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

What to do after you declutter something (so it stays that way) - The secret to keeping your home calm without starting over every month) #160

• Caroline Thor - Professional Organizer - KonMari® Consultant

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You Decluttered... Now What?

You cleared the pile. You felt the shift.
 But how do you keep it that way without starting from scratch every month?

Sound familiar?
You finally find the time to declutter—your kitchen counter, your paperwork, your closet—and it feels amazing...
But two weeks later? It's like it never happened.

Where does the clutter even come from?
Why does it feel like you’re always playing catch-up no matter how many organizing hacks you try?

This week on the Living Clutter Free Forever podcast, I’m tackling the step no one talks about:
What happens after the decluttering?

Because here's the truth most people don’t know:
 Decluttering is only the first step.
 If you want a calm home that stays calm, you need more than just a tidy drawer—you need a new approach.

In this episode, I’m sharing:

  • The #1 thing that stops clutter from creeping back
  • Why tidying routines fail (and how to make them work for real life)
  • The secret to lasting home organization (hint: it’s not perfection)

If you're tired of the all-or-nothing cycle, if your brain is juggling 40 tabs from paperwork to packed lunches, and if your mental load leaves no space for systems... this episode is your next move.

You'll learn simple, intentional declutter strategies that work even when you’re short on time, energy, and support.

You don’t need to do it all.
You just need a home that’s easy to reset.

So if you’ve ever thought:

  • “I don’t trust myself to keep this up.”
  • “I’m the only one doing the tidying in this house.”
  • “Why do I feel more overwhelmed after organizing?”

This one's for you.

Press play on What to Do After You Declutter Something (So It Stays That Way) and start building a home that supports you—not one that constantly resets to chaos.

Because your space should feel like a soft place to land, not just another thing on your to-do list.

Ready? Let’s go.

Links mentioned in this episode:
Clutter Free Collective online membership
Episode 122

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 living clutter-free forever podcast.

Speaker 1:

I'm caroline and I'm a trained konmari consultant and professional organizer, and I am feeling so excited this week because I have just wrapped up the paper reset. If you joined me at the weekend and yesterday for the paper reset, first of all, I am so proud of you. You showed up, you made space, you made a decision, and I know how hard that can be when you're juggling life kids, work, paperwork, neurodivergence, mental load the list goes on. Now, for those people that were there, this episode is for you and for all those people that think, okay, I've done the decluttering, I feel amazing, but I know that two weeks later the pile is going to be back and I'm going to think I've failed. So today's episode is all about what comes next, because the truth is, most people don't plan for that and they think they failed. But it's not failure. It's just that no one has taught you what happens after, and this is one of the things that I am really, really passionate about. So here's what I've seen again and again with clients, with mums inside my membership and, quite honestly, in my own house as well before I had systems. Well, before I had systems. These are the common pitfalls that people find happening.

Speaker 1:

So pitfall number one no home for items. So you've got the surface clear, but actually all you've done is just move things around a bit and then they start to slowly migrate back because they never actually had a place. Now one of the women that I have inside Clutter-Free Collective Lisa. She has ended up having cleared her desk in the last week and what she's now doing is making sure that everything that was on that desk has got a new place that it goes back to, so it can't find its way back again. It's really, really important. And that leads me on to pitfall number two no maintenance rhythm. So if you haven't built in a quick reset routine, clutter is going to creep back visibly and it feels like you're just starting over again, like you never did anything in the first place. So what Lisa did the week before last because we were having a challenge within the membership is she set herself the task of, every Friday, setting aside five minutes to just tidy up her desk, make sure everything's gone back to where it should, so that she has a maintenance rhythm and the clutter can't creep back.

Speaker 1:

Okay, pitfall number three all or nothing thinking returns. So you get one messy day, you feel like you're back to square one. The shame spiral kicks in I have been there, believe me and you just think what is the point? It clearly doesn't work for me and it's either all or nothing, right, this didn't work, so I'm just going to do nothing. And that is the biggest pitfall, and that very often happens if you don't feel that you have got the support around you that you need, which moves me on to pitfall number four, which is no one else helps. The rest of the house isn't on board and I don't know about you, but that makes me start to feel really resentful. And when I start to feel resentful about things, my stubborn streak comes out and I just stop doing it. So I will stop doing the regular tidying up myself if my family aren't pitching in, because I start to think well, if you're not going to do it, why should I do it? But if no one's doing it and you're not role modeling that for, if you're not going to do it, why should I do it? But if no one's doing it and you're not role modeling that for them, no one is going to help. So it's a bit of a vicious circle. So what actually keeps spaces clear? And I'm telling you now, it's probably not where you think.

