Getting Rid of Clutter Part 2- Blog Post

Audio File

You are listening to episode 7 of the Busy Mom’s Survival Guide.

Welcome to the Busy Mom’s Survival Guide where we discuss making the most of your family’s health, time and money. I’m your host PJ Jonas and I’m here to help you make the most of each day despite your busy schedule.

Today we are going to continue talking about clutter. I hope you were able to listen to last week’s episode; I was joined by my friend Lori who lost her house and almost all of her possessions in the tornado that struck our area in March. We had such a great conversation and it was a wonderful lesson on how free we can feel when we get rid of the clutter in our lives that really does weigh us down.

Today I’ll be talking more in depth about the types of clutter and how to actually remove it from your home. Later on I’ll be joined by Jim and we’ll get his take on how he has dealt with me constantly  decluttering his stuff over the years.

I’m going to share something that happened this past week. The day that Lori and I recorded the podcast, I decluttered my kitchen junk drawer, nobody had listened to the podcast yet. I don’t think that anybody, other than Brett who always knows everything that goes on around here, even knew what the topic was. Now as I told everyone last week, I am a decluttering maniac, so the children are fairly used to finding things emptied or rearranged or missing. Anyway, that evening Colter was helping with dinner and he opened the junk drawer and he said “Wow, it is so much easier to find things in there now, thanks Mom”. Isn’t that awesome! It was so encouraging to me because I personally always feel lighter after decluttering but I’m pretty sure that was the first time that one of my children ever expressed pleasure at the results, so I just really wanted to share that with you.

I’ve mentioned before that people are always asking me how I get so much accomplished despite everything I have going on. If you’re new to my podcast, I’m a wife and home schooling mom of eight children plus I run Goat Milk Stuff, our growing home business where we make goat milk soap with the milk from our own dairy goats. I’m a super busy mom but one of the reasons that I can get so much done is because I constantly battle the clutter in our lives, constantly. Whether it’s time clutter, physical clutter, emotional clutter or debt clutter, it doesn’t matter the type, I wage war against them daily on a constant desire to simplify. My husband will often hear me say that I am convinced that entropy is stronger in my house. This is partly true because I have 8 young entropy magnets and if you don’t remember your high school physics lessons on entropy, entropy simply means that things naturally tend to go from order to disorder. What that means for our day to day lives is that if we don’t interfere, things will progressively become more chaotic and more disordered in our homes all by themselves.

So why am I talking about entropy? The reason is because clutter is one of the end results of entropy and if you want a peaceful home and less chaos in your life you’ve got to fight against clutter. I really think that for most people the battle against clutter is mostly a mental battle, because the battle against clutter never ends. Entropy doesn’t simply decide to stop one day. You have to realize that it is something you need to always battle against. You know, you can have your home completely uncluttered and organized and if you never worked on it again a month or six weeks or a year later it will be worse than it is now. You can’t just listen to this podcast episode, get all excited and declutter your house. You’ve got to decide to live a simple life style and declutter regularly.

Clutter actually applies to many areas of our lives. It applies to our homes, our minds, our finances and our relationships. Today I’m going to focus on our homes and our physical stuff. I do want to take a moment to define clutter. There are all sorts of definitions out there but to me clutter is anything that you don’t use. I’ve seen a lot of definitions that say that clutter is anything that you don’t use or that you don’t love, but I think you have to be really careful with that love part. We can justify just about anything with that phrase, so to me anything that you don’t use really has no business being in your home. Now before you take that definition to be too strict I will tell you that for me I do use some things such as artwork simply to bring beauty or pleasure in my life and that counts. I use photo albums to foster memories and closer relationships, so it doesn’t have to be a kitchen gadget that you’re using, it can be something else as well. Really, if you have items in your home that you don’t use, then those items are just wasting space in your home and in your life and they’re causing you stress and they’re creating disorder. Not to mention that they are taking your time because they need to be maintained. You know, even photos that you put on the wall need to be dusted periodically, so really, everything in your home takes time from your life.

