The Art of Decluttering

Jodie Garth is an OG member of The Art of Decluttering community. Jodie reached out to us when her kids were little for help with decluttering and organising in her home. What she didn't know at the time, was that in the years that followed, she like many many women, would be diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. In this episode Jodie shares what it was like having a late diagnosis, processing the stor...

By popular request this week we are diving into our ADHD series where we talk to ADHDers, Professionals who work with ADHDers and explore the relationship between decluttering, organising and ADHD.  Our first episode in this series is with Joanna Bailey from Bluebird Psychology who helps us define ADHD and how executive functioning can impact our journey to a clutter-free and simplified lifes...

Each of us has an invisible bucket and when others poke holes in our bucket, it's important to have bucket fillers and hole pluggers in our lives. When our bucket is full, our overflow is encouragement, resilience, kind words, wise choices, enthusiasm, drive, purpose and freedom for ourselves and others. When people around us speak harsh words, exclude us, spread rumours, lie, put us down, give la...

Are you avoidant of all the things you need to do to reach a goal? What about if instead you focus on what NOT to do?  What are the habits, situations, things, behaviours, characteristics that you don't want in your life anymore? Anti goals is about eliminating these things from your life!! Rebecca talks us through how to work through an anti goal by focusing on what you want to eliminate to...

What are your values? What is your fundamental belief system. What is important to you? What drives you? Knowing your core values is a superpower to helping you life your life with purpose. They will be the filter for decision making about your stuff, your time, your energy, your money... everything! If you're struggling to live an intentional life, overwhelmed with decluttering, or the clutter ke...

I have noticed that there are some areas of clutter that are more relevant to women. So I've asked myself why is this the case. Not all women, not no men... but generally speaking it's what I find when I see clients. So WHY is this the case? Often women carry the mental load. For ourselves, our households, and our communities. We account for unseen situations (many women keep Band-Aids in their ha...

Remembering to do ANYTHING 3 times a day is a huge effort, requiring mental load that frankly, most of us don't have. And when you do have to do something 3 times a day (like tidying up toys, clearing the kitchen bench, washing dishes) it kind of feels like you spend all day doing it because every time you look around, it is messy again or needs your attention. Explore the idea of reducing anythin...

As a follow on from last weeks episode all about digital photos, today we explore how to best keep, store, enjoy, share and display our physical photos. Whether you're the keeper of family history or completely unsentimental, there are tips here for you. We chat about a listener dilemma on how to manage creating photo books and also chat about why it's harder to declutter physical photos than digi...

What's your number? 9,000... 90,000? How many digital photos to you have on your phone? Do you have them backed up? Are they categorised? Could you find a specific photo within a few minutes?  Today I have a conversation with Chantal Imbach from Photos in Order and discuss everything to do with digital photos. We cover the best way to store and back up photos and some options on how to enjoy...

Why do we say yes to things we really should say no to? Where does that sense of obligation come from and how can we manage our response when we're offered free stuff? Do you see potential in everything? Do you want to say yes just to avoid potentially hurting someone's feelings? Do you have a scarcity mindset or is there even a sense of greed in your decision making? Today learn from my son Jesse...

If you've ever looked around your house and thought, "if only our house was a bit bigger or the storage was better, that would solve our clutter problem", then this episode is for you. And it's also for those of you who love smart design, and are interested in making the most of the space you have. Judy is an author, an award winning custom builder and remodeller who also helps overwhelmed clutter...

With the school year starting in Australia and extra curricular activities returning you may be starting to feel overwhelmed with all the running around, equipment to keep track of, sports uniforms to wash etc.  Do you have multiple activities, multiple children or pre-schoolers to entertain? There are tips today for everyone! Today be encouraged to help your kids take responsibility for thei...

Hand up if you've discovered long lost library books or school readers under a child's bed years after they bought them home and been too embarrassed to return them to the school...  Hands up if you've paid a lost book fee at the library because you're sure someone broke into your house during the night, purely to steal 2 of your kids library books... Hands up if your teenager has managed in...

