Hi!! I’m Sarah, I’m married and have 3 little boys 5, 3 & 1. (If you follow me on Instagram @tacklingtheclutter you will see their pictures from time to time.) Central Texas is where we call home. Our life is busy, full, loud and fun! Tackling and wrestling is part of our every day life with 3 boys, so it just seemed fitting when I came up with the name of my Instagram account and website.
I recently discovered my “passion” can actually be a passion. For the longest time I just thought it was something I just did, but didn’t think it was an actual passion. One day I was listening to a podcast and it was talking about passion and she said, “Think of what you are doing when you feel most fulfilled, then that is probably your passion. Now admit it yourself, even if it is embarrassing.” Those last 5 words were a game changer for me. My passion is decluttering first and organizing second. Going through and ridding my life of unwanted or unnecessary excess feels amazing and then it makes organizing the remaining items that much easier. I had found myself trying to make other people’s passions my own, because to be truthful, I didn’t think decluttering could be a passion and if it was my passion how lame is that??? Other people’s passions seemed so much more empowering, worthwhile or simply cooler. But when I truly thought about what I actually enjoy doing, when I was happy while I was doing it, it was cleaning out things. Yep I said it. That is my passion. Ok now that I have admitted it it doesn’t seem so bad. I am past being embarrassed by saying it and moving toward doing something about it. When I reflected on why I like to do it or where it originated, I realize I have done it my whole life without thinking about it. As a little girl I cleaned my room without being asked (most of the time). I would go through my drawers and get rid of unwanted or unworn clothes, I would go through my books and shelves and declutter and then reorganize them. I enjoyed getting rid of the clutter so I could actually enjoy what I had kept in my room. Plus too much stuff makes my head spin. I have had several different jobs, (and even in my current job, yes I am a working Mom), I can look back and in all of them I found moments where I would find a way to declutter and organize things. I was always just drawn to doing it in any given downtime or if I needed a stress relief. Y’all, I would clean out my work refrigerator for fun. How weird is that? Oh well, it is what I like to do. It gives me a sense of calm in a sometimes chaotic life. It allows me to be in control of my things instead of letting my things control me through my mood, behavior or attitude. How many times have your kid’s toys or the junk drawer that won’t shut driven you so crazy that you just want to just throw everything away and start over? It doesn’t have to be that way. Little baby steps will get you the control you want! Stuff may still get messy from time to time because that is life and we have to live in our homes. We can’t expect them to look pinterest perfect all the time. But your home can get to a state where it doesn’t feel like each room is being hijacked by clutter.
One quick point I really want to get across if you decide to follow me, read my posts, etc. is I am not condemning stuff. I am by no means a minimalist. I like things, I have things and I enjoy getting new things. (You will learn I have a love for shoes and jewelry!) What I am promoting is having a healthy relationship with stuff. I am hoping to help you realize the difference between your things bringing you joy or enjoyment and your things causing you stress or negative emotions. It is the latter I am hoping to help you fix and still fixing it in my own life/home. If you find certain areas of your home (kitchen drawers, office, play room, closets, attic, etc.) that stress you out just by looking at them or thinking about them, I am here to help you! My goal is to give realistic tips, tricks, useful tools and favorite products to tackle the clutter in your life. I enjoy doing it and desire to help anyone feeling overwhelmed by their stuff. Most of my posts will be through Instagram, but if I have a topic I want to go into further detail on it will come in the form of a blog post. I am all about #reallife. You will see the clean and the messy with me. My home is not pinterest perfect and I have areas that need some work…ahem…our office/play room. I am tackling my own projects right along with you!
First small tip: If some of your stuff or an area of your home stresses you out then I encourage you to take it one cabinet, drawer, closet or small space at a time and declutter it. (Refer the my first several Instagram posts when I did this in my own home.) Whenever I tackle a space that needs to be decluttered and re-organizing I take it one small space at a time. Most small spaces can be accomplished in 30 minutes to an hour I would say. It is like losing a few of those unwanted pounds, it will feel more amazing than you can even imagine. It gives you renewed energy to pick another spot on another day and tackle it. Not many people have time to re-organize their entire home all at once. Baby steps will get you going in the right direction. While it might be at a slower pace, it is a manageable pace, a pace that will get you to the finish line instead of giving up half way through. (Think tortoise and the hare.) Again, I want to reiterate, stuff.is.not.bad. I don’t want anyone to feel guilty for buying things or having things, that is by no means my goal. I am just promoting tackling the clutter so you can enjoy what you do have and/or make room for the new!! Go ahead, give that first small space a try and let me know how it goes! I’m cheering for you!
Xoxo,
Sarah
tacklingtheclutter.com 