#645 Reclaiming Your Space: Your First Steps to a Clutter-Free Life

#645 Reclaiming Your Space: Your First Steps to a Clutter-Free Life

645 – Reclaiming Your Space: Your First Steps to a Clutter-Free Life

Hey there, friends! Have you ever struggled with an overwhelming burden of household clutter?

There is hope!

In this episode of the Clutter Free Academy podcast, hosts Kathi Lipp and Tonya Kubo dive deep into the challenges of managing household clutter and offer practical solutions to help listeners reclaim their spaces and find peace. They discuss the emotional toll that clutter can take. They share personal stories of their own clutter battles, including Tonya’s experience of renting dumpsters multiple times per year to clear out excess items.

Listeners will discover:

  • Research that shows cluttered homes can contribute to chronic stress and depression in mothers.
  • The importance of “pre-deciding”
  • How to create clutter-busting routines
  • The difference between their free Clutter Free Academy community and the more intensive Clutter Free for Life membership

By the end of the episode, listeners will be inspired to take the first steps towards a clutter-free life, whether that means joining the Clutter Free for Life program or simply implementing 15-minute daily decluttering routines.

A big shout out to CF4L member Natasha Berridge for the before and after pics used in the title graphics!

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Join Clutter Free For Life

While Clutter Free for Life comes with a plan of action to keep you moving forward in your decluttering journey day after day, the true magic of this membership program is in the community. It’s a program FOR cluttery people BY cluttery people.

It’s a family of cluttery people who want better for themselves and for you. We all understand the emotional weight of clutter and the physical barriers it causes. Clutter Free for Life members have a team of experts who know what it’s like to feel overwhelmed as their guides. Want to see whether the membership is right for you? Check out our info page Clutter Free For Life.

What are some of the biggest triggers that tend to cause clutter build-up in your home? 

Share in the comments!

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Meet Our Guest 

 

Tonya Kubo

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 her at www.tonyakubo.com.

Tonya Kubo Picture
Transcript
Kathi (00:01.794)

Well, hey friends, welcome to Clutter Free Academy, where our goal is to help you take small, doable steps to live every day with less clutter and more life. And I am here with my co-clutter warrior, it’s Tonya Kubo. Hey, Tonya.

Tonya Kubo (00:15.794)

Hey, Kathi.

Kathi (00:17.95)

Okay, so this may sound like the basic of basic podcasts, but I think when people get overwhelmed by clutter, we do have to go back to the basics because you know that one of my pet peeves is somebody says, I’m gonna do your clutter program. I’m like, awesome, but I’m also doing Marie Kondo’s and I’m also doing the fly lady, and I’m also doing.

I’m like, please leave me out of this. Because what cluttery people tend to do is we tend to take the easiest part or the most attractive part from each system. Then we don’t understand why. Because let’s be honest, every system has their hard part.

Tonya Kubo (01:00.263)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (01:11.859)

Yes, that is 100 % true.

Kathi (01:15.584)

And so I wanna talk about why you may be completely overwhelmed right now when it comes to clutter. We’re recording this when Halloween is on its way out, Thanksgiving and Christmas are on their way in. I was just at, where was I? I was at Walmart and the amount of real estate that is dedicated to

Tonya Kubo (01:24.083)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (01:45.23)

I shouldn’t be surprised. I shouldn’t be surprised if we start to see Christmas in July.

Tonya Kubo (01:48.177)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (01:53.317)

Yeah, no, I have something to say about that because so we walked into Lowe’s like a week ago and Abby started cackling, and I was like, what? And she’s like, look at that, mom. And they had like an aisle of Halloween decorations. And of course, it’s Lowe’s, so it’s a lot of yard stuff. And it’s facing this whole section of Christmas. And it looks like Halloween is facing off with Christmas because it’s like,

Kathi (02:12.771)

Yeah.

Tonya Kubo (02:22.291)

a blow-up Santa, like an inflatable Santa, opposite an animatronic Grim Reaper. But it didn’t look like, my gosh, it looked like from like Lord of the Rings when they’re like facing off before the big war. And I had to take a picture of it because it was funny. I’ll have to post that to social. But yeah, Abby was just like, this is so funny. It’s like the war for Christmas.

Kathi (02:28.909)

my goodness.

Kathi (02:41.549)

Yeah.

Kathi (02:47.66)

Yeah, and fall is my favorite time of year. And I’m like, let me just enjoy fall. But the Christmas stuff is out. Well, I can’t even imagine what the temperature is where you’re at right now. But it’s still 100 degrees here. Yeah. Yeah, it’s just gross. Okay. But if we start to talk about Christmas and the holidays, there’s some anxiety over that. And you’re like, my house isn’t ready. And you want to do a deep dive.

Tonya Kubo (03:00.711)

yeah, same. Yeah, same.

Tonya Kubo (03:11.091)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (03:16.206)

on all the clutter in your house, but there just doesn’t feel like there’s time. So we’re gonna try a bunch of patch-it solutions. Like, I’m just gonna stick this pile of papers here for now. But I’ll totally remember where it is when I need to dig out that tax bill or whatever it is. And then, you know, we…

Tonya Kubo (03:28.839)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (03:34.064)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (03:38.9)

unearth all these memories, having to apologize for the state of our home, telling people don’t open that closet. For me, a long time, I felt like I had to take people out instead of having them over because my house wasn’t in a state where I could entertain people. But then when I take them out, because it was my idea, I felt like I had to pay. You know, there’s a real financial cost.

Tonya Kubo (03:54.087)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (04:04.327)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (04:08.056)

To clutter. Rebuying things. I don’t know if that’s ever been something you’ve had to do, Tonya, but I can’t find the cupcake liners that I bought two weeks ago, so I need to go buy more Valentine cupcake liners or Christmas.

Tonya Kubo (04:09.501)

Yeah.

Tonya Kubo (04:25.971)

That comes up, actually, that is a very acute common pain point in our Facebook group and Clutterfree Academy. Very common, both from a, I need this thing. I know I bought it. It’s somewhere around here. I can’t find it. I’m trying not to go out and buy it, right? To, holy cow, I thought I bought these things and now I just found where I stashed them.

Kathi (04:33.166)

Hmm

Tonya Kubo (04:54.713)

after I just bought them all over again.

Kathi (04:56.128)

Of course. Yes. I’m the person who will leave little notes for myself on my calendar. Like I leave breadcrumbs to say, this is where this thing is. And I leave, I leave also little hints in September. Do not buy Christmas wrap. You have plenty, Kathi. You know, do not buy tape or ribbons or

Tonya Kubo (05:02.3)

Yeah

Tonya Kubo (05:18.555)

Yes.

Kathi (05:23.35)

The little car like you don’t need any of that stuff. But also I know that one of the things that is the most clutter-producing are events and change. Tonya, you know, I live a pretty clutter-free life. We are not we are not by any means picture-perfect all the time. But this week I’m like, Roger, what has happened to our lives?

Tonya Kubo (05:33.511)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (05:41.213)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (05:50.808)

What has happened to our lives? Why is there so much stuff? Like our house was looking pretty good a week ago and kaboom. And he said, well, remember last week we had nine people living in our house. And I’m like, yeah, but I recovered from that. And he goes, yeah, but you launched a book on Tuesday. Like any time there’s this big event, even though it doesn’t feel like it should be so cluttery.

Tonya Kubo (05:57.203)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (06:03.687)

Right, you had to retreat.

Tonya Kubo (06:09.447)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (06:17.352)

things get left out, things get missed. Anytime that our patterns are interrupted, it’s harder and that is what the holidays are. Yes, so we talk about, know, how anything, have you had any of these things in your household in the past three months? Disaster, we’re recording this right about the time.

Tonya Kubo (06:26.213)

Mm-hmm. That is very true.

Kathi (06:41.588)

as we’ve just had major hurricanes go through a large part of the country. You we’ve had two. One specifically working its way through Florida right now. Sickness, the Kubo household, the plague befell you.

Tonya Kubo (06:47.187)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (06:55.013)

my gosh, it has been a year and then some. And you know, it’s not that far in the school year, but yes, plague.

