declutter

TIME OF CHANGE

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Okay friends, a couple weeks ago I talked about feeling lost in this time of change in life as I am about to help my son move across the country! I wanted to circle back to this topic as I have been continuing to process my feelings around the life changes that are happening for me right now. Ironically, shortly after I posted that blog talking about feeling lost, I heard something on a podcast that really resonated with what I was feeling. This was a Mel Robbins podcast and the gentleman she was interviewing was talking about how normal it is to feel lost at the end of a decade of life. For those of you who don’t know, I am turning 50 this fall! Not that there is anything different necessarily about turning 47 versus turning 50, but we all tend to evaluate our lives and choices as we near the end of a decade, kind of like we would as we near the end of a year. He said it is perfectly normal to feel lost when you are in the final year of a decade. This really reassured me that everything I was feeling was normal and valid.

The first thing I wanted to share with you, and encourage you if you’re going through a period of transition in life, is that it is normal to feel unrest during a time of change. It is okay to feel sad. It is okay to mourn the life you once had as it changes into something different. It’s good to really feel your feelings and process them rather than pushing down your feelings.  

Which leads me to the next point I wanted to share. It’s so important during a time of change in life to have emotional awareness. I think it is human nature to not want to face negative feelings, and we have the tendency to lean on numbing tactics. It is so easy these days to distract ourselves from those negative feelings. We have so many distractions at our fingertips! With all the streaming services and social media apps available to us. It takes a lot of discipline and intention to process unresolved feelings. It’s important to find time to process through your feelings either journaling about them, talking through things with a friend, or perhaps seeing a professional – a therapist or counselor – to help you work through your feelings.

Next I wanted to talk about the importance of acceptance. Some life changes are unwelcome, and therefore it’s even more important for us to accept the change. You often hear in the grief process, acceptance is the final stage. As I mentioned, oftentimes with life changes comes the need to grieve the life we once had. Change is an inevitable part of life. Isn’t there some saying about that – the only thing consistent in life is change? Sometimes this change provides an opportunity to reinvent ourselves: pursuing new interests or hobbies, finding a new career path, or engaging in lifelong learning – either through a program or just self guided through YouTube or other online learning platforms.

It is important in a season of change to find things that bring fulfillment. For me entering a mid-life season is a prime time to rediscover and pursue passions that may have been sidelined by earlier responsibilities. This can involve revisiting old hobbies, exploring new interests, or setting new personal and professional goals. Career-wise, midlife may bring opportunities for a new beginning. You could embark on entirely different career path, or you may want to focus on achieving a better work-life balance or finding roles that align more closely with your values and passions.

During a time of transition, it’s important to cultivate strong, supportive relationships to help you navigate this time. Investing more in friendships during this time can help you to have that extra emotional support you need, and helps you to not feel so alone. Now is a great time to reevaluate your relationships and work on fostering deeper connections with those people who are encouraging and positive for you and stepping away from toxic relationships. Getting involved in new activities and hobbies might provide those connections for you!

Finally, I wanted to share about the importance of self compassion during this time. It’s important to acknowledge that everyone experiences challenges and setbacks. Being kind to yourself, forgiving past mistakes, and focusing on the present can help to keep your outlook positive. Also, as I mentioned seeking professional help, such as therapy or counseling, can also provide valuable support and guidance during this period.

I can’t believe one of our kids is going to be moving across the country very soon! But I am excited for him, and I’m excited for me as I see what this next phase of life holds for me. AND, I do still have two of our adult children living with us! Like I mentioned, I will be helping our son drive a U-Haul to Oregon, and so I will be gone for a good part of August. Because of this I will be taking a break from posting content in the month of August!

Here is the YouTube video I shared in conjunction with this post!

DO YOU WANT OPTIONS OR FREEDOM

/ OrganizedWithJoy / 3 Comments

Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday I wanted to talk about something that I have been thinking about with regards to minimalism. I have talked frequently about my quest to simplify my life. I’m sure many of you who have been around for a while know that I have spent several years decluttering our home. I’m finally getting to a point where I have reached maintenance mode.

One big lesson I have learned from this process is the idea that we have a choice between options or freedom. What I mean by this, is we can have a lot of options in any given personal possessions category, or we can have freedom from those items. Take clothing as an example. We can have a closet full of clothes, which offers us lots of options, but it comes at the expense of freedom – of time, choosing what to wear can be more difficult with more options, and it also takes more time to maintain a larger wardrobe.