For some people decluttering is not easy. When I married Jim he was a complete pack rat. He was raised with that thrifty New England mentality that you don’t get rid of anything because you might need it someday. A lot of that mentality actually came out of the Great Depression, but it’s also stronger in some regions than others. Honestly it’s something I didn’t understand and it caused some tension early in our marriage when I would get rid of stuff that Jim felt he needed. Over the years I’ve become more sensitive about his stuff and asking him first before I get rid of it. I still do get rid of some his things that I know he hasn’t used without asking. Now if that happens, if I get rid of something that he feels he needs, he tends to just shake his head because he’s kind of gotten used to it. But it is something that you do have to deal with in a marriage if one of you likes to keep things and one of you likes to get rid of them.

If you’re more like Jim than you are like me, you may need some convincing as to why getting rid of clutter is so important. For Jim he keeps everything because he might need it someday and he doesn’t want to spend the money to buy it later on. He’s super frugal and the thing that I really want you and him to realize is that clutter actually costs you more than you think it does.

So I’ve sat down and I’ve come up with four things that clutter actually costs you just from having stuff in your house, extra stuff that you don’t use if I may clarify that.

First clutter costs you time. It costs you time because just by its essence, clutter tends to be disorganized which makes it hard to find an item when you actually need it. We waste a lot of time looking through our clutter for things we can’t find. If you’re looking for your car keys but can’t find them amongst the clutter it can cause you to be late, which also costs you time. But also if you’re one of those people who can find things amongst all your clutter, you’ve probably spent a lot of time organizing that clutter and not to mention all the time we spend cleaning our clutter. The bottom line is all that searching, organizing and cleaning is time that your clutter has cost you that you could have spent with your family.

The second way that clutter costs you is it costs you concentration because clutter is very distracting. Just on a basic level we humans seek organization out of chaos. It’s just how we are wired and if we are surrounded by chaos in the form of clutter, our subconscious is spending time thinking about it and that really tires us out and distracts us from the things that we should be thinking about. So it costs you concentration.

Third, clutter is going to cost you peace of mind. We need to recognize that clutter is stressful because it is always hanging over us. For some people it prevents us from inviting people into our homes. It can stress us out because it is always on our to-do list waiting to be dealt with. It also causes us to feel out of control, because when the clutter takes over our homes we are not the ones in control, our clutter is. Interestingly enough, there is actually a correlation between the amount of clutter in your home and being overweight and being in debt. Because if we are out of control with our clutter, we can also be out of control with our eating and our spending. I thought that was pretty interesting as I was doing some research.

Finally clutter is going to directly cost you money. It does this if you can’t find something you actually need and have to buy a duplicate. It also costs you the money you spent on the organizational stuff you purchased to try and organize the clutter that you really should have just gotten rid of, you know, things like baskets and organizers and storage bins. Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for those things in your house but it’s for the things we need and use everyday not for organizing our clutter. I want to be really clear about this, you cannot organize clutter, you have to get rid of it. Clutter also directly costs us money because it gets us used to stuff everywhere and makes us much more likely to continue to purchase items that we don’t really need. You’re going to be much pickier with the things you spend your money on if it has to earn a place in your home. In reality many of us waste huge amounts of money because we buy bigger houses than we really need in order to accommodate our stuff and our clutter. The size of the average home has increased dramatically and it’s really not because the average family size in America has been increasing. In 1950 the average new home was 983 square feet. In 2004, just 54 years later the average new home was 2349 square feet and that’s an increase of 238%. There are other factors despite clutter that is affecting that growth in home size, but you’ve got to admit that clutter is a huge part of it.

Those are the four reasons why I think clutter actually costs you. Now that, hopefully, I’ve convinced you that clutter can be negative in having extra things that you’re not using right now is negative, I want to talk about the many types of clutter and why people tend to keep those things. When I sat down and thought about it, I was actually able to come up with ten types of clutter. There are may be more, I might have missed something, but these are the ones that I could think of and want to discuss. They are not in any particular order, they are just kind of as I thought of them.

