shop which can then raise money for charity and that toy that they have loved can continue to be loved rather than stuck in the back of a cupboard. then that's a really, really important lesson.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
A top tip for parents is rather than saying, which books do you want to get rid of? Focus on which books do you want to keep? Because then that really empowers the children. It really gives them a sense of control over the whole process. Then you know that the other pile, that can go to a charity shop and continue its life somewhere else.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
It's completely reframing, just turning it on its head and looking at the positives rather than what are they letting go of, what can they keep.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
I think that's very normal and I think sentimental items are a really hard category to
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
to declutter and when I'm working with clients I would normally leave that till till the end once they've got a little bit of momentum they've they've learned that skill they've got that muscle memory in their brain to learn how to let things go I will start in a kitchen because there's not much sentimental items you can really easily let go of items that are out of date but like you said
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
that teddy bear, something that belonged to a family member that's passed away. You've got to work within your own comfort zone. You don't want to get rid of something and regret it later when it comes to sentimental items. But also by the same token, you've got to question yourself, why am I holding on to this? Why do I have all of my school books from five up to 18?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
Are you really ever going to look at them? And if you do, it's going to be every 10, 20 years when you do a sort out.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
My website is dannydclutters.co.uk. You can also email me as well at dannydclutters at gmail.com. I'm on Instagram too and I've got a Facebook page. So I think if you just Google me, you'll be able to find me.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
56: Celebrating Salfords, decluttering Redhill house-by-house… and more
MUSIC