4 Categories to declutter and organize in your home (that will have the most impact on your daily life) #95

Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed by clutter in your home? Join me, Caroline Thor, in my latest podcast episode as we embark on a journey to transform chaos into calm.

Are you drowning in clutter and seeking a solution? Let's put an end to the madness. Discover how to declutter your home quickly with proven hacks and expert tips.

Imagine a home where every corner radiates peace and order. With our simple approach, we'll tackle key areas like the entranceway, kitchen, living room, and bedroom—transforming your space into a haven of calm.

Strengthen family bonds and improve your well-being as you declutter. Say goodbye to stress and hello to quality time with loved ones.

Explore the Clutter Free Ever After program and hear inspiring success stories from those who've embraced the journey. Experience the joy of reclaiming your space and your life.

Simplify your surroundings and develop sustainable habits for lasting harmony at home. From clothes to papers, we'll cover it all.

Don't miss out! Enrollment for the Clutter Free Ever After program is closing soon. Take the opportunity to transform your living space and unlock your clutter-free ever after. Join me on this incredible adventure today!
JOIN CLUTTER FREE EVER AFTER HERE

Thanks for listening! For more organizational motivation, support and free resources:
Join my podcast Facebook group Living Clutter Free Forever Podcast: KonMari® Inspired Organizing | Facebook
Visit my website www.caroline-thor.com
Come and say 'hi' on Instagram @caro.thor
Follow me on Facebook @carolineorganizer
Join my online membership Clutter Free Collective

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:27

Hi there, I'm Caroline Thor, professional organizer, konmari consultant, teacher and mum of three. I started off my life as a mum feeling overwhelmed, disorganized and desperately trying to carve out some time for me amongst the nappies, chaos and clutter. One day, one small book called the Life Changing Magic of Tidying changed everything and I began to learn strategies for making everyday life easier. Today I have the systems in place that means life can throw almost anything at me, and I want to share them with you. If you're an overwhelmed mum struggling to keep it together, then this is the podcast for you. Grab a coffee and settle in for a quick chat with someone who gets your reality. Hello, and welcome back to Living Plutter Free Forever. I am so happy to have you here with me today. I have had the most phenomenal week. I have been talking about my group coaching program, clutter Free Ever After, and the feedback has been incredible, and I'm so grateful to all those people who have invested in themselves and signed up to join us for when we start in April for the new round of Clutter Free Ever After.

Speaker 1: 1:59

But going back to today, I would like to share with you today four categories in your home to declutter and organize that will have the most impact on your daily life. Now I want you to start by thinking what it would be like to have a Clutter Free, peaceful home. What does that look like? And, I think more importantly, what does that feel like? I want you to imagine walking in the front door and for there not to be bags lying around, that the kids have left there, or coats that have piled up on a chair or on a box, that shoes aren't lying around, that everything has had a place to go back to and that, if you live on your own, you've been doing that, putting things back where they belong. Or if you have family members, that they have been putting things back where they should be once they have used them. So you walk into a decluttered, organized entranceway and from there you go through and perhaps you go into the kitchen and the work surfaces are all clear and if you need to cook, you can just make a start with that. Or maybe you go through to the living room and you don't have to move anything off the sofa to be able to sit down. Or if you want to put a coffee down on the coffee table, you don't have to move stuff out of the way in order to find a space where you can put it. And then from there you go up to your bedroom and it's a serene, calm environment with no clutter, with no chair robe, where all your clothes have been piling up on a chair. You haven't got piles of washing waiting to be put away. Your bedside table has only on it two or three items, perhaps something there that really sparks joy for you, so that when you go to bed at night you have a calm environment, no clutter, so that you can really just relax and concentrate on being able to go to sleep.

Speaker 1: 4:08

And then you get up in the morning and you have got a wardrobe that, when you open the doors, your clothes are organized, you're not having to search for anything or your clothes fit you, you love wearing them, and in the bathroom there's not stuff out everywhere. You've got a small area where perhaps your makeup is to get ready in the morning and all the items that you use every day are collected together in one place. You don't have to go searching for anything. And should you need to clean on that day, it's going to be quick and easy to wipe brown, whichever room you're in, because the surfaces will not be cluttered, they will be free. So that's your home. When you have found your clutter free ever after, and then how do you feel? You're gonna feel relaxed, you're going to feel at ease, you're going to feel like you have time and you're not chasing your tail.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Now I have a home that makes me feel like this, and I've had a home like this for the last 10 years, and I always am very clear to say our home is not perfect. We live in it. There are sometimes piles of Pokemon cards, there are things lying around that the kids have left there, or I've left there because I've been in a hurry and I've put it down. But all of us know where these items need to go back to, so that if we decide to do a quick reset, it really is quick. In 10 minutes, everything can be put back away again in the place where they came from. And that's because we do a quick tidy up each day just 10 minutes, in fact, it probably doesn't even take us that long. But the way it has changed my life the most is that when I have visitors coming, I don't have to do a mad tidy up. I might need to vacuum the floor, but that's about it. There is no need for me to quickly run around gathering up piles of stuff and hiding them like I used to before.