You might have heard people talking about how paralyzing making decisions can be these days because of our options. The internet offers us so many options – from different types of jeans to purchase, to job opportunities, to dating partners. Having endless options can be overwhelming and take up a lot of mental capacity to sift through all of the information presented to us to make a decision on any given thing.

I have been thinking about how as we pursue minimalism, we must decide which categories are important for us personally to have options and which it’s important to have freedom. This will be different for each person since we all have different interests and passions. Maybe you don’t cook or bake much, so you can have far less kitchen and pantry inventory on hand – giving you more freedom to spend time on other things. There are some people who find that freedom is more important than options in most categories of possessions. But we must each decide what works best for us and for our families.

For me, I used to have lots of extra decor on hand. I loved decorating for each season and rotating out different decor, but as I age I’m realizing I would rather own a smaller collection of items I truly really love and rotate them less frequently. I choose the freedom of not switching out decor often and having that time to pursue other things.

Everything we own will cost us. It will of course cost us the initial monetary price, but then it will cost us time and energy to clean, maintain, organize, and store these items. It will also cost us the mental energy of one day perhaps deciding to declutter that item. 

I was especially thinking about this as I put away my Christmas decor this year. I realized it really was quite simple to put everything away because of how much I have pared down my holiday decor. And I have several transitional pieces that can stay up through the winter.

Stuff can own us, or we can own the stuff. I have learned that it is a balance trying to decide what’s important enough to have options and where I want freedom instead. The longer I pursue minimalism and simple living, the more I become drawn to freedom over options! Each of us must decide what works best for us, our lifestyles, and our families!

The YouTube video I shared in conjunction with this blog post.

GRACE IN HOMEMAKING

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to address something that some of my girlfriends and I were talking about this week. We were talking about this idea that there are different seasons in life that allow for different abilities and different bandwidth for homemaking.

I wonder if some people come to my YouTube channel and see my organized spaces, see my tidy home, hear me talking about my disciplined homemaking schedule and think to themselves: I don’t have the bandwidth for that. Guess what, I have not always had the bandwidth for the way I live now! We are all in different seasons of life, have different responsibilities and obligations, and we all have different abilities. Some of you may have a chronic illness, or depression, or other health conditions that limit what you can do in this season in life. You may have young children with busy schedules, or you have other priorities and commitments outside of your home – whether that is a job or an organization you’re involved in. I just want to let you know, if you visit my YouTube channel, you are seeing one stage in my life. You are seeing the stage of life where I have more margin in my life. My kids are older now and more independent, and in addition to that, ever since Covid I have not been involved in as many things I once used to be involved in. I have enjoyed this slower pace of life, and so have been more intentional with my schedule and what commitments I will make moving forward.

Check out my YouTube channel if you have not already!

Thirteen years ago I went through some health issues that affected my ability to be productive. I had pretty severe anxiety and debilitating acid reflux for quite a while before I learned about my food sensitivities and some of my hormonal imbalances. During that time in life, which was also when my kids were in middle and elementary school, and my husband traveled a lot for his job often leaving me essentially to be a single parent, I had to evaluate realistically what I could do. It’s in these more difficult seasons of life that we must give ourselves grace with regards to homemaking. Sometimes just keeping people alive is enough!

While I have always had a schedule, even when my kids were very young, I have also allowed myself flexibility based on what commitments we had in each stage of life. While I have always incorporated deep cleaning and decluttering in my schedule, it certainly didn’t happen as regularly as it does now. There were some weeks when my kids were younger that I just didn’t have the bandwidth to get it done. In those seasons I had to prioritize other things – like my kids activities, volunteering, and other obligations outside of the home. 

If you have watched my channel over it’s lifetime (which by the way I officially had my four year YouTube anniversary on November 1st!), you will have seen the transformation of my home. While I did my best to keep our home clean, organized, and tidy while my kids were growing up, that wasn’t my priority then. But since starting my channel 4 years ago, with my kids older and more independent, I have done a lot of organizing projects and a lot of decluttering, which I only now have had the time to be intentional about. It took us 27 years of marriage to accumulate all of the things we have today, and it has taken me the last 8 years or so of prioritizing decluttering and organizing to get my home to where it is today. I organized and decluttered our spaces little by little over time, it didn’t happen overnight.

I did want to share this with you to let you know that anything I share on my YouTube channel or my blog comes from a place of where I am in my season of life. I share with you tips and things that have helped me as I get my home decluttered and organized, but I fully understand that not everyone is in a season where they have time to devote to these things. This is why I am such a big advocate for doing things a little at a time, and being intentional about what comes into your home! 