Kathi (07:01.51)

Yes. A death in the family or close friends, you know, that is a major upheaval. Moving. I never want to move again. I want to be buried out in the North 40. Like I never want to move again. And then also we have a lot of our friends who are in Clutter-free for Life and Clutterfree Academy who deal with challenges with their mental health, whether it’s depression, ADHD,

Tonya Kubo (07:27.261)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (07:30.19)

We have a lot of people who are working through some of those challenges.

Tonya Kubo (07:33.585)

Yeah, well I would say actually, to be more accurate, it’s health issues. We see that all the time in Clutterfree Academy, the free group, right? When you join the group, you’re asked to answer several questions. And one is, what gets in the way of you and your decluttering goals? And one of the choices is health issues. And all the, like that gets picked probably five out of 10 times every single week. It’s health issues.

Kathi (07:38.988)

Yeah. Yes.

Kathi (07:49.646)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (08:01.489)

get in the way of my best efforts. And then we see a larger percentage of those individuals in Clutter Free for Life, a paid membership program, because quite honestly, they do not have the physical, mental or emotional bandwidth to decide what to do next. And so they join our paid program. So we do the decision-making for them. But yeah, I would say that those health issues, mental and physical, is a major barrier for our people. Major barrier.

Kathi (08:22.04)

Great.

Kathi (08:30.794)

So I want to give some really practical tools, whether it’s health issues, chaos in your family, sickness, whatever that is. What are some really practical things that we can do as we’re fighting clutter in our lives? And I think you just hit on such a huge one, that pre-deciding. Tell me, Tonya, how you’ve seen that live out in our groups that

Pre-deciding has helped them with this clutter battle.

Tonya Kubo (09:04.783)

Yeah, well, how many examples can I give you? Because I have a lot, Kathi, and this will help me prioritize in my brain. Say three, three. OK, I can do three. So the first one. So if you’ve been listening to the podcast for any length of time, you know that our clutter. Not it’s not 100 percent accurate, right, because context matters in many cases, but in general, the reasons behind our clutter fall into two areas.

Kathi (09:07.884)

Hahaha!

Kathi (09:12.206)

let’s say three. Three is good.

Tonya Kubo (09:34.637)

One is the acquisition of stuff, the amount of stuff that comes into our home. The other is in minimizing the stuff. You’re the one who taught me, Kathi, you must minimize before you organize, right? So that is getting the stuff out of the home. And I refer to that as managing the ebb and flow of stuff in our home or managing the ebb and flow of our possessions. And some people quite honestly struggle on both ends of that. I don’t know what you call that.

both ends of the relationship with clutter. And so in pre-deciding, one of the most powerful decisions I’ve seen made, and we’ve got one member and she has given me permission to talk about her publicly. Her name is Jackie. You know, she struggles with both sides. Yeah, both ends of the spectrum are hard for her, but she made a decision the first of this year that involved the acquisition of stuff. She was gonna really focus.

Kathi (10:05.261)

right.

Kathi (10:18.05)

We love Jackie. We love Jackie.

Tonya Kubo (10:30.931)

on minimizing how much came into her home. And one of those decisions meant that if she got a message from somebody, because she’s part of like by nothing groups and sort of these restoration groups, if somebody gave sent her a message of like, my gosh, there’s this incredible whatever over here on the side of the road, she was gonna say, you know what, I can’t think of anything to do with that. I’m gonna have to pass.

She pre-decided that, you know, she knows what days of the week people tend to put stuff out on the curb. She made, she pre-decided that she was not going to drive down certain streets on those days during those times of days because she knew early in the year, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to pass by certain things. She just knew it, right? Like if I pass by that, if I see a thing like that, it’s going in my truck.

Kathi (11:02.67)

Yeah.

Tonya Kubo (11:22.043)

and it’s going in my garage because in my mind, if I put it in my truck, I save it from a landfill. I don’t have the self-control to say no, but what I do have the self-control to do is not drive in that part of town on that day of the

Kathi (11:36.293)

my goodness, I had not heard this story. That is amazing. I’m so proud of her.

Tonya Kubo (11:41.095)

So, I am proud, Kathi, I could weep, and you know I’m not that emotional of a person, but I could weep daily over the growth that I see in our members because the thing is, is I remember it all. I remember them when they first joined. They don’t remember how far they’ve come. So the first thing I would say is, previous society, think of what Jackie did. Can you make a decision involving your routine?

Kathi (11:57.698)

Right.

Tonya Kubo (12:08.977)

that eliminates five other decisions. Because that’s a big one. The other thing I would say is, know, meal planning. It’s so funny. We are not a food group. We cannot sell you meal plans. don’t, well, we can sell you Sabbath soup, which has meal plans. But if you join Color Free Academy, I don’t have meal plans in there to sell you. I’m sorry. But, you know.

Kathi (12:13.614)

Yeah.

Kathi (12:25.656)

Yes, please.

Kathi (12:31.33)

Right.

Tonya Kubo (12:34.759)

The idea of a meal plan, of pre-deciding this is what we’re eating every day, prevents over buying a food, which prevents food waste. It does so much to save time at the end of the day when you’re tired and your energy is often at the lowest. And so by pre-deciding what you’re gonna eat, we’ve seen this in our house particularly. If I know what we’re having for dinner, I know exactly when to get started in the kitchen cooking and…

Because I’ve made so many mental decisions, I still have physical energy to clean up the kitchen after we eat.

Kathi (13:10.35)

Tonya, I really do think that meals need to become a bigger part of what we do in Clutterfree for Life. It’s just, it’s, you know, every day I spend about 15 minutes doing something towards my meal plan. You know, on Mondays I make my menu, on Tuesdays I make my shopping list and I order my groceries, on Wednesdays pick them up, Thursdays prep.

Tonya Kubo (13:20.101)

yes, definitely.

Tonya Kubo (13:28.761)

Mm hmm. Yeah.

Kathi (13:39.63)

You know, doing all those vegetables, you know, everything that involves a quiz and art or I pre-ground some meat or something like that. then Friday and Saturday I cook. It makes such a so I spend about 15 minutes doing that and I spend about 15 minutes decluttering every day. And then I, you know, specific rooms, you know, Monday I’m doing my kitchen Tuesday, I’m doing my living room. And then I spent about 15 minutes doing some kind of cleaning.

Tonya Kubo (13:40.723)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (13:57.767)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (14:08.822)

That is a little above and beyond and just by making those three decisions and those decisions are Predecisions like this is what I’m doing and this is what I’m going to do It’s changed the rhythm of my home. It’s made such a difference Tonya, I want to come back And I want to talk to the women You know, we have some guys who are here. We’re welcome, but you know what? I’m just going to be honest

Tonya Kubo (14:11.059)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (14:24.409)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kathi (14:39.086)

we are talking to women here because we have different kinds of pressures and different kinds of things we do and I want to talk about For the woman who feels perpetually behind Who just feels like she can’t catch up. We’re gonna come back and have some really practical solutions for you So stay tuned we’re gonna pay some bills and we’ll be right back

Tonya Kubo (14:51.495)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (15:03.104)

Okay, friends, we are back. I’m back with Tonya Kubo, who is not only our co-host, but the leader of all things clutter-free. And I just want to talk about what are the emotional tolls of clutter. You know that I often refer to this UCLA study that says, first of all, one in 11 Americans have so many possessions that they are currently paying for

storage space outside their home. Now this study is 10 years old at least 10 years old, and They haven’t stopped building storage units There are more storage unit businesses in the United States than there are McDonald’s and Subways combined that’s a lot. That is a lot and

Tonya Kubo (15:33.639)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (15:40.306)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (15:52.445)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (15:57.501)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (16:00.462)

In 2009, UCLA found that mothers who described their homes as cluttered, they self-described, they self-identified that their homes are cluttered, have a stress hormone profile indicative of chronic stress. And chronic stress, left untreated, turns into a chronic illness. That is the path. When you are constantly stressed, when you constantly feel your heart racing when you constantly feel

Tonya Kubo (16:09.127)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (16:30.612)

These things and these moms also tended to have more depressed moods throughout the day. Like clutter is affecting our mental health. It is making us sad and depressed. They’re more tired in the evenings. And I think about this. So, Tonya, I am no longer in the thick of it. I do not have kids at my house. When kids come to my house, what they do is they come by to steal food, steal wine.

