This is amazing and I may be investing in an apron as we speak 😅

Oh good idea! I'll put on my apron. I also find listening to a podcast keeps me focused.

Awesome idea!! I see how efficient it would be for me!! Thank you for sharing it, and i also like using a timer, it encourages me and makes me stop before I'm exhausted, so i can look forward to do it again the next day.

I play dress up for every activity. It helps put me in the mind set and keeps me focused (Yay ADHD!). I wear business attire for taxes and fifty's garb to clean. Plus life is too short not to have fun.

@@lieselemay make it fun and it'll get done!

If only I were always as productive as I am in the 15 minutes before company arrives.

😀

Hahaha, that made me laugh - because I know exactly what you mean. 😂

i hope the wording is gentler than that.

Kids aren’t as sensitive as most adults are. If they are getting new stuff I’m sure any wording would do

So true

it totally helps to think that way. at 45 years old I finally shop only when I truly need something.

This would be one of the greatest lessons we could teach our chidren

I am finding a lot of satisfaction on telling myself 'I have enough.' Because, in fact I do!

Victoria Hall exactly I should have stopped years ago and if I had we would be loaded and have plenty in the bank !

You can do it Sarah!! Even putting stuff into boxes in the garage and experiencing life with less will help you see what you really need. I am constantly amazed at how rarely my kids notice when I donate their toys, and how much they prefer having the floor space! Give it a go!

You should also check out The Minimal Mom, she has an entire series on decluttering kids toys and dealing with the guilt of the gifts!!

@@ewen9415 Thank you so much!

@@christinahunt290 Omg, so great! Thanks girl!

@@christinahunt290 do you know the title of that video from minimal mom?

What a lovely comment! I wish you & yours deeply resounding peace, kindness, and gentleness. By valuing and creating these qualities you are helping to make the world a more beautiful place, and a nurturing, creative home for all beings. ☺️ Thank you 🙏

👏👏👏👏👏 Great Job!!!

doc B I really like that. Thank you!

Love that!

Oh I wish my mom thought that way! It took me 21days 10-hours each day to sort thru her house. I still left mounds in the house! Moved 1000 lbs of antiques, now feel guilty, tired of old family furniture. Sons don't want it yet, maybe later. ..

@@meman6964 i understand and if it makes you feel better she also said..."don't bleed on my carpet", Makes me laugh now. So.... it is over and you can make sure you don't weigh yourself down with stuff. I eat off THE china with THE silver and enjoy the good things daily. Peace!

@@meman6964 - lol! It’s kind of gruesome, but I kind of love the term “Swedish death cleaning.“ I was telling my daughter the other day that I was purging certain items from the house, and then I said something like “you’re welcome” as I implied that she would thank me someday for not leaving her a hot mess to deal with! and thank you for reminding me of old furniture. I still have a few heirlooms that I want to donate, I’m just struggling a bit because… If I don’t reglue the chairs, I think they will end up in a dumpster. And after a number of KZfaq videos, I’m not sure it’s worth the time and effort and possibly tool investment to make it happen. because that’s a project. For the garage. Where the temperature and humidity both hover around 100.

I know...I am thinking, ouch!

Holy yeah, congrats!

I like the basket idea for donations, do you have one in each room?

You go girl! 👍

Wow..

what a great story! I was introduced to the idea of decluttering about 20 years ago too. My palms didn’t perspire, just my under arms because I live in a really hot place, but I definitely like to stay on top of decluttering, whether it’s donating, recycling, or trashing. I do some selective repurposing, but if I’m not mindful about it it turns into clutter. Better to ditch some things than to risk that. I still have my hotspot areas, as it were, but my goal is to be able to do what you seem to have done: to gracefully drift into a much smaller empty nest abode, after enjoying a very functional four bedroom home. I don’t want to be that person who has to hire storage spaces when they go tiny. For now, we do still live in a four bedroom home. I really like the layout, the light, the neighborhood, and the unique flex spaces that are super helpful in our climate, where a lot of things cannot be stored in a garage. I like keeping the extra bedrooms almost like hotel spaces, comfortable with a bed, nice linens, a club chair, nice reading light by the bed side, a convenient place for a suitcase, a nearly empty closet, and no clutter decor on surfaces to get in guests' way. It is very easy to keep those spaces clean and ready for people to come stay at any time, which I love. if we had to fill all three rooms at once, I would just have to do a little bit in the room that I use for spa activities.… put away my infrared sauna dome and chi machine, and make the bed. I’m not emotionally attached to furniture, but those tools help me detox and feel much better on a daily basis. As for feeling attached to our home furnishings, my husband and I talk about which pieces we would take with us to a smaller abode...and it is pretty doable. But I am spoiled now with having places to put the vacuum cleaners, filing cabinets, touch up paint, office supplies, small indoor garden projects, Chargers for cordless garden equipment, island height cutting tables for sewing, sewing machine and tools for that....All the stuff that does not necessarily fit into the storage that builders typically put into homes. My parents designed and built my small, modest childhood home, and it easily accommodated those types of things, but I have never seen any large or small non-custom home to match it.

