Wannabe Clutter Free | Declutter, Simplify, Find Freedom

Five nights into a brand new house, Deanna is recording from a room full of boxes.
The furniture is up. A few kitchen things are out. Everything else is still packed. And all three members of her family are about to unpack in completely different ways.
In this episode:
Method 1: The Packing Party (Deanna's). From Ryan Nicodemus of The Minimalists. Whatever is still in a box stays there until she reaches for it. She's giving it one month.
Method 2: The Traditional Way (her husband's). Open the box, decide on every item, finish it, move on.
Method 3: The Pause (her daughter's). Unpack what you love now, put the maybes in a box, and revisit them at the end of November.
Also in this episode: why moving feels so heavy even when you own less than most people, how Deanna searched every box she owns in about an hour, the sentimental things that earn their place without being useful, and why she and her husband are ready to pare down even further.
Your challenge this week: Pick the method that sounds most like you and try it on one space. Packing Party: box up a category and only take out what you need for two weeks. Traditional: empty one drawer and decide on every item. The Pause: put away what you love, box up the maybes, and date the box.
Then come tell Deanna which one you picked on Instagram @wannabeclutterfree.
Results episode coming in about a month.
Mentioned:
Tindy, the nightly 10-minute reset app, at tindy.app
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Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/328

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Deanna Yates thought the hardest part of moving would be the packing.
It wasn't.
Nine weeks ago, her landlord told her family she was selling the house they had rented for almost five years. It was the longest they had lived anywhere, and everyday there felt like winning the lottery. Now they're packing up the whole house in less than a week.
In this solo episode, Deanna shares six mindset shifts from one of the hardest seasons her family has had in a long time. Not one of them is about her closet.
In this episode:
Shift 1: It's never really about the stuff. Why her uneasiness came from feeling out of control
Shift 2: Same reach, different bag. How the donation bag and the Add to Cart button come from the same place
Shift 3: You can't declutter a feeling. What a waiting season teaches someone who likes to take action
Shift 4: "Just in case" is just fear. The crowded Labor Day showing that flipped her into scarcity mode
Shift 5: Stop chasing, start trusting. The late-night Zillow message that turned into keys four days later
Shift 6: Clutter free starts in your head. Let go, create space, release your grip

Plus the question her family is asking about every item they pack.
Try this week: Pick one drawer. Pull everything out. For each item, ask: would I unpack this?
Mentioned in this episode:
How to Change by Katy Milkman
Tindy, the 10-minute nightly tidy app: tindy.app
Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/327
Instagram: @wannabeclutterfree

Our Sponsors:
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My clutter threshold broke this year.
I am a decluttering expert. Our house is not cluttered. And I still hit a wall, because we are in the middle of an unplanned move, my husband had back surgery, and I am 46 and doing most of the lifting myself.
That is the exact season I was in when Amy Nesbitt came back on the show, and I am so glad she did.
Amy is a full time corporate working mom of two boys, the creator of the This Japanese American Life YouTube channel, and the host of the Whole Wellness Mamas Summit, now in its fourth year. She is also the person who got me into summits in the first place.
This year she built the summit around four Japanese concepts, and they reframed how I am thinking about my own home.
In this episode:
Why the popular Venn diagram version of Ikigai misses the point, and what it actually means
Ma, the concept of intentional empty space, explained through the pause in a song
Why your empty counter is not wasted space, and why we fight so hard to fill it
The two minutes you sit in your car before walking in the door, and why that counts
Kaizen, and why going smaller than feels impressive is the thing that actually sticks
Kintsugi, the art of gold in the cracks, and why your hardest chapters are not the ones to hide
How to bring your family into something without becoming the household nag
Amy's answer for how she does it all, which starts with four words: it does not have to be you

Amy and I are both speaking at the Whole Wellness Mamas Summit, September 14 through 17. It is completely free, completely virtual, and you can watch in whatever you slept in. My session is How to Face the Challenge of Midlife Decluttering, which I am currently living in real time.
Grab your free seat
Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/326
Find Amy: Instagram and TikTok: @wholewellnessmamas YouTube: This Japanese American Life Books: AmyNsReads
Find me: Instagram: @wannabeclutterfree Website: wannabeclutterfree.com