Tonya Kubo (16:38.332)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (16:52.231)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (16:59.424)

and then go to their friends’ parties in Lake Tahoe. That’s what my kids do when they come to that. But you’re in the thick of it. Describe to me what your house feels like when it’s clear because you had a real clutter issue when your kids were little.

Tonya Kubo (16:59.795)

You

Tonya Kubo (17:08.519)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (17:18.355)

Yes, and because my kids are growing up, we still have clutter issues. They look different, right? I’ve I share this and I’ve been teaching in Clutter-Free for Life recently and I share this with them all the time. It’s like there is always one part of my house that I feel like is absolutely out of control. The difference is, is that in 2014, when I discovered Clutter-Free for Life, or actually 2015, it was my whole house, right? And so now

Kathi (17:23.924)

Right. Yeah.

Kathi (17:37.165)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (17:46.582)

Right. Right.

Tonya Kubo (17:48.207)

I have just accepted that in this phase of life, one part of the house being constantly chaotic is still growth and a win compared to where I used to be.

Kathi (17:59.182)

Tonya, Tonya, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Is still growth?

Tonya Kubo (18:05.253)

It is still growth!

Kathi (18:07.522)

This is such a huge victory, friend. I know it may not feel as different, but what you have done for your kids and for your own mental health is indescribable. It’s huge.

Tonya Kubo (18:10.972)

you

Tonya Kubo (18:18.024)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (18:22.937)

Yes, and it is a victory, but like we say in clutter free, right? It’s not one and done. It never is, right? So many people think, like, if I could just take a whole week off of work and get my house completely decluttered, it’ll be fine. I’ll never have to do it again. And I just feel like it’s so important to point out that for some of us, the goal is to just be better than we were when we started and to be on the path to be better a year from now than where we are right now.

Kathi (18:27.991)

Right, 100%.

Tonya Kubo (18:51.827)

constant state of improvement.

Kathi (18:51.98)

So Tonya, when you were first working the clutter free program, how often were you renting a dumpster?

Tonya Kubo (18:57.704)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (19:02.609)

Well, I had never rented one before we started, but that was like when we recognized we had no space. So we rented one, we could get one. I remember we could get one at a special deal once every three months. And so that’s what we did. The first year was four times. The second year was three times. And then we went to twice a year for a good chunk of years, maybe three years, until we bought this house.

Kathi (19:06.371)

Right?

Yeah.

Kathi (19:25.87)

For a long time, yeah.

Tonya Kubo (19:29.383)

We bought this house and we got one and that’s when they doubled the price. I was not happy, Kathi, at all. They doubled the price. We got one and then we kind of looked and we were like, we had enough for one dump because the way that our town had done it at the time is you would rent it for a month or four empties. And so initially we were filling it four times and then it went to where we’d fill it only like two to three.

Kathi (19:35.498)

I agree.

Kathi (19:48.941)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (19:53.004)

Mmm.

Tonya Kubo (19:56.775)

but that last time we actually did not have enough stuff to fill it once. It was still worthwhile because I still truly appreciate having the immediate free space, but it was huge progress. But what I want to also say is, you when we talk about stress and clutter, if you hear nothing else in this episode, this is what you need to hear. Yes, clutter causes stress and stress causes clutter.

Kathi (20:01.87)

That’s amazing.

Kathi (20:07.874)

Yes.

Kathi (20:24.42)

Yes, ex- go-

Tonya Kubo (20:25.507)

It goes both ways. I don’t want anybody listening to be like, well I’m stressed out because I’m failing at my decluttering because it is the most vicious cycle ever. And it’s one that I am living right now. Now it’s not throughout my whole house, but it’s my desk. So I am in a period of travel, which I don’t love doing during the school year. And when I cannot contain all that I have to do, I start writing everything on sticky notes and color coding them. And I,

I stick the sticky notes all around my, I kid you not, 27 inch monitor. And then when I have filled the edges of my monitor, I start just sticking them in random places all over my desk. And there was a point in time last week where you couldn’t see my desk because there were so many sticky notes of things. Now I will tell you this week, super empowering to be able to get rid of a stack of sticky notes every single day before I go to bed.

Kathi (21:12.504)

Yeah.

Kathi (21:20.258)

Nice So Tonya here’s what I would say too because I don’t want anybody to join us in the free group or potentially be in the clutter free for life group and think This is how I get my house perfect because let me be honest with you I Would still like ten more minutes before somebody comes over like I but but I don’t need

Tonya Kubo (21:45.299)

Amen. Brian would like 10 to 14 business days if you could arrange that for him. That would be his preference.

Kathi (21:55.384)

But here’s the thing, Tonya, and we’ve had this happen before, where friends have been in crisis and they need a place to sleep. And I say, come on down. And we can do that. You can’t do that because you have no room in your house.

Tonya Kubo (22:03.581)

Mm-hmm. Yup.

Tonya Kubo (22:09.381)

I was gonna say I only have as many beds as I have people in this house and well that oftentimes one of us is on the couch.

Kathi (22:17.452)

Yeah, but if somebody needs to come over and grab something to make their dinner, you could let them into your house and you can do that. And that’s the big difference, my friends, you know, that I live in a space that doesn’t stress me out every time I come downstairs. And I, you know, right now my garage is organized like, you know, miracles abound friend. Okay.

Tonya Kubo (22:21.139)

Mm-hmm.

yeah. Yeah.

Tonya Kubo (22:34.973)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Kubo (22:41.405)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (22:49.27)

You know, we’ve talked a little bit about Clutterfree Academy, which is our free group that everybody is welcome into. You have to answer a few questions so we know that you’re not trying to one, try to teach other people because you were born organized and you know how to do it because we reject you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Tonya Kubo (23:08.347)

I will say this one more time, we are the kindest quarter of the internet except for that particular type of person.

Kathi (23:14.4)

Yes, yes. But also, we have our Clutter Free for Life group. here’s something I’ve been thinking about recently, Tonya, and a way I’m going to start teaching it in Clutter Free for Life. There are a lot of organization programs out there. And those programs are like

trimming your rose bushes, trimming your plants, like they may look good for a while, but you’re not getting to the root of the problem. And yeah, yeah. No.

Tonya Kubo (23:58.557)

Well, that’s the ultimate issue, isn’t it, Kathi? Please continue. But I mean, that really is the heart of it, is so many initiatives we have tried to solve our problem of clutter is bandaging a deeply infected wound.

Kathi (24:14.966)

Yeah. Yes. And what I want to do is I want you to get to the root of this problem. I want you to get to the place where you are pulling that rose bush that is not producing great roses anymore, but you keep trimming it and hoping it’ll come back and no, we’re just going to pull it out by the roots. And that’s what clutter free for life does, because what we want you to do is we want you to spend

Tonya Kubo (24:39.111)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (24:45.526)

Few minutes 15 minutes every day getting to the root of the issue and that means getting the stuff out of your house getting it out of your space because if You get it out. You never have to deal with that particular item again But if you keep it and organize it and put it into a folder or buy a plastic tub for it You’re gonna have to reorganize it and reorganize it and reorganize it

Tonya Kubo (24:55.324)

Yes.

Tonya Kubo (25:04.167)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (25:15.65)

Dozens of times and if you’re not going to use it, it’s time to remove it

Tonya Kubo (25:21.091)

Mm-hmm. 100%.

Kathi (25:22.766)

So, Tonya, can you explain a little bit of the difference between Clutter-Free Academy, our free group, and Clutter-Free for Life, which is our paid group? And let’s just be honest, we’re doing this podcast because we want to introduce, some of you just need the band-aid every once in a while. But most of the people who are searching out, decluttering, those kind of terms,

Tonya Kubo (25:30.685)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (25:52.65)

on Facebook looking for that kind of help often need deeper help and that’s what clutter free for life does.

Tonya Kubo (25:56.903)

Mm-hmm.

Okay, well, I could fill four episodes with everything that is involved in our Clutterfree Academy program and our Clutterfree for Life membership program. But here’s what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna give you some differences from the perspective of Grace Church. She is the community manager of our Clutterfree for Life, our membership program. And she just says it so well.

