by Clutter Free Academy Team | Jun 27, 2023 | Clutter Free, Clutter Free Podcast, community, How to, Kitchen, Podcast, tips and ideas |
571 How to Succeed with No Buy July
On this very special podcast Kathi Lipp is joined by Clutter Free queen Tonya Kubo to get all of us excited about the month-long celebration we call No Buy July!
Some may think that No Buy July sounds crazy, after all – it is fun to spend money. But this challenge is meant to be a kind of retreat from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Let’s put all our creative energy into doing something that is going to help our houses and our budgets breathe a little easier!
Listen in for all the details, and answers to questions like these:
- What are the “rules” for No Buy July? (Hint – You don’t have to be a minimalist to participate.)
- How can I convince my family to join in this challenge?
- What happens if there is an emergency, or if I have a special event coming up?
- What can we do for fun in July without spending money?
- What will I wear? What will we eat? How does this whole thing work?
If you are as excited as we are about No Buy July, then be sure to join us! All you have to do is be part of Kathi Lipp’s free Facebook group, Clutter Free Academy. Go here to join, and be sure to answer the questions, then one of our friendly group admins will be sure to get you in.
Throughout the month of July there will be posts in the group with ideas and encouragement, and you can also ask your questions and cheer on one another in the kindest corner of the internet. If you are not on Facebook, email support@kathilipp.org and we will send you the activity guide to give you lots of ideas for making No Buy July a fun experience for you and your family.
P.S. Looking for Tonya Kubo’s bread pudding recipe? You can find it here!
The Clutter-Free Home: Making Room for Your Life
When it comes to your home, peace is possible…
Longing for a place of peace from which you can love others well? The Clutter-Free Home is your room-by-room guide to decluttering, reclaiming, and celebrating every space of your home.
Let author Kathi Lipp (who once lived a life buried in clutter) walk you through each room of your house to create organizational zones that are not only functional and practical but create places of peace that reflect your personality. Kathi will help you tackle the four-step process of dedicate, decide, declutter and “do-your-thing” to reveal the home you’ve always dreamed of, and then transform it into a haven that reflects who you truly are meant to be.
If you’re also feeling overwhelmed by the care and upkeep of all the stuff under your feet or sense that your home is running you, instead of the other way around, come discover how to create a space that doesn’t have to be showroom perfect to be perfect for you and the people you love. Learn more about The Clutter Free Home here.
Sign up here for Kathi’s newsletter and get a free Clutter Free Kit with printables and videos.

Want to join us for No Buy July? Click here to join the free Clutter Free Academy on Facebook!
Let’s stay connected
To share your thoughts:
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.
Tonya Kubo is the illustrious and fearless leader of Kathi Lipp’s Clutter Free Academy Facebook group and the Clutter Free for Life membership program. A speaker and writer, Tonya makes her home in the heart of California with her husband, Brian, their two spirited daughters, and one very tolerant cat.
Visit Tonya at www.tonyakubo.com
by Clutter Free Academy Team | May 23, 2023 | Clutter Free, Clutter Free For Life, Clutter Free Home, Clutter Free Podcast, community, Decorating, DIY, Friendship, Getting Started, Hoarding, Home, Hope, How to, Organizing, Parenting, Perfectionism, Podcast, tips and ideas |
566: How to Reclaim a Space In Your Home – Part 2
Have you ever dreamed of creating a space just for YOU? This is your episode! Today Kathi Lipp is joined by fellow book lover Amy Betters-Midtvedt. On the daily, Amy uses humor to share her expertise in all things home and parenting but today, they talk about decluttering to create a sacred space. For Amy, it’s for her beloved books. Listen in as Kathi and Amy discuss:
- Managing the push and pull of deciding what stays and what goes
- The benefit of having a reward at the end of your project
- Knowing when to call a trusted professional
Have you listened to Part 1 of this series with Amy Betters-Midtvedt? Click here to listen to episode 565 How to Reclaim a Space In Your Home – Part 1.
Here’s a photo of Amy Betters-Midtvedt’s fabulous Book Room that she and Kathi talked about in this episode.

Also, if you haven’t listened to Kathi and Amy laugh through episode 547 Why I Don’t Eat Green Bananas Anymore, put that one in your queue!
The Clutter-Free Home: Making Room for Your Life
Longing for a place of peace from which you can love others well? The Clutter-Free Home is your room-by-room guide to decluttering, reclaiming, and celebrating every space of your home.
