3 Biggest Mistakes
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Today, I want to share with you the three biggest mistakes that I made during my decluttering journey so that way you don't have to make these mistakes. You can fast track your success and cut right to the chase in reducing the amount of physical clutter that you have in your home, and really trading in the piles for peace of mind and sanity.
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 [00:01:00] 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. I just spent 30 minutes recording this episode on my desktop computer with a new microphone that I got about a month ago. And it did not register the sound at all.
So I am a little bit irritated. And I think this microphone, I don't think it works basically with my desktop and my laptop. So I decided to go ahead and do this on my laptop with just the included microphone. And therefore, if the sound is a little bit off now, you know why, but I am definitely going to order a new microphone and replace this one that I got last month.
Anyway, let's get into today's episode. I'm going to share with you the three biggest mistakes that I made during my decluttering journey so you don't have to make the same mistakes [00:02:00] that I did.
So the very first mistake that I made during my decluttering journey was thinking that marathon sessions were the only way to declutter. Now, this was in 2018. And I'll admit that I have never read tidying up with Marie Kondo. And I think I only watched her show like one episode of her show, but essentially when I started clearing my clutter, I thought there, there was no question in my mind. I thought the only way that you could do it was to have this big marathon session. Now I remember vividly when I first found out about Marie Kondo. One of my friends had came over to my house and he was like, Hey, have you seen this new show on Netflix?
It's crazy because all these people have stuff, you know, stacked to the ceiling in their house. And I remember as soon as he said that I looked around it our house and was like, we have stuff stacked to the ceiling. So this again was in 2018, we had just downsized into my late mother's home. And [00:03:00] essentially we had combined everything that my family of six owned with everything my late mother owned as well as all of my childhood belongings that were stored in her house. And since it was a downsize, and we were combining households, there truly was not enough room for all of our stuff, which left this house literally bursting at the seams. So when he said this to me, I think I went and watched one episode of the show. And then it was a couple of months later when I took action and started decluttering. And like I said, there was no question in my mind.
I thought the only way to declutter your home was to have these huge eight hour plus marathon sessions. And so that is what I did. I would devote an entire Saturday. At least once a month, sometimes every other week to going out into my garage and making it this big or deal. And for days leading up to the session, I would [00:04:00] always get prepared by making sure I had plenty of sleep and I would rest my swollen legs so that way they didn't the day of, and then the day of my decluttering session, I always made sure I had somebody to watch my kids. I would order a pizza. I would drag a stereo out to the garage and hook it up to my phone.
And then I would set up my area with the chair and a drink and just all this stuff that I needed. And then when I was ready to physically start, I would start dragging everything out of my garage and piling up into my driveway so that way I could kind of figure out what boxes I wanted to focus on for that day. And it was just. Let's just say that it was a huge unnecessary ordeal. And I'm not kidding when I say that it would be like eight plus hours. It would be when the sun went down, I would start finalizing all the piles that I had created, which we're going to get into that in just a minute. And then I would. You know, put everything back [00:05:00] where it belonged and, and take things into the house and put them where they went and. Then I even made a point to always set up a little area. So that way I knew where to start next time. So I would kind of like mark of a space in my garage with masking tape or painter's tape and I would label the boxes like de clutter this one first or you know, Items I want to keep going to this box. And then I, I even had one of my mom's old entertainment centers in my little declutter station out there. On that entertainment center I had. Gloves and labels and Sharpies and scissors and all the things that I needed. And, you know, in hindsight, it was a nice little setup and that is actually a method that I teach my clients and students all these years later to set up a little declutter station like that for you. But where I'm going with this is that the marathon sessions were just so unnecessary.
[00:06:00] And because of the fact that I had four kids and I was grieving my late mother and working part-time and mostly because I have lymphedema and swollen lengths, those marathon sessions were not compatible with my lifestyle in any way, whatsoever.
So what always happened was in the days and the weeks after I had one of these marathon sessions, it would fuck me up. Like it would wreck my back. My legs were always swollen for days afterward. I was exhausted. I was mentally drained and I just couldn't even deal with any other physical item for a while for at least a week afterwards.
And so after. Um, a couple of months of doing this a few times a month, I had gotten to the point where I was just done with it. I really developed the mindset of, I don't like this, I don't want to do this anymore. And that is because I had made the process [00:07:00] something dairy, unenjoyable, very uncomfortable and very tedious and overwhelming and exhausting. And that is when I gave up and I stopped decluttering for a little more than a year, because it was like I said, it was just something that I was not looking forward to.
I hated it so much.
And so this is one of the biggest mistakes that I made throughout my entire decluttering journey, because it really prolonged the process. And the problem was like I said, I really thought that was the only way that I could declutter. There was no question in my mind of how I could possibly do something different. And now all these years later, there are fortunately many, many people who know that there are different types of decluttering sessions that you can have, but there are still some people who think that the marathon sessions are the only way to go. And so that is why I wanted to share this here with you today.