First things first, the free group is huge, depending on your relation with size. But it’s inching up towards 16,000 members now. And so it’s huge. So if you are the type of person that really feels like you are all alone in the world, you are the only person who has clutter, you’re the only person who hasn’t figured out how to get on top of your stuff, please by all means come into the free group and see that you have.

roughly about 15,900 close personal friends who also think they’re the only person in the world. If you need to know you’re in good company, by all means go there. If you are somebody who likes a big, busy group, lots of activity, talking about all sorts of different things, all that fall within the spectrum of clutter, Clutterfree Academy is a great place for you. And if you have just like one or two questions about clutter,

Kathi (26:59.977)

Right.

Tonya Kubo (27:21.841)

Like, my gosh, my mom just passed away. We’ve got this milk glass and we have no idea what one does with milk glass. Who here knows? We’re pretty good resource for that kind of thing, too. Excellent resource. However, if you are somebody who prefers a smaller, more intimate group that is action oriented because our free group has people, some people actually don’t believe they have any issue with clutter and they come into the group to prove

Kathi (27:31.381)

Excellent resource.

Tonya Kubo (27:51.461)

somebody in their life wrong, right? Somebody told them they were cluttering. They’re like, I’m not cluttering. I’m gonna go join this cluttering group and prove to you how uncluttery I am. Those folks are in there. Some folks are in there just because their clutter is situational. We get a lot of teachers, for instance, who are changing classrooms, changing jobs, and they’re just in there for some help in getting rid of some of the stuff that they’ve stockpiled. Clutter-free for life is for the person on a mission, right?

They know they have a clutter problem. nobody joins Clutter Free for Life because they’re curious on whether they have a clutter problem. They join because they know what? They have a problem. They want to be in company with other people doing, with the same shared goal, I should say, because not everybody is working on the same thing at the same time, but they all have the same mission. And they like more direct help.

Kathi (28:21.934)

Mm-hmm, right.

Tonya Kubo (28:42.577)

Some of our folks in Clutterfree Academy love the information we share. They binge this podcast. They go through, they pour through the website, but they are not ready to be visible yet, right? They don’t want Kathi to know what they look like. They don’t want Kathi to know them by name. Nobody’s scared of me. Everybody’s happy knowing me by name, but you know, Kathi, they really look to you as a mentor and as an expert. And so in Clutterfree for life is when they’re ready to be seen. We meet on zoom every single week.

Kathi (28:53.485)

Yeah.

You

Kathi (29:09.976)

Yeah.

every single week.

Tonya Kubo (29:12.741)

and we talk through these issues. Now there was a time where the calls on Zoom were just Q &A’s like, come and give us your clutter problems and we’ll answer. And what we have discovered is our people do not appreciate that. They come, they want us to pre-decide, they want us to look at what’s going on, what the theme is, and let them know what’s most important for them to know to take immediate action, and then support them in whatever obstacles are along the way. And so to do all that,

We have a calendar with a day-to-day decluttering plan for you. We do separate it in monthly themes because we have been at this long enough, Kathi Lipp has been at this longer than me, but we’ve been at this longer enough to know those rhythms and routines of where clutter rears its ugly head most often. And honestly, we’re just the nicest stinking people you could ever hope to be with our members. Like I get emotional every time I lead one of our weekly calls.

because they are so generous and so kind and so giving. And there is nobody who will ever answer your question with a, well, what you gotta do is, because all of us are aware that we are no more of an expert on the solution than you are, but we are experts on the journey.

Kathi (30:31.02)

Yes. And it is a journey. It takes time. This is not, like you said, a one and done. This is constantly keeping up on it and reframing how you think about your stuff. That’s a lot of what we do is help you reframe how you think about the things. Because many of us were raised by parents that if you give it away, that means you’re wasteful. Or, you know, that we have these tapes in our head.

that we don’t need to keep. And so we really try to give every, we lend each other our bravery to be able to say, you can get rid of it, it’s gonna be okay. Or, hey, you may need to hold onto that for another three months until you are ready to get rid of it. But in the meantime, here are the other things you can do. So friends, Clutter Free for Life, you can join it any time of the year. It’s 299.

Tonya Kubo (31:25.043)

Mm-hmm.

Kathi (31:27.63)

for the entire year or $24.99 per month or right now we’ve got a sale going on and we do this because we want you to be able to try this out and you guys it’s such a good sale it’s $118 for the entire year which is is pretty stunning

Tonya Kubo (31:30.163)

or $24.99 per month.

Kathi (31:55.022)

And you get all the same things that you get when you join at full price But I will say there is a limit to this because we have to hand process each of those ones So we are only offering this price through December 10th 2024 and You will be let into the group. You will get immediate access to our resources in there You’ll be able to look at all the past teaching. So if you’re like

I don’t have a lot going on for Christmas, then what you can do is you can start watching the videos. You can start being a part of the discussions. And can I just tell you this clutter free Academy is the kindest corner of the Internet. Clutter free for life is the kindest corner of the kindest corner of the Internet. You will never be shamed. You will never be said, you know, told, that’s what your house looks like because we’ve all been there.

Tonya and I were both raised by hoarders. My dad was a hoarder. Yeah, Tonya’s, my dad was a hoarder. Tonya’s mom was a hoarder. We get it, friends. We get that this, this is really hard, but we want you to be a part of it. So if you want to be a part of Clutter Free for Life, all you have to do is go to the show notes. We have a link there. It’s kathi.link/CFL and

Tonya Kubo (32:55.539)

Yeah, nothing ever surprises me. Nope.

Kathi (33:21.567)

You will get all the information you need. We would love for you to come and join. You can bring your clutter burdens to us. We will talk about it. Plus, you’re going to have hundreds of other people in there who have been through this journey and can give you the advice you need, not just the advice, the encouragement. So I want you to come check it out because it is a pretty spectacular place to be. Tonya, any final words of encouragement for our friends here?

Tonya Kubo (33:52.173)

You know what? It is not a personal failing to need help with your clutter. When I think back to a lot of our new members or a lot of the conversations I have with people in the free group who are thinking about joining the membership, what I hear a lot of is like, I should be able to do this, right? And I’m like, I’ve got a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree and a whole lot of life experience and I need help.

Even if I wasn’t on the team, I’d be paying to be part of this group because I need the plan. I need to know what the next step is and I need support in getting there and it’s okay if you do too.

Kathi (34:31.63)

We need support from each other. We just need support from each other to continue on the journey. Tonya, thank you so much for your wisdom today. Friends, thank you for being here. You’ve been listening to ClutterFree Academy. I’m Kathi Lipp. Now, go create the clutter free life you’ve always wanted to live.

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640 – 30 Days to Freedom: Join Our Annual 1000-Item Declutter Challenge!

Are you ready to create some breathing room before the holiday chaos begins?

In this episode of Clutter Free Academy, hosts Kathi Lipp and Tonya Kubo discuss their annual 30-Day 1K Challenge, where participants declutter 1,000 items during November. They explain why this challenge is perfectly timed before the holiday season and how it’s achievable for everyone, regardless of their current clutter situation. Kathi and Tonya emphasize that perfect systems aren’t necessary for progress, encouraging listeners to take “imperfect action” rather than waiting for the perfect plan.

Listeners will discover:

  • Why starting small is crucial for success
  • How to gamify decluttering to get the whole family involved
  • Tips for handling sentimental items and adult children’s belongings
  • The importance of community support during decluttering

Whether you’re a busy mom trying to reclaim your kitchen table, an empty-nester ready to part with decades of “someday” items, or just someone tired of feeling overwhelmed by stuff, this challenge is for you.

Join the Clutter Free Academy Facebook Group to receive your 30-Day 1K Calendar to help track your progress. Remember to answer all three questions to join the group! It’s how we keep it the nicest corner of the internet.

In this episode, Tonya mentioned the time she rented a dumpster. Listen to the original Episode 434: Do I Need a Dumpster?

Order your copy of Sabbath Soup here and sign up to receive your free ebook featuring four week’s worth of easy meal plans and delicious recipes.

Click here to be notified when the next podcast episode is released!

Also, stay up to date and sign up here to receive our newsletter.