First we have memory lane clutter. This is one of the types of clutter that is hardest to get rid of. These are the things like baby clothes, pictures your children drew, tickets to your first ball game, your favorite t-shirt, or really anything that reminds you of a good memory or a happy time. The best way I have found to deal with this type of clutter is to use my digital camera. I simply take photos of these items and make them photo memories instead of the actual item memory. If the item is small enough you can also frame it or put it into a shadow box and hang it on the wall. Once you’ve done that then it’s something you’re actually using to beautify your home and it’s not clutter anymore. In my opinion all memory clutter really needs to be reduced to photo albums that you actually look through or it needs to be on your walls as mementos somewhere, because memory clutter that is just kept in storage bins is really pretty useless.

Second, there is frugal clutter. Frugal clutter is anything that you think to yourself I might need that someday, what will I do if I need it? It won’t be here and then I’ll be in trouble and I’ll actually have to buy it again. Worse yet, I might not be able to find it when I really need it. Those are the questions that come around when we think about our frugal clutter and for most people this is the sticking point to whether or not they are committed to simplifying and decluttering their lives. Because with frugal clutter you have to be ruthless. If you’ve not used it, or are not using it, or definitely will not be using it in the immediate future, and by immediate I mean a month or less, then get rid of it. I’ve always said to Jim that for every 100 things I get rid of I will regret getting rid of one of those things. But I simply cannot and will not hold on to 99 things that I don’t use and I don’t need for the sake of that one thing that might possibly come in handy someday.

You have to trust that you will be able to get it again, if you really do need it, but for the vast majority of things you’re going to find out that you really never needed them. And if you just get rid of all that frugal clutter you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel and really don’t beat yourself up if it turns out that you really did need something you got rid of, just be happy thinking that someone else needed it more and try and find a substitute. If you can’t find a substitute then you can go out and buy it again.

Third there is life clutter. This is the stuff that you accumulate just through normal living, things like extra packets of condiments from takeouts, school papers, extra rubber bands from the mail, duplicate wooden spoons, all those stuffed animals, doll clothes, and legos that keep getting added at birthdays and Christmas. Not to mention all the paper work that we’re constantly dealing with. It’s all that sort of stuff and you need to constantly stay on top of life clutter because by the definition it happens every day. With life clutter the best thing to do is to work to get your home where there is actually a place for everything and everything in its place. Because if you can get to there when you clean up in the evening, you can simply toss all those extra things, because they don’t have a home. Therefore they don’t belong. Just on a side note, I’m a big believer that if you choose to keep something, something new gets added to your house then something else has to leave.

Fourth I decided there was unfinished clutter and those are the things like the cross-stitch or the knitting project you began but never finished, or a model airplane you were saving to finish with your child one day. You know, things like that. This stuff is hard to get rid of because we’ve already put so much of our time and ourselves into it. But you need to ask yourself this question, “Do you have the time to finish this in the next month?” And if the answer is no, get rid of it. Because, you know, I don’t know about you, but if I have unfinished projects around, they make me feel so guilty and they make my to-do list feel like it’s never going to end. Because I feel like I need to get to them. If there is a project I am working on, that I am excited about or that I need, then I finish it, if not I just get rid of it. I don’t worry about it, and I don’t feel guilty about it. I know I can always start it again sometime in the future and will save that time and that space now and deal with it again later.

Fifth we have reference clutter and these are things you need to keep to refer to later on: things like the hours and the phone numbers for the doctor’s office, or the phone number and names of your new neighbor, or a Chinese takeout menu if you refer to it. Reference clutter is actually pretty easy, you just simply need to get rid of the stuff that you aren’t using, or you haven’t used, and you organize the stuff that you really need to keep for reference. For me, I have a central notebook where I keep all my reference clutter that’s actually needed. You can either punch a hole in it and put it in the notebook, or keep it in sheet protectors. If I want a Chinese menu, I just have a sheet protector and I just slide it right in there and its kept there and its always handy for when I need it.

Sixth, we have seasonal clutter and this is just what it sounds like, it’s things that you only use for one season or holiday. Christmas decorations are the classic seasonal clutter, leaf rakes are another example, the trick is to get this down to what is truly used seasonally and what is truly important. Most of us simply have too much stuff when it comes to seasonal clutter. We put up too many decorations; we keep all our broken ornaments; our lights that don’t work. Just get rid of this stuff, get your holiday decorations down to just what you love. You can take photos of all those ornaments that your children made when they were little and get rid of them if they are falling apart. You don’t need to keep the actual thing.  You can simplify your decorating and just get rid of the rest of it. Take your favorite Christmas decorations and save those. Not only will you be getting rid of extra stuff but you’re going to make the holidays so much less stressful because it’s just the things that you love and you can do it a lot more simply.

