54 | Getting Started is as Simple as Rolling the Dice - DeclutterGo!® with Lynne Poulton

Feb 7

54 | Getting Started is as Simple as Rolling the Dice - DeclutterGo!® With Lynne Poulton

I'm thrilled to introduce you to Lynne Poulton, a Board Certified Professional Organizer and the creator of Declutter Go® In this episode, we explore Lynne's journey from social work to professional organizing and how her personal experiences have shaped her approach to working with clients.

Join us for a heartfelt conversation about navigating grief, the power of not waiting for motivation to strike, and the importance of asking yourself, "What do I want?" Plus, learn how you can inject some playfulness into your decluttering routine with Declutter Go!® – the game that turns the often overwhelming task of decluttering into a fun and engaging experience.

Whether you're well into your organizing journey or just getting starting, Lynne's insights and the Declutter Go!® game are sure to spark joy in your tidying journey. Explore more at decluttergo.com, and let the adventure of letting go begin!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS CONVERSATION:

How Declutter Go!® originated
How gamification can be the key to kickstarting your decluttering journey
How emotions can impact decluttering
Why you should pace yourself when navigating sensitive life moments
Why you should break free from societal expectations
How to celebrate the smallest victories and explore what works best for your home + life

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Lynne Poulton, Board Certified Professional Organizer and Owner of Wholly Organized!® LLC.

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Intro: Welcome to A Pleasant Solution, Embracing An Organized Life. I'm your host, certified life coach, professional organizer and home life expert, Amelia Pleasant Kennedy and I help folks permanently eliminate clutter in their homes and lives. On this podcast we'll go beyond the basics of home organization to talk about why a clutter-free mindset is essential to an aligned and sustainable lifestyle. If you're someone with a to-do list, if you're managing a household and if you're caring for others, this podcast is for you. Let's dive in.
Amelia: Welcome to Episode 54, “Getting Started Is As Simple As Rolling The Dice - Declutter Go!® with Lynne Poulton.” Lynne Poulton is a board-certified professional organizer and the owner of Wholly Organized!® LLC. She assists people of all ages to declutter, downsize, move, set up systems and maintain organization. Lynne is a licensed social worker and prior to starting her business in 2012, she spent 14 years working for a nonprofit social service agency. She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and moved to Ohio in 1996. She lives in Akron, Ohio with her husband Jason. In response to helping her clients start and finish decluttering, Lynne developed the game Declutter Go!® in 2021. Game nights and the Declutter Go!® Academy were developed to foster accountability and to make decluttering fun. Definitely listen in to see if gamification is what you need to get started decluttering and tidying, and be sure to check out all the resources Lynne and Wholly Organized offers.
Amelia: It's my pleasure to welcome Lynne Poulton to the podcast today. Lynne and I met last fall at the Institute for Challenging Disorganization Annual Conference. It was my first time attending, and I met you when I was kind of swept up for an evening of laughter and connection with other organizers from Michigan and Ohio. Yes. And then the next day I walked downstairs and I learned about this fabulous game that you have invented.
Lynne: Declutter Go!®.
Amelia: Woo-Hoo. So, of course I had to share her brilliance on the podcast. So welcome Lynne.
Lynne: Oh, thanks Amelia. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much.
Amelia: So we're going to talk about all the things today and dive in with the game here in a little bit. But the first question I love to ask all of my guests - because everybody's story is different - if you could share with us one way or just in general, what organization did or didn't look like for you during your childhood?
Lynne: I love this question because I was messy. And so I love telling that to clients. And I did have some categorization though. I had those plastic milk crates that they sold at Target, back in the eighties. I organized my sweaters. Another thing I did is that I had a camera, I started using a camera really, really early on and I did an inventory. I remember doing an inventory of my precious candy and then some other precious items and then making a list about it. So I was pretty possessive, I think about my stuff, which as I reflect, I think that's kind of interesting. Also, my mom was very tidy and so when people would come over to the house, I mean, everything was always in its place. And so that's how I grew up. And not to mention clothing was everywhere, all over my floor.
Amelia: Well, I was going to ask you, you used the word messy, but I didn't hear that yet.
Lynne: Yeah I know. So that was the biggest part of my messiness is that I would change clothes all the time and leave things all over the place. And so it's interesting because as an adult I don't change clothes as often, but I do enjoy clothes and I've kind of taken that spirit of tidiness from my mom to put things away. And most of the time people can come over to the house and things are in fairly good order.
Amelia: Amazing. Amazing. And I loved that early inventory system with photographing and documenting your favorite things.
Lynne: Yeah. Well now of course I have precious things around my house, but I've learned to let go and use that question that I also use with clients. Like, could somebody use this thing more than me? Because we always have things coming into our house. And so if we don't let some things go, then our house is just going to be so full of stuff.
Amelia: For sure. And that's the reason why we're going to kind of cover the tough stuff around organization first. Because let's be honest, life isn't always rainbows and daisies and clients often reach out to professional organizers during or after a major life transition. And I know this personally for me in particular. And an example of that would be like prolonged illness or death in the family. My mother is living with dementia, so it's kind of very real for me, this story. And these are really sensitive moments and we know grief can be ongoing. There's always more coming in than going out.
Lynne: Dementia, that is a grief process because in a way part of your mom has died.
Amelia: Yes, it is ongoing. I always think that today is the best day.
Lynne: That's a beautiful reframe.
Amelia: Yeah. It's the perfect way of seeing our time together and in the present. So how have you navigated this experience, grief, loss, intense emotion, either personally or with the clients that you serve?
Lynne: Well, thank you for allowing me to talk about this. And I've shared with you about how I've experienced extreme grief this year with first the death of my father and three months later the death of my mother. And not to forget the death of my dog three weeks after that. And certainly, this is raw, this is fresh. It certainly has, I'm taking the time to do a lot of contemplation. And so I continue to work with clients. I would say not as intensely in terms of the amount of clients right now because of my energy level and because of my processing of grief. But it's starting to give me a new context in how I relate to my clients. And we only know what we know at the moment. And through life experience, if we remain open, we learn new things.
So I can look back when I worked with a client and I remember distinctly like pulling things out kind of quickly out of a chest with China and the gentleman's like, wait, slow down. And it really kind of shook me. I was like, whoa, I'm going too fast. And apologized kind of glossed over it. Oh, okay. I gotcha. But now I look back at that and think how I know that I'm going to go into things differently because I'm learning about pace and grief like you said, it doesn't go away. It's this common experience that we all are going to have eventually. And how I intend and how I am working with clients is much slower. And it's not that I am projecting my grief on my clients, I'm just keenly aware of how everyone experiences differently and to ask those questions that us organizers do ask.
But I think it's just in a different way for me now, like what do you need? How should we proceed? How does this feel right now looking at this? Because in my own experience, there's my parents' bed - that right now - it has sheets on it. And about six weeks ago I went over there and I crawled in the bed and I just cried. And so thinking about if I went over to a client's house of maybe their parents and just, I wouldn't do this, but just ripping off the sheets, like how that would've like, if somebody would've done that, even family member, no, no, no, I can't do that. I just can't have that happen right now. But I can look at books. It's finding those items or that category when you are in this experience of grief that may be easier than another thing.
Amelia: And I love that you mentioned, so two different things. One is sensitivity. The questions that you posed when self-reflecting or working with a client are so powerful because we as organizers, we're navigating the relationship dynamic with a client. We're very practiced and powerful when it comes to not judging other people. But there is still that emotional element where we have to carefully navigate the sensitivity around belongings. And I think listeners will appreciate that because it opens them up to knowing that it is okay to have an emotional experience when working with someone.
Lynne: And to have the courage. And this could be difficult for some people. When you hire an organizer and they're helping you and guiding you and leading you and it's important for you to speak up and say what is going on and that you need a minute.
Amelia: And that's the second thing I wanted to mention is the word you used, which is pace. There is a pacing to a session and it is to the client's advantage if anything feels uncomfortable or off to speak up to the organizer as well and say, hey, can we slow down a bit or speed up, if we're not moving quickly enough? But also for the organizer to have that level of interpersonal awareness, we're all sort of working through that and it's about finding the right fit when you're creating that relationship.
Lynne: Yeah. And it's that trust. So that if I were the client and you were working with me and I said, whoa, I'm not ready to strip this bed. And for you to say, wow, that's good. I'm glad you said something about that and take the time that you need and how great for me to speak up and for you to validate.
Amelia: I love that.
Lynne: So I can say like, the word that comes up, which I think is kind of healing. I see that I'm healing - that I'm excited to take what I'm learning through this grief process, which, don't get me wrong, like it's been despair and then peace on the other side. It's like a lot of different emotions and I'm finding that running away from it is not useful, but having time, like fortunately we kind of have as much time as we would really want to deal with the house, but I want to let go of the house. I don't want to have that over my head. So thinking like eight months is a good amount of time for me. People are in all different situations. Some people have to get rid of the house really quickly. And I just met a gentleman the other day whose dad passed away. Now this is not a client but his dad passed away a year ago and he's like, yeah, the house just sits, because then that's just not wanting to face it. That's not exactly the answer either.
Amelia: Yeah. I appreciate you sharing your vulnerability and your personal story as well as client experiences because this is one category that I often help clients with, in terms of the emotional processing, in terms of taking those first few steps to get started around the grief and loss. And it is very much a process and a timeline that is hard to almost predict at the beginning of the journey.
Lynne: It totally is. And I think that one thing to keep in mind is there's adrenaline after somebody dies, like you're trying to plan a service maybe, you're just taking care of some paperwork and stuff and you're starting to see wow, there's a lot to do. And in reflecting, I'm really glad that I took the energy that I had and I did get some technical things done and then I hit a wall. So, I think ride the energy that you have and be mindful of not doing some things too quickly, like taking care of maybe bank accounts or certain stuff where it might be cut and dry, deciding to just get rid of all the clothing. You may want to pause and wait and use your energy to take care of maybe more technical things if your mind is there.
Amelia: Yes. Very, very practical and useful guidance. I appreciate that. Let's switch now to this other side of you and your business over the last couple of years. I would like to call you the inventor of this game. You created this. I'm going to show everyone who's watching the video Declutter Go!®. It's a simple, easy to use set of six foam dice and you use it to gamify the decluttering process. And I wanted to share here really quickly that even before I met you in person, I learned about this game from a client who shared it with me.
Lynne: I love that.
Amelia: So bonus. Walk us all through the backstory of creating the game and then let's definitely break down how Declutter Go!® can help somebody with their decluttering efforts.
Lynne: Yeah. So first I have to say thank you so much for like, we made that shift because we all are multifaceted. So here I have this grief experience and it's like almost on the other side is this fun color. And I'm so excited really to talk about this, but I have not talked about this in a while because it's kind of not where my headspace is in this whole spirit of fun. And so I'm just grateful for this opportunity. So I came up with the game in response to my clients being stuck and not knowing where to start with their whole organizing decluttering journey. And many of my clients love games, a lot of them on their phones and many of my clients have kids and my clients are open to new things. And I wanted to create something tangible that I could share with my clients to help them, give them a tool that they would be able to use when I wasn't there. And then hopefully to share it with their friends and family.
And so like you said, there are six dice and it starts with this pink dye that is called revive. And the idea is to get yourself into the headspace and prepare to declutter. So you may roll on, play some music, get a snack, get some aromatherapy going, open the windows, get some fresh air, hydrate or pause and think, what am I doing this organizing thing for in the first place? So that's the first.
Amelia: I just want to say I love Headspace because I'm a mindset coach. So I think that's huge to just say like, what is the pre-work, just roll the dice and see what I need to do to get my energy and my mind right to get in the process. Love it.
Lynne: Yeah. And any of these things that you land on and you don't like, you can change.
Amelia: Yeah, just roll again.
Lynne: Because you're an adult, you can do whatever you want. And then I'll say at the end, I have the reward and so it's doing a hobby, screen time, celebrating, however you want to celebrate, relax, get a favorite drink or the star is whatever you want.
Amelia: Free choice.
Lynne: Like, make you feel like you've gotten a reward. So the dice in the middle, a lot of our clients and a lot of us have paper. So these are all the different things that you do with paper, shred, recycle, file, mail, scan, finish it. That's the puzzle piece. So maybe you just need to fill something out and get it on its way. So paper is one route or stuff. The action is the green. So this icon here with the house is put away, then recycle, toss, sell, donate and finish it. What is that one last thing? Maybe it's emptying the dishwasher or actually folding the clothes and putting them away out of the basket.
Amelia: Oh, so targeted. I love it.
Lynne: So you pick whether you want to work on stuff or paper. And then the other two dice, the yellow is the number which represents the number of items that you're going to declutter and the timer setting. So if you land on one, multiply by five minutes or 10 minutes depending on what kind of timeframe you have. And then on the orange one it denotes all the different rooms in your house. So garage, bathroom, living room, bedroom, basement. And I've had people, if they don't have a basement, they make it their office or something. So roll the first, the pink, land on aromatherapy. So maybe I'll spray a little lavender or something to relax me and then decide, well I'm going to work on stuff so you can just roll all of them.
I landed on “throw four things away from the basement,” so go to the basement, find four things to throw away. And many people will say, well I can do that. And the thing is, is that when we don't do anything, we're procrastinating, we're feeling bad because we're not getting things done. So this is a way to do something and the idea is to start. And if you don't like your role, put it on whatever you want. It does not matter.
Amelia: Yeah. It lights the spark. I can just see this by watching you hold up the cubes for anyone who's watching the video, it's awesome because you don't know what it's going to land on. So you're just like, something is going to happen. And that expectation, I can see how that really can light the spark to get started, the motivation. And the minutes, the five, the 10-minute, the timeframe as well lets your brain know, oh, I'm not going to be doing this forever. I'm going to be able to do it for an achievable five minutes or 20 minutes, whatever it might land on.
Lynne: Yes. And like anything in life, these are guidelines and suggestions and you could do it differently. All the directions are right on top of the box. They're all right here so that they don't get lost. And so yeah, you do this and then when you're done, maybe you'll do it again. You might find four more things to throw away down there.
Amelia: Right. You can always keep going.
Lynne: Well, yeah. And the rules are to have, this is called a decluttering sprint. Do this three times. So roll it again. Oh okay five things to recycle in the bedroom and you can go and do that. And then at the end, to not forget, I landed on “have a favorite drink.” So I'm going to make myself a cup of tea, sit down and kick my feet up because I've done something. I started.
Amelia: And I've heard and seen the reviews that it works well for kids and teens as well to just get them motivated to say, hey, let's tidy up. Let's get rid of a few things. Let's get the decision-making process going. Because oftentimes that's where the fatigue sets in. And so we let the dice make the decision for us.
Lynne: That's right. And it's a fun way to declutter.
Amelia: Amazing, amazing. Well we're definitely going to link all of that in the show notes, how people can pick up the game and get ahold of it.
Lynne: Fantastic.
Amelia: One other way that you and I are kind of aligned is this idea of creating your own rules. Like just a moment ago, you used air quotes when you used the word rules. There were air quotes. Rules are made up. Based on your years of experience, tell me why you see this, like being flexible and creating your own rules as an important and essential element for folks when it comes to decluttering and organizing.
Lynne: Well, I would say because rigidity doesn't work and embracing our uniqueness is going to feel good.
Amelia: I love that.
Lynne: And giving yourself grace and not comparing yourself to other people is going to allow you to really take care of business in the way that you know feels good for you. Life is short. So it's important to really think about what is it that I want and how am I getting there or how am I not? And that's when us - as organizers, we really help people get to what they want. And being open to that is a very rich experience for someone. The idea of asking for help and getting help is empowering. And so through that process you figure out, well what your rules are and what's going to help you have the best quality of life.
Amelia: I absolutely adore that. And it is actually one of the most profound questions that I ask clients and invite them to consider, which is, what do I want? And for many women in particular, that's a hard one to answer.
Lynne: Well, because so many women think about other people. If you're a mom or a caregiver, you're taking care of somebody else. And so what is it that I want? What do I need? It is profound and powerful.
Amelia: And it's transformational when it comes to the standards and expectations that we set for our homes. Rather than looking around saying, it should be tidier or more organized, or I should be able to get this place fixed up. Not only does your game help folks get started, but it also creates a level of just kind of peace and comfort to say, actually you get to decide what you want your home to look like and feel like. And that's really the key or the most important part.
Lynne: Thank you. Yeah, self-care is also a big part of that.
Amelia: For sure. Anything else you would like to share with folks before I ask you our last question?
Lynne: Well, I would just encourage people to really, I think, answer that question, what do they want?
Amelia: It's a great question for 2024, I'll tell you that, journal on that for sure.
Lynne: Exactly. It's been a pleasure to share with you.
Amelia: So what's one way, Lynne, that you employ organization now as an adult?
Lynne: So about a year and a half ago I started a routine in the morning of writing three things that I was grateful for or I'm grateful for, and three things like what would make the day great and then finish the sentence I am. And so this was part of this gratitude journal. And so I started that about a year and a half ago.
And then a client of mine introduced me to a couple books, the Book of Awakening and then 366 More Ways to Let Go. And they were daily books because I was looking for some type of practice in the morning. And so that's what I developed. And this ritual of having, it's about 10 minutes, now it's about two hours that I sit and have coffee and I'm giving myself that time and space because of what we started talking about with grief.
I mean that would be my ideal to have that time to kind of reflect. But having 10 minutes to center myself and to be grateful for even the fact that the sun came out. Like sometimes it's really, really basic and sometimes it is a little bit deeper, but it's the practice that has been so important to me because I have that time in the morning to do a little bit of something for myself again like 10 minutes. And then I go forward and I help people most of my day. As an organizer that's what we do, we're helping other people. So having that dedicated time for myself in the morning has been a way that, I mean, and it's an organizing thing, I believe that wholeheartedly because it sets the tone for the rest of my day and the practices and tasks that I do.
Amelia: I agree and I'm glad that you shared that. And for listeners, if you are not a morning person and this is something you'd like to start.
Lynne: I was not.
Amelia: Yeah, exactly. And the preparation for most folks starts the night before, like deciding and getting yourself set up for that morning reflection time. But it is truly, I agree, a great way to ground yourself for the day. And the other thing I wanted to highlight was it's celebrating the small things.
People often when we talk about, hey, like if you roll this celebration, just getting out the game and doing one decluttering sprint is something to celebrate. Sun comes up, something to celebrate. I literally am able to move my body today is something to celebrate. So just remembering that - that celebrations, we can make them what we want and identify the small moments too.
Lynne: Thanks for letting me share that because that has been a game changer. And I want to say that it's not always perfect and it might be that I miss a day or it might be five minutes or I only get to read one of the passages or I only get to do the gratitude journal. And what I find is when I skip it, something happens. How important and valuable it is to try to make it a priority.
Amelia: I love that. And thinking about how we treat ourselves when we don't get through the whole practice, but just giving ourselves credit for one little component of it. I'm always saying like, look for what's working and if you did one thing, that's worth celebrating.
Lynne: Exactly.
Amelia: Phenomenal.
Lynne: Thank you Amelia. How fun. How rich.
Amelia: It was so good. Well tell everyone how they can get a hold of the Declutter Go!® game. They can learn about the game nights that you host or have available.
Lynne: Yes. We didn't even talk about that. So https://decluttergo.com. You can find all my contact information and everything there. And I'll keep you posted as I feel energetic and ready to have game nights; they'll be posted there.
Amelia: Nice. And your business name as well.
Lynne: https://wholly-organized.com
Amelia: Amazing. Yay. Thanks so much Lynne.
Lynne: Thank you.
Outro: Hey y'all, share the love. Remember, if you've had at least one valuable takeaway from this episode, someone else will too. I'd encourage you to share it with like-minded folks and suggest they follow the podcast too. I truly appreciate your time and I don't take it for granted.