Today , you're gonna learn all about . What does a declutter reset look like ? The first time I heard that term I was kind of like what the heck is this ? Now I am thrilled to have back a guest that we have had here on the show , katie Wells .
She is my go-to when it comes to all things decluttering and actually having realistic , implementable systems and processes to keep our home from just getting an absolute decluttered hot mess . Welcome to the Work-Life Harmony podcast . Guess what ? You don't have to feel constantly overwhelmed , exhausted and stressed out . There is another way .
When you have the right systems and tools to plan and manage your time , you can live a life of harmony . If you're ready to stop feeling overwhelmed , this is the show for you . Welcome back to the podcast , katie .
If you are brand new to the Work-Life Harmony podcast , I have a treat for you today , and if you're a returning listener , you are already familiar with our guest . She is a fan favorite , katie Wells . Katie , welcome . I would love for you to kind of tell everyone who you are , what you do , and then we are going to dive into an awesome conversation today .
Thanks so much for having me back . I always look forward to hanging out with you and your audience .
I'm Katie Wells , declutter expert , host of the Maximize Minimalist podcast , and my favorite , favorite , favorite thing in the world is helping families simplify their homes through decluttering and teaching them my holistic decluttering methods so they can not only make progress , build momentum , but learn sustainable tips and habits and strategies to keep the clutter away .
Decluttering has changed my life in so many ways for the better , and I've just had the absolute privilege of helping so many women and families across the globe over the last several years do the same , and it's like my favorite topic . You know I geek out over this stuff . So glad to be here .
And I feel like it's like Katie is almost like my twin that was separated at birth is how I feel every time that we talked . I have learned so much from you about decluttering and all these systems and processes that my family is learning to embrace with me to help keep our home that way .
But what I think makes the way you teach and talk about it so powerful and why it aligns so well with me is two key things . One you always address the why , like why did we get here ? Right , because sometimes it's like , well , if I don't understand the why , it's like I can't get excited about doing something .
And then , most importantly , is you have the repeatable systems and processes that we get to leverage for the rest of our life .
It's not a let me show you how to clean up your pantry and then six months later , my pantry is a hot mess again , right , and so this is why I'm always honored to have you on the show , because it goes in such alignment with my approach to decluttering our time . I am not the expert in the physical stuff . That is where you come in .
So , again , just thank you for being here . It's just always a privilege . Again , just thank you for being here . It's just always a privilege , and it's interesting because at the time you guys are listening to this , we're not at any real monumental time of the year .
Right , august is like sort of summer for some people back to school , but it's not like ooh , it's August , so now it's time for me to do something Like we usually get that energy , what like a January or a spring clean or a back to school , and so I'd be curious to get your thoughts on why we feel like we can only do like these large decluttering events
tied to specific times of year .
I think this is a great question and I think one of the reasons is because it addresses , like the why ?
Right , because so many of us have this idea in our heads , whether it's like , oh , I want to , you know , plan out my time and commit to a new calendar time management system , but I'll wait until September back to school , or wait until January , or same thing with decluttering , right , we're so aligned and I think it's really three , three main reasons .
I think the cultural and social cues really play a big role . I mean , january is anonymous , with New Year's resolutions , a fresh start back to school . I think for a lot of us parents signals like a time for resetting routines . For a lot of us our schedule becomes more stable . So again , it's a why behind it .
And number two , I think there are definitely some psychological triggers that play into it . I think I can even say I feel like decluttering more in January than I do in other .
Or like spring cleaning , right , some of us feel this urge to purge or clean or do these certain things , and sometimes big projects can feel like , oh , I'll just kick the can down the road until I feel that sense of renewal and we'll talk later on about you know what we can do in the meantime the other 360 , whatever days of the year to gain that feeling
and momentum . And I think the third would just kind of going back to the structured routines that a lot of us feel throughout the calendar or the school year . There's a big push to reestablish that and it can make starting the task feel more manageable when our day-to-day routine is to be expected .
