Declutter Your Space, Declutter Your Mind: Mastering the Art of Letting Go with Landra Barta

S3 Ep8 Episode Shownotes:

“Order brings me a certain amount of peace.” —Landra Barta

Feeling like your home (and your life) is just a little too...overwhelming? It's like there's just so much stuff, so many thoughts, and it can all feel a bit suffocating. But the truth is, the key to finding that much-needed clarity and breathing room could be as simple as a little decluttering.

Landra Barta has mastered the art of decluttering, transforming both her personal space and her life. After navigating the challenges of single motherhood and building a successful career, Landra discovered her natural talent for organizing and staging homes. Now, as the owner of Dirty Deeds, she helps others achieve the same sense of clarity and calm by guiding them through the life-changing process of decluttering.

From overcoming a difficult divorce and financial struggles as a single mother, to building a successful organizing and home staging business, Landra Barta's inspiring story of resilience, entrepreneurship, and the power of community support is a must-listen for anyone seeking empowerment and guidance on their own journey. Tune in!

Connect with Heather: 

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Episode Highlights:

02:15 Meet Landra 

12:33 A Shift in Marriage 

19:31 The Yellow Note

26:00 The Lack of Resources for Women 

31:33 Dirty Deeds: Professional Organizing

37:08 Show Up and Let the Unexpected Happen 

41:38 How to DeClutter 

Connect with Landra: 

Landra has been organizing everything within reach since the day she first encountered a disordered pack of crayons. As a single mom of three successful multi-sport athletes, Landra honed organizing down to a science. 

Beyond the challenging role of  "Mom," each stage of Landra's career included elements of sorting, rearranging, and systematization.

Today, Landra does what she loves most— creating comfortable living spaces. Her minimalist approach helps her clients de-clutter their environments and simplify their lives. As Landra says:  "A tidy home is a peaceful home...and don't we all deserve a little peace?"

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Transcript

Heather Nelson: Welcome everyone to this week's Life Conversations With a Twist. I'm very honored to have Landra on my podcast. She and I actually met at a networking event. Everyone knows that I love a good networking event. I'm part of the Be Better Group, and you were at one of the mixers, and we've connected. You reached out and was like, I want to come and tell my story on my podcast. I love and acknowledge women that want to do that. Because sometimes, people are not open and willing to share their stories so I appreciate you for being here to be vulnerable, to talk about fun things. So welcome.

Landra Barta: Thank you. And it's actually Landra. It mispronounced the first couple times, but it's Landra. My grandpa's name was Landon, and they named me for him. It was really close to my grandparents.

Heather Nelson: I try to ask how to pronounce people's names. My biggest fear in life is saying people's name wrong. I'm always like, wait, how do you say, and I should have asked you, so I apologize. You're also the owner of Dirty Deeds, which is the cutest business name in the world. I can't wait to hear how that business got here. Give us a little bit of your current life, where you live? What do you do for a living? A little bit about your family life. Let the listeners in a little bit on your life.

Landra Barta: Okay, gosh, it's been a huge year for me, for sure. I met the love of my life five years ago this January, and we bought a house on the west side of Petaluma just about three years ago, and we got married this past May. I started Dirty Deeds in January. It's just been this really big transitionary year, all good stuff, and I'm definitely at the happiest I've ever been. So it's a good time to catch me.

Heather Nelson: I did not realize that you had just started your business. I love it. Well, take us back a little bit on your journey before we hit record, and dive in a little bit about your past. Take us back to when you were younger, and kind of what growing up looked like for you.

Landra Barta: My dad was kind of an entrepreneur, and that led us to a lot of different cities around the country. Tampa, Florida, Texas, a couple of different areas of Texas, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And for the most part, I grew up in SoCal in San Diego and Orange County. So from 5th grade to 12th grade, that was all in San Diego County. And then after high school, I moved to Chico. I went to Cal State, Chico and studied communication. I like to brag that I graduated in four years, because that's pretty rare up there. My parents just said, we're paying for four years. That's it. Figure it out. And I did. I did meet my first husband up there, and we got married right out of college. Very young. Moved to Maui for a couple years, Southern California a couple years, and then back here to Petaluma 18 years ago, right before the birth of my third child. My husband, at the time, was born and raised in Petaluma. I always loved it, just coming here, visiting from Chico and all the cousins. Everyone was up here, and we were getting ready to have the 11th grandchild. So we just kind of feel a need to be up near family, and having the kids around their cousins. And my mother in law was just one of my very favorite people in the whole world, and she was diagnosed with cancer. Late stage cancer, and that was kind of the push that moved us up in a hurry. We thought we had her for nine weeks, that's what the doctors were saying. She fought, and it turned into 18 months. And so we are just so lucky to have that time with her, especially my third child, really getting to bond with her. We didn't even know that they were going to be able to meet her, so that was a really special time. And she was a really special woman, and I miss her dearly.