 

Sabbath Soup: Weekly Menus and Rhythms to Make Space for a Day of Rest

Kathi Lipp gives readers an easy-to-follow process for meal planning and prep, so that they can enjoy a full day each week of real rest and refreshment.

Could you use a break from cooking (and everything else) once a week? Not only is rest vital for your mind and body, it’s good for your soul too. God designed us to enter into Sabbath rest one day per week, but as you know, meals still need to be made. Your family still needs to be fed.

Sabbath Soup includes convenient, seasonal meal plans that take the guesswork out of shopping and cooking. More than just a collection of delicious recipes—including main dishes, breads, breakfasts, desserts, salads, sides, and yes, soups—this is your guide to establishing a weekly rhythm and routine of meal planning and prep that allows you to have a true day off.

Do something good for your soul and experience the peace that comes with a full day dedicated to spending time with God, family, and friends. Savor your Sabbath as you proudly proclaim, “Soup’s on!”

Order your copy of Sabbath Soup: Weekly Menus and Rhythms to Make Space for a Day of Rest here.

Links Mentioned:

Order Sabbath Soup here  and sign up to receive your free ebook featuring four week’s worth of easy meal plans and delicious recipes.

Episode 434: Do I Need a Dumpster?

Clutter Free Resources:

What inspired you to start the 30-Day 1K Challenge? 

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Meet Our Guest 

 

Tonya Kubo

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 her at www.tonyakubo.com.

 

Tonya Kubo Picture
Transcript

Kathi (00:01.72)

Well, hey friends, welcome to Clutter-Free Academy where our goal is to help you take small doable steps every day to live with less clutter and more life. And I am here with my co-host Tonya Kubo, leader of all things clutter-free. Hey Tonya. Tonya, it’s our favorite time of the year.

 

Tonya Kubo (00:25.117)

Hey, Kathi!

 

Tonya Kubo (00:29.445)

It is our favorite time of the year. I was just about to say that.

 

Kathi (00:33.399)

Because we’re weirdo wackos. Yes, but 30-day 1k. What do those words mean to you, Tonya?

 

Tonya Kubo (00:36.969)

We are the Wackos.

 

Tonya Kubo (00:45.727)

That means in 30 days, we are going to eliminate a thousand pieces of clutter from our homes.

 

Kathi (00:53.152)

Now, Tonya, you’ve been doing this for years. Obviously, you have no clutter left.

 

Tonya Kubo (00:58.079)

Yeah, because we just live in a museum over here. You know us. Right? mean, the whole principle, if somebody is just joining us, right? If you are a veteran listener, you’re laughing with us. But if you’re just joining us, the clutter is never one and done. And I think that is the number one challenge for most cluttery peeps when they are new on their journey, is we really think if we declutter the right way, if we just do it right this time,

 

Kathi (01:04.29)

You

 

Kathi (01:12.728)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (01:28.179)

we’re never gonna have clutter again. And that is not how it works if you live with other humans or if you’re going through various stages of life. Like, I don’t know about you, Kathi, but every stage of life I’ve been in brings a different type of clutter into my life.

 

Kathi (01:43.852)

Well, okay, Tonya, so let me just get, we’re gonna dive into this, but let me just tell you what’s happening over here at the Lipp Household, right? So we’re launching a book and we have a retreat net, you know, in like a week and a half. And the book I happen to be launching is about cooking, right? So every appliance in the Lipp Household has decided to die at the same time.

 

Tonya Kubo (01:47.87)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (01:58.952)

Mm -hmm

 

Tonya Kubo (02:03.176)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (02:09.499)

yes, yes.

 

Kathi (02:11.144)

And we’ve decided to have a major electrical problem here in our garage, sure. And the people who installed our heating and cooling system, who I won’t say it here on, but if you are installing a heating and cooling system and the people you’re looking at start with a B, contact me first. Let me talk you out of that. But they have to come. So all of that.

 

Tonya Kubo (02:18.205)

Mm -hmm. Sure, why not?

 

Tonya Kubo (02:33.801)

Yeah

 

Kathi (02:40.344)

contributes to clutter. Plus, let’s just be honest, because I’m not cooking as much, we’re eating out a little bit more. And well, we’re eating in a little bit more. that causes it. just like life circumstances cause more clutter. so you just I, I have spent 50 of my 57 years thinking, well, next year, it’ll calm down. Next year.

 

Tonya Kubo (02:55.411)

Mm -hmm. Yup.

 

Tonya Kubo (03:08.732)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (03:10.164)

you know, when the kids leave the house, it’ll calm down when, and yes, it calms down, but then other things ramp up and all of that contributes to clutter. So explain to us, Tonya, the concept of why, you know, that’s ridiculous. You should just be decluttering all the time. Why are you trying to declutter all that in one month?

 

Tonya Kubo (03:15.817)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (03:30.986)

Okay, so first of all, if you see yourself in any of those pictures, we’re probably not the podcast for you. But so from a very practical point, we do the 30 day 1K in the month of November, because we know regardless of how solid your systems are, a lot of stuff comes into your house in the month of December. And so it’s nice.

 

Kathi (03:37.4)

Probably not.

 

Kathi (03:55.468)

Yeah, it’s so true.

 

Tonya Kubo (03:57.983)

to not pile more on top of more and to actually reduce the amount of stuff that is in your home prior to this flood of things. Now I have younger children, I’ve been saying I have small children for so long, they’re not really that small anymore, they’re 10 and almost 15. So they come with a whole bunch of stuff, especially in the month of December. So the first reason is just to minimize what’s in your house before you get an influx of things. But the second is,

 

I think most of us, regardless of how we feel about our homes, spend 10 months of the year so in the thick of it we don’t really pay attention to what’s around us. And then November hits and we start thinking about Thanksgiving and we think about Christmas and you know, if you’re the kind of person who decorates you think about where you’re to put the tree. If you entertain you’re thinking about where you’re going to put all the people. If you don’t entertain sometimes you have fantasies about wouldn’t it be nice if we could entertain.

 

Kathi (04:55.64)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (04:57.215)

and you start to get really down on yourself. And so the 30-day 1K is a great opportunity to say, you know what, let’s take some massive action. Let’s get into motion so that we feel better about our surroundings on the end of the month than we do right now.

 

Kathi (05:15.288)

Yeah, and I’m going to add one thing that I’ve never really thought about before when it comes to November and December. We’re just spending a heck of a lot more time in our houses. And, you know, things that you can ignore when, know, nine to five, who works nine to five? Come on, nine to six, nine to seven, you know, like eight, you know, six, 30. Right. Exactly. That was yesterday, except it was seven to eight.

 

Tonya Kubo (05:26.494)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (05:34.975)

Hahaha

 

Tonya Kubo (05:39.155)

Seven to seven.

 

Kathi (05:44.536)

And we’re just spending so much more time in our houses. And like you said, we’re having more people into our houses. It’s time to really think about how those walls are kind of closing in on you and to create a little elbow room. So guys, this year, we are starting Friday, November 1st, 2024. And so that is our launch day.

 

Tonya Kubo (05:59.155)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (06:06.163)

Mm

 

Kathi (06:08.77)

But everybody likes to have a little ramping up, which we will do the few days before, you know, that Halloween week, we will be ramping up. To be a part of it, you need to go, and we’ll put the link down here, to Kathi Lipp’s Clutterfree Academy on Facebook and ask to join. And the most important part of asking to join is answering all the questions. Because if you don’t, we don’t let you in. It’s not that we’re being mean, it’s we’re trying to be really, really kind.

 

Tonya Kubo (06:13.289)

Yeah.

 

Tonya Kubo (06:29.885)

Yes, please.

 

Kathi (06:37.944)

to the 15 ,000 people who have already answered the questions. And we want to make sure that we don’t have raggedy people in there. Okay, so Tonya, here’s my first question. Is it really possible to get rid of a thousand things in a month?

 

Tonya Kubo (06:38.879)

Mm -hmm.

 

Yes.

 

Tonya Kubo (06:46.057)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (06:54.911)

Yes, in fact, every, I have so many 30-day one case stories I can share from our community. So just let me know if you want another story. But so every year somebody says, well, I’ve been at this for three years now. I don’t have a thousand things. Or you know what? We did so much at the beginning of the year. I don’t have a thousand things. And then at the, usually around the 20th, they’re like, my gosh, I’ve already hit a thousand things. So part of it is we,

 

Kathi (07:03.103)

Yes.

