Open Discussion With The Three J’s – Charities

Hello and welcome back to open discussion with the three J's on with a women's radio station. And tell everyone about us so that everyone listens to us every week. Well, today the program is going to be on charities and funding. And what do we think about being pestered by them on the phone or on texts or in the street even? Do you run the other way? Because I know I do. I cross over the road. If I see somebody, a chugger, looking hopeful, I do feel sorry for them. But I think, no, I can't cope. I can't say no, I'll get hooked in. So I'd rather not deal with it and I'll just cross over the road and, you know, feel sorry for them and feel guilty at the same time. Yeah, I do have sympathy with the young people who take up these jobs because employment is difficult and I think a lot of them are graduates and they're intelligent young people. But I don't actually personally like being accosted on the street. If I'm going to give to a charity, I prefer. Prefer to make the decision myself from information I have because a cause has been brought to my attention through the news and I have empathy for it and I want to give to it, or because someone within my family or my friends is being affected by something and I make a decision that way. I don't like somebody stopping me in the street when I'm on my way somewhere thinking about something else, saying, oh, give money to this cause and try to make me feel guilty about something. But I know, I do know that this method does actually work for charities. They do raise money this way, and charities do need to raise money. But actually I'm not the person to approach in that way. And something I really seriously don't like is that now I've found people are knocking on my doors from chapter and asking for money. And I don't want to be bothered in that way by charities. And I don't want to give my bank details, particularly to someone who's just knocked on my door and you don't really know who the person is and arrange for payment. And I think also the thing is that I know that these people get a percentage of your first donation or certainly their company does. And if I'm giving the money to the charity, I would prefer to do it directly and not through one of these agencies. But again, you know, they do reach people through this way. I understand that. I do agree with you about the cold calling. I don't like that at all. I Think it's not good either for the person who has their door knocked on and a stranger's on the doorstep. But I think it's also a pretty unsafe way for somebody to try and earn a living because they never know whose door they're going to knock on. Absolutely. And what kind of response they're going to get, you know, when that person opens. Opens the door. So I, I don't like that at all. It gives. Gives me the creeps. I agree with you. I've seen some teenagers have come to my door. Yeah, they've definitely been teenagers. It's. Yeah. And how do you know they're kosher, you know, bonafide. But it's whether they're safe or not. That's the thing. Yes. It's a dodgy thing for them to do. I, I don't have any concerns about the people on the street because I was. Found them very pleasant and I just, you know, if I'm not going to want to become involved, I just say I'm in a hurry, got to go and you know, good luck with the rest of your work today. And it is, you know, much as people hate, is a way of charities getting continued funding and that's what every business is. What they're hoping is that you'll sign that direct debit. Yeah, that's what I meant. And you're forgetting you got it because it's such a minimum payment usually. Well, hopefully. But even if you. And then you don't cancel it. Yeah. I mean, I have to say that I have worked for charities and still do and I know that when I'm trying to seek donations and funding, direct debits are what you want to go for. The way I've done it though, in the past has been through existing supporters because I work for very specific charities that they're probably not consumer charities and targeting your existing supporters members to get direct debit because people do not remember to cancel them even though they intended to, and they just let them keep on being going out of their bank account for years, which I don't understand because I check my bank statement every month and I look for things that are superfluous to. To my needs. Some people don't ever look at their bank statements, do they? Especially now that a lot of people don't get a paper bank statement, they don't bother to go online and look at a bank statement. And if it's two pounds or three pounds a month, you know, they're paying out 40 odd pounds, you know, for sort of broadband and all the various packages that go. So that £2 or £3 is nothing to them. But if enough people do it, that's a lot of money to support a charity and give them a flow of cash, which is what people need if they're actually going to be able to do anything of any use. I'm about to cull a few charities that I do regularly donate to because they've had my money for probably at least three years now. So I'm going to move on to another charity or not have any for a while and just rethink where my money's going. You know, I do tend to donate to the dec, which is the. I can't remember what it stands for now. I said that when there's a terrible like event. Oh, the Disaster Disasters Committee because they coordinate all the major charities, Disaster Events Committee or something. So I do tend to do that, but that's a one off payment. So yeah, I tend to do it to the Red Cross. If there is some kind of big disaster that's been brought to my attention