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

Celebrating Clutter-Free Milestones: The power of community in your decluttering and organizing efforts #131

• Caroline Thor - Professional Organizer - KonMari® Consultant

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Feeling overwhelmed by clutter and the mental load of managing your home? 

You’re not alone. Keeping your space organized while juggling life, family, and everything else can feel impossible.

But what if I told you there’s a way to make decluttering easier—and maybe even enjoyable?

In this week’s episode of Living Clutter Free Forever, we’re diving into something that’s been a game-changer for countless women in my community: the power of working together.

Why struggle on your own when progress happens faster with support?
 What if tidying wasn’t about perfection but about small wins that build momentum?

I’ll share why creating a supportive environment is the secret weapon to conquering clutter, lightening your mental load, and making real progress. You’ll hear how others have transformed their homes—and their lives—by embracing progress over perfection with the help of a like-minded group.

The truth? Decluttering and organizing don’t have to be lonely, overwhelming tasks. They can be empowering steps toward reclaiming your space and your sanity.

Tune in and discover how this shift can help you tackle your clutter, create a system that works for your family, and finally feel in control of your home.

Ready to turn “I’ll never get this done” into “I can’t believe how far I’ve come”? Hit play now. Let’s do this together.

For a limited time only grab the celebratory offer to join Clutter Free Collective at a very special price!

I would LOVE to hear from you. Text Message me here.

Get your home tidy in just 15 minutes a day! Grab my FREE 15 Minute Declutter Kickstart Guide HERE!

Thanks for listening! For more organizational motivation, support and free resources:
Join my online membership Clutter Free Collective
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

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. Hello and welcome back to this latest episode of the Living Clutter-Free Forever podcast.

Speaker 1:

I'm your host, caroline, and I'm a KonMari consultant and professional organiser. And, oh my goodness, have I been celebrating for the last week. There have been so, so many exciting things happening. I made it to platinum level as a KonMari consultant, which means I'm being acknowledged for having over 900 hours of in-person time with clients in their homes or online time with clients in their homes or online, and I also, on Sunday the 1st, celebrated my let me work. I can't remember. That's really bad. How old is my daughter? 17, 18 years of marriage to my husband. Our wedding anniversary? Don't tell him I couldn't remember, even though we were talking about it on Sunday, so that has been really cool. And also, on the 1st of December, I was celebrating one year of my online membership clutter free collective, and my husband very kindly agreed, even though it was our wedding anniversary to let me have an online decluttering party to celebrate a year of the membership.

Speaker 1:

It was our wedding anniversary to let me have an online decluttering party to celebrate a year of the membership. It was so fun. Thank you to everyone that was there. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you got a lot out of it, and I told them at the end that I've got a really special offer going on this week only because I would love to give back to everyone for all their support for Clutterfree Collective for our first year. It has just been so, so amazing. So I've never done this before and, as I said, I'm only offering it for a week, but I am offering a year in the membership for the price of 10 months. So, if you're interested, the link is in the show notes. And I've also offered in another really special offer, which I've also never done before, but I'm offering people who join the membership for the year the chance to upgrade, upgrade to VIP level and also get my online program, clutter Free Ever After, plus a year of extra support on top of the membership so that you can really get in a year, your home decluttered and organized, inspired by the KonMari method, but not only. I'm always talking about other things as well, as you will hear in this episode. I would love to have you join us, and I know that my current members would love to welcome you. So, first of all, today's episode is really a celebration of the women that I currently have in Clutter Free Collective. I decided I couldn't let the year go by or the anniversary go by without sharing with you some of the amazing things they have managed to achieve. I am so, so proud of them and so proud of the community that we have created, and I've also had a chat with a member from Clutter Free Collective and I'm going to drop little bits of that into this episode as well. So this should be a really fun episode for you.

Speaker 1:

And the reason Clutter Free Collective came about was because I had had my online course, clutter Free Ever After, and lots of people were saying to me after the then six weeks of Clusterfree Ever After that they would love the support to continue, that they would love to keep working with me. So I created a membership. It was meant to be a backend membership that followed on from my course, but, me being me, I got a little bit overexcited as I was sending out the email letting everyone know about the membership and I thought I'll just send it to everybody and see what happens. And people signed up that hadn't yet taken my course. So it's ended up being a front-end and a back-end membership and it's working really, really well because the support within it is so very individualized, so it doesn't really matter whether you have done my course or not.

