Professional organiser Deanne Sharp clears people’s lives of clutter

DEANNE Sharp spends her days clearing out other people’s homes. Whether it’s mouldy food or freaking out after seeing a ‘snake’, her decluttering changes people’s lives.

THERE’S few gross hazards in Deanne Sharp’s job. Putting her hand in unexpected things (think mouldy food or toy slime) is the main one. But there’s was one time she really screamed.

It was while she was working in the laundry of one of her clients: decluttering a room that nobody ever wanted to tidy. Out of the corner of her eye, she came face-to-face with a snake.

“It was a rubber snake that one boy had hidden in the laundry to scare his mum,” Ms Sharp said. “I screamed very loudly — it did look real.”

Ms Sharp’s day job is something not many of us can be bothered doing: decluttering our homes and organising our lives.

The 46-year-old from Sydney’s northern beaches became a professional organiser three years ago when she realised most people she spoke to were all struggling to complete their to-do lists and needed help.

“People are either too busy to get the big jobs done, too overwhelmed by the task at hand or don’t know how to go about it,” the mum-of-three said.

She’s not a cleaner (she won’t scrub your shower), but she does tackle the types of cupboards you’re too afraid to open in case everything falls out.

“It’s the same process for every task, get it all out and sort into piles to throw away, give to charity and keep,” Ms Sharp said.

“I arrive at people’s homes, I send them out for a few hours and when they come back it’s all done. I also put systems in place such as storing items in labelled boxes so things are easy to find and put away.

“For some clients, when they see the job done, I can see it’s like a weight has lifted off their shoulders. I often get hugs and even follow up texts from clients saying they can’t stop opening the cupboards to admire my work.

Professional organiser Deanne Sharp took on reporter Julie Cross's ‘messy cupboard’.

The professional organiser assessed what needed to be kept, and what could be thrown away. She says it’s sometimes hard to convince people to part with their stuff.

“I have to say, unlike most people, I love nothing better than being faced with a messy room and making it neat and tidy and well-ordered.

“So, job satisfaction is high.”

At times, she has had to gently persuade people to throw away the things they don’t need or like.

“Men can be worse than women for not letting things go,” Ms Sharp said.

“If something has sentimental value then of course keep it, but get rid of it if it’s just going to sit there taking up space.

“Decluttering is all about throwing things away you don’t love or enjoy.”

During her work, she has come across a few welcome finds for her clients, like the time she found a missing $100 gift card and a necklace that had not been seen for quite some time.

However, she’s also had some gruesome moments, including finding mouldy food in a kid’s wardrobe and accidentally putting her hand in slime that had escaped its container.

She’s often asked for tips on how to keep on top of everything.

“One of my mottos is, ‘there’s a place for everything’,” Ms Sharp said. “In our house, everyone knows where everything lives — even the kids.

“I don’t tolerate school bags or shoes on the floor. They know when they come in they need to put them straight in the cupboard.”

Parents should do themselves a favour and train their children young.

Her three boys, aged 13, 10 and eight, are well house-trained, although not perfect, she admitted.

“Kids can help clear up their toys from when they’re very little, as young as two and a half,” Ms Sharp said.

“Turn it into a game, put a song on and make sure it’s easy for them to help by storing toys in easy to reach boxes so they can just put them in.”

Now her boys are older they also do other chores such as feeding the cat and clearing out the cat litter, loading and unloading the dishwasher and taking out the bins.

To make sure they don’t lose or forget to do their homework, there’s a metal storage rack on the wall and each have a filing system in their room for school and sport certificates, photos and work, along with other memorabilia. All their artwork is photographed and turned into books.

Ms Sharp swears by her old-fashioned family planner — which includes everyone’s weekly movements and activities as well as what’s planned for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks every day.

She decides the week’s meals on a Sunday, no matter how tired she is, and orders the shopping online, to collect the following day.

“Being organised is about saving time and making your life easier,” Ms Sharp said.

“I find going to the supermarket a waste of time and I spend more too.”

Originally published as Professional organiser Deanne Sharp clears people’s lives of clutter