156: This Weird Decluttering Test Went Viral

Let’s talk about something unexpectedly genius (and a little gross)—a viral trend that might just be the decluttering breakthrough you didn’t know you needed.

You’ve seen the Instagram reels. You’ve laughed at the TikToks. But would you keep that mug, toy, or shirt if it was covered in poop?

In this episode, Diana dives headfirst into a viral decluttering hack that's sweeping social media—and flips the script just for busy moms.

• Perfect for you if…
  • You’re tackling decluttering between meal preps, school runs, and potty emergencies.
  • Emotional attachment to stuff is real—but you need a little nudge (or a laugh) to let go.
  • You appreciate a practical, judgment-free chat for real-life moms, not Pinterest-perfect ones.

🎧 Hit play now if you need a fresh perspective and a little mom-to-mom humor to finally say goodbye to the extra stuff—and YES, this totally counts as self-care.

👉Don’t forget to DM Diana on Instagram and share: Would you keep it if it were covered in poop?

What can you expect from this podcast and future episodes?

• 15-20 minute episodes to help you tackle your to-do list
• How to declutter in an effective and efficient way
• Guest interviews
• Deep dives on specific topics

Find Diana Rene on social media:
Instagram: @the.decluttered.mom
Facebook: @the.decluttered.mom
Pinterest: @DianaRene

Are you ready for a peaceful and clutter-free home? Watch my FREE training video “Chaos to Calm” to learn how it’s possible! And find all of my resources here.

Transcript

Diana Rene: 0:06

You're listening to The Decluttered Mom podcast, a podcast built specifically for busy moms by a busy mom. I'm your host, Diana Rene, and in 2017, I had my second daughter and it felt like I was literally drowning in my home okay, not literally, but I felt like I couldn't breathe with all of the stuff surrounding me. Over the next 10 months, I got rid of approximately 70% of our household belongings and I have never looked back. I kind of feel like I hacked the mom system and I'm here to share all the tips, tricks and encouragement. Let's listen to today's show. Hello and welcome to another episode of The Decluttered Mom podcast.

Diana Rene: 0:54

Today, we are going to talk about a viral trend that has been going around on Instagram and TikTok, and I don't know if you've seen it. I don't often get to talk about viral trends here on this podcast because most of them have nothing to do with what I talk about on this podcast, but this time, this time, there is something that is relative to what we talk about on here, and that is the would you keep it if it were covered in poop? Question, and so I don't know if you've seen this. There have been some very creative videos that have been made for it that I have seen and that it's funny because, like so many people forwarded me so many different reels and TikToks over the last week or so when things were when this was like really trending, so I want to talk about it. I want to talk about it and I want to introduce this as the poop rule. Does the poop rule work when you're trying to declutter? Does it not work? So let's talk about it.

Diana Rene: 1:55

Okay, when the whole concept of would you keep this item if it were covered in poop is trying to get you to grasp or understand, is like we've all had incidents, especially with kids right, where something gross happened to an item and we were like, ew, I don't want to keep that, like it's not worth cleaning, I just want to get rid of it, and so that's obviously like the surface level, like question of the poop rule. If there was poop on this thing, would I really want to like work hard to clean it and get it to a point where I could use it again? Would it still gross me out? Would I get rid of it? Or is it like important enough or special enough that I would go through that work to be able to keep it. But what I think deep down is that the rule really helps you pause and ask if this item were suddenly unusable, would I even care? It's not shock value. It's more about your instinct and oftentimes, when it comes to decluttering, it's really hard to trust our instinct because it's so muddied. We have so many emotions that are tied to physical items, for whatever reason, that it can feel really hard to listen to our instincts. So what this rule is doing is it kind of cuts through that guilt, that indecision and that maybe someday thinking because it's really coming down to would I care if this had poop on it? And or is this something that I would go through all of the effort to take care of it and make sure that I could keep it? I also think it was very, very interesting to me reading comments on these reels and on these TikToks, because there were so many people that were like, oh my gosh, I never would have thought of that and that makes total sense to me. And now it clicks for me and there's always going to be something different for different people. That's going to click and that's going to help them figure it out.

