seaexplore
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,878
Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
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Post by seaexplore on Jul 31, 2021 15:03:51 GMT
I have a friend who has a business like this, but with a twist - she markets her business at helping older people who are downsizing their homes. She offers whatever help they feel they need, from helping them work out what they need or want in their new smaller home, through helping them dispose of what they don’t want (sell or donate), and organising storage if they need it before they move into their new home. Yes! My parents need this business! They have a 3600 square foot house (with a finished basement) of stuff. When my grandparents passed away, they brought stuff into their home. It's PACKED. And they're building a new house (at 75 and 73) that is bigger so they'll have even MORE stuff! They need to purge BEFORE they move! It's going to be nuts helping them move. |
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pilcas
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,237 
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Post by pilcas on Jul 31, 2021 15:05:38 GMT
I would not spend money on this. I might pay for someone to do the labor. I would also pay to have someone list and sell things for me.. However, I w
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Post by Lexica on Jul 31, 2021 15:45:17 GMT
We need a postscript to this story. What happened when her mother came to visit? Did your friend clean up enough that mom didn't file for the kid? Honestly, the thought of a child living in what you describe...  Well, she might be safer with the grandmother! At least the threat of it might motivate the mom to get some help. By the time the mother came to visit, the house was in much better shape. My friend hung one of those roll-up blinds off the edge of the patio structure so that you could not see into the back yard. She put the bulk of the stuff on the side of the house too so that it couldn't be seen. Her mother did not stay with them because there were only 2 bedrooms in this little place so she only came to pick them up to go to restaurants and daily outings. The place was in shape enough for that. She was successful in keeping her daughter. Yes, I wondered myself if the child would not be better off with grandma, but the child was also terrified of having to leave her mom and California to have to live with the grandma in Indiana. That is what made me help them out. About a year after this incident, my friend left this rental house and purchased one of her own. She had received payment in a long-standing lawsuit and used the money from that for the down on the new place. We had met and become friends while we were both taking a court reporting course at a local court reporting college. Just after she purchased the house, my son was diagnosed with cancer and I took a 2-year leave from school to care for him. I lost touch with this friend during that time. I pretty much lost touch with everyone during those early years of his battle. When I eventually returned to school, she was no longer there. When I asked mutual friends about her, I was told she had quit school to open a business transcribing notes for other court reporters and that it was doing well. I want to think the move helped her to change her patterns, but I doubt it. I have thought of her many times over the last 25 years. I tried to look her up once, but her last name a very common one and I wasn't successful. |
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Post by birukitty on Jul 31, 2021 16:22:37 GMT
I answered no in your poll but that's only because I love to organize and I consider myself good at it-I think it's the German half of me  But, I do think it's a wonderful idea for a business and I think there's a market for it. I wish you much success and there's nothing like owning your own business to make you feel extremely proud and in control. It does come with a ton of work, but I think it's well worth it. I would however maybe consider a different name for your business. Enjoy Less when I read it doesn't tell me anything about what you do. To me it sounds like a negative. It's an amazing quote and I understand why you wanted to pull your business name from it, but think about it from a customer's stand point. Say you're a customer and you see the words Enjoy Less-Do those words catch your eye-what do you immediately think of? They make me think of negative things-what will this business do for me? How will it impact my life to make me Enjoy Less? See where I'm coming from? Maybe instead consider a name with Organize or Organization in it? Plus Coach maybe? I think a lot of folks could use a business like yours including my parents and sister. In fact, my sister hired someone just like you to help her with her organization and it really helped her. Enjoy your new business! |
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kate
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Location: The city that doesn't sleep
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Jun 26, 2014 3:30:05 GMT
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Post by kate on Jul 31, 2021 16:39:12 GMT
I would sooooo hire one of these! My home needs all-over refreshing, including new electrical, refinishing wood floors, repairing plaster walls, etc. In my fantasy world, we would move to a furnished rental for a couple of months, put what we're keeping into storage, then move back in after the renovation... But that would require a massive allover purge, and that completely paralyzes me. Knowing what to do with the purged items is a huge block. I feel terrible adding to landfill, but I have no idea what to do with kitchen utensils that have seen better days, stained clothing, or half-used craft supplies. I would pay good money for help that included actually getting the stuff OUT. My nightmare would be to Marie Kondo my whole house, then live for years with bags and boxes full of "donate" items in my entryway!  I think your business is a great idea. Best wishes! |
