How a decluttered and organized home is possible for you! #100

I remember the days when I could barely see the floor of my bedroom, let alone imagine helping others conquer their clutter.

But here we are, a hundred episodes later on Living Clutter Free Forever, and I'm excited to share not just my transformation, but amazing ways this podcast has  impacted many lives.

Tune in to our centennial celebration as I take you through a journey from chaos to clarity, and how the KonMari method isn't just about tidying up—it's about reshaping your entire life.

As a thank you, I extend an invitation to our exclusive online event, a small token of appreciation for your incredible support from all corners of the globe. All you have to do to get your invite is leave a review for this podcast! 

As we venture into the future, envisioning what the next hundred episodes hold, I look forward to your stories and questions driving our content.

Connect with me through the podcast, my website, and social media, where we'll continue to support and celebrate each other on this clutter-free journey.

This is the link to leave a review and get your invite! https://www.caroline-thor.com/review 

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 organiser, konmari consultant, teacher and mum of three. I started off my life as a mum feeling overwhelmed, disorganised 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 this latest episode of the living clutter-free forever podcast. This is going to be a really short episode because I wanted to do something really different for this, the hundredth episode.

Speaker 1: 1:39

I wanted to tell you why I started the Living Clutter-Free Forever podcast in the first place. It's simple, really. I started this podcast because of you. You may ask why? Because I wanted you to know that not everybody finds it easy to keep their home tidy. I wanted you to know that everybody gets overwhelmed sometimes and that you're not the only one who stuffs things in cupboards and drawers when people are coming over. I wanted you to have a podcast to listen to that was going to be real, about the struggles that we all have in our homes. I did not want to gloss over and create some Instagram perfect podcast that makes out that organizing is easy, that, of course, everyone's home should be tidy, because this is not what I believe and this is not my reality. So I'd been loving my new job as a KonMari consultant back in 2022, but I had been needing to be at home most of the time to support one of my kids, which meant I wasn't getting out to see as many clients as I would have liked to. And I started this job because my own experience of the KonMari method had basically shown me that I wasn't going crazy. I just hadn't had the tools and the strategies that I needed to keep my home organized in a way that supported the life I wanted to live, and so this podcast was born so that I could reach you and let you know that it can be easier for you, too.

Speaker 1: 3:19

And so here we are at episode 100, which seems both exciting and also, if I'm honest, slightly unbelievable. I've been doing some research and I found out some stuff that I didn't actually know about this podcast. It's been listened to now in 94 countries, which just blows my mind. I hadn't realized this. It includes places like Guyana, russia, trinidad and Tobago, and I would love to know who has been listening in the Cayman Islands, because there are a lot of downloads there. So, if that's you and if you have Instagram, hop onto Instagram at carothor and come and tell me. Come and say hi.

Speaker 1: 4:09

If you listen to this podcast, wherever you are in the world, I would love to connect with you. I would love to personally say hello and thank each of you for listening and to ask you what you would like me to cover in the next lot of episodes in the next lot of episodes, and so, to celebrate this 100th episode, I would love to make that happen. The best way that I can support you is by creating episodes on topics that need covering, and the best way that you can support me is by leaving a review for the podcast. So I've come up with a plan to make this happen. You need to go to caroline-thorcom forward slash review and I will send you a link to leave a review for the podcast wherever you listen to it and you're going to have a week to do this, and every person who leaves a review will be invited to an exclusive online event with me where I will do live coaching based on questions or difficulties you're having, as a thank you. So go to caroline-thorcom, forward slash review and let's get supporting each other, and this podcast has already helped me connect with so many of you.

Speaker 1: 5:35

There are those of you, like Lisa and Mary Jo, who first contacted me on Instagram to tell me how much they'd been enjoying the podcast, and it was actually Lisa who went on to suggest two recent podcast episodes which have proved really popular Episode 99, got Allergies how to Declutter when you have Sensitivities. And also episode 97, unlocking Five Home Organization Secrets what your Organizer Won't Always Say to your Face. Now Mary Jo, in her original message to me on Instagram, wrote Just discovered your podcast when I word searched KonMari and I am binging up to episode seven. It's so good. I love your insights and your accent. I get that a lot.

Speaker 1: 6:28

I've tried to do several tidying festivals and still struggle with clutter and organization. Mary Jo has gone on to join my membership my online membership, clutter Free Collective and she's been doing a great job of getting on top of that struggle with her clutter. So if she hadn't got in touch with me on Instagram, she could still be struggling. So well done for reaching out, mary Jo, and I'm really pleased that you did. And Lisa originally, when she contacted me, wrote I love your podcast. I'm 62 years old and not a mum, but I really like your positive attitude towards life and your upbeat voice. It's very encouraging to me when I'm feeling overwhelmed with the piles of papers surrounding me. Who doesn't feel overwhelmed by piles of papers? I feel overwhelmed by piles of papers, but luckily for me, I now have a strategy to help with that, and if you've listened to my episodes on dealing with paper, I hope you're a bit clearer now too. So in these 100 episodes I've had 25 guests, I've had over 33,000 downloads and I've spent in excess of 100 hours editing. It's been hard work, it's definitely been a learning curve, but it has been so much fun and I have never once regretted starting it.

