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[00:00:00] You are listening to the Decluttered Mom Podcast, A podcast built specifically for busy moms by a busy mom. I'm your host, Diana Rene, and in 2017 I had my second daughter and it felt like I was literally drowning in my home. Okay. Not literally, but I felt like I couldn't breathe with all of the stuff surrounding me over the next 10 months. 

[00:00:30] I got rid of approximately 70% of our household belongings, and I have never looked back. I kind of feel like I hacked the mom's. And I'm here to share all the tips, tricks, and encouragement. Let's listen to today's show. Alright. Today I have Juliana here with me and she has been a member of Minimalist. 

[00:00:54] Starts here for how long, Juliana? Gosh, it's been a little bit, it's about a year and a half. Okay. That'll be two years before was longer than that. It feels like it. Yeah. I've been following you. I've been following you for a little bit before I finally, um. The program? Program. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, it feels, um, it does, it does. 

[00:01:16] I feel like I've known you forever. Um, that's something I really love about our members community, which I feel like I, like people probably wanna punch me in the face because I talk about our members community so much. And how much, because it's just so different. It's so different than like anything I've seen out there. 

[00:01:34] Um, but like. You know, we, we feel like we can actually get to know each other in there and feel like, you know, it's been longer than a year and a half, right? We're also talking about something really vulnerable, right? Like in that community, which is our home, we're letting other moms in like, help me here in area, help me in that area. 

[00:01:53] And I think that's where, um, it feels like we're all so close already. 'cause we're. We're talking about something that's really vulnerable. We don't just let everybody in our home, you know, so Right. Sharing pictures and asking for advice. I mean, that's huge. I know, I can't even tell you how many times I've seen, like, uh, before and after post in the group prefaced with like, I can't believe I'm like, willing to show anyone like the before, but here they are, like, you know, because they see that there's no, there's no judgment. 

[00:02:25] Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah. So tell me that. Hey. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, um, tell me a little bit just about yourself and kind of like where you were when you did find my Instagram or join the program. I am a mom of two little ones. Uh, one, my oldest is three, and uh, my youngest just turned two. So I, um, we had just moved into the house we're in right now, which we're renting. 

[00:02:57] The idea was just to be here for about a, a year and then get out. But, you know, pandemic? Mm-hmm. Yeah. That was what, like early 2020. Um, and we just got into the house. I'll never forget, I had ordered, I went to go order groceries online and I was like. Why are there no options here? Um, that's when things started circulating, that there was a pandemic going on and I had no clue. 

[00:03:21] I was just, you know, like deep into motherhood, you know, new mom and, uh, you're like, why can't I find toilet paper? Yeah. Yeah. What's happening? Like what is on? So my youngest, my oldest, sorry. She just had, I think around the time we got into the house and pandemic started, she was like about six, seven months and going through postpartum depression, anxiety, all the things we got into the house and. 

[00:03:50] I was feeling very frazzled still. So we went from a one bedroom apartment, just me and my husband with a baby to, you know, a house. Um, there was a lot of things in our garage, you know, so I was overwhelmed with that. But I'm also sitting around the house, not sure what to do with myself. Kind of like overwhelmed, just all the things. 

[00:04:11] Yeah. One day I just, uh, I don't remember if somebody shared your account, but I just started following you because of the real images that you share on there, right? Mm-hmm. Like how it started and what your home looked like before. Now I. I will say mine wasn't, I mean, it wasn't like that for me. Yeah. But the feeling, right? 

[00:04:34] Mm-hmm. Like I could totally get where you were at with that. And I was like, man, so I just started following you from there and just seeing your tips and, um, all the things you were sharing on your story and your posts totally relatable. And there was just some connection there. Um, it, it was like, I need to just hang around this account. 

[00:04:54] And yours was one of the ones that I was always. Looking forward to seeing. Oh, good. So, um, that's kind of where it started. I was just overwhelmed as a mom, new mom, and then I got pregnant that summer, 2020 and I was like, oh my, yeah. Working out. And yes. So that's kind of how it started for me. I was just in a place of being overwhelmed as a new mom, not sure what to do. 

[00:05:16] Um, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And if you're listening to this and you're wondering what she's talking about as far as like before photos for me, um, if you go to my Instagram and you click on the highlight that says Start here, you'll see, uh, I share a bunch of photos of like my house before I started the decluttering journey, which, um, is funny because it often shocks people because they. 

[00:05:43] See my account and they see my business and they're like, oh, she's probably been this like organized, tidy person all her life. And she's taken that and turned it into a business and like, no, like I have always been super messy. It's something I've always struggled with. Um, and it wasn't until I got rid of like 70% of our things that I realized like, oh, this is how I can manage a home versus trying to figure it out with all the stuff that I had before, like. 