then I will make a donation that way. And I always donate around Christmas as well. I make that important and I do it for crisis for Christmas where you can actually pay for a meal or two meals for, for the person at Christmas. And I find that nice. But I think it's. There's a lot of, you know, small, little, small charities that we never hear about struggling the big guns, you know, get our money but they haven't got the money to have a huge marketing campaign. It's those sort of charities I sort of would probably donate to if I knew about them. I think those ones, you know about them when you have some kind of personal involvement with them. Certainly the charity I work for at the moment isn't widely known, but people become involved with it because it's active in their particular area and they will maybe start donating their time and their money to it and become actively involved in it. And I think that's the only way you can is by raising awareness in the local area to potential beneficiaries of the charity and then that can also bring in their friends and families to support. But yeah, you can't compete with the marketing budget of something like Oxfam. I mean, I got collared recently in a supermarket by an air ambulance charity and before I knew where I was I'd signed up for £2. That doesn't sound much, does it? £2 a week, but that's £8amonth. That's it yes. And I thought, what? But then I thought, no, keep an eye on this because it is a good charity and the air ambulance don't get any funding from the government or anything. So I'll keep it going for a few months and then as I said, I'm going to edit my other charities. I didn't realize the air ambulance was a charity. They all have their. Each location has its own. So it's a bit like the air in the line. Yeah. So it's sponsored, isn't it? Because Virgin used to sponsor the air ambulance and various other companies. Which one? Because they're all. Each area has its own. Yeah. But no, no, it is a very good cause. What was it really good looking young man's very amenable and very, very professional and he was very nice. I quite like, you know, his manner. So I thought, yeah, I'll go with it for a bit. But it's like you get kidnapped almost, don't you, by someone and then you think, ah, they get you in a weak moment. Yes. Yeah. I don't sign up to regular payments. I mean, my income has not been very regular over recent years, so it's a very good reason not for not to doing it. And when I have some money, then I do make a donation and I also give away all my clothes, old clothes, to charity shops. I don't want to be bothered selling them on ebay anyway. But at least then I can actually contribute something. Right. On that note, because it's given me an idea for ebay selling. We're going to have a brief break from this open discussion. Listen soon. Bye. WRS Women's radio station. Voice of Women Worldwide. Sarah's Universal Soul Show. What does your soul or spirituality mean to you? Welcome to future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte on Women's Radio Station. Welcome back. I'm Russ Cain. You're listening to in conversation with On Women's Radio Station. I'm Angie. And I'm Patsy. And we're open. To see what other programs we have on women's radio station, head to our website, womensradiostation.com hi, I'm Valentina Barbachi and I'm the executive director of Media Matters for Women. 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Hi, I'm Sandy Goddard, Founder of the Room upstairs. A different kind of business, women's network. Imagine a lunch or dinner party sitting next to great connections, people who might help you. You have fun, do business, build relationships, top women speakers, good food and no membership fees. That's not selling, that's connecting. Join me and economist Ruth Lee Seabee and have your say on Britain and Brexit. Find out more@theroomupstairs.co.uk Women's radio station is a not for profit, community interest company. Supporting is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate, simply head to our website. Every little will help. Welcome back to open discussion with the three Js. And we're going to continue talking about charities, donating jumble to charity shops, secondhand clothes, jumble sales, nearly new vintage clothes. Where do they go? Who wants them and who doesn't want them anymore? And who feels their own national dress is being threatened by us Westerners chucking all our old clothes their way? Yes, that's true as well. I mean, I think I finished a lot. Yeah. The last part was saying that I felt good giving away my clothes to charity shops because in recent years I haven't had enough money to donate that I've done that and not try to resell my clothes on ebay. But actually I couldn't be bothered to do that anyway. It would drive me mad trying to do that. But there are other issues to think about with this. We've become a very much throwaway society with clothes, particularly with very cheap brands, like in Primark, for instance, who I think is a wonderful shop. And I don't throw away their clothes. I got some that I've been wearing for years, but people have seen that they buy something that's been made cheaply, maybe by children in the third World, and then they wear it once and give it away to a charity shop or sell it on ebay. And it isn't really a sustainable. Sustainable or maybe a moral way of. Well, actually, I. I don't think that's what. What worries me about Primark is that, yes, they do make clothes very cheaply and some of them are very good. I've got a few as well. But what annoys me is when you see a Primark dress in a charity shop for more money originally. Yes. I think a lot of charities