A graphic of a utility room with a washing machine, basket and cleaning products

Episode 243 – 10 things to declutter from your utility room

There are some areas of your home that are high traffic but seldom get the TLC they deserve. The utility room is one of those rooms. Today it is entering the spotlight when we delve into the ten things to declutter from your utility room.

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Transcript of this podcast episode

[00:00:00] Ingrid: There are some areas in your home that have lots of high traffic, but never get the TLC they deserve. The utility room is one of those rooms, so today it is entering the spotlight. When we delve into the 10 things to declutter from your utility room. 

[00:00:20] Voiceover: You are listening to the Declutter Home Podcast, bringing you tried and tested, no nonsense tips and advice from the lead in experts in decluttering and organising your home. Now here are your hosts, Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman.

[00:00:51] Ingrid: Hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid. And I'm Leslie. If you're new to the Declutter Hub podcast, you're so welcome. What you'll find is that we try and find a fun factor in the serious business of decluttering, and if you've been here for a while, you know exactly what we mean. So thank you so much for listening.

[00:01:11] Lesley: If you'd like to get involved in conversations relating to this podcast, it all takes place in our Facebook group. So come and join our lovely, warm, supportive community. To find the Facebook group, go to declutter hub.com/group to find out more. Or you can search for the Declutter Hub community on Facebook.

So Ingrid, we were just about to start recording this podcast and I'm like, hmm, 10 things to decluttter from our utility room.

We need to work out whether this is global terminology because we come unstuck sometimes, don't we? We've got people from, uh, North America. We've got people from Australia, New Zealand, we've got people from Europe, got people here. So obviously can't do all the European languages cause we'd be here for quite a while to be fair.

But let's talk about the English terminology and I was like, let me just have a look. So I believe it's called a laundry room in Australia and I believe it's a kind of combination utility room and laundry room in uh, America and Canada. But then what came, what popped up was it's a derivative of the word scullery, and that took me right back.

Now you, you were familiar with the term, but literally it's like something on Downton Abbey, I've not heard of the word scullery since my grandma and granddad were alive like 30 years ago, 40 years ago. Nice blast from the past. 

[00:02:29] Ingrid: I think I know the word because as you, as most of the listeners probably know, I love visiting castles.

Oh, right, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think I must have picked it up on, on one of my tours of the many, I mean, there's so many beautiful castles I live in, in Kent, in southeast London, in Kent. I mean, there's like gorgeous castles all over the place. So I think I've seen nearly all of them now. Uh, so I've, I think I've picked up the word scullery somewhere.

[00:02:55] Lesley: So, yeah. Can we change it to 10 things to declutter from your scullery? Because I think just sounds more exotic somehow, doesn't it? No, you got you saying no, aren't you? You're saying no. 

[00:03:04] Ingrid: I'm saying no. I'm like, I think it, it sounds really old-fashioned. 

[00:03:08] Lesley: It does. Well, it's old-fashioned. Yeah. But we're gonna, so basically just in case anybody is not aware and like, Hmm. I dunno what a utility room is. So in the UK a utility room is generally a place where you do your laundry if you're looking right. In the UK. In the UK lots of places do not. Ingrid does not have a utility room. Um, a lot of, um, kitchens, houses in the UK do not have a utility room, but some of them are modern houses.

Some of the bigger houses definitely do have a utility room. Sometimes people have a utility room and knocked it through to make a big kitchen, and so there's, there's all kinds of things, but basically it typically is a room where, a separate room where you can do your laundry and people typically in this country put things like, Batteries, light bulbs, maybe a bit of garden equipment, a bit of pet stuff.

So it's a bit of an overflow that where, where you kind of, and you typically come into it from the garden. So it can be a bit of a thoroughfare, can't it, from the garden into the kitchen. So that's what we're talking about, and we are going to talk about 10 things to declutter. Ingrid said, sometimes it's a room that doesn't really get this, you know, you use it all the time.

You are in and out of it every single day, but it becomes overlooked and things just stay there and never get decluttered. So we are turning the spotlight on the utility room today. Let's get cracking at Ingrid with our number one. 

[00:04:23] Ingrid: Yeah, because I think what, what a lot of people don't realise is that it an it, it's an overflow room as well.

It easily gets a dumping ground, doesn't it? Sometimes there's a spare fridge in there, or spare food or there's a dryer, there's, there's things for ironing. I mean, lots of stuff going on. So yes, a good 10 things, uh, list we've got for you. Number one, rusty pegs. 