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Post by quinlove on Jul 31, 2021 16:45:43 GMT
Hi. My suggestion is to do it. Follow your dreams. If you don’t, you will always possibly regret it. Gather as much info that you can. I believe that this is the perfect plan - for the perfect person. You got this. 😊
eta ~ just to be clear - *you* are the perfect person I was referring to.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 31, 2021 21:00:26 GMT
I would not spend money on this. I might pay for someone to do the labor. I would also pay to have someone list and sell things for me.. However, I w This is really what our friend needs for some of her stuff. I will admit somewhere in the hoard there are definitely some items that are potentially valuable, but they are doing her no good buried under a literal pile of worthless trash. She is an older lady and quite paranoid, so selling this stuff on her own (some of it is too big or heavy or fragile to easily ship) poses a problem. She isn’t comfortable posting stuff on Craigslist or Nextdoor and having randos show up at her house to look at it or buy it, and the house is such a dumpster fire mess that having an auction place come through isn’t a good option at this point either. She needs the money from the things she doesn’t need that actually have some value. She needs the clutter and the trash gone so she can downsize and move into a smaller more affordable place. Her house currently isn’t safe for her the way it is because she has trouble getting around with so much junk piled up everywhere. But she just can’t seem to let go of anything, even the trash. |
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Post by MZF on Jul 31, 2021 21:12:38 GMT
I wouldn’t because I’m pretty good at decluttering and enjoy doing it. I love the name of your business and think there is a definite need for it though! this^^Best of luck with your business! |
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Post by magellen on Jul 31, 2021 21:33:45 GMT
Nope, I like my clutter.
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Post by FLA SummerBaby on Jul 31, 2021 22:45:05 GMT
I don't know that I would have a need for that service for myself. However I do think it is a great idea for certain groups-- like elderly downsizing homes or hoarder situation. I agree that offering to get rid of pieces (like posting on FB Marketplace, etc) is a helpful side option for many who might be unfamiliar with how to do this. I like the name you came up with and wish you great success.
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caangel
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Posts: 5,734
Location: So Cal
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Post by caangel on Jul 31, 2021 22:55:17 GMT
I don't know that I would have a need for that service for myself. However I do think it is a great idea for certain groups-- like elderly downsizing homes or hoarder situation. I agree that offering to get rid of pieces (like posting on FB Marketplace, etc) is a helpful side option for many who might be unfamiliar with how to do this. I like the name you came up with and wish you great success. OP if you don't want to take on this part of the work maybe at least have some local connections who you can suggest for this type of work. In one of the episodes of Hot Mess House a home owner was decluttering inherited items. Cass suggested only selling things that would sell for $50 or more. In the end the owner didn't find very much to sell and donated most of what she had to her own relief. |
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Aug 1, 2021 0:55:15 GMT
I would for sure!!
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Post by slicksister on Aug 1, 2021 1:12:20 GMT
I don't know that I would have a need for that service for myself. However I do think it is a great idea for certain groups-- like elderly downsizing homes or hoarder situation. I agree that offering to get rid of pieces (like posting on FB Marketplace, etc) is a helpful side option for many who might be unfamiliar with how to do this. I like the name you came up with and wish you great success. OP if you don't want to take on this part of the work maybe at least have some local connections who you can suggest for this type of work. In one of the episodes of Hot Mess House a home owner was decluttering inherited items. Cass suggested only selling things that would sell for $50 or more. In the end the owner didn't find very much to sell and donated most of what she had to her own relief. This is my plan. I've watched a lot of Cas's YouTube videos. I advocate donating MOST of what people declutter. The goal is to get things OUT of the house. Selling it can take a long time and the clutter is STILL IN YOUR HOUSE. Thanks so much for your encouragement everyone. I do intend to have the quote on my business cards. |
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Post by laurasw on Aug 1, 2021 2:18:27 GMT
I don’t know that I would personally hire someone for myself, but a friend of ours could sure use some help in making logical decisions with letting things go. It’s a hoarder situation that is truly sad and we don’t know how to help.  I had a friend that was a hoarder. She called me crying one day to relate that her mother was coming for a surprise visit in a week's time. She said if her mother saw how she and her daughter were living, she would file for custody of the daughter. She had threatened it in the past and my friend knew her mother would follow through with taking custody of her daughter. I had previously cleaned and organized the daughter's room before, so she asked me to please help her get ready for the mother's visit. She was truly unsure of how to sort and get rid of things. I ended up having to take bags of trash home with me each night because she was going out after I had gone home and bringing some of the items that we agreed to throw away back into the house. I'm talking empty boxes. Now, I can understand wanting to temporarily keep a box of an electronic item that was just purchased in case you need to return it. But she was bringing back in boxes of