Include your family. I know, I know. But it’s true.
A lot of times we just want to do it for them. We are acting from a place of emotion – and that’s great. That’s your jet fuel. But it isn’t sustainable, and often leads to more damage than good. If you want to successfully declutter, you need to include your family.
Some rules of thumb for including your family, if you want to declutter successfully.
1. Doing your stuff FIRST.
Lead by example. Good leaders DO, not just say. You also need the experience and knowledge of what it’s actually like to declutter before you do it.
2. Be mindful of their ages and stages of development.
It’s not realistic to expect a two year old to make the decision on what to keep and not keep, they literally can’t. Teens even need help developmentally sometimes.
3. Adjust your expectations around their timeline to successfully declutter.
It probably won’t be what you want/expect. How long has it taken YOU to do your stuff? They are the same.
4. Proactively move forward in a new way with what is coming in on a regular basis, and how often you are letting things go.
It does no good to declutter, if you just RE-clutter it right away.
Here is the full transcription.
1:06 – the thing you have to do.
3:00 – general rules of thumb
3:13 – 1st rule of thumb – do your stuff first. Lead by example.
5:32 – example of why you need to do your stuff first.
6:34 – 2nd rule of thumb – be mindful of their ages and stages of development
8:03 – Decluttering simplified the course https://motherhoodsimplified.com/declutteringsimplified
8:37 – 3rd rule of thumb – adjust your expectations around their timeline.
11:17 – 4th rule of thumb – proactively moving forward in a new way with what is coming into your home on a regular basis as well as how often you are intentionally letting go.
13:44 – release your clutter like a powerful mother challenge in the Facebook group happening May 3-10th!