My goal is to make life easy for my husband and me. We are empty nesters and the big entertainment center no longer serves us. On top of that it is a major pain to move, clean and it creates feelings of overwhelm. The last thing I want is for someone to get hurt trying to move it. It is a 7 piece up to the ceiling kind of center. We have no business keeping it. I ditched an 11 piece comforter set and the layered drapes for a light quilt with 2 pillows and easy to open grommet drapes in my bedroom.I have been decluttering for 2 years now and have fibromyalgia. I need my home life to be easy and gentle on me. It's supposed to be my sanctuary, safe haven not a torture chamber. My husband just recently got on board with decluttering and letting go of excess furniture and too many things on the walls screaming for attention. Love your advice and have been listening for 2 years now. Really appreciate it.
When I was a child I loved to play hide 'n' seek with my brothers and sisters. Our parents would leave us at home while they went to buy groceries. We were told to stay out of their bedroom, but being kids we hid in their room anyway. They had a high king-size bed which was great to hide under, and they had their own attached bathroom. I made a bee-line for their shower, a great hiding place. But when I got there I had the shock of my life---stacked to the ceiling in the shower were wrapped Christmas gifts!
I got my husband involved in decluttering his clothes by showing him how, using a small, easy project. For weeks, he had been telling me that he needed to buy new socks, but I had been responding that he had a large drawer, absolutely full to the top with just socks. I had a hard time believing that anyone who owned that many socks actually needed more. So eventually, I decided to kick start his decluttering with that project. I emptied the contents of his sock drawer onto the bed, and then sorted them into three groups. When done sorting, I called him in. "I sorted through your sock drawer to see if we can get rid of some of them. Everything is right here, I haven't gotten rid of anything. The decisions on that are yours to make. Here's what I did. There are three groups here. First, a stack of socks that are matched pairs, in good repair, with no holes, not worn out, elastic looks good, etc. I can see that you need new socks, because there aren't many socks in this stack. I figured you'd want to keep these, correct?" An easy yes for him. "This second pile are socks that have holes or that are worn out. Do I have your permission to toss these out?" This was also an easy yes for him, after he looked through them to see that he agreed with my assessment of their condition. "Last, this group is socks that are in good shape, but they don't have a matcher. May I toss these out, too?" He noted a couple that matched "close enough" and kept those. We put the keepers back in the drawer, and the unwanted ones in the trash. Since then, he's been able to keep it up. And he also went on to his closet and clothes drawers and voluntarily (without prompting) found a lot of things to donate. I'm convinced he just didn't have a framework before that for how to decide what to get rid of, and he probably didn't trust me to make a decision for him. By making sure he knew the decisions were his, I blunted that objection.
You are both so personable yet professional. These videos motivate me to begin again after feeling tired from entertaining for Thanksgiving. Thank you!!
Am getting ready to go room by room for the second time. Now everything is in the place it belongs, but I now value things less, so lots more downsizing can occur. I was able to find specific tools for my son to do home repair quickly this year thanks to organizing.
My goal is to get the amount of my things down to where I know where each individual thing is, even when I have Alzheimer's so bad I cannot remember what my own name is. I want to be a true minimalist, I really do. That's why I'm starting now, at 29, even if it takes the rest of my life. I'm starting early and this is my goal. Thank you Gail and Ed and everyone else for all of your help!!!
We have about 650 sq. ft. of space, which includes three small closets-bedroom, coat and linen. I really have to let things go in order to bring anything new in. I am in a smaller space than I grew up in.
My husband honestly does not know what he has!!! So, he doesn’t miss it when it’s gone! I went thru his tools once and put like with like and set them together on a table - he had 13 different hammers! So I told him to pick a couple favorites - I think it opened his eyes a bit.
Now living in a new home, I’m finding it difficult to finish setting up my craft room. I intended to do it before we officially moved, but then my hubby bumped up our move-in date, things got piled in there, and my whole scheme was interrupted with moving, illness, and now the holidays. Thanks for helping me get focused!
Long time viewer, first time commenter. I love the idea of topic specific playlists for your videos. For my last two moves, I watched several of your moving videos to help get me organized and inspired.
My vision? Winter decor instead of Christmas decor for longer decor life. Remove all room accessories except the winter ones. One wow decor statement per room.
This couldn’t have come at a better time! I started the video this afternoon as I was trying to rationalize keeping some beautiful but impractical china. And then you read my words! Hard to justify keeping it then! I compromised by pulling out a couple pieces to replace others in my coffee station. Now I get to see a few pieces every day instead of tripping over a whole box that’s dying in the basement.
Responding to your poll question, my current home (we downsized when youngest was HS senior)is same size as my childhood home, but we have 4 people and 2 car garage while childhood home housed 7 of us and no garage.
Love this. Do you have a past video to watch or would you consider doing a video on how to clean up, sort, declutter and organize when it has gotten somewhat beyond beyond and you have huge piles of random items all over the house and in rooms they don’t belong and just don’t know where to begin when not all of the items need to go.
I've been watching and doing most of what Gail and Ed suggest and it works. The two prior videos are a great place to start. Knowing what you're working toward, even if not exact, helps so much.
Yes! Please check out Dana K. White's videos or books. She has a method of tackling just that kind of overwhelm that you write about. Her ideas have helped me so much (along with Ms. Goddard's).
I have a question. I have used decorations in my home and office that I still love. However, I replaced them with other things when I wanted to change the look in that room. I do like change. I'm having trouble giving these items away because I still find them very pretty. Can you suggest another way to look at the items so I can comfortably part with them?
Hi, Nancy, Another way to look at it is to rethink what you donate - it is great to sell or donate pretty “like new” items, not just your junk. If the “pretty” stuff stills adds value to your lifestyle, and storing it isn’t a problem, then keep switching them out periodically and move things around.
FlyLady says give things away so they can serve others instead of sitting in your closet, and give them away (such as clothes) while they are still in style, still in good shape (no dead elastic), etc. Marie Kondo talks about giving away unused items so they can be useful instead of just sitting there not doing anything for anybody. I use my local groups for free stuff to give a lot of things away, it's really gratifying when someone else actually wants what I've posted.
My goal is to make life easy for my husband and me. We are empty nesters and the big entertainment center no longer serves us. On top of that it is a major pain to move, clean and it creates feelings of overwhelm. The last thing I want is for someone to get hurt trying to move it. It is a 7 piece up to the ceiling kind of center. We have no business keeping it. I ditched an 11 piece comforter set and the layered drapes for a light quilt with 2 pillows and easy to open grommet drapes in my bedroom.I have been decluttering for 2 years now and have fibromyalgia. I need my home life to be easy and gentle on me. It's supposed to be my sanctuary, safe haven not a torture chamber. My husband just recently got on board with decluttering and letting go of excess furniture and too many things on the walls screaming for attention. Love your advice and have been listening for 2 years now. Really appreciate it.
When I was a child I loved to play hide 'n' seek with my brothers and sisters. Our parents would leave us at home while they went to buy groceries. We were told to stay out of their bedroom, but being kids we hid in their room anyway. They had a high king-size bed which was great to hide under, and they had their own attached bathroom. I made a bee-line for their shower, a great hiding place. But when I got there I had the shock of my life---stacked to the ceiling in the shower were wrapped Christmas gifts!
I got my husband involved in decluttering his clothes by showing him how, using a small, easy project.
For weeks, he had been telling me that he needed to buy new socks, but I had been responding that he had a large drawer, absolutely full to the top with just socks. I had a hard time believing that anyone who owned that many socks actually needed more.
So eventually, I decided to kick start his decluttering with that project. I emptied the contents of his sock drawer onto the bed, and then sorted them into three groups. When done sorting, I called him in.
"I sorted through your sock drawer to see if we can get rid of some of them. Everything is right here, I haven't gotten rid of anything. The decisions on that are yours to make. Here's what I did. There are three groups here. First, a stack of socks that are matched pairs, in good repair, with no holes, not worn out, elastic looks good, etc. I can see that you need new socks, because there aren't many socks in this stack. I figured you'd want to keep these, correct?" An easy yes for him.
"This second pile are socks that have holes or that are worn out. Do I have your permission to toss these out?" This was also an easy yes for him, after he looked through them to see that he agreed with my assessment of their condition.
