Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - The Truth About My Messy Past (and What Saved Me) | Clutterbug Podcast # 286

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

If you’ve ever looked at your life and thought, “How did I end up here — and where the heck are my shoes?” — this episode is for you. Whether you're stuck in a shame spiral over clutter, afraid to start because you might fail (again), or dreaming of a better life but don’t know how to take that first step… you are so not alone. In this raw and honest episode, I share the unfiltered story of how I went from total chaos (like, literal hoarder-level mess, bad decisions, and breaking the law kind of chaos) to finding purpose, peace, and a really clean kitchen. We walk down memory lane — from ADHD-fueled disasters to building the Clutterbug community, from a flip cam and a dream to YouTube, books, podcasts, and even a fire truck (yup, you read that right). This one’s not just a highlight reel — it’s a messy, hilarious, and heartfelt reminder that you don’t need to be perfect or have it all figured out. You just need rules, limits, vision boards, and a dash of delusional self-belief. You’ll hear the power of finding your people, discovering your style, and finally realizing that you’re not messy — you just organize differently. ✨ We chat about: What it’s really like to fail (a lot) and keep going anyway The chaotic backstory behind Clutterbug (and how it almost didn’t happen) Vision boards, viral videos, and how to manifest your dream life — one basket at a time How “It’s not a cat” became a clutter mantra (and a t-shirt!) What to keep when you’re living in a “temporary but forever” space Why your kids don’t think you’re cool — even if you’re a YouTuber The life-changing magic of saying “I deserve this” — and meaning it 👇 What’s your chaos-to-clarity moment? Have you ever embraced your weird, chased a wild dream, or told yourself “I deserve this”? Let’s chat in the comments — and if this episode made you laugh, cry, or finally toss out that third crockpot, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share with a friend who’s also building their own beautifully messy, magic-filled life.   You can find more Clutterbug content here: Website: http://www.clutterbug.me YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clutterbug TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/     #clutterbug #mondaymotivation #declutteryourlife #adhdlife #clutterfreehome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not sure how to start today's podcast. I'm trying this new thing, which is amazing, which I have a producer that's just asking me questions about things, and I'm just blabbing them, because this is going to feel real and natural. And for you listening, whether you're brand new or you've been here a really long time, I thought it would be fun to start by taking you on my journey, explaining it, hopefully in a way that totally makes sense. I have always been a disaster. I was, I came out of the womb, just a chaotic mess. I didn't know that this was undiagnosed ADHD. I just thought I was bad at everything, bad at keeping things tidy, bad at managing money, bad at having impulse control, I ate everything, I snorted everything. Can I

say that? The point is, I was not a great human. And then I decided enough was enough because even though I didn't want to live in society's box. Being outside of the box was really hard and cold and I was hungry and it was awful. So I started trying to follow the rules. You get a job. You pay your bills. You clean your house. You get married.

You have children. You follow the path that has been worn out by all the people ahead of you. Unfortunately, like I sucked at all things, adulting. And I had to try and fail a million gazillion. times to find out what works. And what is so fascinating is what actually works is not following the path and the rules, but making your own. It's understanding what works for you, what doesn't, and why. And when I finally embraced that, and I started with my house, which looked like an

episode of hoarders, when I started there and stopped organizing the way my husband did and the way I thought I was supposed to and embraced a less organized, messy approach, things stayed tidy. I could find my shoes, both of them, and the keys and the umbrella, and I could put things away, and my mother-in-law could pop over without judging me with her judgy eyes, and it was awesome. I know some of you have been with me for like 14 years. Some of you, maybe it's been four days, but I thought it would be really fun to go back down memory lane, to start maybe at the beginning and walk you through the journey so that you can really understand the process and why this works. I hope while you're listening to this podcast that it gives you maybe like some hope because

where I was 14 years ago, 15 years ago was in a pit of despair and just a disaster in every way. and I pulled myself out and I learned how to make life feel easy and hopefully along this way you'll learn those tips and tricks too with me and maybe I'll make you laugh. Hopefully I don't make you cry. Sometimes I cry. But the point is together we can get to a place where we're enjoying our home and our life and yeah, we definitely deserve it. Hey Clutterbugs, welcome back to the Clutterbug podcast. Today we're going to talk about. about my clutterbug journey. And that started 15 years ago, question mark. Listen, math is hard for me. So I'm not 100% sure, but it started with, let's just get, okay, here's where it really started.

It started with me tackling my own house. And then I thought I was a genius because even though I had struggled for as long as I can remember with organization, when I finally did this dish pan, lazy, less organized approach, my house started getting really organized and super tidy and people noticed. And they were like, Cass, you're really good at keeping your house clean. And I was like, I am, bitches, I am. And I was so excited about the concept of home organization. I talked about it nonstop. It was probably ADHD hyperfocus. And one day my husband said, please stop talking about bins and baskets and organization and paper management. Let's talk about the weather or grass like normal couples. And he gave me this flip camera and told me I should make videos and put it on this thing

called YouTube. Meeting Joe was definitely like a catalyst for change in my life because I, when I met Joe, I still smoked a lot of weed. Can I say that? Fine. Whatever. I carried a backpack everywhere I went because I had been arrested so many times. I always thought at any moment I would be going back to prison. I actually did have warrants out for my arrest and I knew that at the time. So I was just constantly living in this like weird. I mean, you know like a manic pixie girl? Is that what it's called? I feel like that was definitely, I was just embodying that. I'm working a bunch of jobs. No longer breaking the law, will I say. And I, I was not. using hard drugs. So I was making an effort. And then I met this boy who, A, paid no attention to me,

even though I was wearing low-cut tops with my boobs hanging out. Two, was so responsible. He was working multiple jobs while going to university full-time. And he was like always buttoned up and wearing khaki pants that he had obviously ironed in like an unironic way. Even though he worked at a bar, he was bartending. And I was like, who's this dork? And then I was like, watch me, watch me, watch me with this dork. And I'd be like leaning over. Oh, Joey, can you help me roll the silverware? And he'd be like, no, not right now.

Maybe I'll help you later. I was like, boy, you're a nerd. You don't even know. So I like aggressively pursued this poor man who's two years younger than me. Finally, I don't know, I just trapped him or whatever, poor guy. And the first time he came to my apartment, he immediately, went and did my dishes, which I thought was adorable. And he just sort of looked at me like, what, what are you doing? And he one day brought me a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad,

and the wealthy barber, which are like finance books. Because at this point, like, every month that we were dating, I'd be like, I don't know how I'm going to pay the rent this month, man. And he's like, well, why'd you just spend $1,000 on clothes? And I was like, what? And he's like, Two days ago, you bought all this random crap that's now clutter that you can't even see the floor. And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, forgot about the rent. So he's been this steady Eddie. He's been this like North Star. I used to call him my moral compass where I would say, hey, Joe, is this a smarter or dumb thing to do? And he's like, dumb cast dumb, real dumb, don't do it. And so I've looked to him for direction in my life. And he definitely helped me.

a lot move from complete chaos into more stability. But I also feel like I've helped to loosen him up because dude dude was boring. Oh my gosh, Joe had to deal with not just like me being messy, but always when we moved in together and we got married, he's such a cricket and I'm such a ladybug. When I did start to get tidy, I would then just take all his stuff and hide it, but then immediately forget where I hit it. So cleaning the house was like, shoving everything under the bed or shoving things in the closet. But he would have bills that needed to be paid or like important things or maybe his tie for the meeting he had the next day. And he's six in the morning. He's like, Cass, Cass, where's my? And I'm like, I don't know. Check

everything. Check the freezer. Check the, check your shoes. Check under the bed. Check every drawer. And he lived in this constant state of just where is my stuff? Where did it go? Have to look for it everywhere. And then when I started decluttering, I would just throw things out. I would get so into trash bag therapy. Like it didn't matter. He's like, that was a check for like a thousand dollars. And I was like, oh, I threw it in the garbage. It's gone. Totally gone. I was cleaning. So man has the patience of a saint. Man, Joe got me my first self-help book. And the thing I really noticed about Joe was he was always, like the guy was in university. And yet in his spare time, he was like educating himself on other things. And I'm like, hold up. Like this seems extra. Why are you doing

this? And he was like, every successful person I know, they never stopped learning. And that was the first time I had ever heard that before. I didn't go to university. None of my family had ever done any kind of post-secondary education. I've never known one of my family members to crack a book, ever. I can't even tell you. Do we even know how to read? I don't think so. So this was so weird to me and but I gave it a try and the more I read the more I became really obsessed with it because it was very quickly impacting my life in a very positive way like I was getting better at things by reading other people who are good at things so I yeah I got super obsessed with that and I guess am I that person now am I like a self-help person weird never thought of myself that way but I guess

yeah sort of sure it's all coming up full circle. Oh man. I think if I'm going to be on a self-help shelf, I assume it's going to be in the home decluttering space, but I also would love to move into just like the general self-help would be so great. And it's not like I've come up with anything on my own, but I've gathered all these little tips and tricks from all these other experts and been able to kind of massage them and put them away that helps for even the most biggest disasters like me. You know, I found a way to make it work without having to get up at 5 a.m.

That book sucks, by the way. The 5 a.m. Club, what is wrong with you? Who's having cold showers and who's getting up at 5 to go to the gym? No. But that's a thing. You don't have to be that way. You don't have to be disciplined and motivated and be a person who, like, you don't have to be David freaking Goggins to, to have.

have a really incredible life. You can find your own way to get there and your own path. And my first video was so awful. I started a channel called Malatoose 79 because I was born in 1979 and my nickname as a kid was Malatos. And I uploaded this video of me like being way too excited about organizing my closet with dish pans from the dollar store. I did not have a tripod. I did not have lights. I held the camera like two inches from my face. You just looked up my nose at boogers the entire video. People in the comments were like, I feel like I'm going to throw up. You're shaking and moving everywhere. But I didn't care. Because I also read in those comments, people who said, I'm going to try this or I tried this and it's actually working.

Honestly, that first video started out with like, I remember waking up in the morning and I had maybe 10 views and then 100. And then before I knew it, I had over a thousand views on how to organize your closet, which felt amazing. It felt validating as somebody who was always sucked at everything to finally be in a place where I can be useful, where I can be helpful, where I can do good in the world after all the bad that I had kind of spread around. It almost felt like, I don't know, Penting. Does that make sense for my troubled youth? And then I got really excited because I was sharing my passion and guess what? Other people were feeling the same passion. I had found my tribe of messy people just like me who needed a different way, a new approach. And I started making

videos about everything. I organized my socks with like Kleenex boxes. Don't judge. It was bad. but it grew and I got better and everybody who was watching their homes got better too and fast forward to today and I have a different channel called clutterbug reasons horrible reasons of why malachos 79 went under oh it's so sad okay so I every week would put up a video while running a daycare while being a mom I just was so excited about organizing anytime I was doing anything to make my house better, I would make a video or a client's house better. I would make a video. And I would share it on this channel, Malatoos 79. And then one day, someone asked me, I don't remember who, they were like, how much money are you making? And I said, you can make money off YouTube?

At this point, I had had almost 100,000 subscribers. And I had been doing this for four or five years, dedicating a huge part of my spare time to just trying to help people get organized. And anyways, it turns out, yeah, no, I just had to like click a button and apply for something called AdSense and I could start making money. It was ridiculous. Okay, this is like in the beginning of YouTube. So no one had told me this and I'm not smart enough to research. Anyways, I turned it on the first month I made like $2,000, which was more than I made running a daycare. And I, my mind was, I was so, I mean, could you, you're doing something you love and you're getting paid for it? Hold the phone. This is insane. So I told people, I'm like, I can make

money doing this. And my mother-in-law, lovely lady, lover to pieces, she was like, how do you make money? And I said, well, they make these little ads on the bottom of the, of the video. And then if people click on them, I make like five cents. You know what I mean? But a lot of people were clicking on them or they run little they didn't even really have video ads back then the point is she decided the next day to spend the whole day clicking my ad so she sat and clicked my ad all day five cents five cents five cents she just ran that video and just clicked clicked clicked clicked clicked clicked clicked turns out that that is called invalid clicking and that is our click bombing and they immediately took my channel away like youtube immediately canceled my

adsense and banned my channel for life from ever being able to make money again. And I was devastated, which is silly because I didn't know I could make money for five years, but then I realized I could and then it was taken away. And I appealed and I tried and it was like back then that there's no more chances. One mistake like that and you're done forever. even though I hadn't done it, it didn't matter. And then people, I mean, people were click-bombing other people to be trolls and this was happening to a lot of people. But this, she was really just trying to help.

So I had two choices. I could give up, I had three, really. I could give up and say, well, that was an epic failure, which is what I wanted to do, put the blankets over my head and just cry and go on with life. I could keep making videos for free, which was awesome still, but also, sometimes. slightly disappointing. Or I could start again with a brand new channel. Unfortunately, I couldn't take those 100,000 people and all of those views and bring them with me. I had to slowly start again building from the ground up one video at a time, one subscriber at a time. And it took

me three more years to get to where I was at Malatoz 79. So eight years of not making a dime. doing this every single day. I definitely, like, I included my family a little bit. Joe never wanted to be on camera, but sometimes I would have my kids involved sort of like as in the background character, but I never went in like family vlogging. I think mostly because I didn't enjoy watching that type of content, I always found that so weird. Like, you're watching other people live their life. Like, they're boring everyday life. Like their kids are playing at the park while you're sitting in your living room, watch other people play at the park. That's weird. I really, my only goal with my channel was how can I help someone? How can I inspire them?

How can I educate them? How can I make their life better? Again, probably atoning for my past, but also because I really was like obsessed with organizing. It changed my life in such a huge, impactful way that it seems ridiculous how like putting your stuff in baskets can improve everything about your whole self, but it can and it did. And I just wanted to really share that message. You would think like having a mom as a YouTuber would be cool. Apparently it's not, mostly because I clean toilets and stuff in my videos. So my kids are so embarrassed. There has been times where their friends have played it in class, like played one of my videos in class. My kids just all die of mortification. So yeah, they're not thinking moms very cool for being on YouTube and they don't

want to be on my YouTube channel. And I'm definitely not going to pressure them either. If you ask my son what he wants to be when he grows up, he'll still say a YouTuber, just not like my kind of YouTuber. He wants to be a gamer. He wants to just make money playing video games all day. And so what's really interesting to me is I've been encouraging them since they were little to actually do that. I'm like, I could help you. My daughter plays ukulele and piano and sings and plays guitar. And I'm like, I could help you. We could film you. You could make a YouTube channel. Like I'm trying to pressure my kids to become YouTubers. But they're just like, nah, nah. And I think where the nah comes from is they will literally say, I'll never get famous. So what's the point?

And I think this is something everyone feels like this, this self-doubt, this, it won't work out. I'll probably fail. So while, why try? And honestly, that breaks my heart. And I, every time my kids say something like that or anyone I talk to, they, they kind of like, oh, must be nice, but not for me. I'd love to do that, but I couldn't possibly put myself out there. It comes from a place like, I think, you haven't failed enough, bro. That's what I, like, your life hasn't sucked enough. You haven't embarrassed yourself enough to stop caring if you embarrass yourself. My whole life, I was a failure disaster. So, To put myself out there and fail doesn't sting, I feel like it does for other people because I'm just so used to it.

Sucking is something I've always done, so who cares? The Day in the Life video, I was super scared to put out because I felt physically ill watching it. And so I don't want to make other people so cringed and embarrassed that they feel physically ill. Like that's too far for me. but if I'm baking a cake and I drop the mixer and a splatters cake batter all over the place, I'm like, yeah, that's awesome because that's relatable. And I don't see that as failure. I see that as like celebrating the chaos of life.

My kids are different, yeah. Some of the things that have helped me, obviously not overly caring what people think has been helpful. Other things that are helpful is having clearly defined. rules in my life, but also goals. Man, goal setting is probably the most impactful thing I've ever done in my life, like literally goal setting. And what's really fascinating to me is when I talk to other people and I say like, what's your big goal that you're working on? 99% of people will say, I don't really have one. And that is heartbreaking to me. when I'm talking about goals I'm talking about insane big dream huge like it might fail but who cares

kind of goal vision boards are something that I started doing a while ago and I know it's woo-woo and I'm not like a crystal rubbing essential oil huffing person but I will say that there's something a little spooky about putting your goal on paper and allowing yourself to pretend it might happen. Does that make sense? I'll just tell you, some things are weird. Am I magic? Things that have ended up on my vision board were writing my first book before I had even written a word. I put this on my vision board that I wanted to write a book. Two weeks later, I got a call from a publishing house offering me a book deal. I did not put this out there to anyone. This was like a private thing, which I thought was like goosebumps. Amazing,

right? I also was watching Marie Condo's show on Netflix with my assistant at the time. And I looked over at her and I said, man, we should have a TV show. This, like, we could do this. I was like, do you know anybody in the TV industry? And she's like, no. She's like, put it on your vision board. So I literally put TV show, hand wrote it and pinned it on my vision board. And two days later, I was contacted by a producer named Heidi to two days later. I learned making a TV show that I didn't really love making a TV show. What I actually, like, it was amazing to help people in a way bigger way than I possibly could on YouTube with the budget and the crew and the construction. Like, wow, did we make some transformations to people's homes?

But it was a lot of work. And believe it or not, you don't get paid a lot to do TV. There's no money in television. It's more just for bragging rights, I guess. But what I learned is to just be so grateful that the career that I do have. YouTube is really amazing or being a podcaster or being a writer, being able to do something you love and share your passion with the world on your own terms. You make your own hours.

You get to do whatever you want. There's no boss. You are your own boss. And so every success and every failure you have, it's on you. And you learn so much. And you grow so much faster because, yeah, at the end of the day, the only person you have to be accountable to is yourself. The other amazing thing is the community that comes with doing this. So whether it's YouTube or a podcast or even writing, the people who choose to listen are your people.

They're people who are like you and who have the same interests and passion and sense of humor, thankfully. And you get to find your tribe. You get to find your family. It's amazing. The comments that I read, everyone's so positive and I can really hear that they're excited to change their life in a better way too. They're ready and willing and taking the steps to transform their own life. And I get to have some tiny little small part of that, which feels so amazing.

As a family, as a big group, we are all leveling up our lives together. And that feels incredible. It's crazy. So I have a video. I was watching Chicago Fire. And I was watching it with my daughter. And I was like, I want to be a firefighter. And she's like, okay, mom, that's ridiculous.

and we were driving in our car. It was March 18th. I have the video on my phone and a fire truck went by. And she started videoing me. And I was like, yeah, that's going to be me as the fire truck went by. And I went home and I printed a picture of a fire truck and I put it on my vision board. And one month later in April, I looked online and they were hiring and I applied. And exactly one year later, March 18th, oh my God, why am I going to be going to be a lot?

emotional. Yeah, the next, like exactly one year later, I went on my first fire call. It's crazy, right? And, yeah, there's also lots of things that, like, didn't happen magically. 5Ks still on there, other things. But TED Talk was something that I put on my vision board that came true. Becoming a keynote speaker is something that I put on my vision board moving to a new house, becoming a beekeeper, little things, even like starting a vegetable garden.

Anytime I'm like, you know what would be so awesome, I instantly take the time to go write it down or print off a picture on the internet and put it up of my vision board and I'm pointing because it's right beside me and I look at it every single day. And do I think it's magic? No. But what I do think is that it redirects my brain in an unconscious way that I continually work towards those goals, that I have an end point in mind at all times, that anytime I'm like, what should I do right now? I should work. I should take a tippy toe step towards one of those

goals. And I also, even though I don't believe in magic, I will say there is something powerful in putting yourself out there, in being positive, in opening yourself up, like being brave enough to open yourself up to possibilities in a really vulnerable way. Like saying to out loud, I want to be this. I want to do this. You'll be amazed at what you can actually accomplish. So a few years ago, I was approached by Don from the Minimal Mom, who I really love.

She's a minimalist. And Dana from a Slob Comes Clean, who wrote this incredible book, how to manage your home without losing your mind. I'm a huge fan of her. The three of us got together and filmed a course, a course about taking your house back because all three of us suck at taking care of your house. Like all three of us were hoarders. And we all learned how to overcome that kind of different ways. So we came together and shared our processes and we kind of didn't always agree on things, but mostly we agreed. And we came up with a step-by-step plan. And what was so insane is

like over 30,000 women and two men, two men. There might be more than official. I think there's like maybe three men, but anyways, join this group. And oh my God, it is this unstoppable, insane force that honestly you could take Dana, Don and I out of the equation and it's just as amazing. In this group, they do daily Zoom meetings with each other to body double. they support each other. They know each other's like birthdays and kids' names. It is a, it's literally a community. It is a village of women and two men coming together to lift each other up and support

each other at all times. And I go into that group almost every single day. It's a Facebook group and people are posting before and after pictures and people are just like, I literally get emotional and cry all the time, seeing the transformations, but more than that, seeing the love that they have for each other, it's freaking beautiful, man, because we don't always have that in today's society. We don't always have like a close-knit group of family or friends to support us. So to see that on the internet, it's just incredible. I've talked a million times about how the four clutterbug styles came to be and how that came out of failure and ended up being this wonderful, successful win. But I also have like little catchphrases,

I guess, that have come out that I find I lean on a lot that are really helpful. Because again, learning from failure, learning from doing things over and over and over again and what works and what doesn't, one of my favorites is it's not a cat. So when I'm working with clients and they go to declutter something, anything, it can be a T-shirt. shirt or a stuffed animal or a teacup from a set they don't even have the full set of, there's this weird, like, oh, I want to make sure it goes to a good home and I want to, I have to re-home this thing and I don't want to hurt its feelings. Like, it's inanimate objects.

It's a piece of junk from Walmart. And you're acting like it's some cat you've raised for four years that you now reluctantly have to rehome. And so I was doing a live with people and reading the comments and everyone was like, Oh, but what if? And this t-shirt should go to my sister's best friends, brothers, aunts, uncles, daughters. What? And I was like, it's not a freaking cat.

It is an inanimate object without feelings. Stop it. It's not a, you don't have to rehome it. Put it in the trash. And that really resonated with people because I don't know if it's Toy Story. Let's blame Toy Story. But for some reason, we have weirdly emotional. emotional attachments to inanimate objects.

And when we can zoom out and realize it doesn't have feelings and it's fine to put it in a trash bag, that's freedom, friends. People have made t-shirts. People have, it's not a cat t-shirts. I'm not even kidding. Okay, another catchphrase. This one's like more emotional, but, um, you deserve this. Or more specifically, like, I deserve this.

So the first time I told myself I deserve to wake up to a clean kitchen every day and stop, I cried saying that out loud. What? That's embarrassing to admit, but I did. I don't know why, but I felt like saying I deserve a clean house, I deserve a beautiful house, I deserve all the amazing things that can have in life felt wrong. It felt almost like, I don't know, arrogant or something to say. So now I encourage other people to say that out loud.

I try to say it in every single video. I try to remind them that they deserve it. And what's really cool is other people have said they've had the same like visceral, emotional crybaby reaction. So if you're listening to this right now, I would love you to honestly like tell yourself you deserve. You deserve to be debt free. You deserve to have financial freedom. You deserve to have a beautiful home. You deserve to have a happy life.

And we just keep saying that out loud until we believe it. Yeah, the first catchphrase I ever had is like literally day one is you're not messy. You organize differently. That one really struck me. And I feel like it has really hit home with a lot of other people too. I grew up my whole life feeling messy. I told myself I was messy. Everybody around me told me I was messy.

But when I realized that I actually wasn't messy, I organized differently and I could find my style. Man, oh, oh, it's all about self-love, isn't it? Anyways, that catchphrase, that's hung around for 15 years. That's boncadongs. It's amaze balls. Are these catchphrases? I'm sitting here trying to remember my catchphrases, and I can't think of any, like,

amaze balls comes to mind. But let me know in the comments, what are some of those, like, weird things that I say over and over again? Maybe ones that have resonated with you or ones that you just think are odd. Let me know in the comments. In terms of catchphrases, one that I find myself. saying all the time is you have to have rules and limits, rules and limits. And I don't even know where this came about. Like I feel like I'm kind of anti-rules and limits, but not really, because rules and limits

have been my saving grace for a really long time. I feel like I started with rules and limits because Joe helped me put some rules and limits on my life. But even before that, let's get real. I started with rules and limits because I was such a screw up in my life. I had to have hard stop boundaries. So, The first rule I ever had was, you're not allowed to break the law. And I know that sounds really dumb, but before it was like, me, everything was gray. Everything was gray. If everything's gray, life has no color. So I had to have those hard lines. And then I was like, you're not allowed to drink alcohol. You're not allowed to do narcotics. And now I don't even smoke pot at all. Like I, I have these hard rules to keep me. It's like bumpers when you're bowling, you know, you need like the

the bumpers in the gutters so you don't fall into the gutter. I needed bumper so I didn't fall into the gutter. And for whatever reason, having these hard, strict rules allowed me to just not break them. So I could go anywhere I wanted, except outside the lines. I definitely took a detour to come to rules and limits. The reason is as a kid, there was so many rules that didn't make sense to me that I just rebelled against all of them. I'm like, I don't want to be in your society with your, like, stuffy go to work every day. Rules are made to be broken, man. And so I did. I broke all of them. But then life was even harder than if I had fallen in line. So I kind of like made this big circle you turn back to rules and limits, but flexible rules and limits, like wide rules and limits. So I

had lots of room in the middle to be sloppy and messy and make mistakes. But stop myself from getting into trouble. When it comes to decluttering and organizing, rules and limits helped me not only with my own home, but it really helps me with clients too, because I do think this is something we all need. Dealing with our home can be emotional. It can be stressful. And so the rules and the limits takes the pressure off of us. It takes the decision making off of us and it puts it where it takes the blame, honestly, off of us. And it puts it where it belongs, which is on this stuff. So a rule that I use or a limit that I use is we can only keep what fits in each space. So we're not allowed to like pile on the floor or pile on surfaces. That's hot lava. We can only keep the stuff that actually

fits in the container that we've designated. And another rule is every item we have has to have an actual place to go. Even if that's a basket called random, that's fine. But it has to have an actual place to go. I also have decluttering rules because, man, it's emotional to let go and it's hard. So I come up with predetermined rules ahead of time that I write down that are non-negotiable that I like logically, when I'm not stressed, agreed upon. So when I'm in this decluttering, I'm feeling, oh, look at this thing. It's from my childhood. I don't have to worry about my own decision making. I fall back onto those rules. So if I haven't used it in the last year, if I wouldn't buy it again, if I don't love it, if it was covered in poo, would you wash it or would you throw it in the garbage?

Everybody has different rules. You should have different rules for every space. But the trick comes, the secret really is determining those rules ahead of time before you've organized or before you've decluttered so that you have a path so that you have those bumpers in place so you don't end up falling into the gutter. that's what they're there for and they are critical to success when it comes to decluttering and organizing your home. I'm going to be, I'm going to be honest, fine. The thing that I've really learned about decluttering and organizing and working for people, just all of it, making YouTube videos, all of it is it's not hard at all. We make it hard by thinking it's going to be hard. Honestly, that's my biggest takeaway every time I work. with a client, every time I do something on my own, every time I talk to other people who are in this space, it's the same thing. You've made your own roadblock. You're having trouble

decluttering your house because you're telling yourself you're going to have trouble decluttering your house. You can't get organized because you're telling yourself you suck at organizing. You are expecting to fail so you're either not even trying or you're trying to copy how other people do it so that you can't fail because you're borrowing someone else's plan, which means you're going to fail. You are the expert. You know your space and your stuff better than anyone else. So why are you looking to me or anybody else to tell you how to do it? It really comes down to confidence. We talked earlier about like you deserve this. That's the crux of it right there. People are not believe.

in themselves. They are over-complicating. They're over-planning. They're over-reaching. They're over-analyzing. And they're being overly critical of themselves and have overly huge expectations of what they're supposed to be like. And that's the true reason why people are failing. My own journey has been, it's been nuts-so-but-so. It's been a bumpy road. I've had failures and detours and just, just, oh, it's been chaotic, but it's also been awesome. Now I have the ability to just kind of carve my own path, and I've made signs. I've put up signs and boundaries and bumpers, and I just follow those along the way, and things sort of magically work out.

It's not really magic. It's rules. It's knowing yourself. It's faking confidence till you start to actually have it. And it's realizing that you don't copy other people to get to where you want, that you have to carve your own path in life. I'd like to take a second to thank today's podcast sponsor, HelloFresh. I've been using HelloFresh for a few years now,

and I love it mostly because cooking for a family of five and having to go to the grocery store and having the meal plan is a pain in the butt, but Hello Fresh makes it really easy. Everything is really fresh, and there's no waste because everything's pre-portioned. I just follow the step-by-step picture instructions and have an amazing meal. And my favorite part is right now they have over 100 recipes to choose from. And a lot of them are under 15 minutes, really low in calories. So no matter like you're doing keto or you're vegan, there are options for you. Go to Hellofresh.com slash clutterpod 10 FM to get 10 free meals and a free item for life.

Again, that's hellofresh.com slash clutter pod 10 FM free meals applied as discount on first box, new subscriptions only, varies by plan. Let's do a talk to cast segment. Do we have a song? We don't know. Do we have a talk to you? No, not that. All right. Let's start with Jorge. Maybe he's one of the two men who are in the Take Your Houseback group. I don't know.

Let's hear. Is he? Hi, Cass. It's Jorge from Spain. I have been following you for a couple years and been a member since like a year ago. And I wanted to thank you because I am a BCB. And I've always been a fan of Marie Kondo on the home edit. But it's been practically.

impossible for me to keep up with that type of organization. I have a lot of have we done projects around because if I see them, I finish them, but if I put them in a box, they disappear and I find them two years after. And it's like, oh, you were in here and, you know, all that whole. And I wanted to thank you because now I don't feel guilty for having the projects outside, but at the same time, the clattering the ones that I'm not going to do, and the organization of the spaces where I keep my tools and everything has been really, really useful. Still a long way to go. But I wanted to ask you, too, because I don't feel guilty anymore for having my projects on site, but I feel kind of bad.

when I have visit over, when I have some friends or some family, because I do think or I feel that they don't understand it and they think I have a lot of things around or maybe like, oh, what a mess? And it's like, it's not a mess. I have my sewing machine out on the table and fabric, because I am sewing. It's not a mess. It's a work room. And what can I do to keep this part of guilt from me when I have this, it's over. Thank you so much. I love you. You've changed my life.

Thank you. I love that. Thank you, this is so good. I love, like, I can already feel like his confidence and self-acceptance, and that's the best part of the clutterbug philosophy is like, we're not messy. We organize differently. And he tried doing the home edit and failed. And then he was like, actually, no, it's cool, because I'm a bee.

and this is my jam and this is what works for me. And that's what we talked about earlier was that confidence. And so Jorge, listen, I'm going to say this thing to you that I think more confidence with people who come over that you're perceiving are judging you. I think you're probably judging yourself a little bit and maybe projecting that onto them, even if they make a little joke like, oh, looks like a mess. I guarantee they're not actually judging you. If they are, who the freak cares what they think is they're not exactly kind people. But I want to see you build up your confidence and like, yeah, I'm working on this and that's why it's out because I'm creative and I'm amazing and I'm making stuff.

And if there are spaces that you would like to use for entertaining that are currently being taken over by projects, one thing that I would encourage you is to go with mobile cart options. So not just a three-tiered cart, but you can actually get like carts from Home Depot that are utilitarian where you can put your sewing machine on top and you can put the fabric and then you can wheel it either to another room or somewhere else where you're not using it. I just did that in my new kitchen. I put my island on casters that are locking so I can wheel it out of the way and wheel it back when I want to use it. That's really helpful for bees, especially with projects that might be in communal spaces. But otherwise, I think you're doing awesome and just keep like being proud of yourself. That's

The Secret. Let's hear from Jenna. Hi, Cass. So I'm actually a girl in my early 20s. I'm not a mom who listens to your podcast with kids and a husband and a whole home to maintain, but I do have two little kitty cats who I love very dearly, but having them and ADHD definitely makes my home and living alone a lot harder than I thought. And one of my issues is in my room, I'll always just throw my clothes on the floor and I, no matter what I do, can't seem to figure it out. I've taken some tips like putting things in bins or piles have been helping, but if you just have any tips for me, for people like me who just take off their clothes and throw them on the floor instead of putting them in a drawer where I forget about them, that would be great.

And any other tips to younger females that you think would help, especially if they're living alone with cleaning the house and maintaining a nice and comfortable space. Thank you so much and I love your podcast and I love listening to it every time I clean. Bye-bye. Oh, Jenna, I love this. I love that there's the youngens up there because I wish I would have known like these life skills earlier. So by the time I did have kids and get married, I wouldn't be behind the eight ball. So good for you, my love bug. Something I recommend immediately. I almost feel like I can visualize your room. you need hooks on the wall. But let's go a step further and let's pick a wall in your bedroom where you can do a floating shelf above and then a big row of hooks underneath so you can

plop your clothes really quickly. But then above that, I would love you to display some artwork or pictures of your cats, maybe a few plants, so that it becomes part of the decor. I saw this at IKEA and I thought it was brilliant for butterflies because it made a wall of hooks beautiful and it made, yes, you're going to have like random hoodies and jeans and maybe pajamas on it, but it's not going to look like clutter. It's going to look like a feature of your space. So that is 100% what I would recommend for you is to make your everyday living stuff like your clothes, have, like feel beautiful and feel intentional in your space. Let's go to a quick question from Pam. Hi, Cass, this is Pam from Texas. I'm curious, what solution do you use in your mop?

If you've said it, I totally missed it, but that's what I would like to know what you use in your mop. Pam, I know what you're saying? At first I was like, what solution do I use for my mop? I thought you've lit like an organizing solution. But now I realize what you're saying because I am obsessed with a spray mop. It doesn't matter the brand. I've tried Valita. I've tried Rubbermaid. I've tried the cheap ones from Amazon. They're all awesome. And I keep the solution in it at all times. And then like the pads you rip off and you wash. Greatest invention of all time for lazy people who want to clean house all the time. Anyways, the point is my favorite is Vim floor, like Vim multi-purpose floor cleaner. And I mix it like literally a capful and then the rest water.

But I've used everything because I just don't care. I've used any kind of multi-purpose cleaner or even vinegar and water. The secret is way less cleaner than you think, like a smush, like a splash, like a smush, like a nothing. And then mostly water. That's the secret. Also, quick secret. People, I know this is random, but have bought these spray mops, not the one that you have to pay the money for the solution in the pads. What's it called?

You know, the Swiffer? Not that one. Not that one. The, like, one that you use your own solution in your own pads. Anyways, I digress. If you fill it with hot water and then you let it sit, it pressurizes the solution bottle. So the way you try to squeeze the nozzle later, it doesn't work. And then people squeeze really hard and they break it.

And they're like, Cass told me to buy this thing. It's a piece of crap. It broke two days after I. Listen, it broke because you have to release the pressure from the bottle. I just always use room temperature, but if you have used hot water, just crack the bottle, let the pressure come out, close it back up again, and you can continue using it. This next one, it's anonymous. They didn't leave their name. Let's listen.

Hey, Cass, I have a question for you this time. What do you suggest for living in a temporary space? but the temporary space is permanent for the foreseeable future. Do you declutter down to absolute bare minimum and get rid of anything that doesn't work in the current space you have now? Or do you try to make it livable enough while still holding on to things that you You have maybe enough of a guarantee to keep them for a future space. And how would you go about evaluating those items other than, of course, keeping only what fits logically in the space that you're currently in?

Thank you so much. I recognize your voice, Anonymous, but I can't put my finger on who you are. So if you know in the comments below, if you remember, let me know. I love this question so much. I'm going to just be brutally honest with you. You keep what fits today. Because one day, yes, maybe you'll get a bigger house. You will grow to the fishbowl then.

You will always be acquiring new things. So I will encourage you to have a memory bin and put that under your bed. It's a great memory bin because there's always such a useless space under there. So get one of those rollout under the beds for your memories. Don't declutter memories and special things. But everything else, whether it's dishes or furniture or area rugs or pots and pans, if it doesn't fit in the home you're currently living in, you don't need to keep it. All of those things you could find again in the future at a thrift store or people could give to you.

And honestly, you're going to want as you move into a more permanent home to slowly acquire new things for that home anyways. Always err on the side of less. Always give yourself breathing room to make room for tomorrow instead of hoping and just living for that someday. Declutter my friends. And also here's the other thing I'm going to say. When I first started out my journey, I really hated the space I was in. It was small. It was ugly.

I didn't have any furniture. And I had a really hard time getting motivated to keep it clean because even if I cleaned it, it would still be ugly, right? Like, I still wouldn't like it. So this is where the power of pretty comes in. I would encourage you to pick one small spot in your home, whether it's your bedroom or even, like, your living room area, and what can you do to make it feel beautiful?

All of my first furniture I picked out of the trash. I admit even the sofa. I wouldn't recommend now with bedbowsy. Now, the point is, you don't have to spend money to make a space beautiful. There are little things that you can do and find and arrange and, yeah, bloom where you're planted, or call it lipstick on a pig, whatever you got to do, to love your space a little bit more instead of dreaming of the space you'll have in the future. Speaking of Bloom Where You're Planted, Tomorrow's YouTube video on my other YouTube channel,

Clutterbug will be like a romance novel, falling in love with your home, with a British narrator, which is just me and AI and it's weird and I wear this thing and it's okay listen it's odd but I hope you look past the weirdness of the video to the actual point of the video which is giving us permission to be have fun not only in our lives but in our home bring some whimsy bring some romance romanticize our lives and and decorating even if it's just picking flowers from a ditch and putting them in a vase, it's these little acts that make us motivated to care for our home, that make us love our home. And at the end of the day, they make us love ourselves a little bit more. And last but not least, let's hear from Lisa.

Hey, Cass, I love you and I wrote this for you. Welcome to the Clutterbug podcast. Let's talk to Cass. Let's talk to Cass. She will answer all the questions we ask as we debug you deserve a hug you are not alone cast is with you in your home and we are starting to see the floor just a little more you're emerging from your cocoon maybe not just yet but the clutter will be gone real soon because you've been decluttering while you're spending time here at the clutter bug podcast Oh yeah, you're here at the Clutterbug podcast with Cass. You got this. Yeah.

Lisa is my people. Lisa and I would have the best time just hanging out being awesome together. Lisa, I don't know if you live near me, but let's be best friends, okay? Because that was awesome. Thank you for putting yourself out there and being hilarious. And 10 out 10. 10 out 10, Lisa. And speaking of putting yourself out there, yeah, I mean, I put myself out there with the video coming out tomorrow, the Bridgeton video. It's weird. And the video, the day in the life

video, a couple of weeks ago, also way out there. It's not doing great. People, you either loved it or you absolutely hated it. And most people, literally, I can see the analytics, watched for two seconds, three seconds, and then left, left the video. They're like, this is no. It's a hard no. So this, I mean, this goes back to where we talked about earlier, not being afraid to kind of put yourself out there and embarrass yourself and try new things. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But the cool part is, at the very least, you find your people, right? You find your tribe. You find your community. You find other weirdos and weirdos unite together. let's just do the things we love and not care what other people think. So if you want to see

some ultimate weirdness, definitely check with the Bridgeton video. And hopefully it inspires you to love love on your home a little bit. Get a little, get a little thirsty, a little thirsty with your patio. I don't know. You'll see. Thank you so much and I'll see you guys next time.