Yes! I've been watching this on repeat too!

That explains why I'm always tidying and overwhelmed. It’s all the “stuff.” I've come to the point of being fed up with it. The problem is my husband says I'm obsessed with having a clean home now. He let it slip out that it's annoying. I threw out 20 large black trash bags over the last two months and am so afraid of not being able to maintain it. However, it's hurtful when my spouse says I'm annoying now just because I want a clean and organized home.

Declutter him 👍

That's amazing!

Good for you!🌟🌟🌟

Yeah!!!!!! 🎉

I do that too. Its very motivating watching videos of what could be...and how to just get it done when I get stuck.

Love that Liz, I’m doing the same - focussing on one area at a time and finding peace in that area, which is helping me tackle the other harder areas. Great work, much love.

Learning de- clutter is life-changing! and I still love to watch hoarders reruns as inspiration/caution, LOL! This last year has been pretty hard on me physically, so I’m really noticing how the old hoarders don’t have the physical ability to care for their homes anymore. That motivates me in two ways: I want to continue to recover from my knee and shoulder injuries, and I want my house to be incredibly easy for me to keep clean. Bye-bye, silk plants! Someone else can dust to you in the future :-)!

We did that too. We got rid of just about EVERYTHING. I had to fight my husband to get him to pair down his clothes enough to fit in his side of our RV closet 🤣

How did your decluttering go, and are you living in your RV now?

But it's empty because the supply chain has collapsed. #FJB

Plus someone who is your old size would appreciate your old clothes if they’re in good condition

I was wondering that as well. I really enjoyed what I've seen.👍

Meee tooo, Mrs. G!! I have all the episodes recorded and DVR still set to record new series! Let’s roll HGTV, we want more!

I agree, would love to see more shows!

Yes please more hot mess house I love it!

I need more!!!

I am feeling brave now, thanks for the push🌷

🤣😂🤣 So true!!

You too?!

Right? I only clicked on it because it's Cas

Same , I saw this and skipped it.

N H truth!!

Dreams die hard. So much of decluttering is letting go of the potential of the item.... what the thing could become or what it could do!! What we could do! If only... one say... !!

OMG! I love this! You can't organize chaos. WELL SAID!💕

And you might not have the money to buy it again!! It all gets me!!!!

Sandy Brown yes that too!

LOL! Yesss!!! That was Moonstruck, and she was slapping Nicholas Cage. One of my favorite old movies. :-D

Do it! You’ll feel so good. Especially donate it to charity and you’ll feel so much better. Good luck!

Same with me during lock down. Value village is open now we’re I live though. So I dropped off all my clutter.

List it on Craigslist

Yes me too. I was able to get rid of an extra set of dishes but this one place would take plastic containers. Clothes. I understand but plastic? I don't get it. I'm going to check a different thrift store. Today I was at a dollar store and there was a Goodwill next door. The donations side was already closed. Luckily my niece took the containers for packing her lunch. But I will gather another load to get rid of!

yes! This was my thought the other day while decluttering..

Us too, My in laws passed away about three years ago. My husband started to bring some of their items to our home but we already had those things! I went by to help a few days later and the side walk was filled with their stuff, it was heavy trash day. It broke my heart. I thought, my kids will do the same thing to our stuff when the time comes. From that day we started to get rid of anything that was not useful to us. No more retail shopping, frees up time and money for things that matter.

That’s exactly how I am thinking these days. I don’t want to leave a lot of hassle and decision-making to my spouse and/or my child or anyone else. They will have quite enough on their plate with all the legal garbage that goes along with passing away. Watching Hoarders episodes brings home the truth that sudden change can happen to all of us. Anyone can have a stroke, lose a job, lose a child, parent or spouse… and lose a self-supporting income. Sometimes, being able to sell one’s home at a decent price quickly is a huge priority. Keeping a clean, well-maintained, clutter-free home and keeping it decorated with a light, tasteful and timeless touch that is a joy to be in will ensure that it can quickly go on the market, and sell easily for a good price. These are extremely practical reasons for a living beautifully within the space that you have.

Yes!!! Captioning!!!!

Yes! Captions are a must for me, too, because of being hard of hearing.