[00:04:47] Lesley: Definitely. I think that pegs, do you know what, I think pegs called something different.

Really? In America? Yeah, I do. Oh, in America. I, you know, we've lived, both of us have lived in America. We've not lived in Canada, we've not lived in Australia, New Zealand. So a lot of the times when we think about different terminology, we think about America. Cause that's what we know. I think they're called something different, pegs. I. Oh, and actually I don't think they use pegs very often cause I don't think they peg out in the way that we do in the UK. No, that is true. That's true. That is true. Anyway. In the UK, if you're good, if you are, you know somebody who cares for the environment and likes to put things outside, you can peg onto a washing line.

And so often people dry their clothes on a washing line. And to facilitate this process of washing things on, of drying things on your washing line, you need. Pegs to hold them in place. And what we see all the time is they kind of, because quite often pegs stay outside, people leave them outside and they go a little bit rusty and then, the rust transfers onto your clothes when you are drying them, and it's a bit of a pain.

Yeah. And so from time to time, I think that you need to go through those pegs and remove the rusty ones. 

[00:05:55] Ingrid: Especially if you've got peg baskets and that is me. The ones in the bottom never get used, and then they get all a bit manky and dirty and a bit grotty. So yes, empty your little peg basket. Have a little look and declutter the rusty ones.

Perfect. Number one, Lesley. 

[00:06:16] Lesley: No, I was just trying to Google what it was called in America, so I can't find it. It looks like it says pegs for Harley Davidson. That's not really what I was looking for. So we'll have to leave it because my curiosity is getting a better, better of me. But we'll have to do what we always do and ask people yes, around the world what they would call a peg.

[00:06:34] Ingrid: Yes. So tell us in the comments, declutter hub.com/ 243. Please tell us. Let's move on to number two, which is also quite an obvious one, but we find them everywhere. Dead batteries. Sometimes people actually have boxes full of dead batteries. Even something with the label dead batteries. Other times the dead ones and the live ones are mixed and nobody knows what's going on.

There's just a random pile of batteries in a little drawer somewhere. And who knows? Who knows? 

[00:07:10] Lesley: I am gonna have to come clean, actually, Ingrid, I'm gonna have to come clean about the dead battery situation, so I don't actually have my dead batteries in my utility room. I have them in my drawer of organised things, which is a good place to have dead batteries.

So I have a little container where I put dead batteries. It's all super organised, but it is a tad overflowing at the moment, I must admit. It's definitely ready to be taken to recycling and that has not happened. So this podcast is prompting me to take an action this weekend, which is to alleviate my drawer of organised things of the dead batteries that are in there.

Why is it important, Ingrid for us to, um, get rid of dead batteries quicker? Do what I do what I um say and not what I do. I think that's the, the term. Why is it important? 

[00:07:53] Ingrid: Well, I think the first step is if they're dead, create a pot or a place somewhere where you put them. Don't put them in with the batteries that you think that are still working because then you already giving yourself an extra job when you actually need a battery that you don't even know what's happening anymore.

Secondly, that batteries can start to leak. Because, and they get a bit rusty. That is little. This wide little, it almost looks a bit like crystals or salt or something. 

[00:08:21] Lesley: Yeah, we know what it is. It's quite dangerous, isn't it? Is it like, yes. Is it alkaline or something? Yeah, alkaline. Is that what it is? 

[00:08:28] Ingrid: I dunno, I can't remember how it's called, but I mean, it's just not good.

So you need to really, this is something that needs to be put into op. You can't throw them in the bin if, if, if you, if you have no other options. But if you can. Please bring it to our recycling center. Loads of shops here in the UK have places and boxes where you can drop dead batteries. I mean, even in my local supermarkets, there's boxes.

The, the, the, the post office, the, the, the libraries, they have boxes where you can drop your dead batteries. So please, please do that. 

[00:09:01] Lesley: Yeah, I think the problem is, you know, you were talking about putting the dead batteries in with the live batteries or the new batteries or whatever. I think the problem is, If you've got like a drawer in a utility room where you've got batteries, you kind of put the, if you've not got a pot for, you put them in.

So it's not that you're purposely putting them with the new batteries, but you put them in thinking that you're gonna get around to it. And then you look at the battery, particularly if it is not started to leak or it's old or whatever, and you're like, I dunno if that's dead or alive, that's the problem, isn't it?

