'It's not just about making a home look beautiful': Two friends set up business to help declutter spaces

Two childhood friends have turned their shared interest in organising spaces into a business, helping Singapore residents declutter homes and make better use of their living spaces, especially within the Malay/Muslim community.

Humairah Junid and Nurussakinah Yahya, both 33, co-founded The Space Edit in February this year and have helped organise about 60 homes, Berita Harian (BH) reported on Wednesday (Oct 28).

Their work has given them first-hand insight into the challenges of decluttering.

The pair experienced this themselves when they helped a woman in her 70s tidy and reorganise her room, BH reported.

Rather than urging her to discard belongings accumulated over decades, the pair suggested donating items she no longer needed.

"This is one of the approaches we use to help clients like her become more open to letting go of items they no longer need," BH quoted Nurussakinah as saying.

The company offers home-organising and space-management services as an alternative to conventional interior design, focusing on reducing clutter and making existing spaces more functional.

Humairah, who also founded Hubakesmaicake, said her interest in space organisation had developed long before she pursued comparative religion studies.

She returned to her interest in design and space management after graduating, while Nurussakinah, a teacher, shares her passion for keeping homes organised and promoting women's mental well-being.

"This is not just about making a home look beautiful and organised, but about helping its occupants feel calmer, more comfortable and less stressed in their own living spaces," said Nurussakinah.

Their clients include working mothers struggling to manage household spaces, families helping elderly parents declutter and people moving into new homes.

Services include unpacking and organising belongings, with sessions typically lasting five to eight hours.

The founders said a common misconception was that clutter could be resolved by buying more storage boxes. 

Instead, clients should first identify which belongings they genuinely need before setting up suitable storage systems. 

They assess clients' needs beforehand using photos and videos of the spaces and stressed that no items would be discarded without permission.

Separately, Singapore's HealthHub identifies cluttered floors and walkways as potential fall hazards, particularly for older people.

The Space Edit charges $800 for five-hour sessions and $1,200 for eight-hour sessions, BH reported. 

Despite the physical demands of the work, the founders said seeing clients regain comfortable, functional living spaces motivate them to continue helping people manage clutter and build a healthier relationship with their possessions.

"In our fast-paced urban lives, we are constantly exposed to consumerism and the pressure to keep up with the times, until we unknowingly accumulate more and more things," they told BH.

AsiaOne has reached out to Humairah and Nurussakinah for more information.

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helmy.saat@asiaone.com