Our Sponsors:
* Check out 1-800-GOT-JUNK and use my code 1800gotjunk.com for a great deal: https://www.1800gotjunk.com
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You will get rid of more in two weeks of packing than in five years of living in the same house.
Not because you tried harder. Because the rules changed.
Deanna Yates has moved 16 times as an adult, and number 17 is happening right now, unplanned and unwanted. In this episode she breaks down exactly what moving does to your brain, and how to steal that effect without touching a single roll of packing tape.
On a normal day, everything you own is already in your home. Every item has a spot. So when you try to declutter, each thing has to argue its way OUT, and if you cannot find a good reason, it stays. That is why decluttering feels like a fight. It is why so many decisions end with "well, I have room for it."
When you move, everything comes out. And now every item has to argue its way back IN.
Same stuff. Same you. Opposite default.
Deanna hands you the one question that flips it: Would I unpack this?
In this episode:
The real reason moving makes you ruthless (it is not motivation)
Why "I have room for it" is the sentence that kills most decluttering sessions
How to use the unpack question on your kid's artwork without feeling like a bad mom
What that box you never opened from your last move is actually telling you
Why show ready and move-in ready are not the same thing, and which one you deserve
The five minute photo exercise that will show you exactly what feels off in a room

Plus, Deanna is taking a small group through her move-in method in real time as she packs up her own home. Six years of helping families declutter, a background in property management, and 17 moves worth of lessons. Waitlist link below.
You do not have to move to declutter like you are moving.
Homework this week: Stand in the doorway of one room. Take a wide angle photo like it is a real estate listing. Then look at it the way you would scroll past it on Zillow. It will click.
Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/325 Join the move-in method waitlist: https://www.wannabeclutterfree.com/move-in-waitlist Come say hi on Instagram: @wannabeclutterfree
Next week: Amy Nesbitt on wellness, energy, and how to be a whole mom when your time is completely constrained.

Our Sponsors:
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If you're decluttering the chances are that there is a bag in your trunk right now, isn't there?
You did the hard part. You went through the closet, you made a hundred decisions in a row, you got everything bagged up and loaded in the car. And then you drove past the donation center. Twice.
The problem is that there are two decisions inside every declutter, and almost nobody warns you about the second one.
In Episode 324, Deanna is answering this question in real time. Her house is selling, her family is moving, and she is decluttering 500 items right now while her husband recovers from back surgery. Some of it is going to Buy Nothing. Some of it is going on Vinted. Some of it is going in the trash. None of it is happening perfectly, but it is happening.
She is also going to tell you the truth about where donated items actually end up, because she thinks you can handle it, and because knowing is going to make you feel better instead of worse.
In this episode:
The two decisions inside every declutter, and which one stalls you out
What percentage of your donations actually make it onto a thrift store shelf
Where the rest of it goes, including the millions of garments that arrive regularly in Ghana
How to tell in 30 seconds whether a parking lot donation bin belongs to a real charity
The 1938 labor law behind the unease people feel about big box thrift chains, and how to research your own local one in two minutes
Why the guilt you are carrying is not keeping a single item out of a landfill
The donation Deanna found while volunteering that made her want to throw her hands up
Five places your decluttered stuff can go, ranked in the order you should try them
The new Target Textile Drop Spot that takes stained and torn clothing in every California store
Where to send shoes, makeup empties, electronics, and batteries
Full permission to throw away actual garbage
Why we need a lot of people doing this imperfectly instead of a few people doing it perfectly

FREE RESOURCE:
The Guilt-Free Exit Plan One page that tells you where anything goes, a short vetted list instead of forty links, and the 30 second donation bin check. Comment the word TRUNK on Instagram to get it, or grab it here.
LEARN MORE
Show notes and free resource: wannabeclutterfree.com/324
The 19 for $19 Ultimate Decluttering Bundle: wannabeclutterfree.com
Go to https://OmahaSteaks.com and use promo code BEEF at checkout for $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply.
CONNECT
Instagram: @wannabeclutterfree
LISTEN
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wannabe-clutter-free-declutter-simplify-find-freedom/id1485473251
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ATUIVONi0kyoVUKOQV4OT?si=f555de5388164b10
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wannabeclutterfree

Our Sponsors:
* Check out 1-800-GOT-JUNK and use my code 1800gotjunk.com for a great deal: https://www.1800gotjunk.com
* Check out BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com
* Check out Omaha Steaks and use my code BEEF for a great deal: https://www.omahasteaks.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy