Your house isn't cluttered. It's loud.

That single reframe changed how I look at my own home, and it comes from Myquillyn Smith, known online as The Nester.

Myquillyn has spent over twenty years helping women create homes they actually want to use. She's the author of Cozy Minimalist Home and House Rules, and her new book House Hushing is out now.

Here's what makes her different. She's a decorator, not a decluttering coach. She is not going to tell you to give up everything beautiful. She's going to show you how to turn the volume down first and let the room tell you what it actually needs.

In this episode she walks through backwards decluttering, her method that takes about twelve minutes a room and requires zero hard decisions up front. You clear the visible layer, you live in the quiet room for 48 hours, and then you only bring back what you genuinely missed. No willpower required. The room does the convincing.

We also get into why we fill up whatever space we're given, what to do about the closets you're not touching yet, and how to hush a kid's room without breaking their trust.

And I got honest with her about where my own home is right now, in a hard season, drifting. What she said back to me is the reason I'm keeping this episode close.

In this episode:

• Why "loud" lands when "cluttered" doesn't
• The photo trick that cures house blindness instantly
• All the steps of backwards decluttering
• Why the 48 hour wait does the deciding for you
• Stuff threshold vs clutter threshold
• When to finally open the closed storage
• Hosting without keeping every extra just in case
• How to hush a kid's space collaboratively
• Experiencing a season through your five senses instead of storing decor eleven months a year

Your quick win from Myquillyn: clear off your coffee table and let it be naked.

Connect with Myquillyn:

• Website: thenester.com
• Instagram: @thenester
• House Hushing is available everywhere books are sold.

Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/323

Come say hi on Instagram @wannabeclutterfree and tell me which room you're hushing first.

Happy decluttering.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

I host a decluttering podcast, and my house is full.

Not messy. Full. And I know exactly how it happened, because I have done it before.

Our landlord is selling our house. My husband is in surgery the day this episode goes live. My mom is in another round of chemo. My daughter just went back to school and does not know about the move yet.

I did not choose any of this. So I am choosing the one thing I still control.

For the next 20 days, I am radically simplifying every single thing I own. Not my husband's. Not my daughter's. Mine.

This is not the plan I wanted to make. It is the one I have. And I would love for you to make it with me.

In this episode I share:

• Why my home quietly filled back up after I sold 85 to 90 percent of what we owned
• The reason I am not touching anyone else's belongings, and why going first works better than asking
• My five rules for the 20 days, including why the maybe box has to go
• The four phase plan: the warm up, the drift zone, papers and pixels, and the hard things
• My goal of 500 items in 20 days, or 25 items a day if you want it simple
• The reframe that changed everything for me the week I found out we had to move

I have been told you are not supposed to share until you are through to the other side. I cannot do that.

So I am showing you the whole thing, in real time, starting today.

Want the tracker? DM the keyword 20 on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wannabeclutterfree and I will send you the 500 Item Declutter Challenge tracker so you can count right alongside me.

Before you do anything else today: find five things that are yours. Just five. Put them in a bag by the door. That is day one, and you are already in it.

Next week I am talking with Myquillyn Smith, The Nester, about her new book House Hushing. I recorded that conversation standing in the middle of this very full house, and I asked her things I would not have asked a year ago.

Full show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/322

Follow along daily: @WannabeClutterFree

Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

Go to https://OmahaSteaks.com and use promo code BEEF at checkout for $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply. 

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You have decluttered your closets. But have you decluttered your calendar?

In this episode, Deanna sits down with Megan Sumrell, time management expert and founder of The Pink Bee, to talk about why reclaiming your time is the piece of living clutter free that most people skip. Megan spent over 20 years in corporate IT before she realized traditional time management systems were never built for women's lives, and she has spent the years since building something that actually works.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why living clutter free has to include your calendar, not just your closets
• The single biggest time thief most women never notice
• How to set up your phone so you're only interrupted for what actually matters
• Why invisible work is real work, and how to make it visible to your family
• Why a to-do list is not a plan, and what to build instead
• How a decluttered home and a decluttered schedule work together
• Why rest is not a reward, it's required

If your schedule feels just as cluttered as your closet used to, press play.

Connect with Megan Sumrell:

Podcast: Work + Life Harmony

App: The Pink Bee (App Store & Google Play, free training inside)

Instagram: @megansumrell

Connect with Deanna:

Instagram: @wannabeclutterfree

Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/321

Go to https://OmahaSteaks.com and use promo code BEEF at checkout for $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply. 

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Who has soccer at 5:15? Did the permission slip go back? Is there anything defrostable for dinner? Are we out of milk again?

If every one of those answers lives in your head and nowhere else, you do not have an organization problem. You have a bottleneck problem, and the bottleneck is you.