Mm-hmm. And obviously can buy a battery tester as well, which is a super useful thing. But really look out for those dead pat batteries. Declutter, get rid of the ones. Obviously you can't put them in the bin. As Ingrid said, they have to go to somewhere and be recycled properly and make sure that you introduce a little pot for your dead batteries that you unlike me, declot and um, empty from time to time.

[00:09:51] Ingrid: Yes. I'm going to move on to number three. Bags. Shopping bags, bags for life, plastic bags, other random bags. We find cupboards full of bags. 

[00:10:06] Lesley: We do find cupboards full of bags. It's one of the things, isn't it? And it's one of the things actually, that when people join our membership, it's one of the little quick wins that we give them like straight away because we know, we know that everybody has more bags, shopping bags, carrier bags, plastic bags than they need because we just. We buy them, we keep them. Now, it might be that you are very in control of these kind of things and you, you have like, you know, hessian bags that you use, that you reuse. People are getting better, I think, aren't they?

Mm-hmm. Because people are definitely starting to reuse much more than they used to. Particularly since they're in the UK, they brought in a carrier bag sort of levy, is it called a levy? Yeah. Yeah. Where you have to pay, I think it's now 20 pen or it's gone up, hasn't it? It used to be five pen, and I think it's gone up to like 20 PE for a carry buy.

So all of a sudden, That would add like a couple of pounds onto people's shops every week if they didn't bring their own bags. And so the, the, the levy is doing its job and people are not using new carrier bags all the time. That doesn't mean to say that you've not got carrier bags in there from, from the olden days, let's call it.

So if you've got a ridiculous amount of carry bags, start to make a plan to get rid of those carrier bags. Yeah. You know, make sure you put your charity donations into them. If you're giving things to somebody else, use those carrier bags. You know, don't just throw them away. But use them for other things and make a conscious decision to do that, because they really do and they're wayward, they clutter things up.

You know, there are things that you can buy, particularly, there's a thing from IKEA, I can't remember what it's called, but you can stuff the bags in, which is super useful. You can put them into each other, you can fold them into triangles. There's loads of things you can do to make carrier bags better.

But typically when we find carrier bags, we find them. Kind of taking over a space, don't we? 

[00:11:48] Ingrid: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. It's good to have less good to have less, yeah. Yeah. Now, of course, like we said before, in a utility room, a lot of times people do laundry, so we also will find all the kind of laundry stuff in, in utility rooms, and one of the things we find is hangers.

But not just hangers we use, but lots of hangers we actually don't like and that are kind of stuck in a corner somewhere. Or there's little rot somewhere with lots of hangers and it's like, why are they here? Well, I actually don't like them. Let's declutter them because they're taking up space and it actually prevents you from using the space properly.

So, If they're broken, if they're unsuitable, if they're from a material that you don't like, if they are just the wrong color or the wrong shape. Hangers is a whole thing. We've spoken about hangers many times before, but we definitely find them in utility rooms. 

[00:12:45] Lesley: We do. Cause I think what we do in utility rooms, you know, if you're lucky enough and if you, if you, if you haven't got one of these and you've got space for one, definitely put one in, which is a hanging rail in your utility room because that really can help with your laundry.

Um, because it means that you don't have to iron as much because you can hang things on a rail and they, the creases drop out sometimes, not always and things like that. And so, but what we do is we put. Hangers, they're ready to use for when we take things out of the dryer or for when we do our ironing or whatever.

And then there are some as Ingrid says that are just not quite what we want. And so we will have hangers that we favor over the others. And the ones that we're talking about are the ones that are not your favorites. And just give yourself, do yourself a favor and just let them go. Just let them go.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. 

[00:13:29] Ingrid: Uh, number five, Lesley. I mean, it's, I love a 10 things podcast. Can I say that again? I do love a 10 things.

[00:13:35] Lesley: I'm not, if we did 52, 10 things podcasts, that would be 520 items a year. Well, it wouldn't be because a lot of the 10 things is multiple. So let's say there was on average two per, that would be a thousand things a year.

Yeah. Per 10 things podcast, which is not, which is not bad. And we probably do one 10 things a month. So that's still, it's 120 items if you follow our little list. I know. 

Is that why you love it? Is that why you love it? 

[00:14:00] Ingrid: I know, I dunno. I just like talking about it. I dunno. 

[00:14:02] Lesley: It's great.

Nice and simple. We like to keep things simple, don't we? 