Now. With that said. What I recommend you do instead of the marathon sessions is to find a decluttering method that works for [00:08:00] your circumstances, works with your lifestyle.
And actually I teach my clients and students to define their decluttering type, as well as their personal favorite method. So this is something we'll get into in another episode, because it's a topic for another day, but the type of session that you have really is about the length of the session. Whereas, your decluttering method is the strategy or the framework that you'll follow. And so what you need to know for now is that the marathon sessions are not the only way that you can clear your clutter.
So I highly recommend that you find a decluttering method that works for your lifestyle, and it's something that. Is somewhat enjoyable. You definitely don't want it to be exhausting and tedious and annoying because when you have a negative experience with it, you're not going to be committed to doing it. And then you're never going to get it done and you will never reduce your clutter. So instead you want to find a method that [00:09:00] works for your lifestyle, whether you have a chronic illness or you're low on energy, or you have 17 kids or you work, you know, 70 hours a week. Whether it's any of the above, find method that works for you.
Now moving right along. The second mistake that I made throughout my decluttering journey was trying to separate my things into too many piles. Like keep, sell, donate, trash, relocate. Et cetera.
Now, when I share about this specifically on Tik Tok, I always have so many people come for me in the comments who say, well, what are you supposed to do instead? If you're not sorting your clutter into piles, how else should you be decluttering? And I will share that strategy with you in a minute. But first, I want to tell you why this doesn't work.
So when you're sorting your clutter into different piles, There's a lot going on behind the scenes. There's so many different options of what you could [00:10:00] do with your belongings. And that could be you know, if it's something that you want to keep, or it's something that you maybe want to keep, or you want to sell it on Facebook, or you want to donate it to your church, or donate it to the homeless shelter or donate it to Goodwill, or donate it to your neighbor, or you want to recycle it, or you want, or you need your shredded because it has personal information or you know, maybe you don't know what to do with it so you're going to put it in a maybe pile. And there's just way too much going on. And it complicates the process and it leads to overthinking and it really keeps you stuck in a clutter cycle and delays you from making actionable progress and getting the clutter out of your house. And that is the number one problem that I come across . Is where people think that if they are sorting their clutter into different piles, They're taking action. They believe that they're making progress and that, that is [00:11:00] sufficient in order to declutter their home. But then, they're left wondering why their house is still messy and cluttered.
And the reason why is because sorting your clutter into piles does nothing. It's not doing anything. It is the same thing as grouping your belongings or categorizing them, or essentially organizing them. That's what organizing means. You're grouping your things together into different piles. So then at the end of your session, whether it's a marathon session or a 20 minute session, when you're left with these individual, Piles of things, yeah, you might take action on if you, things you might shred your personal paperwork and you might recycle some other things and throw away the trash, and then, you know, for the items that you want to keep, it might be easy to go put them back in your house. Or it might not be. Which that's a topic for another day if you have a lot of homeless clutter. [00:12:00] But then what almost always happens. I see it time and time and time again is people will move these piles of things that they want to donate and sell and, and give away they will move them somewhere in their home with the intention of dealing with them eventually, but then they forget or the different piles get mixed together and jumbled together, or, you know, life comes up and things get in the way or they give up on decluttering because the process was too tedious in the first place.
And so all of this to say is that sorting your clutter into different piles is too complicated. It's a waste of time and it's not efficient and I never recommend it for anyone.
What you should do instead. There's actually two options, two strategies that I recommend to my clients and students. But what I want to share with you here today is the simplest way of just looking for items that you can let go of.
So [00:13:00] essentially what you need to know is that looking for items that you can let go of can be as simple as walking up to an area, identifying items that you are willing to get rid of, gathering them up, and then taking action on them by adding them to a donation box, putting them in the recycling bin, putting him in the trash, et cetera.
And this is so simple. It almost makes de cluttering effortless. It makes it very simple and easy for you to clear away your clutter because there's no overthinking it. There's no complicated piles. There's no making a huge mess. There's no overwhelm and extra decision-making.
You're just deciding I don't want these books anymore so I'm going to put them in this donation box. Or if you are decluttering your kids' clothes, you don't have to make all these different piles. You just walk up to their closet or their dresser, you pull out the clothes that you know, without a shadow of a doubt that you can let go of the clothes that you know, [00:14:00] don't fit them anymore. And then you can take action and handle them appropriately. I'm telling you guys, this is by far the easiest way to clear your clutter and simplify your home. So stop sorting your things into piles and just look for items that you can let go of.
And finally the third biggest mistake I made during my decluttering journey was starting with storage spaces in general.
So like I was saying, I started de cluttering in my garage, but this can be said for any kind of storage space in your home, like a closet or a garage or an attic or a basement, or even the deeper, hidden areas that are tucked away and neglected.
And the reason why this is, is because. What you need to know is that there are different layers of clutter in our homes. So starting with the top, the surface layer, these are the things that you can see with the naked eye.
And then there's the deeper layers of clutter that are hidden away behind closed doors. These are the things that. Essentially, what you need to know [00:15:00] is when you have things that are piled away in the back of a closet or the corner of an attic or at the bottom of a shelf in your garage that you haven't looked at in months or even years. That's really keen to the memories and beliefs and emotions and values that are kind of hidden away in the back of your psyche.
You stuffed those things away subconsciously for a reason because you're not yet ready to address them. And it's the same thing when it comes to the physical items in your home, the things that you have stored in the back of your closet, those things are back there for a reason because you are not yet ready to address them.
So where I'm going with this is that one of the biggest mistakes I made during my decluttering journey was trying to start in a storage space.
So, as I had mentioned, my garage was stacked to the ceiling and of course there were the physical layers, like on the bottom physical layer was all of my childhood things. And then above that was all of my. Teenage things. And then there was my mother's things. And [00:16:00] then all of her belongings that I wanted to save got put on top of that.
And then on the very top of the pile was everything that my family of six currently owned.
And so this is the reason why I teach my clients and students to reduce the amount of physical clutter in their home in two different stages, starting with Foundational Decluttering, and then moving on to Thorough Decluttering. Because there are different layers, both figuratively and literally, different layers of stuff.
So you have the physical layers of things that are hidden away in the backs of closets and in the corners of your attic and deeper storage areas. And then figuratively, you have these deeper seated emotions and beliefs and values that you have packed away in the back of your psyche. And the reason why this is is because our homes are like a mirror. They are a reflection of what is going on internally.
And so. All of this to say, you do not want to start decluttering in a storage space, [00:17:00] because those are going to be the harder items that are much more difficult for you to process and let go of.
And so what you want to do instead is to start your decluttering journey in the easiest way possible, by not trying to tackle large storage spaces or the deeper, hidden storage areas. But instead you want to start with reducing the amount of items from the surface layer of your home. So this could be anywhere that you can see with the naked eye, such as your flat surfaces, the counters, the floor, the chairs, the bed, or even areas like a cube shelf where you can reach right into a basket or a bin and declutter that small little space.
So anywhere that you can see with the naked eye. . You want to do this one step and one room at a time for all of your main living spaces, such as your living, or in your kitchen, your dining, your bedroom, your bathrooms, and your kids' rooms.
And then once you have tackled those areas, [00:18:00] Then you can move on to the second stage of Thorough Decluttering by clearing away the items that are hidden away in the deeper areas of your home, like the backs of closets, the storage spaces, the garage, the attic, the basement, et cetera.
And this is what I teach inside of my room by room decluttering course, Decluttering Made Easy.
It is the step by step plan that you need to reduce the clutter from your home and trade in the piles for peace of mind and a beautiful home environment. And it's on sale for $75 off until January 31st. But I've decided that because I got this podcast episode out a little late this week, I'm going to go ahead and extend a special discount for you, for my podcast listeners. So that way you can still save $75 off your enrollment through the rest of this first week of February. So when you use the [00:19:00] code NEWYEAR , you can save $75 through February 3rd. Now we'll give you time to listen to this episode, talk with your partner if you need to, make the decision, and then get inside.
Now my specialty of what I help my clients with is taking control of your home by clearing the mental clutter, cleaning up the mess, reducing the physical clutter, and getting organized so you can finally break the clutter cycle and create a household that runs on autopilot. It's a holistic approach for your entire household so that way you don't have to try and find organizing ideas or buy the newest planner to try and fix your life. And with that said many of my community members, that is their primary goal. They want to get their entire house in order, they want to take it from cluttered to calm.
However, there are [00:20:00] many other community members who only want to clear their physical clutter. They don't have a lot of messes, they're not looking to get organized, and they don't really feel like they need routines and systems.
So if that is you, if decluttering is your number one and your only goal for your household, well then Decluttering Made Easy was created for you.
It is a decluttering course and only a decluttering course. So while there are minor lessons here and there about how to maximize storage space in your kids' rooms and things along those lines, there is no. Curriculum designed to help you get organized or tackle the homeless clutter or, or anything else, it is solely focused on helping you reduce the physical clutter from your home.
And this is my only plan to open up the doors to this program right now in 2024, I may run another sale later this year. But don't wait. Don't wait to join this program. It [00:21:00] is the first of the year, you're listening to this episode because you are ready to make a change in your home as soon as possible.
And that is why I have put this program, Decluttering Made Easy on sale for $75 off. It is a robust course, it is on demand, everything is available immediately to give you room by room mastery over the clutter in your home.
So you can find all the details through the link in the show notes. And as always, if you have any questions, you can send me a DM on social or send me an email at [email protected].
So thank you for being here today. It is, it is truly my greatest honor to be able to provide this value to you and offer you tangible tips to help you take charge of your home. And on that note, We have some really big updates coming to the podcast in the next few months. And also in the next couple of months, we're going to [00:22:00] have another series of live events with a couple of masterclasses and another Breathing Room challenge. So make sure to subscribe to the Take Charge of Your Home Show. And I will chat with you soon.
Bye.
