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.
Have you ever felt like you are stuck in a cycle with your clutter? Where you're trying and trying, and you're trying everything, but nothing is really working. You're following the same basic decluttering advice that you hear online because you want, and you need to declutter, but you're simultaneously trying to deal with the things that are getting left out, the things that are left on your flat surfaces, the stuff that you use on a daily basis. You're simultaneously trying to deal with those messes because those things are getting left out and because the clutter is piling up behind closed doors and therefore you have no room for this stuff that you use on a daily basis.
So that's why you're stuck dealing with these messes over and over again. I know what all of this has liked because I have four kids and when I started the process of decluttering, these kinds of things were a huge issue for me. And I know they're a huge issue for a lot of people because I had people tell me all the time that their house keeps getting cluttered all over again.
So, if it feels like this has happening to you and it feels like it's never ending, you're not alone. There is a cycle that we typically end up in with our clutter in our households, where you almost start out in paralysis mindset where you're avoiding the clutter, because it's such a mess and you don't know where to start because it's so overwhelming that it almost paralyzes you.
Then eventually you move on, you decide that you're going to start getting organized so you can make things easier to find and make your life easier. So you rearrange your things and you're buying baskets and bins and trying to make your house look more neat and orderly. And you do the work. You put the work in.
And you organize a lot of stuff and you get results. Your flat surfaces are clear in your home is tiny. But it's just a quick fix because it doesn't stay organized. So the reason why this happens is because, this happens when you don't really let go of anything or much of anything, you don't let go of enough stuff.
And therefore your house gets messy and cluttered all over again.
And so every morning when you wake up, every time you walk from your bedroom to your kitchen, every time you walk in your front door, you feel stressed and defeated. And when you look in the mirror, you see someone who is really on the verge of burnout and about to have a breakdown. So then what happens next when you're stuck in this cycle, is then you start rage cleaning.
You you've snapped and you might have a marathon declutter session and start throwing a bunch of stuff out and getting rid of a lot of clutter because you're fed up with all of it. And you know, you can't live like this for one more day. So you do get rid of a lot of stuff and you do make a lot of headway.
But the problem is that you didn't fully declutter. So there is still stuff hiding behind closed doors piling up, there still accumulated clutter that's piling up and hidden away. And so there is no room. There is still no room for the things that you're using on a daily basis. And so, because of that, because there's no room behind closed doors, the things that you're using on a daily basis is starting to pile up again. The clutter is starting to pile up again. Only now you think. It's because something's wrong with you. So, if you can relate to being in that cycle, I want to remind you first and foremost, that nothing is wrong with you. This happens to millions of people for a few different reasons. One of them is because of the industry in general, because of the way that professional organizers and decluttering experts teach de cluttering and organizing.
And I could go on and on about this for a while. So I'm, I'm not going to go too off topic, but basically they're teaching, professional organizers, for example, are teaching how to declutter and organize. But on the one hand, they're a professional and they have a team helping them. And most of the time when they're working inside of a home, they're doing both decluttering and organizing to make the client's life easier. But on the other hand, when you're struggling with clutter, what needs to happen is you just need to de clutter. So it's very common for people to follow this advice, the advice from professional organizers and other decluttering experts.
But the fact is, those methods and that advice and their strategies are not always feasible. Now the second reason why this happens, why we get stuck in this cycle is because of a consumerist society that we live in. We have been taught over the last 30 years that we need to, that we should, that we have to buy, need, want and consume things, but we have never been taught how to let go. If you were born maybe before 1995 or so, I can guarantee that your parents never taught you how to declutter. Because they didn't know that they needed to. Now, sure, of course there are people whose parents did live a more minimalist lifestyle. My mom was definitely one of those people, but she still didn't teach me how to do it because she didn't know that 30 years later that I would grow up and be inundated with stuff.
And so this is a good thing because our kids and grandkids, the current generation, the younger generation, that the generations that are younger than us, they have learned from our mistakes and they are more focused on experiences over material items. That's why tiny houses are so popular. And if you pay attention to the younger generation on Tik Tok, you will see and witness that they value experiences over material items. And so we can be grateful that our kids will not struggle with belongings the way that we have. Now, like I was saying, we live in a consumerist society. That's just a fact, there's nothing that we can do to change that because we can have everything that we want delivered to our doorsteps in two days or less. And because of that, because we have spent our entire lives being targeted by ads, we've been encouraged to keep buying more. And so, like I said, if you're stuck in this cycle, it's not because something is wrong with you. It's because of the industry and the way that they teach decluttering and organizing, it's because of the consumerist society that we live in.
