Is It Time to Declutter? How to Know for Sure (and keep it from coming back) | Ep 12

Ever feel like your own home is dragging you down? When you walk in the door, you feel heavy rather than light and relaxed? It's not in your head. It's your home telling you something.

We get so used to our spaces that we stop seeing them. We could walk past the same pile every day until it becomes invisible. But that low-level unease, the avoiding certain rooms, the repurchasing things you know you already own somewhere – those are the signals worth paying attention to.

In this episode, Elyse shares the telltale signs it's time to declutter your home, plus three simple habits to keep the clutter from coming back.

• Why your home might be keeping you stuck in a past versions of your life
• The sign you're overlooking that means it's time to let go
• How to pause before clutter even enters your home
• A simple donate system that eliminates "I'll deal with it later"
• Why a seasonal review beats one big annual purge every time

This isn't about a perfect home or a massive declutter project. It's about noticing the signs and building habits that actually stick. 🎯 

Tame the Chaos is a podcast about the mindset side of organizing and what it really looks like to create a home (and a life) that works, hosted by San Diego professional organizer Elyse Metzger. New episodes every other week. 🎙️ 

Connect with Elyse:

Instagram: @the.organized.way

Facebook: The Organized Way

YouTube: @theorganizedway

Website: discovertheorganizedway.com

Have a question or topic idea? DM me. I'd love to hear from you!

