103: A Professional Organizer Shares How to Beat Clutter

Did you know there’s such a thing as a professional organizer? Someone you can just invite into your home to make all your clutter and cleaning problems go away? It’s true! My guest today is Andrea Dekker and her job is helping people simplify and organize their lives.

Better yet, she does it in in a way that resonates with real people, real families, and real budgets.

Wanted: A Professional Organizer for Real Life

Every time I deep clean my kids’ rooms I dream of having Andrea around. I’m definitely a planner and am pretty attached to my systems that keep things organized, and my husband is the same way. But if you have kids (and you know I have a few!) you have little disorganizers working against you 24/7. It’s definitely an uphill battle that takes effort every single day.

Another professional organizer, Marie Kondo, made quite an impact with her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and her Konmari method. I like some things about the method but it just didn’t seem realistic for our family of 8 that homeschools (and works from home to boot!).

As a wife and mom of 3, Andrea takes a different approach. She’s not a minimalist but she can help you pare down to just the things you use, need, and love. She doesn’t have a magic wand to wave the never-ending laundry and grocery cycle away, but she does have strategies to simplify it.

Andrea also doesn’t pretend like she has found “the right way” to run a home. She knows that looks different for everyone and has so many useful tips for figuring out your family’s priorities.

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• the difference between simplifying and organizing
• which 10-minute daily habit that can change everything
• a simple step to cut the mental clutter and make your family’s priorities clear
• the power of “no” … and when to use it
• why you don’t have to be a minimalist to have a clean house
• strategies to tame the laundry pile
• how to write a grocery list in the most efficient way possible
• ways to deal with the email giant (I’m taking notes on this one especially!)
• key habits of organized people (and habits of the disorganized)
• taming paper clutter … including kids’ artwork
• how Andrea keeps her car clean all the time (gasp!)
• the unique opportunities for women today … and some new pressures we face
• how to reframe thoughts to stay motivated and fight discouragement
• and more!

Resources We Mention

• The Andrea Dekker Blog
• 6 Ways I Simplify My Life
• My Job as Mom
• Do Your “Yeses” Match Your Season of Life?
• 3 Myths from Popular Home Organizing Shows
• 5 Habits of Organized People
• My SIMPLE Tips to Organize Any Space
• How I Declutter My Inbox with Gmail Filters

Book: Marie Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

Book: Holly Pierlot, A Mother’s Rule of Life: How to Bring Order to Your Home and Peace to Your Soul

Real Plans meal planning

WM Articles: How to Create a Capsule Wardrobe for Girls, Boys, and Baby

If you had a professional organizer for a day, what would you have them tackle? Do you have strategies that work for cutting the clutter? Please share!

Special Thanks to Today’s Sponsors

Today’s podcast is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen me mention them before. I have been using and loving and Instagramming their products for years. They have an amazing instant mushroom coffee.

I know it sounds weird, but hear me out! It’s not only the best instant coffee I’ve ever tried, it’s also pretty high up on the list of best coffee I’ve tried, period! It’s made with superfood mushrooms like Lion’s Mane, Cordyceps, and Chaga mushrooms. And these mushrooms have some big health benefits, plus give you energy and mental clarity without the jitters from traditional coffee.

If you aren’t a caffeine person, they also have a variety of mushroom teas and other caffeine-free products. I love them so much that I reached out and they agreed to give a discount to my listeners. So, go to foursigmatic.com/wellnessmama and use the code “WellnessMama” to get 10% off.

This episode is sponsored by Kettle and Fire Bone Broth. If you love the benefits of bone broth but don’t love the time it takes to make and how tough it can be to find quality bones to make it, Kettle and Fire is for you! Their bone broth is a regular staple in my kitchen these days, and it was what I used to create the recipes in my new bone broth e-book (releasing later this year).

So they use only bones from 100% grass-fed pasture raised cattle that are never given hormones and antibiotics. It’s also unique because they focus on bones that are especially high in collagen, which is one of the healthiest things you can put in your body. You can find them in many Whole Foods on the west coast and you can also order online at Kettleandfire.com/mama.