Welcome to the One Delightful Podcast where we are on a journey to simplify life to create space for what matters (and trust us, if we can do it - anyone can!).

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On this week’s episode along with checking + looking into the future with a segment we're calling 'Style Fortune Tellers', we dive in and start a 3 part conversation about how to declutter literally anything.

The process really isn't all that difficult.  Read any book about simplicity/minimalism/organization and they'll pretty much tell you the same thing: clearing the clutter is a 3 step process:

1. Choose a space and empty everything out of it

2. Sort everything into 2 piles: keep, get rid of it

3. Put everything you're keeping back and live happily ever after

Easy right?  I wish!  The process to declutter is simple, but actually making it happen is anything but simple.  There are roadblocks with motivation, scheduling, sentimentality, yelling children, + just wanting to have a glass of wine and watch Fixer Upper that derail great decluttering intentions every step along the way.

For the next 3 weeks, we're going to look at obstacles that get in the way of each step of the decluttering process and tips on how to overcome them.  This week - picking a spot and getting started with the emptying out process.

• Obstacle 1: I'm too busy to start! I know that clearing the clutter will make my life better, but how am I supposed to find the time to do it!

  • Tip 1 to overcome this - Get some accountability. I know for me (Katie) that telling my One Delightful Shop Facebook community that I was going to start decluttering made it so I had to start. After I told everyone I was going to start simplifying my stuff, people started asking me about it, and that was the motivation I needed to get started.

  • Tip 2 to overcome this - Treat yo' self. What is a reward you could give yourself for getting the simplifying process started? A tub (see joke in podcast)? Dinner out? Some organizational item you've wanted for that space?

• Obstacle 2: Where should I start? This can be a hard one. Should I do the whole house at once? One room at a time? Inquiring minds want to know.

  • Pro tip: DON'T EAT THE FROG ALL AT ONCE - sorry Mark Twain. We made the mistake of picking the most cluttered room in our house - the kitchen - and emptied it all out, only to find that a job we thought would take a morning, ended up taking a few days ... yikes. Start small - maybe just with a drawer, or one part of a closet, or maybe time box - just do 15 minutes at a time then stop.

Here's our challenge to you:  Pick a time and pick a spot that you're going to declutter first.  Then, tell a group of people that you're going to do it so that you'll be held accountable to actually starting.  Last - set a reward - how can you treat yo' self once you get done?

YOU CAN DO THIS!  Next week - it's Harry Potter time as we whip out our sorting hats.  Well, not really.  But we are going to talk about what to do next once you've emptied out a space that you're decluttering.

Links:

• In our conversation about decluttering we mentioned:

  • The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Kon Marie

  • Better than Before - by Gretchen Rubin

  • The Four Tendencies book

  • The Four Tendencies quiz

• What do you recommend?

  • Katie - food storage from Target, these awesome baskets from Amazon

  • Philip: the TV Show Portlandia

Get your FREE simple closet challenge that walks you through the 3 step decluttering process here!

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Photo for cover image by Kellyn Boyden