And then , of course , there's other nuances and variables , like procrastination and things like that . But I think understanding the why of why we tend to do that , but also understanding it doesn't have to be done in one go .
You don't have to declutter , like so many of the experts over the last 20 , 15 years have taught you , and you can absolutely make progress any time of year , whether you have 30 seconds a day or an hour a day . So I think a lot of us need to rewrite these scripts in our head .
Yes , you will still probably feel more excited to declutter in September or January , but there are so many things we can do in the meantime . Because I know I think we've talked about this where years ago , especially when I was battling clutter come September because I didn't do any decluttering or any of the strategies I knew to do . It was like my home .
It was like a tornado rip through my home and then it's just like the more volume of things there is , the more procrastination is likely to kick up because it's so overwhelming for our brain .
Right , there's this huge connection so many of us don't realize and sometimes we do , but we still don't take action on it and that's that our physical environments influence our actions , our feelings , our emotions , and we have this huge mental tide , or physical environment .
So I think , again , that's part of the why behind why we should do these little strategies and tips 365 days of the year , however you can fit them in . Strategies and tips 365 days of the year , however you can fit them in . But it's important to understand that and I think that's why we feel so good .
I mean , think about the last time you maybe cleaned off your desk , right ? Maybe it wasn't a big purge or something . You cleaned off papers and shredded a few . We feel good afterwards because our brains crave order . That's the way we're wired . We were designed that way and to be able to lean into that .
You know , oxytocin or dopamine hit by just letting go of one thing right it can be . It can just build a lot of progress .
That's funny . That's one of the biggest things I know I've learned from you , because I was definitely a all or nothing with a decluttering project . Right , there was no small things . And I was thinking of you because just last night my husband was .
He had a little bit of the dishwasher and I was putting away the Tupperware and I opened just that one little door and I'd probably have to do a Tupperware reset multiple times and it was just it was . It was the Tupperware , like complete shit show in there . And I just stopped and I'm like I can do just this complete shit show in there .
And I just stopped and I'm like I can do just this . And I timed myself and I took out all the stuff , rearranged the lids with the whatever . It took me two minutes and 47 seconds and I wrote that down .
So I was like I'm going to cause I knew I was talking to you today and then I let the rest go , whereas the old Megan it would have been like well , I need to go through all the cabinets and now the silverware drawer and now the baking things in which sprinkles are expired and the junk drawer and all of that , and so that's one of the things that I
think has been incredibly impactful for me .
And then , like you said then , all of a sudden because I was kind of feeling tired , whatever that little two-minute window to do that , I felt now like energized from just having done that one tiny little and it didn't mean that I had to go declutter anything else , but it was a complete mind shift and I know you've shared before , and it took me a while to
get my head around this that decluttering can actually boost productivity . How are those two related ?
Oh and so so many ways . There are just numerous studies out there . The first one that comes to mind is , like you know , how clutter plays into , not even just like our mental health , but our time .
So many years ago , almost a decade ago , ucla did a study that showed that clutter , that simply by decluttering our homes , we can save up to 40% of time and housework . I know we've talked about that in the past . 40% and that's about an hour an hour a day , megan .
So think about that , the cumulative impact an hour a day , and I know like two weeks a year it's insane . It's , yeah , like I want to take a two week like vacation . Household chores , like that's what it looks like , and I think , just the time alone , you know , let alone all the studies that reflect .
There's one that shows that clutter is directly the amount of clutter and stuff in your home is directly correlated to your stress levels . What they found in this particular study was just that the more stuff you had in your home , the more stressed these women were . The more they got rid of and the less they had , their stress levels went down with it .
I mean , you can't deny the facts and I know a lot of us can hear this stuff and go , oh well , that makes sense , that makes sense . But I really want to highlight what you've done right . You said the previous Megan and this was previous Katie 1.0 . And a lot of people out there think that it's like the elephant in the room .
