Start with the trash. That is the number one thing that you will hear from other experts and professional organizers, that if you're wondering where to start decluttering, you should always start with the trash. So today we're chatting about why that's the last place that you should start and what you should do instead.
Hey there, I'm Nicole from The Maximizing Momma, and I am obsessed with creating a home that gives me more peace of mind, more time to myself and more time with my kids. I teach you the tried and true secrets to clearing your clutter, getting organized, and managing your household in a realistic and sustainable way.
This show is where we talk about things like motherhood, decluttering, organizing, creating routines, mindset, energy, and everything in between. Our homes are the foundation for the rest of our lives, and it's so important to have a calm, relaxing household so you can have the time, the peace of mind, and the freedom to truly enjoy motherhood.
So sit back and get ready to take charge of your home.
Hello. Hello. And welcome back to the Take Charge of Your Home Show. Today, we're talking about why you should never start decluttering with the trash. Because trash is not clutter. It's actually considered an everyday mess. Something that continuously happens in your home because you live in it. As long as you are living, breathing and using your home, trash will continue to happen. And I have found that there are different types of people out there. Some people whose daily habits lead to the trash piling up every day until they reach the end of the week and decide to throw it all away. Other people will deal with the trash once a day. And a third category of people deals with the trash right then and there, once they're immediately done using it.
But regardless of when you decide to tackle the trash that's left out in your home, trash is a home management issue. It's not clutter. And the best way to stay on top of the trash from one day to the next is with the daily reset. I will link a podcast episode below that's titled How a Daily Reset Will Make Your Life Easier. So go check it out after you listen to this episode, because it will explain what this looks like, and it will truly make managing your home and the trash so much easier.
So if trash is a home management issue, that means that it's not clutter. Now, this is a loaded statement because clutter can really be subjective. It can mean different things to different people. Just the other day, I took a poll on social media asking my community to put a label on some of the stuff that was on my dining room table.
And the answers were truly split down the middle. Some people called these items clutter while others called them mess. Personally, I defined it as a mess because it was all things that needed to be put back where they belonged. And it was a little ironic because it's not really possible for somebody on social media to identify if something is clutter to me or not.
But where I was going with this poll was I was trying to get a better understanding of which people use the word clutter and which people use the word mess. So my point is that clutter is subjective. And like I said, it can mean different things to different people. But the reason why these answers can be so drastically different is because of the use of the phrases cluttered versus messy. My dining room table did look very cluttered. But that didn't make it true clutter. And the difference in all of these nuances is exactly why millions of people are not making progress with their decluttering and organizing goals because they're following different experts and trying to implement different strategies.
And that's a recipe for disaster, because, well, let's just say that you follow one expert and your dining room table looked like mine with a bunch of toys, craft supplies, and random stuff everywhere. And this one expert says that you need to declutter those things. You might then put everything back where it belongs.
But then let's say that you start listening to this podcast, for example. And you hear me talk about how that stuff on your dining room table didn't need to be decluttered at all, but instead it just needed to be put back where it belonged. It might actually blow your mind as you begin to recognize these subtle differences. But then, you're left wondering what types of items you should be decluttering. So you listened to a different expert who says to start with the trash. As you can see, there are way too many nuances in the decluttering industry that are making the entire process so confusing for everyone. And that's why I am here to simplify all of it. I am here to make the process so much more streamlined and easy to implement so you can immediately do what needs to be done in your household and get right back to your kids, your work and your life.
Now, with all of that said, let's get back to the trash. I am very well aware that when a professional organizer says to start decluttering with the trash. They most likely mean items that can be thrown away and not literal trash. But unfortunately, Many of them literally say to start with quote, unquote trash, and that doesn't necessarily sound like things that can be thrown away. Trash sounds like trash, right?
When I started decluttering the inside of my house. I heard these experts and professional organizers say the same thing, that I needed to start with the trash. And so that's what I did. I would look around at my messy living room and think, this room is so cluttered, I need to declutter it. I'm going to start with the trash.
Then after I threw trash away, I would move on to finding things that I could throw away. Which often was a handful of items. But then my kids would start fighting. My swollen legs would start hurting or it was time to make dinner. And before I knew it, I had thrown away a good chunk of stuff, including literal trash.
But I hadn't really made any difference at all when it came to getting my living room back where I wanted it to be.
Over time. I started implementing short daily declutter sessions where I just focused on finding things that I could get rid of. Not trash, but things. And I completely ignored the idea of starting with the trash altogether. And it made a huge difference in my home.
So again, I know that the word trash could be summed up to describe anything that could be thrown away. Like if you're decluttering the drawer in your bathroom and there are rusty Bobby pins, old toothbrushes, empty floss container, et cetera. But even those things are not going to make a big difference in the grand scheme of your home.
And this is why starting with the trash, or starting with items that you can throw away, it's pointless.
Typically when you do this, when you go into a drawer for example, and find trash that you can throw away or things that you can throw away, you'll eventually start to shift into more of a tidying and organizing routine where you're trying to make the drawer look more neat, tidy and organized. And yes, you may get rid of a handful of things, including some trash. But then, what happens? In another week, your bathroom counter is cluttered all over again. And so is that damned drawer! It's full of more trash and old toothbrushes.
So, this is all why I teach my clients to take charge of their homes in different stages. Because you could end up stuck in this cycle for years to come... cleaning out the rusty Bobby pins, throwing away the trash, organizing drawers and cabinets, tidying up your flat surfaces, decluttering too small kids clothes and letting go of a few things here and there. But never making real sustainable progress, never getting your home to that beautiful straight out of a magazine look that you're dying to achieve. Because the fact is de cluttering is not about throwing trash away.