are overcharging charity shops are. They don't pay business rent anyway. They don't pay business rates. Yeah. Oh, no, they pay a reduced business rates, but it's often reduced by as much as 80%. So they're not. And I think they are getting greedy. I mean, there's a. I mean, I live near Camberwell. There's some very good charity shops in Camberwell, but they're quite. One of them is quite expensive. I mean, they're charging £15 for a dress. It's not a special dress. I mean, it's not, you know, now. Now you can get a dress in Primark for how much? £10 or possibly £20. But I don't morally. I don't think charities should. Should charge more than a certain amount. Well, if people are stupid enough to pay that price. Yeah, I think that's it, though. They're charging what they can get away with. I do have it, actually, a friend who actually works in a charity shop for the rspca and she admitted they've been pushing their prices up and up because they can get away with it. Because during the recession people have had less money and they've been going to charity shops more, so they think they can get more money for things. But I've noticed in one of my local ones, sometimes the prices are just silly, they've gone too far with it. But then you find sometimes they've put some designer thing on there and they haven't realized what it is. Well, unfortunately, I've never found that because, I mean, I don't mind paying for designer or retro, good retro clothes because, you know, I like collecting them. So I'm always on the lookout for a bargain. But I haven't found any bargains for ages in charity shops, actually. No, I agree with you. I mean, when I was a student, I used to buy nearly all my clothes from. And I get, like, really nice silk blouses and cashmere jumpers and all sorts of things for them. And I didn't even live in a particularly wealthy area. And then a few years ago, when I was working in the West End, I used to go to. There's some on Charlotte in the West End. There's a whole lot of The Salvation army shop. Yeah, there's a whole lot of them Notes. Good Street, I'm thinking of. And I used to buy things quite regularly. Like I would always buy my winter coats or leather jackets and things that were of a really good price and. But I think some of the retro shop people are actually creaming them off. The way you get dealers going to Carbon. Oh, absolutely. First thing in the morning, they cream off all the best stuff and then sell it, you know, sort of 100% profit. And I wonder if that's what's happening because there are so many retro shops now pre loved and all these various names. Well, I don't think they charge the earth for Christ. The two best ones that I used to go to near Waterloo have gone. They've gone. They're not making enough money. It's an overcrowded market. The ones that are around charge too much and I think, well, I don't know, maybe it's the shops that they're. And it's all bars and coffee bars and drinking bars around water. But I was heartbroken when these two shops, they were very, very good shops as well. Yeah, yes, it did. I noticed that it's now a prepped. But I think that's a trend that's going on in London and other places is as soon as a lease is up on some kind of independent shop, then a landlord just shoves the rent up so they can no longer afford it. And then a train, train, a coffee bar moves in. And I think that's really sad. And it's like you've got to go further and further out of the center to poorer areas. I mean, if you want good retro shops, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to say go to Margate because that's. Well, there's fabulous stuff, amazing retro furniture, clothes. Let's hope that it doesn't follow London eventually, you know, there you suddenly get everyone moving in. There's far too many trendies from London moving into Margate. Well, there are probably it's gonna. Including Tracey Emmett, I believe. But yeah, I mean, I agree with you that I think there are people who go around charity shops and they cream off the top. But apparently some of the charity shops have now got wise to it and when stuff comes in, it doesn't go out into the ordinary shops, it goes to their designer shops. And I think Oxfam actually have a wedding shop somewhere where you can go and get your wedding dress and the whole outfit for your wedding and you could get, maybe design a wedding dress from, from Oxfam and they've got the full fitting service and everything. So they have started to realise that there are things that they've had expensive things for a long time now, haven't they? Oxfam, they've had bookshops, Oxfam Bookshops. Oh, they have a wonderful bookshop and they have, you know, new things as well. But I found a lot of bargains in these nearly new shops. Rather than going to a charity shop I've actually been to the. There's a nearly new shop in Sandwich in Kent. I've. I've bought two jackets from there for £10. Now, you wouldn't get that in. In a charity shop. You'd be. Cost you £40 to go there and back on the train, probably. But the quality, the clothes, I mean, they had little dresses in this, you know, for the summer, two, three pounds. Now, you wouldn't get that in a charity shop now. Yeah. In London. Definitely not. I don't know if they're better. The charity shops are better outside London. Parts of London are better. I think the thing is, if it's a rich area, you get good donations of higher quality clothes. Yeah. If it's not, it's a poor area and it's cheap. They're just all passing around their Primark clothes. But actually I've got to the point where my cupboards are bursting with clothes. So I actually just recycle my own old clothes that I haven't worn for a