I'm your host Lauren. I'm your host, Lauren Craddock, teacher, mom, wife, and author. Here on Enough Already, we discover that minimalism is a way of life ⁓ and that the habits create space for real transformation. I'm so glad you're here. So, have you ever noticed that sometimes you can declutter your home and everything comes back? Today we're actually going to look at

Those words, decluttering versus minimalism, because these two words get interchanged all of the time in our society. ⁓ And while they may be similar, I actually think they're very different in the way that they are approached. So if you look at the word declutter, it's an action. Declutter, decluttering. -de meaning away or removing. ⁓ and so removing the clutter ⁓ sounds fantastic. Like when I first started out.

And about seven or eight years ago, I stumbled upon decluttering. So at that time, ⁓ I was a young mom. ⁓ I had w one kid, was married, teaching full-time, teaching at the university, and I was completely overwhelmed. In the evenings, I would spend hours just cleaning, organizing, picking up stuff, moving things, prepping for the next day. ⁓

And it was just this ongoing cycle. And then I would collapse exhausted on the couch and watch Netflix. ⁓ Because I didn't have any other time, mental capacity, energy to do anything else. ⁓ And this was the cycle day in and day out. And I thought, there has to be a better way. ⁓ Because here we are in this beautiful 2700 square foot house with three of us. ⁓ And ⁓ I'm overwhelmed by things coming out of the closets. ⁓ So ⁓ I began ⁓ searching social media.

And Google trying to figure out what in the world to do. ⁓ Because up to that point I was really great at organizing. When we moved into that house, ⁓ I went and bought lots of baskets and just took on organizing. And I thought, this is perfect. I have my labels, I have my baskets, everything's gonna stay put. But it didn't. It completely came out of the baskets ⁓ to where I didn't have enough space. ⁓ So ⁓ fast forward, ⁓ started decluttering.

learned all about it was all about this getting rid of stuff and I was like I can do this. I even like filmed myself decluttering my closet ⁓ and I got rid of lots of things. ⁓ But my mindset hadn't changed. And so what began to happen over time? Things came back. Clutter came back. Which was very overwhelming because I just spent a lot of time and energy decluttering, literally getting rid and removing things from my house.

So ⁓ in 2021, ⁓ I read Joshua Becker's book, The More of Less. And that was the entryway for me to discover minimalism. So a lot of people when they hear that word minimal minimalism, they freak out and they're like, I can never be a minimalist. ⁓ And ⁓ I initially thought that as well. I thought these are people who live in 700 square foot houses with five children and one picture on the wall ⁓ and one fork and two outfits.

And I thought, I don't want to live that way. Like, ⁓ I like having things. ⁓ And what I found out is that's not it at all. Now, while there may be minimalists who are like that, this idea of owning with intention, which is the title of my book, Own with Intention. ⁓ Owning with intention, deciding clearly where your clutter threshold is, and saying, This is what I use, what I like.

And how much I actually need and living within those boundaries. And so this reframing of minimalism has completely changed my life. And I wanna I wanna go back to that word minimalism because we're comparing it to decluttering. So minimalism is actually very unique in the fact it's a verb, a noun, and an adjective. Remember, I'm a fourth grade teacher, so I teach grammar. So get ready, I'll walk you through it though.

So remember decluttering, declutter, decluttering, you have an action, right? You wouldn't say I'm a declutterer. No. People would look at you strange. Don't do that. But when you say ⁓ I'm ⁓ minimizing, that's an action. ⁓ I am a minimalist. You can say I have a minimalist schedule or a minimalist process. That's describing it. That's the adjective. I can say ⁓

I ⁓ use minimalism. That's the catalyst. That's the noun. The catalyst ⁓ that frees up all this time and space to live out more of my impact. And then the most powerful one of all, ⁓ minimalist as a noun. I'm a minimalist. That takes on an identity of me saying, Yes, ⁓ I am intentionally choosing what's in my life. I am pushing back on just consuming.

Items and saying, no, ⁓ I'm choosing. So back in 2021 ish, when I stumbled upon his book and this idea of minimalism, ⁓ it was transformative for me because I I started really analyzing why I bought things to begin with. Now it's fast forward, it's been about five years and of me living out this process and

There are lots of practices I use that are mentioned in my book, a method I go about to minimize the spaces I live in. But this perspective pivot, this changing of the mind and awareness of it, awareness is that first step, right? The awareness that, ⁓ I have stories I'm telling myself about things and why I buy things to begin with that I haven't actually addressed. ⁓ And that's contributing to the clutter because clutter is simply the symptom.