[00:06:11] No wonder I had such a hard time staying like tidy or neat, uh, which is all relative, right. But yeah, and that's kind of where it was relatable. It was like a lot of stuff, um, in our home, even though I didn't have it all out and we just got to this house, but I had a little one and I was trying to juggle her and the dog and all the things in our home and where do things go and where do I put that? 

[00:06:34] Yeah. And then just doing, you know, once I got started on the program, it was like, wow, I just need to have. I'm not using, just get rid of it. Yeah. In the home. Right. And so you, so you moved into this house right at the beginning of the pandemic, is that Yes. Okay. Before it blew up. Okay. I think that the pandemic, honestly, especially like the first year or even like the first, just two months of it, really like highlighted. 

[00:07:04] Clutter for so many people in so many homes because oftentimes, um, you know, a working from home was not nearly as common pre COVID. So people would leave their house every day and go to their job, and they would only be home for a couple hours in the evening or on the weekend. And so even though it did stress them out, it wasn't so in their face that, you know, COVID kind of. 

[00:07:31] I agree. Yeah, it kind of, you know, you start really getting, having to be at home every day. You're thinking about all this stuff that is sitting around or things that you're not using. You know, I hated being in the kitchen, but we had so many things we were cooking with and it was like, why do we have all these things in the kitchen? 

[00:07:46] Yeah. You know, so it's like, um, and then, you know, decorations are, are, you know, the toys now and then all the baby stuff. So it was just kind of being at home and seeing it 24 7. Definitely was like, okay, I didn't go back to work after I had my first, so. Mm-hmm. I was definitely at home all the time looking at all the things, and it was really stressful. 

[00:08:08] Yeah. So do you feel like when you were pre decluttering, what do you think was the most like overwhelming aspect of just being in your home for you? For me it was knowing I had things stored away. That I wasn't using, I always felt like there was something I had to be doing, even if it was like, man, I really gotta get to that stuff, uh, in the garage. 

[00:08:36] I have to get to that box that's hanging out in the master closet. You know? Um mm-hmm. It, it was that just, there was always something over my head, like, there's something I have to do. Yeah. Um, that was what, that's what was most stressful being in my home. Um, okay. Knowing I had things. Stored away that I wasn't using, um, that needed to be sorted through. 

[00:08:59] Okay. So it's kind of the mental burden of the never ending to-do list. Exactly. Okay. Yes. And how has that, the responsibilities right. You know, like babies and all of that. Yeah. Um, what, what do you think decluttering did to change that for you? Or how has that changed since you've Decluttered. So I had, um, I, I'm hoping this is a good example. 

[00:09:26] I had just recently posted on the community Facebook community mm-hmm. That I was just walking up and down the hall, uh, from our bedroom to living room. Literally in my head I was like, what am I doing with myself? It was right after breakfast. You know, my, my girls are good, you know, they're hanging out in the living room playing, and I walk into the office and I tell my husband, I don't know what I'm doing with myself this morning. 

[00:09:54] Do for myself, nothing planned for the day. We had a Bible study to go to that evening, not much, uh, to prepare for, but nothing to do for the day. Right? Yeah. And, um, it was then that I was like, oh my God, like I have. Like, I ha I literally was like, I've never felt where I had to walk somewhere and be like, I don't know what to do with myself. 

[00:10:14] Yeah. Um, and I had that moment last week and instead of just, I mean, I have days too where I can just sit around and rest. Yeah. But. It was Thursday. I was like, what? Like I really literally have nothing to do right now. Yeah. I just get a head start to clean for a birthday party on Saturday, but you know. 

[00:10:33] Yeah. But that's the positive. And the thing I look forward to right, is, yeah. I get to just chill on the couch with my daughter. Um, I could, we could get up and get out and go window shopping, go to the park. You know what I'm saying? Those moments, I don't feel like there's something I have to do anymore. 

[00:10:52] Yeah. It's already been done. I love that. Yeah, I, that reminds me, I got a DM a couple weeks ago from someone who has gone through the program and they said, I have an odd request for you. And I said, okay. Which on Instagram, I'm like, okay, I am bracing myself. If someone's like prefacing it with like an odd, I'm like, okay, what are we gonna get here? 

[00:11:15] Um, but she said, I went through your program and prior to the program, like I was just so. Busy all the time that I just felt like I was like surviving and like my day to day was just keeping up. Right. And she's like, now that I've gone through the program and I've gone through the whole process. I have so much time on my hands that I don't know what to do with it. 