things like a wooden CD rack that was several years old. No moving parts. No opportunity to return. She couldn't understand why she couldn't keep the box because it was in good condition. She had two cars and the second car was filled to the ceiling with stuff too. It sat in her driveway because the garage was overflowing with crud just like the apartment was. I did my best with her. I took her shopping for cleaning materials. She was so interested in the floor wax. I arrived early the next morning to seeing her so excited because she had just waxed the kitchen floor. She kept remarking on how wonderful the kitchen smelled. Unfortunately, she hadn't washed it first. It was filthy. I mean I don't think it had ever been washed. I had to strip the new wax, wash the floor, and then let her wax it again. She was so shocked at the color of the floor without dirt on it. We went through gallons of Nature's Miracle because she had a pet rat that lived loose in the house. It had chewed the furniture and drapes in addition to pooping and peeing everywhere. I soaked the carpeting with Nature's miracle overnight before bringing in a rented carpet cleaner the next day. She ended up buying dozens of big plastic tubs to put things into and stacking them in the little back yard of the apartment. The yard was a disaster too because she had purchased a couple of rabbits and turned them loose in the yard. There were holes everywhere and rabbits to fill them. To feed the rabbits she just bought large bags of feed and cut them open on the patio. That drew outside rats too. And the funny thing to me is she wanted to take me to lunch one day to have a serious conversation. She told me she felt I had a mental disorder of some type because my Saturdays were reserved for house cleaning. She would want to take our kids to the zoo or the beach and I would have to remind her that we did all of our house chores on Saturdays, but we could probably go Sunday if we had finished them all. She felt that I had OCD because I was cleaning my house and doing laundry every single week! And I even vacuumed under the cushions of my family room couch. She had never seen anyone clean on a normal basis so this was extremely concerning to her. She truly had no idea that she was the one with the disorder. But you could never meet a nicer person. You just couldn't go inside her house. I personally love organizing things, but I know there are many people out there that do not have a clue on how to keep their belongings in a manner that they can find them again. People like that would benefit from your service. Gosh, that was a full-time job. You were really kind to help her with such a huge undertaking! |
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cycworker
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,409
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Post by cycworker on Aug 1, 2021 4:10:09 GMT
I would absolutely use it. I am another, though, who needs more than a cheerleader. I need actual help to do it. I need you beside me, helping me sort, helping me how to organize it & put it away in a way that actually makes sense for my brain... I am like jeremysgirl - my craft area makes me look like a hoarder. The rest isn't so bad. Ok the books, and the storage room, could use a once over. |
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Deleted
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Nov 23, 2024 14:38:57 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2021 5:28:51 GMT
I think that guidance on methods of organisation and decision making on what to keep could be helpful for people who struggle with decluttering . I like the ideas that a couple of others have suggested like listing things on ebay or haulage . Having a list of useful contacts could be helpful for other things - storage units, container suppliers , removal firms, cleaning firms , decorators , handy man for shelving etc charities, antique assessors . Having people you could engage to do the physical work if it was a big job. I think if someone were paying for a coach , they might need practical physical assistance too, which could be possibly be sub contracted out. I think your idea for this business is exciting , I love watching all the decluttering programmes on TV. cycworker crafting stuff is my downfall, after lots of reorganisation , it still kept growing and I finally took the plunge and gave some of it away but it was hard ! Still got a way to go though. |
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Post by crazy4scraps on Aug 1, 2021 14:00:53 GMT
OP if you don't want to take on this part of the work maybe at least have some local connections who you can suggest for this type of work. In one of the episodes of Hot Mess House a home owner was decluttering inherited items. Cass suggested only selling things that would sell for $50 or more. In the end the owner didn't find very much to sell and donated most of what she had to her own relief. This is my plan. I've watched a lot of Cas's YouTube videos. I advocate donating MOST of what people declutter. The goal is to get things OUT of the house. Selling it can take a long time and the clutter is STILL IN YOUR HOUSE. Thanks so much for your encouragement everyone. I do intend to have the quote on my business cards. I agree. Our suggestion to our friend was to clear out even half of the (full) garage to at least have a staging area where she could move the bigger furniture items out of the house to photograph them so they could be listed and sold. Once those big items were gone she would have more space both inside and in the garage where she could go through boxes of stuff pulled from inside the house and decide what to do with it. She hasn’t been able to do it. We’re almost to the point where we think the county needs to get involved because we think she needs way more help than we can offer. |
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Aug 1, 2021 14:14:50 GMT
Reading through the comments…
I would absolutely pay someone to help me declutter and/organize.
I KNOW how to declutter.
I KNOW how to organize.
IKNOW it needs to get done.
I CANNOT get it done myself.