Speaker 1: 6:16

I applied the Konmari method in my home and that, for me, has been the most life-changing thing. It has taken that stress away, that I can feel confident, I can open my front door to anyone any day and I'm not gonna have to worry what they think when they come in, and that, for me, is just huge. Now the impact our physical surroundings have on our mental and emotional wellbeing are enormous and I personally had not realized until I began applying the Konmari method in my home. I had not realized the impact the clutter in my home was having on my mental and emotional wellbeing. I was a very stressed mom I've said this in previous podcasts that one of my daughters actually commented after I'd been applying the Konmari method for a while why are you a nicer mummy now? She had picked up age five, that I was calmer, and that is the effect my clutter in my home had been having on me, and our home wasn't actually that bad.

Speaker 1: 7:30

But we all have a level at which it starts to have an impact on us and that is different for everybody. So you may have a really high tolerance to clutter and it doesn't bother you. I have one friend, for example, and she will always say to me don't ever try to get me to apply the Konmari method. It does not bother me in the slightest that we have piles of stuff everywhere and it looks disorganized and chaotic. I like it like that and that is fine. But the point at which it starts to have a mental toll or an emotional toll on you, that you're feeling stressed when visitors are coming, that you're feeling stressed getting the kids out of the house in the morning, that is the point at which you need to perhaps accept that your physical surroundings are having more of an effect on you than they should. And our homes should not be a storage unit for stuff. There should be a space that supports our ideal lifestyle. Every single part of our home should be supporting us, not making life more difficult. So the benefits of having a clutter-free space and living in a clutter-free space are reduced stress. You're gonna be more productive, you will have improved sleep quality and you will have enhanced overall happiness.

Speaker 1: 8:59

Now if someone said to you they could give you a tablet, a pill that was going to reduce your stress, increase your productivity, improve your sleep quality and enhance your overall happiness. You would probably take it in a heartbeat. But you don't have to take a tablet. You just have to declutter and organize your home. And I know you would say, well, it's all very well, saying just Caroline, I just have to do it, do you? I don't have the time to do it? Okay, I get that, but there are ways around that as well, and there are tips and tricks that will mean that you can build this into your everyday life. This is what the people in my membership do every day, and it is truly life changing.

Speaker 1: 9:47

So it may be that you need to accept that your home is actually having a detrimental effect on you, and if you realize that, yes, that is the case, then you need to make it a priority to do something about it. It doesn't need to happen overnight. It's actually better if it happens over a longer period of time, and I always laugh when I watch these decluttering and organizing programs on stuff like Netflix, even the Marie Kondo one, because it looks like they come in, they do it all in a weekend or a few days, maximum a week and they go and it's all sorted, which is fine. If you've got a team of people coming in, that's totally possible. But can we be realistic here? We have jobs, we have families, we have commitments. We don't have a whole week to take off. No one's going to need to spend their whole annual holiday declustering and organizing the home. We have other things we would rather be doing with that time.

Speaker 1: 10:46

But it is totally possible to pick away at these things and get it done in your day to day life without it becoming a massive stress. And the people who are in my membership and the people that are in my group coaching program but are free ever after have had the joy of learning how to do that. And I'm not going to say it's easy, because it isn't. You have to stick at it, but it is fun. And that sounds like really counter-intuitive. But when you're in a group situation and you're all supporting each other and you're celebrating each other's wins, it becomes something fun to do. And when you start to see the benefits, which come really fast, then you are even more motivated to keep the process going and manage the declutter and organize your whole home.

Speaker 1: 11:35

Now, at the start of any process with the Konmari method, it's really important to visualize your ideal lifestyle. I have talked about this in previous episodes, and the reason for this is so that we don't create a home that is a storage unit. If we visualize our ideal lifestyle, we can see how we need to develop our home and how we need to organize it so that it supports our ideal lifestyle, and that is really, really important. So over the years, I have done an awful lot of research into which Konmari categories make the most difference for people on a daily basis, and the Konmari categories are clothes, books, papers, kimono, which is things like kitchen, bathroom, hobby stuff, sports equipment, all that other sort of stuff that we have in our homes and then, finally, sentimental items, and when I have talked to people, they have told me that having clothes organized so that the whole family can get up in the morning and get dressed quickly and they can have less laundry to do that would be a massive help. Knowing where papers are so that we don't feel overwhelmed by piles of papers in our home, would be a huge life change. Having the kitchen and the bathroom organized so that when we go to use those spaces, they are functional and they're full of items that we are actually using and not rammed full of stuff that's out of date and no longer needed. And then, finally, what most people say is that it would so help them to have the family on board and know how to maintain their newly organized spaces.

Speaker 1: 13:39

Now, from that research, I went on to develop Clutter Free Ever After, and the Clutter Free Ever After Group coaching program starts with, first of all, visualizing your ideal lifestyle so that you know what you're aiming for, and then we move on to focusing on decluttering and organizing clothes. Now I have for everyone in my Clutter Free Ever After Group. We have a Facebook group where we post daily in there and motivate and support each other, and I can then offer real time help every single day. And when I launched this course last in October this is one of the comments that someone had around clothes I did all the laundry this weekend, so it was perfect timing to practice my folding. I am so proud of myself that I finally figured it out and got started. And then we were all able to motivate and boost and share the win so that this person felt that they could carry on and move on to the next thing.

Speaker 1: 14:51

Someone also wrote about papers a small win that results in big relief. I did papers on the weekend. This is such a relief. I feel like I can breathe better now and I'm sure you have perhaps at some point experienced this feeling when you can't find that one piece of paper that you know you would really, really need, it's really important, and you get this sort of knot in your stomach like you can't find it. I need to look for it and you're going through all the piles when your papers are organized. This person is correct, you can breathe better and that's really good.

Speaker 1: 15:33

And then kitchen. Someone wrote in October when we were doing this, getting through the kitchen. Final draw. I have been avoiding for so long the draw of doom, delighted with my newly organized kitchen. Good to have it done before Christmas. So of course, when we did this in October it was coming in the build up to Christmas. And of course, having a space that's well organized, ready for that huge perhaps cooking for a meal for a big family, is just life changing.

Speaker 1: 16:07

And then a bathroom. Someone had written about bathroom. Done so much out of date stuff, made some space for some nice new plants feels great. Now, progressing with my kimono to free up some space feels like a weight lifted already, and it's amazing what you can get done in a short space of time. And I think this is the thing a lot of people don't realize when you have a strategy and when you know exactly what it is that you need to be doing and you focus on the time that you're gonna spend, you can get so much done in a short space of time. It is absolutely phenomenal. So that is how it is possible to go through these key categories that I have chosen as being the ones that really move the needle for people.

Speaker 1: 17:08

And there is another bonus to doing all of this, and that is money. Now, this may sound crazy, but you will save so much money by decluttering and organizing your home. It changes your buying habits. You'd not buying things you don't need, and very often you might find things that have a monetary value that you decide not to keep and you can sell. And someone had written in our Facebook group last October. My daughter helped me do my scarves today and I found a vintage Hermes scarf. I didn't realize I had that's listed for $2,000 on Etsy. Imagine finding something like that. It is just so, so cool.

Speaker 1: 17:58

And when I'm working with clients, we find gift vouchers, we find money, we find items that people had forgotten they had but don't need anymore, so they're able to sell them. It is a massive way to make money and I can honestly say hand on heart everyone that has invested in Clutterfree ever after and gone through the program. They have saved the money they invested on their course fee by the money they have saved from what they have learnt. It is absolutely phenomenal, but it is so true. Now I feel really, really passionately that there is no point going through all this decluttering and organizing and the time that you will spend doing it if you don't then learn how to maintain it afterwards.

Speaker 1: 18:54

It is so important to have ongoing maintenance to prevent Clutter from re-accumulating, and this is one of the key parts of Clutterfree ever after, because I do not want anyone, six months down the line, to turn around and say I'm back to where I was before I did the program. That would be a complete waste of your time and energy. And it is also important that, if you have family, that they get involved and that they start to see it as something that's important for them too. Someone had written in my Facebook group back in October I enjoy decluttering so much now. It's incredibly satisfying, and my little kids have gotten into it themselves doing the folding, and they love being able to see and access just the clothes they wear and like. So when you get the family involved, you're helping them foster a sense of ownership and shared responsibility for maintaining this peaceful home environment. So I hope you can see that by focusing in on first visualizing your ideal lifestyle and then these categories clothes, papers, kitchen and bathroom and then how to maintain it and get the family involved, you are going to be able to create a home that is a sanctuary for you and your family. I would love for you to join me in Clutterfree Ever After. I know that I, from there, can support and guide you on your journey to a Clutterfree lifestyle.

Speaker 1: 20:43

And this is a quote from Lillian, who was in Clutterfree Ever After last October and she said about the program I was completely overwhelmed by the Clutter in every room in my apartment. It was making every day a hassle to find things and it would take us so long to tidy up. I knew I needed to do something about it, but I didn't know where to start. Caroline's course came in the perfect moment. I needed so much support and encouragement to start and the knowledge to make sure that my efforts would stick. Caroline's course was very insightful and tailored to each of the participants' journey and needs. I feel now more in control of where things are and my family no longer needs to ask me where to find every single thing. We are able to tidy up quicker every day. Thank you, caroline, and that's from Lillian.

Speaker 1: 21:39

These are the sorts of transformations that you can also experience if you were to join Clutterfree Ever After Now. If you're interested in having a look and seeing what it's all about, there is a link in the show notes, but I will tell you as well. You can go to caroline-thorcom forward slash clutterfree and there you will find all the information on how to sign up. However, you should be aware that on Thursday, the 28th of March, at midnight Central European time, the doors are closing for this time around for the programme, so I'm afraid if you don't get in before then you will have to wait until it comes out again next time. So I hope you found that useful to help you understand how decluttering and organising your home can have such an impact on your life, and I would love to meet you and see you in Clutterfree Ever After, so please check that out as well. Okay, until next time.