I hope if you are in a season where you don’t have as much bandwidth for homemaking, that you would give yourself grace today. I truly hope anything I share is inspirational to you and doesn’t make you feel discouraged because you can’t do things the way I do them. I only share to inspire and motivate! If you are in a more difficult season, where you don’t have as much time or energy – just be encouraged that seasons change! They always do!

Check out the YouTube video that I shared in conjunction with this blog post!

IF IT FEELS LIKE A NO, LET IT GO!

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to talk about a quote I recently heard from Joshua Fields Milburn. If you don’t know who he is, he is one of the two men who make up the content creators, The Minimalists. They have a podcast, YouTube channel, and they even have a documentary on Netflix. I have been following these guys for several years as inspiration on my journey towards pursuing minimalism. Recently in one of their podcasts, Joshua said something that I think is actually a catchphrase that he says often, “If it feels like a no, let it go!” I am sure I have heard him say this before, but on this day it just hit differently.

This may sound a bit dramatic, but I feel like for whatever reason when I heard this phrase on this day, it was a breakthrough moment for me. So often with my things I have looked at items and think that I don’t love it, but I like to have it around for an option. I especially struggle with clothes and home decor in this way. But as I began looking around my home, I started noticing a lot of “no’s.” There were several things that I was just holding onto to fill up a space or just in case. I have even said to clients before that “just in case” is a dangerous saying when it comes to making progress in decluttering. If I truly want to get to the place where I am managing less things, I have to quit saying “just in case” and I have to start saying “if it feels like a no, let it go!”

There is this cactus print I had in my bathroom for the longest time and it is a great example. It is something that I don’t really love anymore, but I was just keeping it to fill the space. I realized that it is okay to have spaces more simplified, and that is actually what has been more appealing to me lately. I purchased that print several years ago and I have displayed it in different places around my home. I’m beginning to realize that it’s okay for my tastes and style to change. Something I purchased 5 or 6 years ago may just not really be my style anymore. I am also realizing that if I purchased something and a year later decided I don’t really like it, that is okay too! It was not necessarily a waste, because that item taught me something. It taught me more about what my style is, or maybe it taught me to be more intentional and cautious when I make purchases.

Now suddenly as I am walking around my house I am seeing a lot of things that “feel like a no.” I was joking in one of my recent YouTube videos how I could have anything left to declutter, but the reality is over time I am just building my decluttering muscles and learning what actually is important to me! In addition to that, I have now been married for over 27 years and we have three kids, and had two dogs – and that is a lot of years of accumulation. So, it will likely take a lot of years of decluttering.

Over time I have learned that the decluttering process is kind of like an onion, the more layers you peel away the more is revealed. You don’t truly know how much stuff you have until you begin that process of hard core decluttering. The more layers you peel away, the more you learn to let go, and the more you realize what is truly important to you – what you really want to spend time caring for, cleaning, storing, and organizing.

I think more than anything, as I age I realize that relationships and experiences are so much more valuable than stuff! The more stuff I own, the more time it takes away from relationships and time and energy for experiences as I have to take care of that stuff. Slowly but surely I’m getting there! Well friends, I hope what I shared was inspirational or encouraging to you today. I always love hearing from you in the comments, so I would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts!

Here is the YouTube video I shared in conjunction with this blog post!

10 MINDSETS THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU DECLUTTER

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Hey friends, today for my Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to share with you some thoughts about decluttering. I know I have talked about decluttering quite a bit on my social media platforms. I have shown the process of decluttering, what I’m decluttering, and why I am decluttering items. But today I wanted to share with you mindsets that will change the way you declutter. Hopefully by sharing these mindsets it will give you a new perspective as you move forward in your decluttering journey. Today I am sharing 10 mindset shifts to help you declutter better!

The first thing I wanted to share with you is to have a positive perspective versus negative. Oftentimes when we approach decluttering we can feel like it is a negative thing: it’s difficult, time consuming, and maybe even tiring both physically and emotionally. When we have this mindset shift that decluttering is a positive thing, moving us towards our life goals, helping us deal with anxiety or other mental health issues, and making our external environment one we love to live in, we will be excited to start the process of decluttering.

Along those lines, another mindset shift around decluttering is to focus on what you are working towards. What is the end result you want? When you create a vision for your life and have that picture in your mind it can spur you on to take the necessary steps to achieve that life you are working towards.

