Over the summer, something terrible happened. It happened slowly, and the slowness made the pain so much worse. My beloved comforter, the one I'd pretended still looked fine for the past decade . . . started (quite literally) falling apart. I wasn't surprised. That thing was 21 years old. Yes. Really. To be clear, I hadn't kept it …
decluttering
Decluttering Frames (But Not the Photos)
Over the past few weeks, we've removed things from walls so they could be painted, and moved every last item from one room to another while floors were replaced. It's not the least bit fun, y'all. But it's revealing. Things that once seemed perfectly fine become unfine. I'll take something out of a space because I have to. But if I don't like …
Decluttering or Tidying or Cleaning the Kitchen (Or Whatever YOU Want to Call It)
Some words are kinda sorta interchangeable. Or not. Depending on the person using them. If you want to get super technical, I suppose you could define decluttering, tidying, and cleaning like this: Decluttering - removing clutter from a space Tidying - moving things back into place and improving the general appearance of an …
One Thing that’s WAY Over My Clutter Threshold
My Clutter Threshold is the point at which I have more stuff than I can handle. Or I have specific things I personally can't handle. Everyone has a Clutter Threshold and each person's threshold is different. I had a great idea recently. An idea with the noble goal of saving my still-newish couch from the teenage boys who sit on it. I bought a …
Real World Fact: More Things = Less Value
If you're a high-end collectibles dealer who buys and sells with skill, I'm not talking to you here. I'm talking to those of us with collections of stuff that give off a vague aura of value. Our family has recently been living the experience every family goes through, but no one looks forward to. We've been cleaning out my husband's parents' …
A Donate Box Doesn’t Have to Be a Box
The key word in my game-changing strategy of using a donatable Donate Box isn't actually box. It's donatable. Which isn't actually a word. Whatever. It works. My only decluttering supplies are a trash bag, a donatable Donate Box, and my feet. This means every single item I pull out of the space I'm decluttering never has to be touched …
3 Clues That an Item of Clothing is Clutter
Decluttering clothes? Or . . . trying to declutter clothing? Overwhelmed because you have a hard time identifying which pieces are clutter? I feel your pain. Clothing seems to multiply when I'm not looking, and decluttering clothes is a constant battle in our home. While a big purge is awesome, there are clues I find on an ongoing basis that …
A Clean House Has Layers
I'm in love with this beautiful PDF my publisher created! In Decluttering at the Speed of Life, I talk about these layers and give you the COMPLETE plan for working through that second layer: clutter. During my launch party, I talked about the layers in a live video. You can watch the recorded video here, just know that the party is over! …
A Listener Shares How She Deals with Giving Up Dreams
I was looking through some reader stories, and realized so many were directly related to the two podcast episodes I did last year on decluttering dreams. The intense responses to those episodes led me to write a chapter in Decluttering at the Speed of Life on this subject, which, honestly . . . is the root of so many sentimental attachments to …