[00:14:04] Ingrid: Yes. Yes. So number five. Wellington boots and outdoor shoes. We find all these things next to back doors and in utility rooms on the floor. On the side. Lots of shoes. Some of them have been there for donkeys years or have been kind of piling up. And then you're wondering, And they're like that. Those are the dirty shoes and the clean shoes, and you're like, I don't even know anyone what the dirty shoes or the clean shoes are because they're such a big pile. What's happening here? 

[00:14:34] Lesley: The thing is about Wellington boots. It's quite often when you've got children, isn't it Ingrid? So that's when you have an abundance of Wellington boots because every time kids go out and play, you put Wellies on and then they.

Grow out of 'em really quickly. So you've barely, they've barely had a chance to deteriorate and so well, these are definitely things that need to be passed either down if you've got younger children or to somebody else who might be able to use them. So Wellington's are a really useful one to look at.

Also, the things about Wellington's, adult Wellington, boots. Quite often they rub, they're not quite right. You know, they don't sit on your car very well, so some don't suit us. Some are really uncomfortable. Wellington boots are not something that are known for comfort often, are they? Unless you've spent a lot of money on them.

Yeah, and so I think you really need to look at whether those Wellington boots off it for purpose. Now there are some people, so you know, Ingrid and I are kind of city goers, aren't we? So we are talking about splashing outside in the park and stuff, but there are some people who will literally wear wellies every single day if you're out in the countryside, if you've got pets, if you've got horses, if you live in the countryside. In the countryside, whatever. Some people use wellies all the time. Yeah. Dog walkers use wellies all the time. You know, all those kind of things. But if you're a sort of standard city type person, like Ingrid and I, where your kids are really only using wellies to splash around, then puddles outside, then really keep an eye on those Wellington boots and declutter them and other outdoor shoes, not just wellers.

There's other things. Really evaluate those shoes with regularity to see if any of them can go. 

[00:15:59] Ingrid: Yeah, I was quite happy because they introduced forest school when my kids were in, in, in primary school. So then they take the whole classroom outside more and, and the school always wanted to have some spare wellies for in case, you know, they had outgrown or anything like that.

So I think a lot of my, uh, old wellies, um, that were still, like you said, in good condition all went to the school and they were like, yes, give it to us because we can need, we can, we need it. So I love that. Well, that's our first five things, Lesley. Let's go for a break and we'll see you after. 



[00:16:36] Ingrid: Hello everyone. Welcome back for your 10 things to declutter from your utility room, and number six is actually quite interesting. It's number six that we haven't talked about it before, Lesley, because it's actually. Laundry accessories. 

[00:16:50] Lesley: I know we couldn't think of a proper term. So we, we, we fell upon laundry accessories.

So what do we mean by that? So we mean those things that you buy. So you goes to the supermarket, you think, oh, you know, my washing's not quite as it should be. Or there's a stain on something that I need to sort out. Or you see some gizmo and gadget that you, that you've seen on the teller that looks like it's gonna revolutionise the way that you do laundry and you buy it, you use it once, and then it kind of just sits there on the side.

So things like. Color catchers, stain removers, maybe those kind of things where you put all your bras in one kind of thing to put in the wash or like a, 

[00:17:24] Ingrid: the mesh, like a mesh bag or something like that. 

[00:17:26] Lesley: Mesh thing we, there's like things for socks. You can put socks together and kind of join them together.

And they seem like, you know, they're kind of organising solutions that sound like a fantastic idea that perhaps we use that don't quite work as well as we think they are. And then they would just leave them on the side. And so, I think it's really important to keep on top of these things because what happens with laundry, you know, stuff as in kind of cleaning what, what, what, what's even, what would we even call it?

[00:17:55] Ingrid: Laundry. Like washing, washing material, washing soap soaps, laundry soap or something like that. 

[00:18:04] Lesley: We dunno what it's called, but those things, those extra things. So there's like plastic gadgets, organising gadgets, and there are also. Solutions. Laundry solutions. We call it laundry solutions. What do you think?

So it's a liquid thing or a powder thing right? 

[00:18:21] Ingrid: Capsules wash. Wash capsules. Powder. Washing powder. 

[00:18:28] Lesley: We don't declare the washing powder cause we use that, but those extra things that we buy, yeah. So we don't know what the name for what we're trying to say is at all, but it's things that you buy to do with your laundry that you think is a great idea.

Yeah. You use once and then you leave it and never use it again. Yeah. And so in the same way that we dunno what pegs are called or utilities called in all, um, areas of the world, if you can come up with a sensible solution of what laundry. Liquid things, stroke, capsule stroke, things that we don't need anymore.