I'll say that again. Clutter is simply the symptom. It's not the main problem. It's not. ⁓ There are stories and patterns and habits underneath that are creating the clutter. ⁓ So once I realize this, and again, this is a process over time of me peeling back the layers of this onion. Once I realized this, I was like, yes, I am a minimalist. I'm living out ⁓ this lifestyle of minimalism. And ⁓

The clutter started staying away. Now, am I perfect? Absolutely not. Like I said, it's an ongoing process. And ⁓ throughout different stages of my life, it's looked different. It looked very different with one kid versus three. It looked very different when I was starting out my minimalist journey to where I am five years later. ⁓ because my minimalism muscles are a lot stronger. I started with things that weren't sentimental, tiny baby weights, right? Like

pens and the junk drawer and then over time I was able to build my choosing muscles, ⁓ my my choice and what was in my life to get where I am today. And so ⁓ I think, ⁓ and again this is just my my personal opinion on this, but I think when people hear decluttering, at least in my case, ⁓ I thought it's a one time deal. I'm going to declutter and it goes away. And then I live my life.

But what I found was that wasn't the case. ⁓ Minimalism, on the other hand, adopt it as a lifestyle. It's not a one-time going through a closet. ⁓ It's transformative. And it really changed ⁓ the way I showed up. Because now I have time and space. I have time and space to write a book. I have time and space to build a business. ⁓ I have time and space to

Sabbath every Saturday with my family to where we don't work on Saturdays and we go outside and we play and we take naps and we read good books. And so much of this goes back to the fact that I got rid of things that weren't serving my life. I identified first and foremost what are my core priorities, my family, faith, and impact. Those are the three things I want to be known for. Everything else in my life needs to point back to those three things.

And so it's easy to weed out the things or easier when you know those core priorities and say, Okay, I don't need these other things, ⁓ or I can let go of some of these other things because I want to strengthen this area of my life and have more time and impact on this area of my life.

It's a reminder that minimalism is a practice. ⁓ It's not a project.

It asks what belongs in this space, not simply what do I get rid of? While that's part of it, it's saying what do I use? What belongs here? What do I like? What belongs here? How much do I need? What belongs here?

I recently had someone tell me, Lauren, I could never be a minimalist. I'm a simplifier, but I couldn't be a minimalist. And y'all, I think it's one and the same thing. ⁓ It's deciding what what can I live with, what can I live without? ⁓ and so this whole movement and this this idea of my book of own with intention is powerful ⁓ because it places you in the leadership role of your life.

Instead of you mindlessly consuming, mindlessly ⁓ buying things, ⁓ filling it with entertainment, etc., you get to design your life and live it out intentionally. Is it easy? No. Is it worth it? Absolutely. It frees up so much time. It's so worth it. ⁓ So worth it. If you're like Lauren, well that's great. You're you're naturally organized.

Yes, but I was drowning in chaos and I was trying to organize the chaos ⁓ and it wasn't possible.

And what I found is if you take baby steps at a time, like one to five minute segments of time, and you say, you know what, I'm going to go through an area, a shelf, a cabinet, the drop zone, the junk drawer, this handful of pens, ⁓ and ask myself those questions of do I use it? Do I like it? How much do I actually need? And just do that several days a week.

What you'll find is that compounds. ⁓ Just like clutter compounds, these intentional daily choices of showing up and choosing compounds. It builds your confidence. ⁓ It builds those minimalist muscles. It builds that intentionality in your life and it frees up your time long term. ⁓ So while you may be spending time now ⁓ intentionally.

digging in and saying, I'm taking five minutes away from my Netflix binge and I'm going to w go through the five minutes of going through this drawer because I know that long term, it's going to make the difference and the impact that I want it to make. Because I am showing up and being that minimalist. I'm taking on the identity ⁓ and and showing up in my life.

So, guys, I always like to leave y'all with a mini move of what can you do practically? ⁓ one, I hope ⁓ this was helpful today to distinguish between those two words. And for me, that word of minimalism carries so many powerful connotations that that's why I gravitate in that direction. ⁓ But my mini move for you today is to go to my website, ownwithintention.com, and get your free resource. It's five and five. ⁓ So five simple steps in five minutes a day. That's it.

Because when you intentionally start with those small ⁓ steps, they grow. They grow and blossom into something that you couldn't even possibly fathom. ⁓ So take some time and reflect on that today. ⁓ on what actually belongs in your life. Download that free resource.

And I just want to remind you that minimalism isn't about owning as little as physically possible. It's intentionally choosing and curating what's in your life. ⁓ So thank you for showing up today. Keep coming back. ⁓ it's all about creating space for what matters most.

So just a reminder, minimalism is not about owning as little as possible. It's about showing up and intentionally curating what you own and using what you own, loving what you own, and quantifying what you need in your life. It's then that you realize that you're the leader and you're the designer and the orchestrator of it. So create space today for what matters most.