As a professional organiser and declutterer, I love restoring order and calm to my clients' lives. Lives that are often busy, complicated or in turmoil due to relocation, bereavement or other significant life events.
Of course, if you pay someone to organise certain aspects of your life, you need to feel confident in that person’s ability and feel that you can trust them to transform your chaos into calm.
GET TO KNOW ME:
I grew up in a leafy West London suburb before moving to a quiet village in South-West Oxfordshire.
I am friendly, down-to-earth and easy to get along with. I’m involved in Scouting in my spare time, and have a passion for motorbiking, rugby as well as spending time with family and friends. I’ve travelled extensively (visiting all seven continents) and spent 18 months living in New Zealand.
I’m a decluttering professional who believes that a balanced life isn’t about perfection 100% of the time. It’s about having a home or business environment you feel happy in.
Specialisms
ADHD
I specialise in decluttering and organisation, with a focus on supporting individuals with ADHD and neurodivergent needs. My approach is tailored to create structured, manageable systems that reduce overwhelm and enhance daily routines. I understand the unique challenges neurodivergent individuals face, such as difficulty with executive function, decision-making, and maintaining organisation. By implementing practical, step-by-step strategies, visual cues, and personalised solutions, I help create spaces that promote focus, reduce stress, and support long-term success. My goal is to make organisation accessible, sustainable, and empowering for every individual.
Hoarding behaviour
I have successfully completed training in hoarding behaviour Stages 1 and 2 with HoardingUK, focusing on decluttering and organizing strategies to support individuals in regaining control of their living spaces. This training provided me with practical techniques for assessing clutter levels, implementing structured decluttering plans, and creating sustainable organizing systems. I have gained valuable insights into the emotional and psychological challenges associated with hoarding, allowing me to approach each situation with empathy and sensitivity. With this knowledge, I am equipped to guide individuals through the decluttering process, promoting a more functional and stress-free living environment.
Personal/family productivity
When it comes to the rhythms of home life, time is a precious commodity. By outsourcing your time consuming tasks, you can reclaim quality time and those valuable moments for yourself and your family. Tasks such as scheduling appointments, managing emails, making travel arrangements, and conducting research on your behalf. By delegating these responsibilities, you can reclaim valuable time to focus on your priorities, whether it's growing your business, spending time with family, or pursuing personal interests.
Move Management
Moving can be a stressful experience regardless of how many times you've moved before or your stage of life. It often represents a significant change in one's life, whether it's relocating to a new city, downsizing to a smaller home, or transitioning to a different living situation. Adjusting to this change, along with the uncertainty it brings, can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety. By outsourcing some or all of your move your Home Move Specialist can make the moving process easier, more efficient, less stressful and can help ensure a successful transition to your new home.
Some examples of home move support I can provide are below:
1. Sorting and downsizing
2. Floor planning
3. Managing inventory of furniture and belongings
4. Move administration, including change of address
5. Sourcing and liaising with suppliers/contractors (including removers, auctioneers, clearance, and charities)
6. Liaison for packing and moving day/s
7. Unpacking (oversee the unloading of furniture as per the floor plan/unpacking boxes/making bed/putting clothes away/putting everything away in the kitchen)
Home Staging
I am currently in the training phase of home staging, developing expertise in transforming living spaces to enhance their appeal for potential buyers. This training covers key principles of design, furniture arrangement, colour psychology, and decluttering techniques to create inviting and market-ready homes. I am gaining hands-on experience in optimising space, highlighting a property's best features, and implementing staging strategies that increase buyer interest. Through this process, I am building a strong foundation in home staging, preparing to assist homeowners and real estate professionals in achieving faster and more successful property sales.
I have also now completed a number of home staging projects along side my training.
Phew, we did it! Two days of decluttering resulted in 2 carloads to the charity shop, two big binbags of rubbish, several piles of recycling and all done with immense patience and kindness on Michelle's part who coped with my dithering and fúuthering and changing of mind and back again. Now I can see what is in my office/craft room without having to wade through a pile of mess. Fantastic!"
It is, quite simply, transformative, turning a late-life move involving downsizing and de-cluttering into a manageable, even enjoyable, experience. Michelle Garwood has a sympathetic and uniquely equable temperament and delivers every time., able to deal with difficulties to the point where they present 'no problems'. She has an extraordinary capacity for remembering minute detail, as well as access to a comprehensive range of nation-wide contacts able to deal with the most apparently intractable situations, both national and international. She never avoids a difficult problem but will work at it until she has found a way to undertake its solution, constantly taxing herself to go the extra mile to help and following up where necessary. This is a little-known service, and a very special person, deserving the widest publicity and support"
I am ever so slightly (and selfishly) hesitant to write a glowing review for Michelle of KE Lifestyle Management Services only because, like a good secret, I want to keep her all to myself! If I tell everyone how truly amazing she really is, she will likely be so busy that I will have to wait my turn to get an appointment with her again!! Alas, in all good conscience, I must share my honest views about her. Michelle, without question, is “the best thing since sliced bread”! Truly! You couldn’t ask for a better professional in terms of assisting with decluttering and organising! If I’m going to "say it like it is", I need to admit that before we met, I had my reservations about how my time with Michelle would go. Not because of anything that she had done, but because I had attempted my decluttering/organising project twice before in the past, to no avail. I was hoping for “third time lucky” and not “three strikes and you’re out”!! Happily, I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that it was the former and not the latter!! Having learned from my previous experiences, I was very clear with Michelle from the outset about what I did and didn’t want from her. Michelle took everything that I relayed to her on board, and at the end of our time together, I knew that I had struck gold! Honest to the core, empathetic, amazing work ethic, kind and just the right sense of humour are all evident in Michelle’s personality and work style. But…don’t be fooled…she’s no pushover and she will challenge you (in a caring way) when necessary! I truly couldn’t have asked for more. There was nothing that she wouldn’t do for me or try to help me figure out. Full of helpful suggestions for challenging problems and/or advice for how to deal with any number of things are at the fore of Michelle’s style. To say that she went out of her way to assist me numerous times during (and after) our time together would not be an understatement. If you are “on the fence” about whether or not you think you want to work with Michelle on a decluttering/organising project of your own, trust me…run to her, don’t walk - for if you walk, you may be too late as others will have surely snapped her up!!! I simply cannot thank Michelle enough for her amazing assistance and not only would I unquestionably turn to her again in the future, I would recommend her, to the highest degree, to anyone who is looking for an amazingly fantastic helping hand!! Now, how’s that for a “glowing reference”?!!!!!