The third mindset shift I wanted to share is to focus on what stays instead of what goes. Sometimes it can be helpful to choose the items you love and know you use regularly and set those aside first. Then you can evaluate what is left. I have done this with clothing for instance where I choose my top favorites, then evaluate if I really need to keep what is leftover. When we focus on what is staying it can help us to appreciate what we have and have an abundance mindset versus a mindset of lack.

Another mindset shift that is similar to that is to think of decluttering as curating. You are curating your collections – anything from clothes to kitchen items. When we think of curation, we may think of a museum. Museum curators are intentional and thoughtful about what they bring in. So much like this curating, it is an intentional process of only surrounding yourself with the things you love and use and removing everything else so it’s easier to enjoy the items you own.

The fifth mindset I wanted to share with you is to focus on the inflow as well as the outflow. Sometimes we don’t realize how important it is to change our spending habits as we work towards decluttering our homes. If we don’t change the inflow, then we will quickly come back to square one and the decluttering progress we made will have made little difference. Sometimes we must be ruthless with ourselves and implement a spending freeze or a no buy period in order to change our habits.

Another mindset shift is realizing you do not equal your stuff. Your value is not in the clothes you wear, the car you drive, or the stuff you own. Finding our value in something more important like in our faith, in our ethics, or in the way we live our lives makes more sense. If we find our value in our stuff, this is a very unpredictable thing to put our value in as we could lose our stuff or lose our jobs and not be able to continue to buy more items.

Something else I wanted to remind you of is having the mindset that the money is long gone. You cannot get your money back after you have purchased and then used an item. Some people find it difficult to declutter because of the money they spent on an item. If an item is sitting in the back of a drawer or cabinet going unused for years, it does not help us financially to hold onto it. Let go of the guilt you may have for spending money on items and then make better decisions moving forward in the future.

Speaking of guilt, let go of all of the guilt around getting rid of items. Whether it is guilt over spending money on the item, or maybe it was a gift given to you and you feel bad getting rid of it, or perhaps it’s something you inherited. If the item is no longer serving you, let go of the guilt and let go of the item.

The ninth mindset change I wanted to share that is adjacent to the feelings of guilt is that memories are not stored in things. You can have memories of a certain time in life, or of a person without holding onto items. Sometimes it can help to take a photo of something if you are struggling to let go because you have memories attached to the item. I do recognize that sometimes tangible things can spark our memory of a time or person, but ultimately the item itself does not hold the memory. The memory is in your mind!

Lastly, I wanted to share that decluttering doesn’t have to be a sprint. In spite of what Marie Kondo told us, we do not have to declutter our whole house in one day! I understand that different decluttering processes work for different people, but sometimes this mindset that we have to declutter all at once or set aside a big chunk of time to get decluttering done prevents us from getting started in the first place. If we have the mindset that we can do a little at a time it will feel more manageable. Oftentimes once you get started the ball starts rolling and you want to continue on, but you can have the mindset that it can be a slow and steady process!

FEELING LIKE A FRAUD

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Okay friends, for today’s Thoughtful Thursday post I wanted to address something that I’ve been thinking about lately and that is feeling like a fraud. This is something most people experience at some point in their lives. This is such a common way to feel. So much so that psychologists have coined the phrase “imposter syndrome” to describe this feeling. Two clinical psychologists, Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes first identified and named this phenomenon back in 1978. The definition for imposter syndrome is the condition of feeling anxious and not experiencing success internally, despite being high-performing in external, objective ways. This condition often results in people feeling like a “fraud” or “a phony” and doubting their abilities. 

I wanted to talk about this, because I feel like it is one of those taboo subjects that people feel this way, but don’t talk about it. Like I mentioned, it is natural to feel like a fraud from time to time. Often, it is just not true. We only see people from external appearances or what they portray – either on social media or in real life. Often we are comparing our internal feelings about ourselves to the external things we see others doing or accomplishing. I want to encourage you today to see things from a proper perspective when you are having those feelings. I want to share some practical things you can do when you are having this feeling. Feeling like a fraud can be a sign of self-sabotage, so be aware of that and then be intentional about addressing your feelings. 

The first thing you can do is self-talk. When you have negative thoughts that come into your head – telling you that you are not enough, you are not competent, or not successful – you can acknowledge that you feel that way, but remind yourself that you ARE enough, you ARE competent, you ARE successful. If you can’t do this just in your head, perhaps process these feelings with a friend or use a journal to write down your fears around feeling like a fraud. We must find a way to break the cycle of ruminating and turn our thoughts towards the positive. 