Heather Nelson: You have three kids.

Landra Barta:  I have three kids. They are 18, 20 and 22 right now.

Heather Nelson: Are they all home? Where are they at now?

Landra Barta: I'm pretty big on having them flee the nest at 18. I know that's not a popular thing these days, but I really believe that kids need to be adults and get on their own. I think there's a lot of overhand holding, over-helping, over enabling and lengthening childhood these days. And so I've always told them as they were young that you're going to be an adult at 18, and you'll choose to either go to college, get into the workforce or the trades, which is one of my favorite paths. And so they were prepared for that. And my daughter, she's 22. She graduated from Petaluma high in 2020, a really weird year to graduate. There's no prom, no graduation. There were just meetings via Zoom, no senior, ditch day, none of the fun things that you associate with being a senior. And she went down to Santa Barbara City College and worked full time at the Ritz in fine dining, and went to school full time for two years. Found out that she really loved fine dining and being in the hospitality industry, and had no idea what she wanted to major in. She's pretty much done with her GE and she's like, what's next? So she decided to continue on in hospitality and in fine dining, and she moved to San Francisco in the Presidio. And after two years in Santa Barbara, she moved up and worked for Ayesha Curry's Restaurant International Smoke.

Heather Nelson: That's my favorite restaurant.

Landra Barta: I wonder if she's waited on you before.

Heather Nelson: Oh, my god. I freaking love that restaurant. I love Ayesha, her story and who she is. And her food is phenomenal. I actually had a pinch me moment. Maybe you'll appreciate it because your daughter's in the hospitality industry. Whenever I tell people this story, they're kind of like, wait, what? I have a friend who does social media for food people so well, she has all these crazy connections, and she was actually talking to Michael Mina's wife, who does a Bloody Mary mix. I had another local influencer chef on my podcast probably about a year and a half ago. And she sent Michael Mina and his wife in that podcast and was like, you have to listen to this chef, this local chef, blah, blah, blah. At first she was like, Michael Mina and his wife listened to your podcast. I was like, get the hell out of here.

Landra Barta: For those who don't know, Michael Mina teamed up with Ayesha Curry to make International Smoke. And that's kind of their baby. It's pretty neat to have his name on it, and have her be involved in it as well.

Heather Nelson: I do have to say that I love hearing stories when people get inspired to go into the hospitality industry, because I think that I've been here. My whole career has been hospitality. I just feel like the younger generation doesn't appreciate it as much, and there's not so much excitement around it. So it makes me happy to hear that people still like thriving and wanting to be a part of it, because it's amazing.

Landra Barta: Totally. And I'll just take a second to brag about my daughter. She was listed by name in over 50 Yelp reviews in her two years that she worked there. She was always top in sales. She was the youngest hired and the least experienced. Even though she had two years under her belt at the Ritz, she was the least experienced ever hired there so it's pretty cool.

Heather Nelson: How did she get to meet Ayesha?

Landra Barta: So when I say past tense and stuff, and lots of warriors.

Heather Nelson: That's so cool. I want to come meet her.

Landra Barta: She just recently moved to Santa Cruz with her boyfriend, so she had two years there in the city, in the Presidio and working for Ayesha. And now, she works for another fine night restaurant in Capitola, and they live near downtown Santa Cruz right now. So on to the next adventure. And then I have a 20 year old son, and he lived in the Presidio with the two of them for two years as well. Right when he turned 18, he was starting to look for a place. Or a couple months before, then he was starting to look for a place. So he was ready to move out at 18. And she said, I'm going to move up from Santa Cruz, and you should move in with us. And I just thought, this has got to be the most horrible idea ever. These two, I thought they were going to kill each other. Growing up, they've never gotten along. What are they thinking? And it turned out to work out really well, and they had a blast. I'm talking to them and they're spending their days off together at the beach, because they lived in the procedure right across from Baker Beach.

Heather Nelson: There's hope for my kids to be friends someday.t

Landra Barta: Yes, it's the best thing. I have three very active type A in your face, fuck off mom type people. And now, they're all the closest friends, and the closest to me. I talk to them daily and I just feel super fortunate. So yes, don't give up on the fighting kids. Moving on to the second kid, he is 20, and he graduated High School early. I've got a construction background, and so I got him the interview for his first industry job. It was aka electric out of San Rafael. And so he got a really good foundation with them, and now he's with Divine Electric also in San Rafael. He's getting ready to move in with some friends in Petaluma to a new place. So he's doing really well. Super proud of him. My third child, he just graduated high school, and he's young for his grade. So he will turn 18 at the end of this month, and he'll be moving on and moving out November 1.

Heather Nelson: We're like, happy birthday, bye.

Landra Barta: Exactly.