It is then that would be really helpful because, and I are not, we're struggling today, aren't we struggling for the vocabulary? 

[00:19:06] Ingrid: But you know what the thing is, Lesley, all this stuff clutters up the couple of cupboards that we have, which means we can't put away the stuff that actually needs to live in a utility room and that we wanna have at hand.

I find lot utility rooms very satisfying to declutter because they're. Can be quite chaotic and messy, but when you didn't take all the things out and you think, how on earth did it, this is all fit in these cupboards. And when you then have a, you know, you, you, you kind of clean the shelves a little bit, clean the cupboards, you put some baskets and you put your light bulbs together and all your stuff, and it's like, oh, I love it.

[00:19:44] Lesley: Do you know what I'm thinking about? I'm, I'm, I've been distracted, I'm not gonna lie. And so I dunno what you were saying. Um, but when we have a guest on the podcast, we send out a little like hints and tips about, um, things that are really useful to know about, you know, microphones and headphones and all that.

We doesn't know where I'm going with this. No. And so we send out a kind of hints and tips thing, and one of the things is don't bang on the desk. And all Ingrid is done for the last time. She keeps. Banging on the desk every time she's talking. 

I'm like, you need to practice what you're preach, Ingrid, everyone will be hearing you're banging on the desk.

[00:20:16] Ingrid: I'm sorry, I'm, I was getting a bit excited about my thought about decluttering utility rooms, I think. 

[00:20:23] Lesley: Exactly, exactly. So put your hands onto your on your squeaky chair. Yeah, yeah. We've got a squeaky chair and now we've got a banging desk. This is not good. 

[00:20:33] Ingrid: I'm gonna work. I'm gonna work on both while I'll move on to number seven. All right. Okay. Go for it. Right. Pet stuff. A lot of people have pets and a lot of the pet per, per... paraphernalia. 

[00:20:48] Lesley: Yeah, we should. We should just honestly, we should just literally give up. We should give up. Just say, you know what? I know it's a 10 things podcast, but we're so rubbish.

We're just gonna stop at number 6.2. Cause we can't even say paraphernalia. 

[00:21:01] Ingrid: Paraphernalia. 

[00:21:02] Lesley: Big word though. Big word. 

[00:21:04] Ingrid: Like leads and extra drinking bowls and. Little medicine things, maybe, uh, things to throw balls. Exactly. All those things, they all end up in utility rooms. And of course we buy new or we get something given or we think, oh, that old one is a bit Hmm, but let's keep it just in case.

And then it is in that cupboard for three years and it looks a bit dodgy. Clear it all out. Lots of pet stuff. Don't clear out the pets. Definitely not. Keep the stuff, keep the pets. 

[00:21:36] Lesley: Well, hopefully the pets are not in a cupboard. 

[00:21:38] Ingrid: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So let it go. Let it go and clear some space. 

[00:21:44] Lesley: Yes, well done. I've, I'm, I'm actually sitting on my hands now in, you know, just let you, I'm gonna bring them out. Okay. Number eight on our list. And this is a big one, and this often finds its way to utility rooms, which is keys. Now doing a key project could literally take you. Five hours couldn't it? Because it's quite involved.

If you properly set to, to do a key project in your house, which of course English and I would love to do, we love a key project cause it's very meaty. But you know, if you're doing a key project, you need to work out what is the key. Where is it for? Does it work? Do I need it? Is it for a window or a door that's not there anymore?

Is it for somebody else's house that we're not looking after anymore? Does it need to be returned? There are many, many things, many complexities involved in keys. Yep. But quite often they're in utility rooms, aren't they? Yep. 

[00:22:37] Ingrid: Yeah, gather them together. So if you've got in random places, the first step is to gather them together and to set them aside.

You probably cannot do a key project unless you find like one key in your utility room. Then you probably know which key it is. But if you find several keys in your utility room and you're not completely sure what's what, Put them in the little separate box together and put that on the list of things to do. I mean, there's a whole, in the membership, we have a whole video about how to declutter your keys and all the things you need to think about. Um, and, you know, it can be very satisfying to do, but normally that's not a, oh yeah, I'm doing my utility room. Let me also tackle a whole key project, because you can go off on a whole tangent.

[00:23:23] Lesley: Definitely love a key project. So enabling, working stuff out and not having, having random keys anymore. Mm-hmm. Very good. Very, very good. Dig deep for a key project. Might do one this weekend anyway, because even though I did it, they come back, there's like more Yeah. That here and you're like, where did these keys come from?

