The Art of Decluttering

Do you have one {or multiple} doom boxes around your home full of random clutter that you're not quite sure what to do with, where to put, or you're procrastinating making decisions about the items inside? You may be surprised to find that in some situations, a doom box can actually assist your decluttering success rather than be an organising 'no-no'. Need to have a place for decisions you need t...

How do you decide where items should live in your home? Do you put things where you think everyone else would put them? Do you put them in what you think is the 'right' place? If you're struggling to work out the home for an item, where it should live, ask yourself, "where would I go to look for this item?" That might give you a good indication of where to store it. When you have to search for som...

When my kids were little we had a zoo membership and used to try to visit every few weeks. The challenge was the zoo was too big for us to see everything, every time. So we created themes for each visit. Australian animals... animals that are bigger than we are... animals that live in water... white animals. It made an otherwise potentially overwhelming zoo visit into a fun themed visit. In your d...

"Murphey's Law says as soon as I declutter this thing, I'm going to need it" "I knew it would happen that I needed this once I got rid of it, that's why I keep everything" Confirmation bias is processing information by looking for, or interpreting information consistent with your beliefs. So even though you got rid of 100 items in your big declutter and you haven't needed 99 of them, the one that...

Last week I attended the funeral of a client who had become a friend. I had the privilege of visiting with her in palliative care in her final days and during our short time together she shared some reflections on her relationship with her 'stuff'. After a lifetime of struggle with severe clutter, what she shared with me was so insightful and I believe will be helpful for many others. An episode y...

There’s no doubt the digital revolution has changed we way we store, keep and access information in our homes. If you think about all the physical ways we kept information only 30 years ago, so many have been replaced digitally… but have you also decluttered the outdated physical items in your home? Today explore some things in your home that have been replaced by technology and be challenged to d...

Whether you've lived in your home for 4 months or 40 years, stepping back and seeing your home with fresh eyes will help you make decluttering decisions from a new perspective Have you ever decided to list your house for sale then all of a sudden started to see your home with fresh eyes? You may start to notice all the things you’ve happily lived with for years: the grout in the bathroom is dirty,...

How full is your garage? Are you running out of floor space? Do you feel like the garage walls are closing in on you? Is it hard to find items in your garage? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it might be time to declutter your garage. The garage is a space that can easily attract clutter. Sometimes it’s easier to put things away in a place where we don’t spend much time. But over tim...

Ever been struck by the complete opulence of consumerism? Like smacked in the face by it to the point where it makes you feel sick in the stomach? Consumerism is "a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts". Consuming and purchasing things you don't need in compounding quantities... will not make you happy or satisfied or fulfilled....

This week marks 6 years of The Art of Decluttering podcast!! To celebrate we use the traditional gift of iron (the metal, not the home appliance) to learn more about decluttering. Iron has 5 primary properties, each allows insight into the world of Professional Decluttering and Organising. Lustrous " reflecting light evenly and efficiently without glitter or sparkle " At The Art of Decluttering we...

Do you sometimes pick up your kids from childcare or kinder and wonder how the educators managed to get 32 three year olds to tidy up, clean their own plates and put the blocks away before moving on to playing with something else? Today I chat with one of my team Freya, who as well as being an exceptional decluttering and organising expert is an early childhood educator. Freya shares the tricks of...

A bit of a philosophical episode today - when we purchase things are they for our engagement or our entertainment? How can we be intentional in choosing engagement or entertainment to meet our needs and align with our values? Engagement requires thought, encourages intention, is purposeful, sparks creativity, creates memories Entertainment is often single-use, requires your passive attention, is d...

Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget developed Object Permanence theory. Object permanence, put simply, is the ability to understand that an object continues to exist, even though it can no longer be seen, heard or touched. Think of it like out of sight, out of mind. When you forget something because you can no longer see it... like the glasses on top of your head, the phone you put down on the bench, o...

Today is the final episode of our ADHD and decluttering/ organising series. And today, Amy shares her reflections on the series and shares some things she's learned over the last few months as we've deep-dived into ADHD. If you've found this series to be helpful or you're had an ah-ha moment, please take a minute to leave a review on your podcast app , in our Facebook community or share it with a...

In true ADHD style, this week we'll be dropping mini episodes into your feed of things our guests forgot to say in their main episode!! Today Jess shares her PS hacks of things she does that makes her life just that bit easier. Keeping a pack of hair ties in the car/ nappy bag/ handbag so she doesn't spend time searching for them when she needs them when out and about Instead of signing and having...

In true ADHD style, this week we'll be dropping mini episodes into your feed of things our guests forgot to say in their main episode!! Today Carly shares how routines and supports in her childhood helped her cope with the affects of her (then undiagnosed) ADHD. She credits her mum who has strong executive functioning skills for providing the scaffolding to support her in her early years. She also...

In true ADHD style, this week we'll be dropping mini episodes into your feed of things our guests forgot to say in their main episode!! Today Sylvia shares her PS thoughts. How when people say to 'just' do something it feels like it's meant to be easy, but it just isn't Some examples of lazy vs efficient Divorcing the thinking from the doing Being your own declutter fairy and giving yourself the g...

In true ADHD style, this week we'll be dropping mini episodes into your feed of things our guests forgot to say in their main episode!! Today Jodie shares her ADHD hacks in a few areas: Meal prep - what she prepares in bulk ahead of time and how she does meal prep over time rather than when it's the push to get dinner ready Pantry organisation - how Jodie has changed the way she organises her pant...

Lisa Woodruff is the Founder and Owner of Organize 365, in this episode she brings all her enthusiasm and energy for sharing about the intersection of ADHD and organising. Lisa is even doing her PHD on the topic (did I mention she's amazing!). We chat about executive functioning in relation to organisation, specifically around working memory, planning and monitoring... all of which are essential p...

Sylvia Campbell is a friend of the show, she's also a chemical engineer working in the water industry as a process improvement lead. She was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and in this episode we hear how her amazing mind works in terms of engineering, problem solving, process improvement, home optimisation and developing efficiency. Learn some strategies for identifying what the actual problem is...

Today is a super quick bonus episode for you... I've got covid and I'm isolating from my family so I don't make them sick. I've got a pretty mild case this time round which is a huge relief... and I've had the energy to do a few things during the day as well as doing lots of resting and sleeping.  So here are 15 things I've been doing in isolation. You may not have covid, but you may have an...

Tricia Lerk is the Director and Occupational Therapist from Planted Parenting. Trish shares her wealth of experience in working with kids with ADHD and we chat about tools and strategies to help with decluttering and being organised. I didn't know until after I invited Trish to join me on the podcast, that she too has been diagnosed with ADHD so this episode is a perfect blend of us sharing our co...

Carly is a high achiever, has a successful federal government career, has two young children, and is learning to create a life that works for her family and to the strengths of her ADHD. Carly shares what it was like doing a double engineering degree at university, working part-time, and taking flying lessons... all while being unaware she had ADHD. Her ambition and success have led her to a fulfi...

Carolyn Verhoef is a certified ADHD coach and shares incredible insights into the management of time, energy and attention, which are notoriously challenging for ADHDers.  Carolyn has her origins as a Professional Organiser and has shifted into specialising as an ADHD coach. In this episode, she shares some mic-drop insights into why it seems so hard to manage these finite resources for ADHDe...

When you have ADHD and you're also a Professional Organiser there are so many hacks that you have up your sleeves and today Jess shares them with us! She shares what it's like living with ADHD, working as a Professional Organiser and we deep dive into parenting and staying organised with ADHD, through pregnancy and in the newborn phase as well as parenting older children. How can you manage a hous...