Heather Nelson: My job is done. I love that. Can you talk a little bit about the construction business, or is this part of the story that we're going to get to?

Landra Barta: No, no, that's a great segue. I was mostly a stay at home mom, and kind of towards the end of my marriage. I must have known that that was coming, because all of a sudden I had this urge to work full time. I always worked part time. I used to do photo editing for Victoria Webb photography, and I was her studio manager. And so I worked school hours when the kids were in school. And then when they were out, I was getting them to sports, dinners, laundry and all that stuff that goes along with it. But things were starting to hit the fan and the home front, and it was really subconscious that I was just like, I'm gonna work full time. And a friend of mine had approached me. He owns Eames Construction in Petaluma, and he's like, I'm looking for someone with X, Y, Z, P, D, Q. And I was like, check, check, check. That's me, but that's me. Me, you're looking for me. And he's like, are you serious? You come work for me? I said, yeah. And he goes, okay, well, we need to talk tomorrow, so come down. Let's have a discussion. We'll go over the job. And if you're serious? I want you. So I went down there, and heard all about the job. He gave me a tour and I was like, this is it? I want to do it. And so I started working for him. And five months later, my ex husband and I separated.

Heather Nelson: How old were your kids at that point?

Landra Barta: I think 9, 11, and 13. I guess around there.

Heather Nelson:  Becoming teenagers.

Landra Barta: Hard ages for sure. It's not a deal for any kid to go through, and I think that's why I held off so long to set the boundaries that ended up my marriage.

Heather Nelson: This was part of your story that we were talking about diving into a little bit, and a lot of women don't like to talk about their divorces for a lot of different reasons, and I respect that. But there's always a part of the marriage where it's like you can start to see something shift. What point was that for you? Did something specific happen? Or was it like an ongoing thing that was going on with you guys?

Landra Barta: I would venture to say the last probably 8 or 9 years were pretty miserable for me, to be honest. I come from a very strong Christian background. It might be a fundamental, an extreme background. That states from my perception and my knowledge that you don't divorce unless there's some heavy physical abuse or cheating going on. Luckily, that was not the case, but there was enough going on that it affected my health. I had visual rashes all over my body and the doctors just could not explain why. They had tried several different things. And finally, my doctor said, listen, I'm going to tell you something. I'm not a psychologist, so I'm going to tread lightly here. But basically, you've got one part of your brain that's telling you that you should be doing this, and you've got another part of your brain that's more your heart, that's saying this is what you need to do, and this is what I long for you to do, and this is what I really want. And until you reconcile those two voices, this rash ain't going nowhere. And I was just like, oh, my gosh. And I just thought, this is some voodoo stuff. I don't know if I agree with this.

Heather Nelson: At that time, was it marriage that was doing that?

Landra Barta: No. It didn't occur to me at all. I forget the word. I got that reinforced idea about four or five times in the next two weeks. And the last time was a friend that said, hey, listen, I know we don't talk very often, but I feel this need to meet with you. So I met with her and she's telling me, hey, you need to set these boundaries. I can see a cloud over you. I can see something's going on. You don't talk about it with anyone. I certainly don't know about it because I don't know you that well, but I can see it. It's a very visual kind of cloud that is over you, and I'm guessing it's your marriage. And I said yes, and I shared with her some things that were going on that I was not happy about. And she said, you need to set boundaries to put a stop to the things that you're not happy with. And I just said, if I set those boundaries, it's going to end the marriage. I'm going to fuck up my kids, all these things that I've been taught my whole life. And so I had this tremendous pressure of everyone else's well being, except my own. And she looked at me, she pulled off her wig and she said, I am in stage four cancer because I did exactly what you did. What's it going to take for you? She's like, this little rash that's cute, wait till it progresses and it's warm. What's it going to take? And so that was enough for me. And I really had that in my head that, gosh, I got to do something. I gotta do something. I gotta do something. I gotta do something. 

This is the first time that I understood what my medical doctor said, you've gotta reconcile those two voices because I just thought it sounded like some kind of woo-woo bullshit that didn't really resonate with me. So it finally hit me. It took four or five people talking to me and convincing me about this, and she was the final one. So I really was getting ready to set these boundaries, and then this incident happened that involved my ex. It was so horrible, and it was in front of me and in front of the kids, and it was some kind of a breakdown of sorts. And that was like, okay, I convinced myself I was going to set these boundaries, and I didn't. And here I am. So if I didn't know last week, now I really know. And so I sat down with these boundaries and said, these are the boundaries. You want to stay here, we can stay a couple. If you're outside these boundaries, I'm not going to endorse you. I'm not going to split up this family or mess up these kids, but we will not be a couple. I will let them know. And in the meantime, you need to move upstairs until this all gets ironed out. And so these boundaries were agreed upon and never followed. And I had said, you have 30 days to make some progress on these, and there was zero progress. So at the end of 30 days, I said, I'll be talking to the kids and telling them that we're no longer a couple. That we love them and that we're not divorcing, and we'll be staying in the same house. And he said, you go ahead and tell them. I said, let's meet at 5:00 pm tonight. And he said, you go ahead and tell them whatever you want. I will untell them later. 

