The Irish woman helping families to bring calm and order to their homes chats us through her unusual career.
After 27 years of working as a nurse, Ann Teehan decided that it was time for a career change. With four children of her own, family life was always important to Ann and with three children with autism she understands the importance of an orderly and functional space. Changing her own home through tidying, Ann now helps others to achieve the same and says it’s about so much more than just a clean home.
Tell us about yourself and what you do
I’m Ann, the founder of Neatly Home Organisation. I help busy families declutter and organise their homes in a way that makes everyday life easier.
Family life has always been a huge part of my world, and with four kids, three who are autistic, our home has had to work around very different needs, routines and personalities. I think that’s a big part of why I take such a practical approach to organising, I understand that every family and every home is different.
Through Neatly, I work with families who feel overwhelmed by their homes and help them declutter, organise and create systems that actually work for them. That can be anything from tackling one problem area to organising an entire home, decluttering pre house move, unpacking after moving house or helping with loved ones belongings after they have passed away.
I want to create homes that work for real people in real life. For me, it’s function over form, the system has to work first, rather than simply looking good. That said, when you declutter and organise, the home naturally ends up looking really lovely and pleasing too. I also run workshops and organising events, and have recently launched ‘The Neatly Academy’, where I train people who want to become professional organisers and build their own businesses.
How did you first get into this line of work?
I was a clutter magnet! I am not naturally organised and over the years I found ways to make our home work better for our family. With three autistic children, there were additional needs, routines and sensory considerations to take into account, so I gradually figured out systems and ways of organising things that made life easier for all of us.
At the same time, after 27 years in nursing, I knew I wanted a change. I wanted to get out of nursing and do something of my own. I trained in the UK with Dilly Carter and also had the opportunity to do work experience on the BBC’s award-winning Sort Your Life Out, which gave me a fantastic insight into professional organising.
What started as me finding solutions that worked for me and my own home became Neatly. I realised there were so many other people who were overwhelmed by their homes and simply needed practical help to figure out what would work for them.
What is the most rewarding part of what you do?
The transformation in how people feel. A room can look completely different at the end of a session, but that’s not really the important part. It’s when someone tells me they feel calmer, less overwhelmed or that they can finally find things without searching for them.
There’s something really satisfying about taking something that feels completely overwhelming to someone and breaking it down into manageable steps. I love giving people that feeling. The messages I get when I’ve left are so rewarding. Most recently a busy Mom sent, “I came downstairs this morning and I almost cried out of happiness when I entered the kitchen. You have made such a difference – Thank you!”
What are the three biggest tips for staying tidy and organized that you could give to anyone?
1. Have less stuff.
The less you own, the less you have to tidy, clean, organise and put away. Decluttering is the foundation of an organised home. You don’t need to become a minimalist, just be more intentional about what earns a place in your home.
2. Give everything a home.
If something doesn’t have a designated place, it will eventually end up on the kitchen counter, the stairs or wherever there happens to be space. Giving things a proper home makes tidying up much quicker because you’re not constantly deciding where things should go.
3. Make it easy to put things away.
Your organising systems need to work for the people actually living in the house. If putting something away takes five steps, nobody will do it. Keep everyday items accessible and create simple systems that fit your family’s routines. An organised home isn’t one where everything is perfectly tidy all the time, it’s one where getting back to tidy is easy.
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