We understand , like on paper it makes sense , like , oh , I should break down a bigger task into like smaller , more manageable chunks , but then there's a part of our brain that goes like what's the point ? Like this isn't going to actually lead to results .
I can only do this little thing .
Who cares ? Yes , there's this massive resistance and it's like this all or nothing mindset tricks us that again . If we can't do it now and if we can't do it how the experts teach us , then why do it at all ? I opened up Real Simple Magazine the other day just to see what you know , what advice is being given . Anything new and fresh ?
No , it's the same thing we've been reading for two decades . Step one pull everything out of your pantry . First of all , I'm overwhelmed just thinking about that , you know , thinking to how my pantry used to look . So we go oh well , I don't have time to do that . I don't have time to do step one . I don't have six hours in my day .
And meanwhile the clutter builds , our stress levels go right up with it . And so I often say , when we declutter the belief around something right , the belief for a lot of us is perfection , right , I have to do it perfectly in order to do it well . Or if I can't do it perfectly , it's not worth doing .
The moment , megan and I'm so proud of you because it is hard it's hard . The moment you decluttered the belief . That decluttering has to look that way is when you were able to make progress and lean into the information you already know , break it into smaller , manageable chunks . And I love how you pulled out the timer .
I think that's such a good reminder because we procrastinate , right . Oh , I don't want to put the laundry away or I don't want to go through the Tupperware lids , I'll save it for another time . And then you went nope , one , two , three , let's go set the timer . And it's just . It's such a great reminder of oh , I can do this , and this stuff does .
It does add up into really big results .
And I think even you talking through that , I'm realizing very subconsciously I am rewiring what my thoughts about decluttering Like I continually am proving . No , I can do something impactful in just three or five minutes . It doesn't have to be the six-hour , all-day event to get a win that's going to then support the house .
So I know you've shared your thoughts around declutter resets , which I think is really great , and especially this time of year . Here we are , august . We're not tied to any big social media or world . It's not January 1st , it's not whatever For someone that's taking a look right now and going I could use some decluttering help .
What does a reset look like that they could get started on today without feeling like it's a weird time to be doing all of this ?
Yeah . So before I tee up what a reset is , how to do it , when to do it , all those things , I think it's always important for us to talk about the difference between clutter and expected mess . This is something I didn't used to know . I thought it was all in the same .
Right , I clear the counters and then stuff was back on it and I was like it's clutter , it's clutter , I have to organize it , I have to . You know , panic mode . I just watched Inside Out 2 . So I have I don't know if you've seen it yet , but the anxiety characters , the Tasmanian devil kind of thing , yeah , that was like .
That was like the inner workings of my brain . Right , and when we're , when we're , buried in clutter , it's overwhelming and so expected mess is a normal side effect of living life . Okay , so to be a living , breathing human being , and what a blessing it is , we make messes . I know we like to point at our kids , our partners , but what's the phrase ?
When you're pointing at someone , you have three fingers pointing back at you . Okay , we all make mess . I don't care if you're Marie Kondo , katie Wells , the minimalist , it happens . Right , dirty dishes , laundry to be done , the dogs I mean the pets , all this stuff . That's normal expected mess .
Okay , so the goal that we are being sold as women and moms and human beings is to have a perfectly tidy , to have a perfectly tidy home 24 seven . So we are also being sold a lie , a myth , and so that you know the expected mess portion is , we'll handle that with a daily reset and I'll talk about that in a second .
Clutter is completely different than expected mass . Expected mess are typically things you're using , right , they're out for a reason . They just need to be put away or you need to end cycle the project , right , yeah .
Like you have access . Should like turn my camera . My husband is prepping for a over a hundred mile , like two week hike , and so it's driving me crazy because we've basically our dining room table is is a prepping spot for a lot of this , but it's expected .
Yes , it's been there for a while , but I know this will be gone in two and a half weeks and so I'm letting that my . I'm having to constantly tell myself this is not clutter , this is not a problem . Yes , we're waiting for the cycling of the end date of this and then it will be gone .