So I was the only one that showed up at 5:00. I told the kids that we had a family meeting, and I explained to them that we're no longer a couple. Your dad's gonna live upstairs.,I'm gonna live downstairs. We're still a family. We still love you. We'll still do things together, but this is the difference. And they really had a hard time, especially the younger two, and that just made me feel even worse. They cried and I cried, and they had lots of questions. I answered as age appropriately as I could, but I did not bad mouth their father at all. I did not tell them about the boundaries or anything like that. I just said that we had some differences that were not able to be worked out. And so throughout the years, they've come to me. And the younger two came to me pretty quickly and guessed some of the reasons. They asked me point blank, and I was honest and said yes, but never went into those details. Never bad mouth, I just confirmed their thoughts. To this day, nobody's perfect, but I've done my absolute best to not bad mouth him to them. I've definitely badmouthed him to my best friends. They know exactly where I'm at. I'm not a saint. I'm definitely going to tell my best friends and the people closest to me the details on what happened, but that's not something that I just run around and tell the public. And I certainly did not tell the kids, but I did tell them, when you're 18, if they came up with something that was a little more invasive, more than I wanted to tell them. I just said, when you're 18, you can ask me whatever you want, and I'll tell you exactly the truth. And so the older two have done that. The younger is not 18, and he may do that. He may not, that'll be up to him.

Heather Nelson: Is their dad still in their life?

Landra Barta: He received custody every other week. That's what his attorney advised him, and so that's what he did. And that also negated any child support. So that was really rough, because I had always been a stay at home mom with a little tiny part time income that I really didn't see. I just kind of handed it over at the end of the week, and now I'm forced to cover the house and everything. So at the end of the 30 days, it actually took four or five months. But at the end of that four or five months, he said, I guess you're serious, and I'll be leaving. And he left me a note and said that I was responsible for the home and all the bills associated with home, and I was on my own. When I started to freak out because I thought, this is not what I planned. This is not what I wanted. I wanted change, and I wanted healing. I wanted our marriage, the family and everything to be better, but that was not the choice that was made. And so at that point, I had to file for legal separation because there were just a lot of financial things that were getting drained. I wasn't going to be able to bring home a paycheck, see that paycheck and then feed my kids. So I did have to file through legal separation at that point, and then he answered in divorce. And so that's when it ended. And it took about a year to finalize everything, maybe a year and a half. And so I think it was like April or May of 2017 that everything was final.

Heather Nelson: I have a question for you. I've been in a room with women who want to leave their husbands, or are having hard times with their husbands, or not happy in their marriage. Have children but don't work, don't have a job. They are stay at home moms. They want to leave, but they can't because they feel like they can't make it on their own. Do you have any advice? Obviously, you've been through it, and you know what it's like that you could tell somebody who might be in that situation.

Landra Barta: I don't find a need for privacy at this point. Because if I can help someone, another woman with my experience, then I'd rather just be vocal and vulnerable in order to help someone. So I kind of have to set my embarrassment or whatever alongside my ego and everything aside, just so that I can help other women because I stayed stuck in this situation for far too long. It wasn't good for me, and it modeled complacency to the kids. I don't ever want my kids to subconsciously chase complacency in their marriage. I want them to chase passion, love, care, kindness and giving, and understanding, and compromise, and all those things. When he left and left me with that note, it basically said, you're in charge of the rent and all the bills associated with this house. And I'm gone, and I'm going to take the kids every other week starting on this date. I can remember very vividly the day, because I really started to just hear my heart palpitate. I was like, I'm gonna have a panic attack. And so what I did is I walked over to the timer on the kitchen stove, and I set it for 30 minutes. I'm like, you have 30 minutes to freak the fuck out. And when that timer rings, you're all done and you're gonna get into action mode. And so the timer went off, I had 30 minutes. I stomped around the house, threw things, pounded a pillow, screamed in a pillow. We all know it was a panic attack, and then when that rang, I wiped my face and sat down with the yellow pad, and I wrote down exactly what I needed to do. Need to happen in order to keep this house. 

I need a roommate. I will move up to the sewing room, which is very tiny. It was like four by six. Really tiny. Barely hit the bed. That's it. I will move up there. I will rent out the master bedroom. I need to paint the master bedroom. I need to turn off the cable. I need to get on a payment plan with PG&E water and garbage, because all those were in arrears. That was how it was left to me. We ate at the food bank. I stood in line for an hour and 15 minutes every Thursday night after work, and we got food from the food bank. And I'm telling you, a lot of it is expired and not tasty, and doesn't really go together. And to try to make up meals with those types of ingredients, it's just the sacrifice that you make. The kids have complained and I just said, we have to be grateful for exactly what we have. There's kids that aren't eating tonight. I went to different coaches, and I was able to get scholarships to keep kids in sports. I sent a letter out to our very closest friends, family friends, and I just said, hey, this is what's happening. I want my kids' lives to change as little as possible, because none of this is their fault. I'm looking for donations to keep my kids in sports, not to pay our bills or feed anyone, but just to keep them in sports. And if you see a value in that for my kids, I'm opening up a savings account just for that. And people came forward, and it was almost to the penny what I needed for each of them to stay in their sports through high school. And I kept that separate, and I did all the ACH payments for sports and everything through that, and I was able to get their new cleats every year. It was such a blessing. 

So these are some of the sacrifices that you make. I had no spending. I traded massages for everything. I must have been doing a massage two or three nights a week, and I was treating it for my hair, the kids' haircuts, food. Sometimes, I traded it for all kinds of things. And it was,luckily, a certified skill that I have. So I did that after work, after work. A full eight hours, I would do that. Get kids to sports, run back, do another massage, make dinner, that kind of thing. So it can be done if someone is feeling trapped and feeling like, hey, there's some abuse going on here, whether it's alcoholism or physical abuse, verbal abuse. Anything that they feel like in danger, that they need to get out of this, and they're not a breadwinner. Usually if there's money involved, the husband would be required to pay for attorney expenses for both of them, and that didn't happen in my case. Unfortunately, I did represent myself while he had an attorney. So that did make it rough, but it is doable, and I did do it.

Heather Nelson: You know how Sonoma County has resources for everything, like small businesses? You name it, they have it. But there's not one for this specific--

Landra Barta: No, I could murder someone and get a free lawyer. But I'm wrong. Someone walked out and said divorce, and I don't have any help. And if I went to Legal Aid and I made $55,000 a year back then, that's nothing you cannot feed four people on 55,000 a year. But that was too much money in order for me to get any help from legal aid on just filing basic divorce papers.

Heather Nelson: One of the things during that session with these women that I'm like, there's just no resources for women, which is what keeps them in these marriages, keeps them in this household, in these awful environments. Their mental health is messed up. There's just so many things that happen and that it just sucks. I always want to cure and figure out solutions for everything that's what beast one is. If anyone's listening and wants to take that on, I think that you would have a huge market for it. I was very surprised being in a space of women who are going through some really hard things with their spouses that I'm like, they should not be in that environment. And their kids definitely shouldn't be in that environment. A lot of the points that you made about why you left, your kids being in a healthy relationship, seeing a healthy relationship, seeing their mom and their parents happy.,I think that was super important. I've been divorced as well, and that was one of the things that I got to a point where I was like, I don't feel like myself. This doesn't feel like the life that I want. My kids were 3, no 5 and 2. Everyone's like, you can't leave them. You're gonna mess up your kids. We can mess up our kids in any situation. For me, it wasn't worth it to be miserable for them to see their parents in a relationship that wasn't thriving.

Landra Barta: They're destined to repeat that too. There's so much subconscious stuff that goes on that. We're not even aware of, or in control of sometimes.

Heather Nelson: So when you got the construction job, was that after the divorce? You said you got into construction, was that after the divorce?

Landra Barta: That was five months before the incident that culminated in the divorce. He came to me and he was like, hey, do you know anyone with these things? And I was like, me. So I had just started my career, basically, because I wouldn't even call working in Victoria's studio as part of my career. That was really just fun creativity and to kind of help pay the bills. So this was actually, okay, I'm going to do this by myself. I need to build this. And so that was kind of my springboard. So I worked for Ryan Eames, a wonderful company. Incredible integrity, quality of work, the best subcontractors. Everything cannot stay and good things about Eames Construction. And then another company approached me and recruited me for that job. And so I went to him because it was 10,000 or maybe 15,000 more a year, and it was full benefits for me and all the kids. That means for the kids that wouldn't have to be on medical anymore. That was all these more paid vacations and more things, and it was just all the bells and whistles. I went to Eames and I was like, hey, someone I wasn't even looking at but someone just came and offered me this. And Ryan just said that, you have to take that. It's like, we can't afford to match that, and we encourage you to grow in your career. And that's what me and Paul did, the head guys in the company. He's like, two years here, two years there, and you just kind of monkey branch right up. And you have to do this as much as we hate to leave you or lose you. 