 

Kathi (07:10.04)

Mm

 

Kathi (07:19.084)

Yeah, it’s crazy.

 

Tonya Kubo (07:22.801)

Everybody defines clutter differently. And I remember the first year we did this, I had posted a picture. We had done a dumpster, which we have prior episodes about that. We can link them. But I had gotten a dumpster to get rid of a bunch of things. And there was one person in Clutter Free Academy who was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought this was about decluttering. Trash isn’t clutter. Clutter is only things that are usable. And I was just like, well, maybe in your house, but in my house, I am overwhelmed by trash. So I have a big dumpster.

 

That’s what I’m using, right? So part of it is how you define clutter. So for us, it is stuff that you do not love, do not use, would not, could not buy again. It’s very simple. If it falls under those three things, then it can be clutter. And I don’t care personally, and Kathi, I know you don’t care how you get rid of it, but here’s the deal. It has to leave the house. You can sell it. You can donate it. You can stick it on your curb or

 

Kathi (07:52.354)

Yeah.

 

Kathi (08:02.424)

Mm

 

Kathi (08:07.416)

Mm

 

Kathi (08:14.785)

Right.

 

Tonya Kubo (08:19.965)

You can throw it in a trash can or a dumpster, but it must exit completely to count. And now Kathi, yes, I want you to kind of share your perspective because what I have found in Clutterfree Academy is I am everybody’s friend in Clutterfree Academy, right? I’m their buddy. I am in the thick of it with you, with them, and you are the boss and nobody wants to take off the boss.

 

Kathi (08:25.929)

It’s so true. Yes.

 

Tonya Kubo (08:48.639)

So I need you to tell us what your non -negotiables are for the 30 day 1K.

 

Kathi (08:48.78)

Okay.

 

Kathi (08:53.688)

Yeah, so first of all, I want you to know it’s very, very doable because it’s only 33 items a day and all of us can do that. Okay, this is how I count things.

 

Tonya Kubo (09:02.825)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (09:07.769)

I was like, that’s what they’re afraid of. They do not want to upset Kathi Lipp by counting something that doesn’t really count.

 

Kathi (09:13.634)

Guys, it’s your house. The only thing I care about is that you live in peace. So this is how I count things. If you want to count a thousand piece puzzle as your thousand things, feel free, but that’s not going to get you towards peace. It’s just not. So I always think of it like this. If there’s a paperclip on my desk and I pitch it, that counts as a thing. If…

 

Tonya Kubo (09:18.068)

True.

 

Tonya Kubo (09:40.991)

Mm

 

Kathi (09:43.032)

If there’s a box of a hundred paper clips on my desk that counts as one thing every Decision counts as a thing so if you’re gonna get rid of a thousand things it’s a thousand decisions and That’s why this is so hard because it’s so hard making these decisions So if you’re making a decision, that’s a thing and it counts if you want to count the thousand piece puzzle

 

Tonya Kubo (10:06.036)

Bye.

 

Kathi (10:13.176)

pop off, but here’s the thing. I do not believe that that is going to get you to the place you want to be in your house. So if I was going to have one rule, every decision is a thing.

 

Tonya Kubo (10:25.991)

Yes. So I was going say, so that’s the big non -negotiable one, right? Because people will, we’ve had members in the past, it hasn’t happened in recent memory, I mean, we’ve had people paralyzed by the indecision of whether a pair of shoes counts as one item or two. And go ahead.

 

Kathi (10:38.626)

Yeah.

 

Kathi (10:43.594)

And so under that, I would say it’s one decision, because you’re not going to get rid of one shoe and not the other. It’s one decision. Yes.

 

Tonya Kubo (10:51.535)

Right. Yes, exactly. And so that’s, you know, I think that’s important. And the other thing, and you said this the very first year that Clutterfree Academy was open, so I don’t expect you to remember it. But, you you said like, well, you have, when it comes down to it, you have to decide what’s more important to you. Checking a box toward a thousand things or free, actually making an impact in your home. So back to the thousand piece puzzle.

 

Kathi (11:16.621)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (11:19.983)

If it’s that important to you to check off a thousand items on a thousand checkboxes by all means, but how much of an impact is throwing away one thousand-piece puzzle going to make in the landscape of your home?

 

Kathi (11:31.972)

It’s so true. Okay, so Tonya, I have a question for you. lot of people want to do this and they’re like, one, nobody will help me or two, I can’t get rid of other people’s stuff. So can you talk a little bit about that? Because Roger is on board. Like he’s sold out. We’re doing it. But you have kids. You have a husband.

 

Tonya Kubo (11:35.539)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (11:45.16)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (11:49.278)

Right.

 

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

 

Tonya Kubo (11:56.445)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (11:59.213)

And your husband was quite the collector when you got married. Okay.

 

Tonya Kubo (12:02.911)

he still is. I mean, the collection is dramatically diminished, but he still is a collector type. He likes to collect things. I think I have like, yeah, I think he has like 700 bottle caps on his desk right now. They’re yeah, like he has that thing. Like, I don’t know why I don’t get it. But you know, they’re in a vase. It’s his desk. He gets to do what he wants with his desk, which is it’s rule number one, right? I do not mess with other people’s stuff.

 

Kathi (12:11.02)

Yeah. So how do you deal with that?

 

Kathi (12:18.434)

Does he really?

 

Okay, yeah.

 

I bet it’s really cute.

 

Yeah.

 

Tonya Kubo (12:31.871)

I focus on my own clutter and I let everybody else focus on theirs. How I have gotten my family enrolled from almost day one is I gamify the 30-day 1K. It is a family-wide contest. I print out our tracking sheet for the thousand items. There’s four people in my family, so this is actually very easy for us. It may not be easy for you, but I have four different colors of highlighters. Everybody gets a highlighter. If you have more people in your family, use markers.

 

Kathi (12:32.14)

Mm -hmm. Bye.

 

Tonya Kubo (13:01.651)

but everybody gets to mark off a box in their color when they declutter something. And at the end of the month, whoever has colored the most boxes, so whoever has gotten rid of the most stuff, gets to pick our reward. So we have done it in the past. We’ve done a whole movie day. And so, you know, that person got to pick the movie and then everybody gets to bring their favorite snack. So nobody’s punished for not decluttering the most.

 

Kathi (13:21.74)

Cool.

 

Kathi (13:28.354)

Great.

 

Tonya Kubo (13:30.491)

So we’ve done a movie day, we’ve done dinner out. I remember the first year I taught the girls how to make charcuterie and they all got to pick out a fancy cheese, which you know that was actually a very pricey endeavor. It’s cheaper to take those kids out to the movies. But I gamify it. I think one of the things that I would like to free all of our listeners from is decluttering does not have to be penance. It doesn’t have to be a punishment. You can incorporate joy into this.

 

Kathi (13:40.152)

Right.

 

Tonya Kubo (13:59.401)

whole experience. And so I want my children to have positive associations with decluttering. I don’t want them to be like, yeah, every time we decluttered, my mom made us eat baloney sandwiches and wouldn’t let us leave the house until the whole place was clean. I don’t want those kind of memories. So we make a game of it.

 

Kathi (14:15.757)

Right.

 

I love it so much. Okay, so we have the people who are like can I even find a thousand pieces of clutter in my house and the other people on the other end of the spectrum Dude a thousand pieces of clutter won’t even make a dent in my house so let’s talk about Those friends who are like I it’s not even gonna make a difference So my first thing would be to say you have to start somewhere

 

Tonya Kubo (14:23.519)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (14:32.799)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (14:46.814)

Mm

 

Kathi (14:46.89)

and a thousand pieces of clutter, especially in some of the in those circumstances, I would ask you to concentrate on surface clutter. I think for many of us, when we, you know, we’re like, okay, we’re gonna declutter a thousand things. And so we go into grandma’s China, like that’s the first thing we do. And it’s like, okay, that’s not gonna make as much of an impact as all the mail on top of your microwave. So.