Along with this, you can make a 2-column list with ways you are inadequate and ways you are competent. Sometimes writing it out you may realize you are far more competent than you think, and this can help bring perspective.

You might say, but what if my inadequacy list IS longer than my competent list? Then I would encourage you to reframe your inadequacies. Often acknowledging our inadequacies is the beginning of growth. Look at your struggles as a way to learn and become stronger! Being realistic with yourself, evaluating areas of life you do need to work on, and coming up with strategies to make changes may give you some peace of mind.

Talking to someone who knows you well about your feelings can be really beneficial. Getting feedback from a trusted friend or family member can help you to have a better perspective. We are often much harder on ourselves than others are on us. Trusted friends or family members know you well enough to give honest feedback, but also see you in a different light than you see yourself.

Lastly, be gracious with yourself. We often forget that we are aware of both the internal and external portrayals of ourselves and therefore can be hard on ourselves. Remind yourself that you are only human. You cannot be perfect and you will make mistakes. But that’s all a part of the growth and learning process!

I wanted to share a personal anecdote with you about feeling this imposter syndrome. We all second guess ourselves. Recently I added some new pieces to my bedroom – a new throw blanket and pillow. That day I was thinking about how much I talk on my YouTube channel and here on my blog about minimalism and intentional spending. I also do a fair amount of decluttering on my channel as I continue to pursue minimalism. Sometimes when I bring new items into my home and share it on my channel I feel a bit like a fraud. Like why am I buying more things when I am trying to create a space that is minimal?

First of all, whenever you’re on a journey of any kind, it is just that – a journey! By the definition, it is an ongoing process and not a point where you arrive. So, pursuing minimalism is a journey for me. I may make mistakes along the way – I may make poor decisions, but ultimately I am trying to be intentional with what comes into my home. Most of the time with items like these two items – it is not an impulse purchase. I think about it several days before I decide to purchase the items. Also, these items are practical. Like I mentioned, we needed cooler blankets for the warmer months, and the pillow was just a cover to add to my existing pillow, just a design that I think works better for warmer weather.

 In addition to this, one thing that I am always trying to balance in my home is making my spaces warm, cozy, and inviting, without having too much clutter. I love decorating our spaces to make our home a place that my family and friends feel comfortable and enjoy being in. Ever since I did my no spend year back in 2019 I am definitely more intentional about what I purchase. I used to just peruse the aisles of Target or Home Goods, do online shopping, or be influenced by what others had and were sharing on social media. Now I am far less tempted to do this and find it an even more creative process to curate the items that come into my spaces or wardrobe.

Does this mean I will always be perfect in my shopping choices? NO! Even if I’m intentional about what I purchase, you never know how much you will love something or how well it will serve you. You make the best decisions with the knowledge you have!

Keeping your focus on your values instead of perfection will help tremendously in feeling confident in who you are. Success is not a point in time, it is a continual process, so there will be ups and downs.

I hope this chat was helpful or resonated with some of you. As always, I love to hear your thoughts in the comments! If you feel comfortable, let me know if you have felt like a fraud before and what was your experience!

The YouTube video I shared in conjunction with this blog post.

WHY DECLUTTERING ISN’T ENOUGH

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Well, it has been quite a while since I have posted here on my blog! I have been focusing on my other social media platforms – YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok. I have been thinking about how I would like to share more often here on my blog. On my YouTube channel every Thursday I share in a video series called Thoughtful Thursday where I share cleaning, organizing, and/or decluttering motivation and in the voiceover I share my thoughts on a topic. This week my topic was pertinent to my website, so I decided to go ahead and share the information that I shared in that video. But it got me to thinking that I would love to start sharing my Thoughtful Thursday thoughts here on my blog as well, even if it isn’t specific to cleaning, organizing, or decluttering. So, you can look forward to seeing my thoughts each Thursday!

So, for this week’s Thoughtful Thursday I wanted to share with you why decluttering isn’t enough to create a clutter free home. Over the weekend I was thinking about how much time, energy, and effort it takes to keep up with our stuff – caring for, cleaning, and organizing it. I came across a quote from Peter Walsh, a professional organizer and author, probably best known for the TLC show Clean Sweep. I shared this quote over on my Instagram feed earlier this week: “What I know for sure is that when you declutter – whether it’s your home, your head, or your heart – it is astounding what will flow into that space that will enrich you, your life, and your family.”

This quote has inspired me to continue decluttering my home, even though in some ways it seems like I have nothing left to declutter! When we declutter, we make space for other things that will enrich our lives. I also loved his point that it’s not just our physical stuff that takes up space – but also mental and emotional clutter can prevent us from experiencing other beautiful things in life. We must be self aware, realizing what we spend our time and brain space thinking about and telling ourselves. I talk a lot about the importance of self talk over on my YouTube channel, as well as on my Tik Tok page. It is meaningful what you say to yourself. Also, if there are unresolved emotional issues in life, I encourage you to not ignore them but deal with those issues. Whether that’s reconciling in relationships, healing from past hurts or trauma, or just dealing with day to day emotions. This may require seeking professional help, and I can tell you from experience that this is so worth it. When we make time to deal with our emotional “clutter,” if you will, it frees up space in our lives for something else!

I did want to camp out on the physical clutter aspect today. I think one thing many of us don’t realize is that decluttering is usually not enough to keep a clutter free home. First of all, decluttering is an ongoing process. As long as items are still coming into our homes, we will have a need to assess what we are using and loving. Over time, as we go through different stages of life – for ourselves and especially our children – we will need to evaluate what we are still using.

In addition to this, I think one of the biggest reasons people feel like their homes are still cluttered despite decluttering, is because of the inflow. Things come into our homes organically – if nothing else junk mail, and kids’ papers. But we may also be contributing to this through our shopping habits. Think about how easy it is for something to come into your home. Especially if you do online shopping. You can shop from the comfort of your sofa, or even your bed. Within a few clicks you are done and the item is on its way directly to your front door. Whereas if you want to go through the decluttering process you must set aside time to evaluate your items, make decisions, sort the items, bag or package up the item for donation, drive to a donation center, or go through the steps it takes to sell an item online – taking a photo, writing a description, etc. It is actually much more difficult to get rid of items than to acquire them. This is something to keep in mind while shopping.

I have shared about my no spend year back in 2019, and this really opened my eyes to my spending habits. I am so thankful for that experience as it has helped me to be far more intentional about what comes into my home. Related to this, in order to keep the inflow in check, I do not purchase new things for each season – like new decor or new clothes. I like to curate my collection of decor and wardrobe intentionally and purchase items that speak to me. I may add some new items for a particular season, but I don’t shop for each new season.

In addition to this, is how easily we accumulate things because of free items or sales. I have learned that it is okay to say no to free items if it is not something I will love or use. It took time to learn, but now I am much more particular about what is allowed in my home.  I have also learned not to get sucked into a good deal. Just because something is on sale or seemingly a good deal, doesn’t mean I need it or it will be useful to me.

Something else that will make an impact in your decluttering process is accepting that it’s okay to have open spaces in your home. Now, I recognize that this may not resonate with everyone – I know some people are maximalists and like every nook and cranny to have something in it, well maybe this blog post is not for you anyway! Once you get to the point where you have open spaces, then you may be seeing the difference in your home on your decluttering journey. Sometimes we feel the need to fill the space back up, and obviously this is going to be counterproductive if you are getting rid of items just to fill the space back up again.

If you are on a decluttering journey, I hope these ideas were helpful to you. It’s really not enough to just declutter our spaces. We must change our spending habits as well in order to truly make an impact. I know for me, I just got tired of the cycle of stuff going out, stuff coming in. Slowly but surely I am seeing more open spaces in my home. It has helped greatly with my anxiety levels, not feeling overwhelmed with stuff in my space and just not having to take care of as much stuff as I once did. I am still working on it! I am thankful for the space I have now for other things to flow into my life, as Peter Walsh says.

Here is the YouTube video I made in conjunction with this post!

10 Questions to Ask Yourself When Decluttering Sentimental or Holiday Items

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Today I wanted to talk about decluttering sentimental items, and in particular holiday decor. Decluttering sentimental items can be such a difficult thing! Holiday decor can have an added layer of difficulty because of the sweet and fond memories wrapped up in the items. I always encourage people to start with an easier category when beginning their decluttering journey because momentum is the key. It’s a whole lot easier to declutter items that don’t have a sentimental attachment. Starting there will give us the confidence in our decision making process as we gain momentum with decluttering. If you are in a place where you are ready to tackle decluttering sentimental items, but you are struggling, I have ten questions you can ask yourself as you make these decisions.