Missy W my husband and I agreed he would have the spare room as his space and I don’t interfere with how much stuff he has or how he does or doesn’t organise it. Then the rest of the house stays much clearer as his hobby stuff and tools etc don’t belong in the other rooms.

Missy W I feel you. The mister collects so many things and they take up so much space. The garage, our spare bedroom, and it spills into every other space in the house.

I can sooooo relate to this! We must have the same husband. 🤣

My husband is an electrical engineer (now working from home) by day, a musician at night, and a full time “don’t throw that away, I can use it some day “ person. I used to just shut the door to his office, but since working from home, he’s spread out to our dining room, the garage, and several closets. Biomedical hardware is all over my house! Missy W, if you figure something out, please share...lol

I feel this on a spiritual level 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 my man finally organized his cord box and I couldn’t be more proud 🤣🤣

Mental Health Mama: I appreciate your vulnerability. Depression is very hard and it compounds on itself, our daily lives, and our self perception, but a few strategies can help ease the burden. I know it seems helpless as in "what difference does it make if I clean this one area? There is so much more to tackle and even if I get this area clean, it probably won't stay that way." I get it. But you know the old adage about how you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. It is so true. Could you try just working for 10 minutes at the top of the hour? Diane in Denmark refers to this as the TOTH method. She has a KZfaq channel based on her experiences with the Flylady cleaning/organizing system. Could you try... being like a horse and putting blinders on and only focusing on one small specific area at a time? If cleaning the kitchen is overwhelming, try hljust cleaning one cupboard. If one cupboard is too daunting, then clean one shelf in a cupboard. If that's too much, then one box on one shelf. Set your timer and start and STOP when the timer goes off. Don't exhaust yourself. Treat yourself. If you feel then that you can do more, progress slowly. It's like learning to run a marathon. Don't try to run a mile on the first day or even the first week. Keep a journal or checklist noting the day and how much time you spent on the task. One you start a chain of days of accomplishments, it's hard to break the chain, but DO NOT beat yourself up if you find a day where you can't do it. It is alright. It is normal. Just try not to go for more than a day or two without doing one of your chores. Ask yourself if you'd feel more motivation and sense of accomplishment from A. having one small area completed such as a powder room or B. the room that needs the least amount of work regardless of size or C. the messiest room in the house that is going to take the most time or D. the room that makes you feel the worst for whatever reason. Start with the option that will bring you the most satisfaction or give you the oomph to continue. Cleaning/Organizing experts that I have read seem to have conflicting ideas on which one to tackle first so I just decided to go with what would/will work for me. Sometimes, it changes for me depending on my mood or circumstances. Do not get waylaid by perfection. Remember Votaire said, " perfection is the enemy of the good." Good enough is exactly that--good enough and move on. You can always circle back at a later date if you feel compelled. Maybe start out by just taking a shower or getting dressed. Find something that you can declutter while in your bed. Focus on getting rid of the clutter first. If it is in your budget and when we get out of COVID, could you hire a maid service to come in a do a deep clean? It would be rewarding for all your hard work on decluttering and might give you some momentum to help you maintain the home once it's clean. Remember, these cleaning professionals have tips that can share and they have seen houses that are in conditions much worse than whatever yours are and this is their profession. Try some very simple meals that are nutritious but have few ingredients and don't take a lot of time. Chef Jamie Oliver has KZfaq videos on 5 ingredients or less recipes as well as recipes that take little time. I like him, but if he is not your style, I know that other chefs have similar recipes. I know some people will criticize this, but if it helps you, buy some paper plates and disposable cutlery if cleaning dishes is overwhelming right now. We have to do whatever is going to help us feel better or able to accomplish a task, and then, we can build from there. This post has been terribly long, but I really feel your pain and know how terribly life-altering and stymieing depression is. I hope something is of help that I have said. Please know that i am sending you virtual hugs, and that I, although I am no expert by any giant stretch of the imagination, am here for you. ❤🌺💐❤🙂

@@hyggegirlstefx988 You are so sweet! Those were some really amazing points! I truly appreciate your time and kindness to respond to me. I am so thankful that there are still people like you in the world. I will try to accomplish some of what you mentioned, and hopefully it really does help!!!

@@KyleeInspired You are most welcome. Sending hugs and keeping you in my prayers. If I can be of any help, please don't hesitate to write me here. I can always offer encouragement if nothing else.❤

I am retired and we downsized. Any family heirlooms I offered to my kids or other relatives. If no one wanted them I took pictures of them and donated. I still have the pictures to look at if I want.

poodlegirl55 Great idea!

@@poodlegirl55 The picture idea helped me when I had problems letting go. Now I have pictures of the items because I used them when selling online.