24: Lead Well Live Well with Dee Blick & guest Annette Gardner24: Lead Well Live Well with Dee Blick & guest Annette Gardner
UK Health Radio Podcast
Host Dee Blick talks with decluttering and home staging specialist Annette Gardner about compassionate clearing, emotional attachments to possessions, and sustainable ways to prepare a home for sale. The conversation touches on grief, ADHD, hoarding and how a kinder approach to clutter can lighten both space and mood.
49:31•25 Jul 2026
Clearing Clutter, Healing Homes: Annette Gardner on Decluttering and Home Staging
Episode Overview
- Start with one room at a time and sort items into clear categories to avoid overwhelm.
- Treat sentimental belongings gently, using ideas like photo memory books or staged letting-go rather than forcing quick decisions.
- Before selling, focus on repairs, neutral paint, decluttering and depersonalising so buyers can picture themselves living there.
- Use donating, recycling, resale and upcycling to keep as much as possible out of landfill and reduce waste.
- For those with ADHD or hoarding tendencies, working alongside a calm, non-judgemental person can make decision-making far easier.
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life, to be happy. It’s all that matters.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey, clutter, and all the emotional baggage that comes with it? This chat on UK Health Radio’s *Lead Well Live Well* with host Dee Blick and guest Annette Gardner shows how your home environment can weigh you down or help you breathe again. Annette runs a decluttering and home staging business rooted in empathy rather than judgement.
Her path started in fashion PR and design courses, then moved through complementary therapies, sound healing and energy clearing, all of which now feed into how she supports clients. As she puts it, “It’s all doable. And I do energy clearing as well. So that doesn’t phase me in the slightest.” You’ll hear how she tackles everything from probate houses crammed with a lifetime of possessions to bedrooms that feel like a war zone.
Annette focuses on one room at a time, sorting gently, never forcing decisions, and respecting deep emotional ties to certain objects. She shares practical tricks like photographing sentimental items to create a memory book so people can let go of the physical thing while keeping the story. There’s thoughtful chat about hoarding as a mental health issue, why people with ADHD can feel paralysed by clutter, and how simply having someone beside you makes big decisions less overwhelming.
Annette also talks through her sustainable approach: donating to local groups and charities, using trusted resellers, and staging homes with upcycled furniture instead of buying new. Home staging fans get plenty too: tips on neutral décor, depersonalising, adding colour with soft furnishings, and how a modest spend on paint and staging can help a property sell faster and for more money.
If you’ve ever felt ashamed of your cupboards, stuck in grief over a loved one’s things, or scared to let a stranger see inside your home, this conversation might nudge you to ask: what could clearing my space make possible for my life now?
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