Yeah. Anyway, so, um, number nine on our list, Ingrid, and these are cloths. So, cloths, tea towels, things that you keep to clean things. Now this might be something that you have, like, I keep my cloths, my cleaning cloths in my utility room. Uh, my laundry room, sorry. Um, because I put 'em upstairs, I wash them, I put them in a little section, then I bring them down.

When I've put my laundry rooms upstairs, I bring them down when I, um, when I need them. And so I keep, I've got a big sort of pile of cloth that I use from time to time, but there are definitely some cloths that. Go past their best, right? Yeah. We've mopped something up with it, some paint or something and it's got something dodgy on it.

It might have holes. A lot of, a lot of times if you wash and wash and wash, they go misshapen as well. Yeah. It depends on the quality of the cloth, doesn't it really? Yeah. Um, a lot of the microfiber cloths are not like that anymore, but a lot of the older style cloths typically are. I know those ones that are like, got holes that they're a bit more knitted.

Yeah, they're great cloth. But often they go misshapen, don't they? Yeah. So now misshapen doesn't necessarily mean that you can't use it anymore, but you need to evaluate the cloth and see whether it is serving you. And the most important thing is do you have cloths that you would rather use? That's the problem.

What we do is we typically keep all of the cloths, but we choose and use the main five or seven, particularly if we've moved on to good quality microfiber cloths. 

[00:25:05] Ingrid: Yes. And of course you might have also a separate pile of cloths that are raggedy, you know, that are used for dirty jobs. But even in that pile there comes a point when a cloth is past its best and there's so many holes in it that it makes no sense to use it anymore.

So there needs to bit of, a bit of a throughput of, of these kinds of cloths as well. At some point they have to go into a rag bag and just go, right? I, I no longer want to use these cloths. I, some of my cloths disappear into the garage. Garage because my husband's always doing so with DIY fixing bikes, doing something, something.

So a lot of that stuff and every once in a while we do a clear out in the garage of all the stuff that we think, okay, that's really now past its best. So have a look at that because you can have piles and piles and cupboards full of stuff. And, um, it's just not very useful then anymore. You wanna be able to grab a good cloth when you need it.

[00:26:01] Lesley: Yes, you do want to be able to grab a good cloth in grid. Yes. Um, number 10. Now this may or may not be in a utility room, but whether it is or it isn't, It's a good thing to, to tackle. So you might have to veer out of the a utility room depending on whether or not you've got them in there. But quite often they find their way in there, don't they, which is old phones, old mobile phones.

And the wires that accompany those phones quite often will be in a drawer in the utility room because you haven't got anywhere else for them, and you kind of go. I don't need that anymore. I'm not gonna do anything with it. It's too old to kind of recycle or get any money for it. So I'm just gonna stick it in there and actually I need to take the contacts off it, so I need to download it.

And that's a job that I don't wanna do, so I'll just put it in there for now. And then it just stays there for like years and years and years and years. And then you're looking at your old 1992 Nokia thinking, gosh, oh, has that been in there for 27 years? Or maybe not. Cause mobile phones have not been around that long, but that's what happens. 

[00:26:54] Ingrid: Am I right? Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Definitely. And I, I think there have actually has have been like research about how many mobile phones people have in their houses. I mean, we have tons of mobile phones. We, I mean, we're just saying one or a couple, but. Apparently there's people with loads of old mobile phones because they get changed often so quickly now.

I mean, we, we have a new mobile phone every year and a half or two, because then the better reason just don't wanna work anymore how we want them. But it really, really adds up. And if you don't have a good system in place on how to indeed take the old information of, or upgrade a phone from somebody who's got an even older phone within your family or something like that.

It's really, it builds up and then you don't know anymore which, which, it's gotten better. But in the past, every phone had its own wire, with its own little connection and. We're, we're improving on that, but still, you know, lots of...

[00:27:50] Lesley: I'm just looking at, I'm just looking, oh, it's in the kitchen, so I'm just, I'm just trying to do a project.

My dad told you about this before and we're trying to, and my dad's writing a book and so I'm just trying to get some photographs together for the book. And so my dad said, I think there might be some photographs on this really old phone that I've gotten. Don't even, I can't even remember what it's called, but the name of the phone is like, so funny.

