Living Clutter Free Forever - decluttering tips, professional organizing, minimalist living

Overwhelmed, Under Supported and resentful? Try these 5 simple solutions for busy households to conquer the family clutter #120

• Caroline Thor - Professional Organizer - KonMari® Consultant

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Overwhelmed, Under-Supported, and Resentful?
SIGN UP FOR MY FREE WORKSHOP 'Family Clutter Reset: 5 Tricks to Get Everyone Tidying (and Loving It!)' HERE

Ever feel like you're the only one holding it all together? Like the clutter, mess, and chaos are piling up while everyone else is oblivious?

If you're nodding along, you're not alone. The daily grind of organizing after kids, partners, and pets can feel like a never-ending battle. The result? Overwhelm. And worse, resentment. Sound familiar?

In my latest podcast episode, I dive into the solutions that actually work. We’re talking five simple, practical strategies that will not only help you declutter and organize, but will also get your family onboard. Yes, even the kids!

Imagine a home where tidying isn’t all on you. Where your partner knows where things belong, and your children help—without complaining. Sounds impossible, right? Trust me, it’s not.

How would it feel to walk into your living room and see clear surfaces instead of piles of stuff? What if you could reclaim your evenings without spending them tidying?

In this episode, I’ll share exactly how I went from overwhelmed and unsupported to having systems that keep my home clutter-free. With a blend of KonMari techniques and realistic organizing hacks, I’ll show you how to turn your space from chaotic to calm.

Ready to stop feeling like the household janitor? Tune in, and let’s make clutter a thing of the past. You deserve a home that brings you joy—not frustration.

SIGN UP FOR MY FREE WORKSHOP 'Family Clutter Reset: 5 Tricks to Get Everyone Tidying (and Loving It!)' HERE

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Speaker 1:

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. Hi there and welcome to Living Clutter-Free Forever. My name's Caroline and I am a professional organiser and trained KonMari consultant. If you've not listened before, welcome, and if you have listened before, welcome back. Now.

Speaker 1:

If you're anything like me, there have been times when I have just felt like I have been drowning in clutter and the to-do list just keeps growing. Do you relate? If your home feels like this, if it feels like more of a battleground than a sanctuary, then what I hope today's episode is going to show you is that you're not alone. It is overwhelming, it is frustrating, and I know from my own experience that the resentment starts to build when you feel like you're trying to juggle everything and no one else seems to get it, and it all seems to be down to you. So the purpose of today's episode is to provide you with five simple, actionable solutions that are going to help you reclaim your space, find support and hopefully bring you a bit more harmony into your home. And the broader goal is to try and help you create a home environment that supports joy and freedom and thriving, using a blend of KonMari principles and other effective strategies. So I would encourage you to take a moment to visualize your ideal home environment. What does your clutter-free sanctuary look like? And this will help set the tone for you to take actionable change. And I would also invite you to think about how your family could contribute to creating that ideal space, and I'm going to share some strategies later in this episode with you to help you with that. Now, if you're thinking, well, great, caroline, but my kid's only one, or I've got an angsty teenager who doesn't even want to talk to me, let alone help tidy up the house, then I have got strategies for all of you and it is possible, whatever age your child, to get them involved in the tidying up so that it's not just down to you Now, before we dive in. You may have heard at the start that I'm going to be hosting an upcoming workshop Family Clutter Reset Five Tricks to Get Everyone Tidying and Loving it. So if you've ever wished your family was more involved in keeping the home tidy, this is for you. Stay tuned for more details later in this episode.

Speaker 1:

So let's start by recognising the overwhelm, the impact of clutter on mental health. When our homes are cluttered, it makes it very, very hard for us to function on a daily basis without starting to feel stressed, without starting to feel out of control, and it really can make life an awful lot more difficult than it needs to be. Now, this used to be me. I was, when my kids were little, so stressed, so overwhelmed by our home, so, so resentful that all I seemed to be doing was fighting fires and tidying up and looking for stuff. And it wasn't until I found the KonMari method that things really started to change for me. So quite a few of the common challenges that are faced these days by busy women are, quite simply, a lack of time, feeling unsupported by family members and just not knowing where to start Now. Does this sound like you? Because, if it does, it doesn't have to be like this. I have been fortunate enough that I have found a way in order to have a calmer, more intentional, more clutter-free life, and actually that's why this podcast came about in the first place, because I wanted to help other women have that in their lives too.

Speaker 1:

So I would just like you to think for a minute, and we're going to do a clutter audit. So think about one area or room that is causing you the most stress and think about what it is in this area or space that makes you feel overwhelmed. Is it the clutter? Is it things not having a place to go back to? Is it that this space is always down to you to keep tidy, even though everyone else is making a mess of it? What is it about this area that is making you feel overwhelmed? And it's important to recognize that identifying the clutter is the first step to taking control. So when you really know what it is in this space that is causing you the overwhelm, is causing the problem, then you can go on to do something about it.

