You will get rid of more in two weeks of packing than in five years of living in the same house.

Not because you tried harder. Because the rules changed.

Deanna Yates has moved 16 times as an adult, and number 17 is happening right now, unplanned and unwanted. In this episode she breaks down exactly what moving does to your brain, and how to steal that effect without touching a single roll of packing tape.

On a normal day, everything you own is already in your home. Every item has a spot. So when you try to declutter, each thing has to argue its way OUT, and if you cannot find a good reason, it stays. That is why decluttering feels like a fight. It is why so many decisions end with "well, I have room for it."

When you move, everything comes out. And now every item has to argue its way back IN.

Same stuff. Same you. Opposite default.

Deanna hands you the one question that flips it: Would I unpack this?

In this episode:

• The real reason moving makes you ruthless (it is not motivation)
• Why "I have room for it" is the sentence that kills most decluttering sessions
• How to use the unpack question on your kid's artwork without feeling like a bad mom
• What that box you never opened from your last move is actually telling you
• Why show ready and move-in ready are not the same thing, and which one you deserve
• The five minute photo exercise that will show you exactly what feels off in a room

Plus, Deanna is taking a small group through her move-in method in real time as she packs up her own home. Six years of helping families declutter, a background in property management, and 17 moves worth of lessons. Waitlist link below.

You do not have to move to declutter like you are moving.

Homework this week: Stand in the doorway of one room. Take a wide angle photo like it is a real estate listing. Then look at it the way you would scroll past it on Zillow. It will click.

Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/325 Join the move-in method waitlist: https://www.wannabeclutterfree.com/move-in-waitlist Come say hi on Instagram: @wannabeclutterfree

Next week: Amy Nesbitt on wellness, energy, and how to be a whole mom when your time is completely constrained.

If you're decluttering the chances are that there is a bag in your trunk right now, isn't there?

You did the hard part. You went through the closet, you made a hundred decisions in a row, you got everything bagged up and loaded in the car. And then you drove past the donation center. Twice.

The problem is that there are two decisions inside every declutter, and almost nobody warns you about the second one.

In Episode 324, Deanna is answering this question in real time. Her house is selling, her family is moving, and she is decluttering 500 items right now while her husband recovers from back surgery. Some of it is going to Buy Nothing. Some of it is going on Vinted. Some of it is going in the trash. None of it is happening perfectly, but it is happening.

She is also going to tell you the truth about where donated items actually end up, because she thinks you can handle it, and because knowing is going to make you feel better instead of worse.

In this episode:

• The two decisions inside every declutter, and which one stalls you out
• What percentage of your donations actually make it onto a thrift store shelf
• Where the rest of it goes, including the millions of garments that arrive regularly in Ghana
• How to tell in 30 seconds whether a parking lot donation bin belongs to a real charity
• The 1938 labor law behind the unease people feel about big box thrift chains, and how to research your own local one in two minutes
• Why the guilt you are carrying is not keeping a single item out of a landfill
• The donation Deanna found while volunteering that made her want to throw her hands up
• Five places your decluttered stuff can go, ranked in the order you should try them
• The new Target Textile Drop Spot that takes stained and torn clothing in every California store
• Where to send shoes, makeup empties, electronics, and batteries
• Full permission to throw away actual garbage
• Why we need a lot of people doing this imperfectly instead of a few people doing it perfectly

FREE RESOURCE:

• The Guilt-Free Exit Plan One page that tells you where anything goes, a short vetted list instead of forty links, and the 30 second donation bin check. Comment the word TRUNK on Instagram to get it, or grab it here.

LEARN MORE

• Show notes and free resource: wannabeclutterfree.com/324
• The 19 for $19 Ultimate Decluttering Bundle: wannabeclutterfree.com
• Go to https://OmahaSteaks.com and use promo code BEEF at checkout for $35 off. Minimum purchase may apply.

CONNECT

• Instagram: @wannabeclutterfree

LISTEN

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wannabe-clutter-free-declutter-simplify-find-freedom/id1485473251
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ATUIVONi0kyoVUKOQV4OT?si=f555de5388164b10
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wannabeclutterfree

Your house isn't cluttered. It's loud.

That single reframe changed how I look at my own home, and it comes from Myquillyn Smith, known online as The Nester.

Myquillyn has spent over twenty years helping women create homes they actually want to use. She's the author of Cozy Minimalist Home and House Rules, and her new book House Hushing is out now.

Here's what makes her different. She's a decorator, not a decluttering coach. She is not going to tell you to give up everything beautiful. She's going to show you how to turn the volume down first and let the room tell you what it actually needs.

In this episode she walks through backwards decluttering, her method that takes about twelve minutes a room and requires zero hard decisions up front. You clear the visible layer, you live in the quiet room for 48 hours, and then you only bring back what you genuinely missed. No willpower required. The room does the convincing.

We also get into why we fill up whatever space we're given, what to do about the closets you're not touching yet, and how to hush a kid's room without breaking their trust.

And I got honest with her about where my own home is right now, in a hard season, drifting. What she said back to me is the reason I'm keeping this episode close.

In this episode:

• Why "loud" lands when "cluttered" doesn't
• The photo trick that cures house blindness instantly
• All the steps of backwards decluttering
• Why the 48 hour wait does the deciding for you
• Stuff threshold vs clutter threshold
• When to finally open the closed storage
• Hosting without keeping every extra just in case
• How to hush a kid's space collaboratively
• Experiencing a season through your five senses instead of storing decor eleven months a year

Your quick win from Myquillyn: clear off your coffee table and let it be naked.

Connect with Myquillyn:

• Website: thenester.com
• Instagram: @thenester
• House Hushing is available everywhere books are sold.

Show notes: wannabeclutterfree.com/323

Come say hi on Instagram @wannabeclutterfree and tell me which room you're hushing first.

Happy decluttering.