Whether your home is “a castle or a caravan”, Vera Keohane wants to help you enjoy your home – so much so, she named her business just that.
Enjoy Your Home was founded with the purpose of helping clients make the most of their spaces, carving out areas of joy and functionality, no matter their situation.
“I work on a one-to-one basis with people throughout the Munster region to help them regain order in their home,” she explains, “and set systems in place so they can stay in order.”
“Not constantly,” she adds. “I love for people to live in the home, use the home, entertain in the home – but that order can be restored within 30 minutes.”
As a mother of five and a former nurse and midwife with 30 years of experience, Vera says she has developed a unique method to help people take ownership of their belongings.
For Keohane, who trained with celebrity organiser and consultant Marie Kondo back in 2018, de-cluttering comes down to context. There is rarely a one-size-fits-all approach to organising a home because everyone’s needs are different.
First, she starts with the seasons – both in the year and in life. If, for example, it’s summer and you’re raising a young family, she advises kicking things off with a good declutter of the garage or garden shed.
Wherever you consider your main storage spot is likely where you will find a heap of “stuff” that is ready to go: “Make room for the summer stuff; for the bikes and inflatables and everything else that the kids and yourselves will be using,” she says.
Next, consider which items will need to be pulled out of storage: garden furniture, BBQs, and outdoor toys. Get scrubbing these items and make sure they’re ready to go when the warm weather arrives.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the thought of clearing out your house, but you want a quick hit of productivity, Keohane says that cleaning up your front door can give the whole house a fresh feel.
“Is it clean? Does it need a wash? Does it need a lick of paint? Put two new planters out with summer bedding. Maybe change the mat,” she suggests.
Where possible, the organiser suggests that people should ask for help so as to avoid burning out. It could be as simple as getting a professional in to do the windows, or finding a laundry service to help with the household duties while you tackle the bigger jobs.
“People get completely overwhelmed by the amount of tasks and jobs they have to do,” she says. “Sometimes what we most need to do, we least want to do.”
If you are coming up to a big move, rather than going room-by-room, Keohane recommends the Mari Kondo method of sorting by category.
“Say it’s just your coats and your jackets that you’re dealing with,” she explains. “Only when you take them off the back of the door or from under the stairs, will you see the full amount of what you have.”
Once you’ve put everything together, you can decide what needs to be saved, what can be recycled, and what can be donated.
You can also give yourself a specific time frame to tackle manageable sections of each category. For example, rather than gathering every cup, glass, and wok in the kitchen, you can dedicate 30 minutes to sorting through pots and pans alone.
For Keohane, the best time to take on a big declutter is when you feel your home is impacting your life negatively. If you’re always feeling stressed, constantly running late for work, or over-buying certain products, it may be time to put some systems in place.
“If you take stock of what you have, you’ll buy less,” she says. “Fewer possessions mean less to clean, less to organise, and less mess in general.”