Speaker 1:

So my first solution is the power of small wins. Small, manageable tasks can lead to significant changes over time. I have never in our home spent whole days decluttering and organizing. I just haven't had the time for it. When I first started on this journey, my kids were very small and if I got five minutes to concentrate on something, it was a miracle. I'm sure if you're listening to this and have young kids, you can relate to that and you can get a lot done in five minutes. If you have a project that you keep going back to and every time you get five to 10 minutes, you go back to that area and carry on from where you left off, you are eventually going to get finished with it.

Speaker 1:

So I suggest starting with a simple task with it. So I suggest starting with a simple task like a single drawer or clearing off a kitchen counter, and this is what I would recommend you doing Set a timer five or ten minutes. Focus on just one thing. So maybe if it's a kitchen counter, it's collecting all the papers together into one place. Focus on just that one thing and celebrate the completion. So that is one thing you can do.

Speaker 1:

Another thing you could do is start taking time to put things back as soon as you have used them. Now, this is not something I used to do. I used to perhaps use the scissors to wrap a gift and then I'd think, oh, I'll put them away later. I haven't got time now. So every time I did that during the week and left something lying there because I didn't think I had time to put it back. It meant that by the end of the week there was a lot of stuff lying all over the house which is clutter, and it took me ages to collect it all together.

Speaker 1:

And max and I wouldn't have had this really is to help you stop feeling so resentful that it's all down to you is to make family involvement easy. So we're going to shift the burden. Let's face it, we are feeling under supported. And how on earth do you then get the family involved in maintaining a clutter-free home? Now, depending on what age your kids are, or if you have a partner, you could perhaps assign one small daily task to each family member. If you have a two-year-old, that could be them helping you put their toys back in a box. At the end of the day, it could be as simple as that, but this is something you and they are going to do every single day.

Speaker 1:

For older kids who can walk and hold something, it could be as simple as you are going to be clearing your dish and taking it through to the kitchen and putting it in the dishwasher before you vacate the eating area and go off and do what it is you want to be doing. Anyone can help with that as soon as they can walk and carry something, or tidying up toys before bed. Again, if you've got younger kids, this is going to be something that you have to do with them. But start small, perhaps say, okay, let's pick up all the Lego bricks that have been left on the floor and just dump them into a bin and just make it small to start with. But when you start small, you can then start to build momentum.

Speaker 1:

Now there are different ways you can do this. You can provide a simple, visible chore chart that's easy for everyone to follow. That personally, for my family with neurodiverse kids, has not worked particularly well. But if you have a family meeting and everyone agrees this is what they're going to do, you could just have it written on a piece of paper. This is so-and-so's job this week. This is so-and-so's job and just gently remind them each day that their thing each day is going to be to pick up books and put them away after they've read them, for example. So younger kids can help with toys, older ones can help with the dishes, that sort of stuff. So in my upcoming workshop I'm going to be diving deep into making tidying a team effort and I'm going to be giving practical strategies that get family members excited about helping, because what we don't want is family members who, when you say can I have some with or have you remembered today you need to, that they roll their eyes at you and they get sulky and they start muttering under their breath about you. That is not what anybody needs. We want it to be something that people are doing happily and because they see it as something that supports the family.

Speaker 1:

Moving on to solution three, here I would like to highlight the KonMari method, because this is what has helped me and obviously I'm now trained as a KonMari consultant and I know lots of people think I haven't got time to apply a whole method in my home. Are you completely crazy? I just don't have time to do this, but I love to simplify the method for busy women who have not got time for a full KonMari overhaul, so I'm going to share a couple of quick wins for you, and then you can see how you can adapt the method to fit into a busy schedule and make it feel just less overwhelming. So, for example, the KonMari method is broken down into categories, and the first category is clothing. So pick 10 items of clothes. You pick out the ones that you really love and you enjoy wearing, and any that are left that you don't choose you know. Okay, it's time to let those go to donation. You could set aside 10 to 15 minutes during your next laundry routine to sift through clothes you no longer love and free up a bit of space in your drawers, and I do this quite often. If I'm putting my laundry away in my drawers, then I will think, oh, I've not worn that t-shirt for ages. I think I can let that one go now. It obviously doesn't spark joy for me anymore as much as it used to. Even busy people can incorporate the KonMari method in short bursts. It is totally about progress and not perfection. So the KonMari method, simplified, is a really great solution for you to be able to start to feel in control and be able to make progress.

Speaker 1:

My fourth solution is about the whole family establishing boundaries with stuff. Now, what do I mean by this? You need to redefine enough and when is enough enough when it comes to possessions, and this is something that you could talk together about as a family. How many pairs of jeans do each of us really need? How many t-shirts do each of us really need? And try to identify and release items that no longer serve a purpose or bring joy, that no longer serve a purpose or bring joy. So, for example, you could set a simple exercise of setting boundaries in specific areas, like children's toys or kitchen gadgets, and the best thing you can do is involve family members in this process, because it's going to help create a shared vision of what, for your family, enough looks like. So why don't you, as a family, create a boundary for a specific category?