Yes , good for you . Again , rewiring Okay Right , because when we look at mess because of the solution and end goal we're being sold , stuff tells us things right . We have beliefs around stuff and with what we are being sold , we tend to look at mess and think what I stink at life ? I'm a failure . I'm a terrible wife , mother , homemaker .
I can't believe , I can't figure this out . Everyone else has a perfectly tidy home . My kids are slobs . I'm a slob . What's wrong with me ? At least that was my inner thoughts .
Oh yeah absolutely .
You know it's not just oh , there's stuff on the counter and clutter on the floor , it's I'm a failure , Right , and that is so loaded . So we have to be really careful about our belief structure around stuff , Right .
So when I see expected mess now again I'm not saying it's unicorns and rainbows and I'm like I'm not like it's not like Sleeping Beauty , snow White , whatever the princess is . You know it's annoying sometimes , I get it right , but we can handle that with the reset .
Clutter is the excess , the unused , the broken , the unwanted , the items in your home that are no longer serving you , actively serving you and your home and your family and your core values . That is clutter that is getting in the way of so many of the things that we want in life . Like I cry , I tear up thinking about this all the time .
All of us parents , we want to be present , we want to engage with our kids , we want to be there for the tough moments , the happy moments , the board games . We want to go outside and take spontaneous hikes and do all these things .
But I found very quickly after becoming a mom that clutter was stealing all that time and energy away from my little baby , who's now nine , which is crazy . Right , the joy , the happiness clutter is stealing from us on a minute by minute basis , on a minute by minute basis , and that , that understanding , that is what really helped drive me to go .
Okay , I can declutter for 30 seconds , get out of my house . I don't want you anymore because I want to do other things with my time and energy . So how to do a daily reset ? To nip the expected mess in the bud , meaning , keep it at a tolerable level , right , I love doing daily resets . A lot of us do these organically , right ?
The classic showcase is after we have a meal , let's say dinnertime , we typically clean up afterwards . Right , we load the dishwasher , we clean and wipe down the table , maybe clean off the counters , put the ketchup in the fridge , boom , we're done . Right , that is resetting a space back to its baseline , pre-dinner level , like tidiness level .
And I started incorporating these resets into other areas of my home . I mean , in the summertime . We're talking about , you know , when my kids are home with me in the summer , like right now , and they're not at camp . This is , after , you know , our morning playtime , building a fort . Right , they're tipping the furniture upside down .
They're pulling the blankets out of the linen closet Instead of letting that expected mess build throughout the day . I put these resets in as anchors for our day . So , depending on the space , how often you're home with the kids , the type of mess , you could do it one , two , three times a day max .
And those are , like you know , big , like living room or a play space , and the idea is , again , you take two , three , four , five minutes .
The less clutter you have the easier they are to do yes , all the daily resets I've learned from you , I think the longest one is probably five minutes . Yes , and that's like on a bad day you know that's not a bad day , I agree you look at stuff that almost well it's going to take forever . It doesn't .
They're so quick and impactful , but if I let it build , then it's going to take twice as long or even longer later it does .
I remember spending 30 minutes one night picking up the toys when the kids were , like , you know , babies . I don't even know why we had so many toys , they couldn't even play with them , but they were all out , right , they got tossed . They were in that phase of babyhood , you know , toddlers and I spent 30 minutes picking up so I could vacuum .
Vacuuming took me two and a half minutes and I was like , oh my gosh , this is going to be my life for the next , like 18 years . So it doesn't have to be that way . But I will say again , the less clutter you have , obviously your resets go a lot quicker . Right , everything has a home .
A lot of people say well , katie , I would put things back where they belong , but that drawer is full , or this space is full where I want to put stuff , okay , well , sometimes we need to reverse , engineer things a little bit and tackle and declutter .