Speaker 1:

So that's how it's come about, and it started off this time last year with me setting a monthly challenge. Now, the monthly challenge was the same for everybody and it meant that we were all working on one thing together. But what I started to discover was that if I said, for example, we're going to do clothes this month, that some people had already done clothes, so it sort of left them hanging a bit for a month and me needing to find something else for them to do. And I realized after a little while, after a few months, that it really made sense for everyone to be working on a project of their own and that I could then support them and offer encouragement and motivation for that project throughout the month. So I created a project planning sheet which everyone in the membership has access to, and at the start of each month, they say what it is that they want to be working on, whether it's their kitchen. They say what it is that they want to be working on, whether it's their kitchen, whether it's their clothes, maybe it's something to do in the garden.

Speaker 1:

We've had people working on stuff in their gardens because they need decluttering and organizing as well. And then we work out how to project plan, how to break it down step by step, so that by the end of the month, the project is pretty much finished and it has been working amazingly well. So we always meet the first Monday of the month in an online Zoom call For those people that can't make it. It's recorded and we are able to talk about what we want to achieve, what we're stuck with. I do some coaching on a topic as well, but it means that everyone starts the month with their project planned out and they know what they want to be doing. And then, on a Wednesday, I ask for Wednesday wins so that people can share any wins that they've been having, big or small, even if it's something as simple, as I organized my time so I was able to go out for a coffee with a friend, because what we talk about in Closet Free Collective is not just organization of the physical stuff. It's organizing your calendar, organizing your meal planning, organizing packing for a holiday, it's organizing your brain space so that you have the time and capacity to do the things that you really want to do and that you don't just feel like you're on this hamster wheel of tidying up all the time and just play catch up with yourself.

Speaker 1:

So that is what has been happening, and then on Fridays I set a weekend challenge. Sometimes the weekend challenge is something very specific. So the other weekend we had a challenge of everyone sorting out their gift wrapping, things that they were ready for the holiday season. But very often the weekend challenge is for people to identify their next step in their project and to write it in the comments. We have a Facebook group. They can write it in there and then they can let us know at the end of the weekend how they've got on and I can sort of check in on them and see how it's going.

Speaker 1:

So this is how Clutter Free Collective has sort of developed and, as well as our live sessions, I've started introducing bonus sessions where we have people come and do coaching with us and workshops with us on completely different topics. So we've just had one on mindfulness, which was amazing. We've had one on sleep and we've got a beautiful one coming up in January which is all about Heiter, which is a German word for happiness, and how we can create a closet that makes us happy and create outfits from the items that we have in our closets already. So I'm really excited to be kicking off the new year with that. So that actually means in January we're going to have two lives. We'll have the one with me the first Monday of the month, one, and then we'll also have our bonus workshop next month. So there is always a lot going on.

Speaker 1:

People do as much or as little as they want to, but the whole point I think of Clutterfree Collective is the supportive community. It is absolutely incredible what a safe environment we have created amongst ourselves that people feel they can share photos of their spaces that they are not particularly proud of, that are perhaps very cluttered because they would like advice and support from the group and from me, and how everyone jumps into the comments and buoys everybody up and gives them advice is just phenomenal. It has impacted me as a professional and an individual in a really profound way. It's made me realize just how much better we do when we have the support of people around us, and we are spread far and wide in the community. I have people in the US, in Canada, in Sweden, in Holland, in Denmark, in the UK, in Germany, and so the list goes on. I'm not going to keep going because I'll forget someone's country and they will be very offended and it will not have been intentional. So these people are spread far and wide and yet they know now some of the real struggles that they are having, and I hear so often in the comments oh, I wish I lived just around the corner, I would come and help you, and they really do mean it, but they do help each other by the emotional support and the suggestions that they give in our online community.

Speaker 1:

Now, for those people who aren't on Facebook, we have an online platform, a separate online platform for the membership, and you can write there in the comments if you're stuck on something, and I get notified if you write there as well. So you're stuck on something and I get notified if you write there as well. So there are lots of ways of getting support. It doesn't just have to be on Facebook, but that is primarily where, on a daily basis, everyone is posting and sharing. Now I would love to celebrate these women so I'm not going to mention any names because for me, these women so I'm not going to mention any names because for me, anonymity is so, so important. It's one of the reasons that this membership works so well, because people do feel safe in that space. It's sometimes really personal to share what you're struggling with, especially when it comes to stuff in your home, and there is often shame attached to it, there is embarrassment, and so this is why, when I post on social media, I'm not mentioning names unless they've given me permission to, and it's really important to me that everyone feels safe within the community. But I would love to share some wins.