But it's also because not all clutter is created equally and nobody is teaching that. Nobody is talking about that. If you read about decluttering online, it says, let go of your clutter. And I realized this after years of being in this industry, because I had so many people tell me over and over again, but what do I, what do I do with all the things that I want to keep? And so I could not ,for the life of me understand why people were differentiating the things that they wanted to keep from clutter, because they're not mutually exclusive. They're not the same things. And then I realized it's because people are calling a cluttered area clutter. So if my desk were cluttered right now, I could say that these items are clutter. So then these people were going in and trying to declutter a cluttered desk. But if this is stuff that you want, if this is stuff that you want to keep, most of the stuff that's going to be on your desk are things that you want to keep. There's not going to be anything on your desk that you can actually let go of.
Now I'm kind of going off topic here, but my point is that not all clutter is created equally. There are different layers of stuff inside of our homes. And again, as I said, there's stuff that's hidden behind closed doors. The stuff that's accumulating behind closed doors. And then there's also stuff that is left out in your main living areas. Like the desk example.
The stuff that you use on a daily basis. And all of these things can look cluttered and therefore you might be labeling them as clutter. And so what happens is it's so common for you to tackle these things, these things in your main living areas that look cluttered, because those are the visible areas. Those are the things that you're using on a daily basis. And those are the things that are the quickest to clean up, especially because we've been taught that where there's a mess, it needs to be tidied.
But what I really want you to take away from this is that if you keep doing those same things and following the same advice, you could be stuck in this cycle for years on end, where you're focusing all of your time and your effort on the surface level of your home and never getting to the root of the problem, the root of the problem, which is the clutter that's behind closed doors.
And when I say closed doors, it doesn't have to actually be a closed door. It could be a box, any box or any pile of stuff. It could be behind closets cabinets, inside drawers or on shelves, or really anything that's hidden away. Any kind of hidden clutter. The root of the problem is the hidden clutter. It's not the surface level of your home.
But so often, like I said, we're tackling the surface level of our homes because that's the quickest, easiest way to make things look more neat and tidy. And so if you're stuck in this cycle and doing the same things over and over again, and you're you feel like you're stuck for years on end.
What could happen is 10 years could pass where you're in the same place as you are right now. 10 years that you miss out on experiences and memories with your kids and your loved ones. And never really knowing what it's like to have true joy and peace of mind, never knowing what it's like to have true freedom in your home.
So this is all a big part of why I teach my clients and my students, the concepts. Well, I teach them a couple of different concepts, but there's one concept I teach about the three different types of stuff. Because these different areas in your home, they don't all need to be decluttered. So, again, going back to what I said about how these areas look cluttered, we've been taught by industry experts that if an area is cluttered, we need to declutter it. And this comes up all the time on social media. When you see somebody who says, come de clutter with me, But then they just go tidy the area. And so, I am very vocal about these minor differences, because it's important, because these are the reasons why you're not making the progress that you want to be making when it comes to decluttering and organizing.
And this is also why I teach my clients and students to declutter separate from organizing because when you're trying to declutter and organize and tidy and clean all at the same time, that's when you get off track and when you don't seem to make any progress at all. If you're decluttering and organizing at the same time, you are likely focusing on trying to make the area look more neat and tidy, as opposed to again, letting go of things that are piling up behind closed doors.
So, if you need to ditch the clutter, if your house is a wreck and you are tired of dealing with the same piles every other day, I have created something that will pull you out of this cycle and help you initiate the decluttering process so you can make real, tangible, noticeable progress in your home. So you can actually create a neat and tidy space that stays that way.
This brand new resource will give you a library of decluttering tasks and prompts that you can implement in just a few minutes, each day. Every day for 30 days, I will be sharing a short and sweet task or a prompt that you can integrate into your daily routine. And I will be sharing all of my favorite tricks and tips and methods to help you tackle the clutter one step at a time. We will not be pulling everything out of this space or sorting your clutter into piles or trying to declutter and organize at the same time. Instead, we will be ditching the clutter and decluttering your home as quickly as possible without all the extra decisions and unnecessary steps. This new 30 day workshop is called the Declutter Studio and I really want you to treat it as an experiment of how you can show up and declutter your home on an entirely new level.
And the reason why I wanted to put this together, I put it together for a total no-brainer price point of just $47 because this workshop will be extremely profound as long as you let it be. If you can commit to showing up for your household every day for 30 days, can you just imagine how much will change? Can you imagine what your house will even look like in 30 days?
We typically believe that de cluttering has to be this big grandiose thing where we have to spend and devote hours of our time to decluttering. Or like I said, we believe that we need to declutter and organize at the same time and totally transform an entire space. But most of the time, it's the small tasks here and there that make the biggest transformation and create lasting results.
So the Declutter Studio is an opportunity for you to come into this workshop every day for 30 days, for just a few minutes a day, where we're going to be connecting all month long in June and showing up for our households together. It's an opportunity where you can tap in and focus on the changes that you have been wanting to make in your household for so long now. I know that your time is valuable, and that's why I have designed this workshop to be easy and quick and stress-free. So that way, by the end of June, you will have a more neat and tidy home that is free of excess clutter. You will take your home from cluttered to calm as you cut through the mess and ditch the clutter.