[00:11:39] Right. And so can you like, create a part of the course or like a resource, um, that like teaches you like how to like, figure out what you wanna do with the extra? Right. Like, help me organize the free time now. Like, right. And it's so, yeah. It's funny because like I went through that too and I still do some days where, mm-hmm. 

[00:12:03] I struggle with my Instagram because I like to use my stories on my Instagram as kind of like, just like showing my daily life, right? Mm-hmm. And I'm like, I feel like I'm boring because I'm like, I read for a while that, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, right, I go for my walk and I, nobody really wants to see that side of it like fully, but I think that. 

[00:12:30] It's really interesting and eyeopening that just as moms in general, we tend to kind of lose ourselves in motherhood and we get wrapped up in like everything that we have to do, which we do by necessity. Right. We, because we have to do it right, but. Because our lives are so busy and because we have so much stuff and because we have so much, um, not only in our physical home, but like on our calendar, when we start to Decluttered all of those things and our time starts opening up and we kind of start taking, what's the word I wanna use? 

[00:13:04] Taking control, and that's not the word, but mm-hmm. Uh, taking initiative. I don't know. It'll pop, the word will pop up as soon as we're done with this, um, conversation. But as soon as we start shifting that time in our lives, uh, it's like, oh. Crap. I have to like figure out who I am, like as a person again. 

[00:13:28] Exactly. Because we've been so wrapped up in just survival mode for so long. And that's a great problem to have. But it is, it is like a weird issue that happens. Right. And that's where the conversation of, uh, my hu where my husband comes in Right. And we have a conversation. He is very, uh, encouraging on how to fill that time. 

[00:13:47] Right. And he's been, even before I do. You know, went through the program. Um, he was always trying to encourage me to get back to my reading, get back to my art, get back to um, just my hobbies, my photography, and I didn't have time, and I would get so frustrated. Like when Right, right, right. Um, and now, I mean, now that I've Decluttered, I mean, one of the gifts he got me recently was a Polaroid camera. 

[00:14:12] So now it's like. He's really like, get back in there, you know? Yeah. And I'm messing with those things again. I have my sketchbook, I got all my pencils out and they're on my desk and, you know, it's like slowly just trying to, if I can get my little, you know, I'm a stay at home mom, right? So my little have their days where they have to be on top of me, so that's where I go. 

[00:14:33] Right. Um, but if I have time in there, um, like today they were just all morning for a little bit clingy, but then they found some stuff they wanted to play with and we're like. They got trapped into that. Right. It's been like two hours, which is great. Yeah. So they go do that, and that's the time where I'm like, okay, it's been like 30 minutes. 

[00:14:49] They're stuck. Let me go grab something. Like let me get my book, let me go get my pad, my planner, let me plan ahead for the day. Let's figure out we're gonna do for, um, dinner. Uh, so. I'm trying to use that time that I have now that's free and trying to sort and how to plan those things. But it was like that rare day where I was like, I don't know what to do for myself. 

[00:15:13] You know? Yeah. And if I do have those, we, it's easy for us to just get up and go, you know? And those are when my girls are having a good, uh, morning that we can just leave the house. Yeah. Um, so it, I am constantly since finishing the program trying to figure out how to sort that because I do have times where I'm like, do I just go Decluttered again? 

[00:15:33] Yeah, right. You know? Well, it does become a little addicting. Um, yes. But I think that what you experience and what I experience, um, is very common when you go through this process. Um, not only for stay at home moms, but I hear a lot from working moms also because. Especially on their weekends or just like the evenings after the kids go to bed, they feel, one woman was telling me she works from, um, not from home. 

[00:16:01] She works out of the home, uh, full-time. And when prior to doing the program, she felt like. When she got home, like her second job began. Right? And so she was like then managing the kids in the household and like would crash into bed late at night because she just didn't have any more energy to do anything. 

[00:16:23] And she was saying that now, like she can actually. Do something for herself or like with her husband and like watch a show with her husband after the kids go to bed because there's not so much on her plate Yes. For her. Like second job essentially. Right, right, right. And that, that, um, my husband and I too, we made it a thing, you know, last year as I was decluttering Uhhuh, um, on those moments. 

[00:16:49] And so we don't watch a lot of tv. So, you know, for us at, in the evening, it's me reading. Catching up the bills, you know, after we budget together. Um, going through my planner and looking ahead at the week and him being on the computer and doing his coding stuff, you know, so it's like mm-hmm. We found those moments. 

[00:17:08] And especially in the evening. I don't do a lot too much either, you know? 'cause I am tired being a single home mom. Juggling Exactly. Little ones. Yeah. Until we go to school full time. Right. It's like, okay, you know, some nights I get to crash and some nights I get to just do and relax. So that's. That's awesome. 