 

Tonya Kubo (15:06.356)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (15:16.244)

If you want to, and then I would also say if you have a lot of clutter, stick to one room for a while until it feels different, then move on to another place. What would you say to that person who says a thousand pieces are not gonna make a dent?

 

Tonya Kubo (15:26.495)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (15:31.433)

So what I actually hear in that question, Kathi, is if my house isn’t going to be company-ready, Pinterest perfect, there’s no point in starting. And my response to that is, but if you ever want your home to look like your fantasy home, your dream home, you have to start somewhere, and why not start now? I agree with you. I do advocate for starting in one room.

 

Kathi (15:42.775)

right.

 

Kathi (15:55.362)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (15:59.935)

A lot of times the daily challenges that we do for the 30-day 1K will hit various rooms of the house, right? Because what we’re our goal is to jog your memory to get you to think like, what can I get rid of in my kitchen? What can I get rid of in the spare room? But if you focus on one room, then you’re going to be able at the end of the month to go, wow, I’ve accomplished something. If you’re flitting throughout the house, you know.

 

Kathi (16:05.09)

Sure, yes.

 

Kathi (16:09.878)

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

 

Kathi (16:21.368)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (16:26.227)

Like Kathi’s point, I mean, you may have clear counters and a clear microwave in the kitchen. You may have clear coffee table in the living room, but you also just may not feel as accomplished as if you focused all your energy in one space.

 

Kathi (16:39.786)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I think People you know, we we talk about the concept of spending all your time saddling up like I’m gonna I’m gonna find the perfect system. I am going to color code I’m going to have different baskets for different things I’m following these six different decluttering systems that I found and I’m combining the best of all of them

 

Tonya Kubo (16:49.555)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (17:03.647)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (17:07.212)

to come up with, and I’ve been working on this system for two months.

 

Tonya Kubo (17:11.529)

Mm

 

Kathi (17:13.28)

And I think a lot of us who struggle with perfection are waiting for the perfect system. And we are here to say imperfect action beats perfect inaction. And what I mean by that is don’t spend all your time saddling up, go somewhere. The most important thing is to get this stuff out of your house.

 

Tonya Kubo (17:21.214)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (17:41.599)

Mm

 

Kathi (17:42.302)

And when I say out of your house, it can go into the back of your car, but then the back of your car needs to be put somewhere. So, you know, if you, what, what do you say to that perfect, that perfect mindset? I mean, I know you just talked about that, but like just for the getting started, you’ve already talked about if it can’t be company perfect, I’m not going to start at all. So what, what would you say on day one to that person who

 

Tonya Kubo (17:48.713)

Exactly.

 

Tonya Kubo (18:04.67)

Mm

 

Kathi (18:12.148)

is like, but I’m going to make mistakes. It’s not going to be right. How do you help them, Tonya?

 

Tonya Kubo (18:17.135)

Right. Yeah, well, so I always tell people start small. And when we say small, we mean really small. Your very first day, I think the temptation is to say, I’m going to tackle this entire cabinet. I’m going to tackle this entire closet. Your very first day, I want you, if it’s the cabinet or the closet, I want you to just focus on one shelf. Like,

 

Kathi (18:25.954)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (18:43.229)

The top of the microwave is, if that’s where everybody drops mail and paperwork and stuff, the top of the microwave is your only job on day one. Okay, the kitchen table, it’s your only job on day one. That’s it. It’s not the entire room. It’s not every flat surface in the room. It’s just one single flat surface. Take a picture before, take a picture after.

 

Kathi (18:56.525)

Yeah.

 

Mm -mm.

 

Kathi (19:09.366)

Yeah, you know, I’m gonna give one other suggestion. know, you know, I’ve been in houses where the kitchen table would take a week. So here would be my suggestion for a space that even though it looks small is overwhelming, get some painter’s tape and section off that table into quarters or eighths, whatever you need to do. And just do the one section at a time. It’s going to be so much more manageable, so much easier. Okay, we’re gonna take a.

 

Tonya Kubo (19:18.174)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (19:27.081)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (19:31.464)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (19:39.01)

Quick break and when we come back, we’re going to talk about where do you start? What do you do? We’ve already talked a little bit about it, but we have some tools that are going to help you get started. So we’ll be right back. Okay, friends, we are back and we’re talking about where do you get started? Tonya, my whole house is crazy. I don’t even know where to start. Can you please boss me around? Okay.

 

Tonya Kubo (20:01.383)

Yes, so we always say pick the room that bugs you the most. That’s your starting point. So it’s usually two different places. Place number one is where company might see. That’s usually where our members want to start because they want to feel good about having people in their home. But the other most commonly bothersome place is the place in the back of your mind that you were like, if I died in my sleep tonight and stranger saw that.

 

Kathi (20:14.103)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (20:30.171)

I would die a second death. Right? That is usually the number two. But I like to start in a public spot because then every day when I walk in the front door, I’m reminded of my progress. That is my favorite.

 

Kathi (20:31.756)

Mm hmm. Yeah.

 

Kathi (20:43.672)

Mmm, I love that and We also are going to be doing some challenges for you We’re so you need the most important thing is to stay active in the group So you can get those challenges. So, you know what’s going on and you can be there with other people you know what you’re talking about right there Tonya is the low-hanging fruit sometimes

 

Tonya Kubo (20:52.371)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (21:11.251)

Mm

 

Kathi (21:12.332)

You know, it’s the place that’s most obvious or the place the thing, you know, is going to be the easiest like right now in my entryway because we just got home from unpacking some stuff. There are some fruit boxes, you know, like the cardboard boxes you get at Costco and things like that. Like I could get five points right now by just going. That is low. I didn’t mean to do fruit boxes as your low-hanging fruit, but you know that will cement it in your mind now. Right.

 

Tonya Kubo (21:18.291)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (21:27.091)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (21:32.767)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (21:41.085)

Right

 

Kathi (21:42.048)

Yes, so there are things that need to be thrown away. There are things that you’re like, well, maybe somebody will eat that banana. That was your thought on Tuesday. It’s now Friday. Nobody’s eating that banana. You can you can throw that away. That stained t-shirt that you’ve tried to bleach four times and it’s not coming out. You can either you cut it up for rags, or I’m going to let you count it.

 

Tonya Kubo (21:55.775)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (22:10.057)

Mm -hmm

 

Kathi (22:10.196)

As a declutter I am because you’re repurposing it, and I love that idea, but get that low-hanging fruit, Tonya, let’s talk about how important is momentum and how do you keep it going.

 

Tonya Kubo (22:28.639)

Yeah, so the first thing, so I think momentum’s very important. So if you are mathy person, some of our members are mathy people, I am not a mathy person, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know that 33 items a day is about 250 items per week. And some folks really, because 33 items is not satisfying to them, they wanna do 250 in one sitting. And I…

 

Kathi (22:36.727)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (22:55.263)

I love that about you and at the same time, it is going to be a lot harder. It’s gonna feel harder to declutter one day a week to 250 items than it is to do a 10, 15, 20-minute session each day. So I think that’s part of the momentum is if you, know, six.

 

Kathi (23:11.5)

Yeah.

 

Tonya Kubo (23:16.191)

say, hey, from 6 a.m. to 6 15 a.m. every day, I’m going to do my decluttering or from 2 15 to 2 30 every day, I’m going to do my decluttering and just make that happen. Then by the end of the month, you’re going to have a 30-day habit that has been built. And that is huge. And in terms of keeping going, can we just be honest that decluttering solo is not fun? OK, the demons in our head get really loud, I have found. And, you know, we start

 

Kathi (23:29.376)

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

 

Kathi (23:39.797)

It’s done.

 

Tonya Kubo (23:46.239)

We start with the negative talk. Like, how did I let it get like this? My gosh. Like, I remember the last time I cleaned this space and if I’d only kept it up and da da da da. And really in terms of continuing that momentum and keeping your motivation, that’s why we have a community. I love to say, know, everybody joins Clutter Free Academy thinking they are the only person in the world who has a clutter problem. And then they find out they’ve got about 15,600 or 700 friends or so.

 

who also think they’re the only person in the world who has this problem.

 

Kathi (24:16.918)

Right, you know, and so I also want to talk about momentum, but with a different take on it. So like one of the ways that I keep myself going when there’s a big decluttering is by putting milestones into my path. So I don’t even know if it’s milestones, but let’s say triggers in the middle of my path. So if I’m really working on decluttering for a month,

 

Tonya Kubo (24:24.936)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (24:39.411)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (24:45.848)

Then every week I’m going to Goodwill to drop off clothes. Every week or maybe every other week, I’m going to the dump to do a dump load of you know things that have accumulated in my house Every week I am I’m going to challenge myself to post 10 things on our free cycle group or our buy nothing group. Like I am going to be doing this

 

Tonya Kubo (24:50.494)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (24:56.083)

Mm -hmm.

 

Tonya Kubo (25:10.323)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (25:15.576)

I’m going to give myself some smaller goals and targets and go from that. Okay. If you are going through your house and you’re noticing like we’ve got all the Barbie stuff in the corner and I have not seen that Barbie move in 18 months. How do you talk to your kids? I know yours are a little older, but you’ve, you know, how do you talk to your kids about

 

Tonya Kubo (25:41.695)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (25:45.174)

How do we consider if this is something we keep or not?

 

Tonya Kubo (25:48.625)

Yeah, so I always like, I will reframe the conversation and focus first on what to keep before what to get rid of. So I’ve never gone to my children and said, we have to get rid of stuff. Instead, I say, hey, you know, it looks like we have like more stuff than we actually have space for. What do you really love here? So if I found the Barbie in the corner, I would just say, hey, how much are we loving this Barbie right now? mommy, I love it, I love it.

 

Kathi (26:08.95)

Yeah, okay.

 

Tonya Kubo (26:17.351)

Okay, well, I noticed you haven’t played with it in a while. Is it because it’s not where it belongs? Or is it because you feel like maybe you’re a little too old to play with Barbies right now? And then, especially in the month of November, I frame donating as a way to play Santa for other children. And they get very generous when it’s framed that way.

 

Kathi (26:32.769)

Mm

 

Yeah, so great.

 

Kathi (26:40.892)

Yeah, because they can imagine where it’s going instead of into the void. Let me also talk about your adult kids stuff, your adult kids who have moved on. I will say, hey, you know, whether it’s my stuff that I think somebody in the family may want, or their stuff that has been left behind, I will often do it as a text.

 

Tonya Kubo (26:43.635)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (27:09.208)

To say hey, you know take a picture text it over. Hey, is this something you’d like or I’m going to Goodwill can I go drop that off and? So that they know it’s a binary decision It’s not no mom. I want you to keep it because I can’t make a decision It’s either going to your house or it’s being donated because my house is no longer a storage shed for you.

 

Tonya Kubo (27:38.324)

Right.

 

Kathi (27:39.308)

But I also have to be okay with the no, don’t want it conversation. And that’s really hard for a lot of people because you remember that as it was in our house, Boo Blanky was this, know, Justin’s whole life was, you know, focused on Boo Blanky. And now you don’t want it. Are you kidding me? But it doesn’t have the same meaning to him as it does.

 

Tonya Kubo (27:46.526)

Yup.

 

Kathi (28:08.888)

I did at the time, but he is now he is now 30 years out from blue blankie and it’s okay for him to let it go. So I have to be able to say, do you want to keep this? No. Okay. Then I will donate it. I will throw it away. I will do whatever it needs to be done. And then also just making sure that you have an easy system that you are not recreating all the time. You know, we talk about the, you know,

 

Tonya Kubo (28:10.461)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (28:15.357)

Right.

 

Tonya Kubo (28:34.526)

Mm -hmm.

 

Kathi (28:38.539)

three totes and two bags. So there’s a garbage and recycling bag. There’s put away, giveaway and other rooms. And that helps you make decisions the whole time. Tonya, I wanna start to wrap this up. What will they experience in the free group when they join for the month of November?

 

Tonya Kubo (28:48.287)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (29:03.123)

Mm -hmm.

 

Yeah, so when you come into the month of November, be prepared. It’s a busy time, right? The challenge is a busy time. We have activity probably is like 3X, what it typically is, but you’re going to come in to the group and you are going to see before and after pictures showing all different types of living circumstances. We’ve got people who live in studio apartments. We have people who live in teeny tiny urban dwellings, people who have a lot, a lot of land.

 

a lot of open space and everything in between. have people who have several children. We have people who have no children, people who live alone, people who are, know, every age you can imagine. It’s always funny to me. Everybody joins thinking they’re gonna be the youngest person who’s ever joined the group and then they find out they’re not. Because clutter doesn’t, like clutter isn’t something that only becomes a problem after the age of 50, right? Many of us have a lifetime struggle.

 

Kathi (29:46.038)

Roommates, yeah.

 

Tonya Kubo (30:00.467)

but you’re also going to get a lot of support. You’re gonna have me in there every single day supporting you. Kathi is gonna be in there multiple times a week. You’re gonna have Grace. Grace is our community manager over in our paid Clutter Free for Life membership, but she comes in. We’ve got Deanna and then our Clutter Free for Life members. This is what I love about our Clutter Free for Life members because they are the people who said, you know what? Like I can’t do this on my own. I actually need hand-holding support.

 

They come in and they serve as mentors. They help people. say, Hey, you know, I remember my first 30-day one K this is what worked for me. And it is just the most loving, accepting place for anybody who actually struggles with clutter. Now asterisk, big asterisk. If you are somebody who does not struggle with clutter, you are a born-organized person. Please do not join our group thinking you are going to tell everybody how to live right.

 

Kathi (30:54.967)

now.

 

Tonya Kubo (30:55.411)

Because we are the kindest corner of the internet for the cluttery peeps. We are not the kindest corner of the internet for the people who think they know better than the cluttery peeps.

 

Kathi (31:02.518)

Yeah, we just will kick you out. And the most loving, there are places for you. There are Reddit threads where you can go tell everybody else how to live. But Tonya and I do not do that. And we’ve made tremendous progress on our journey. But we don’t boss. I mean, we push you around in the kindest way possible, but it’s because you’ve asked us to. So there we go. And Tonya.

 

Tonya Kubo (31:13.012)

Yeah

 

Tonya Kubo (31:16.808)

No.

 

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (31:26.023)

Yes.

 

Kathi (31:29.91)

We’re going to do a little download for people who join the group, right?

 

Tonya Kubo (31:33.183)

Yes, yes. So every year we have kind of a different resource we provide for the 30 day one case so that people who are there every year have something a little different. But sort of this year what I have planned for our community is it’s the combination of what has been requested and served people well over the last five years. So we’re gonna have a calendar. It’s gonna give you what your challenge is for each day. And it’s going to have a spot where you can actually mark how many items you’ve decluttered.

 

for that day. So we have a separate tracking sheet that tracks you all the way to a thousand, but I think it’s important to be able to look at your calendar and see, hey, I was able to do 90 things on Monday. I did 10 things on Thursday. I’m still doing well. And so that’s going to be there for you to just give you that, individual guidance. I know it’s really hard, especially when you’re overwhelmed or when you’re starting out to go day by day, you need to be able to see a little bit ahead of you in the path. And that’s what we’re going to provide this time.

 

Kathi (32:31.774)

I love it. So guys, we’ll have the link below, but you can also just be on Facebook and do Kathi Lipp’s Clutter Free Academy and you will find us even if you just do Clutter Free Academy, you will find us. If you don’t know how to spell my name, it’s totally fine. But or check out the link below. Answer all the questions. There only like three, but we need you to answer them so we know that you’re our kind of people, which means cluttering and kind. That’s those are our kind of people.

 

Tonya Kubo (32:41.961)

Mm

 

Tonya Kubo (32:58.846)

Yeah.

 

Kathi (33:00.77)

Tonya, thanks so much for all your expertise today. Yeah.

 

Tonya Kubo (33:03.519)

Thank you, and one more thing, if you’re participating and you are a social media person, I wanna see #30day1K all over social media this year.

 

Kathi (33:10.506)

Yes. Yes, I love it. I love it. love it. I will make sure I am hashtagging up a storm. Friends, you’ve been listening to Clutterfree Academy. I’m Kathi Lipp. Now go create the clutter-free life you’ve always wanted to live.

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