It's like frog something or something. Like where did you even get that phone from? Like, even like a normal thing, but just going through this phone and you just get, so, you like, because I've got, I've got, um, app, uh, apple phone, uh, and so I can just, uh, an iPhone. It's called an iPhone. And so I can just, you know, Send things across, I can just air drop them.

It's like super easy to do that, and I've got to kind of set it on, put it onto wifi, do that, send myself an email. It's just like you realise just how much technology has moved on. Yeah. Yeah. And um, so it's all right, faf, and then it, the, I don't even know what the. Photo's gonna be like, cause it's on a 20 year old phone, so it's just gonna be absolutely diabolical.

It's the only picture that we've got of his, uh, camper vans. We need to try and get it off there. Totally. But you realise how much technology is moved on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so it's really important to obviously deal with the mobile phones that you've got on the wires and let those go. But it's also important to think about things going forward and not procrastinate on something if you swap your phone.

Um, to a new phone, which we probably a lot of us do every two years because of A, battery faults, or B, because we got a good deal and it involves a new phone or whatever the reason is for you swapping. Mm-hmm. And people, it slowed down a little bit, hasn't it? But um, if you do that to think about what's the way forward with this phone, I need to deal with it straight away rather than procrastinate over that decision and let it go to somebody new or to sell it.

[00:29:31] Ingrid: Yeah, absolutely. So this is your 10 things to clutter from the utility room. I know one thing, Lesley, this, what is. Focus made me realise how sad I am. I don't have a utility room. 

[00:29:43] Lesley: Oh, Ingrid. I feel sorry for you now. 

[00:29:46] Ingrid: I have a utility cupboard. I have two utility cupboards where my wellies and my batteries and my dead batteries.

[00:29:51] Lesley: What put in the utility room. So what would your utility room look like? 

[00:29:56] Ingrid: My utility cupboard that I have now? 

No. What would, if you had one, what would you, what would it look like? Would you have like labeled decanted laundry things and fancy boxes? What would you have? Oh, I would definitely have lots of cupboards where I can kind of divide and make it and put like little nice little basket.

There's white IKEA boxes that you can label so nicely. Oh, it would be so nice and I would have my washing machine in there and a place where I can fold and a place where I can put my, um, dirty laundry. Oh, it would be absolutely heaven. But anyway, I'll just go on as I am now. Just work with what I have.

It's the only choice. 

[00:30:34] Lesley: You poor, poor thing. I know the, the, honestly, the conditions that you are working in at Thatum house is so terrible. Anyway, so we digress. So there we are. Yes. 10 things podcast. Ingrid is happy because she loves to a 10 things even though she hasn't got a utility room. 

[00:30:49] Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. 

Well, uh, we appreciate you listening in week in, week out. We are so delighted. So thank you so much for being here. I hope we have given you some ideas. I hope you're gonna tell us all the words that we did not could, cannot come up with today in the comments on declutterhub.com/243. And we're gonna be here next week. So thanks so much to see you then.

[00:31:13] Voiceover: Thanks so much for listening to the Declutter Hub podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us in your podcast player so you don't miss an episode, and we'll see you next week.

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Episode 350 – 10 party supplies to declutter from your home today

Episode 349 – Tidy up your life with guest Tidy Dad

Episode 348 – Are you ready for tough love when decluttering?

Episode 347 – Dealing with grief after losing a pet with guest Kevin Spurgeon

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Bethanie Branton says:

24 November 2023 at 2:54 AM

Hello ladies. I too love a 10 things podcast; they are informative and really funny. I didn’t have any of the things on the list. I love washing dishes so i always want to have just the exact cloth and tea towel to use. I recycle my grocery bags at the store each week. Pegs are called clothes pins in America. They are making a comeback as people are becoming more environmentally conscious. Thank you for another great podcast.

Reply
1. Bethanie Branton says:
  
  24 November 2023 at 2:56 AM
  
  So sorry!! Goodness I didn’t mean to pile on the ‘we call them clothes pins in America’ pile. Sorry.
  
  Reply
2. Lesley Spellman says:
  
  24 November 2023 at 11:22 AM
  
  What's the meaning of the phrase 'Donkey's years'?
  A very long time.
  What's the origin of the phrase 'Donkey's years'?
  It turns out that, although Donkey's years is now the more commonly used slang term when meaning 'a long time', donkey's ears, has been used that way too (although not very often) since at least the early 20th century. The English humorous writer Edward Verral Lucas used the phrase that way in his novel Vermilion Box, 1916: "Now for my first bath for what the men call 'Donkey's ears', meaning years and years."
  The clue there seems to be that Lucas write comic stories. 'Donkey's ears' wasn't used until well after the date that 'donkey’s years' had become established in the language and was only ever a jokey alternative form.
  So, having found 'donkey's ears' to be a side-show, we now come to when and how did 'donkey's years' originate? It is now used as Cockney rhyming slang and the assumption that is made by many is that the expression was coined as such, making the rhyme between 'ears' and 'years'. That assumption is very likely to be wrong. Three things count against it.
  