Let author Kathi Lipp (who once lived a life buried in clutter) walk you through each room of your house to create organizational zones that are not only functional and practical but create places of peace that reflect your personality. Kathi will help you tackle the four-step process of dedicate, decide, declutter and “do-your-thing” to reveal the home you’ve always dreamed of, and then transform it into a haven that reflects who you truly are meant to be.
If you’re also feeling overwhelmed by the care and upkeep of all the stuff under your feet or sense that your home is running you, instead of the other way around, come discover how to create a space that doesn’t have to be showroom perfect to be perfect for you and the people you love. life. Order your copy of The Clutter Free Home here.
In this episode, Kathi and Amy discuss creating a space does not have to be craeting a whole room.
It could be a shelf or a wall.
Question:
Look around your home. Is there a nook that could be repurposed?
Let’s stay connected
To share your thoughts:
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.
Amy Betters-Midtvedt is a writer, educator and mom of 5. Her passions include piling on the couch with her family to binge watch the Office, buying all the books she possibly can, trying to finish a conversation with her husband without being interrupted and writing to help people find the joy in their everyday lives.
You can connect with Amy at amybettersmidtvedt.com.
by Clutter Free Academy Team | Apr 18, 2023 | Clutter Free, Clutter Free For Life, Clutter Free Heart, Clutter Free Podcast, community, Freedom, Getting Started, Hard Stuff, Home, How to, Organizing, Overwhelmed, Podcast, tips and ideas |
561: How to Declutter A Lot – FAST- Part 1
Do you feel like there are not enough hours in your day to tackle a decluttering project? You are not alone, friend. Kathi and her snow bound cohost Roger Lipp are with us today discussing not only decluttering but decluttering when you are short on time. Listen in as they discuss the crazy amount of snow at the Red House as well the first two tips of their top ten ways they have found to get rid of clutter. Ideas such as::
- Using different colored trash bags
- What size boxes to use
- The importance of a declutter buddy
Bonus: As mentioned in the podcast break, here’s a link for Michele Cushatt’s newest book A Faith That Will Not Fail.
Double Bonus: As mentioned in the podcast, a picture of how much snow was surrounding the Red House at the time of the interview!

The Clutter Free Home: Making Room for Your Life
Longing for a place of peace from which you can love others well? The Clutter-Free Home is your room-by-room guide to decluttering, reclaiming, and celebrating every space of your home.
Let author Kathi Lipp (who once lived a life buried in clutter) walk you through each room of your house to create organizational zones that are not only functional and practical but create places of peace that reflect your personality. Kathi will help you tackle the four-step process of dedicate, decide, declutter and “do-your-thing” to reveal the home you’ve always dreamed of, and then transform it into a haven that reflects who you truly are meant to be.
Order your copy of The Clutter-Free Home here.
Give us your feedback and tell us what tips from Kathi and Roger you’ve used in decluttering? Tell us below!
Let’s stay connected
To share your thoughts:
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.
Roger is a productivity and quality engineer for a Fortune 50 company.
Roger helps teams reach their full productivity potential by teaching them the practical and simple steps to reach their goals. Roger and his wife, author Kathi Lipp, teach communicators how to share their message through social media and email marketing.
He and Kathi coauthored Happy Habits for Every Couple: 21 Days to a Better Relationship.
by Clutter Free Academy Team | Aug 6, 2019 | Clutter Free, community, Podcast |
Feeling like a decluttering dropout when you struggle to reach your Clutter Free goal? Kathi Lipp and special guest Tonya Kubo, fearless leader in the Clutter Free Academy Facebook Group, know exactly what that’s like. They also know how to move you from zero to hero in your Clutter Free journey and help you reach your decluttering goals.
Have you read the books, listened to the podcasts, participated in Clutter Free Academy, and yet you still feel like you’re falling short of the Clutter Free life you want to make for yourself? Listen to this week’s episode to find out the one thing you might be missing in the pursuit of your Clutter Free goals.
In this week’s episode, you’ll learn…
- What discourages Tonya on her journey
- The one thing that’s made all the difference for both Tonya and Kathi
- Hear real-life stories of people who have taken steps to reach their Clutter Free goal
- How you, too, could kick clutter to the curb once and for all
Links:
Join us in the Clutter Free Academy Facebook Group, the kindest corner of the internet.
To learn more and to sign up for Clutter Free for Life, click here.
