Littlehampton woman’s lockdown business wins organiser award

Amy Goodwin’s business, Decide to Declutter, is based in Littlehampton but operates around the whole of West Sussex.

Her business is all about helping people organise their living and working space, and enjoy doing so.

Amy, 34, started up the social side of her business in February, 2021, and had her first client by April of that same year.

Since then, Amy’s business was nominated for the South of England Professional Organiser Award – and won it.

Amy said: “I was contacted directly from the company, I don’t know if somebody nominated me because normally you go on their website and you can nominate yourself or somebody else, but they contacted me directly and said that they have noticed I am a new business and asked if I wanted to be considered for the award – of course I said yes.

“They asked all about my business from the reviews to where I see my business going in five years’ time.

“I filled out all of the information and then they got back in touch and said that I had won.

“I felt absolutely elated. I think it’s the fact that my work has been recognised, it just feels amazing that I’ve been recognised for that.”

Amy said she has always been organised and tidy, but once we were pushed back into another lockdown last year, she decided to finally declutter some spaces that she hadn’t had a chance to do since having children.

She added: “The decluttering and organising had such a positive affect on me and it brought a sense of order and calmness that allowed me to focus on other things in my life and that’s when I thought that I could help other people organise their spaces.”

She said starting a new business in the Covid-19 pandemic is daunting, let alone creating a business that means you have to enter someone’s home. Amy said: “I was a little bit worried at first because people didn’t necessarily want you in their home and a lot of people had already worked on their home.

“But equally, people did spend a lot of their time working from home and I realised how important the work environment was and how important the house was.

“Our homes are the centre of what we do and I thought that the people who are working from home are seeing it 24/7 and I could really help them to declutter their space. They started to look at things in their homes that they have never looked to before.

“We were so busy before the pandemic that we didn’t spend a lot of time at home and then suddenly everyone was stuck indoors so I thought I could definitely help people organise their space.

“Now, I offer a free consultation where I discuss the client’s aims and wishes and plan their next steps and what support that they need.

“I then work with the client to declutter and organise their belongings and create personalised systems to support them in their daily lives. I truly believe an organised, clutter-free space where everything has a place makes people’s daily lives easier and more enjoyable.”

You can visit Amy’s website to find out more about her business, and you can visit her Instagram to see her latest tips and tricks about how best to declutter your space.