Truly let go of some things where you want that thing to live , and then you can do a more proper reset and anchor these . So make these as anchors in your day . One of my favorite things is habit stacking , so I typically teach my students to attach or reset , to like before or after a meal .
We know we're going to have a lot of us two , three meals a day or snack times , right , think about consistent routines in your day , whether it's summertime or whatever the holidays , and attach it to that .
For me , I like to put it before a meal , especially if it's like playtime , and then going into lunch , because after lunch we can go outside , transition to a new activity . Right , and it's just a beautiful thing . We do these once a day in our entryway . Right , because here's the reality . Nobody , including me , put our shoes in our shoe bench .
Me put our shoes in our shoe bench . I know I talk about Ohio , only handle it once . Right , that has changed my life , but I still will put my shoes right on the floor in front of the shoe bench .
We're going to do that . I'm human .
And I know . The cool thing about a reset is I think it puts my mind at ease because I know , oh , I'll get it later , it'll take me two seconds to get it later , I'll get everyone's shoes at once . My kids do it . It takes 10 seconds to do a reset . Put our shoes away and then we do the kitchen a couple times a day after meals .
The living room is our play area in our home , with board games and puzzles and all those things , and it is such a beautiful thing .
And again , it's not about living this perfectly tidy 24-7 life that's not possible but being able to have a plan in place and still be able to , I think , lean into the beauty which I know sounds counterintuitive because we don't consider mess as a beautiful thing .
But with resets in place and just less clutter in my life , I was able to realize like , wow , like the mess we make when we're baking in the kitchen , this is a beautiful thing . The mess that we create with stained laundry because we went on a hike and got muddy , it's a beautiful thing .
Right , we think of mess as this bad , evil , horrible thing in life , but it really comes from all these amazing things Play , connection , joy gathering right .
We had friends over , we had like a little barbecue and my house had dirt on the floor and instead of being like , oh , dirt on the floor , how horrible , I can't show any of my followers that my home has dirt on the floor . I was like , hey , everyone just had people over . Has dirt on the floor ?
I was like , hey , everyone just had people over Check out my dirty house . Look how amazing this is and we had the best time ever , you know . And when you're able to again shift that belief structure , even around mess , it is like the most liberating thing .
It really is . It's interesting when you're talking about it . I hadn't put the two and two together for myself . On the fact , I'm less annoyed with expected mess than I used to ever be because I implemented the daily resets Like the one thing that used to set me off . I don't know why it just drove me . And I will say my husband's a very tidy person .
I'm very fortunate with that . He likes stuff but he's tidy . We eat breakfast at very different times and because of his work , but when he runs down to grab something , his dishes just stay in the sink from the morning , which is he's not normally that way , but it's just with his life . It's that . And it would drive me nuts .
I'm like why could you not have just put it in the dishwasher ? Well , now I know I have a midday reset tied to when I take my dogs out for their second walk . So I mean , guys , you can have a reset tied to anything , right ? And it's not the exact same time every day . Sometimes it's 1030 . Sometimes it's 1230 , whenever it is .
But when I get up to do that , it takes me just a couple minutes and I do that little kitchen reset from , especially in the summer , with three of us all eating breakfast at different times .
So now when I see that in there , if I happen to be walking back , it doesn't bother me at all Because I'm like , oh , my brain already knows , oh , we'll get to that when we get up and do kind of that midday reset . And for me right now it's I don't have the toddlers , but my dogs take everything out .
Our downstairs is covered with balls and toys and bones and antlers and it's that everything goes back in the toy basket . That thing gets done . We go and it's that everything goes back in the toy basket . That thing gets done .
We go on the walk with the dogs and it's just like , ah , and now we're onto the second part of our day and again outside of the walking of the dogs . It's five minutes or less . But the I hadn't recognized that annoyance factor of seeing those things out . It doesn't bother me anymore .