And you will get to do it all through the help of a community and a mentor. So this workshop is taking place inside of a community app off of social media. There's a desktop app and you can also download it right to your phone. We're going to be having different channels and sections for celebrating your progress, getting feedback, staying accountable and more.
And the doors are officially open today, thursday, May 11th, which just happens to be my birthday. We're going to be kicking off on June 1st. And I'm so excited for this because over the last year I have found through my programs and my clients and the community spaces that I have ran, I have noticed that people make so much more progress in their homes when they have a closed door environment and a community cheering them on.
Because there's just something, there's something about it. Very rarely are we ever motivated to do anything for ourselves, which is exactly why if your spouse or your partner or your kids come in and point out how the house is a wreck, you're going to be way more motivated to actually clean it all up because you don't want to disappoint them.
Or if you know that you have company coming over, you're going to clean everything, right? But when it's just you and you're the only one living in your house day in and day out, we end up neglecting our spaces altogether because we just have a much harder time holding ourselves accountable to ourselves.
But when you have a community of like-minded people, a small closed door environment, it feels so much more empowering to show up because you feel safe to share what you're personally struggling with, but also because everybody in the community space, you're all working towards the same goals. And that's why this is so powerful. And that's why I wanted to create this workshop for you. So you can have a library of ideas that you can tackle each and every day in just a few minutes a day, and you can also have a community cheering you on and a mentor giving you advice and supporting you along the way.
So you might have access to my free resource, the 30 day declutter calendar. Years ago, I created this free printable. It's 30 days of decluttering tasks that you can implement in just a few minutes a day. And everybody has really loved that resource. I also have a 365 day version that has a year's worth of ideas that are all separated by different categories of your home.
And so a month ago, this past April, I decided that I wanted to totally redo that resource with more specific details and tasks that you can implement for each of those 30 ideas I wanted to step-by-step tell you what to do for each of those 30 days. But then I got the idea to actually deliver this inside of a community. And so every single day from June 1st to 30th, whether through a short video or an audio clip, I will be sharing a task or a prompt with specific detailed steps that you can take in your home. And like I said, this is really exciting because it will be extremely profound as long as you let it be. Because if you think about it, we show up for our households every single day anyway, whether you're folding laundry or emptying the dishwasher or wiping off a table or decluttering or organizing anything or anything along those lines. And so you can implement these short and sweet 30 decluttering tasks into your daily routine in just a couple of minutes.
This is a very, it's a truly powerful way to ditch the clutter and declutter your home because it doesn't require any extra time on your part.
So, if you would love to join us inside of this 30 day Declutter Studio, I am honored to invite you as one of the founding members. I will be sharing the link below in the show notes, just click on that link that will take you to a page where you can get all set up and registered. And then as soon as you join, you will get the link to join us in our community. And I will say that even though we're not officially kicking off until June 1st, between now and then you will have access to our community space, I will be popping in to answer questions and give feedback and leave comments. And one more thing, we are also going to be having accountability calls and feedback corners every week, maybe every other week or so. I'm still figuring out all those logistics, but basically we'll be able to all get on a live group call and support you with any questions you have or any advice you may need for a specific area in your home. I'm really excited for this because we're basically going to be transforming our homes before summer. So if you're ready to join us, go ahead and click the link below in the show notes. And if you have any questions at all, you can reach out to me on any of the social media platforms, or you can always send me an email at nicole at the maximizing momma .com..
So that's all that I have for you today. Like I said, we're going to be kicking off on June 1st. So you have a couple of weeks to join us, but if you feel like now is not the time to join one of these community workshops, here are a couple of things that you can do to break free from that cycle that you're stuck in, where you're doing the same things over and over and over again, and feeling like nothing is ever going to change in your household. The first thing that I would recommend is to try something different. Don't just declutter and organize at the same time, don't just focus on the surface level of your home and try to make things look more neat and tidy. Remember that there are different layers of stuff. And so in order to make a drastic change, you need to get to the root of the clutter that is hidden behind closed doors.
And so if you're ready to try something different, you can do this by switching up your decluttering methods, switching up the way that you ditch your clutter and try something new. I have plenty of different methods and ideas that I have shared here on the podcast. I also share a lot on my Instagram stories and on Tik Tok as well. So you can check around on any of my social media channels and find a method that you can start implementing that will switch up your typical routine because when you're able to change things up, it will change the results that you get. So try those tips on for size. I would love to have you join us in The De clutter Studio where we're showing up all month long during the month of June.
Especially because as we finish out the 30 day workshop and move into the rest of the summer, I have some really exciting announcements for how we will be using that community space going forward. I would love to have you! 30 days of getting access to a mentor to support you along the way in a closed door community of like-minded people cheering you on. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you so much for being here and I will chat with you soon.
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.