Speaker 1:

Let's start with something really easy the number of coffee mugs that fit comfortably into one cupboard. Get everyone to identify which mug they love drinking from. Those ones are definitely sparking joy. They need to be kept, which, perhaps, is the second one you would go for. And then, do you need more than that? If visitors come over? Which other ones do you perhaps love what's the maximum number of people that would ever be there at one time that you would need mugs for, and only keep that number. This helps keep clutter in check. And then you know how.

Speaker 1:

Every Christmas, somebody gifts a mug. I don't know, it happens in our family. Nearly every year Somebody gets a mug for Christmas. Then you can think about okay, this mug I've been gifted, do I love it more than the mugs we already have in our kitchen cupboard? And if you don't, then do we really need to keep this mug that's been gifted to us? Do we really need it? And if we love, love, love the new mug we've been gifted, then we need to look in the kitchen cupboard and decide on the one that we least love that we can now donate. So you could spend, as a family together, 15 minutes deciding limits for your mugs. If that goes really well, you could move on to kitchen gadgets or other items that easily accumulate and make it a conversation that involves everyone in the household. Having limits on items reduces decision fatigue and it's going to help maintain control over clutter, and I hope you've realised that wasn't just down to you. This is a family decision, so we're trying to move the burden of responsibility from it just being down to you, then the rest of the family starting to realise how they can play a part of this as well.

Speaker 1:

And my fifth solution is creating a maintenance routine, because there's no point doing all the decluttering and all the organizing and then not being able to maintain it. Regular maintenance means that the clutter is not going to be able to start creeping back in, and I think it's really important to be very clear that a clutter-free space is an ongoing process. It's not like a one-time event, and I think this is the mistake a lot of people make. They think they've decluttered and organized, whether it's a room or a category, and that's it. It's going to stay like that now. No, it isn't.

Speaker 1:

You need to build in daily, weekly and monthly routines that are realistic and manageable, that fit into your existing flow of life, making it sort of less of a chore and more of a habit. So, for example, we've already talked about perhaps spending five to 10 minutes tidying up each day, so you could build that in as like a 10 minute daily reset routine. So tidying up shared spaces like the living room or kitchen, involving everybody this is going to prevent the clutter from piling back up. Then, weekly or monthly, you could set aside a short time to maintain a specific area. So, for example, once a week, a drawer. You know that drawer, the junk drawer that everyone just dumps their stuff in because they don't know where else to put it. Go through that perhaps once a week. I do mine once a month because my family are quite well trained now. But I do need to look in there and just reorganise it and take out anything that people have dropped in there and thought they could get away with leaving it there and forgetting about it.

Speaker 1:

Maintenance isn't about perfection. It's about making small, consistent efforts that are going to add up to a tidy home over time. So we've got five solutions here. The first one is the power of small wins, so using short bursts of time to keep on top of stuff. The second solution is to get the family involved, so it's not just down to you. The third solution is using the KonMari method. The fourth solution is establishing boundaries with stuff and the fifth solution is creating a maintenance routine. So I hope that that has been helpful.

Speaker 1:

I would love for you to pick just one of the five solutions and commit to trying it for a week and track it and see how it makes you feel, because over time, you will start to feel less resentful because the family's involved and you have support. You will start to feel less overwhelmed because things are getting tidied up and things have got a place to go back to. And that is what I want for you More than anything else. I want you to not feel overwhelmed, I want you to feel supportive and I do not want you feeling resentful, because I know from when I used to feel like that. It is not a good way to live and it's great if you can make some changes in order to avoid all of those.

Speaker 1:

So don't forget, if getting your family involved is a challenge or if you just would love to know even more ways to get your family involved, join me for the Family Clutter Reset and we are going to be looking into actionable strategies to make tidying a family affair, so that you're not carrying the load alone. I promise it'll be a game changer for your home and your sanity. Promise it'll be a game changer for your home and your sanity. So click the link in the show notes in order to book your place for the workshop. I'm holding it on three different days September the 24th, the 25th and the 26th so that hopefully, if you can't come on one day, you'll be able to come on another, and there's going to be a special bonus for anyone who shows up live to watch. So I can't wait to see you there. Book your place and let's see if we can't make some really great changes in your home.

Speaker 1:

Next week, I'm going to be talking about how to declutter your closet for fall without the seasonal stress. So 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 organising tips next time, but if you can't wait until then, you can go to my website or find me on Instagram at Caro Thor, or on Facebook at Caroline Organiser. Thanks for listening and I look forward to guiding you on your journey to find your clutter free ever after.