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In the San Diego area? I work with clients for home organizing and move management. Book a free consult.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever walked around your own home and felt like something was off? Maybe it's not a huge disaster or even messy, but maybe you just have this heavy feeling or not being able to relax in your own home, and you just can't put your finger on why that is. Well, that feeling is a signal, and today we're going to talk about that. I'm going to walk you through the major telltale signs. It's time to declutter your home and a few simple habits that you can do to keep the clutter away. I'm Elise Metzger, organizer and founder of The Organized Way. Welcome to Tame the Chaos. Spring is peak season for me and my team. This past month we have had back-to-back projects, and a lot of them were decluttering projects because lo and behold, spring is the busiest time for decluttering. Surprise, surprise. What I keep noticing from being in my clients' homes in these decluttering home reset projects is that their home isn't filled with junk. It's filled with items that they have outgrown that they don't need, that things that just they don't need to move on to the next chapter of their lives. A lot of them are kids growing up, getting older. They don't necessarily need the baby stuff anymore. They don't partake in certain hobbies. Um, they're doing different things in their daily lives. Their kids maybe have left the house, they've moved for whatever the reason is. When you're decluttering and you get that itch to declutter if you do, or something just feels off in your house, it's usually a time for change. And decluttering your house or a certain area of your house, or decluttering an old hobby, getting rid of those items, it just helps you move on to the next chapter of your life and what you're ready for. So when we don't declutter, our things are keeping us stuck and preventing us from moving on to that next chapter of our lives. What I've also noticed is after I come home from my clients' homes and going through the decluttering process with them, I come home and I start seeing my home differently. Like, I mean, it's funny because I do this for a living and I feel the same things my clients do. I need like a wake-up call to tell me when it's time to declutter. Just the other day, I was looking at the cupboard behind me, actually. It was full of all of my like toppings, our bread, our spreads, just our pantry kind of cabinet. And I kept opening it. And seriously, it's been like this for months and months and months, like really unorganized to me, like not functional. And I just kept avoiding it. Like I wouldn't really eat anything in there because I didn't want to get into it. But anyway, I went back. It's nothing crazy, like it wasn't a big change, but I definitely needed to go in there and declutter and reorganize it. But the point of my story is that I didn't even realize it, I was avoiding it, and I realized it after I've been in clients' homes that I need to look at my own home and decide what I need to declutter. But it's like you need kind of a wake-up call and you really need to be intentional about it. So that's from this past month of all of these decluttering projects. I really noticed that if we have that feeling, there's certain signals that tell us our home tells us when it's time to declutter. And like I talk about in my other videos and episodes, our home and our things, our belongings really, really directly relate to our daily lives and our mental clarity and our entire mindset. So, being that I am a professional organizer, I do this for a living, I actually help my clients declutter and get rid of things to help them move on to the next chapter of their lives, then I also want to help you do the same. I think that noticing when you need to declutter is the hardest part because we're in our homes all of the time and we stop noticing what is around us. It just becomes like a norm. We're kind of immune to the things in our house. It's like we're walking past the invisible pile every day. We just don't see it because we see it every day. So I'm going to share the top three telltale signs of when it's time for you to declutter. I want to just quickly say that instead of trying to declutter your entire house at one time, maybe as I'm going through these signs or feelings, think about one space in your home or think about a situation, maybe like a hobby that you don't do anymore. And everything, every physical item that you have that relates to that hobby, or maybe your children growing up and out of certain things like clothes, toys, books, start with categories or spaces like that, even a closet or just the kitchen, whatever feels heavy in your house. Number one, your home feels heavy and not restful. So if you ever notice yourself walking in the front door and you exhale from stress instead of exhaling in relief, that might be a sign of your entire home. But if you find yourself avoiding a certain area because you just don't want to deal with it or you kind of just don't notice it anymore, notice how you feel in your home. That is the first step and being aware of your home, your space, how you feel. If it feels really heavy or chaotic or stressful, that's not a good sign, and that probably needs decluttering. Number two, you find yourself repurchasing things that you already own. And I know this seems obvious because why would you purchase something that you already have? Well, it happens a lot more than you think. Because if you need something, if you need scissors, you can't find your scissors, and you need them now, you're going to buy scissors, you're not going to spend the time going through your drawers, closets, wherever you need them now, you're gonna buy them. And you end up accumulating more and more things, and it's just probably like hidden in a closet, in a drawer, wherever, but it is in your space in your home. So that's another sign that you need to declutter, you need to go through things. So you end up never looking for the scissors, and who knows, you may lose them again, or you need something else that you already have, like deep in your mind, you know you have it, but you can't find it, so you just get another one. And number three, you have outgrown what is there, and this is kind of what I touched on just a little bit ago about our past selves, hobbies, certain stages of our lives, chapters of our lives that we are just not in anymore, kids' toys that they've outgrown, clothes that you just don't need anymore from a job you used to have, maybe a hobby that you used to have, painting, drawing. These are signs from your home that you have outgrown. If you don't use those items anymore, they don't belong in your home if you don't need them. Okay, now that we know the major signs, feelings, what to look for when it's time to declutter your home. Here are some habits that will keep the clutter away. This isn't about a huge declutter session and then just being done. It's about keeping the clutter away and habits that will help you do that. Number one is pause and think about anything new that comes into your house. And I mean, this is for everything. Obviously, when you're shopping at an online or in a store, anytime you buy something, think about where it's going to go in your house. Imagine it in your house where it's going to go. And also imagine this item in your house six months from now. Will you still need it? Will there still be room in your house? Is it worth buying? Really pause before you buy anything that's going to go in your house. I mean, for food, the essentials, that's kind of like buy what you're going to eat. Um, but for other things, you know, items that are going to stick around in your house, think about it, think about where they're going to go. This is honestly one of the habits that's really helped me. I like to shop. I like to shop. I am a shopper, and every season when the new fashion styles come out, I just love it. And I like to buy clothes, but I've gotten so much better at this, and this habit of really pausing before buying really helps me visualizing where it's going to go. Am I going to wear it a year or two years from now? It's really helpful. It's something that's helped me. For those of us who have kids, we have the birthday parties and we have all of the gifts. And I was talking to my friends this week about grandparents just overbuying their children gifts, and so they just end up with an overfilled playroom and you know, just a lot of toys that the kids don't even play with, that they don't even need. So if you have a situation like that, you know, make it clear. Say, state that you want experience-related gifts. And if that's too hard, you know, I know kids love to get gifts. My son, particularly, his birthday is coming up. He loves getting gifts, he loves to open them. It's fun and for him, and I'm not going to take that away from him. So, what I do is with all of the gifts, we open them, and then he can choose, you know, two or three, or I'll just pick out two or three that he can immediately play with. And I will put the rest of the gifts in a closet or some sort of like toy stockpile so he can open at a later time. And I know a lot of parents do this. Number two, a seasonal review. So about two to four times a year, just walk through your home or focus on certain spaces and just do a quick review. It doesn't have to be like a full hour declutter session. Just notice the things in those spaces and review if you need them. Are you still using them? Will you use them? Um, this is actually natural. I'm sure a lot of you already do this, but when the seasons change, especially in spring and fall, when the seasons are changing, it's like a natural thing to do is to we change over the foods we eat, the clothes we wear. So we're naturally transitioning into a different season. So we naturally look at the things in our house or the things in our homes and the things that we use and the things that we need and the things that we buy. So maybe take mental note next time, maybe now in the spring or in the fall, summer, whenever, just take mental note. It's good to have sessions and be aware of it and intentional about reviewing our items every season or whenever the weather changes. Number three, designate a donation area in your home. So get a bag. I use a black trash bag and I put it in the corner of my garage on the very, very farthest corner of the exit of the garage. And this is where our donations go. We keep it in the garage, and when it's full, we take it to goodwill. So instead of seeing things in your home that you know that you're not going to use that you can get rid of, instead of just thinking about it, actually take it out of your space and put it in that donation area. And know that when it's full, take it out or take it out whenever you can. Take it to goodwill. And this prevents, I'll deal with it later, and keeping it in your space because when it is in your space, you still have that feeling of heaviness, not being able to relax, all of those feelings, the uneasiness you feel inside of your home. Get that stuff out and put it in the donate box or bag. The more you become aware of when it's time to declutter, noticing the signs and practicing those habits to keep the clutter away, the more natural it will become. The goal really isn't to do like a big declutter session and be done. It's about having those habits that stick and being intentional about keeping the clutter out of your house. In the end, it's going to make you feel so much better in your space and really intentional about the things that you have in your home. So now it's your turn. What area of your home needs a good decluttering? I would absolutely love to hear from you in the comments or send me a message. I hope this gave you a little bit of clarity on your own home, like it did me. And maybe at the very least, it gives you permission to finally get to work on that pile of clothes you've been walking past the past couple of months. I'd really love to hear from you on what you're getting to work on first. And as always, please share with me any topics you'd like me to cover. I started this podcast as a way to help you feel like you have it together and get a better sense of organized habits and how to think like an organizer. I would love to hear from you. I'll see you next time in two weeks. Until then, have a great week and I'll see you soon.