The first question you can ask yourself is: Am I going to use it again? If you didn’t put it out this year, how likely are you to put it out next year? Oftentimes if we do not display something from our Christmas bins one year, we are not very likely to display it the next year. And even less like the next year, or the next. I know it can be difficult to be realistic with ourselves when it comes to sentimental items, but really evaluate if you are going to display items in the future. 

If you’re not going to display the items, the second question you can ask is: are these items worth just storing away in a closet, attic, or basement? I am all about displaying or discarding. For me, when things are out of sight, they are out of mind. Be honest with yourself if the items are important enough to just have stored away in a box somewhere.

The third question to ask is: Am I believing in my  fantasy self? This term refers to having items in your home that you think you will one day use because of who you wish you would be. You have a desire to follow through on ideas you have, but the reality is you probably won’t. Maybe you’re keeping old Christmas cards to use for a future craft project, or you have some other craft materials to make things that you will actually never make, or maybe you have a lot of holiday decor with the idea that you will put it all out but the reality is you don’t have the time or bandwidth during the holiday season to do so. Again, being realistic with yourself is the key. Ask yourself how much you really need to have on hand. How much will you actually use?

The fourth question you can ask yourself is: is this meaningful to my children or family members? Think about if your children or family members would want these items when you are gone. I know this is a bit morbid to think about, but it is a good way to help make these decisions. If you missed my previous blog post (or YouTube video) regarding Swedish Death Cleaning, you should check it out for a more in depth explanation, but this mindset has helped me when making decisions especially regarding sentimental items. The basic idea of Swedish Death Cleaning is recognizing that one day when you pass away your children or other family members will have the responsibility of deciding what happens with the belongings you left behind. It is already an emotional time dealing with the loss of a loved one, but there is the added burden of going through their stuff. Therefore this question of will your family members find these items meaningful is valuable.

An adjacent question you can ask yourself with regards to your children or other family members is: can I pass anything along to my children or family members now? While you are still living it is a great time to ask your family members what items are important to them. You may find that what is important to you may not be important to them, or vice versa. It may be easier to let go of sentimental items if you know they are going to be cherished by family.

The sixth question you can ask yourself is: will this matter to me one year from now? Five years from now, or ten years from now? Thinking about sentimental items in terms of the future can help you to make those decisions. You may want to hold onto items for now and that’s okay. It can take time to let things go. In a recent video on my YouTube channel where I was going through my Christmas decor to declutter, a friend asked me if I was emotional going through my kids’ childhood items (my three children are now young adults). I honestly was not emotional. It took time, but I am starting to get to a place where I am accepting this life stage. It takes time to transition for sure, but when you’re ready to let go, you’re ready.

The seventh question you can ask yourself is: is this item something I could take a photo of to have the memory? Sometimes it’s enough to have a photo of the special item, and this takes up far less physical space since photos are now digital. This is an especially great technique for larger sentimental items.

Another question you can ask yourself is: how much Christmas clutter am I okay with having displayed in my home? Everyone has a threshold of how much stuff they can have around them. Studies have shown that clutter can contribute to feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. For some people that threshold is higher, but really evaluate your threshold. If you like a lot of holiday decor and you have the time and energy to put it all up, then by all means keep it all! But if the reality is you have way more than you feel comfortable displaying then it’s time to evaluate what you can part with. 

The ninth question you can ask yourself is: do I have the space to store what I want to keep? Physical boundaries can be a great way to limit what you keep. It can be helpful to give yourself boundaries by having a certain number of bins for your holiday decor and only keeping what fits in the bins.

The tenth and final question you can ask yourself is: Am I keeping items because of guilt? Sometimes we keep sentimental items or holiday items because they were gifts given to us. It can be very difficult to let go of items given to us, however it doesn’t seem sustainable to keep every gift ever given to you. I am sure the person who gave you the gift would not want you to keep the item simply out of guilt and might rather you pass it along to someone who can use and enjoy it!

Well, I hope these ten questions were helpful to you to process through making decisions when it comes to decluttering sentimental and holiday items. This time of year as we get out our holiday decor and set it up is a great time to think through these questions! Happy decluttering, and happy holidays!

Here is the YouTube video I created in conjunction with this blog post if you would like to check that out.

7 Tips to Avoid Decluttering Burn Out

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Have you decided it’s time to get serious about decluttering your home? Are you tired of the piles, not being able to find what you need, and just the stress of clutter? Today I wanted to share with you 7 things you can do to avoid decluttering burn out. Sometimes when we decide we are fed up with the clutter and want to do something to change it, we can quickly get burnt out! 

Often people try to do too much, too fast, causing this decluttering burn out. In light of that, my first suggestion is to do a little at a time. I know at first it can be easy to pull everything out of a space konMari style and want to tackle everything all at once, but I suggest you resist the urge to do this. It is better to do a little at a time so you don’t get easily overwhelmed. I would start very small – maybe a single drawer or cabinet. Usually starting small like this gives us motivation to choose another small space, and then another, until we have gone through every space in our homes! Another idea adjacent to this is to set a timer. It can feel less overwhelming to work on projects like decluttering when we know there is an endpoint.

My next tip is to have a decluttering plan. For anything in life, when we have a plan set in place it makes everything go more smoothly. When we have a plan, we also have that feeling of there being an endpoint. {{Although I will say, as long as items are still coming into your home – even as gifts, freebies, or things your kids bring in, decluttering is a constant process. You just eventually get to the point where it’s not as overwhelming.}} What I like to do is choose one room in my home per week to deep clean and declutter throughout that week. Going through spaces in this way breaks it down into more manageable tasks.

My third tip is to make a game out of it! Making a game out of any task that isn’t fun can make it fun! I like to play the Minimalism Game, however this may be overwhelming to some people. With this game, you choose one item to get rid of on day one, two items on day two, three items on day three and so on throughout a month. So you end up donating things for 30 days, equaling over 400 items! Another game you could play is have every family member take a trash bag or box and see who can find the most items to donate. I am sure there are so many great decluttering games out there which you could Google for more ideas!

My next tip is to take breaks. If you feel a burn out coming on, take a few weeks or months where you aren’t focusing on decluttering. Sometimes we just need to take a break from it to recharge and feel ready to go through things again.

Another thing you can do to avoid decluttering burn out is to not start with sentimental items. These items can be very difficult to declutter and slow your process down. By starting with a space with items that you don’t have sentimental attachment to, you get the momentum you need to be successful at decluttering.

My sixth tip is to celebrate your successes. Celebrating along the way can also help with the momentum. When you acknowledge the progress you have made it can inspire you to keep working at it. An idea that I have seen is to take before and after photos. Sometimes we forget how far we have come! Having those photos can remind you of how much progress you have made!

My last tip is to invite a friend or a professional to help you! Sometimes you just need someone there to help you talk through why you should keep or get rid of items. Having another pair of eyes and someone else’s input can be really helpful. Also, this can also make this process less painful and more fun!

Well, I hope this post was helpful to you and that you are inspired to start decluttering your spaces today!

The Real Secret of Tidy People

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I think I have figured out the real secret to being a tidy person. I have a whole blog post sharing how to keep your house tidy. These habits are easier to develop if we adopt this secret of being a tidy person. In my other blog post I share several habits you can cultivate to become a tidier person. Dealing with things immediately instead of setting them down to deal with later, having a cleaning routine that makes sense so you can stick to it, enlisting the help of other family members, and having a place for everything are all great habits that can help you to stay on top of clutter accumulating. But the real secret is the final tip I shared in that post – DON’T OWN A LOT OF STUFF!

The real secret of being a tidy person is that they don’t have extra inventory in their homes. They don’t keep things just in case. They don’t want to manage a lot of inventory. I think I came to this conclusion as my kids got older. Now that all of our children are adults, even though currently they are all living with us, I realize that there is a lot less stuff I need to manage. When they were younger there were toys, school papers, and sports equipment. Now that they are older they manage their own things.

In addition to that, over the past 7-8 years I have been pursuing minimalism. It is definitely a slow process for me decluttering my home and learning new spending habits, but less inventory in my home equals less to put away, clean, and organize.

I have a friend who openly admits she is not tidy. I would consider her a maximalist. She loves ALL the things! And I think that is totally fine! We are all different, and that’s what makes the world a beautiful place! I can go over to her house and appreciate all of the things she has surrounded herself with, but I personally could not live this way. If you’re someone who loves all the things, that is okay. But just know that the more you own, the more difficult it will be to be a tidy person. It comes down to what you value and what you can handle.

I am very affected by my external environment. My guess is you are too since you are reading this blog post and wanting to learn the secret to being tidy. Clutter and extra stuff around me definitely affects my anxiety and my mood. When my external environment is chaotic, I feel a bit chaotic in my mind as well. Everything we own takes up our energy and time. The less we own, the less we have to manage, the easier it is to keep a tidy home.

The more I simplify our home, the more I really see the benefits of living with less! Easily being able to tidy your home is one of those many benefits. I hope this post was helpful for you today!