Nor is it about tidying up an area and making it look more neat and orderly. It's about getting rid of the excess stuff, the material objects that are piling up and accumulating in your home, the material items that are closing in on you and making you feel so suffocated and overwhelmed. Because I know that the trash is not making you feel overwhelmed. Nor are the rusty Bobby pins and old toothbrushes.
What's so overwhelming about the clutter is the stuff everywhere. The piles. The things that are accumulating in places that you have no idea what to do with. And the hard truth is that it's all there because you have too much of it. Because you've spent your entire life learning how to consume, but never learning how to let go.
And letting go of the trash is not the place to start. Because that's exactly what led you to where you are now. Maintaining your home on a daily basis and avoiding the excess stuff, the excess clutter, the material items that are taking over your home.
So let's talk about what you should do instead of starting with the trash. Let's switch gears for a minute and forget about that heavy topic of feeling overwhelmed in your home because what I'm about to share with you will make it so much more easier for you to take charge of your home, for you to make real, sustainable progress and get your house to a place where it is calmer and more peaceful and neat and tidy.
So, first of all, I want you to completely throw out the idea of starting with the trash and dealing with the trash all together. What's going to be the most impactful is if you're able to get rid of the material items, the stuff that is piling up behind closed doors. The hidden accumulated clutter behind closed doors, like cabinets, closets, drawers, like the drawer we were talking about earlier.
But the drawer example that I gave a few minutes ago, that example didn't really have a lot of accumulated clutter. That mostly just had a few things that could be thrown away. To give you another example, let's say you have a junk drawer that is full of clutter, accumulating full of a bunch of stuff that you don't really have any use for.
Or it could be a drawer in your hutch that is full of linens you're never going to use. If you can go in there and clear out that drawer of those old linens and get rid of those linens, you will suddenly free up space in your hutch and you can start using that drawer for other things. Because when you're able to clear away these material items that are piling up in these areas, you will have much more room for the stuff that you use on a day ly basis. So that, that way, the main areas of your house house don't end up messy every other day. And that's why I say that this is one of the most impactful things that you can do in your home.
However, maybe you don't have a lot of clutter that is hidden away behind closed doors. And you just have stuff and material items and clutter that is piling up throughout your home. So, what you could do instead, is choose to declutter individual areas, like smaller zones a few times a week. Maybe it could be one pile of stuff or one stack of stuff or one shelf in a cube shelf in your living room, for example. Or if you have a bunch of stuff piled up on your dining room table, you could tackle that table. You know, and then a few days later tackle your kitchen counters, for example.
Now, when you're doing this, when you're tackling the smaller individual zones, what I want you to do is find things, find material items that you could get rid of. Now this could be trash. It could be things you're willing to throw away or it could be larger items like a broken can opener, toys your kids haven't played with in months. Old paper, old underwear, or junk that's been sitting around that, you know you're never going to use.
This is my favorite way to declutter. Because it makes the biggest difference. As I'm sitting here, I'm looking at my printer table next to my desk. And underneath it, I have a stack of black framed clipboards that I bought years ago to put up in our command center. But they're covered in dust from our dogs since they're sitting on the bottom of our printer table.
And clearly I'm never going to use them or I would have by now, right? I mean, if I was going to use these clipboards, they would be in my command center. So that's something that I can easily get rid of that will free up space in my home in a much bigger way than starting with the trash ever will.
And those are the types of things that I want you to focus on decluttering. Not the trash, but instead items that you know without a shadow of a doubt that you can get rid of.
All you need to do is choose an area to focus on. Visually scan through and look for items that you are willing to let go of, then simply gather those items up and handle them appropriately.
You can add them to a donation box, throw them away, put them on your curb or any other way that aligns with your values. And if you do this two to three times a week, By the end of the week, you will be astonished at how much of a difference it makes. Much more of a difference than just throwing away trash every other day.
So I have given you quite a few things to think about today. Let's go over them again very quickly. First of all, don't start with the trash. Don't even start with things that you can throw away. Instead just focus on finding things that you can get rid of. It could be something that you want to donate or something that you want to sell .Just visually scan through your home, looking for items that you're willing to get rid of. This could be trash or it could not be trash. It could be things you want to throw away, but it doesn't have to be.
I highly recommend focusing on the hidden accumulated clutter that is piling up behind closed doors, because when you're able to get rid of the material items that are hidden away behind closed doors, you will have so much more space for the things that you're using on a daily basis.
But you could also choose to just declutter individuals zones, smaller three foot by three foot spaces, a couple of times a week. Whichever option you go with, these are going to be so much more impactful than trying to follow some miscellaneous decluttering strategy that you heard from some random expert or professional organizer.
So over the next week, find a few areas you can declutter in your home and then get started. And I will see you back here next Thursday for our next episode.
Now before we go, I would love it if you could leave a review for the Take Charge of Your Home Show on whichever podcast app you use. Google, Apple, Spotify, or any other app. Let me know what you think. And I will chat with you soon. Bye.
Thank you for listening to another episode of the Take Charge of Your Home Show. Go ahead and take a few moments to celebrate yourself for being here, doing this work, and really learning how to create a calm, relaxing home. Don't forget to check out the show notes and feel free to leave a rating and a review so I can know what you want to hear more about because you and your journey are what make this show a reality. I'll see you next time.