Seventh is broken and old clutter. This one is super easy, just toss it, just get rid of it. If you haven’t fixed it yet then you don’t really need it and you’re probably never going to get around to fixing it. If it is something you absolutely need fix it right now and use it. Because if it continues to sit in the broken pile then you don’t really need it just throw it out. Be careful, don’t try and pass your broken clutter on to anybody else this includes older electronics or electronic items that don’t work. It’s really not worth your time, just toss it if it’s broken.

Eight is freebie clutter. This is all the junk that is given out for free, either we take or that somebody gives us because they no longer want it. So many people have trouble with this because if it’s free, they don’t see the harm in taking it, but the trick with this is to never ever bring it into your home in the first place. Just say no and walk away. If somebody gives something to you, say thanks and get rid of it as soon as they leave. You don’t have to keep it just because they gave it to you because they didn’t want it. The only things like this from freebie clutter that you should ever keep are things that were already on your shopping or wish list, things that you were actually going to go out and buy. This will also include stuff that is a really good deal, so if you went to a garage sale (which I don’t recommend doing) and you saw a really good deal those will count in here as well. You’ve got to learn to say no to those really good deals, because most of the time it’s stuff that you don’t really need. Yes you’re not paying full price for it, but you’re paying less money for something you don’t really need and now you’ve got to keep it in your home.

Ninth is valuable clutter. This is everything that you spent a lot of money on in the past or you think is worth something. You don’t want to get rid of it because you could get good money for it, only you’re really not sure how to get what it’s worth, so it just continues to sit in your home. I deal with this too: I’ll tell you a story. Years ago I had purchased a really good used embroidery machine for $800 and I had saved up, I had used some of our tax refund money because I wanted to personalize some things for the children. I thought I would really use it. I did use it a couple of times, but not a whole lot and it came with us to Indiana when we moved here. I really didn’t use it except a couple of times the whole time we’ve been living here. So I did get it out a couple of years ago and when I tried to make something the needle broke off inside the machine. Of course I told Jim and he took it apart but he couldn’t get it out and couldn’t get it working. Several times over the years I’ve tried to find a sewing machine repair shop, but the closest one is almost an hour away. I’m just not driving that far and this sewing machine has caused me so much stress because of how much I paid for it. I didn’t feel like I could just get rid of it because I paid a lot of money for it.

Well about 2 or 3 months ago I gave the embroidery machine to a friend of mine to get it repaired and sell it if she wanted to. Right now I’ve got to tell you if she throws it in the garbage that’s ok with me too because the bottom line is I had attached a value of $800 to that machine, but I can tell you there’s no way that machine is currently worth $800. I really don’t know how much I could get for it and I don’t really care because I’d have to go through so much effort to try and get money out of the machine. I’d have to go drive an hour, get it fixed, drive an hour then pick it up, then try to find a buyer, and ship it safely. Of course I don’t have the box for it, so I just got rid of it and I feel so much better now that it is out of my house. So when dealing with valuable clutter, take a real honest look at not what you paid for it and not what you think it’s worth, but what you could actually get for it if you brought it down to the nearest pawn shop. If you’re not willing to donate it to somebody who might need it and you think it’s worth your time then go ahead and do that, find the nearest pawn shop and just bring it in, just get it out of your house, don’t think you’re going to find a specialty buyer or what not, just bring it in, get what you can get and move on.

Finally our last type of clutter is guilt-trip clutter. This is usually of all of them the most difficult clutter for us to deal with, it’s the things that people gave to us, left to us, or made for us. It often includes collectibles, antiques, things that we feel that we really shouldn’t get rid of because they are family mementos. It can also include stuff that are children made or bought for us that we just don’t love but we really don’t want to hurt their feelings.

