Hi, I’m Chloe Milligan — a certified decluttering coach dedicated to helping overwhelmed people reclaim their homes. With body doubling, coaching, and accountability, I ensure clutter doesn't take over again.

From Classroom Calm to Home Overwhelm

Before I ever started Clutter Free by Chloe, I was a teacher—pouring every ounce of my energy into my classroom, staying late into the evenings to tidy and reset the room with sheer force because I didn’t actually know how to organize in a way that worked. I could make my classroom simple and functional for the kids, but at home…I was overwhelmed. I was exhausted from teaching all day, and then I would walk through the door to a space I didn’t know how to manage.

I had too much stuff. I didn’t have systems. And even though tidy spaces mattered deeply to me, I had never been taught how to create them. That disconnect made me feel ashamed and behind—like this was a personal failing instead of what it really was: a missing skill set. My home didn’t feel peaceful or supportive. It felt like something I was constantly battling, and that weighed on every part of my life.

The Night I Finally Learned How to Declutter

One night, searching desperately for help, I typed “how to declutter” into YouTube…and found a method that changed everything for me. For the first time, I saw a simple, non-emotional, step-by-step way to approach tidying. Something clicked. I realized: I can learn this.

And so I did.

I went through my home and ended up getting rid of nearly 80% of our things. I began putting items where I naturally looked for them, and suddenly everything felt different. My home became functional. I could breathe again. My anxiety eased. Cooking wasn’t overwhelming anymore. My space finally matched the life I wanted to live with my growing family.

When Personal Change Turned Into a Calling

And then—almost by accident—this process became a calling. A mom found me through Santa Barbara Moms and asked for help. During a single hour on her lunch break, we transformed her playroom. When she looked around afterward and said, “This is incredible,” something inside me lit up. Helping her didn’t just feel good—it felt purposeful. I saw her relief, her hope, the way she softened when she realized her home wasn’t a reflection of her worth.

From that moment forward, I knew this wasn’t just something that helped me. It was something I could help other women learn too.

Meeting Women Exactly Where They Are

Since then, I’ve developed an approach rooted in compassion, collaboration, and trauma-informed care—because clutter is never just “stuff.” It’s emotional. It’s layered. It carries stories. Every woman I meet is doing her best with the tools she has, and many were never taught how to tidy in a way that works for their brain, their season of life, or their family’s needs.

So I meet them exactly where they are.

Without judgment.
Without pressure.
With kindness, strategy, and a partnership that makes the process feel doable instead of defeating.

The Ripple Effect of Calm, Functional Homes That Support Real Life

I help women and their families create homes that feel calm, functional, and safe—a place where they and their children can breathe, play, rest, and reconnect. And I do it by organizing for how their brain works, not how a Pinterest board says their home “should” look.

The impact has been beyond anything I imagined. Moms tell me they’re cooking again. Their kids play longer. They can sit down and rest—sometimes for the first time in years. They feel lighter, calmer, and more confident. They stop feeling embarrassed about their homes. They stop apologizing. They start feeling proud.

Creating The Tidy Up Playbook

As I continued this work, one question kept coming up—for me and for the families I supported: what do you do in the moment when you want to move forward, but your brain feels stuck? I realized I needed something very simple to get me moving, and this took me back to my days in the classroom. 

That’s how the Tidy Up Playbook was born. It exists for the moments when I feel stuck or frozen—when I want to get something done, but my brain can’t quite figure out how to move forward. It’s for those in-between moments where everything feels like too much, and doing nothing feels easier than starting. The games offer a simple next step. They help me put one foot in front of the other in a way that’s focused, doable, and even a little fun. 

Instead of pressure or perfection, they invite awareness—helping both adults and kids notice what needs to be done and offering a clear, gentle way to take action. It’s not about fixing everything. It’s about having a way forward when overwhelm takes over. And in creating it, I realized I’d built a tool that could help a lot of people feel calmer, more capable, and more at ease in their own spaces.

Why This Work Matters to Me

This work changed my life—and now it changes the lives of every family who invites me into their home.

At the heart of it, I love helping women clear their mental load, feel capable again, and get unstuck. I really do believe that when women are supported, the whole world becomes a better place.

And that is why I do what I do.