In this episode I am sharing the session I presented at the Chaos to Calm Summit on building a family command center. It is one of my favorite things I have ever taught, because it is not about being more organized. It is about not being the only person in your house who knows what is going on.

We cover both versions, physical and digital, so you can build the one that actually fits your family instead of the one that looks good on Pinterest. I walk you through the components every command center needs, the extras that solve specific problems like the school paper avalanche, and the five steps to get yours set up this week. And with the school year and every activity schedule coming back at once, this is the week to do it.

In this episode:

• Why a family command center works as the brain of your home, and what it actually fixes
• The three components every command center needs, physical or digital
• The one physical addition that finally solves permission slips and school papers
• Why location matters more than how pretty it looks
• Why I love my Skylight calendar, and the three features to look for in any digital system
• How color coding creates instant ownership so nobody has to ask you
• Why I use a hybrid of physical and digital, and where each one earns its keep
• The five setup steps, including the fifteen minute weekly sync that holds the whole thing together
• Three bonus tips to make it stick past week two

Your next step: Pick one component. Just one. Set it up today.

Grab my free Doable Dozen guide with the 12 tasks I run every week to keep our home running, including my Daily Magic Five: https://wannabeclutterfree.com/doabledozen

Want the rest of the Chaos to Calm Summit? All 35 sessions are available here: https://wannabeclutterfree.com/summit

Next week I am talking with Megan Sumrell about time management, and it is the perfect follow-up to this one.

If this episode helped, would you tap follow and leave a quick rating? It genuinely helps other tired moms find the show.

Connect with me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wannabeclutterfree/

Full show notes: https://wannabeclutterfree.com/podcast

Go to https://OmahaSteaks.com and use promo code BEEF at checkout for $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply. 

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

If you struggle to stick to your routines, create new habits, or find perfectionism running your life, this episode is for you.

I'm sitting down with Monica Packer, host of the top-rated About Progress podcast and author of the upcoming book Sticky Habits, for a conversation that completely reframes why habits feel so hard for busy moms.

Monica opens up about her own journey with perfectionism, and then walks us through something surprising: almost every popular habit book was written by and tested on lives that look nothing like a mother's. Most of us carry an insane amount of invisible labor every day. So when the standard advice doesn't stick, we blame ourselves, when really the method was never built for us.

Here's what we get into:

• Why perfectionism is really a misplacement of identity, and what it quietly costs us
• The invisible labor research that explains why habit advice keeps failing women
• How to redefine consistency so it's actually possible on your worst days
• The four qualities that make a habit sticky
• Monica's simple WTA formula (When, Then, After) for habits that finally hold

This is warm, validating, and full of the kind of slow, messy, sustainable growth we love around here. It pairs perfectly with the decluttering work you're already doing.

The thing Monica most wants you to know? You can change. Everyone can.

Resources mentioned:

• About Progress podcast
• Sticky Habits by Monica Packer, pre-order at stickyhabitsbook.com
• Fair Play by Eve Rodsky

Connect with Monica: Instagram: @aboutprogress Book and bonuses: stickyhabitsbook.com

Let's connect: Instagram: @wannabeclutterfree Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/319

If this episode helped you breathe a little easier, share it with a friend who's been beating herself up about her habits, and leave a quick review so more moms can find us.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You have probably said it at least once: “I’ll do the whole house this weekend.” And then Saturday came, and you either didn’t start, or you started and made things worse, or you finished and watched it fill right back up within a week. Today I’m explaining exactly what’s happening, and introducing the habit that finally breaks it.

The Lightning Tidy is five minutes a day. Same time, same routine, every day. I’m walking you through the neuroscience of why it works when every other approach hasn’t, including a deep dive into what happens in your brain with every unfinished task in your home, why large sessions create decision fatigue before you even begin, and why the Lightning Tidy is specifically designed to work for ADHD brains in a way that conventional tidying advice never has.

I’m also sharing what comes next: the weekly Mighty Tidy, a 30-minute deep dive into one specific area of your home, and why the daily Lightning Tidy is the thing that makes the Mighty Tidy actually possible.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The Zeigarnik effect: why every pile of clutter is an open loop draining your brain
• How unfinished goals degrade cognitive performance (2011 Masicampo & Baumeister research)
• Decision fatigue and why the Lightning Tidy bypasses it completely
• Task initiation aversion and why it hits ADHD brains differently
• Exactly what a Lightning Tidy looks like (with the family math that makes it powerful)
• Peggybacking: how to attach the Lightning Tidy to something you already do
• The identity-based habit shift from James Clear’s Atomic Habits
• The 66-day research on habit automaticity (and why it’s less daunting than it sounds)
• The Mighty Tidy: 30 minutes once a week for real decluttering progress

Mentioned in this episode:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Effortless Home: DAILY Edition: wannabeclutterfree.com/effortless-home-daily

Next week: Monica Packer joins me to talk about habits. If you listened to this thinking, great, but I can’t keep habits, that episode is for you. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.

