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When there’s a big and daunting decluttering project in front of you, the key is to start. Knowing what to do is good, but actually doing it is even better. I’m talking through some decluttering challenges and how to get started on them.
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I’m grateful for this podcast! I need that last question answered.
I thought I was about 80% done decluttering. We had our nephew and my mother-in-law move in with us.
We gave up the downstairs master bedroom because she can’t do stairs. I was picky about what of MY stuff moved upstairs. I begrudgingly moved all the clothes my husband doesn’t wear upstairs. I was grateful when he decluttered some things.
I moved everything out of my craftroom and only added one set of shelves to the dining room. I even emptied a Costco dresser/room divider. I now know where things are, can get to them easily, and can easily put things back. I was riding a proud high.
Then I had 2 months to grow to hate our new bedroom closet. Knick knacks that I could not get rid of, but didn’t want the visual clutter of displaying, went there. The extra toiletries went there because I no longer have a master bathroom. It didn’t dawn on me, until today, that that bin is procrasticlutter. I need to declutter the bathroom closet and move everything in that bin to the bathroom. The closet is NOT overflowing. 3 months ago I would have been THRILLED with it! Today I put pieces on the 1shelf I have in the bedroom. Its in a weird spot so it doesn’t add a lot to the visual clutter. I had to stand on my bed to dust it and put things on it. I decided if it wasn’t worthy of being displayed, it wasn’t worth keeping. That goes for knick knack type things. I didn’t finish the closet but I made a big dent in it. The decisions were easier than I expected them to be.
I just found you podcast and have been loving it. Funny thing is about two years ago someone recommended this book to me called the Swedish art of death cleaning at the time I was thinking about how hard it had been for my parents to pack up a 4400 square foot house and move in a 1200 square foot condo. I picked up the book because years from now when it’s time for us to move I don’t want to have that ordeal. Unfortunately the book really didn’t resonate with me. Some how I stumbled upon decluttering at the speed of life and started reading the book. That made so much more sense to me. I wasn’t great at decluttering and to be honest I’m a tax attorney. I work out of my home and so when I’m swamped with work I could careless about the clutter because I’m drowning in work. So decluttering seems to be a season thing for me as soon as I emerge from my tax fog. I start working in projects this year it was sewing masks. I happened to come across you podcast about a week ago and having been cleaning/decluttering ever since. I listen and declutter at the same time. Thank you so much! My husband appreciates the difference in the house. I’ve now started telling friends about you.