[00:17:26] And that's the one thing too for stay at home moms. Like, uh, for example, my sister, I've encouraged her too 'cause now she's working. Mm-hmm. Um, and she's got three that are in school. But, um, you know, she's, it's exhausting, right? You get home and you have to keep doing that stuff. So slowly she's kind of like, I've helped her. 

[00:17:44] To kind of like, this is where you can maybe help yourself and the kids. Yeah. You know, let's get rid of the toys here. She's already told me, come over Julianna, I meet you. I'm like, I'll be there soon. I'll be there soon. Yeah. Um, so it's, you know, for working moms, it's such, i, it's such a good benefit, um, to going through the program because even for, as a stay at home mom, I mean, I think all of us will experience that same relief. 

[00:18:11] Yeah. Not feeling like we always have to do something else. I think so too. And I think that, um, something like I've been asked often, like, like going through the whole decluttering process. Is that easier for stay at home moms or is it easier for working moms or is it more benefit, you know? And, um, something that I have always thought and said, because there is, you know, there's. 

[00:18:39] Drama and tension between stay-at-home moms and working moms because of, I honestly, I think social media has really like, yeah, pushed that and fueled that like unnecessary, you know, thing. But I think with stay at home moms, stay at home moms are home. I mean, obviously not like a lot of stay-at-home moms aren't home all day, but Right. 

[00:18:59] They're in their home likely more hours of the day, and so them and kids are making messes and they're living in this space, and so it is a more constant type thing than a working mom who goes maybe out to an office and then comes home. However, the working mom has less time in the home to devote to doing things in the home. 

[00:19:21] So I think it's very. It's not a competition by any means, right? That social media makes it that way. Um, but I think both have pros and cons when it comes to being able to Decluttered and being able to manage your home. It's just. Going to be structured differently. What I would recommend to a working mom, um, for systems and routines is very different than what I would recommend to a stay at home mom. 

[00:19:47] Exactly. Exactly. So like for me, I had literally any hour of the day during the day to make a decision. Right, right. Could I do one whole section today and then another section tomorrow and be done, you know, within a couple weeks? Or break it out. And I would, if I was a stay, uh, working mom, uh, working out of the home for me, I could see that happening either in the week, uh, the evenings where I would probably devote like maybe 15, 20 minutes, maybe an hour right after bedtime, uh, to do a section or a drawer or a cabinet. 

[00:20:22] Or do I wait for the weekend and childcare and try to tackle a co several things right during that, that day. Um, so it's definitely different in the approach, but the benefit, that's where it's like it isn't a competition. You know, either you're gonna get some relief at the end of it. Yeah, it's going to serve a stay at home mom and is going to serve a working mom. 

[00:20:45] It's going to, um, likely serve them in different ways, but um, the same way as far as energy, like something I hear over and over again from anyone who goes through the program is like, I just feel in a better mood more of the time and I feel less. Anxious, which makes me feel more patient with my kids and with my spouse. 

[00:21:11] And so those types of benefits seem to be across the board no matter what the schedule or commitments of the woman going through the program. Right. Yeah. Yeah, which is very interesting. Awesome. Well, it was so much fun chatting with you today. I really have enjoyed, um, having you on and, uh, is there any last thing that you just wanna make sure that you can say? 

[00:21:39] I. Um, I'm not sure. First thank you for having me. Oh yeah, of course. Um, but the, I, I mean, I guess I would just do wanna encourage, um, you know, anybody who's again on the fence, right? Yeah. Anyone who's on the fence to, to at least get some type of guidance. You know, this is it, you know, the program was really helpful and it isn't a competition and you can go at your own pace. 

[00:22:02] Um, but to always have like the end in mind, the win, right? What, what are you looking for for yourself in your home? I think of that and go through the program with that goal in mind. Yeah. And be ready to experience it. Absolutely awesome. Yeah, and if you're listening and you are, you know, you're like, well, I don't know, I don't know what this is or what the program is. 

[00:22:25] There's a free training, which we'll link in the show notes, but, uh, the free training will help you with your home, but it will also give you more information about how the program works and everything, and you can see if that's a good fit for you. So. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Juliana. Thanks for hanging out and listening to the Decluttered Mom podcast. 

[00:22:46] If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world if you could write a review or share this episode with a friend or your Instagram stories. And if you're on Instagram, be sure to follow me at the Decluttered Mom and send me a DM to say hi. I'd love to hear what you thought about today's episode. I hope you'll come back next week and hang out with us again.