Speaker 1:

So we have one lady who has done a phenomenal job outside of the membership of losing a lot of weight in the last little while, and so she had a lot of clothes that were no longer fitting her, and it was a large amount of clothes and she was very, very overwhelmed by them. But she created the most amazing garage sale. She sent us photos into the group. It looked absolutely incredible, and she did a Saturday and Sunday two day garage sale earlier in the year and sold loads of her clothes like loads of them. She made an awful lot of money. She'd advertised it locally and people came. I think she was absolutely exhausted by the end of it, but she was so proud of herself that she had moved all of these items out of her home and she was determined they were not going back in again. So once the garage sale had finished she loaded them into the car and took them on the first day of the next week that she had available to a donation center. So that was a huge success because this was something that had been hanging over her for a very long time, that she had all these items in her home that no longer fitted her and that were no longer sparking joy for her.

Speaker 1:

Perhaps for me, one of the most exciting changes that we have seen is changes in family dynamics, where we've had kids start to get involved in the decluttering and organizing and starting to take interest and responsibility for their things and for helping out.

Speaker 1:

We've had spouses and partners who in the past have been really reluctant or just not seen that things need doing actually starting to ask what they can do to help and how they can be involved and how they can take over some aspects of looking after the home.

Speaker 1:

That is just such a major, major win. We've had families helping with packing to go on holiday. We've had kids who in the past have struggled with being able to be involved in packing, actually taking their list that mum has helped them create with the help of my packing list, and they've been able to take independence and responsibility for packing their things to go away on holiday, which just takes a huge weight off chores for mum, which is amazing. And the list goes on. We have gardens that have been organised and got ready in time for winter. We have had people creating the most amazing Christmas gifts and Advent gifts for their family, using their monthly project plan to get it done on time this year without all the stress. It has just been such a joyful year. So, on that note, let's move on to listening to a chat that I had earlier in the week with Christy, from Germany, who was one of the founding members of Clutter Free Collective, and she starts by explaining when and how her journey with decluttering and organizing began.

Speaker 2:

It was a long, long journey, yeah, and it's so funny because I've been rethinking it again and again, because I don't know when Marie Kondo's book came out first. It must be, was it 2013 or something? Yes, and I bought it then, yeah, because the topic always interested me. I read it and it was so radical and I just couldn't get into it. And with all the ideas and I think I either gifted it or sold it I can't remember, but I know I had it then and then I bought it again, so like five years ago or four years ago, and I read it again and I thought, yeah, okay, might be, might be better, might might not be that weird, but all that uh, imagining in the beginning and why doing all the clothes is on the bed and it has some points to it and many points against it.

Speaker 2:

But then I, two and a half years ago, and then I started and but I think to do it on your own, you have to be organized, yeah, and you are not, otherwise you wouldn't be there.

Speaker 2:

So I got to a certain point and then I I was like losing energy or um, um, concentration, and I I googled and looked for inspiration and I looked at instagram and I found your account and I thought, because I saw all those glossy things that exist there too, and I didn't connect. I love perfect solutions, yes, but yeah, it was so far from where I was. And then I discovered you and, yes, I got that course and that gave me a push and I also realized how much I already know and how how much I'm not done, but it's, yeah, it gave me motivation to to go on. And then then the course was over and I thought, and now how can I go on? And then you had this brilliant idea with the community. But the community was really the thing, that, the missing link, because, yeah, it's the thing you would have if you were in a group, and so so it's really, really, and it's already one year. It's crazy isn't it unbelievable.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you know, yeah, your regular features, but it's, it's, it's really helpful and I think for me, it helped me keep my focus, and I think all of us can also learn from the others. Yeah, it's um. Yeah, you read something and think oh yes, I know that yeah, it is.

Speaker 1:

It's a feeling of not, of knowing that you're not on your own, you're not the only one struggling with this, yeah, yeah, and someone perhaps mentions a solution to something and you think, oh yes, I could try that yeah, or you're really motivated because someone just does it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely and the other thing I love as well is you all sharing your wins, because I think seeing people making progress is motivation in itself to think yeah, I could. Even the smallest step is going to bring me towards my end goal.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and also yeah, reading the others wins and searching for wins and going through it. So now it's often it's like that that something happens or I realize something and I think, oh yes, that's a win, I keep it for Wednesday and then I forget about it.