Speaker 1: 7:53

2023 was a really tough year for my family and this podcast was what kept me going. It gave me something else to focus on, a purpose, something to strive for each week. Looking back, I don't actually know how I did it, along with everything else that was going on, but I'm so proud that I did, and you let me know that it was worth it, because you keep coming back and listening, and I am so, so grateful for that. Another thing that has been born out of this podcast is my Living Clutter Free Forever Facebook group, and I've now got over 60 members in there, and I asked them this week to let me know what it is that they like about the podcast, and I would love to share these with you. So Helene said congratulations on the 100th episode of the Living Clutter-Free Forever podcast.

Speaker 1: 8:50

I love listening to it and actually get something new out of it. The second time I listened to an episode, too. I love listening to it and actually get something new out of it. The second time I listen to an episode, too. I love that. It's helpful to get started, that it offers new aspects when you get more experienced in decluttering, and it helps me keep motivated and feel supported. It's really special that you include the listeners, challenges and offer solutions. You've helped me with my situation in more than one episode, so thank you, helene. Amazing Helene is also now in my membership, plutter Free Collective, so thank you for that.

Speaker 1: 9:25

Helene Asa, who's also in my membership, said the thing about your podcast that had the biggest impact on my life, my home, my mind and my well-being is that you often talk of being overwhelmed as having been burned out because of stress and not having listened to my inner feeling of being tired. I was very aware of that feeling being tired and often tried to rest and didn't get less tired anyway. By listening to your podcast, I learned to most times see the difference between actually being tired or just being overwhelmed, which feels the same way for me, and I also learned how to organize my thoughts and thereby decrease the stress. And another thing I like is that it doesn't always have to be so serious. I guess that aligns with my way of handling most curveballs in my life, by looking at it with some kind of humor and try to approach it in a different way, and then it's great to listen to you and get some tips and ideas. So I think a lot of people who listen to this podcast and you may be the same do have times when they just feel very overwhelmed, whether it's by clutter or other things in life, and I personally don't think organisation stops at the physical things that we have in our home that we have in our home. It also relates to our calendar, our thoughts, how we plan our day. It just permeates into every area of our lives and when we get better at organizing whether it's our physical things or our mental organization it helps us learn, when we're feeling overwhelmed, to just step back and look and find a better way of handling it. So I'm really pleased that listening to this podcast has been able to help someone with that.

Speaker 1: 11:23

Now, three weeks ago, I was contacted on Instagram by Tasha, who had just started listening to my podcast literally had just started and she has actually now joined my membership as well. So this is what Tasha wrote going because it was such a huge accomplishment and because my wife and I completed the task fairly quickly was when we took all of the cups and glasses out of the cabinets. We picked each of them up to see if they brought us joy and we donated 50 of them. Way to go, you two. Then we moved on to pots and pans and we probably donated nearly half of those. I have been on a roll ever since we did those things a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 1: 12:11

I love this podcast. I just started it a few weeks ago and I have completed so many tasks. I'm already on episode 68. Just amazing how motivated some people are when they start listening. It's just great to hear the progress you've been making and I'm so grateful to you all that have let me know how you're feeling about this podcast and how it helps and supports you. So I would love the opportunity to support you in person. Go to caroline-thorcom forward slash review review and then you will get a link that tells you where you can leave a review for this podcast, and then I will be inviting everyone who leaves a review to an exclusive online event with me.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Now there are some people who listen to my podcast by going to my website every week. I know, for example, that Christy if you're listening, christy, I know you go every week and listen to the podcast on my website. So, if you didn't know, I have a podcast page on my website caroline-thorcom forward slash podcast, and on there there is a little video from me as well as the latest podcast episodes the latest three and then you can also click on a link that says listen to all podcasts and that takes you to a page where all of my current podcasts are listed Now. I'm really excited because this page is currently being updated. It's going to get a brand new look and it's going to have all 100 or by next week, 101 podcast episodes on there. I hope by the end of May that will be finished and from there you'll be able to click on each individual episode and listen to it, so you can always go back and listen to past episodes and it means that in future episodes I am going to be able to say to you go and listen to episode six if that happens to be about tidying with children, and I think that you will get some extra information by listening to that.

Speaker 1: 14:26

So I'm really excited about this development and I cannot wait for that to be finished and to be able to start implementing that in future podcast episodes.

Speaker 1: 14:36

So who knows where we will be in a hundred episodes time? I cannot wait for that episode, to be able to look back and reflect on today and how far we've come since then, and I would love to encourage you to leave a review for the podcast so that I can get to meet you in person and see how I can best support you with your decluttering and organizing. So go to caroline-thorcom forward slash review. I will also put the link in the show notes. Thank you again for your support, your enthusiasm. I so, so appreciate it. And until next time. If you've enjoyed this episode, please send the link to a friend you know would appreciate it, subscribe and leave a review. I look forward to bringing you more organizing tips next time, but if you can't wait until then, you can go to my website or find me on Instagram, at carothor, or on Facebook at Caroline Organizer. Thanks for listening and I look forward to guiding you on your journey to find your clutter-free ever after.