Getting it done with everything else (especially when it is a big project or when you just want it done in one fell swoop) is another issue in itself.
My friend and I traded our skill sets with one another to help each other out—I private check a few events for him, however, we did his first and mine is still waiting to get done 5 months later 😟
So I would 100% hire someone to help me declutter, organize, purge my art supplies and holiday decorations. They occupy my entire 1200 sq ft art room and it needs some help!
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Post by jeremysgirl on Aug 1, 2021 14:42:48 GMT
I have a friend who has a business like this, but with a twist - she markets her business at helping older people who are downsizing their homes. She offers whatever help they feel they need, from helping them work out what they need or want in their new smaller home, through helping them dispose of what they don’t want (sell or donate), and organising storage if they need it before they move into their new home. Yes! My parents need this business! They have a 3600 square foot house (with a finished basement) of stuff. When my grandparents passed away, they brought stuff into their home. It's PACKED. And they're building a new house (at 75 and 73) that is bigger so they'll have even MORE stuff! They need to purge BEFORE they move! It's going to be nuts helping them move. You are going to have one helluva time when they pass trying to clean out their house. I'm so sorry. |
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seaexplore
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,878
Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
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Post by seaexplore on Aug 1, 2021 14:53:03 GMT
Yes! My parents need this business! They have a 3600 square foot house (with a finished basement) of stuff. When my grandparents passed away, they brought stuff into their home. It's PACKED. And they're building a new house (at 75 and 73) that is bigger so they'll have even MORE stuff! They need to purge BEFORE they move! It's going to be nuts helping them move. You are going to have one helluva time when they pass trying to clean out their house. I'm so sorry. Yep. I’m thinking I’ll call American Pickers and let them have at it! They can’t even get into the oversized 3 car garage. There are 3 cars in there that I know of. An antique printing press too. Tons of wood. And the basement? The house was built out of the basement. Not sure how the tools will be moved out. And the wood. It’s going to be nuts. I just hope they get moved to the new house which is all one level before they pass. Thankfully I have 3 siblings to help but 2 are in Texas and that leaves me and my next sister here to deal with it. |
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SabrinaP
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Post by SabrinaP on Aug 1, 2021 15:15:37 GMT
I personally wouldn’t because it’s not an area I struggle with. I love to throw things away!!
However, it seems like a very low upfront cost business. You don’t need to buy a bunch to get started, so go for it! I wish you so much success!
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Post by alsomsknit on Aug 1, 2021 15:31:14 GMT
No, I don’t need this type of service. However, it was a business idea I have had. It isn’t something there would not be enough local clientele.
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Post by lisacharlotte on Aug 1, 2021 15:56:23 GMT
I think it sounds like a great business. However, I think a lot of people that need help in this area are going to need advice/coaching as well as help doing it. If you are not including at least some labor, I think you will limit your clientele. If I have to pay for the coaching and provide all the labor, it may be more cost effective to ignore my clutter.
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caangel
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Location: So Cal
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Post by caangel on Aug 1, 2021 17:27:12 GMT
No, I don’t need this type of service. However, it was a business idea I have had. It isn’t something there would not be enough local clientele. I think this is an important part. I live in So Cal, very dense easily lots of local clientele and many with the extra disposable income to pay for this kind of service. YMMV |
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ddly
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Jul 10, 2014 19:36:28 GMT
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Post by ddly on Aug 1, 2021 18:47:48 GMT
For me, it would depend on the situation, not the cost. If I had a lot to get through and little time, that’s when I would need help. I could do it myself but I move slow. I imagine after so much I would want it done and would be willing to pay to get it done.
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Post by katlady on Aug 1, 2021 19:36:19 GMT
I wouldn’t mind having someone who is not attached to my stuff help out with decluttering my craft room. Also, it would be great if they would haul away the stuff too.
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Just T
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Posts: 5,884
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Post by Just T on Aug 1, 2021 22:03:21 GMT
If I had the extra money, I would hire a decluttering coach. I am by no means a hoarder, and my house is mostly neat and tidy, but I know I have too much stuff that I am too attached to. I would love a non-involved third party to come to my house and be harsh about what I need to get rid of.
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Post by peasapie on Aug 1, 2021 22:05:14 GMT
I think it's a lovely idea. I said no because I'm quite good at organizing - but if I wasn't, I would hire someone to help me.
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Well, she might be safer with the grandmother! At least the threat of it might motivate the mom to get some help. 
But, I do think it's a wonderful idea for a business and I think there's a market for it. I wish you much success and there's nothing like owning your own business to make you feel extremely proud and in control. It does come with a ton of work, but I think it's well worth it. 