So I took that job, and then I was with that company, the next company for two years. And then they end up closing the doors. The guy, owner, after 25 years of business,retired. And so then I went to Tomrose Construction, which is my cousin by marriage. And I was like, okay, cousin. The stars are gonna lie, we may be able to work together. And he's like, oh, great. I don't have a position right now, but I'll create one. What do you want to do? I want you to do exactly what you want to do, because you're going to be the best worker if you're doing what you want to do and you're satisfied with your job. He and I built this kind of position, and it's called Project Coordinator. And so I got to learn and grow, and do much more than what I had been doing behind the scenes in the construction office. So I got to be on the job sites dealing with all the subcontractors and all of our staff. I've done everything from running a chainsaw to running and picking up materials, or meeting a subcontractor on the job site and telling him the scope of work, and going over what we had in mind, quality wise and everything. So I really got my feet wet in construction the most with this job. And I was there three and a half years, and was just recently laid off last year, at the end of last year because we had two jobs that I was going to straddle. I was going to do two days in the country, and two days on the beach. I always worked Monday through Thursday. Thank God. I work four nines, and would have Friday, Saturday, Sunday with my kids. And so we had these two jobs that I was going to straddle. Billy's like, guess what? We lost both jobs. First, I'm sorry we didn't lose both. We lost one job. The owner's not even calling us back. We don't know what happened. We've been working on these drawings, the bid and everything for nine months, and he's just MIA. 

And the second one is so caught up in permitting. It's going to be another four months or so before we get you on the job, and we can't pay you for four months while there's no work. And I was like, that's the nature of construction. I get it. I was going to go home. I was going to text my boyfriend at the time and I thought, you know what? Let him finish out his day. And so I came home and pulled out my trusty yellow pad again and made a list. And was like, I'm not going to go back to work for anyone ever again. This is my idea. This is what I want to do. And I started this whole business plan on this yellow pad all day long,while I was waiting for Chris to come home from work. And it was organized. It was professional organizing. And I still do those Dirty Deeds. I still organize. Last week, I ordered or I spent two 8 hour days organizing an east side of an attic. And then on the other side of the house, they have a West attic, and we did both of those. They were two 8 hour, very intense days. So I still do that. I would say the bulk of my business now, probably 75% or more is affordable staging. And so the job of the company just turned from organizing to more affordable staging. That's how I got the name. I was just organized, clean, dirty. What can I think of? And I just was kind of writing, and then all of a sudden it hit me. I was like, oh, that's my name, that's it.

Heather Nelson: I love it. Did you always have a passion for organizing? If you like them, like you always had, your house was all organized, like you loved it.

Landra Barta: Yeah, I really do. It's kind of a sickness now. I can remember that even as a kid, helping friends organize their rooms and cleaning just the whole crayon box and all that stuff is just, I liked things in order. And I feel like order brings me a certain amount of peace. It's kind of something that I crave. What do you call it when someone is just like--

Heather Nelson: Like neurotic?

Landra Barta: Definitely type A, but not in a neurotic like weird off the charts way. But I do like order.

Heather Nelson: It's so funny because I meet women all the time and they're like, well, everything's so chaotic. And everything just fills in disarray like their life. Or you could just tell the way they carry themselves that that's how their life is. And I walk in their house and I'm like, if you actually had your house in order and things were clean, like, it totally changes things. I notice if I walk in my house and it's crazy, like the kids just got home and their shits everywhere, and I walk in and I'm like, it's like a panic attack. But if you walk into a clean house and everything's put away in its spot, it's like, ah.

Landra Barta: When mama ain't happy, nobody's happy. I always tell my kids, make your bed. You guys have 10 minutes. In 10 minutes, I'm going to yell again. Then you need to get out of your bed. You need to make your bed, get dressed and come down for breakfast. And that was always the three things. But now, if you follow the most successful people on social media, you know Chris Willocks and Tony Robbins, all these guys, they're all saying, make your bed.

Heather Nelson: I always wake up before my husband and get out of bed and like, if I leave for the day and he's still in the bed, I want to be like, can you get out so I can make the bed? Because I want to know when I get home later that the bed's made. He's gotten better. He does make it. It's just not as tight and clean.

Landra Barta: So you remake it.

Heather Nelson: I want to go back to thriving. So you leave your husband. I just had this conversation today with someone else. Your husband basically is like, figure it out, here's the house. And you're like, oh, shit. How am I gonna get through this? You just have to cut some things out of your life. Don't have the same lifestyle that you did have, but you kind of go through this motion of like, okay, I just gotta get this. We're gonna get through it. We have to scale back. We can't live the normal lifestyle. But at the end of the day, you figured it out. And now, you're thriving. Talk about that process for you.

