Carly Willoughby Rolls is a qualified life coach, educator and changemaker who helps modern women ditch their busy, overwhelming lifestyles to find contentment. Carly shares how you can find your inner minimalista, revealing her 5 simple tips on how to ditch clutter and find contentment.
Earning great money, spending it on designer clothes, and living in a nice suburb in a fancy apartment in Brisbane – from the outside, Carly Willoughby Rolls had it all, yet she still felt a bit lacklustre. Having grown up living in an uncomplicated household in regional Queensland, Carly tells me she had a simple childhood, but, as an adult, ‘simple’ very quickly became ‘busy’. As life took over, she says she was trying to maintain a certain perfection, but instead found herself feeling anxious and stressed.
“I was a perfectionist, maximalist, anxious ridden and uncontent, but successful-on-paper career woman,” she explains. “I was feeling pretty good with life, but there was more to life than doing things that stressed me out.”It wasn’t until the birth of her first child six years ago that Carly started thinking of ways to get better organised. Immersing herself in blogs and books, she stumbled across Joshua Becker’s Becoming Minimalist, which resonated strongly with her. “The way he talked about simplifying everything, from not just your physical possessions, but your finances and having more time with your family,” she says of the book. Carly found being on maternity leave made her question what she wanted her lifestyle to be like with kids, a big change for many women leaving their work-driven lifestyles behind. “I see it more as a vehicle to the lifestyle we wanted to live rather than perhaps the lifestyle we had become accustomed to,” she says.
5 steps to decluttering
- The question I ask when I am decluttering: Do I need this anymore?
- Does it bring me joy?
- Is there a sentimental value anymore?
- The questions I ask if i’m buying something new: Is it the best quality? Is it going to last for a long time?
- Do I have something like this already?
