I love this letter from Shelly! (She gave us permission to share.)
Hello Dana,I’m writing to thank you for your work. I follow you on YouTube and have three of your books on Audible.I started decluttering my home when I retired 7 years ago and have made much progress. Of course, decluttering is an ongoing process.Here are just a few specific ways you have helped me:
- Listening to the audio books during the 1-hour drive to my parents’ home to work on decluttering after my father died in fall 2022. You help strengthen me to tackle what needs to get done. On my drives home, I am thinking “Please don’t let me leave a mess like this for my kids!” and it gives me motivation to continue decluttering in my home.
- Looking for and finding a business that does home pick-up of many types of home goods. “Just Porch It” has been one of the best tools in my toolbox. I don’t know if they operate outside the west coast, but they have been a godsend.
- Pre-cooking ground beef. Sounded silly to me, although I routinely did this with chicken. I realized when I finally tried it, that I could have used this to help my father the last couple years of his life. He would grocery shop while I sat with Mom. I helped him many times, repackage ground beef for the freezer. It wasn’t until I finally decided to try the pre-cooking for myself that I saw what a greater help this would have been to my dad, and would’ve been a much better use of my time.
- One in, one out. I am now getting this thought in my head when I am purchasing something new. At my age, I am not needing many new things so typically I am replacing something, so it is easier to think one in, one out.
- Where would I look for this first? This works so well. One example: We set out framed Christmas/Santa photos as part of our Christmas decorations. Recently my husband asked me to get prints of last year’s pics of our great grandsons. When I went to order prints online, I saw that I had already done that a year ago. Hmmm, if they aren’t already framed, then where would I look for them first? I spun around from my computer and reached out to an organizer holding family photos – and there were the prints, within arm’s reach.
Again, many thanks,Shelly from Vancouver
How encouraging to read this! I am in a very similar position now, needing to declutter my own home, create extra time (things take longer when you’re older, so you can’t do what you used to do) – and also in the process of decluttering a relative’s home as she has moved to a care home. Every point resonates, and I am going to start precooking ground beef. Thank you to Shelly for writing (and continued success), and to you for publishing.