The best place to start organising is the area that is bothering you the most! Once that area has been tackled you will feel a sense of accomplishment and relief that will inspire you to continue being organised.

The word ‘clutter’ means “a disorderly heap or assemblage; litter: a state or condition of confusion”. Clearing clutter – helping clients to make decisions about, and then to dispose of (in a responsible and appropriate way), unwanted items – is undoubtedly one of the most important weapons in the artillery of the professional organiser. It is, however, not the whole story.

Put simply, it is perfectly possible to organise somebody without decluttering them; it is not possible to declutter effectively without implementing organisation. While many clients come to us for help with clutter – the visible manifestation of disorganisation – some problems relate not so much to unwanted and superfluous goods, as to the appropriate and sensible storage of the items that they wish to keep. Similarly, without the creation of workable processes and systems, tailored to the client’s needs, the problem of clutter is likely to return.

Decluttering is a vital organisational tool that is used probably more than any other, but it cannot stand on its own. You need to declutter before you can organise.

We would like to thank the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers (APDO) whose equivalent FAQs form the basis of the information above.

We work at your pace and it is largely dependent on how much clutter there is. Clutter is essentially delayed decision making. With our guidance it is amazing how much can be achieved in just a matter of a few hours.

Decluttering can be physically, mentally and emotionally draining so we usually allow one room per session and sometimes it can take longer.

Don’t worry and please don’t be embarrassed. Each client thinks their place is the worst. We are here to help and support you and do not judge in any way. Your biggest step will be making contact with us. This is the start towards a less cluttered and more organised home.

Absolutely not. Please have no fear that I will wave bin bags at you! Before we start work with you we will spend some time getting to know you and what is important to you. Our role is to support you and work closely with you to make your life run more smoothly and introduce organisational systems that tailored to meet your individual needs.

Some of our clients prefer to keep things private and other are quite happy to tell friends and family about their decluttering sessions as they want to share with them how liberated and uplifted they feel. Tapioca Tidy is a completely discreet, confidential and private service. We will ask you to sign our terms and conditions before commencing any work.

Paper, paper paper. Paper accounts for a great deal of the clutter in our homes and offices and is the biggest challenge in terms of curbing it! Paper purging should be done daily in order to try and keep it at bay.

At the end of each session we will take away as much recycling as possible. Additionally we will provide advice on how best to sell any items you no longer need and take any donations to local charity shops. I will also help and organise for any other larger items to be collected for charity and or free-cycling.

We will work together to identify the sources of frustration, learn about you, what you like doing and how you would like to live your life. We will also establish what your natural organising style is and put in systems that suit you.

We will work on decluttering first – its always worth wearing comfortable and practical clothes during a decluttering session so it doesn’t matter if we stir up a little dust! We will help you sort through what stays and what goes. We then organise what stays and look at how best to use the newly space we have created.

After each session, we’ll look at what has been achieved with a great sense of relief and pride and look at how best to continue keeping the clutter at bay. We will put in simple, easy to maintain organising solutions that are tailored to meet your needs.

Yes, we quite often work with families and teenagers. Children and couples are amongst our clients. We work with them in the same way we work with their parents and quite often find they love their decluttered rooms and are more likely to listen and take advice from a professional organiser than from their parents!