Kildare man leads team on RTÉ’s top-rating Home Rescue: The Big Fix

Aidan Gately, Ireland’s only male KonMari Consultant, has returned to RTÉ’s popular television series Home Rescue: The Big Fix this April. From Clane in Co Kildare, Aidan travelled the world as part of acclaimed choral group Anúna. He retrained as a declutter expert in 2020, and became the first declutter expert to feature in the now long-running series, where he leads his dedicated team of Clutterbusters alongside designer Dee Coleman and builder Peter Finn.

In the top-rating RTÉ2 show, Aidan comes to the rescue of home-owners who’ve found themselves suffocating under avalanches of clutter, helping them to sort through their possessions, in a manageable way, so that they are left with a tidy, clutter free home.

Gately said, “I see my role on Home Rescue: The Big Fix as preparing the canvas for Dee and Pete to work their magic. It’s as much about freeing up psychological space for the home-owner as it is physical space.”

 “My aim is to leave all my clients with a renewed sense of peace of mind. We all should feel joy at home, and unlocking that joy is far easier, and a far more enjoyable and rewarding experience, than people think.”

Through the hit TV show and through his growing business, Joy at Home, Aidan has helped dozens of besieged home-owners. He said, “I trained to become a KonMari consultant back in 2020, and I’m now one of only five certified consultants in Ireland. Having worked with many clients I am very aware of the stress people can find themselves under, especially with many people now working more and more from home.”

Working with clients in the greater Dublin and Leinster area, Aidan is also available for virtual sessions online for clients all over Ireland. Aidan uses the KonMari Method®, created by the Japanese tidying guru Marie Kondo - which makes tidying your home simple, and which follows small and manageable steps.

His top tip? “It’s amazing how easier the process is if we tidy by category, rather than location. That way, by the end, every single item will have been ‘joy checked’ and either kept or let go. And ultimately, you will no longer have any ‘homeless’ items and will not return to how things were before.”

For Aidan, there are a few simple questions that can really help when it comes to deciding if decluttering is for you.

1. Do you feel like an untidy living space leaves you with that feeling of having a cluttered mind too?
2. When you do get round to tidying, even just a little, do you get a sense of not only the physical benefits of an ordered space, but also the emotional and psychological benefits too?

For Aidan, it’s the transformational effect that his clients enjoy having decluttered their homes that brings the greatest sense of joy and contentment.  “This freeing of the mind,” he said, “can give us back so much emotional headspace, and that’s what is most satisfying for me in working in people’s homes, helping them gain a better understanding of what they want in life and what brings them the most joy.”

Based in Dublin and Kildare, Aidan can be contacted at the details below, and viewers can enjoy his decluttering expertise on the current season of Home Rescue: The Big Fix on RTÉ2.