Leah Hobson, Image & Declutter Coach

Naturally I am torn between mess and order.

 I am very messy as do not put things away so items build up into messy piles.

 I was always super organised – I compensated for my multi passionate mess by planning and preparing kits for each activity.

 Daily living tasks I find hard but I love a project. I always loved to create styles to wear and environments to live in. I loved to sort, find storage solutions, create systems and rearrange rooms.

I have a head full of ideas…and I want to do them all!

  I loved setting up my image, declutter and organising business helping clients with their style, wardrobes and homes.

 As well as delivering my simplyLeah services I also ran the family business, I was in part time employment, opened a shop mentoring apprentices, volunteered in community projects and was a carer to ill family members. As you can see a big pile of activity was growing here!

With each of these commitments came more and more items; materials, equipment and paperwork.

 At home I wasn’t functioning well at all. I felt I was failing at everyday normal life; contributing to housekeeping was a struggle and I put off any self care. Often the thought of these ‘boring and nonessential’ tasks didn’t even occur to me to do. On the occasion the thoughts did appear it didn’t remain in my head long enough to make it onto my To Do List.

 The overwhelm of a cluttered calendar, cluttered mind and the physical clutter that came with my interests and responsibilities became overwhelming to the point of dysfunction and depression.

One day I sobbed the whole way home from a health appointment. (Another long story, but I had been given the wrong medication and this had made things worse.)

Something had to change . . . I needed to rethink life.

 Visually the physical clutter in my house wasn’t too bad but my surroundings misrepresented me and the many organised and stored items weren’t contributing to an easy daily life.

The mental clutter was bad, lists of things I really wanted to do, things I had to do and the compulsion to help those asking for support.

The calendar clutter was massive. Paid, voluntary and caring commitments filled every single day draining all time and energy.

I love life and all the opportunities that we create and come our way. I would say yes to ‘all the things’. I am lucky to have a full life and a secure home but the accumulation had became unhealthy.

 No matter how cleverly organised my physical items were I began to minimise them all. Life became easier with less.

Repeat after me “don’t put it down, put it away”.

I found that a simplified version of a Bullet Journal helped clear my cluttered mind and managing my time became easier.

Reducing my responsibilities was the first step to clearing space in my calendar.

I decluttered my house in layers until I created functional spaces. I studied many approaches to simplifying, minimalism, housekeeping and self care.

The overwhelm began to lift.

My house became a home.

I can now quickly tidy.

My ‘to do list’ is no longer overwhelming.

I am free to visit friends.

I can concentrate on special interest projects.

I continue to declutter or make improvements to any areas that are not working in my home.

I remind myself to clutter check my calendar as I still like to do ‘all the things’.

I am learning self-compassion and self care.

There’s space in my home and mind to make better decisions when life throws things my way.

 As for my wardrobe…

 As a child I clearly remember looking through my wardrobe with its white sliding door and was sad that none of the clothes were new or chosen by me.

I was thankful for the donated bags of hand-me-down clothes our family were given but I struggled to pull together a look that I liked from the contents.

As a teen I didn’t mind so much that I was unfashionable and always a year or two behind trends it was that I had ideas for items and outfits but didn’t get to try them out. And being invited to parties or other events was just awful knowing I didn’t have ‘suitable’ clothes and shoes.

Very soon my height became an overwhelming issue; even when I did find an item of clothing I liked and could afford, it didn’t fit me anyway!

I learnt to sew and customise second hand clothes but my creative and alternative preferences drew confusing comments from others and I didn’t understand how to make the best of my figure. I didn’t even know I had a shape; I was just ‘tall and skinny’.

I was mostly sad that I’d never had a wardrobe of clothes that felt like me, let alone fit me!

I didn’t give up. I dug out the old ‘colour me beautiful’ books and began to experiment, explore and study to gain the knowledge I needed to dress my natural colour and body shape. Over time I found freedom in my own style and the decluttering began. I developed the skills to curate a wardrobe that worked simply for me.

 You see, it is possible for you to define your style, discover your colours, dress your shape and declutter your wardrobe!

I established simplyLeah in 2008 and trained in Image Consultancy so I could help others quickly find their way to style rather than be overwhelmed and frustrated for decades.

I knew it wasn’t just me wanting to look in a mirror, smile at a reflection of their true self and then get on with their day in confidence.