After that: the next solo episode goes deep into the neuroscience of why your cluttered home is affecting your mental health at a biological level. It’s some of the most important context I’ve ever shared on this podcast.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Have you ever decluttered your home only to watch it slowly fill right back up? This episode is for you.

Ashlee Piper is a sustainability expert, speaker, and author who has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and CNN, and in Vogue, the New York Times, and Newsweek. She created the No New Things Challenge in 2013. What started as a personal 30-day experiment turned into nearly two years of not buying anything new. The result? She saved over $36,000, paid off $22,000 in debt, reclaimed her time, and completely rewired her relationship with shopping. Her new book, No New Things: A Radically Simple 30-Day Guide to Saving Money, the Planet, and Your Sanity, guides readers through the same challenge.

In this conversation, Ashlee and Deanna dig into what she calls conditioned consumerism, the history of how post-WWII America reprogrammed an entire society from resourceful people into reflexive shoppers, and how that programming is the real reason your home keeps filling up no matter how many times you declutter.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why the urge to buy new things is not a personal failing but a historical and marketing construct
• The SUPER System: five ways to get your needs met without buying anything new
• How to use a trigger-tracking journal to discover the real emotions driving your shopping impulses
• The 2-7 minute rule and why riding it out changes everything
• How the challenge builds creativity, community, and connection as unexpected side effects
• Why Ashlee says women are the most powerful purchasing cohort on the planet and what that means for your household

Pick up No New Things wherever books are sold. You can also find it secondhand at ThriftBooks.

Find Ashlee on Instagram: @ashleepiper

Learn more at: ashleepiper.com

Full show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/317

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Have you ever spent a Saturday morning deep cleaning your entire house, and by noon you still feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and a little annoyed at everything? Your house looks great. You should feel amazing. But you don’t.

That’s not you being a perfectionist. It’s the sneaky kind of clutter that almost nobody in the decluttering world ever talks about.

Calendar clutter (or the mental load of keeping everything running)

In this episode I’m bringing it to light and giving you a real system to clear it. You’ll learn the two distinct forms calendar clutter takes (an overbooked calendar full of other people’s priorities, and the quieter weight of undone decisions with no home), the weekly capture method that gets everything out of your head and onto paper, and why protected blank space is not wasted time, it’s the time that makes everything else work.

This is the finale of my four-part series on the invisible weight of clutter, the stuff that doesn’t pile up on your counters but piles up in your mind instead.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why a clean house doesn’t always feel like a calm house
• The two kinds of calendar clutter (most people only ever deal with one)
• How to build a “vision filter” so you stop saying yes out of guilt
• The weekly capture method for clearing undone decisions out of your head
• Why blank space on your calendar is not wasted space
• A simple script for saying no without feeling like a flake

Mentioned in this episode:

• Effortless Home: DAILY Edition (use code EPISODE316 for $10 dollars off, 48 hours only): https://wannabeclutterfree.com/daily
• Fair Play by Eve Rodsky: https://amzn.to/4wpuSwF
• Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing: https://amzn.to/4weJL4E

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Your kid won't get rid of anything. You know their room has too much stuff. But every time you try to do something about it, it turns into a battle. What if you never had to be the bad guy again?

Dana K. White is the creator of the No Mess Decluttering Method, the blogger behind A Slob Comes Clean, and the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Decluttering at the Speed of Life. She has spent 17 years teaching overwhelmed, messy people how to get their homes under control without shame or perfection. And now she has taken everything she knows and put it into her very first children's book, Winnie's Pile of Pillows.

In this episode, Dana shares how to use a picture book as an actual decluttering tool, why her container concept works even better on kids than it does on adults, and how to get through a decluttering session with your child without convincing them of anything. This one will change how you approach your kid's stuff.

Covered in this episode:

• How to use Winnie's Pile of Pillows as more than a bedtime story
• Why the container concept makes the space the bad guy instead of you
• The five-minute pickup test that tells you if your child has too many toys
• What to say when your kid insists they need to keep everything
• How to declutter with your child without starting a power struggle
• Why you should never start with your kid's room
• The age when kids can really start to grasp the concept of having enough
• How to pass on a no-shame, no-guilt relationship with stuff to your kids

If you are fighting the toy clutter battle and losing, this episode is for you. Hit play, grab the book, and go find that trash bag.

