If you have ever bought something just because the price was too good to pass up, this story will feel familiar. The creator behind Marriage & Motherhood on YouTube says that is exactly how decision-making around her home went for years: if there was a deal, it came home. That habit finally led to a big decision, which was to hire a professional organizer certified in the KonMari method to clear the house.
The video opens in the middle of the hardest closet in the house. Every single book is out, and there is trash on its way out the door. The creator had planned a December series of 25 days of decluttering, with a video every day, but the project grew bigger than a video series.
A Move That Turned Into A Mess
A room shuffle is what set everything off. Her two daughters, who are nearly eleven, had been sharing a bedroom, and it was time for each to have her own space. One would take the old playroom and the other the former guest room. Once the family chose paint colors and had both rooms painted, all the furniture was piled in the middle of the rooms under covers, and the result was a mess with everything everywhere.
The creator felt overwhelmed and had no idea what to shift first, since the family was technically losing an extra room and every room already held furniture and belongings. Christmas was 16 days away, her in-laws were coming, and the rooms had to be ready. So she searched Google for a professional organizer in her area and hired one.
Paying For Help Felt Like A Luxury
Spending the money was not easy. She bought five sessions with the organizer, with the main goal of getting the girls settled and the guest room ready. After two sessions, she says a weight had lifted. They had cleared two closets, the playroom closet and the girls’ shared closet, and gone through every book on the children’s bookcase in about an hour and a half.
The organizer is certified in KonMari, trained by Marie Kondo, so the work follows the well-known question of whether an item sparks joy. The creator had read the book and tried it alone, but says she would have quit many times without someone hand-holding her through the process.
The Frugal Mindset Behind The Clutter
The creator is honest about the underlying habit. Her family followed the Dave Ramsey approach to getting out of debt, started paying down debt in 2011 and paid off all consumer debt by 2014, including car notes, student loans and credit cards. That frugal mindset is why she was always trying to find a deal. If she saw a deal, she bought it, because she did not know whether she would find that deal again.
Because of that, she never took the time to invest in pieces she really liked. Every decision about what came into the home, from decor to furniture, centered around price. After years of delaying gratification, she says, the gratification never comes. Without the organizer, she believes she would have shoved things into other closets and hidden the clutter rather than getting it out of the house.
It Is Okay To Ask For Help
The lesson she took is that it is okay to ask for help with the things you are not strong in, and okay to pay for it. She compares it to hiring a tax accountant or a cleaner. She is good at budgeting and says an Excel budget spreadsheet she shared has been downloaded about 15,000 times, but she has struggled with decluttering for the seven years she has been on YouTube. Sharing a talent in one area and getting help in another is not a weakness, she says. At age 40, she is learning she does not have to be good at everything.
Learning To Trust Your Own Gut
The most personal part of the story is not about stuff at all. As the family sorted through the girls’ clothes, the creator saw herself telling them what they should keep, with remarks like it looks so cute on you, you should get that. The organizer helped her see that this sends the wrong message: that they should not trust their own gut. Someone who grows up that way can struggle with decisions later, which she calls the beginning stages of people pleasing.
So when the girls looked at an item and said they did not want it, she simply said she trusted their gut, and they should too. The girls went through the clothes a second time and removed two more bags. She calls it a milestone as a mother, because she does not want her daughters to become people pleasers. She also let them choose their own bedding for their new rooms without sharing her opinion.
Spending On What You Use Every Day
The creator also makes a point about where money is worth spending. Bedding is something you sleep on every night, she says, so you want it comfortable and good quality, and it is worth spending a lot on. She adds that in the frugal community the saying is rice and beans, beans and rice, which is fine for a certain stage of life, but she does not want to eat beans and rice forever.
Her home, she notes, has felt like a hodgepodge since the family moved in during 2010, when her husband’s belongings and her own were thrown together. Now that she has tweens and is entering a new stage, she wants the house to reflect the style of the couple who live in it.
What You Can Take From This
You do not need to hire a professional to use these lessons, although a good organizer may be worth the cost for some homes. Try asking whether an item sparks joy. Notice your own deal habit, and ask whether you would want a thing at full price. Let family members make their own calls about their own belongings, and listen to your first reaction to an item.
The big takeaway is gentle. Decluttering is not only about getting rid of things. It is about understanding why they came into your home in the first place. For this creator, the answer was years of chasing a good deal, and the breakthrough was learning to trust her own judgment. She says her word for 2023 is execute, and the next project is finally finishing her office, which has been two years in the making.
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