Someone told me that they had a painting that their mother-in law painted and gave to them for their wedding and she had always hated this painting, so it’s wedding doodads that you were gifted with that you really never used. This is another type of clutter that’s going to really test your commitment to living a more simple lifestyle because it is your home and your life and you don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but you shouldn’t have to keep anything in your home that you don’t use and that you really don’t enjoy. If that antique clock doesn’t give you pleasure when you look at it then you need to remove it despite any guilt you might feel. I really don’t think that you need to make yourself feel extra guilty about it. If you are asked where it went, you just simply respond with “I’m simplifying my life and my home and I’ve donated a lot of items to people who need them or can love them” and just leave it at that. Don’t go into this big huge explanation and carry on about it, just you know, a nice explanation. This is obviously going to go over a lot better if it’s obvious that you’re removing a lot of clutter from your home and not just that one item. You can also remember to take digital photos of it before you do that. But don’t feel guilty about removing items from your home that you don’t use and you really don’t like that belong to deceased loved ones or that other people gave you especially with things you were left in a will or before somebody died, because those things were their things. They are not your things and you don’t need to keep their things if you don’t use them because things won’t help you to remember that person. You remember the person, you remember the time you spent with them, that’s what’s important, those kind of memories not their physical things.

So those are the ten types of clutter that I came up with and I’m here to encourage you to just remove them from your home. I know that may be difficult for people. Some of you may be asking how do I actually get rid of it. First and foremost you need to come to terms and embrace the fact that decluttering is a lifelong process. It’s not a one time thing that you do and never have to do again. Remember the beginning when I talked about entropy? As long as your family is living and breathing you will be generating more clutter, so you have to build decluttering into your lifestyle. I will tell you that it does get easier, the more you do it, the less attached you get to the things in your home and the more pleasure you get out of that sense of freedom from when you get rid of it. Because honestly you’re really going to be amazed at how much better you do feel when it’s gone. I do admit that it does take time to declutter and the trick is you have to commit to it, if you’re a busy mom or busy anybody you have to make the time to get rid of the clutter. That’s going to free up time for the things that are more important, if you listened to my first podcast, I asked you to make a list of the things you spend time on that are important and the things you spend time on that are not important. Getting rid of clutter is going to allow you to free up time so you can do more things on your important list because that’s what it’s all about, it’s about having more time to do the things that are truly important with the people we love, it’s not about taking care of our things and our stuff.

There are a lot of different techniques to decluttering. One of the most common is the 3 garbage bag method and that seems to be very popular. You basically empty an area and as you’re emptying it you go through every single item and you place it in one of 3 bags: the first is garbage, the second is a donation bag and the third is a bag where you’re going to put that stuff where it actually belongs. For me I usually have a fourth bag or pile and that is the “take a digital photo of it and then dispose of it” pile, so that works for me but you really just have to do what works for you. To declutter you’re going to have to touch everything that you actually own and that simply takes time, there’s not a lot of way to get through that faster. While you’re doing it please don’t relive memory lane, don’t take out a box and ooh and aah over everything as you touch it, just very quickly take something out, one thing at a time, make an immediate decision. If you’re really struggling over something you can put that aside and decide on it later. Just pick it up, stay, go, donate and put it in the right pile, it also helps if you’ve got somebody with you with the digital camera so you can say here, take a photo of this and then put it in the disposal pile.

Let’s say you do have a bin of stuff that you want to ooh and aah over then that stuff in there should not be packed away, take out the best things from that bin, put them on a book case, or frame them and put them on your wall but display it for you to enjoy. We have friends where the husband has a baseball collection and in their guest bathroom they put up wallpaper that looks like baseball uniform pinstripes, I don’t know if it’s an actual team, kind of reminds me of the Yankees but I could be wrong on that. Then they decorated the room by displaying all the baseball paraphernalia and cards and shelves and frames in their little guest bathroom and its beautifully done and it perfectly demonstrates this concept. Don’t hide your memories away in totes because that is clutter, get rid of the mediocre and display the best of it in your house. That is decorating with memories and that’s where you want to get to.

Also while you’re doing this be careful that you’re not creating a bunch of new projects for yourself that are going to add further stress to your life. If you find a box of photos that are needing to be framed just commit to doing it within a week. If you haven’t gotten to the project in years and you’re not going to do it in the next week or couple of weeks then get rid of it, if it is truly important, finish your decluttering and just do it. You will feel so much better. I know it can be hard, especially if you have little ones or your schedule is really out of control, I know it’s hard to find the extra time. Most of us if we just turn off the television or do one less thing we can create a whole lot of hours for this kind of thing and then it’s done.

Once you’ve collected items that you’re ready to remove from your house, throw the ones that are in the garbage pile in the garbage. Then the question becomes what do you do with all the stuff that you’re going to get rid of that isn’t garbage, that’s useful to somebody else. Personally I’m a big believer in donating those items unless you’re desperately broke and you can’t pay your bills, I really don’t recommend garage sales or selling things on eBay. I’ve talked with a lot of women over the years and they feel like they need to get money for the stuff they declutter and that in-and-of itself is a major mental block to actually decluttering. If you donate it, you can take the tax write off for it. Be sure you get a receipt when you drop the items off.

There’s actually an economic principle called opportunity cost and it means that everything we do comes with the cost of preventing us from doing something else. All that time that you would have put into a garage sale or eBay is time you could have spent continuing to declutter and time you could have spent with your family. So if you’re financially not making ends meet then definitely try and sell what you can but otherwise bless others with the stuff you no longer need. Don’t try and find individual homes for your stuff because that could be putting a burden on other people and you really don’t want to do that. Find a place that you can just regularly donate stuff to so it doesn’t take a whole lot of mental energy figuring out what to do with it, you know, for me I declutter and I take the stuff to the declutter location, I drop it off and boom! It’s done, it’s out of my house.

You may be fortunate enough that you have an organization that will come directly to your house and pick stuff up. For us here in Indiana we have a group called the Cedar Lake Lodge that does that. They just call maybe once or twice a month to see if we have anything and its wonderful. I just leave the stuff on my front porch and poof they come and it’s donated and it’s gone. In fact they just called the other day and they are coming this Monday to pick up stuff. I already have 3 garbage bags of stuff on the porch waiting for them and the best thing about it is because I know they are coming and they are making a stop, I’m going to get as much other stuff on that porch by Monday morning as I possibly can. It’s really kind of motivational to do it that way.

That’s my take on the types of clutter and how you can handle them and I have a lot of questions from listeners but I’m not going to answer them right now. I’m going to answer them on the next episode because I really don’t want this episode to go too long because Jim has actually joined me. And I want to have time to talk with him and I’m really grateful that he is here because I’m used to doing things with Jim and it’s kind of have been strange not having him podcasting with me and having it being more of my thing, so I am excited to have him with me. And he knows that I’ve been talking about clutter but I did not prep him with the questions that I’m going to be asking.

PJ Jonas: Hi honey, thanks for joining me.

Jim: My pleasure, darling.

PJ Jonas: My first question that I want to ask is after 17 years or almost 17 years of me pushing you to declutter, has it gotten any easier for you?

Jim: Yeah, I would say it’s  been easier lately.

PJ Jonas: How come?

Jim: I don’t have any room for anything else.

PJ Jonas: Yeah, you pretty much have most of the barn about as full as it possibly can go.

Jim: Yes and that’s having gotten rid of almost everything I could already make room for supplies.

PJ Jonas: There’s still a lot in there that I could get rid of if you want me to.

Jim: So you said.

PJ Jonas: Many times huh?

Jim: Yes.

PJ Jonas: I know I’m bad. What are the things that are still hard for you to let go?

Jim: Things that I’ll need.

PJ Jonas: I’ve heard that same answer for years and years. Yes, but see and here we go, how do you know when you’re going to need it?

Jim: Well there are things that are useful and then there are things that are not so useful.

PJ Jonas: Ok, so what’s useful?

Jim: Hardware, screws, nuts and bolts and things and brackets and electrical plugs and –

PJ Jonas: Ok, so things that you know you will use?

Jim: Yeah. Damage control items or fixing items because inevitably around here the boys are going to destroy things.

PJ Jonas: Ok, I will buy that. I will buy nuts and bolts and screws and stuff like that.

Jim: Yeah, because I don’t have time to go down to the hardware store every time something breaks because I would get home and have to turn around and go get something else.