"Last, this group is socks that are in good shape, but they don't have a matcher. May I toss these out, too?" He noted a couple that matched "close enough" and kept those. We put the keepers back in the drawer, and the unwanted ones in the trash.
Since then, he's been able to keep it up. And he also went on to his closet and clothes drawers and voluntarily (without prompting) found a lot of things to donate. I'm convinced he just didn't have a framework before that for how to decide what to get rid of, and he probably didn't trust me to make a decision for him. By making sure he knew the decisions were his, I blunted that objection.
You are both so personable yet professional. These videos motivate me to begin again after feeling tired from entertaining for Thanksgiving. Thank you!!
Am getting ready to go room by room for the second time. Now everything is in the place it belongs, but I now value things less, so lots more downsizing can occur. I was able to find specific tools for my son to do home repair quickly this year thanks to organizing.
My goal is to get the amount of my things down to where I know where each individual thing is, even when I have Alzheimer's so bad I cannot remember what my own name is. I want to be a true minimalist, I really do. That's why I'm starting now, at 29, even if it takes the rest of my life. I'm starting early and this is my goal. Thank you Gail and Ed and everyone else for all of your help!!!
its always beautiful, but i am after findable, functional and CLEANABLE.
that has changed my world : )
We have about 650 sq. ft. of space, which includes three small closets-bedroom, coat and linen. I really have to let things go in order to bring anything new in. I am in a smaller space than I grew up in.
My husband honestly does not know what he has!!! So, he doesn’t miss it when it’s gone! I went thru his tools once and put like with like and set them together on a table - he had 13 different hammers! So I told him to pick a couple favorites - I think it opened his eyes a bit.
Much bigger space for me!
Now living in a new home, I’m finding it difficult to finish setting up my craft room. I intended to do it before we officially moved, but then my hubby bumped up our move-in date, things got piled in there, and my whole scheme was interrupted with moving, illness, and now the holidays. Thanks for helping me get focused!
❤️ ! 🇸🇪
Long time viewer, first time commenter. I love the idea of topic specific playlists for your videos. For my last two moves, I watched several of your moving videos to help get me organized and inspired.
Gail is the Clutter Faerie Queen!
My vision? Winter decor instead of Christmas decor for longer decor life. Remove all room accessories except the winter ones. One wow decor statement per room.
This couldn’t have come at a better time! I started the video this afternoon as I was trying to rationalize keeping some beautiful but impractical china. And then you read my words! Hard to justify keeping it then!
I compromised by pulling out a couple pieces to replace others in my coffee station. Now I get to see a few pieces every day instead of tripping over a whole box that’s dying in the basement.
Responding to your poll question, my current home (we downsized when youngest was HS senior)is same size as my childhood home, but we have 4 people and 2 car garage while childhood home housed 7 of us and no garage.
Love this. Do you have a past video to watch or would you consider doing a video on how to clean up, sort, declutter and organize when it has gotten somewhat beyond beyond and you have huge piles of random items all over the house and in rooms they don’t belong and just don’t know where to begin when not all of the items need to go.
yes...
I've been watching and doing most of what Gail and Ed suggest and it works. The two prior videos are a great place to start. Knowing what you're working toward, even if not exact, helps so much.
Yes! Please check out Dana K. White's videos or books. She has a method of tackling just that kind of overwhelm that you write about. Her ideas have helped me so much (along with Ms. Goddard's).
"You can't prep food over midair" ...been done...
Catherine's vision is mine too :)
I have a question. I have used decorations in my home and office that I still love. However, I replaced them with other things when I wanted to change the look in that room. I do like change. I'm having trouble giving these items away because I still find them very pretty. Can you suggest another way to look at the items so I can comfortably part with them?
Hi, Nancy, Another way to look at it is to rethink what you donate - it is great to sell or donate pretty “like new” items, not just your junk. If the “pretty” stuff stills adds value to your lifestyle, and storing it isn’t a problem, then keep switching them out periodically and move things around.
FlyLady says give things away so they can serve others instead of sitting in your closet, and give them away (such as clothes) while they are still in style, still in good shape (no dead elastic), etc. Marie Kondo talks about giving away unused items so they can be useful instead of just sitting there not doing anything for anybody. I use my local groups for free stuff to give a lot of things away, it's really gratifying when someone else actually wants what I've posted.