Did you like me, put yourself under enormous pressure to find the 'perfect' lunch box for your kids when they first started school? Do you have parts of random lunch boxes in drawers and at the back of cupboards? Join in and question what type of lunchboxes will work best for you and your family depending on the season of life you are in. Be encouraged to think about the routine of washing/ packin...

If you had to take a guess at home many drink bottles were rattling around your house, how many would you guess? 10? 17? More? Today I share my top tips for managing drink bottles in your house. I share some questions to ask when trying to find the right drink bottles and my favourite solutions for drink bottle storage. You may also like to listen to these episodes: Tupperware Back to School Retur...

School uniforms - love them or hate them, if your kids go to a school that has a uniform, the start of each year can be overwhelming as you make sure that the right kids have the right size uniforms.  Listen in to this episode for some tips on getting uniforms sorted, keeping track of them and learn some top tips for keeping school uniforms organised so that kids can always (or mostly!) get t...

If you dare... it's that time of the year when you pull the kids school bags from under their beds and discover if there is a liquified banana or shrivelled mandarin in there from the last week of school!! In this episode be encouraged to think about habits and routines to make school mornings less stressful and afternoons more organised. You may also like to listen to these episodes: Return to Sc...

Todays episode excludes NOBODY... because we ALL have an old device, old cords, chargers, adapters etc hanging around that either we are too scared to throw out because we're not 100% sure what they're for or we're keeping the device, "just in case". I challenge all of us today to gather all unused electronics, be honest about what you do and don't need and use, clear out what can be recycled thro...

Do you have a stash of glass jars and bottles and plastic take away containers that you're keeping in the corner cupboard, under the laundry sink or in the cupboard above the fridge? Now, be honest... how many do you ACTUALLY need and use? Maybe it's time (OK... it's definitely time) to fill your recycling bin with the jars, bottles and containers that you can part with. Today be encouraged to dec...

Happy Quitters Day! Today I share an update on the diet coke experiment as well as share the world of quitters day. We explore 4 strategies for staying the course on things you don't want to quit, and what to do if you fall off the wagon. And then to celebrate quitters day declutter style, I unpack 7 things to quit in 2023.  Episodes to listen to next Micro Declutter Perfectionism Peter Walsh...

Today we talk all things hats and glasses... it's time to assess how many you have, what are your favourites, what are you realistically never going to wear again and can get rid of... and how best to organise them so you can find what you need when you need it. I commit to decluttering glasses that I no longer wear or aren't the right prescription and I hope you too can declutter while you listen...

If you had to take a guess... how many gift cards or vouchers do you currently have that are yet to be redeemed? I share in this episode how many I currently have... and I make a plan to redeem them (I've already used 2 since recording the episode). Gift cards and vouchers are great presents as they can show you know someone by what voucher you buy them but also allows freedom for the recipient to...

As you come out of a busy season like Christmas or holidays it's so good to have some easy meals to eat, that require little preparation. This is a great chance to eat your way through your freezer, whether it's frozen meals, frozen veggies or half tubs of icecream, by decluttering your freezer (ideally by using what is in there) you'll avoid food wastage (frozen food still expires) and create spa...

A few weeks ago I decided to declutter a big purple suitcase that was over 20 years old, we just didn't need it anymore, we travel pretty light and have found that for any holiday we've been on in the last 15 years we've been fine with one large suitcase and everyone just having one carry on piece of luggage (if we're flying). Today be challenged to gather all your luggage in one place and do a tr...

Today be challenged and inspired to declutter any unused bikes and scooters that you or your kids have lying around. Instead of having excess sitting around - have the ones you do want to use easy to access and remove the barrier to going for a bike ride. Also, think about where you keep helmets, locks, spare tubes, lights and other accessories so that when something needs fixing or you decid...