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

Decluttering and organizing never works for my family! These 5 shifts will break the clutter cycle for good #154

• Caroline Thor - Professional Organizer - KonMari® Consultant

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Check out the Clutter Breakthrough Transformation—details below!

You know that feeling when you've tidied, organized, maybe even KonMari’d the whole house… and two weeks later, it’s like you never even touched it?

Yeah. Me too. And honestly? It’s not your fault.

In this week’s episode of Living Clutter Free Forever, I’m calling out the cycle so many of us are stuck in: declutter – tidy – get overwhelmed – give up – repeat. And I’m giving you the 5 shifts that finally broke it for good.

Because decluttering and organizing can work for your family.
Even if you’ve tried before and it didn’t stick.
Even if your home feels like a tornado hit it most days.
Even if you’ve got neurodivergent kids, no time, or zero energy.

So why hasn’t it worked yet?
And what can you do differently—starting today—that actually makes it last?

I’m sharing what I’ve learned from my own experience (yes, I used to be overwhelmed by clutter too!) and what I teach every single week inside my Clutter Free Collective. These shifts aren’t about buying more storage boxes or spending hours a day tidying. They’re about mindset, habits, and small wins that build real change.

  • If you’re sick of starting over…
  • If you want to reclaim your space and your time…
  • If you’re ready to stop wondering “Why can’t I keep my home organized?” and finally do something about it—

This episode is for you!

Listen now and take the first step toward home organization that actually works.
Spoiler: it’s not about being naturally tidy. It’s about knowing what’s actually getting in your way—and shifting it, for good.

Let’s break the clutter cycle together.
 You in?

(And if you're ready for even more support, check out the Clutter Breakthrough Transformation—details below!)

Yes, I'm ready to clear the clutter and keep it that way. 

You're not lazy. You're not a mess. You've just been using a system that was never designed for you. Let's change that together in 15 minutes a day with easy micro wins!

See visible results in one space in 15 minutes. YES PLEASE

Even with distractions, start seeing progress before your next load of laundry is done! I'M IN!

For less than the cost of lunch, you can ditch decision fatigue and finally get your house and headspace back. YES, YES, YES!

LIMITED TIME OFFER:
Only available until 15th April so if you're ready to make a change there is no better time to start! AVAILABLE HERE

I would LOVE to hear from you. Text Message me 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 the latest living clutter-free forever podcast episode. I'm caroline and, if you've not joined me before, thank you so much for taking a risk by listening to this podcast and, if you're coming back, thank you for giving your time to me again. I really, really appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

If you were listening to my podcast last week, you will have heard my six episode series about decluttering and organizing for parents of kids with autism, and my reason for doing it was because it is Autism Awareness Month this April 2025. And, as a mom with a kid with autism, then I wanted to do a little bit to help raise awareness, but today we are back to the usual routine of talking about decluttering and organizing and the KonMari method in general. So I have got something that really, really annoys me, and that is people saying to me I've tried tidying, I've tried decluttering, I've tried organizing. It just doesn't work for me, and I am 100% sure that there are five really good reasons why it doesn't work. These are things that I am working on all the time with my regular members, my online membership, plutifree Collective, and they're actually, in my opinion, more important even than actually doing the decluttering and organizing, because they are the reason why it is going to work and why I feel so sad for people when they feel like they're permanently on this hamster wheel of tidying and decluttering and organizing and in a few weeks time they're back to square one again and they think why do I even bother? You know when you've started and you lose the momentum. Or maybe you've decluttered before and somehow the stuff keeps creeping back, and somehow the stuff keeps creeping back. Or you look around your home and think where do I even start? So in today's episode, I just want to walk you through why these five shifts matter so much if you're trying to reclaim your space and your time.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing, number one, is understanding what clutter is and why it keeps coming back. This isn't just about being messy, and as someone who has struggled all her life to keep her space tidy and keep her space organized, I feel your pain. I know where you're coming from and I used to think I was just messy, I was just disorganized. But it comes down to your habits, your emotional energy and everything else that life throws at you. And when you can understand really the psychology behind clutter, why it is that you struggle with clutter, then it's going to make it so much easier to stop it from coming back once you've cleared it. Because if you don't know why it's there in the first place and I'm telling you now it is different for every single one of you listening you all have personal reasons why you struggle with, perhaps, organization or clutter.

Speaker 1:

It could be that your parents didn't teach you to declutter and organize and tidy when you were little. It could be that you had an experience of toys being taken away from you and got rid of without you being told. It could be you have an ADHD diagnosis. It could be that you have a child at home who has special needs, and it's just your time is taken up with them. There are just a myriad of reasons why. So understanding why the clutter comes back is going to be key to keeping it at bay. So, once you've declustered and organized this space, stopping it from getting untidy again.

Speaker 1:

The second reason is being able to let go of just in case items, so that drawer full of cables, the jeans that might fit again, the bag of mystery items from Ikea. We've all got these at home, and if you can learn some decision-making tricks that will make letting go feel easier and lighter, you will be able to clear your space so so much more easily. Let's face it we're very often confronted by the bag of cables or the drawer of cables, and it just looks so overwhelming that we get into decision fatigue and we just think, oh, I can't face this. I do it all the time. I have to really motivate myself and think to myself okay, strategy, you have a strategy, let's implement the strategy, let's get this done, and then I'm okay. But the first thought is always oh, really do I have to do this? So learning how to let go of just in case items or sentimental items is going to be absolutely key.

Speaker 1:

This next one is huge, and it's the perfectionism trap. Whether it's I don't have time to do it properly or I've done it, but it still doesn't look right, perfectionism can keep you stuck for years, and learning how to stop that is really going to help you follow through with your decluttering and organizing and learn when enough is enough, and this is something I'm always going on about in my membership. You must learn when enough is enough. We're not going to give over our whole lives to decluttering and organizing. We have better things to do with our time and so saying, okay, what is good enough in my home, what am I happy with, what makes me feel calm? Is that good enough just for now, and then I can work on it again later, but at least I've got a bit of a system in place and I can tweak it. So that is absolutely huge Actually accepting when enough is enough, and it will make a huge, huge difference.

Speaker 1:

And number four is habits that will actually keep you tidy. So this is where the long-term change happens, and I don't think this is talked about or taught about enough, and it is something that, if you don't have the habits of keeping tidy, it's something you have to learn. I've had to learn it. I have done so much work on habit building and mindset, on top of learning about the KonMari method, and those things in combination are what have made everything possible for me, and this is what I am teaching in my online membership, clutter Free Collective. So I think you need to build habits to stop the clutter coming back. These habits are tiny. They are really tiny. You don't need more willpower, you just need a better rhythm.

Speaker 1:

So, for the example, last week in Clutterfree Collective, we had another week of reminders daily of put the thing away. How often do we use something and think I haven't got time to put it away now, I'll do it later. I can see you sitting there going me. I used to do this all the time and I'm still guilty of it. Sometimes I'll think, oh, I've used the scissors, I haven't got time to put them back in the drawer, I'll do it later and I'll leave them out on the table. What happens? We don't get around to it later. If that continues for a whole week, that is a lot of clutter left lying around the house and then it takes a long time to tidy up.

Speaker 1:

So changing those habits is key and this is where my 15 minute of tidying a day habit is going to make all the difference. And this is number five I brought out recently my 15 minute declutter kickstart. It's been hugely popular. I talk about and teach about in it how you can use 15 minutes to declutter a space or a category in your home and you can make a huge difference If you build into that 10 to 15 minutes of tidying each day, tidying up the areas that you've already decluttered, and organized, making sure that things you've used that day go away. You will stay on top of it and learn how to keep these systems working.

Speaker 1:

So those five things understanding why we have clutter in the first place, how to let go of items that we're hanging on to that we don't really need, knowing when enough is enough, knowing that we can learn habits that are going to help us, and learning how to use 15 minutes rather than thinking we need huge blocks of time is going to make all the difference. Now I have done something that I have never done before and I have created a five video series that explains in detail all of these things. I've actually taken them from trainings that I have given in Clutter Free Collective and I have bundled them together in a clutter breakthrough transformation, in a clutter breakthrough transformation, and I've decided to make them available for just a few days, until the 15th of April, for the teeny tiny price of $12. Yes, you heard me right $12. Each video is short and super practical, and it's there to help you get results without needing a whole weekend or the perfect circumstances. So if you would like to grab the Clutter Breakthrough Transformation videos while they're available and there's a special bonus also available as a private podcast, so if you haven't got time to sit in front of a screen and watch, you can listen to it all while you're on the go Then you can grab that from the link in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

Just look for Clutter Breakthrough Transformation. And for those people who know they would benefit from even more support, there is a timely upgrade, for the price of $5, to a VIP level, which gives you downloads for each of the videos, giving you tangible support to get you implementing what you've learned in each of the coaching sessions. So I know you're going to love it. There's another surprise there as well, for anyone that goes to check it out, but I'm not going to tell you what that is. You'll have to go and have a look to find out.

Speaker 1:

But it's super special and I am really excited about this.

Speaker 1:

It is, I think, the best offer I have ever put together to really help you understand why it is that you're finding it difficult to declutter and organize and keep tidy, and I would love to show you that it is possible. It's down to some mindset shifts and learning some new habits and having the support that you need to do that. Next week, I've got an amazing interview with someone who was on the road for a whole year and just living out of what they could fit in their car, and you will be amazed at her insights into what it's like to live with less. 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 carothor, 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.