When New Plymouth woman Dianne Dobson was made redundant in her 50s, she started up her own business decluttering houses and selling people's unneeded belongings on their behalf.
Now she can't keep up with the demand.
"I tell people 'don't take anything to the tip till I've been in and had a look... and we sell."
Photo: Ashim D'Silva
Dianne Dobson from the Taranaki decluttering business Arrange With Style Photo: Seven Sharp / YouTube screenshot
As well as clearing out and selling household items via Facebook Marketplace and TradeMe, Diane also sometimes supports people with setting up and settling into their new place.
Before launching her business – which is called Arrange With Style – Dianne had enjoyed helping to declutter the houses of her parent's friends.
She says that she loves being part of the process.
"You meet the nicest people. It's not always easy for them, getting rid of homes they've lived in for 40 years. They've got all their children's stuff still at home and garage-fuls of things and they don't need all that.
"What starts out to be quite a hard process ends up being fun in the end. And by the time I'm finished with the family, they're quite happy to go off to their new house."
When someone is downsizing, somebody else is starting out, Diane says, and she often sells homewares in bulk lots that are good for setting up flats.
"When I see a white storage unit or a cast iron pan, the minute you lift it, it sells, within a minute."
One of Diane's projects Photo: Dianne Dobson
While some items are harder to shift than others – for example, lounge suites are less in demand than washing machines – everything sells in the end, she says.
One couple was planning to knock down their mint-condition garden shed before Diane told them she could get some money for it.
The buyer, who told her it would have cost him $60,000 to build a similar shed, paid $3,000, broke it down into pieces and rebuilt it on his farm.
When Diane is enlisted by elderly people, she likes to help them get comfortably installed in their new homes however she can.
"It's so hard for older people today because when they get to their new home they have to connect up the phone and they don't know how to do that."
She now has time to offer this extra service at an hourly rate thanks to a new van and a new employee – her husband who retired last week.
"He's got a new boss and he's on a trial for 30 days to see if he can keep up. He has done so well this week, he's been delivering all week."
Diane's tips for decluttering are start slowly and do the garage first.