We would love to stay connected.
To share your thoughts:
Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.
Subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our newsletter now.
Tonya Kubo is the illustrious, fearless leader of Kathi Lipp’s Clutter-Free Academy Facebook group. A speaker and writer, Tonya makes her home in the heart of California with her husband, Brian, their two spirited daughters and one very tolerant cat. Visit her at www.tonyakubo.com and www.GreatMoms.org
by Clutter Free Academy Team | Feb 18, 2019 | community, Giveaways, Parenting |

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:12
When it comes to moms and clutter, I feel like there are two kinds of women:
- Those who used to have beautiful, presentable, comfortable homes before kids.
- Those who have always struggled with clutter, but abandoned all hope of being clutter free once kids came along.
I see a couple parallels between learning to be clutter free and raising kids.
1. Both becoming clutter free and raising kids look simple for other people, and feel impossible for us.
Before working the Clutter Free system, I couldn’t figure out how everyone else kept their house so perfect. I now know that a lot of those people, because they are a part of Clutter Free Academy, had closet clutter. While their houses looked perfect, you wouldn’t dare open a closet door. I had bought all the books and tried to enact a plan, but none of those resources seemed to cover my issues.
It was the same with raising small kids; it seemed like everyone else had the secret manual on how to grow little ones. They had a plan, and apparently I was out of school the day that plan was handed out. Even though I’d read all the books and taken all the classes, it felt like every situation that came up with my kids hadn’t been covered in the books.
2. Both becoming clutter free and raising kids can feel isolating and lonely.
One of the main reasons we created the Clutter Free Academy online community is because clutter can be incredibly isolating. The fear, guilt and shame that go with clutter can keep us secretive and alone.
It is the same with being a parent. When we feel that everyone “gets it” except us, it can lead to feelings of loneliness and “otherness.” I’m so grateful there were groups like MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers International) when my kids were little. I needed to sit with other moms who were honest about their struggles — not every day with their kids looked like tidy finger painting and super-fun playdates where lattes and laughter were served.
I think one of the best things we can do in every tough journey—including decluttering and mothering— is normalizing those feelings of just not measuring up. When we read the books, gather with others, and are open and honest about our own experiences, it’s amazing how we can lessen the feelings of fear, guilt and shame that so often accompany hard things.
One of the resources I will be giving the moms in my life is Grit and Grace: Devotions for Warrior Moms. I love that the two authors, Suzanne and Gretta, are as real about the challenges and self-doubt around mothering as they are about the fact that they feel like they may never recover from bringing children into their homes.
Don’t do any of this alone. The mothering, the decluttering or anything else you feel like you just have to “grit” through. Because while you may need to grit those teeth, you don’t have to do it alone.
Hang in There, Mama!
For those moments when you think you’ll never live up to the Supermoms around you—when you’re elbow deep in the grind of diapers and laundry and peanut butter sandwiches—you need a good dose of Grit and Grace.
This refreshing collection of 90 daily devotions comes from two moms who’ve found themselves face-to-the-floor in need of encouragement—and now they’re offering it to you. Through humor and vulnerability, these short messages of truth remove the filters of perfection clouding your vision and bring clarity to your purpose as a mom. As you read the Scripture and prayer that accompany each day’s message, you’ll discover more fully who you are in Christ and how to raise your children to reflect His love to the world.
In receiving grace from the One who is present in your life right now and in every moment, you will find you have ever more grace to give your kids.
CONNECT
Stop by www.suzannegosselin.com to get to know Suzanne, author and stay-at-home mom.
WIN
Enter to WIN! We are giving away a Grand Prize one lucky winner PLUS, Harvest House gave us 5 additional copies of Grit and Grace to give away to five more lucky winners! Our Grand Prize winner will get:
• A copy of Grit and Grace, of course!
• A $50 Starbucks card to take you and your mom friends out for coffee on us!!!
Enter to win by leaving a comment about your biggest kid related clutter issue below in the comments section. (We’ll randomly select 6 winners and notify them in the comments section by February 27th.)
REFLECT AND RESPOND
Today, look at the woman in your mirror and tell her, “God knew what He was doing when He picked you to be your kids’ mom.” Pray for God to guide you to reach out to a mom who needs to hear this same message: give her a call, drop her an email, or send her a quick text.
Kathi Lipp and Clutter Free thank Harvest House for their sponsorship of today’s devotion.