Speaker 1:

I think we underestimate how important it is that we celebrate the win, even if that's finding the time to sit and do nothing, that we've organized our time so it's not jam-packed all the time yeah yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1:

And also, I think another thing which has been really interesting that I sort of haven't really anticipated is the fact that, as you've all been moving through in the last year, the habits that you have been changing have been meaning that it's been much more possible to maintain what you have done. Yeah, so you shared a win this morning which I thought was incredible that you'd had a friend over and you have, you, I, your. Your crafting room is beautiful. We've all seen so many photos of it and you've this has been like your, your labor of love, getting your amazing craft room set up. Yes, you can use it. And you'd had this friend round and you'd been doing sewing, knitting, whatever it was, and all the stuff out, all the machines out, all the equipment out, and you were just standing there horrified after she'd gone, yeah, thinking how am I gonna tidy this up? So tell us what happened, how did it feel?

Speaker 2:

yeah, for a moment. It was really very well known feeling, because before, when I had friends over, I always tidied up before yes, because I'm a bit vain, I don't want to look like someone who is not organized and then I would sleep over and we would do the same thing as I had now done Pull everything out, show everything, talk about things, and then, after they were gone, I would think, oh my God, no, it's too much gone. I would think, oh my God, no, it's doomed. And I wouldn't actually think that I'll just leave it there. But I just pushed that thought aside and I just went somewhere else and then, when I needed space, I would just push the stuff to the side and make myself some space, but hate it because there was not much space.

Speaker 2:

So this time I saw the mess and then I thought, but this afternoon, before she came, it looked nice and this just happened because we pulled things out and I know where these things were. They were at their place and this is really something magical. I think that's for me, that's the magic of that method that you have. Everything has an assigned parking space, and I started with the easy things, pushed them back into their boxes and in the end everything was gone and the three tables were white again and I was able to download my notebook for working on the next morning and set up my home office desk and that was really so cool. It was sick, it felt so.

Speaker 1:

I felt really relieved, yeah yeah, and the million dollar question before your friend came at the weekend, did you have to tidy before she came in like you used to have to do?

Speaker 2:

No, I took away some things that had accumulated. But no, I didn't. And what I wanted to show her I knew where to find. What really makes me happy and relieved is to know that there are really old habits, and if you can change these habits, then you can change other habits too, and you can also attack other areas. That's what Mary Kondo writes about in the last chapter of her book, and when I read it the first time I thought oh, she's mad. No, she isn't.

Speaker 2:

she isn't because you, you really all that sorting and um, pondering things and and uh, questioning yourself and your relation to things and to everything helps you to get better in decision making and knowing what you want in life, not only in your home. So it's really yeah, it feels really good yeah, it feels really good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and another amazing win that you had was the fact that you were able to finance a weekend away with friends in venice from money that you'd got from selling items that you decided to go.

Speaker 2:

How amazing is that yes, it was, and that's. That's quite nice, because it is work to get rid of, to not just donate or throw away things and yeah, so I only do it for the things that are worth more or that in a way still mean something to me.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, that's a good way of letting them go. I think that's wonderful. Yeah, you have been such an amazing member of the community. Christy, you, you like, want to be founding members of clutton free collective and I'm so grateful to have you there and I'm so grateful that you found time to talk to me today. Thank you, yeah, it was a pleasure. I hope you have really enjoyed listening to that conversation with Christy.

Speaker 1:

I think it's phenomenal the changes that you can make when you have a supportive community behind you, and it's stories like Christy's and those from other people in Colour2Free Collective that remind me how much more this journey is than just tidying. It is life changing. When your space is clear, your mind feels clearer too. So, as we wrap up this celebration episode, I just want to say how grateful I am for every single person in Clutter Free Collective. This community wouldn't be what it is without your bravery, your vulnerability, your willingness to show up not just for your home, but also for yourself. It is truly inspiring, and if you're listening today and thinking that's what I need support, guidance and a community to cheer me on I would love to welcome you to the membership.

Speaker 1:

Don't forget, this week only. You can join for a whole year for the price of 10 months, and there's even the option to upgrade to VIP for the full clutter-free ever after program too. All the details are in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I can't wait to see what the next year holds for Clutterbreed Collective and for all of you. Until next time, please remember, you don't have to do it all at once, but starting somewhere is better than not starting at all. You've got this 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.