Helping Busy Women Create Relaxing Homes

Running a household, raising kids, whilst working full time or running your own business can be somewhat overwhelming. Someone who knows all about how to manage the home environment is Lisa a passionate Interior Designer and Professional Home Organiser, founder of business My Curated Life and mum to two kids.

 Lisa is super passionate about helping busy women create relaxing homes and has seen the significant impact that implementing more focus (on the things they love) and creating a structure where the physical and mental load can be shared more equally.

The benefits that organisation in a home has on people’s day to day lives and overall sense of well-being is fundamental.

 

We recently caught up with Lisa and asked her lots of questions about how she became a Professional Home Organiser and picked her brains on all the things that as mums we can do to create more order and structure to make our lives easier and more relaxing. 

I'd love to know your story, Lisa. You had a successful corporate career as a Finance Director in multinational businesses in both the UK and Sydney. Why did you decide to take a different path?

I’d always wanted to run my own business and so after 25-years I decided to take the plunge.  I was also frustrated by the challenges that women were still facing in the workplace in progressing their careers. I knew that it wasn’t just a case of equity in the workplace, but equity at home was still not achievable for many women. 

Could you tell me about your business? Why My Curated Life? I know you have a business partner, how did you come to begin working together? What services do you offer?

I wanted to do something to help women at home. I’d trained many years ago as an Interior Designer, so at first thought, I might start a business doing that, and then I stumbled across the home organising industry. It was an A-HA moment for me. The opportunity to combine my passion for creating beautiful homes with my organising skills and do something that would make women’s lives easier just seemed like the perfect combination. 

I started the business after the first COVID lockdown and got some excellent initial traction. Then just as I started getting busy, we went into lockdown again. When the lockdown ended, I was super busy and couldn’t do all the work myself. That’s when I stumbled across Cath. Cath was starting her own organising business, she helped me out on a few jobs, and we just clicked. We decided we’d be much better together than in competition. 

Decluttering & organising are central to everything. Pantry and wardrobe are our most popular projects, but we can work on any part of the home, including garages etc. We also have a stylist onboard for wardrobe editing if that’s what our client needs. We also offer a life admin service, creating systems for people to keep all their paper and digital files organised. 

We often help people at inflection points in their life, a new baby, a divorce, illness, the death of a loved one, all the moments in life when people need to assess the possessions they have accumulated. 

You talk about the ‘Rushing Women Syndrome’ on your website; can you elaborate on this syndrome and your opinion on the pressure that women and mums in particular place on themselves to be everything to everyone?

Sure, Rushing Women’s Syndrome is a book by Dr Libby Weaver, a nutritional biochemist. In her book and her research, she connects the rushing women do in their lives today and the negative impact it has on their bodies and health.  

She believes that sex-based hormone issues, such as polycystic ovaries, endometriosis, infertility, debilitating menopause systems and exhaustion, have increased over the last 20 years and that the role of stress (from all the rushing that women do) is undeniably causing this increase.   

When I read this book and looked at myself and the women around me, I was ticking off the health concerns that she was outlining in the book. She also talks about the role that caffeine and alcohol are playing in many women’s lives, the fuel that women are using to feel able to keep up with all the rushing or to decompress from the daily stress of life.

Why is it important for mums to have order, structure, be organised and have less clutter in their homes? Do you think this load should be shared by all members of a household?

I think simplicity, order and structure are helpful for everybody in life, not just women. Clutter is so distracting, time-consuming and, for many people, overwhelming. Sadly, the responsibility for home decluttering and organising often default to women. When they have so much to juggle, finding the time or the energy to tackle it alone is hard, and that’s where we come in. 

Of course, this should be a shared responsibility in the modern world we live in and with many women working. There is still a long way to go before women achieve equity at work and home.  

We know that when we declutter and organise homes and put maintainable structures in place, day to day life gets more manageable for everyone. The house is easier to tidy, clean, and more relaxing.   

You're also an Interior Decorator; what are your tips on making a home beautiful, personal, and relaxed, without it being cluttered?

I think the best homes are always planned out. Having a clear idea about how you want to feel in your space and how it should function is crucial. 

Creating a beautiful space requires time and attention to detail like many things. If you don’t have the time, I’d recommend seeking the services of an Interior Designer.  When we go out and buy things with no plan in mind, or we are rushing it’s so easy to make mistakes, buy colours that don’t go well together or furniture that doesn’t fit the space well. 