I can just feel that I wholeheartedly agree . And to get to a point where you don't feel that anymore and like , constantly triggered , and like I used to tell , I told , I told my students like before I decluttered my home , I felt like I was two different moms , like I would take my kids to the park and be like snack time boom watermelon , boom watermelon .
What do you need ? Corn ? All these snacks you know . And then let's go swing , let's go play . And I was just like so fun and bubbly .
And then we walked through our front door and I'd be like like she Hulk , you know , like I lost my patience , I yelled , I was like all these parenting scripts I know to do and say like it's just everything flew out the window because the clutter it was like attacks us , like it's so overwhelming and it like it's so dysregulating to our nervous system , and so
, and then you know , you spiral , oh , I feel bad for yelling and losing my crap , and oh , it's , you know , sorry , I can't play right now . I have to do dishes for 30 minutes and reorganize and rainbow color code this stuff , only for it to be in shambles in two hours after you get back into it .
Right , it was this constant yo-yo of like , happy , sad , happy , sad . And again , it was not a coincidence that I struggled so much mentally when I was inside the confines of my home , because there was simply too much .
What's interesting . I was thinking of my niece and it kind of ties back to what you were saying . It would boost productivity . Her room growing up was always just , I mean , like I just couldn't walk in there . It would give me like a heart attack . Remember us all talking before she went to college like dude , your roommate's going to kill you .
Like you can't live like this . And then , seeing a picture of a room , I'm like it was gorgeous . I'm like who is this person ? And she very openly said well , when I was living at home , I always had somewhere to go to sit and like focus and do my homework .
But now that she didn't have that place to go , now suddenly it's like she already knew that I can't be productive , I can't work effectively . I lived in this house that the rest of it was kept so well . I had other places to go and I think that just speaks to the you know our brain craving that order and less clutter and stuff .
Oh man , I could talk to you for days and still not have learned everything that I want to learn from you For everyone listening . Katie is one of the guest experts at Planapalooza . She is a fan favorite , which is why we are having her back again . Students always say that what they learn from your training has really 100% changed their lives .
I know it has changed mine , so I would love for you to share . What is it that you are teaching on this year inside of Plantapalooza ?
We are going to be diving deep into daily resets and how to use habit stacking for a tidy home . So we're going to teach you how to effortlessly integrate decluttering and mess management one way through resets , into your daily routine .
Again , in less than 10 minutes a day I mean realistically , even five I should say how to make decluttering and resets a more natural and sustainable part of your day . And then I'm also going to share my exact home management strategy for both making progress if you're in the throes of clutter and maintaining a tidy home on the back end .
So you know exactly what to do . You'll have a plug and play plan .
Oh , amazing . And , guys , when Katie puts together plans and blueprints , trust me , that's what they are . It is step one , step two , and they're small . They're achievable . I can't wait to dive into this . So , if you are not signed up yet for Planapalooza , this is only once a year . It is my annual planning event .
I teach everything to set you up for 2025 . We are still at the time this is going live . You can still get your ticket at half price . It is only $47 for both full days of training , the two-hour Q&A , all of the guest experts , including Katie , and the complete workbook that comes with it . So just make sure you are heading over .
We've got the link in the URL as well . You can just go to megansommerallcom forward slash plan , grab your ticket and , guys , you will be able to not have to wait until January to say this is the year I declutter my home , right ? You're going to have , you're going to be learning those things . You'll be able to put those daily resets into place right away .
Katie , can you tell everyone the best place where they can follow you and continue to learn from you as well ?
Come hang out on the show the Maximized Minimalist Podcast .
And I also thank you .
You're too kind and I love Instagram , so Katie Joy Wells is my full name . You can find me there , all right , and , guys , when you go check out the Maximize Minimalist podcast .
Make sure you just take that extra 10 seconds to leave a review . As a fellow podcast host , it really makes a huge difference . So thank you and we'll see you all in Plano Palooza . Thank you for being here again today , katie . So thank you and we'll see you all in Planapalooza . Thank you for being here again today , katie .
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