Landra Barta: To be honest, it was never thriving prior. And that was definitely one of the big problems. I had kind of mentioned utilities not being kept up, lights being turned up and things like that that never once happened once he left. Never once happened. My kids never had to go a day without lights or a cold shower. Or don't take the garbage out this week because it wasn't paid. And that never happened. I never bounced one single check. I never had one overdraft. It just never happened. And I think in the beginning, there were a lot of gifts. I think people were really like, your kid can do this basketball camp for free. We absolutely want him there. Hey, here's this meal, we made a bunch of extra and we just thought we'd drop it off to your family. It just seems like people just come together. You spread love, and you've got these great, tight relationships that you've doven into. You've given of yourself over the years, it just comes back. People just stepped up. And I also think just the universe shows up as well in ways that we can't even fathom. I can remember one day, a friend of mine, I said, oh, my gosh, Colin Hay is coming into town. He's going to play at the mystic. And I absolutely love Colin Hay. He was the lead singer of Men at Work. He has his own solo career, and he's just so amazing. And the tickets for $50. That was such an exorbitant amount. It's like, I could never spend $50 on myself. We need food, socks and underwear, and there's no way I could take that luxury and spend $50 on myself. 

And so I was telling my girlfriend, I really want to go to this. And she didn't really know who he was. So she's like, I don't see the value. But I don't know if you're able to work it out some way, and you seem to always work things out. I'll go with you. I was like, all right. The concerts are coming up in like 20 minutes, and I've looked everywhere. No one's selling you tickets for cheap. And I said, you know what? Let's just go down there and see what happens. She's like, why? Just go see what happens. She's like, whatever. So she walks down with me, and we sat in front of McNear's and we got a beer. I was like, let's just get a beer and sit here in the sun. Let's just see what happens. She's like, this is crazy, but whatever. So we each get a beer. We're sitting there, and I'm just looking around, just scanning the crowd like something's gotta turn up. I just had it in me, like I'm gonna go to this concert. I really want to go. And so this guy came out twice and kind of looked around and then went back in. And the third time he came out, I was like, hey, hey, hey. And he's like, yeah? And he comes over and I said, I think I heard you tell the ticket booth that you have two free tickets. And he's like, what? No, I didn't tell anyone I had two free tickets. And I was like, oh, I thought that's what you said. And he goes, well, I'm selling two tickets. And I go, oh, okay. And I said, how much? And he's like, well, they were $50 each. And I go, this show's already started. How much? And he's like, I don't know why. What do you want to pay? And I said, well, you've got two single moms here that couldn't afford tickets, and I'm going to propose 20 bucks for both. And he's like, are you kidding me? You're really going to ask me for $20 for both? And I said, I'm just going to ask you. Do whatever you want. And he's like, sold you girls, go in and have fun. 

And so we went in and had a blast. I met Colin Hay. We have pictures with our arms on each other. We have pictures laughing like it was the most incredible concert and it was all just a gift of the universe. I had faith. I'm like, let's go. We'll see what happens. And so many times in my life when I've just taken a step forward in faith and just said, you know what? This is something I really want. I'm going to show up, I'm going to be there. And maybe, just maybe, it'll fall into place. And five years ago, I showed up at the Mystic, and that's when my life really fell into place. I met the love of my life, and it was a complete accident because he doesn't like live events or crowds. His friends had kind of dragged him there, and I stood right in front of him for the entire concert. I kept bumping into him and hitting him because I was singing and dancing, and belting out every word to a Neil Diamond cover band called Super Diamond. And at the end, I turned around to apologize, and he just knocked me off my socks just from the way he looked, how he talked, and just who he was. And it's so funny, because he was nothing about my type at that point. I had kind of a type, and he did not fit into that, but I was so 100% just taken aback. I was like, wow, this is it. And in hindsight, it was me recognizing him like that. I just thought, this is the most gorgeous man I have ever seen. And I said, hey, let me have your phone. Here's my number. We're gonna hang out. And he's just like, okay. And from the next weekend on, we've been together ever since.

Heather Nelson: I love that. See? The eye is a point right there that hard shit happens. And if you can just get through it, see through that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, the things that can happen and open up for you are pretty freaking amazing. You're struggling now, you're thriving, your kids are all thriving, and you have a business that's thriving, and you have a brand new husband, and you have to suck it up to get through all the fucking mud to get there.

Landra Barta: Yes. I would venture to say, when I made that list that I need a roommate, I need to turn off cable, I need this. I did all those things. I made that list, I did all those things, and I pushed forward. I persevered, and I kept telling the kids, we don't give up. Our family doesn't give up. And they saw me do it. They saw everything that I did. And to this day, all three of them are just like, Mom, you're a badass. You really fought to keep us in all of our same things. You kept us in our childhood home. We did all the same activities. You even took us on vacations every year. And Mom, I don't know how you did this, but you did it. And you're a badass. I just love that name. I was like, okay, I'll take it.

Heather Nelson: I love it with Dirty Deeds, because you do affordable staging. Do you do staging for homeowners? Or do you work a lot more with realtors? Who are your target clients?