Diana Rene: 4:01

I think that this resonates with so many busy moms, because it's like a quick tool, right, it's like a snap decision type thing where it feels more black and white than most decluttering decisions feel. It helps to break that hesitation in the moment, especially for background clutter or things that, like, you don't really you don't really like care about a lot, but you're just not really sure if you want to let go of it, and so I don't think that this is like a full strategy. I don't think you're going to be able to like go through your entire home and declutter based on this rule alone. I do think it's like kind of an accelerator, though, and it is kind of something that makes you pause and makes you think for a minute like, oh, is this something that I really would want to keep or go through the effort to keep if it had poop on it. But here is where it gets a little tricky for moms, because, hello, poop is not shocking to most moms.

Diana Rene: 5:06

Right, like we have all dealt with poop at a level that we probably never, ever expected pre-mom life to like ever have to deal with. Right, like ever have to deal with. Right, like the amount of times that poop came up in conversation when my kids were babies, with the doctor, with my husband, like trying to figure out like, why is her poop this color? Why is it this consistency? And then like going through changing diapers and potty training and like kids, like it's gross, right, like we've dealt with poop for so long that we've almost become like desensitized to poop it, and so like it's funny, because when I was watching some of these reels I was like heck, no, I wouldn't get rid of that if it had poop on it, because like, like poop got, like poop is just like a normal thing, right.

Diana Rene: 6:01

And so I like I think that it can be tricky, especially like I think about moms who like cloth diaper and I'm like they would, they would be like no way am I getting rid of that, like absolutely not, because they are really used to like dealing with poop on a daily basis. And so I think that that is something that makes it not as effective for a lot of people. But again, it's just kind of a silly fun thing. So maybe, to reframe it as what I actually want it if it were no longer pristine or if it were no longer like in perfect condition. So again, I don't think this is going to be like the thing that gets you to declutter your entire house. But there are a few things that I could see potentially it works for. Declutter your entire house, but there are a few things that I could see potentially it works for. If you're a cloth diaper mom, like you probably are just not, it's just not going to work for you, right.

Diana Rene: 6:50

So this is like it could be great for, like random kitchen tools, because who wants to use something in the kitchen that had poop on it? Right? That's extra gross. It could be for like just duplicates, like if you have like 17 phone chargers or a hundred coffee mugs or anything like that, where you just have a ton of one type of item. It could be for, like old hobby supplies. If you have like a bunch of like you decided you were going to be like a sewing master at one point and you've used the machine twice and it's just sitting there and it's collecting dust and you have all of the supplies for it the fabric. Would you really want to use the fabric? The head poop all over it, maybe not. It might help you get rid of it.

Diana Rene: 7:33

But, as you can see, like it's a good concept but it is going to really help some people and is just not going to make sense for a lot of people. But I really want to hear from you, I want to know send me a DM on Instagram Would the poop rule work for you? Is it something where you're like, no, that doesn't make sense. Poop's just a part of daily life I have a bunch of kids right or would it be like, heck, yeah, it still grosses me out and it totally works, like it made me like totally shift my mind when I'm coming across things to consider decluttering.

Diana Rene: 8:07

I'm curious. I'm very curious because the comments on these reels were very mixed. So anyway, this is just kind of a silly thing that I saw and people kept forwarding to me and so I wanted to like give you my two cents on it. I'm curious what your two cents are, and we will see you next week on another episode. Thanks for hanging out and listening to The Decluttered Mom podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean the world if you could write a review or share this episode with a friend or your Instagram stories. And if you're on Instagram, be sure to follow me at thedeclutteredmom and send me a DM to say hi. I'd love to hear what you thought about today's episode. I hope you'll come back next week and hang out with us again.