  Reply
Marion Skinner says:

30 May 2023 at 9:53 PM

It sounds like clothespins.

Reply
1. Ingrid Jansen says:
  
  31 May 2023 at 2:56 PM
  
  It seems they are indeed Marion. Thank you for letting us know. Ingrid
  
  Reply
  1. Bethanie Branton says:
    
    24 November 2023 at 2:59 AM
    
    Ok maybe you can help me, here in America. What is a donkey’s year? I think i can get the definition from context but i’d love to have you tell me.
Liz Charpleix says:

28 May 2023 at 12:01 PM

Lesley, one of the reasons I love listening to your podcasts is your lovely Yorkshire accent. "Scullery" pronounced in Yorkshire is a divine word 🙂

Reply
1. Lesley Spellman says:
  
  29 May 2023 at 1:37 PM
  
  Aah that's so kind, thank you. I'm actually Lancashire just over the Pennines but I'd almost impossible to tell sometimes. Scullery is indeed a fab word. Thanks for listening Liz x
  
  Reply
Andrea says:

26 May 2023 at 9:42 PM

I think you’re talking about “clothespins.”

Reply
1. Ingrid Jansen says:
  
  29 May 2023 at 4:40 PM
  
  Thanks for letting us know.
  
  Reply
Amanda says:

26 May 2023 at 5:53 PM

In America, we call pegs clothes pins. 🙂

Reply
1. Ingrid Jansen says:
  
  29 May 2023 at 4:40 PM
  
  Thank you Amanda.
  
  Reply
Paula says:

26 May 2023 at 3:36 PM

Clothes pins in America

Reply
1. Ingrid Jansen says:
  
  29 May 2023 at 4:39 PM
  
  Thanks Paula for letting us know.
  
  Reply
JoAnn in CT USA says:

26 May 2023 at 3:19 PM

Clothes Line and Clothes Pins

Reply
1. Ingrid Jansen says:
  
  29 May 2023 at 4:39 PM
  
  Thank you for letting us know.
  
  Reply
Amber says:

26 May 2023 at 12:41 PM

We call them clothespins in the US. 🙂 Not a lot of people hang clothes outside to dry where I live in Montana. I use them outdoors on a line in the summer months, but hang clothes to dry inside using hangers on a wooden dowel above my washing machine the rest of the year. I use clothespins as “chip clips” to seal packaged food more often than I use them for clothes.

Reply
1. Ingrid Jansen says:
  
  26 May 2023 at 2:05 PM
  
  Hi Amber, thanks for letting us know! I use pegs as well to seal packaged food, unless my kids have eaten all the biscuits and there is nothing left!
  
  Reply
Ann M says:

26 May 2023 at 12:24 PM

Hi Lesley & Ingrid,
It's a clothespin in USA. I lived there too and was the only person with my washing on a line.

My Grandma used wooden dollypegs and I used to paint faces on them. I still have some. Grandma also told me never leave pegs on the washing line as that is lazy and they will rot but if they were spring pegs the metal piece goes rusty and leave marks. So I always keep mine in a fabric shoulder bag ( actually one a friend brought me from Cyprus with Greek design. ) which is easy to reach into and it lives on a hook on the inside of my back door. Especially if there is a sudden downpour and I have to run out and gather my wash off the line. Not uncommon here in the UK. As you said at the beginning, not all homes have a utility room or area.
Ann 🏃🏼‍♀️🌧

Reply
1. Ingrid Jansen says:
  
  26 May 2023 at 2:07 PM
  
  Hi Ann, yes I agree about the pegs rusting, so that was very sensible advice from your grandma. I love that you used to paint faces on them as well. How cute!
  
  Reply

Episode 243 – 10 things to declutter from your utility room

Episode 350 – 10 party supplies to declutter from your home today

Episode 349 – Tidy up your life with guest Tidy Dad

Episode 348 – Are you ready for tough love when decluttering?

Episode 347 – Dealing with grief after losing a pet with guest Kevin Spurgeon

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