It’s also important to get the balance right between aesthetic and functionality. I often go into beautiful homes that just aren’t that functional. The storage space doesn’t fit what they need to store, the pantry is too small, or there is no space for shoes. 

I regularly review renovation plans for clients, before they start work, acting as that second pair of eyes. When you are spending thousands of dollars these mistakes can be costly but also annoying on a daily basis. 

What advice would you give to those that struggle with managing their clutter?

Clutter is a complex problem, so many people struggle with it. If you want to make a long-term change, you need to understand your behaviour and what you are doing or not to do, which results in you building clutter. 

For many people, it’s a case of buying too much or bringing too many things into their homes. Understanding the reasons why you do this is important. These can be rooted in childhood experiences. Feelings of insecurity or scarcity can drive people to buy more than they need. 

Once the possessions are in your home, how you organise them can impact whether clutter builds. People often buy more simply because they don’t know what they already have or can’t see it. 

One of the most common issues is people struggling to let go of things they don’t need. It might be because they feel wasteful or guilty if they haven’t used it. It may be something sentimental or a gift they don’t like but hold onto simply because they think the person who gave it to them would be upset. For some people, there is a fear of running out or what if XYZ happens and I need it and haven’t got it. 

Once you understand what drives your behaviour, you can start to change it. Having a vision for what your newly uncluttered life might look like is helpful. 

Once you start decluttering, start small but do it regularly. Decluttering can quickly become overwhelming if you try and tackle a big project. It takes up a lot of time and energy as there are so many decisions to make. 

How can we help our kids to declutter and be better organised?

Kids are impacted in the same way that adults are by clutter. It’s distracting and overwhelming. A lot of research has been done that shows that when kids have too many toys, they play less. 

Kids also pick up behaviours from their parents, so if they see mum and dad always buying new stuff, they are likely to want more too. 

I think it’s important to teach kids to be grateful for what they have from an early age to respect and look after their possessions and when they have outgrown them, talk to them about passing them on to someone else who can gain value from them. 

Getting them involved in the organisation and maintenance of their possessions as soon as possible teaches them essential skills. It could be doing their washing, folding their clothes, and putting them away in the correct drawers.  

Talking to them about the impact of disorganisation and clutter will help them see the benefits of maintaining things. i.e., how much time you waste trying to find things when you don’t organise them or put them back where they belong. 

Lisa, I know you believe clutter can significantly impact how overwhelmed you can feel. Consumerism has led to an explosion of possessions in our homes and lives, and it's primarily women who are doing the purchasing. Incessant marketing and influencing are pushing the message that we are not good enough or won’t be happy until we have an abundance of beautiful possessions in our lives. Throw into the mix, that we are so busy and there is so little time to declutter and organise stuff, it seems to be a real challenge.  I would love to know what your thoughts on this are? 

100% Emma, I see the evidence of this daily. Our homes are fuller than they have ever been. Toy rooms are overflowing, and wardrobes and drawers are bulging at the seams. It’s so easy for people to purchase, and so often, it’s done on autopilot. It might be that little pick me up after a gruelling day, juggling so many priorities or simply because we see it on social media.

We have been brainwashed into thinking that having more and more possessions will make us happy. Don’t get me wrong, having things we love in our homes or having a beautifully curated wardrobe can make you feel good, but when you start buying more than you need, the cost is not just financial. The more possessions you have, the more maintenance you need to do, the tidying, the cleaning, the storing, the decluttering, and the feeling of having no space in your home or your head. 

Once the dopamine hit and the thrill of the purchase wear off, you are left with the long-term impact. Our clients all tell us that their clutter makes them feel depressed, lazy, tired, distracted, and overwhelmed. 

One last question, Lisa. If you had to give women, one piece of advice to make their lives better what would it be……

Create space in your life for you to be you or even to discover who you are.

When our life gets cluttered with unimportant things, there’s no space left for ourselves. When there’s no space left for us, we can’t turn up and be the best for our kids. 

Thanks so much, Lisa. It’s been a pleasure spending time with you. 

If you’d like to find more inspiration from Lisa, we recommend following her account on Insta @mycuratedlifeau or check out the My Curated Life website at https://www.mycuratedlife.com.au/