Landra Barta: I really go after realtors because they are usually the people that suggest it to someone that's selling their home. They're thinking of so many other things, where they're going to move, how much they're going to make, how they're going to declutter and get rid of all this stuff before they move? They're really not thinking about staging. So I usually do target the realtors. I belong to several networking events that have a lot of realtors, and so that's kind of who I'm going after. There are quite a few homeowners that will get in touch with me to declutter. They say, oh, organizer. That's what I need. I'm going to get everything decluttered before my realtor sees the house, and then go from there. So I do help both sides. But for the most part, realtors are the people that hire me. And a lot of realtors, they give that as their gift to the client. They'll say, hey, you come on stage, I'll pay you directly. Don't mention any of the prices in front of the homeowner. I'm going to take care of it. And then a couple others will split it with them. And then there's another camp that will just be like, hey, this is what I recommend you do. I think ultimately, the best thing for a house would be to clear the whole house, move out and bring in traditional staging. That's going to get you the most money. But for most people, they can't afford that. Traditional staging is 5,000 upwards to $10,000. Some people have to sell their house, they're not just selling it for fun, for a profit and see what happens. A lot of people are having to sell it for financial reasons so they're looking to save money. So that's kind of my target. Wouldn't be the person that can afford traditional staging, I would be the person that needs to own or occupy, stay in the house while it sells. 

And then at that point, I'd start the process. What that process looks like is, I do talk to the homeowner ahead of time and say, try to declutter as much as you can. You want to get out of the way. It's not something you need until your next home. Declutter that, either store it in the garage, or donate it, or throw it away one of those three items. So then I come in and I do some more decluttering. Sometimes up to 60% of the contents of the house go out. So it just depends on how much stuff people have. There's definitely minimalists that I work with, and then there's people that are more kitschy, and lots of accessories, collections and sports, trophies and things like that. So that's kind of more than the average person. So I do come in and I declutter and de personalize. So pull any family photos, effects, sports memorabilia, crafts, hobbies, that kind of thing, anything that's not neutral. I'm pulling out of the space. And so I really neutralize the space, like I said, depersonalize it. And then oftentimes, I've got a design background so I usually move the furniture around. Usually different from what people have. Lot of people don't know where to put furniture,so they just kind of throw it in there. 

This couch is on the longest wall that goes, just do that. So then I just kind of rearrange things to more of a design aesthetic. And then lastly, I kind of infused some new life into the house by purchasing throw pillows, new towels. I always purchase new towels. Sometimes the people with the best taste, the most money have like the most threadbare towels. So that's something that I always replace. And then a lot of new bedding too. So like some new layers, maybe a couple blankets at the bottom, four more pillows with new shams on the back of the bed, that kind of thing just to make it really comfy, really inviting. So it's not necessarily someone's going to come in and be like, oh, I like how that bed's done. They're going to come in and feel a feeling of relaxation in that room. That room looks so comfy and nice. I want to be in that room. So they start envisioning themselves in the house. And a lot of it is subconscious; they're not even aware. I really don't like this room. I don't know why. Just don't, that kind of thing. And maybe there's some sports memorabilia. Maybe the wife is bitter about sports because she's a sports widow or whatever. So whatever could be possibly even 10% offensive, I'm pulling it out of the space and neutralizing the space so that I'm creating a feeling when someone walks into the house.

Heather Nelson: You have to say, we just sold our house, and our realtor brought in a stager. And let me tell you, moving is freaking stressful. I would have 100% hired you because I was like, it was so overwhelming to declutter and then to keep up. I have a three year old so they brought in really cute pillows and all these cute decor pieces. Every time somebody came to look at the house, put it all out because I had to put it away for this. Please, this house needs to fucking celebrate. It does make 100%.

Landra Barta: There's all kinds of statistics that homes sell quicker and for more money with the proper staging. And like I said, it doesn't have to be exorbitant staging from the staging company that comes from a warehouse. Obviously, that's going to be ideal, but it will always make the home look so much better than it did prior. And more sales are ready.

Heather Nelson: Kudos to you because you guys are like dream makers. I was like, oh, my God, my house looks really cute. And they're like, I thought I had a cute house. But it's crazy the amount of crap that you accumulate and that is so personal. You have to hide the toys. And I was like, oh, my gosh, my kids were over it when it was done because they were like, we had to clean our room and we had to hide.

Landra Barta: Yeah, that's a lot.

Heather Nelson: Thank you so much for being here. It was so great. We've only met, like, what do you do? It was really cool to hear your story. I'm always thankful for women to come on and tell their stories about things that were hard or triggering, so thank you for opening up your life and your journey. I hope that you inspire and empower someone who's in that same situation to do what makes them happy.

Landra Barta: Absolutely. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Heather Nelson: Thank you.