Speaker 1:

Okay, the goal isn't a home that stays perfect. That is not the goal. The goal is a home that is easy to reset. Now that is something completely different. I was at a client's house the other week and her living room was full of Duplo bricks that had been built into this absolutely amazing construction in the middle, and then, of course, there were all the spare Duplo bricks lying around. It looked crazy messy, but it looked like kids were having fun and they were clearly in the middle of building something. They were away at kindergarten while I was there and behind that in the corner was a washing basket and behind that in the corner was a washing basket, laundry basket full of laundry that was clean, ready to be needed to be put away. That home did not look perfect, but it was easy for her to reset because she had a large container in the living room which, when the Duplo was finished playing with it, could easily just all be put into the container and she has a system for her laundry so that she knows it's going to get put away.

Speaker 1:

So if the goal isn't a home that stays perfect, but a home that is easy to reset, there are a few key things that you need. Number one assign everything a home, even if it's temporary for now. So paper, which we were looking at at the weekend with those amazing people that came to my paper reset it needs a landing zone To-do items. They need one place where they live so that you know that you need to deal with them. You don't need a perfect filing system, you just need a perfect filing system. You just need a spot where everything lands on purpose, like you've actually put it there on purpose, not that you've just got random piles of stuff lying around, Because if you know that this pile is here on purpose, because I need to deal with it, then it means that at some point those things are going to leave that space and go back to where they should be.

Speaker 1:

Create a five minute evening rhythm. This is my second key thing that I think is really important. Five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes get the whole family involved. Tidy time does not need to be big. You can stack it with something else. So a podcast or your kid's bedtime or music. So a podcast or your kid's bedtime or music, and it's really something that, if you can build that into your day every day, is a game changer.

Speaker 1:

And number three make the invisible visible. Now, what do I mean by that? I am someone that if I don't see something, it doesn't exist, and I know that sounds really crazy, but, like yesterday evening, I was getting something out of my food cupboard and I found a box of new potatoes that had been put at the back in a different place by my husband and they'd started sprouting. You know how they do when they've been away for too long and you've not used them, and I was really annoyed because I would never put potatoes at the back there, because if I can't see them, I forget that we have them, and then I forget to use them in a recipe or cook with them. So making it visible is really important. Now, that might include checklists that you stick on the fridge, reminders on your phone, shared family expectations, especially if at the moment, you're doing 90% of the house stuff.

Speaker 1:

So within my membership Clusterfree Collective, we're often creating little reset rituals, not huge routines, but moments where you bring your space back to calm without needing motivation, and we're all there holding each other accountable, which is the thing that makes the difference. And then, if I'm really honest, the next thing that's really going to help is an identity shift. You're becoming someone who Now this is where the deeper magic happens If you cleared one drawer or one pile last week, if you were at my paper reset and you got rid of one pile of papers, I want you to hear this You're not someone who tried another thing, you're someone who followed through. You're becoming the kind of woman who backs herself, who makes choices from a calm place, who believes that her space can support her, who knows that one bad day doesn't undo her progress. And if you're not there yet undo her progress. And if you're not there yet, that's okay. That's why having support around you helps.

Speaker 1:

But you need to believe that you're becoming someone who is an organized person, and when you start to believe that, when you can shift your identity, it makes all the difference. And it's really hard to believe that when you've not experienced it, but it is so, so true. So one of the most common things I hear after a win like the people had at my paper reset at the weekend is I felt so proud, but I just don't trust myself to keep it up alone now. This is why I created clutter free. It's not a course you finish. It's an ongoing support for women like you with brains like yours, in homes that aren't always predictable, and inside we keep the momentum going. We celebrate your tiny wins, we have check-ins, we have co-working sessions and guided resets, and we do it with zero shame and we always are supporting each other. So if you've been thinking, yeah, this really helped thinking about these things, this has really helped for me to think about the fact that there are pitfalls and I'm not a failure, that there are different. Key things I can do, like assign everything a home, create a five-minute routine, make the invisible visible.

Speaker 1:

If I shift my identity to believe that I'm becoming someone yes, I really believe those things can help, but I don't think I can do this on my own then I would love to have you join us inside of Clutter-Free Collective. There is a really special offer going on at the moment, with a super special bonus for anyone that joins. The link to do that is in the show notes. If you would love to hear a little bit more about what life is like and how Clutter Free Collective can help you, then you can go and listen to episode 122, how One Busy Mum Tamed the Clutter Monster and Lived to Tell the Tale, the version of you that pressed play on this episode. She's already different from the one last week. She's taking her space seriously, not because she has to, but because she knows she deserves to feel calm in her own home.

Speaker 1:

And however far you go whether it's just listening to this episode or listening to lots of episodes and trying to piece together yourself how to do it, or if you decide to join the membership, I will be cheering you on. Let's keep going. You can do 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 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.