PJ Jonas: So your tools and equipment that kind of stuff you want to keep. What about all the stuff on your dresser?

Jim: My dresser is clear.

PJ Jonas: Yeah because I just made you get rid of it all. I didn’t make you, I asked you very nicely to do it, very kindly and you did it. It’s easier but it’s still not easy.

Jim: Well it stays on my dresser because that’s the only place I have that I can be reminded that I have to do it. That’s my to-do pile

PJ Jonas: Ok, so the drawers that I got you for to-do pile then it was out of sight and so I guess-

Jim: Nope.

PJ Jonas: Would you ever declutter anything if I didn’t ask you to do it.

Jim: Oh sure because you run out of space eventually.

PJ Jonas: Ok, so purely by necessity your piles start falling over?

Jim: Yeah, pretty much.

PJ Jonas: Has there been anything that I’ve gotten rid of that you still hold it against me?

Jim: I don’t think so, I forget things pretty easily.

PJ Jonas: Yeah, that’s been my blessing, it doesn’t tend to come up very often but every once in a while I can tell if there’s something you ask me and am like mm I think maybe I got rid of that and I can see you’re not too happy about that, that’s pretty rare.

Jim: Yeah.

PJ Jonas: And do you have any advice for people who have trouble letting go of their stuff?

Jim: Don’t get a big house.

PJ Jonas: It’s pretty much what you just said because it will all fill up.

Jim: Yep, if you have trouble letting things go or if you have trouble with clutter, restrict your space because otherwise it will just grow and grow. If you’re like me and you want to hold on to things and you know, I will need that at some point and just make sure that you’ve got a space that’s only so big that you can keep it all in.

PJ Jonas: Do you have any advice for women who want to get rid of their husbands’ stuff and their husbands are resistant?

Jim: Give them a designated area. Give them a place for their stuff and it doesn’t have to be a huge place. It’s got to be a place that’s going to work for your man like when you got me those drawers, there are still stuff in there that I was supposed to have done that didn’t get done because they went in the drawer, I still don’t know where it is.

PJ Jonas: Yeah those drawers definitely didn’t work, they just got more and more full and you never did even like open them, I don’t think.

Jim: Nope.

PJ Jonas: So I guess figuring out different people’s ways of decluttering and organizing is important too.

Jim: Yeah.

PJ Jonas: Alright, that was really about all I wanted you to talk on. I really just kind of had you come on to see if there’s anything that you’re really holding against me.

Jim: I see, stick a mic in my face and I have to tell the truth?

PJ Jonas: Well that was the hope but it is what it is and I’m not going to stop decluttering.

Jim: Yeah, I know that.

Well we’re almost done with part two of this podcast episode on clutter and I want to leave you with this week’s survival guide rule and that is to get rid of it. Yes I know that it is the same rule as last week and it’s the same rule because you need to remember that you cannot organize clutter, you have to just simply get rid of it. Last week I asked you to get rid of the easy things. This week I’m going to ask you to tackle some of the harder things, get out your digital camera, take photos of those things and remove them from your home, have your children even remove more of their toys and clothes especially if they have too many because everything in your home has to earn the right to stay there. It has to be worth it for you to spend your time organizing and cleaning it because if you do not use it you just need to get rid of it and then remember you need to make decluttering a part of your life, try to think about it every day this week, try and do something every day and teach it to your children. It’s a very valuable life lesson and that they can spend their time and energy on people or they can spend it on their stuff. Try and model for them making people more important than stuff and you’re one step closer to teaching them how to live a happier lifestyle because the bottom line is which would you rather spend your time on, your clutter or your loved ones? And which one do you want for your children?

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Busy Mom’s Survival Guide. I hope you have enjoyed listening and that you are motivated to start or to continue removing the clutter from your home and from your life. Join me on the next episode where I will conclude the clutter series by answering listeners’ questions on specific struggles they are having with clutter. If you have your own question on clutter that you’d like answered you can email me or call my feedback line at (240) 230-SOAP. Until next time, I’m PJ Jonas and I am praying that you’ll decide to defeat the clutter that is weighing you down.

Getting Rid of Clutter Part 2- Blog Post

Audio File

You can subscribe to the Busy Mom’s Survival Guide Podcast: