Organize First, Decorate Second | Whitney English (EP39)

Clear Intentions with Diane Boden

Diane Boden

Self-improvement, How To, Kids & Family, Mental Health, Education, Parenting, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 952 Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Minimalism isn’t about living in a blank, sterile space — it’s about making room for what truly reflects you. It’s less about having less, and more about living with intention. On today’s episode, I’m chatting with designer and author Whitney English, about her brand-new book Organize First, Decorate Second. We talk about how to bring order to your space before you style it — and why a home that feels like you doesn’t have to feel chaotic.

Links Discussed in This Episode |

Previous Episode: Making Space for Balance with Whitney English (EP220)
Book: The Next Right Thing by Emily Freeman
Connect with Whitney:
Website
Instagram
Substack
Book: Organize First, Decorate Second

About Whitney|

Whitney English believes in living a beautiful, intentional life — one rooted in gratitude, creativity, and growth. She’s built two seven-figure businesses from the ground up, holds a degree in interior design, and studied management at Parsons in New York. Her work has been featured in O Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and twice on the Today Show. In 2008, Country Living named her one of their Women Entrepreneurs. Above all, her favorite roles are wife to David and mom to their three kids.

Episode Sponsors |

Clear Intentions would not be possible without the support of weekly sponsors. Choosing brands that I believe in is important to me. I only want to recommend brands that I believe may help you in your daily life. As always, never feel pressured into buying anything. Remember: if you don't need it, it's not a good deal!

Enjoy the Podcast?

Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning into this podcast, then do not hesitate to write a review. You can also share this with your fellow mothers so that they can be inspired to think more and do with less.

Order (or review) my book, Minimalist Moms: Living & Parenting With Simplicity.

Questions |

You can contact me through my website, find me on Instagram, Pinterest or like The Minimalist Moms Page on Facebook.

Checkout the podcast storefront for recommendations from Diane.

If you’ve been struggling with motivation to declutter or work through bad habits that keep you stuck, I’d love to help you achieve your goals! We’ll work together (locally or virtually) to discover what areas in your life are high priority to get you feeling less overwhelmed right away. For more info on my processes, fees, and availability please contact!

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadomattress.com
* Check out Blueland: https://blueland.com/clear
* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code MINIMALIST for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com
* Check out Washington Red Raspberries: https://redrazz.org

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/minimalist-moms-podcast2093/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I just, I really, really, really love home. But home is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be
0:06.1	whenever I was seven. You can't organize clutter. If you have clutter and you have too much,
0:13.4	I think that's where we get caught up. I come from a long line of hoarders on both sides. It's like
0:18.1	genetically in me to collect things and love things. It's like going to the
0:23.5	container store and buying the containers without really knowing what you're trying to contain.
0:28.5	The constraints make us resourceful. People want to have their homes be tidy, organized, edited.
0:37.2	They want that. Our brains are trying to make sense of the world
0:40.9	around this. And if you have to stop on a little chotchky animal every three feet on a bookshelf,
0:50.2	you're not seeing, oh, bookshelf. You're seeing all this junk on a bookshelf.
0:56.7	Some people do it very natural.
0:59.0	Like, they just do it.
1:00.1	It just does not take any extra effort of all for them to get up and go put the buffalo sauce in the refrigerator.
1:06.8	Why it takes me half a day to do that is beyond me.
1:14.9	Minimalism isn't about living in a blank, sterile space.
1:18.5	It's about making room for what truly reflects you.
1:21.5	It's less about having less and more about living with intention.
1:25.5	On today's episode, I'm chatting with designer and author,
1:28.5	Whitney English, about her brand new book, Organized First, Decorate Second. This is actually Whitney's
1:33.8	second appearance on the show. I'll be sure to link our previous conversation in the show notes.
1:37.9	But today we're going to talk about how to bring order to your space before you style it and why a home
1:42.6	that feels like you doesn't have to feel chaotic.
1:45.6	Similarly to our last conversation, Whitney and I tend to take a more conversational tone.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 27 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Diane Boden, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Diane Boden and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.