LEARN MORE

Winnie's Pile of Pillows by Dana K. White: https://amzn.to/4afYyDH

A Slob Comes Clean: https://www.aslobcomesclean.com

Lenora and Her Super Duper Messy Room by Deanna Yates: https://amzn.to/4gDSp89

Show notes: https://www.wannabeclutterfree.com/315

CONNECT

Dana K. White on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aslobcomesclean/

Deanna Yates on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wannabeclutterfree/

LISTEN

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wannabe-clutter-free-declutter-simplify-find-freedom/id1485473251

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ATUIVONi0kyoVUKOQV4OT?si=f555de5388164b10

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wannabeclutterfree

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Digital clutter doesn’t pile up on your counter, but it absolutely piles up in your brain. Every unread email, every unused app, every notification going off every eight minutes is quietly draining your focus and your energy.

In this episode I’m giving you three moves for your inbox, three moves for your phone, and a simple weekly habit that keeps all of it under control going forward.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The one reframe that changes how you think about email forever
• How to cut your inbox in half this week without losing anything important
• The 30-day app audit (and why you don’t have to fully delete things to get them out of your way)
• The Favorites list trick that lets you protect your peace without missing important calls
• The three-habit digital maintenance system that takes under 15 minutes a week

Resources mentioned:

• Unroll.me (mass email unsubscribe tool)
• Clean Email (email management tool)
• Digital Declutter Challenge course: https://www.wannabeclutterfree.com/digital-declutter-challenge

⁠If this episode resonated with you, share it with one person who needs to hear it.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you have two minutes, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts makes a real difference.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction to Digital Clutter

00:29 Understanding the Impact of Email Clutter

03:44 Reframing Your Email Inbox

05:03 Unsubscribing and Archiving Emails

07:45 The Archive Bomb: Cleaning Out Old Emails

11:49 Organizing Your Email Folders

14:30 Addressing Phone Clutter

16:42 The 30-Day App Audit

18:29 Resetting Notifications for Clarity

21:31 Creating a Favorites List for Important Contacts

22:29 Simplifying Your Phone's Home Screen

24:14 Establishing a Digital Maintenance Habit

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Have you ever looked at a "minimalist" home on Instagram and thought, well, that is never going to be me. My kids alone would destroy that in four minutes? Or convinced yourself that your clutter-free journey isn't working because your house just doesn't look the part? You are not alone. And this conversation is for you.

****************

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠RESOURCES⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get the transcripts and more at wannabeclutterfree.com/313⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠Episode with Joshua Becker
• The Minimalists Documentary
• Previous episode with Desirae⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Connect with Desirae:

• Minimal-ish Website⁠⁠
• ⁠Minimal-ish on Instagram⁠
• Minimalish Podcast: Search "Minimalish" wherever you listen

Follow Deanna Yates, the host of Wannabe Clutter Free on:

• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Effortless Home: DAILY Edition - 5 Steps to Run Your Home Like Magic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

****************

Desirae Endres is the host of the Minimalish podcast, and her decluttering journey started in 2018 when she sat down as a brand new mom and watched a documentary that completely changed the way she thought about her stuff, her home, and her identity.

Since then she has built an entire community around the idea of "minimal-ish" living, not a perfect aesthetic, not a stark white capsule home, just a real and intentional life with less in the way. 

In this episode, Desirae gets honest about the postpartum anxiety that made her desperate for a calmer home, what it felt like when her husband said their house no longer looked minimal-ish, and the beautiful shift she had about what this whole journey is actually for. We also dig into how to get your kids involved in decluttering without it turning into a battle, and the single most powerful thing you can do to raise kids who genuinely understand how to let go.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

• What "minimal-ish" means and why it has nothing to do with how your home looks
• The real connection between clutter and mental health
• Why letting go of stuff is really about letting go of past versions of yourself
• How to involve your kids in decluttering without forcing it
• What age kids can meaningfully participate (and when it is okay to just do it yourself)
• The one thing you can do today that quietly teaches your kids to let go

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Introduction

2:59 Desirae's origin story: the documentary that changed everything

5:37 Why changing your nature is harder than changing what you own

9:21 How decluttering helped manage postpartum anxiety

11:37 Letting go of clothes and letting go of past versions of yourself

15:02 Baby stuff, the "what if" fear, and letting go anyway

20:20 Feeling like an imposter when your home does not look minimal

22:45 The minimalist aesthetic vs. the minimalist mindset

24:56 Accepting certain areas of clutter in your current season

32:43 Teaching kids to declutter: where to start

37:21 The power of narrating your own decluttering out loud

43:28 What age should kids start participating?

47:07 What Desirae wishes someone had told her at the very beginning

49:13 Decluttering as a gateway to bigger life changes

50:09 Rapid fire questions

****************

Music: Fresh Lift by Shane Ivers - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.silvermansound.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

****************

We’d love to hear how you’re applying the strategies discussed in this episode. Share your stories and tips with us on social media (@wannabeclutterfree). Don’t forget to subscribe for more insightful episodes designed to make your busy life a bit easier.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy