The Simplicity Snowball

Written By Ema Hidlebaugh

Watch the video on the simplicity snowball below, or jump to the text version:

 

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    • The capsule wardrobe list example is 💚 FREEBIE A 💚

    • The capsule wardrobe cheatsheet is 💚 FREEBIE L 💚

    • The style worksheet is 💚 FREEBIE K 💚

    • The closet cleanout rules are 💚 FREEBIE Q 💚

    Resources to simplify your wardrobe:

    (items marked with a ⭐️ were mentioned during the video above)

     
     

    For those of us who prefer reading, here’s the text version for you:

    The simple life isn’t that simple

    One of the biggest ironies is that simplifying your home and making your life easier actually takes a lot of hard work. 😑

    But today, we will chat about my favorite hack to make decluttering and simplifying your life SO MUCH easier.

     

    Pushing the snowball up the mountain: Why decluttering can feel soooo stinking hard

    Typically, decluttering your home feels a bit like pushing a massive snowball up a mountain.

    You understand that it will feel easier once you get to the summit because you can just push the snowball over the edge and let it build its own momentum …but that doesn't make pushing it up the mountain feel any easier!

    You’re not imagining it, you’re not being dramatic, and there’s nothing wrong with you - Simplifying and decluttering IS hard - here’s why:

    So yeah, it IS hard work to simplify your home…

     

    Roll the snowball down the other side: That moment when decluttering gets easier

    …But at some point, several moons after you started, something magic will happen - you’ll turn a corner.

    • You'll suddenly realize there's space to swing a small to medium cat in your guest room.

    • That kitchen drawer will close smoothly …because there isn’t a decade of takeout menus stuffed inside.

    • The GASP that you will GASP when you go to look for something and actually find it where it's meant to be

    • You might even start worrying because there's room for monsters under your bed again 👾🤣

    Suddenly the last couple of cluttered rooms don't feel as scary.

    In fact, you're chomping at the bit to finish them because you know how good it feels to have a calmer, simpler space - it’s addictive!

    We all know how difficult it is to do something we should do when we're not in the mood to do it,

    …but we also all know how difficult it is to not do something when we really want to do it!

     

    Interest vs. Importance

    One of the many things that my ADHD diagnosis taught me is that it's easier to do things based on interest rather than importance.

    This may be especially true for those of us with ADHD, but it's a great productivity hack for anyone.

    When we're interested in doing a task:

    • Our motivation comes from the inside.

    • We feel excited, engaged, and eager to dive in.

    • Our brain releases dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter that's associated with reward and pleasure.

    • This makes the task more enjoyable and enhances our focus, memory, and willingness to put in the effort.

    • It's almost as if our brain is saying, “I love this; let's keep going!”

     

    On the other hand, when we're doing a task based on importance:

    • Our motivation relies on exterior factors like societal pressure, obligations, duty, perfectionism, or fear of repercussions

    • This can create resistance, making these tasks feel like a slog and requiring more effort to muster the willpower to do them.

    It's not that we can't do things that are only important, but it's just that interest is by far the stronger motivator.

     

    The snowball gondola: Let’s cheat!

    My goal today is to help you CHEAT.

    I don't want you to have to push your snowball all the way up the mountain …I want to show your snowball how to hop on to a gondola lift and whizz up the mountain in just a couple of hours - not weeks or months.

    I want you to get enough results in two hours to give you the momentum you need to WANT to tackle the rest of your clutter.

    This two-hour express gondola is …your wardrobe.

    I don't care if you're a fashionista, whether you avoid clothes shopping at all costs, or if you just exist solely in stretchy pants like I do:

    Whenever anyone tells me they are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, I always, always tell them the exact same thing - start in your wardrobe.

     

    Your wardrobe is the quick win gondola because:

    • There is no other area in your home that you can simplify in just two hours, and that will have such a massive positive knock-on effect across so many different areas of your life.

    • Dressing more authentically inspires us to show up more genuinely in our lives. So, an intentional wardrobe can boost our confidence and unblock our creativity.

    • Deciding what to wear and trying to find things to piece together an outfit is a major stressor in the mornings. So, an intentional wardrobe starts every day off on a brighter note.

    • The average family spends $1,800 on clothes every year. So, not long after creating an intentional wardrobe, we start to notice having a few extra dollar bucks in our pocket.

    • Clothes often comprise a large portion of the clutter and chaos in our homes. Think about it: overflowing coats in the entryway, dirty laundry mountain, clean laundry mountain, drawers that won't close, the floordrobe, and chaotic wardrobes. So, an intentional wardrobe has a huge positive impact on how tidy our homes are.

     

    The benefits compound, momentum naturally builds, and then suddenly and without any extra effort on our part, we're motivated to simplify other areas of our home and life too.

    So, with just two hours of work, we can rewire our brains from knowing we should simplify to actually wanting to!

     

    Great! But decluttering my wardrobe is going to take waaay longer than two hours 🙄

    There are many different options to simplify your closet, but the 2-hour express gondola will only work with one.

    Let’s take a closer look at our options:

     

    Keep things that spark joy

    One option is to keep things that spark joy, but for me, this very much so depends on my headspace at the time.

    So if I follow this theory on a bad day, I would not have a single item of clothing left to wear …I would end up like the nakey emperor and his new clothes 😬

     

    Personal uniform

    Our natural behavior is often to wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time.

    We can take advantage of this and create personal uniforms in different areas of our lives.

    It's an amazing way to streamline our wardrobe and be really intentional about what we wear, but it does take a while to get our head around it, so it's not ideal when we're looking for a really quick win - like now.

    You can check out this post for a free guide if you want to know more about creating a personal uniform,

     

    Closet clear-out

    A closet clean-out is basically just getting rid of things you don't want.

    Again, it's another method that I teach that does work great, but focusing on things that we don't want can often leave gaps and make our closet feel unbalanced.

    At the moment, we need a quick and easy win that's going to make us feel great.

    However, you can check out this post for my list of things to let go during a closet declutter if you're interested.

     

    Dopamine dressing

    Dopamine dressing focuses on wearing clothes that make you feel joyful, and it is a beautiful way to design your wardrobe.

    But most of us need a month or so to really work out how our clothes make us feel, and why.

    So we need something a bit quicker in this instance.

    I sell a four-week style journal to walk people through this process (remember that people on my email list get special offers, wink-wink), and there is also a free guide in this post if you do want to happy-hack your wardrobe.

     

    ⭐️Capsule wardrobe⭐️

    So lastly, that leaves a capsule wardrobe, where you concentrate on what you do want to keep by creating a quick list of what you need in different areas of your life, then shop your closet to choose your favorites

    Of people who tried a capsule wardrobe, a whopping 94% said they loved or liked it.

    Capsule wardrobes are not just for fashionistas who live in Paris or strangers on the internet.

    They’re for everyone, and here is how you can build one in two hours…

     

    The 2-hour capsule wardrobe

    I’ll briefly cover the process here, but you can learn more in my main capsule wardrobe post or in this capsule wardrobe quickie guide if you’re in a hurry.

     

    Step one - Plan

     

    Step two - List

    Next you’ll make your capsule wardrobe list. Don't worry, you can access a free example list by entering your email below:

      But basically it will look a bit like the image above: lifestyle categories across the top, clothing types down the side, then you calculate how many clothes you'll need in each cell:

      If you want to make the process even easier, I also sell a fillable capsule wardrobe (psst, sign up for emails to access a secret, special offer)

      Again, don't stress about this step—I have a free clothing calculator to help you calculate it quickly and easily.

      That should bring you up to the end of the first hour.

      Step three - Pile

      Next you'll gather all of your clothes and use the list you just made to pick out your favorites.

      For example, the list above says you need two pairs of jeans for date nights, so go and pick your two favorite pairs.

      Picking favorites is so much easier than choosing what to let go of!

      After you've shopped your closet, sort everything else into piles by asking yourself these questions:

       

      “Are you ready to let the item go?”

      • If not, no worries. Just throw it into the MAYBE pile.

        • When you're finished, pack up your maybe pile and label it with a date three months from now. If you miss something specific, go and grab it.

        • But other than that, give yourself some space from these items and then review them once the date is passed to see if you're ready to let go of anything, yet there is no pressure for things you are willing to part with.

      • If yes, move on to next question

       

      “Is the item in good condition?”

      • If not, they go in the reuse, repair, RECYCLE pile.

      • If yes, go to the next question.

       

      “Can you be bothered to sell it?”

      • If yes, put it in the SELL pile. Give yourself a deadline to avoid creating more clutter in the future. If it's not sold by then, promise yourself you'll donate or gift it.

       

      That goes for all remaining items, too; ✅ you're willing to let them go, and ✅ they're in good condition, so scooch them all over to the DONATE pile.

       

      Step four - Maintain

      Maintaining your capsule wardrobe is easy:

      • Follow the one-in, one-out rule. So, if you buy a new pair of jeans, just pick an existing pair to discard.

      • We always want to be intentional about what we wear, so be sure to review your capsule wardrobe list periodically to make sure your lifestyle categories and the number of clothes is still relevant to you.

       

      Conclusion

      And there you have it: a wardrobe designed just for you and your lifestyle.

      It only took two hours, and there was zero stress about letting go of things.

      Now, you can sit back and enjoy all the benefits …but trust me, it won't be long before you're itching to simplify somewhere else!

      That’s the magic of the simplicity snowball :)

      You can jump back to the list of resources here

      Take this quiz if you’d like a free personalized simplicity plan to help you decide what to work on next!

      Ema Hidlebaugh http://www.MinimizeMyMess.com
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