4.2 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Spring cleaning is in the air - so whether you’ve woken up with the urge to clear out the ‘drawer of doom’ this Bank Holiday, are feeling too overwhelmed or time poor (or both) to know where to start, or have just decided to ‘bless the mess’, join us as we take a deep dive into decluttering, our relationship to our stuff and the impact clutter can have on our lives. Presenter Nuala McGovern is joined by two of the UK’s leading professional organisers, Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman from The Declutter Hub. They’ll be exploring why it’s our emotions that hold the key to banishing things that no longer serve a purpose in our lives, along with sharing their best advice for conquering clutter. TV presenter, writer and Homes Therapist Michelle Ogundehin takes a break from judging Interior Design Masters to talk to Nuala about the connection between our home and our wellbeing, her personal wardrobe strategy and her love of curated things that tell our story. The Good Housekeeping Decluttering Study has just been published and the magazine’s Homes and Household Advice Editor Katie Mortram tells us what it reveals about our attitudes to clutter and some of our biggest regrets. And we hear about the birth of ‘clutter’, from the Victorian obsession with doilies to the impact of the wartime Make Do and Mend message, with Professor Jane Hamlett, a historian of the home. Have you heard about The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning? We’ll be exploring the philosophy from Margareta Magnusson’s 2018 book, which encourages you to deal with your stuff before you die, so that someone else doesn't have to do it after you've left this earth. Psychotherapist and author Stelios Kiosses, from Channel 4 programme The Hoarder Next Door, also joins us to explore the psychology behind why we hang on to stuff and the difference between hoarding and being a compulsive hoarder. And with all the will in the world, no clear out will succeed without an ’exit plan’. From recycling to selling, we discuss the best ways to pass our things on. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Sarah Jane Griffiths Editor: Deiniol Buxton
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0:00.0 | If a Banksy appeared on your house, you'd be sitting on a fortune, right? |
0:07.0 | At first you think you're gifted, but you're actually not. |
0:10.5 | This is a tale of two murals, Margate's Valentine's Day Mascara and the lowest off seagull. |
0:17.3 | And the true cost of free art for the people who have to live with it. |
0:21.5 | 40,000 pounds cost per annum. |
0:23.8 | We didn't know what to do. |
0:25.5 | Nobody's turned up to say, we'll help you protect it. |
0:29.0 | The Banksy story. |
0:30.3 | When Banksy comes to town, listen on BBC Sounds. |
0:36.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
0:40.3 | Hello, this is Newell O'Goverin, and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast. |
0:45.2 | Hello, and welcome to the programme. It is spring. |
0:49.1 | Cleaning might be on your mind. So this hour, we have a deep dive into our stuff, our clutter, our relationship |
0:58.0 | to it and the impact it can have on our lives. Now, maybe you woke up this morning with the urge |
1:04.4 | to clear out the drawer of doom on this bank holiday. Or perhaps you're feeling too overwhelmed or time poor or both to know where to start. |
1:15.5 | Or it could be that it's just not that important to you, those piles that are all around you. |
1:21.5 | And you've decided instead to bless the mess. |
1:25.2 | Well, we do know that the hashtag declutter |
1:28.4 | brings up 2.6 million posts on Instagram. |
1:31.9 | So there are a lot of you thinking |
1:34.2 | and talking about this issue. |
1:36.7 | The magazine Good Housekeeping, |
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