few years. Years. And it seems like they're new or I alter them in some way. Yes, I think that's also quite a good idea to do that, if you can sew, remodel them. So, I mean, I just cut the bottoms off some jeans to make them into the new shorter cropped thing. And so I just took a pair of scissors to them and that was it. And I got really nice. It felt like I got new jeans, actually. And there were some fake designer ones I bought on a holiday in Turkey as well. So I think you don't have to spend a lot of money to feel good. I think that's the important thing. No, it's about being sort of using new ingenuity, isn't it? And it's sort of having an eye for things. And because a shop like Primark, I don't buy a lot of stuff there, but the occasional things that I do, they've been really, really good items of clothing and they've been great. I bought a coat one year and it was 22 pounds, reduced to 11 and I just wore it for the whole of that winter. It was wonderful and it's still in my wardrobe now. Well, that is a very reassuring note to end on. If anyone's got any comments or feedback about your own charity giving or charity donating experiences, please contact the women's radio station website. We'll be back very shortly. Bye. Welcome to women's radio station, the voice of women worldwide. Hungry? An average woman eats about 2 to 3 kilos of lipstick in her lifetime. Women's Radio Station we want to hear from you. This is Women's Radio Station. You're listening to Avril Price with Kitchen Sink Spirituality. It's Anna Kennedy talking all things autism and my guest today is Karen Nunn. I listen to Women's Radio Station Women. 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Women's Radio Station is passionate about communication and we'd love any thoughts and feedback on our programs. Email presentersomensradiostation.com if there's a topic you'd like to hear about or want to contact your favourite presenter, do get in touch. WRS women's radio station Voice of Women Worldwide hi, I'm Valentina Barbacci and I'm the Executive Director of Media Matters for Women. We're a registered charity operating in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo and we produce and share podcasts via Bluetooth on mobile phones, focusing specifically on women and girls excluded from information due to extreme poverty. We empower those living in rural areas with media that transforms how they access, own and share information. To find out more and be part of this movement, come check out our website@mediamattersforwomen.org Mirae B Ltd. We are a virtual PA consultancy. We provide remote administrative services. Our offering is diverse. We manage your calendar, we update your client database, we take care of your property in France and in London. We also offer bookkeeping and translation services. Would you like to know more? Please call 07-78684-8998 for further information. Mirae B Limited making the life of the business owner successful. I'm Isabelle Manevy, an executive coach. Do you want to change a negative into a positive. We can do this by encouraging you to rewire your brain using simple visualization techniques. In 20 years of practice, I've seen this transform lives. For more information, look on Women's Radio website. Call me on 079-844-22171. I'm listening. Do you need mediation? We are the a project charity. We provide convict resolution and community engagement services. 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We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate, simply head to our website. Every little will help. Hello, welcome back to open discussion with the 3Js. Well, we've been talking about charity shops, buying in charity shops, donating clothes in charity shops and I think we're moving on to the furniture. Retro furniture or not retro furniture, Ikea or not ikea, some expensive furniture shop in the West End. Or maybe just save money and go on ebay and see what you can find. I've sort of got loads of retro furniture in my house, so hardly anything new in my house. Yes, the sort of generation following on behind us seem to, you know, as well as the pre loved clothes. It's the pre loved furniture. It's putting it into a different house and upscaling it, as they call it. Yeah, because they buy it. It's either already been upscaled by people that have bought it that's in a bit of a sad state and then they're charging huge amounts or people are buying things that looking a bit down at heel and might need a bit of sanding and polishing and Brushing up or distressed painting. Is that still. I think that's still. I think that's still being. Isn't it? So there might be a move away from old clothes but there seems to be a bit of a trend moving away from the likes of IKEA and pre packed, flat packed. What's the wood that they always use? Is it pinewood white? No, it's board, isn't it? Was it MDF board? A lot of it's made. Oh really? What all the cupboards and the. Yeah. And then it's veneered with some. Something my sister's got, you know. You've been in her house, haven't you? Yes. It's all white, isn't it? Yes, it's practically white and beige now. What do you think about that? Isn't that boring? I think it's taste if that's what she likes. It looks very chic but whether it'll age well it's minimalist look, isn't it? Which has been fashionable. I can't understand where everybody's having gray inside the houses like painting everything gray because I've. I don't dislike some gray in a house but when everything's grey I find that a bit down with what they, you know. But they tend to have everything grey like gray carpets, gray curtains, gray walls. That's. It's very fashionable. Oh I haven't noticed that trend. I'm a bit behind there but I like more colour. Yeah. Well to go back with what you were saying Julia about the, the white furniture and everything sort of light and I actually quite like to have just a very bland base when I'm decorating and then add the colour. Yes. Because those long term things, if you get something that's kind of, you know, very patterned, very colorful, very ornate, it kind of dictates something for a long time. Whereas if the kind of stuff that's going to be around for a while is quite bland, you can introduce lots of different styles around it and you can have, you know, you can go through your bright color period or your needles and then you can go to your. I'm quite. I love colour. Yeah. And my flat, I don't think I've got. Well, there's only one room that's white and that's, that's the kitchen and the two rooms. Kitchen and the bathroom. But I've got friends who, who've painted. A friend of in Cambridge, she's painted every room a different colour and it looks so nice. I mean it's purple again. You have to Be careful of the shade and what you put it with. But she's quite good at picking color. I think it's very cheap. Yeah. Things look nice, but then you can get really fed up with, you know, something that is so. But then you can change it. Yeah, I know, but it's easier to change cushions and curtains. That's what that was, you know. Yeah. I think where I come. I think I like a lot of artwork on my wall. I own a lot of artwork, so I like my walls to be quite plain and not strong colors because then the art makes up the personality of the room. I think it is all a matter of taste. Like, some people like the white minimalist look. Some people want strong colour on their wall and I do have friends who just change the colors on their walls quite frequently. And it's what they like to. Yeah, Some people seem to like painting walls, don't they? Yeah, I don't. No, me neither. I've gone off that now because it means you've got to move all the furniture away. Yes. That's the worst bit, is actually preparing a room to decorate. I've been planning to decorate my kitchen all year and it is. It's just the thought of emptying all the cupboards and moving everything, it's putting me off. Not the actual decorating. Yes. It took me about two years to decorate my lounge because every time I thought about it, I thought, oh, yes. And then I used to start going through the process, as you say, of, oh, I've got to stack that, I've got to do that, I've got to put those books there and where am I going to put them? And it just takes a long time. I used to be worn out by the time I just stopped thinking about everything that needed to be done before I could even open a. A pot of paint. My cousin's amazing. She's actually decorating her kitchen, but she's not painting it, she's wallpapering it. Oh, well, you've got wallpaper, haven't you? Yeah, but. Yeah, but not. Not all over my kitchen. She's doing it herself. I had somebody to do one wall, which was a very simple wall. She's doing having to put the wallpaper around, you know, units above, below. Quite fiddly stuff. Yeah, Yeah. I used to hang wallpaper when I was younger. Yeah. I've just never really used it because of this thing of liking to have art on the wall. But wallpapers can be nice. They create a nice atmosphere. Now I was wondering when we're talking about furniture, I was thinking older furniture is better made, it's more solid if you have it. And I think there's a really irritating thing about buying new furniture is that flat packs and putting it together and having several hours where you spent swearing and throwing an Allen key around and getting really fed up with it. You still got to take it apart though, haven't you? Once you've put it up, if you want to move house or do you, well, not do you leave it there? It depends whether you can get it in and out the door or not. And I had to leave, I left a wardrobe somewhere, an IKEA wardrobe because it needed to be dismantled if you're going to get it out of the place. So just left it there in the house. But if it can get out the door, there's no reason why it can't be moved. Unless it depends how well you put it. I was going to say they tend to have a hardboard back, don't they? So when you try and move it, it all starts wobbling all over place. The. But I hate that I'd like to buy a piece of furniture that I can just move into my house and leave there and not have to have these hours of agony putting it together. I'm quite good at putting bookshelves together. Bookcases, you know the, the IKEA book. I've had two of those in the past. They were fairly easy. But I wouldn't like to try a wardrobe. Oh, I did that but I commandeered somebody to help me. There's no way you can do it on your own. It's a two, two hander doing wardrobes and it's got three doors and the worst bit was the hinges, trying to make them make the door close properly. Which is why older furniture, everyone, those of you listening at home, older furniture is best. I bought in my old bed from Margate which was like huge, old Victorian high. You've seen it, haven't you? Yes, you have a magnificent bed. It's an absolutely amazing bed. And I had this fear that it wouldn't fit fit in my new flat, you know, like from the old house. And the men couldn't believe how easy it was to put together because they just slotted it in. It just slotted in and it was okay. It was a little heavy but it was so easy to put together. They said this, this is the very thing they said. It's. So we thought that would take hours. Was it a metal frame though? I think it's wrought iron. You know like yeah, the old fashioned springs. So it's not like trying to fix wood together. No. So yeah, but I can believe that, that it would have been much better made than things are made these days that are made by machine and made quickly in a factory. Well, there is built in obsolescence. I mean everybody does accept that because if they made things to last, then they wouldn't be able to sell us any more things in five, six years time, would they? I mean, will we have this built in obsolescence? I quite like the sound of that. Have you never heard of that phrase before? Goodness, I think it was a given in capitalist countries you can't make things that last too long. I think there is built in obsolescence. And also now there's fashion which says we need to change all our furniture and decor every year or something like our clothes. That's a lot of pressure to spend and keep changing things. Keeping up with the Joneses, you mean? Yeah, well, it's so that people can keep making money because if we stay with everything, we're not spending any more money, are we? But I like to get something that I love and want to keep for years and years because I've chosen it and it's special, not throw away my furniture. The whole system would fall down if it depended on me because I just don't buy enough stuff. Well, while we're having a break, you can have a look at your furniture and decide whether it's worth throwing away or worth keeping. We'll be back very soon. Thank you for listening. Bye. WRS women's radio station. 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We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate simply head to our website. Every little will help. Hello, welcome back to open discussion with the three Js and we were talking about furniture retro, Ikea or any other furniture you seem to accumulate. But I've been accused in the break of having tat in my house. I think not. It is genuine retro and it's atmospheric and I just like to say if you were designing the set of a play using my furniture in my flat, what does it say about me? Is what I want to say. If you're a set designer now think about this. And some. And they were to reconstruct what your house is like. What does that show about you as a person? I think that's a quite an interesting topic to start on. What do you think yours says about you? Well, no, it's probably better that you. You give your feedback. It's a bit dangerous, isn't it? I think which I think your flat's wonderful and I think it's full of the most interesting objects. You have an amazing collection of stuff that you've bought yourself and also that you've inherited from your parents house. I don't know what it. So it seems like it could be something from a novel. Maybe a Barbara vine novel. A crime novel. Well, Barbara vine also something. A kind of mysterious London flat where interesting things could happen. Yes, well it's a shame it doesn't. You never know what's gonna happen around the corner. What about Joy then? I'm not sure I. To me, your flat looks like somebody who has a lot in their lives, a lot of different things in their lives, which you do have different things, threads that you are interested in and different things that you do with, you know, sort of your acting and you do drawing as well. And you, you've got musical instruments there. You, you came to my house and you just sat down and played a bit on the piano, you know, and I'm still struggling to sort of do six bars. So your flat just seems to me to say this is a very diverse person that's got lots of interest and lots of things that they do create. It's a very creative sort of flat, I think it is. It does show diverse interests and it's creative, but it does have like one personality that's you. It kind of somehow does sum up Julia, the Persona. That's Julia. Okay, well that's, that's very flattering. They've avoided actually saying that it's overcrowded and slightly. Well, it is overcrowded, but I think your life is overcrowded, isn't it? And that was what you were asking us in the question. I think I need a bigger property, everyone. Yes, we all do. Yeah, but I think that's a judgment call. Overcrowded. If it isn't overcrowded for you, then that's fine and it might be for other people. Maybe do need more kind of. I think you get used to seeing your space uncritically and there are times when sometimes I have come in through the front door, looked at everything and thought, what? That's too much, I've got to declutter and then I'll go through a phase of decluttering. I know my mother in law would worry about dusting everything in your flat and think that would be quite a challenge. A duster very rarely makes its face seen in my flat. No, I do sometimes flick a duster around, flick the dust around. When I came over to give you a hand with decluttering and organising your patio at the weekend, we found out that we had something in common and I think we have. It's in common with a lot of other people that if you have a surface it will accumulate various diverse objects, pieces of paper, etc, etc, and if it looks overcrowded, I think that's. It's mostly the surfaces, isn't it? Because I sort of showed her my sort of patent way of instantly making something look tidy, even though you've got everything there that was there before. And I just very much Identify with that. If I've got a flat surface, I think, oh, that's gorgeous. But it never stays like it. I sort of really try and. But it's a losing battle because if you put things in drawers, you can forget about them. That's the danger of actually putting things away. I mean, there are people who have these minimalist homes where it's all about clear services and then everything is hidden away, even in, like cupboards where you can't see the doors and things. And I know I could never be like that because I am a messy person. Well, that's the other extreme isn't. Doesn't look like a home then. It just looks like a display flat. You know, when they're sort of building new flats and you go in and you see the display suite. When I go into those marketing suites, which I've been to near to my studio where they've been building them, and they're tiny spaces and they've put in a few prison pristine pieces of furniture, and I just immediately think, well, where they're going to dry their washing, where they're going to put all their clothes and things, you just realize once somebody moves in, there's no way that flat's ever going to look like that. And the furniture that they put in is usually about a third normal size to make it look bigger. And they don't have very good storage. These newly designed. No, they don't. As opposed to the old flats where you had a, you know, a storeroom, an airing cupboard, cupboards for clothes, everything built in. Yeah. They will kind of emphasize putting in a designer kitchen or a very flash bathroom and all that. But then you realize that there's no space in the actual apartment. And then they'll put glass ceiling to floor to try and make it look bigger so you can see the view out. But they are just very tiny and not very practical. And there's no place for the toolbox or the sewing kit. No, it's all those things. Yeah, it's like saying dry in the washing, where you're going to dry the washing. It just means that the places are always going to look untidy. I suppose if you're on the 20th floor, you could hang it out the window. It dry really quick up there. It's always windy up high, isn't it? There's a flat. There's a very nice block. Well, they probably are very nice inside. Near the Thames, near Lambeth Bridge. But, oh, the curve. Slight, curved. Yes. I keep thinking of the people who live in These, I think. Well, how do they cope with the furniture fitting against that curve? Well, it's quite nice not to have furniture against a wall. I tend to put all my furniture into a room more and it actually, actually makes you feel as though you've got more space than if everything's all jammed up against a flat wall. But then they've got like loads of windows, so you've got to have a wall for some bits of furniture, otherwise you're going to find everything's in the middle. Yeah, I know that building and I wouldn't like to live there. I mean, it's a wonderful location with wonderful views, but there's no privacy. You've got all these. You've got the buses going by. You've got more privacy than they have outside. Tate Modern. Oh, yes, with the. Yes, for the people opposite the viewing gallery. But no, you can see in those ones from the bus, the ones land parishion. That's what I think about a lot of these very expensive places. I wouldn't like to. But do you think they are lived in or are they just rented out? Well, it's controversial, isn't it, that people just pay to have them put up and don't ever use them in case the value of their money, their investment goes down. Yeah, people buy them and leave them empty and it's like putting money in the bank and they wait for the price to go up and, you know, and I think that's something in London that makes me really sad that people are sleeping on the streets whilst rich people are buying empty apartments to leave them empty. Yes, It's a very sad fact that there aren't enough cheap but interesting flats built by nice architects who have in mind a family size flat possibly, rather than a sort of student. Yes. And these new flats that are being built can't be squatted in the same way as the empty places could back in the 60s and 70s, can they? Because you can't get into them. No, they've got a concierge getting in. But yeah, I think it's a real shame because I think we had a great tradition of building social housing in this country, which has stopped and now we have a housing problem. And I think I was listening to a very good program on television a few weeks ago about these newly designed flats for pensioners that they're built in mind with, creating a nice sort of ambiance with the. So that you can go and sit in the front or the back, depending on where the sun is around your flat. It's got nice cupboards, very well designed throughout and with wide doors. So if you have a wheelchair, you can, you know, you don't have steps or anything. So they've got disability in mind. Yeah. I think this is sort of thing is architects are missing a trick. You architects out there, you need to think about this, not just build for these rich people who aren't going to live in them anyway. Yeah, exactly. Well, I think we've come to the end. You've been listening to the open discussion on Women's radio station with the three Js. That's Julia Collier, Judith Walker and Joy. And if you wanted to listen again or catch up on our previous programs, you can head to the presenters page on womensradiostation.com or tweet us on Women's Radio Stn. That's it for now. Goodbye. WRS Women's Radio station, Voice of Women Worldwide. This is Amy Liu, Voice of China at Women's Radio Station. Welcome to future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte on women's radio Station. After a long day, I like to sit in my bath with a glass of wine and listen to women's radio. Come, Ross, Kate. You're listening to English conversation with on women's radio Station. To see what other programs we have on women's radio station, head to our website, womensradiostation.com I'm Isabelle Manevy, an executive coach. Do you want to change a negative into a positive? 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