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